Creme Caramel in a Jar | Gu Banoffee | Bonne Maman Yaourt

The grocery stores in Paris were insane. Every single aisle was packed with the most delicious-looking food...it was very difficult to resist buying one of everything. 


Our favorite items to ogle were the refrigerated desserts usually be found near the yogurt/dairy products. Where you would normally find a meager selection of Jell-o and pudding cups in the U.S., we found an extensive selection of mousses, pot de creme, creme caramel, flan, creme brulee, etc. We couldn't resist trying:


Creme Caramel
We don't remember the brand, but this adorable glass jar held a much better pre-made grocery store creme caramel than many of the pricey restaurant versions we'd tried at home.

Gu Banoffee
We couldn't quite tell what this was just by looking at the package, but we could tell it would be delish. Inside were layers of buttery crust, chocolate ganache, creamy filling, banana and caramel. It was over-the-top rich and sweet. 

Bonne Maman Yaourt
Amid all the indulgences, we made an attempt at being healthy. Little did we know, this yogurt is also delicious. It was smooth and silky with a chunky, not-too-sweet berry layer on the bottom...and only 2% milkfat!

Sometimes we wish we could find these delicious desserts more easily at home. But, actually, it's a good thing we can't...because it would be devastating for our waistlines. 

Staying Cool

It's been HOT the past couple of weeks, but we Southeast Asians know all the tricks to beating the heat.

Thai Desserts
We've been on quite the Thai food kick lately, and were really excited to explore this Thai dessert shop.

We picked up a few treats to cool us down:

Thai shaved ice, a Thai che and some taro and coconut cakes

This may all look delicious, but to be honest, it wasn't. First of all, the shaved ice wasn't really shaved -- it was more like small chunks of ice that the guy scooped out of a bin. The toppings he added were super sweet and soaked through with a heavy syrup. And all that bright pink stuff? We have no idea what it was, but it was floral-y and really, really sweet. The che was just ok - nothing to write home about -- and the taro cakes were fresh, sort of chewy and sweet -- good overall, but maybe a bit heavy for that warm evening.

Dining Al Fresco
We decided to do breakfast on our "patio" (if that's what you can call the tiny nook of open walkway outside our apartment) to get out of the stuffy apartment and enjoy the mild morning weather before things got ugly. We were lazy so we made one huge portion and split it.  Less time cooking and cleaning!

You can probably see the bright blue sky, tall green trees and tall rolling hills much better than the food, which is the point. But the Soyrizo omelette and crusty La Brea Bakery roll sure was delish!

Coconut-Mango Gelatin
A huge tray of gelatin seems to be a staple at every family gathering. It's cold, refreshing and relatively healthy. Since e+j is our own family now, we made a huge tray for...ourselves. YUM!

The warm weather is probably going to linger for a while -- summer's not over yet! Stay tuned for more of our warm-weather shenanigans.  

Ferrero Gran Soleil

We picked up one of these things while in Sicily (you can see how it got beat up in our luggage).

There are all kinds of flavors, including limoncello, pistachio and hazelnut, but coffee seemed like a foolproof choice.

Without really knowing any Italian, we figured that it was some sort of dessert that you're supposed to freeze (it comes in room-temperature liquid form), invert and enjoy.

It'd been sitting in our freezer since the honeymoon by the time we decided to try it. We ripped open the packaging, inverted it over a dish and gave it a little squeeze.

Out came this shapeless, cold blob (upon Googling, we found out we were supposed to shake it before freezing). But it was smooth, creamy and heavy with espresso - a hybrid between ice cream, affogato and flan.

It was a great dessert, but an even better souvenir and escape back to some great memories. We can't wait to go back, load up our suitcases and try this again the proper way!