It’s Sunday afternoon, by now I should have been to my yoga class, gone to the market and cleaned up my studio. Have I done any of that…no. I’ve only just rolled out of bed and that’s not because I was out clubbing to the morning hours…The last 2 weeks have been quite hectic with all the goings on at ‘La Cocotte’ plus I have another 3 other part time jobs, so I thought I deserved a lie in.

We had a book signing this week ‘Plaisirs du thé’ being the theme. We served tea matcha meringues and cake with fruity tea cocktails. Very very sorry we were bombarded (there was a mention on Le Figaro’s website) and I didn’t have any time to take any photos. We should be having another book signing this Thursday (do pop by if you’re around).

Anyway as I said last week, I’m trying dulce de leche recipes. ‘Dulce de leche marshmallows’ is what I came up with this week. I’ve always wanted to try and make marshmallows. Back in the ‘olden days’ they used the root of the marshmallow plant (hence the name) to make them, you won’t be needing any of that in this recipe. My version is a lot lighter on the sugar and more airy/’mousse’ like texture. They best when they’re cold. If you don’t like dessicated coconut, you could roll the marshmallows in a mixture of icing sugar and corn starch.

I’ll be taking some of these to munch on, while I drool over Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom at the cinema.

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Welcome to La Cocotte! The tastiest bookshop in Paris. Based in the 11th arrondissement of Paris on rue Paul Bert we add another flavour to the already quite ‘gourmande’ street. Le Temps au temps, Unico (I had a delicious dinner there this week), Bistro Paul Bert…are just a few of the excellent restaurants on the same street.

La Cocotte [kɔkɔt] 1 nf A cute, slightly cheeky combination of a bookshop, a boutique for unique household objects and a tea salon.

The shelves are laden with various different books from all the big French names: Escoffier, Ducasse, Bocuse, Sophie… to the more unusual titles (Food manga anyone?) you’re find it here. You’re also find beautiful books on design/photography/architecture, fiction…the list goes on. Each book always ‘taste’ related though.

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My fridge is stuffed with copious amounts of Dulce de leche or as the French say ‘confiture de lait’ at the moment. I am researching into various ways of using the stuff (any suggestions welcome). We already use it in our ‘coquetines’ (Argentinian biscuits) we make at La Cocotte. I tried making dulce de leche financiers this week. Not too bad, need to work on the recipe. I’ll post it once I get it right.

The other day I came across Seven spoons Food blogging event: ‘Sugar high Friday: shades of white this got me thinking of white combinations to go with dulce de leche. Coconut felt like a natural pairing as the original Argentinian biscuit recipe for ‘coquetines’ uses desiccated coconut. I always thought desiccated coconut looks like snowflakes (hence the title). I made these with the help of my lovely assistant Lois (one of the kids I look after). She used a spoon of nutella instead of the dulce de leche and decorated her’s with coloured hundred and thousands.

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