Dateline Monday 1st December 2025

Good Monday morning I hope you are fit, fine, wonderful, and well  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere we go; I do like Christmas even though I am not one of the Christmas celebrating tribes. This morning, I declared the box of Waitrose puff pastry mince pies well and truly open, one was scoffed this morning with my espresso. 

Belated happy thanksgiving greetings to all my readers across” The Pond” I hope you all had an awesome time.

The Budget has been delivered by Robbing Rachel Reeves the Chancellor, she seems to have picked everyone’s pockets that is a sure way of ensuring popularity. The critics has dismissed her budget as a tax and spend typical Labour budget. 

According to the news it seems like President Trump has near as damn it declared war on Venezuela, well he has declared the air space over that sad country closed. I have said it before and I will say it again “we are lucky to live in the UK” it is far, far from perfect but it beats many other countries hands down.

Tragedy in Hong Kong, one high rise tower block of flats caught fire and as they are bult so close to each other the fire spread to five tower blocks, sadly well over 140 people died in the fire.

Mother Nature is at it again terrible floods and loss of life in Indonesia, see my comment above re the UK is OK   

The war in Ukraine rumbles of with no end in sight, both side wanting different things, Prick Putin wants a huge chunk of Ukraine’s sovereign territory and Ukraine has said “s”d off we are not giving you a meter of our land that you have taken by force and uncontrolled aggression. I do feel sorry for Ukraine’s embattled literally President Volodymyr Zelenskyy he is being attacked on several fronts and being seriously let down by the people he trusted; some saw the conflict as an opportunity to line their own pockets with illegal funds.    

Soap box time

TWO YEARS AND 53 DAYS since innocent and murdered Israeli citizens’ bodies were taken by the violent, medieval, barbaric terrorist group Hamas who had murdered them in cold blood to be held as bargaining chips against the Israeli Government.  So far some of these deceased people have been repatriated to their families for a decent burial and closure however the bodies of 2 people one Thai and one Israeli remain in the Gaza Strip; Hamas claims it doesn’t know where the two bodies are located.

The civil war in Sudan is still raging, innocent people are being massacred and STILL no keffiyeh scarf wearing halfwit knumbskulls are on the streets protesting, it seems they do not care if the war is Muslim against Muslim.

Off the soap box now

Sad news that Sir Tom Stoppard the playwright has passed away aged 88 years old

Congratulations to Max Verstappen he won the FI Grand Prix in Qatar. Brit Lando Norris is still can win the Championship, but he must win the final Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi that will be some race.

That’s it from a David point of view for this week.

MM and Company news update

FRANCE

I was chatting to Pascal the CEO of NACARA DMC France the DMC we at MM and Company have been successfully representing since 2018 and he happened to mention his favourite chocolate shop in Paris so I thought I would share his insight into one of my favourite food groups

The shops are in the Marais quarter of Paris which is mostly known for its chic, designer boutiques and historical architecture, however there are also lots of amazing chocolate and confectionary shops, amongst Pascal’s favourites are :-

Le Trois Chocolats 45 rue Saint Paul, 75004

On a narrow side street, chocoholics and pastry lovers patiently queue for Emiko Sano and Sho Kimura’s gorgeous, sensational creations at Le Trois Chocolats. The name of the shop is derived from a fascinating family history. In the early 1900s Sano’s grandfather, who was working in a hotel, was given a taste of a chocolate truffle and was so enamoured with the taste that he moved to Paris to study chocolate making. He returned to his home in Hakata, Japan, and opened a successful chocolate shop and his son followed in his footsteps, taking over the shop. Emiko, the granddaughter, continued the family legacy and moved to Paris to study chocolate making, eventually opening Les Trois Chocolats in 2017. The beautifully appointed, jewel box shop offers milk and dark chocolates, beautifully embossed in colourful, graphic patterns, which are infused with Japanese flavours such as matcha, wasabi, mirin rice wine, Sakura and miso. Individual pastries resembling little works of art, include a Mochi tart with strawberries, a pavlova topped with fresh figs and a three, layer high cake with chocolate mousse, whipped cream and a chocolate and vanilla biscuit.

Matcha chocolate bars, chocolate covered, candied ginger rind, cube shaped croissants and a sinfully, rich hot chocolate round out the product selection.

Another one Pascal really likes is Maison de la Roux 93 rue Saint Antoine, 75004

In 1980, in a small, second-generation confectionary shop in Quiberon, Brittany, Henri Le Roux makes candy making history by inventing salted butter caramels. Brittany salted butter — mixed with crushed almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts — is cooked on a stovetop in copper pots, and the combination becomes a worldwide sensation. Renamed Maison de La Roux, today the brand has five shops in Paris. The newest addition in the Marais features a café serving Brittany-style pastries along with coffee and tea. Tins and boxes of salted butter caramels line the shelves and displays, and they have extended the flavour list to include chocolate, mango, green apple, matcha and raspberry.  

And that is about it for this Monday, you know as much as I know, wishing you an outstanding day and an awesome week ahead. Remember only 24 shopping days left till Christmas Day, OMG PANNIICCCC

Dateline Monday 1st December 2025