My Deliciously Parisian Inspiration

It's not until you realise you might just be a creative person that you realise how much inspiration you're surrounded by - that's becoming my experience anyway!

Inspiration
On a recent trip to Paris I was struck by how much this city loves it's desserts, treats and fancies. Having been on my healthy eating journey for so long, I would normally look the other way at them. Not because they're not exquisite to look at, because they are. No, usually these days it's because I find them so sweet, my teeth start to rattle!

But, as they say, a girl can still look - especially when it's certain kinds of eye candy! ;)
Here's some pictures of the desserts that inspired me the most.

I love how perfectly exquisite these desserts are! The detailing on them is second to none, and of course they've made them look like the ultimate in indulgent treats. As it was Paris, the ingredients were all in French, but I didn't need to know French to know it would have been full of the usual stuff that I avoid.

​"Mission Obsession"
So, my next "mission obsession" then became  how do I create something this exquisite looking, that's free of most allergens and chemicals but still tastes as good as it looks? After many hours of obsessive searching, I found the little cardboard discs the desserts are sitting on online, but I still couldn't figure out how to get those perfectly straight edges.

After more hours of obsessive searching, I found out how pastry chefs create them. It's by using something called acetate collars or sheets. These are strips of acetate used by top pastry chefs and bakers to give baked or crafted goods a perfectly straight edge.

​There are lots of suppliers of them, but few are good, many are bad, and some are downright ugly! That's where reading reviews if they're available is a must. This will really help me up my game when it comes to my catering service. They will also become an essential piece of kit when making my large cheesecakes too (picture on the right), allowing me to work without worrying about how the filling is going to behave.

As you probably know by now, for me Abundance Foods it's not just about creating products. I have to try to create them not only in a safe way, but in a sustainable way too. So I was also looking for a high standard of quality too, and the one this company makes fits the bill. 

Sadly, they're not made from recycled acetate, but one of the qualities they don't mention is the other use of the acetate sheets when you've troughed your cheesecake. Because they're quite thick, you can wash them (or licking would be better), then use them for crafting projects like stencilling!

Much of my time in Paris was spent dreaming about my Abundance Foods dessert parlour! This is the place that currently only exists on my vision board...but - "Believing Is Seeing"! It will be completely plant-based of course, and will stock my fresh desserts just like in the images above, truffles and treats and you'll also be able to get them to takeaway too, of course too! The currently worsening retail situation for bricks and mortar premises is just a minor hurdle - I've put it out there to The Universe, so it will happen, one way or another!

Fluid Art
I did get in a fair bit of site seeing as well in Paris though, and as well as the usual spaces, I for the first time attended the Atelier des    Lumieres, Paris's first digital art centre. The idea is that rather than just looking at static art, you immerse yourself in it's fluid form (well that's what it means to me anyway). Click on the video to see what I mean. This piece very much reminded me of my Tree of Life logo, and how it's inspired my unfolding creativity, and the music of course inspires peace in me.