I know I know, all you sailors out there would wish to see a bit more of the boat projects and such but bear with me for a while as we are in a very messy (literally) situation right now when our to-do-list seems longer than that one we started on for one year ago and we are supposed to begin our ocean crossing in about ... 24 hours.

Le Pastis d'Amelie is a cake that Alex sisters friend Nico sent home with us from France and it is one of the most delicate piece of pastry that I have ever tasted. It is from a special bakery in Mazerolles outside of Pau which nowadays are so famous for this round, sweet cake that they only have these on their baking list. When you take a bite of this buttery, creamy dream of a vanilla cake, you instantly get transported to the cake heaven beyond any you've ever visited before. I swear, it feels like you're hallucinating when having the pleasure of having this mixture on your tongue. It is simply ridiculous how buttery one cake can be and I'm mourning in this very moment as we've just finished the grand cake of 700 g this morning. I will definitely have to try putting together something similar asap.

Some other food notes from Las Palmas: I never thought that living with a Frenchman would mean that I would eat this much of foie gras, I think that we two together have eaten around 1 kilo (2.2 US pounds) only since NYE and let me tell you that that is some serious amount of goose liver. My only problem now is to figure out how to get rid of these many extra pounds which these cakes and livers have meant to my body. And somehow that has to get done before I get over to the Caribbean. Will keep you posted. /Taru