As much as I love traveling through Italy, meandering through Paris in Autumn is also an unabashed delight.
I especially like it on stormy, overcast afternoons when the skies are dark and brooding and most people are indoors busy working, leaving the streets and parks almost deserted.
It’s my favorite time to wander through empty church yards, finding quiet nooks under sprawling trees to sit and write or stroll along gravelly lanes, happily crunching through mounds of burnished leaves.
The city seems hushed under a blanket of cloud and instead of the shrieks of children and honking of horns people withdraw for solitary walks, sitting alone on benches with books and maps, leaning back quietly lost in thought.
It is a rich solitude, not a sad or lonely one. A time when the cacophony of the world is muffled a bit, giving thoughts free reign to dance and explore and linger wherever they wish.
They are cozy sorts of days that demand wool pashminas and knee high boots, steaming parcels of roasted chestnuts, and diminutive cups of coffee at sidewalk cafes. Days when you can actually see and appreciate the tops of towers and apartment buildings because the glaring sun isn’t blinding you when you look up. The gray is a frame for the beauty of Parisian buildings and bridges, gates and shops, allowing you to notice details often missed when they have to compete with glittering sunlight and brilliant blue skies.
They do my heart good.
Just thinking about them makes me want to fill a notebook with pages of musings and ideas, plans and notions.
And it makes me want a bicycle just like this.
Although I can’t be in Paris today, I can still linger long over a hot cuppa and fill my journal with current dreams and sparks of inspiration.
These days my cuppa is a big white mug full of dandelion mocha.
Brewed like coffee it is made of roasted dandelion root – a wonderful blood purifier and cleanser full of antioxidants, A, C, D, E, & B complex, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, choline, and boron – a big scoop of raw cocoa and a drizzle of real maple syrup.
I love when healthy things taste marvelous and make you feel warm and happy.
What is your favorite thing to do on an overcast day?
Dandelion Mocha
serves two
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp organic roasted dandelion root
2 Tbsp raw cacao powder
1-2 Tbsp real maple syrup
coconut milk or regular milk if desired
Directions:
- Place dandelion root and cacao powder in 2-cup French press or tea pot and fill with boiling water.
- Let steep to desired strength, give it a good stir to work in the cacao, then pour through strainer into two cups.
- Sweeten and/or add milk and serve immediately.
On an overcast day I am content to write at the computer or curl up by the fireplace with a good book…in the autumn. In the summer you will find me outdoors.
A fireplace AND a good book? Oh, you’re a lucky lady, @disqus_2LQ5qLN5aY:disqus 🙂
Paris and mochas…they really somehow do feel like they go hand in hand!
Not traditional in the least, @joanneeatswellwithothers:disqus , but it makes me happy. 🙂
Oh my gosh this stole my heart this morning. I’m headed back to Paris next month for school and this is amazing timing. Thank you for sharing. Your posts are so beautiful Krista!
Oh how wonderful, @disqus_wRIRImsUMn:disqus !!! Wishing you an absolutely wonderful stay there. 🙂
I would stroll through Paris on a cloudy day, a snowy day, a rainy day a thunder and lightning day – you name it, I’m there. 🙂
You made me laugh this morning, @OrgasmicChef:disqus 🙂 You are quite right. There is NEVER a bad time to walk in Paris. 🙂
Oh I think I know just what you mean! Yes, there’s a somber beauty to Paris on such days. Now dandelion mocha….will have to try it!
http://mlleparadis.blogspot.com
A “somber beauty” – yes, that’s it exactly, @9d73767d10227efff04c7307e331304c:disqus 🙂
That drink sounds sooo delish! What gorgeous pics of Paris.
It is lovely, @GlobalButterfly:disqus 🙂 Pure comfort in a cup. So glad you like the pics. 🙂
Lovely photos of Paris Krista. Oh to have a walk around the city again. I love the sound of the dandelion mocha. It sounds so good for you 🙂
Thank you so much, @wanderingsheila:disqus 🙂 Perhaps when I make it to London, we will have to save our pennies and hop on a train to Paris for a couple of days of wandering. 🙂
Sounds like a brilliant idea Krista 🙂
🙂
Thank you for sharing all the gorgeous pictures! This Dandelion Mocha sounds intriguing! Can’t wait to try it out.
You are so welcome, @amy_tong:disqus I’m really glad you like them. 🙂 The mocha is unusual but delicious and I’m off to brew a cup now. 🙂
There’s a little company in Edmonton I’ve recently discovered called the Chocolate Doctors; their claim to fame is that raw chocolate is as healthy as it is delicious, as long as we don’t mar it with dairy and refined sugar and whatnot. It’s been a pleasure to prove them right 🙂 I’ll have to find a source for roasted dandelion root and give your mocha a try!
Thank you so much for telling me about them, @rachelfriesen:disqus I looked them up and am so inspired by the things they create. 🙂
How beautiful. I love enjoying a cup of tea and a good book on an overcast day. I so wish I could walk through the streets of Paris though! We’ve only visited in Spring, but I’m pining for fall. Thank you for sharing!
I love Paris in Spring too, @monet_anecdotesandapples_com:disqus 🙂 I hope you will get to experience it in the fall one day soon. 🙂
Your reminisces about Paris, take me meandering through my own memories of Paris. Memories with such clarity, they make my heart skip a beat. Thankyou for rekindling a trip down memory lane x
You are most welcome, dear @tanyalloyd:disqus 🙂 I’m so glad this renewed such good memories for you. 🙂 xo
wonderful shots
Thank you, @0b4464c1fa167ba38c2562e43f506c60:disqus 🙂
i love how you add recipes. Such a lovely add-on!
Thank you, @2a7d423bfbdd5a6a00753bd01ff3b8d4:disqus 🙂 Good food and drink are two of my favorite aspects of travel, so they just seem to fit, somehow. 🙂
Such a beautiful post, I would love to visit Paris someday. Interesting mocha too!
I hope you get to visit Paris one day very soon, @lizposmyk:disqus 🙂 I’d love to see your photos from your adventures. 🙂
Favourite thing to do? Sip hot cuppas and bake and read and be cozy with my loves. =) And now Paris is autumn is on my wish list, you make it sound so very wonderful and perfect to linger. That bike is delightful!
I just knew you’d love that bike too, @breannemosher:disqus 🙂
Great pics, K! Paris in spring and autumn is fantastic…I really should try it again sometime soon…
Yes, you really must, @UlyssesSRant:disqus 🙂 It is a marvelous place. 🙂
just beautiful and we have lots of dandelions so will try this out. Sam says it must taste diabolical or why put chocolate and syrup? He thinks he’s a comedian lol xxx
Oh that makes me laugh, @e8edd27f07cfca2aa11084630d6d3e74:disqus 🙂 It doesn’t taste that bad, honest, I just like it BETTER with chocolate. 🙂