Over the last few months, I’ve been waking up very early, in anticipation of the flood of calls from plumbers who can’t make it that day or carpenters who need me to pick up some wood for a new job I’ve undertaken, a gut renovation of an older home. I stumble into the bathroom, splash my face and squeak the crust out of my eyes to review my handwritten notes for the day ahead.I’ve always dreamed of creating new living spaces for individuals or families and now I’m finally doing it.

But this morning, the birds wake me up instead. Or it could be the sweetness still lingering in my mouth from the night before, from three perfect profiteroles, a pastry -each the size of a walnut- sliced in the middle and filled with vanilla ice cream, surrounded by pools of bittersweet chocolate that would stir even the most complacent individual from slumber.