Paris Breakfasts

For at least the last 6 months, I've subscribed to a blog called "Paris Breakfasts."

I was introduced to it by my cousin Mary Jo who, like me, loves all things French.

Despite having my own blog, I'm a bit dubious about subscribing to blogs because I don't want to be overwhelmed with a lot of reading, as well as a lot of emails.

But, after taking a look at Paris Breakfasts, I decided to give it a try.  And, I'm hooked on it.

Five times a week, author, Carol Gillot, posts her photos, watercolors, and brief comments about her experiences living in Paris.  Carol is an artist/photo journalist from New York whose passion for France inspired her to actually move to Paris.  While she spends most of her time in Paris, she does travel a bit around France and, even recently, made a jaunt to England.

Where ever she goes, she blogs about it.  Each post includes lots of photos, brief commentary, and, often, her own sketches and watercolors of what she's observed.

Since Paris Breakfasts is a quick read, and my guilty pleasure, I avidly read each post, imagining that I'm there in France with her...also, she keeps me up on trends in France, which is always fun.

A few weeks ago she offered some of her watercolors for sale on Etsy.  Several of her pictures were of the French macarons, a sandwich cookie of two round pastel-colored meringue cookies with a frosting filling. The color of the macaron relates to its flavor...yes, they do come in green which usually is a pistachio macaron. They are nothing like, and should not be confused with, the coconut macaroons that we Americans are accustomed to eating.  The macaron is catching on in the United States and several San Francisco area bakeries are now making and selling them. My favorite local places for macarons are Miette in the San Francisco Ferry Building and Tout Sweet in Macy's on Union Square in San Francisco.

This watercolor of macaroons being weighed on scales is the picture that I purchased. I just got it back from my framer (Clayton Valley Frameworks), who creatively picked up the colors of some of the macarons with a pink mat and a green frame. Now I have a happy and tasty bit of Paris in my home.