Capsule Travel Paris, France, Chocolate & You
Life is made up of a few big moments and celebrations, a few big traveling excursions out into the wilds of the world, but those don’t make you who you are. Those big moments add a small amount of depth to your life’s resume, however it’s only the very smallest amount. The rest of life is made up of tiny moments of being brave, tiny thoughts, tiny ideas, tiny steps, tiny conversations, tiny voices so small, you wonder if anyone could ever hear. The tiny things are the ones you will remember and all of the thousands of tiny moments add up to YOU. No one else is you, you can’t be replicated and the world does indeed need you. I can’t help but shed a tear or two or ten, because even though I say these things, I need to hear them too.
I travel and I travel a LOT, sometimes more than I would like. Yes, the long conversations in the van are just what my soul needs, stopping into diners are just what my belly longs for and seeing parts of America most people don’t even know exist is amazing. Sometimes, I want to go and see what I want to see, for fun, because I want to, because I can. Right now though, I’m just too busy to travel for the sake of traveling, but I am not one to give up so easily. As you know, “where there is a will, there is a way” and that’s a motto I live by and so I bring you: “Capsule Travel”. So maybe it’s already clear what I am about to share, but capsule travel is a tiny moment of travel, one where you don’t even leave your home, but you experience a small piece of something unique that the world has to offer. My kick is always food, everywhere we go, I search out the very best the area has to offer and that is no different when it comes to capsule traveling. Paris, France is my #1 stop when the time comes for an actual visit, but watch I’ll wind up in South Africa first.
Since I dream of Paris being my first stop, it was fitting that we try a Paris classic: Maison Boissier. Boissier has been around since 1827 and makes candy classics, in classic containers that are pretty enough to line your display cabinets with. Maison Boissier makes a number of chocolate and fruity confections, but the sound of “crispy chocolate pearls” won in the selection process. From the moment you open your tin of crispy chocolate pearls, you notice the details, the tin is beautifully designed, the tape seal is wrapped in a way that removing it is a pleasant experience. Before you remove the lid, you tempt fate and give the tin a shake, noticing hardly any movement inside, you’re worried the chocolate might have melted into one solid piece. Removing the tin’s lid and removing the protective cushion paper reveals that each pearl is perfectly in place, packed to the brim. The tin is so full in fact, it’s hard to retrieve a chocolate pearl without many spilling out, you probably should have picked up those antique sterling silver sugar cube tongs at the antique market over the weekend. Oh, but it doesn’t matter!
The pearls gently plink down onto the surfaces outside of the tin and you quickly grab each one and pop them into your mouth. Crunch! That wasn’t what you expected, reminiscent of Crispy M&Ms, but pleasantly different, pleasantly smooth. Let’s try them again, one flavor at a time, the dark chocolate, the milk chocolate, the light chocolate and white chocolate, each so silky, so smooth and delicious. Somewhere inside, you’re still 4 years old and you want to try the perles craquantes another way, mixing and matching the flavor profiles of each chocolate trying to find the perfect ratio. Finally landing on two of each at the same time, making your mouth squeal in delight. Adults are too busy to put in that amount of effort, but children, there is magic inside of them. Good, there’s still sweet, innocent magic inside. You’ve only had three small handfuls of the Parisian sweet, but strangely you’re satisfied, you’re delighted in fact, a twinkle in your eye and a quiet happy giggle escapes. You place the protective paper back over the pearls and close the tin. You’re back, in your kitchen, on your couch, you’re not in Paris anymore, you’re home. That’s what a tin of Maison Boissier’s crispy chocolate pearls are, a moment, a memory, an experience.
Your life is made up of hundreds of thousands of moments, most of them are mundane and boring. Whether you are rich or you are poor, make sure you stop and take the time to smell the roses and every now and then breathe a little extra magic into your everyday with capsule travel.
