Sugarplum Cake Shop

Lychee and pear tea with a delicious fig square

While I have been reluctant to complain about the weather, I just have to ask: when is summer going to grace us with its presence?  It is the 13th June for goodness sake and I find myself yet again traipsing around Paris with a raincoat and umbrella.  

Wanting to make the most of the day in any case, I have gone on the hunt for a good coffee shop to read my book and do some study.  Yes... study... what I should be doing now rather than writing a blog post.  I did some research before my departure - namely reading a little blog that 'Olly has raved about since my arrival My Little Paris - to find a cool haunt for lunch and ended up selecting Le Bar a Soupes  - a little soup bar in the 11th and recently listed as one of the best in Paris.  I am not sure what happened to my brain but it took me ten times too long to find the place and when I finally arrived, there was a queue a mile long out of the door.  I am sure the soup is delicious but I decided it could not have been that good to warrant waiting in the rain.  So I trundled back down the street to Blvd Richard Lenoir - an old haunt of mine as my old host sister used to live nearby.  My timing was just right as the market was still going strong.  I found myself a fresh and more importantly cheap falafel wrap and went on my way.  

Still in search of somewhere warm and inviting, I have found myself in Sugarplumb Cake Shop in the 5th.  It is a quaint little American cake shop serving old school cakes and biscuits.  It is buzzing with young people studying and catching up with friends.  The waiter isn't helping with my studying - he has a voice like God... or more like Keanu Reeves.  It has taken me about 45 minutes to work out who he reminded me of and I am mightily relieved I have sussed it out.  Three middle age women from Perth came in a moment ago to share a pot of tea and they were quite hysterical.  In addition to laughing their heads off about the 'menu' scandal in Australia, upon their departure, one leaned over to me and said: "Why don't you have a crack at him.  He is gggooorrrgeeeoouuuss".  I had a chuckle and then turned a nice shade of fluorescent pink as I noticed him glancing in our direction at that very moment.  It didn't help that this was a bi-lingual cafe and English was his mother tongue.

Anyway, I must get off the computer and start brushing up on my maths.  Sadly I am not brushing up on my maths to calculate bulk recipe quantities...this is for something more serious...as in....what to do once this holiday concludes.

Falafel goodness