A brownie bite (or two or five) for the road
October 3, 2010 § Leave a Comment
You know you’re in Paris when you are sitting in an open café at 4 a.m. across the street from a Metro station that doesn’t open for another hour and a half, taxis are nowhere to be found and you’re eating a lackluster tarte tatin — nothing like the beauties to be found at patisseries in the morning — alongside a steaming cup of chamomile tea with a spoonful of miel from a tiny glass jar. Just when you’re considering walking the two miles home in your 4-inch heels, and the boys in the convertible on the corner are trying to beckon you into their car, promising to take you anywhere you want to go, a taxi pulls up. Turns out it is the same man who fifteen minutes ago passed by, already with passengers, and has since been telling desperate people on the streets that he was reserved, just so that he could come back to pick us up.
If there is one thing I have learned in this city, it is to always keep smiling. Even if the British woman selling her wares at the flea market, desperately trying to be French, pretends she doesn’t know what you’re talking about when you ask for directions and can’t get past the issue of “are you American?” in her obnoxiously condescending voice, keep smiling. Because someone somewhere will take notice and help you out.
And there are a lot of reasons to smile in this city. From drinking chocolate at a patio café where the waiter takes a long time to bring the check because il “ne veut pas qu’on parte” to sitting on the edge of the Seine with a huge dinner crepe, watching the tourist boats pass by, food chews at the roots of all emotion in this city. And hurrying through the Jardin Luxembourg with my classmates from Boulevard Raspail to Rue Fouarre to the next class is never better than with a couple sweet treats in your bag.
I made these little brownies bites with dulce de leche in the center, mostly because I needed to use it up and I was craving chocolate. Unfortunately, I ran out of chocolate so these weren’t as rich as I had hoped, but they were good nonetheless.
