Bringing Home a Taste of Paris

Trying to hit two birds with one stone in bringing home a piece of France, I bought a tin box of Le Lichouzic de Sainte Anne La-Palud, purportedly manufactured in Brittany.  It actually tastes much like our own galletas back in Manila.

The biscuits were wrapped in twos inside the tin, making it easy for tin fanciers like me to find another use for the box later. 

I have found a trip to the local grocery a very enlightening experience for tourists, more so if you end up staying in tourist traps where most of the offerings are not of the local flavor, but are of the type that appeals to the tourists only.  In a local grocery, you can find the types of condiments that are served on a regular basis, and pick up nuances like their preference for snacks, ready meals, and even toiletries.

In Paris, Alan and I shopped at the more upscale Galleries du Lafayette, featuring a wide variety of goods from chocaltes to olive oil and herbs and cookies.  I asked the front desk at the Hotel Warwick on Champs-Elysees for the nearest grocery, and they pointed me towards MONOPRIX which was just 2 blocks away.

Here I picked up some tea, more cookies and tarts packaged to keep for a while, as well as my supply of diet soda.  (A 1.5 litre soft serve bottle costs approximately 1.30 Euro). 

With the Filipino penchant for bringing home pasalubong for everybody, I found some cookies of the diet variety for my diabetic mother in law and for my mom as well.  I grabbed a Ferrero product which was not your usual Ferrero Rocher — called DUPLO, and I didn’t even get to taste it, just sent it to my niece in Manila.  I heard it was a big hit with my sweet toothed siblings and they were asking for more.  The only problem is, this is not available here in the US.

We already had our first taste of French fine chocolate during Alan’s second trip there.  He brought home boxed chocolates from DALYANOV (recommended by his bosses) and FAUCHON (which my mom took a fancy to and which I grabbed from the CDG Duty Free store).  So this time around, I told him we should bring other goodies home.  This time, besides the macaroons from Laduree, we brough home more cookies and biscuits, both plain and coated with assorted chocolate — to bring home a taste of Paris.

Monday Morning back at work

I arrived at my desk a little late (Mondays always seem to be the most difficult for me getting here on time) to find a small present from the boss.  A box of notecards to thank me for my commitment the previous weeks.  So she did see it.. the note cards are pretty.  She CAN be sweet when she wants to.. I just wish she was like this more often.

Angel was in a good mood when I left the house so it wasn’t that much of a struggle getting out of there.  The sky was muggy but it wasn’t freezing out there.  I trudged to the bus stop carrying my laptop and lunch.  I prayed the rosary and ended it soon after I got on the bus. 

I got to spend a lot of time with the little one this weekend but as always, I ended up not finishing much of what I wanted to do, like clean up and put aside stuff piling up in the room.  A little at a time they say.. and it’ll all get done.

I’m itching to pick up my knitting needles or my crochet hook.  I meant to re-do a scarf I had put together more than a year ago.  The yarn was of varied colors, but I had just crochetted it with no texture.  When I saw it early this winter, I thought to myself it was a waste of good yarn, and who says I cannot unravel it and try to work on a new project?  I guess I can do that through the summer as I prepare for the next winter.  Can’t wait for spring!

Holding my heart in my arms

I can never tire of holding Angel in my arms and watching him sleep.  There he is peacefully in slumber and I feel as though I am holding my own heart there in my arms, cradling my very heartbeat.

How he has grown.  This week he turns 10 months.. wow.. I watch him pull himself up as he tries to take a step or two, only to lose his balance.  He does very well holding himself up and moving from place to place on all fours.  He is already very adept at pulling himself from the floor to the sofa and other table top his legs can take him up to. He giggles with such gusto it is just music to my ears.

I keep seeing him looking at me with a glint of hope and mischief in his eyes.  How I love my little guy.