Bonjour French Market Friends,
This week in Paris, the Elysees Palace, was rocked with the news of the resignation of the latest 
PM, who has served 21 days so far. As far as I can understand, the current government is a coalition between the central economics focussed Macron group and other smaller groups. Apparently, when the brand-new PM announced his cabinet selection, one coalition party did not 
like a Ministerial nomination so they backed out of the coalition, thereby collapsing the coalition, which meant the collapse of the current government. President Macron is facing an increasingly challenging task to build a new government that will hold together until the big Presidential elections in 2027. On the brighter side of things, La Poste, the French Post Office have launched a special edition stamp, wait for it…celebrating the butter Croissant, the stamp apparently, even has a slight the smell of a croissant. The concept is the celebration of France’s favourite Viennoiserie, celebrating its light airy texture, its golden crust and delicate flavour of butter. 594,000 stamps were printed, and these are only available in a few post offices. Apparently, it also made the offices smell great and collectors are busy buying them.
If you cannot get to France to buy some of these truly unique stamps, remember that you can buy 
our genuine French frozen croissants here and bake them at home. They will taste much better than the stamps! The reputation of our frozen croissants has spread so far that I have even been asked to get some up to Mozambique. Unfortunately, we can only deliver the frozen stock around Cape Town and Johannesburg, at this stage.
The year has raced by, and we are now in October, and our Christmas stock has already started 
to arrive, it’s crazy. We have the amazing Baci chocolates back in stock, in bags, boxes and little 3 packs. These are beautifully made Italian chocolates. The word Baci means Kisses. and each little chocolate has a little love note that accompanies the chocolate. You don’t have to wait to Christmas to buy them.
As we race towards the party season there is a new product that we can make 
available on pre-order for you. These are boxes of 30 bite sized canapes, with 5 different flavours. There are several different selections, savoury, or sweet, or a combination. There is even a vegetarian option. They include tasty treats like salmon and beef, and a decadent selection of sweet treats. They are the answer to easy entertaining, and I really recommend them. Let me know if you would like more details and I can supply you quotes and all the options. This image shows the box of prawn, salmon, beef, duck and veg selection. The price for this selection of 30 bite sized canapes is R1,270.
Our Frenc
h cheese selection, or certainly the aroma of the cheese, continues to entice clients into our beautiful little shop, and as we head to the entertaining season when the entire world remembers that our city is the most beautiful place in the world, do remember that we can also do cocktail platters for events of any size. In July we did cheese platters for the French Consul’s Bastille Day event where we served several hundred guests. We have other requests for just a small group of friends getting together. We can create a platter of bite sized pieces of cheese from any selection that you like, we can deliver it to your door If you are within an hour or so of Cape Town. We can go further afield, but then you would need to do your own slicing. We can also source cutlery, crockery, flower arrangements etc. Just ask and we will curate it for you.
For my recipe this week I am sharing with you a light canape (cocktail snack) to serve with drinks, especially if this is before dinner, because guests can lose their appetites if they have too 
much before the meal. Also good for guests who are watching their carb intake as the cucumber base makes a great substitute for a bread 
or pastry base. This canape is quick and easy, using cucumber bases topped with a mixture of avocados and cream cheese, topped with caviar which we have in stock at the shop. It takes only a few minutes to assemble, looks most attractive, and tastes great. You can substitute the caviar with our Keta wild salmon pink roe, or the Black Lumpfish roe instead of the caviar. See recipe below. Pair this with a glass of Louis Roederer Rose champagne, it is delicious and its available in our shop.
I wish you a relaxing, warm and sunny weekend.
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team