We love things that change our view. With the wind howling and the temperature cold, we found ourselves delighted with a little book that has taken us on an armchair trip through Paris, showing us the city through new eyes: the eyes of a pastry-o-phile. Pastry Paris: In Paris, Everything Looks Like Dessert grew out of a teeny film graphic designer Susan Hochbaum created a couple of years ago, which we posted here (sadly, it has since been taken down.)  It was perfect, with a sweet story behind it:  “I came to Paris middle-aged, divorced, and newly in love. Granting myself a sabbatical and renting out my suburban home, I moved with my beau to this romantic city for a year of living shamelessly…Abandoning restraint, and with the appetite of a teenager…”

Hochbaum ate her way through the pastry worlds of Paris, seeing pastry everywhere she looked…

The book captures that singular adventure in a slightly haphazard way, as though created by a person intoxicated, by Paris, and pastries and life.

Like an eclair or a pile of macarons, Pastry Paris provides a momentary escape for the winter blues (and makes a swell little gift.)

Check out this great slideshow of Hochbaum’s photos for an immediate vicarious hit.

Related posts: surprise: susan hochbaum’s pastry project
weekend road trip: ‘address is approximate’
italy for the gourmet traveler (+how to hack a guidebook)
greece for $31