Ladurée vs Hermé: 0-1

The next day, you get up early. Your white carriage with golden doors and six swift horses awaits you. Destination: Paris. Secret mission: macaroons. The cook heard it is a local speciality, so you have to go and find out so she can make them for the next banquet og the King and Queen.

You try Ladurée, the most famous. You wander down Rue Saint-Honoré. A visit to Colette is on your list. Damn, this is such a cool shop. Not too cheap though. Good music, design and cool clothes. And a Diana Lomo camera. Would you buy it? You’d love to experiment with it!

Ladurée then. You really like the lily of the valley taste. The aftertaste screams ‘almonds’ veru subtly every time. You also try rasperry, mango/jasmin and rose. You love it … Eating your delicious little sins between real oh so stylish Frenchies does make you feel real and less touristy. The Marie-Antoinette tea makes the picture just perfect.

And yet you miss something. Cause earlier you popped in at Pierre Hermé’s bakery to buy some macaroons. And you had  the taste experience of a lifetime. The passion fruit / milk chocolate was a mere flavour bomb that left you delirious for five minutes. The rose one  brightened your day as did the cassis and the chocolate … This man loves his art, that’s something you taste. Sheer love and passion!

A Passion Fruit/milk chocolate macaroon @ père Lachaise

Secret pleasures

You’re reminded of something, a secret pleasure you had in the past. Your dad, who’s king of a large realm somewhere in the west, made you go to work. He thought you had to learn the value of having a job. During your middag break at office, you went shopping in a nearby wall. One day you were in the Body Shop and tried on some Morrocan Rose … Those were the days … You just felt sooooooo divine in your normal frock!

Pretending to be Marie-Antoinette

Your private servant, James,  guides you to your room in the south dungeon.  A large Caravaggio painting, Judith and Holofernes, hangs on the purple wall. An enormous four-poster bed stands in the middle of the room. Golden curtains, you love it.  The room is every girl’s dream. A boudoir in Louis XIV- style. For a brief moment you pretend to be Marie-Antoinette herself. The black Arabesque wall paper om the opposite wall is just astonishing

James announces there will be a ball in an hour and a half, downstairs in the Elisabethan hall. So you head to the bath room. This surpasses every imagination. A black bubble bath with golden taps, black mosaïc tiles on the walls… Maria – a servant you hadn’t noticed yet – calls for you. “Lady, which scent would you like tonight.

You smell over and over again. Lemon/mint, lavender/apple or patchouli/lavender/vanilla. No, it’ll be Sabon’s Tropic Body scrub. This scent reminds you of summer and far off countries. Nights at a Hawaian beach, the warm sand beneath your feet. You feel divine after using it. You’re not totally wild about the matching butter cream. It’s a tiny too chemically pineapple like. When you apply it, it sort of matches, but you would have preferred the scent of the scrub …

You pick your dress and are ready for the night …

A touch of heaven

 

Gorgeous chocolate cake

You troddle towards the impressive ancient castle. The guards smile at the mere sight of you – it’s been quite some time since they saw such a pretty damsel in emerald green robes. Their silver shiny armour clatters in the evening sun. They lower the bridge without hesitating.

The iron gates open and and all of a sudden you are standing in the great entrance hall. Huge golden Korinthian pillars and marvellous marble stairs, chrystal chandeliers … You don’t know where to look first. The high ceilings are very skilfully painted. It’s a lovely copy of Michelangelo’s ceiling painting in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. You marvel at your new home…

Your stomach starts making funny noises. Your nose smells cake! You ask the door servant where the kitchen is. Downstairs you meet the cook. A black momma with a pineapple hat offers you a loaf of her chocolate cake. How did she know this is your favourite? Carefully you take a bite. Damn this is just divine. Not to forget that drop dead gorgeous choclate glaze. Luckily the cook gives you the recipe.

200g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

100g cocoa

275g caster sugar

175g soft unsalted butter

2 eggs

1 tablespoon real vanilla extract

80ml sour cream

125ml boiling water

175g dark chocolate chips (unless you prefer milk)Chocolate glaze (I always buy it in the supermarket) Melt the butter. Mix the butter, flour, bicarbonate, sugar, cocoa, sour cream, vanilla extract and eggs so that you get a brown satiny batter. Add the boiling water. You get a very smooth dough. Take a rubber spatula ans stir in the chocolate chips. Put it in the oven (180°C) for 35-45 minutes. It’s a very good cake when it is moist so don’t let it bake too long/too dry. Let the cake cool down. Then I melt the glaze and put it on the cake. Sometimes I add edible glitters and the like… You can also use the recipe for cup cakes. 15-20 in the oven then… the cup cakes...

Little Fairytale Princess’ Secret Woods

My dear beloved Stranger,

Welcome to Little Fairytale Princess’ Secret Woods. The road was long and hazardous, but you made it. Forget all of your sorrows now. Enter through the impressive iron gates and discover my realm of treasures.

Wander around and discover the tiny little joys of life. Find the most lovely beauty products in the Louis XIV boudoir. Smell the scents that briefly remind you of a far off land. Stop for a moment and enter the castle kitchen to make a recipe that brightens your day.  The library provides you with books that change your view upon life.

Head for the shops ans discover the most lovely brands and addresses. Vintage, alternative … Find the most lovely design, retro and modern – to decorate your house. Visit the greatest places in the world. Hotels, local restaurants, shops, must sees …  In the woods you’ll even find a concerthall -under the ground- where you can indulge in the most gorgeous music.

In short, here you’ll discover everything to make princesses happy …

The birth of Venus - Botticelli