on commercially produced french food

While you can't get decent chocolate chip cookies or Oreos that don't cost a fortune* in the biscuit aisle at a French supermarket, you do get many varieties of fantastically buttery, melt-in-the-mouth French biscuits that you learn to love. My favourites are palets bretons, which are essentially like shortbread except made with eggs plus extra yolks. I think of all the French shortbread-style biscuits, these have the highest butter content, and that is probably why they are so delicious. I can scoff down a whole box of these in one sitting if I'm not careful (and they certainly aren't low in calories).

*I suppose, compared to other brands of biscuits sold in the shops, Oreos are only slightly more expensive (as nothing is cheap, except for the self-proclaimed bargain brands). Considering how cheap they are in other places in the world though, it seems ridiculous to pay how much they charge here.

I bought a box of them to bring for the family I'm staying with while I'm in Holland, but I was too tempted and ended up opening it and eating them (I'll just stop by the supermarket and buy more tomorrow!) They aren't the prettiest of biscuits, but what they lack in aesthetic value, they make up for in taste.

(Though, honestly, this brand was rather crap in comparison to others I've eaten. This was my first time trying this one and I got it because the box looked so lovely, but I'm going to resort back to my usual brand because they taste muuuuch better. I can't wait to try making my own over the summer.)

I also tried making a French box mix cake for the first time, because as much as I hate using box mixes, anything's cool if it's French. (This was even prêt à cuire, meaning you don't even have to add in eggs or oil or anything.)

It... wasn't so good. It may have been because I might have overbaked it, but I definitely make a much better chocolate cake from scratch. It tastes a bit like a cakey brownie, or an oddly chewy cake. I guess a homemade cake trumps a box mix from anywhere anyday.

I'm on a two week holiday now, and after writing my last blog post, I got talking with a girl from my course and we ended up booking a flight to Italy the next day. So I'll be in Bologna and Venice, and possibly Florence or Milan too, from the 28th of April until the 3rd of May! The return flight, plus the cost of 3-star hotels in Bologna and Venice, cost less than just my airfare to go to Amsterdam. Insane.