*Special thanks to the French Ministry of Agriculture for sponsoring today’s post! As always, all opinions are my own*
As some of you may already know, I spent a good amount of time in Paris last year. In fact, I visited France twice last year (once in the spring for my birthday and then again during Christmastime). One of my favorite things about Paris was definitely the delicious food. I loved taking the train into the city each day and grabbing a bite to eat at a different French restaurant.

Although I’ve visited Paris in both winter and spring, my goal is to someday experience Paris in the fall. Since I don’t have any trips to Paris lined up anytime soon (my next international trip is Canada and then Asia), I decided to bring a little bit of Paris right here to Chicago!

Here’s how you can enjoy a delicious French meal without going to France:

In order to enjoy a delicious (and simple) French meal, you’ll need five key items which are vital to dining like the Parisians: croissants, cheese, chocolate, butter and, of course, wine!
While in Paris I truly fell in love with croissants. In fact, I had a chocolate croissant and a ham and cheese croissant for breakfast every morning. To recreate a chocolate crescent, I melted down some delicious Valrhona chocolate in order to make a nice chocolate drizzle.
Valrhona chocolate is so yummy and it really makes for an awesome chocolate spread!
Next up is my personal favorite: a ham and cheese croissant. All you’ll need to make this bad boy is some ham and P’tit Basque cheese. Did you know that P’tit Basque is a 100% pure sheep’s milk cheese produced in France’s Basque region in the Pyrenees Mountains?
Perfection! 
If chocolate or ham and cheese aren’t your thing, you can always opt for a classic buttered croissant. Just spread some Président® Unsalted Butter onto your croissant and you’ll be good to go!
Of course no French meal is complete without the wine!
My go-to wines are MAS DE DAUMAS GASSAC White, MOULIN de GASSAC GUILHEM rosé, Château Bonnet White 2016 and Bonnet Red 2014.
For this particular French meal I decided to go with some MOULIN de GASSAC GUILHEM rosé. MOULIN de GASSAC GUILHEM rosé has extraordinary red fruit and berry aromas and flavors so it paired perfectly with my trio of croissants.