I woke up at 5:30 am and just could not get back to sleep, so instead doing a bit of blogging and some Payroll reports. Its Saturday morning in Paris, something I would like to get use to. Not sure why I can't sleep longer, but I guess I can always take that afternoon nap. I wanted to briefly go back to the croissant making. First, I have long known that there is simply no better croissant in the world than those made in Paris. In the states, I think the flour used is wrong and the dough is simply over worked, thus making them tougher. Also the butter, and yes there is a lot of it, is simply not high enough in fat. Croissants are not for the health concious or those on a diet ... read more

Day 1 After spending a few hours unpacking and getting settled into our apartment “French Kiss”, I didn’t’ name it that is just what it is called, I showered and changed and we set out to do a bit of shopping for our stay. First I should describe the apartment and area. We found the apartment through the cooking school I took classes from last year. The wife of the cooking school owner runs a vacation rental business here in Paris. The apartment we are staying is one of several that she has available. They are typically much less expensive than a hotel, however, you do not have all the perks of a hotel, it is more like you are actually living in Paris. The name of the company is Feels Like Home in Paris (www.feelslikehomeinparis.com). ... read more

Tax season has ended and one more day of work, then Paris and beyond awaits. Our flight leaves at 7:52 am, which means arrive at the airport at 5:30 am to insure we are properly body searched etc. This is just a preliminary entry to give you all and me a brief overview of our travel plans for this almost month long vacation. First we leave Portland for Paris, where we spend a full week, me in cooking classes, Jerry seeing the sights we missed last time. From Paris we take the train to Salzburg with a two hour stop over in Zurich for lunch. After 4 nights in Salzburg we are off to Vienna for three nights. The second half of our trip will take us out of our language comfort zone and out of ... read more

As I write this it is late afternoon on our last full day in France, so I am very tired and may not do this blog entry the justice it does deserve. Monday was macaroon class day, so I got up at 7 in order to have time to get ready and get to the class on time by 9 am. This is the same place that I took the morning market class when we were in Paris for my Birthday. I go to the class about 5 minutes before it started and there was one other person there waiting for the doors to open, she was from Melbourne Australia and was on her last of 4 days of cooking classes, she did the 5 class series. We were let in promptly at 9 and the ... read more

Today’s blog will not have a Today’s eats section, not because we didn’t eat, but because the food truly deserves to be blogged about in its entirety. We awoke in side the walls of Mont-St. Michel to a beautiful cloud free bright sunny day. We showered, packed and headed to breakfast. I have previously blogged that breakfast in France and many European countries is not a big affair, typically croissants, fruit and coffee (hence the term continental breakfast in the United States). Today however was much more. Yes there were the croissants, half baguettes, juice, yogurt, but there was so much more. There was, as in Chateau Criessel, the ham and cheese platter, scrambled eggs and bacon, freshly made crepes to stuff with your choice of fillings, granola, cereals, bread for toast, fresh fruit and my ... read more