Strasbourg - Capitale de Noël

I've got Christmas fever. All I want to do is watch Elf, make gingerbread and listen to Christmas tunes. It probably helps that it's raining outside and I hate walking in the rain. Plus, all the lights are up in Paris now and the place near our apartment is sporting a lovely decorated Christmas tree. Perfect combo for a holiday home extravaganza n'est pas?

It all started with our trip to Strasbourg - the self-declared "Capitale de Noël".  As you know, we almost cancelled our weekend getaway because Copain was hit with the dreaded gastro the Thursday before we were supposed to leave. He decided that he wanted to power through (I'd like to think it's because it was our 7 year anniversary gift and that's how much he loves me, but it was probably because it was too late to cancel the hotel and the thought of giving away 100 euros was slowly killing him - even more than the gastro). 

We got up bright and early on Saturday morning to catch our train at the Gare de l'Est. Copain was moving verrrrry slowly, so I planned an hour to get to the station despite the fact that we live 15 minutes away, with metro connections. This was good planning on my part because feeling nauseous and smelly metro travel do not mix. We got to the Gare with plenty of time to do some magazine perusing, and I indulged in a second cup of coffee for the road. 

Homemade muffin, coffee, discount card for the under 30! Merci SNCF!

Cuisine de Cannes Cannes - Pain d'Epice Style!

After our trip to Strasbourg this past weekend, passing by windows and windows like this:

I decided that I absolutely HAD to make pain d'épice - gingerbread!  So I figured out how to make it myself in the teeny tiny cuisine de Cannes Cannes :-)

I've made gingerbread in France before, but I used honey because I couldn't figure out what molasses was called here, or where I could find it.  This time, however, I went all out and consulted my good friend Google.fr.  I found out that molasses is called mélasse in French and can be found in organic food stores, such as Naturalia. Check out my find:

I used a recipe that I found on the Allrecipes website - it's super easy and the gingerbread came out délicieux!  Check out the link here - merci Charles! The mélasse from Naturalia worked perfectly.  I made the gingerbread in muffin form because it's easier to take to work in the morning - I'm all about easy.  I also added apples and dried cranberries for some added kick. We've already eaten three just tonight - it's totally Copain's fault. 

Happy baking - they taste amazing hot out of the oven with a glass of cold milk - just like when you're five.  Bon appétit!

ps - I made it through Strasbourg with no, errrr, unfortunate events - merci antibacterial gel!!!

Copain - Monsieur Malade

Copain is malade. Super malade. Like had-to-come-home-from-work-and-has-been-on-the-couch-for-two-days malade.

What's worse: we have plans to go to Strasbourg for the Marché de Noël this weekend. Our train tickets are for tomorrow morning.

I asked him if he wanted to cancel, but he tells me that this bug he has should only last 24 hours.  It's what the doctor said when she came to our house yesterday - right after he heaved his guts up all over Paris on his way home from work.  Good times.