#Domevember #TheGreatBigBiscuitDebate Featuring Janie Millman

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If you procede into Janie Millman’s snack piece, let this warning stand as A HUGE WARNING!
A) you will immediately take to the cupboards in search of snacks and

B)You will want to love Chez Castillon with Janie…how she managed to write 2 such wonderful books in a house whose liubrary overlooks a Chocolatier is, quite frankly, a miracle!

She is a stone cold goddess and I love this piece, thank you Janie!

Her wonderful books are both available here

TO SNACK OR NOT

To snack or not to snack – there is no question – it is not nobler in my mind to suffer the pains

and sorrows of outrageous hunger!

I love to snack – in fact sometimes I think I would prefer to graze all day rather than have meals – maybe I was a cow in a previous life – it could be possible – all things are possible and frankly it would make quite a lot of sense.

I live in France and therefore the snacking possibilities are endless but dangerous. It has to be said though that most French don’t snack – they are sensible and have three decent meals every day but where is the fun in that?

I usually try and start work at 6.00am giving myself a couple of solid hours in which to get words down before the ‘day starts.’

I write in our library which is at the front of our house which overlooks the tiny street and the ‘Chocolatier.’

It is a stupid place to write.The smells emanating are impossible to ignore.

I try and stave them off with a mint tea and sesame snap. I am actually very partial to a sesame snap and convince myself that they are indeed healthy – which they sort of are.

Sometimes I will just have a digestive with my tea. I never really ate that many digestives when I lived in the UK but because they appear so rarely on the supermarket shelves here in rural France they have become something of a delicacy and if ever a packet of chocolate digestives makes an appearance then we hang out the bunting and celebrate for a week.

However by the time I am about 600 words in and have moved on to coffee the scent of fresh croissant and crusty baguettes are proving way too much and my resistance is low.

Sometimes I have a mini croissant or pain au chocolate– a single bite that melts in your mouth- the perfect snack.

If for whatever reason I don’t manage to get words done in the morning then I often write in the garden with the late afternoon sun tickling my shoulders. Then I’m inclined towards an ice cold beer with some crisps or peanuts ….or both.

However for me the absolute all time luxury ‘King of snacks’ is something I was introduced to as a teenager when staying with a French family in Casablanca. It is something I have never forgotten.

This is what I’m talking about – I’m talking a warm baguette with salty butter melting into

the golden dough, sweet acacia honey lightly drizzled on top and a bowl of frothy hot chocolate by your side.

And then my friends you dunk the whole damn glorious mouthwatering ensemble into that steaming bowl. It is orgasmic, it reaches parts of your body you never knew existed.

You will never taste anything quite like it – you will be an addict forever and you have me to blame.

You’re welcome.”