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Choopy's Cupcakes and Coffee Shop

Fangirl moment …

September 20, 2013 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

If it’s Friday, it must be France … Really? It’s Friday again? So soon? It’s been a busy, wonderful week in Nice (with the usual side trips that are so easy to do here …) but somehow I’ve even managed to get in some work on my WIP. * doing a happy dance* We’ve got an early train to catch to Toulon and then a quick ferry ride to beautiful Saint Mandrier tomorrow to visit friends for the weekend. So this will be brief! I just wanted to share my total fan-girl … okay, but fan- lady  just doesn’t have the same ring … moment with you. After spending the day in Antibes – and it was SO good to be back there – catching up with Heidi at the Bookshop and Julie and Victor at Choopy’s and good friend Antonia, my DH and I hopped on the train back to Nice to meet up for an apèro with Ted and Joan Jones. Ted is the author of The French Riviera ~ A Literary Guide For Travellers. If you spend time in this part of the world, you need to have this book with you.  Trust me!  Click here for a post all about the book that I wrote when we were staying Antibes two years ago. All I want to say right now is that it was a distinct pleasure to meet Ted, at long last, and Joan as well! I even got his autograph!

Meeting Ted Jones!
Meeting Ted Jones!

What are you up to?  Bon weekend!

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Filed Under: Author Promotion, Blog, France, If it is France... Tagged With: Antibes, Choopy's Cupcakes and Coffee Shop, France, Heidi's English Bookshop, Nice, Patricia Sands, Saint Mandrier, Ted Jones, The French Riviera A Literary Guide for Travellers, The Promise of Provence, Toulon

Romance and Cupcakes

March 15, 2013 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Last Friday I had the immense pleasure of keeping company withDSCN0821-300x232 the talented and oh-so-sociable writers who host the Romance and Beyond blog.  Sherry Isaac, Sharon Clare and Carole St.-Laurent are women with a zest for life and a talent for writing stories that go straight to our hearts.

They invited me to write about how I became so obsessed … er … how I first discovered the romance of France. Magnifique! As you can imagine, they only had to ask once!

Here’s a little taste – un petit goût!

PreviewScreenSnapz003-e1354846241360

Antibes-Be still my heart!
Antibes-Be still my heart!

First of all, full disclosure: I love France. I love everything about France. I need to state that right up front. To me, everything about that country oozes romance. When I am in France my senses are embraced and caressed by the romance in the scenery, the architecture, the food, the wine, the sea, the language. I’m a fool for love there and I can’t help myself. If you didn’t know this about me before, you do now.

It all goes way, way back.

For the rest of my guest post, please click here to be transported into an enticing world of romance.

To make your visit there even more pleasurable, I’m serving up some scrumptious virtual strawberry cupcakes. Be careful though, they are addictive!

Choopy's famous, very own, strawberry cupcake
Choopy’s famous, very own, strawberry cupcake

from Choopy’s, my favourite coffee shop in Antibes. Bon appetit!

Choopy's Cupcake and Coffee Shop, Antibes
Choopy’s Cupcake and Coffee Shop, Antibes

Is there a special place in the world that defines romance for you? Is it far afield or in your own back yard?

Thank you to all the readers who clicked here and sent me their e-mail address to be entered in the giveaway of  my new novel, The Promise of Provence.Release date-early April 2013 I can’t tell you how satisfying it was to see how many of you are already looking forward to reading it! The draw will be held on March 31 so there is still time for everyone to enter. We are chugging along to a publication date in the first week of April.

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Filed Under: Author Promotion, Blog, France, If it is France... Tagged With: Antibes, Choopy's Cupcakes and Coffee Shop, France, Romance and Beyond, The Promise of Provence

Choopy’s Cupcakes and Coffee Shop

August 17, 2012 by Patricia Sands 6 Comments

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Mon Dieu, what a day I’ve had! There’s malware in my Hotmail apparently sending messages to everyone in my address book that I’m in distress in Greece and need money! It took a few hours of phone calls to Microsoft for them to figure out why I couldn’t access my Hotmail account. Now I will have to wait another 24 to 48 hours before I can get back in.  If you happen to receive one of those messages rest assured I’m not in Greece! You know me, I’d rather be in France!

We were up north visiting friends at their beautiful cottage for three days this week and without internet service. I’m now paying the price with overflowing blog and social media matters to take care of.

So I’m taking the easy way out this week and reposting this piece from last year about one of my favourite places in Antibes and the delightful young couple who make it happen. If you are anywhere in the neighbourhood, drop in to see Vincent and Julie!

HERE IT IS:

I love success stories, don’t you? The reason I’m a little late posting this is because I took a few hours this evening to watch the movie The Help with my DH. As well as being an important and well-told story,  author Kathryn Stockett’s backstory about writing The Help is one everyone should hear. It’s a true success story.

She received 60 rejections over a five-year period before one brave agent with an eye for a good story saw the truth in it. Click here to read it from my archives, in case you missed it. She’s hilarious and her personal journey is inspiring to all of us who believe in our writing.

Okay, I’m getting off topic … as I do … this post is about France and it’s about success. It’s about a young couple I met in Antibes whose story also inspired me.

Meet Julie and Victor, the owners of Choopy’s,  who are natives of nearby Nice and about as sincere and delightful a young couple as you could ever hope to meet. This warm and welcoming shop is in the old town of Antibes, through a short archway off Rue de La République.

I have to admit I’m not a true coffee drinker, unlike my DH who is an espresso afficionado.

I am … full confession here … a faux-coffee drinker. I need chocolate in it . Give me a Café Mocha or a Moccacino and I’m in heaven. I appreciate how seriously the French take their café and I know it’s kind of bad manners to even think of having anything but a café (i.e. espresso) or a café crème so I had been pretending for several weeks that I was cool with that (plus a LOT of sugar). But I wasn’t.

So … Choopy’s was new and had a cosmopolitan ambiance AND they had free wifi – bonus! I wandered in one day to see if possibly they might have one of these North American aberrations on their menu. They didn’t. “Pas de problème!” said Victor with his wonderful smile. “Explain what it is and I’ll make you one.” I did and he did. Magnifique!

Julie, a beautiful and engaging young woman, is a graduate of a prestigious 5-year culinary program. Vincent has a degree in business and finance. Soon after graduation they began working. It took no time for Julie to realize she wanted to be in contact with people and Vincent knew he preferred baking cakes to crunching numbers. Their quest began to figure out just what it was they could do to make this happen.

Like so  many other young people, they packed up and had an adventure working and traveling in Australia and Bali. All the while they were on the lookout for something that might be a sign as to what sort of business they should open. It didn’t take long for the sign to appear and surprisingly it was in the shape of … CUPCAKES! 

It seemed as if every coffee shop in Australia also served cupcakes. Mon Dieu! Qu’est-ce que c’est? Who had heard of cupcakes in France?  Not many. You can find more types of pastries in France than practically anywhere else in the world … but not cupcakes!

Visiting cupcake bakeries in Australia before they left, they were convinced that this was their future.  A bit of research back home indicated only one bakery in Paris was making cupcakes. Amazing. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t enjoy a good cupcake … or two?  Julie has become a cupcake goddess and every kind I sampled through the summer was über-delicieux!

Along with the ever-changing selection of cupcakes there are several other equally delicious choices to accompany your coffee. Victor’s banana bread with it’s mouth-watering crunchy topping has already established it’s own reputation.

Lunches and Sunday brunches are also served with all ingredients fresh from the daily market. Get there early as the space fills up quickly. The word has spread and this bright, hard-working and absolutely delightful young couple are seeing their business become a most successful venture.

It was always a pleasure to stop in and see how busy they were. Their energy and commitment to their business is evident in everything they do. Customer service is their focus and after just a few months it was obvious they were becoming a very important part of the charming old town in Antibes. Never too busy for a smile and a friendly exchange, make sure you stop by the next time you are in the neighbourhood!

The strawberry cupcakes are to die for … but then, so are the chocolate … and  … um, well, the Cupcakes De Noël are out now too. Just try them all!

And ask them how they decided upon the name of their shop … very cute …

Here’s their Facebook link. Stop in and “like” them – they deserve it. Merci beaucoup!

What are some success stories that have inspired you? Have you ever done your homework, taken a big breath and begun something completely new and different in your life? Would you do it again?

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Filed Under: Blog, France, If it is France... Tagged With: 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist, 2012 Indie Excellence Book Awards - Finalist, Antibes, Choopy's Cupcakes and Coffee Shop, Cote D'Azur, cupcakes, follow your dreams, French Riviera, friendship, Indie Reader Discovery Awards Finalist 2012, Kathryn Stockett, The Bridge Club, The Help, the power of friendship, the value of laughter

Choopy’s Cupcakes and Coffee Shop

December 10, 2011 by Patricia Sands 15 Comments

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

I love success stories, don’t you? The reason I’m a little late posting this is because I took a few hours this evening to watch the movie The Help with my DH. As well as being an important and well-told story,  author Kathryn Stockett’s backstory about writing The Help is one everyone should hear. It’s a true success story.

She received 60 rejections over a five-year period before one brave agent with an eye for a good story saw the truth in it. Click here to read it from my archives, in case you missed it. She’s hilarious and her personal journey is inspiring to all of us who believe in our writing.

Okay, I’m getting off topic … as I do … this post is about France and it’s about success. It’s about a young couple I met in Antibes whose story also inspired me.

Meet Julie and Victor, the owners of Choopy’s,  who are natives of nearby Nice and about as sincere and delightful a young couple as you could ever hope to meet. This warm and welcoming shop is in the old town of Antibes, through a short archway off Rue de La République.

I have to admit I’m not a true coffee drinker, unlike my DH who is an espresso afficionado.

I am … full confession here … a faux-coffee drinker. I need chocolate in it . Give me a Café Mocha or a Moccacino and I’m in heaven. I appreciate how seriously the French take their café and I know it’s kind of bad manners to even think of having anything but a café (i.e. espresso) or a café crème so I had been pretending for several weeks that I was cool with that (plus a LOT of sugar). But I wasn’t.

So … Choopy’s was new and had a cosmopolitan ambiance AND they had free wifi – bonus! I wandered in one day to see if possibly they might have one of these North American aberrations on their menu. They didn’t. “Pas de problème!” said Victor with his wonderful smile. “Explain what it is and I’ll make you one.” I did and he did. Magnifique!

Julie, a beautiful and engaging young woman, is a graduate of a prestigious 5-year culinary program. Vincent has a degree in business and finance. Soon after graduation they began working. It took no time for Julie to realize she wanted to be in contact with people and Vincent knew he preferred baking cakes to crunching numbers. Their quest began to figure out just what it was they could do to make this happen.

Like so  many other young people, they packed up and had an adventure working and traveling in Australia and Bali. All the while they were on the lookout for something that might be a sign as to what sort of business they should open. It didn’t take long for the sign to appear and surprisingly it was in the shape of … CUPCAKES! 

It seemed as if every coffee shop in Australia also served cupcakes. Mon Dieu! Qu’est-ce que c’est? Who had heard of cupcakes in France?  Not many. You can find more types of pastries in France than practically anywhere else in the world … but not cupcakes!

Visiting cupcake bakeries in Australia before they left, they were convinced that this was their future.  A bit of research back home indicated only one bakery in Paris was making cupcakes. Amazing. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t enjoy a good cupcake … or two?  Julie has become a cupcake goddess and every kind I sampled through the summer was über-delicieux!

Along with the ever-changing selection of cupcakes there are several other equally delicious choices to accompany your coffee. Victor’s banana bread with it’s mouth-watering crunchy topping has already established it’s own reputation.

Lunches and Sunday brunches are also served with all ingredients fresh from the daily market. Get there early as the space fills up quickly. The word has spread and this bright, hard-working and absolutely delightful young couple are seeing their business become a most successful venture.

It was always a pleasure to stop in and see how busy they were. Their energy and commitment to their business is evident in everything they do. Customer service is their focus and after just a few months it was obvious they were becoming a very important part of the charming old town in Antibes. Never too busy for a smile and a friendly exchange, make sure you stop by the next time you are in the neighbourhood!

The strawberry cupcakes are to die for … but then, so are the chocolate … and  … um, well, the Cupcakes De Noël are out now too. Just try them all!

And ask them how they decided upon the name of their shop … very cute …

Here’s their Facebook link. Stop in and “like” them – they deserve it. Merci beaucoup!

What are some success stories that have inspired you? Have you ever done your homework, taken a big breath and begun something completely new and different in your life? Would you do it again?

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Filed Under: Blog, France, If it is France... Tagged With: 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist, Antibes, Choopy's Cupcakes and Coffee Shop, Cote D'Azur, cupcakes, follow your dreams, ForeWord 2010 Book Of The Year Finalist, French Riviera, friendship, Kathryn Stockett, The Bridge Club, The Help, the power of friendship, the value of laughter

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