It's vacation/holiday time in France. Due to the powerful ski lobby, schools are divided into three groups, each with a different two-week break; this is to ensure 6 weeks of business for the Alpine resorts. MCM thinks this is scandalous. I'm more concerned about this scandal: the boulangeries also take a two-week holiday! At the moment my favourite boulangerie is closed, and my second favourite is, too. The boulangeries that are left open are, in my professional opinion, completely inferior. Case in point: at right, here's a bag of croissants and pain au chocolat purchased recently from my favourite boulangerie.
Wow, those look good. How about a flakey close up? Ohh yeah....
Now let's have a look at the alternative pain au chocolat, purchased from a chain bakery in my neighbourhood:
Note how dense, almost bready it is, and the heavy-handed egg wash. Certainly edible, but definitely not at the standard to which I have become accustomed. This is no small matter: I am thisclose to finishing Book 1, and those pain au chocolat are much needed motivational rewards.
In unrelated news, two of our loveliest friends, who I will call The Piano Man and Miss Mousse, have booked a trip to visit us in April. We're absolutely delighted and, yes, we'll make sure they get lots of lovely pain au chocolat and croissants, not inferior substitutes.
oh dear! (can you switch to muesli for a couple weeks? ;)
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