Two Bicerin, Per Favore

I am going to be traipsing around southern France and northern Italy for the first two weeks of June, so I was happy to see this post in the T Magazine blog today about Turin’s special version of a cappuccino: the bicerin. The Times says:

“The drink comes in a stemmed glass and is a precise layering of fine espresso, melted chocolate and rich steamed milk. Its sweeter, more youthful counterpart, the house’s caffè Baratti e Milano, is espresso prepared with whipped cream, chopped hazelnuts and gianduja, an indigenous chemistry of chocolate and hazelnuts that could outshine poor old Nutella on any sunny Turinese afternoon.”

Sounds pretty great, right? I’ve already made a note to stop by Baratti & Milano when I’m in Turin and I will be sure to order one of these! Let me know if you have other suggestions for what I should do around Vence, France, Monaco, Lago di Como, or Milan!

{from T Magazine}

Around the World in 80 Seconds

{from Kottke}

This would be ideal

I love the T Magazine blogs. They constantly show me interesting new things. For example, Alexandra Marshall’s post yesterday showed me my newest fantasy over which I shall obsess for the next two weeks: I want to move to Paris and open a cupcake bakery.

I am not a big Paris person. I know lots of people who are in varying degrees of love with Paris, but I have always been a London girl myself. My dad is British and I’ve lived in London and I just think it’s the bee’s knees and I have British citizenship and therefore I have an appropriate amount of stubborn disdain for anything French. I’ve been to Paris several times and I can understand the appeal. After all, fashion, art, food, and wine are four of my favorite things and Paris knows how to do all of those things extremely well. I’ve just never really clicked with La Ville-Lumière the way that I have with London and New York.

However, over the past year or so I’ve decided that I need to give Paris another chance. I don’t know if I’ve watched Ratatouille too many times or if Julia Child has brainwashed me or if my desire to read Proust in the original French is actually driving me insane, but I have an overwhelming conviction that I need to spend more time in Paris. And now, on top of all that, I find out that cupcake shops are a rising trend in Paris! If I were braver and more impulsive and had tons of money stashed away I’d be jetting across the Atlantic right now, furiously studying cupcake recipes, Parisian real estate trends, and French verb conjugations. Unfortunately that’s not the case, so I shall have to read about it in the Times instead.

{read Paris Sweets on the T Magazine Blog}