Some snapshots from a belated French Christmas ! New Years Eve was celebrated with copious amounts of seafood and sweets…I partially overcame my phobia of eating fish, a phobia that has made me awkward to cater for around French christmas time in the past, (ie. the past 20 years where my family have had to grit their teeth and come up with alternatives for me every mealtime…) and had some salmon. I wasn’t brave enough to tackle the oysters or shellfish, though.

We spent two days in Paris with my aunt, uncle and cousin, as well as spending time with my Grandparents in Rouen. In Paris we visited Montmartre and the Avenue des Champs-Élysées   – it has become a tradition that we walk in all the arcades along the avenue each time we visit Paris. I was thrilled that the queue for the Ladurée Boutique was virtually non-existent (from the outside, at least)… I finally had the opportunity to channel my inner Blair Waldorf and buy a box of the pastel treats to share with my family… (ok, Blair would NOT share her macarons, but I don’t think I would ever be able to eat a box by myself) My favourites were salted caramel and bubblegum – bubblegum sounds like a bizarre flavour but it worked! The cakes also looked exquisite but they will have to wait for another visit.

I bought a very girly (as in the target market was probably for five year olds) macaron necklace from a street seller in Rouen. I had been after one of those necklaces for ages – once I get an idea in my head, I refuse to let it go! It’s nice to have a memento – along with the macaron box – of this wonderful wintertime spent in France with my family.