Europain!

When chef told us about Europain in the first week of class, I had no idea what to expect. "A fair for bread and pastries??"

A handful of us took the RER all the way up toward the airport, getting off at "Parc des Expositions." It was the first morning of the fair and so luckily I had registered online beforehand and got to skip past the other enthusiasts. This place was huge: 4 exhibition halls, all taking us about 6 hours to go through, samples and photos included. We started with some delicious gelato and ate our way through chocolates, colorful pastries, confectioneries, and ended the journey with an assortment of bread.

mmm - what a way to start the morning!

a couple of the many displays promoting verrines (little layered desserts in glass cups)

a cute display booth

striped chocolate sticks

another brightly colored display with ribbons, boxes, and tissue paper

multi-colored chocolate dragées

machine that coats candies in chocolate


the flow of chocolate was unbelievable

beautiful chocolate piece


too pretty to eat


free croissants? who can't resist?


fur-lined cases with space bubbles to display the goods... don't know how I feel about that


macarons - all colors of the rainbow and enough to last a lifetime!

tables with samples of bread to enhance potential clients' experiences... and ours as well

one of the most delicious cheese breads that I've ever had... warm, soft, and so cheesy

I left the fair with a couple free baguettes, numerous samples of other bread, magazines for those in the industry (including one called "France Snacking"), two different sized Silpats (cheap!), and a tummy satisfied for the rest of the weekend :)