The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, and so, holidays fall on different dates each year in the Julian (solar) calendar.  Chanukah, the “Festival of Lights,” tends to coincide with Christmas, but this year, it is even closer to Thanksgiving.  So it was in early November that we dusted off the menorah and took out our wooden dreidels and decorative lights.  I ran over to Books & Bagels in Zürich, my source for all things Jewish during the holidays, especially cards and candles.  Chanukah plates, decorations, stickers, games – you name it, they have it (but I don’t actually recommend the bagels, sorry.).  Gold sachets of chocolate coins (gelt) and presents arrived in a care package from New York.  All was ready for the first night (of eight) at sundown on December 1st.

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Macarons in New York.  Frozen yogurt in Paris. And now… Cupcakes in Zürich.

Melanie Studer, originally from Basel, just opened the very first cupcake shop in the German part of Switzerland. (You can get your fix in the French part here or here.)  Despite having to spell out the word c-u-p-c-a-k-e and explain what it is each time someone calls her, she can’t seem to bake enough.  800 cupcakes left her small, pink shop in Zürich’s old town on opening day.  Having spent several years in the UK with her British boyfriend, tasting the treats at Primrose Bakery and a small, glittery bakery in Covent Gardens, she fell in love with these little cakes and especially their bright colors and fun decorations.

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A highlight of my visit to the Salon du Chocolat, and of my trip to Paris a couple of weeks ago, was tasting Franck Kestener’s chocolates in Paris.  I have been buying his bars at A L’Etoile d’Or in the 9th arrondissement for years, which used to be the only place you could get them in Paris.  Otherwise, the family business (since 1936) is in Sarreguemines in the Lorraine region of France.  Getting to his shop there may be as difficult as non-French speakers trying to pronounce the name of the town.  But neither are necessary, as he has just opened his first shop in Paris.  And like my news for us Zürchers that Ladurée opened in Zürich, this is some seriously sweet news for Parisians and any of us visiting the capital.

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Twas that time of year, when I found myself back on the TGV (high speed train) from Zürich to Paris with sweets on my mind.  You might think that after a few days of nonstop visits to pâtisseries, boulangeries and chocolate and sweet shops, I might be all sugared out. Not at all; I was just getting warmed up for the Salon du Chocolat, now in its 16th year, and with shows all around the world, even Cairo and Moscow.

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