Yes, holidays have finally arrived. After the months of pretty much only swimming, eating, working and sleeping, myself and Mr HforT have headed off to the South of France for 10 days.  Wi-fi has been a bit patchy hence the late post. The weather here has not been as good as it has been at home in Ireland though so we have been spending time otherwise spent sitting in the sun checking out the French patisseries. Mr HforT is renowned for his sweet tooth so this is his kind of heaven. They sure know how to make cakes and pastries here, I don’t know how the French are not fat, it defies belief. There are 4 patisseries serving cakes and pastries like the ones in the picture within 100yards of our apartment in Antibes and there are queues every morning in them all with people buying bread and / or cakes.  The ones in the picture are the mini-pastries which are €1.20 each! Mini lemon tarts, lemon meringue pies, opera cakes, millefeuille, éclairs, fruit tarts, custard & raspberry tarts etc. Then they also sell all the same ones in the bigger /  normal size  for around €3 so if you really like one you can indulge big-time. I don’t normally eat much in the way of sweet things (dark chocolate excluded) as I prefer savoury, but these just cannot be resisted. They have just got to be tried. I cannot imagine why anyone here would bake at home when you can buy such exquisite sweet treats so readily. No wonder all the best pastry chefs train in France. I won’t be posting a recipe for any of these any time soon but I do have a fabulous recipe coming next for a gluten-free Chocolate Olive Oil cake which is worth waiting for. Bon vacances!