February 20, 2004

Ooooh, I love La Droguerie! I was in Paris some months ago with my husband and visited the store for the first time. I had told him to bring a book because he was going to sit in one of the cafes around the corner and have some soup for 45 minutes while I looked. Well, I went in the store, took 5 minutes to get a sense, went to the cafe, handed him the guidebook and wished him a pleasant afternoon! I loved all of the projects and the trimmings -- I bought a ton of buttons and a couple of project kits (complete with ribbons, lace, buttons, braided leather for trim, etc) and it was only about $120 -- or the cost of yarn for a single sweater at the store near my house. Sigh... I miss it there....

Ooh Mexican hot chocolate is the best in the world! I've heard tell that there are stores in the Mission neighborhood in SF that sell it, but I've get to find it...so you go girl, seam and sip...crack that circ buckeroo.

Yum. Get those finishing endorphins goin' all over the place! I wish we had a place like that La Droguerie (pout) . . . I'm not even sure I was in one on my one trip to Paris - might've been, but prolly not. Don't recall lots of crafty stuff, just lots & lots of stuff of all descriptions. Crowded. Got an entertainment guide.

Let me just say: you are one nice sister!! I knit for my family, too - but one look at that fringe sets my head spinning! May the force be with you this weekend, and if you need more than chocolate, well....we'll understand ;) Bon weekend! Kathleen

Hi Becky, sounds like a fun little chocolate & finishing party! I hear cinnamon sticks make a nice stirring implement for hot cocoa too--but I have yet to try that. Have a good time with the fringe!

Chocolate you say? I have literally just eaten half a big bar of Lake Champlain Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffle. Feeling better now. Eating the whole bar would be piggish. Wouldn't it?

I am soooo jealous. There is nothing that sounds better than a little seaming party with Mexican chocolate - I make my own version from scratch on la stovetop..... You go girl - you are a knitting machine! I, unfortunately, am a working machine - hopefully this weekend I will be able to organize myself so that I can soon get the blog up and running. Knit for me, my sister!

Oooh! Hot chocolate and the chocolate poncho. How perfect! I can't imagine doing the three needle bind off for 100+ stitches. I did it for like 12 on a wrist warmer I made and I hated every minute. Why can't everything just be knit in one piece? Good luck with the finishing...I know it will be fabulous!

Ha, Abuelita. The chocolate of the grandmother.

I am now on a mission to find that Nestle's Hot Chocolate! yum!

I L O V E A B U E L I T A. It is the best hot chocolate in the world... I thought I was the only one who knew the joy of abuelita. Yum yum... I think I'm going to make me one right now! :0) BTW, snaps on that poncho... it looks awesome!

Abuelita has become so popular here in northern Colorado that the grocery stores all stock it in the Mexican specialties aisle. My Mexican friend told me that you have to whip it to a froth to make it authentic! I used my Braun hand mixer-thingy, but the Mexicans have a special kitchen tool for just that purpose. I'm still looking for one at the second-hand stores.

The Poncho looks lovely and the hot chocolate sounds sublime! I wonder if you can get that brand in the UK? I'll have to find out! I also love La Droguerie but since my French is incredibly limited I don't have the best of times in there! But they stock some simply fabulous items so I keep going back! :-)

I had the absolute best time at La Droguerie in November whilst visiting my friend. He has lived in Paris for 10 years and his french is impeccable. I got some lovely alpaca, a kit, buttons and some of those felted embellishments. Oh, I loved every minute of it. Unfortunately they gave me the wrong colorway for my kit but it is nice nonetheless. The queue is just so long there. I was online next to a lovely but very frustrated Irish woman. She left the store in a fit of despair--with nothing!! Oh, and we had delicious hot chocolate at Angelina's. I haven't tried Abuelita. I, do, however like the Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate with a nice McVitie's Digestive Biscuit. I would think you need a strong cup of hot chocolate to do a 3 needle bind off on that poncho! Can't wait to see it finished.

ok this is probably just a desperate attempt to make myself feel better about not having any abuelita chocolate in Britian but ok seriously Marks and Spencer's chocolate milk is AMAZING. Tastes like melted haagen daz. Good luck with the poncho.

Chocolat poncho....hot chocolat seaming party....it took me a minute to figure this out. I have come to the conclusion that you should adopt me as your sister. Really, I only have one other sister whom I'm sure wouldn't mind. The only problem is the coolness factor. I could be the geeky one. Ask your parents(-: ps My sincere condolences on the ripping of 30 rows. I wept for you (on the inside, of course)

I've never posted before, but i do love your site, becky! my absolute fave. i live in france viacariously! i just thought i needed to share with all of you chocolate lovers a special treat... there's a little chocolaterie in my neighborhood in new york city that sells the most decadent hot chocolate mix, and it comes in the prettiest little reusable tins - just right for all those buttons and things you buy at that cutie la droguerie. check out [mariebelle chocolates] - i swear you'll love it if you don't already know about it! you can buy from their website as well as a few others. it's worth the price, btw, and if you don't like chocolate (unfathomable, but okay!) they sell great teas in equally yummy tins as well.

ps - the poncho, like everything else you knit up, is fabulous!

Okay I am addicted to Chocolate ... and no one has told me about this hot chocolate. Where do I get some to feed my "other" addiction (the first being yarn)? can't wait to see the poncho ... and i LOVE my addi turbo's too.

I've had Chocolate Abuelita for as long as I can remember, and it will always be my favorite. I've had it with pieces of whole cinnamon in it...so good! I don't where it can be bought in Europe or in the States, although I have seen it in a few supermarkets that stock Mexican products. The Chocolate Abuelita I have wasn't bought here...it came over in my suitcase (along with other things like mole and tamarindo) when I returned from my trip overseas. If you can get your hands on some (you can do a search for sites that sell Mexican products online), this is how I make it: 1) Place about half a cup of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Add one tablet of chocolate. 2) Using a wooden spoon, stir chocolate until melted. 3) When chocolate is melted, place back on stove over medium heat. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. 4) When milk is almost to the point of boiling, remove from heat. Beat chocolate using a molinillo* until frothy. If you don't have a molinillo, you can use a wire whisk or hand beater. I prefer the molinillo because it's the traditional way. My grandmother used make Mexican chocolate from scratch, and she'd add raw egg to it right before she'd froth it up. It was her way of getting us to eat eggs. Plus, it creates extra foam. We could never taste the egg, by the way. I had no idea she did that until I caught her breaking open an egg into the chocolate, and she made me promise not to tell my siblings and cousins. Hee hee! * A molinillo is a carved wooden beater. Very decorative, and fun to collect. You can get an idea of what one looks like here: http://www.skinnyrabbit.com/imagenes/misc/molinillo.jpg

Oh, mole and tamarindo and chocolate in your suitcase! That reminds of when i lived in london, a displaced mexican, and was always bringing stuff like that back when i went home. I always wondered how i would explain mole if asked about it in customs! The poncho looks great, btw, your sister is a lucky girl.

Do you add extra sugar with your milk?

My 2 mexi-food must haves: Abuelita (por supuesto) Coronado (cajeta quemada... cajeta de lecha de cabra... mmmm, yum yum... [for those not familiar, it's a yummy caramel spread that's made from goat's milk! :0) ]) Being a super white girl from Iowa, who's been dating a hispanic guy for 4 years, I get to try out all the yummy mexi-foods I had never heard of before... but I admit, during family get-togethers when menudo is involved, I bring Hardees along... Anyway, you guys should definitely try out some coronado.

Dileri, I am ALWAYS bringing all kinds of stuff back. French customs never, ever check. I've brought frijoles bayos, mole en polvo, glorias [candy made from cajeta...try it, ms. amy], pepitas, you name it. My husband brought back dried chiles rojos, and my father in law planted the seeds. They live in the south and the weather just grew those chile plants up. I have a Mexican friend who lives in the same apartment complex I do, and she brings back bags of FRESH GUAYABAS whenever she comes back from visiting Mexico. Anyone who's smelled a fresh guayaba knows how pungent they are. Imagine how the suitcase smells when she gets off the plane. Hehe. Chelee, no sugar. You don't even have to add cinnamon, either. It's always in the Abuelita chocolate tablets.

Abuelita sounds amazing. Becky, that molinillo is so pretty! It looks perfect for making chocolate. ;)

becky! mistress of style, goddess of things that are good. here is a question...can i have the poncho? i love chocolate brown!! and another question...if not, can i come to your house and have some mexican hot chocolate? please???

Thanks for the in-depth info on the RIGHT way to prepare Abuelita, and for the name of the utensil (molinillo). Now I know exactly what to look for!! Kewl!

I can't remember how I ended up reading your blog, but your quick tips page is simply the best I've seen so far. I've been knitting since childhood and addicted to the Internet for years, but somehow the two didn't connect until two weeks ago, when I decided to buy the pattern for the Rogue hooded pullover which everybody seems to be knitting these days (but I bet I'm the only one who went for Bouton d'Or's Laïka yarn in black :). I had a hard time understanding the instructions in English and I wish I had found your blog then, I would have posted dozens of questions on French/English knitting instructions - but you're safe, I have more or less worked my way round it by now, with the help of a live journal knitting community and a bit of common sense. I live in Grenoble, but maybe one day we'll bump into each other at la Droguerie, I'm totally in love with this shop.

Ooooh, mexican hot chocolate.... yum! You are doing the finishing fiesta right. How exciting that you're seaming up the big poncho. Can't wait to see it.

I actually found Chocolate Abuelita in Kuwait. I couldn't believe it! =)

I'm feeling compelled to try to find this hot chocolate and sample it.

your seaming party sounds lovely, wish i could crash. speaking of seaming, this past weekend i took a great seaming class at stitches and learned some great tips from the instructor, margaret fisher. it was fab! becky (& others), ever been to a stitches conference/camp? they have some international meetings-- this year it's in GREECE! i can imagine nothing more heavenlike than knitting in santorini...sigh.

Hi Becky, I love your poncho. Well, I have "La Droguerie" down as one of THE yarnplaces to visit in Paris. It sounds amazing! My suitcases used to be quite full with groceries to bring back to the States from France [I was very careful to bring only authorized products...]. I must have had that face that screamed "French person bringing back food", because I always had to visit the "algriculture", but they always let me through with the entire content of my suitcase... Now, I find lost products locally, and I barely bring anything back, well, just a WHOLE lot of yarn... Caroline

While I don't doubt the goodness of Abuelita, I find the Kir Royale to be THE sew-up beverage of choice. 'Problem' is, once you've opened a bottle of bubbly, you can't let it go to waste, can you. That would be So Wrong. Perhaps this is why I sew up only one seam per Kir. The Fistful of Poncho is amazing. Quel drape. Quel couleur. Love, Kay