It's almost Valentine's Day, after all.

As an antidote to my recent, what might (wrongly) be considered morose, focus on the Conciergerie, I offer sweetness and light through this Ladurée display.  Never let it be said that I'm only interested in the dark side....

Macarons melt in your mouth.  They taste like airy wafers covered by more dense, slightly hardened cotton candy.  But, less sugary sweet.  Well, they're hard to describe, so you'll need to taste them yourself, as many of you surely have. There's a Ladurée shop, in Soho, near Micah, if Paris is too far to go.

Or, if you prefer chocolate....

The royal chemist, Sulpice Debauve, concocted a sugar and chocolate treat to mask the taste of medicine for Marie Antoinette.  His creation was so well-received that he invented new variations and, in 1800, just after the end of the distinctly unpalatable French Revolution, Debauve opened his first shop and became the favored chocolatier through decades of kings and emperor.

The Paris location, next door to my favorite Paris hotel, l'Academie, was built by Napoleon's official architects in 1819 and is classified as a French national monument.  It's still family owned and in operation.

 ~ from $143, for the thirty-five piece box, up to $650 for the box of one hundred seventy-six ~

The Dubai location of Debauve et Gallais looks like it was designed by the Queen herself.