Pink Candies and Divine Truffles

Photos: Callies Portrait Photography

Valentines Day has me thinking of chocolate and candy. Here is my collection of cute candy boxes, most of which I ate the entire contents already:

Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles from Charbonnel et Walker. Made in the UK but you can order off the Neiman Marcus website. They are pink colored truffles dusted with powdered sugar filled with a milk chocolate butter and Marc de Champagne center. Yum.

Dilettante Chocolate Champagne Truffles are also made with Marc De Champagne but add Strawberry Essence.

The Laudree Dragees are a French version of pink candy coated Jordan almonds. Usually handed out as wedding favors. The little jar of pink rose hard candy is from Paris as well. I purchased them from a florist who only sold roses, and mostly only pink ones which are my favorite.

Teuscher's Original and Dark Champagne Truffles are not pictured here but are one of my favorite. They are a dark chocolate ganache filled with Dom Perignon Champagne-laced buttercream. Delicious.

Annick Goutal's Splendide Rose Skin Care

Photos top to bottom: Callies Portrait Photography (skin care on china)

next three personal photos taken in Paris at Annick Goutal Castiglione

next three photos from http://www.annickgoutal.com/

last four photos: Luxe-Magazine of the Annick Goutal St. Sulpice boutique

Splendide is a French skin care line designed by Annick Goutal especially for rose lovers. It uses rose sap, rose water, even rose thorns in the ingredients. I love facials, and roses are such a passion of mine I decided to get a facial when I was in Paris. It was pure heaven. The sweetest lady named Gloria gave me an excellent and extremely gentle facial using all the Splendide products. There were Annick Goutal trademark butterflies on the ceiling, see photo above, that glowed in the dark. Wrapped in a cacoon of pink, I couldn't help but feel I would emerge a beautiful butterfly. The fragrance is so lovely, rose scented but also a little bit green and fresh, I bought a couple pieces to take home with me. Every time I use it, I am transported back to the memory of the girliest facial I have ever recieved.

A Rose by Any Other Name

Valentines Day is around the corner and with it comes a few of my favorite things. Pink roses, champagne, chocolate truffles and silk lingerie. Aaaaah....Romance. The photos above were taken during my last trip to Paris. The first four pictures are taken in one of the oldest and most famous florist shops in Paris called Lachaume. http://www.lachaume-fleurs.com/ My husband bought me a bouquet of white sweetpeas for our hotel room so we could sneak inside and take pictures of their beautiful bouquets. The floor is the original pink marble from 1845 when the shop first opened on Rue Royale.

We walked along the river Siene to take in the exquisite beauty and fragrance of the flower markets. The last picture of the cute rose bouquets were taken at a charming florist shop called Au Nom de la Rose. He bought me a little bouquet of roses, some rose syrup for baking or to flavor champagne cocktails and a box of candied rose petals to drop into champagne and make it fizz. http://www.aunomdelarose.com/

Chateau de Bagatelle

Chateau de Bagatelle in Paris, France is by far the most adorable achitectural gem ever to behold. I pray that my mansion in heaven will look like this. It was originally a hunting lodge but would later become this adorable little castle designed by architect Francois-Joseph Belanger. In 1777, Comte d'Artois, brother of Louis XVI — acquired the property. He demolished the hunting lodge following a bet with his sister-in-law, the Queen Marie-Antoinette. She bet him that he could not build the French chateau in less than three months. The chateau was estimated to cost over two million livres and was constructed in 63 days. Comte d'Artois kept the crews working day and night in shifts. Marie lost the bet. I wonder what she wagered. Maybe diamond necklaces or perhaps something more scandalous?