coucou, bonbons! this is erin from
reading my tea leaves, here for a little visit into deb's sweet, sweet world while she digs deep into life in paris.
over the past week or so i've been thinking a lot about what little part of france i most wanted to write about. i finally decided that more than a certain food, or a specific place, my very favorite thing about france is a particular time. so brew a cup of tea, bonbons, and join me for l’heure du goûter.
i suppose if we get technical, the phrase translates to snack time, but if the term is conjuring images of ants-on-a-log or fruit roll-ups, then, as my dad says, we better stop while we're behind. think instead about a cup of hot tea, a bit of toast, a slab of milk chocolate. a table. some chairs. at four o'clock in the afternoon. l’heure du goûter.
ok, so maybe it's something that's really designed for the kiddos. at four o'clock they've just walked home from school and their little bellies need some filling. but for a girl with an insatiable sweet tooth and a constant hankering for a warm cup of something or another, the ritual is pure bliss--a little moment to reflect on the day, to gear up for the evening, to curb my hunger until dinnertime rolls around.
yes, at in four o'clock in the afternoon in france, i have had some of my favorite moments with some of my very favorite women. there is fabienne, who always made a pot of orange pekoe with milk and lump of sugar; valerie, who always prefers tisanes; marie, a lady grey through and through; marie-paule, who always let me choose my own adventure from her collection of triangular-shaped tea bags; the woman at the corner salon de thé in macon, who would tuck crisp nutmeg-flavored cookies underneath my teacup, and rachel, who i could get to sit with me for a little quelque-chose at just about any hour. so many lovely memories, all the result of taking just one little moment, at the end of an afternoon, to just be.
hoping you all have yourselves a real-life goûter this afternoon.
{p.s. for all of those non-frenchy speakers, the -er at the end of the word is pronounced like ay. superfluous information, i know, but i couldn't have you all walking around talking about how much you want to have a "gouter"...it just doesn't have quite the same touch...}. bisous.
My (now blonde) niece Emily was street-spotted (is this a sartorialist for college kids?) for her adorable self-styling her second day of school. I'm so proud.
First comes the flower shop, so overwhelmingly beautiful, I suggested I move in but the girl was busy cutting stems off some big coral dahlias and don't think she heard me. We are at Merci and just through the next door...
a walk into the central hall and many things to wish for...
I loved the jewels they carried although of course thought they needed some bonbons...
and then after looking carefully at every well chosen object in the shop and moved by the beautiful and thoughtfully curated collections, I sunk into the cafe, a part of the shop, for a bit of quiet time. I sketched a little and thought up some new ideas for some new graphics and packaging for bonbon and met four other designers there for fashion week and we talked about the shows and what we did and exchanged cards.
a little Ladurée
Paris was trés trés bon-bon, a very successful trip for your intrepid reporter. Exciting new shops, prospects and many good food items brought home for my man, who couldn't join me this time. Saw my good friends and a little sad to leave until next time, but much much more to report this week. I saved you some macaron crumbs...
