Because of the number of photos I was juggling between the camera and the computer I could not download any new photos so I have refrained from posting any new stories. But it is all under control now, so I will attempt to catch up.
Last weekend I visited the “Salon Passion Chocolat et de la gourmandise” in other words: a chocolate show. From the onset I was irritated that they would make us pay to go buy stuff. In my mind you should pay for shows, for exhibits but not for commercial events. It is almost like paying to get into a shopping mall. And once inside you had to buy tickets if you wanted to taste various samples. Nonetheless, I paid and went in. A variety of chocolate makers and pastry shops had stands there. Not everyone was there obviously, and I could not help notice that Geneviève Grandbois was not there as she is, in my mind, one of the of pioneers of the “new” chocolate. She was one of the first to use and talk of chocolates from various origins, they were identified by their area of origin much like wines. She was the first to make chocolates with hot peppers, with tobacco leaves, with various herbs…She was also one of the first to use the “image sheets” to cover her confections. Now everybody does it.
In any case, I got there in time to attend a very interesting conference about chocolate followed by a chocolate hats fashion show! Now how many of you have ever attended ome of those???
The week before I took a little road trip to Hartford Connecticut. I expected boring and I found charming! The weather was lovely, the leaves were at their most colourful, even the sky wore red.
I had planned to visit two things: Mark Twain’s house and the Atheneum museum. And that’s exactly what I did!
The Mark Twain’s house visit was very informative (as I knew little about the man) starting by the fact that Mark Twain was not his real name, it is a nautical term used on the Mississippi river to indicated the depth of the water. His real name was Samuel Clemens. He was born in a poor family in Missouri in 1835. He tried his hands at printing and reporting as well as working on the river boats before marrying into a wealthy family. He was to become very famous mostly for his novels. He was not as successful at his business ventures and lost a lof of money. He had that grand house built and the family lived in it for 7 years before they had to close it up and go live in Europe as they could no longer afford to keep it running. While they was abroad one of the daughters who was visiting Hartford died in the house, there fore her parents never wanted to live there after their return to America and had yet anothe house builtelsewhere. But this one was lovingly restored and is a joy to visit. Besides the traditional tour there is also a kitchen tour, as well as 2 museums and a film on his life and work (he was a very handsome man and did not shy away from the camera. He was also very outspoken on a variety of topics which makes watching him very interesting) . I especially enjoyed listening to taped exerpts of his most famous books…
The next day I set out to vist the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Because they advertised guided tours but I was the only one there I got a private guided tour of the collection. I felt like royalty. My guide was a lovely very cultured woman who announced that she would talk in the language of the artists, so when in front of a painting by a French artist she would speak French about it, she switched to English or Spanish as we moved along… I spent the better part of the day in that museum stopping for lunch in their café (how come museums always have such nice food???). It made for another wonderful day, and it would have been perfect had not I gotten a parking ticket as well as a hubcap stolen…
I picked up brochures about several other points of interest and will gladly go back…especially since the shopping is very nice there too, they even have an L.L. Bean store!!!