Crafts and Chocolate....What a lovely pair
The Foire Internationale de Metz boasted a double feature this weekend: a craft fair and a chocolate expo. For the former, picture the old exhibitors' hall at DragonCon, comprised entirely of booths selling every kind of craft supply known to man. Rows and rows of quilt fabric, beads, scrapbook paper, stickers, art supplies, paper punches, cake decorating gadgets...if you can think of it, they had it. It was delightful, overwhelming, and unfortunately expensive, as everything in the EU is, so I was forced to curb my enthusiasm. I did weaken at the jazz-themed quilt fabric--I don't quilt, but for this I might make an exception.
This took up all my free time on Thursday--I got there early, after dropping Z off at school, to find a mob of French women "d'une certaine age" lined up at the entrance; apparently the first hundred people through the door got a free tote bag. I decided sitting down with a cup of tea and a pain chocolat was a better way to spend a half hour, so no free tote bag for me. I lost a good 90 minute wandering around the aisles, only noticing the time when I realized I was hungry. Luckily, the back of the room featured several food vendors, though the seating was a mob scene. Middle-aged French crafty women are fierce when it comes to defending a seat. After lunch, I got hooked into a painting workshop, where my final project--a painted and decoupaged glass tray--looked nothing like the beautiful exemplars on the booth walls, and more like one of Z's school projects. :P
I took Aaron back on Friday for the chocolate extravaganza. It was slightly smaller and less hectic than the craft fair, but also more caloric, as every booth wanted us to sample their wares. Chocolate, chocolate everywhere, plus nougat, caramels, macaroons, marshmallow, fudge, and some kick-ass cherry dessert wine, which we were simply compelled to bring home for further sampling. :)
Oh, and Aaron finally found canned iced coffee! We were able to find it all over Germany, but the French seem uninterested in cold coffee (not that I blame them). The company selling it was from Italy, alas, so no local source, but he bought a couple cans to take back to the apartment for caffeine emergencies.
This took up all my free time on Thursday--I got there early, after dropping Z off at school, to find a mob of French women "d'une certaine age" lined up at the entrance; apparently the first hundred people through the door got a free tote bag. I decided sitting down with a cup of tea and a pain chocolat was a better way to spend a half hour, so no free tote bag for me. I lost a good 90 minute wandering around the aisles, only noticing the time when I realized I was hungry. Luckily, the back of the room featured several food vendors, though the seating was a mob scene. Middle-aged French crafty women are fierce when it comes to defending a seat. After lunch, I got hooked into a painting workshop, where my final project--a painted and decoupaged glass tray--looked nothing like the beautiful exemplars on the booth walls, and more like one of Z's school projects. :P
I took Aaron back on Friday for the chocolate extravaganza. It was slightly smaller and less hectic than the craft fair, but also more caloric, as every booth wanted us to sample their wares. Chocolate, chocolate everywhere, plus nougat, caramels, macaroons, marshmallow, fudge, and some kick-ass cherry dessert wine, which we were simply compelled to bring home for further sampling. :)
Oh, and Aaron finally found canned iced coffee! We were able to find it all over Germany, but the French seem uninterested in cold coffee (not that I blame them). The company selling it was from Italy, alas, so no local source, but he bought a couple cans to take back to the apartment for caffeine emergencies.