BON{JOUR} APPETIT...

I am so glad I have a cold. (Although I feel sympathy for whoever has to sit next to me on the Eurostar tomorrow surrounded by my snotty tissues.) Because when I have a cold I have a BIG appetite. And what better city to eat your way through than Paris? Mmm creme brulee, oh fromage. Artichoke soup at Le Fumoir that is nothing more than a bowl of artichoke infused cream.

Let's face it, as everyone and Karl Lagerfeld knows, fashion and food are somewhat uneasy bedfellows. For God's sake I actually know people who think picking at a punnet of raspberries before pushing them away is "so filling" at lunchtime. Usually in Paris I allow myself a few little treats, but this time I don't care. I'm going for it. It's all about food. I'm going to have a croissant for breakfast every day, perhaps two.

Don't be alarmed, but due to my recent purging of clothes (see below) I don't really feel like shopping. Well, maybe just a leeetle bit then. But no compulsively going on a mission to all three Vanessa Bruno stores and both Isabel Marant stores just in case they have different stock. Ditto the other usual suspects. That wastes valuable Tarte aux Poires (which I find really hard to pronounce) time. I will swap my allegiance to these temples of style for other, tastier temples. Those of Laduree and Pierre Herme. I am determined to settle once and for all, based solely on flavour, all snobbery aside, which one makes the best macaroons. It is, I think you'll agree a tough challenge, but I will valiantly do my best to return with an answer.

I can't wait to go to Monoprix and buy my very favourite vanilla brebis yoghurts in the little glass jars with the stamped foil lids, and to the bakery to buy the good bread. Also somewhat un French I can't wait to go to the lovely Swedish Cultural Centre cafe where it's all light and bright and full of smiley blond people. Cinnamon buns they are a calling me.

And of course I can't wait to finally try the chocolat chaud at Angelina. This will be the equivalent of my visiting the Louvre for the first time on my 18th visit to Paris, though I'm sure it will be far, far less boring. Thank you so much for your recs, I have them all written down in my trusty notebook. Talking of which, I won't be taking my laptop - I'm only away for a few days so I will rely on that quaint old fashioned practice of scribbling in my notebook with a pen and taking beaucoup photos. I'll be waddling back on Sunday to tell you all about it...

A bientot!