Pastry Wednesday: Late

Pastry Wednesday came and went, and I had no pastry. Midterms were in full swing, and I didn't have any time that day to get a pastry. It was a sad day (as was my performance on some of my exams. Let's not talk about that.) However, yesterday, I was wandering around enjoying the GORGEOUS weather with some friends, when we felt the need to sit down and have some pastries in the setting sun. Wise decision, right before dinner, but I felt entitled to my weekly pastry!

We went to a Brioche Dorée, which is like a café chain, but since it's a FRENCH café chain, it's still really delicious. I bought this puffy thing that immediately caught my attention, because it looked like a cross between a really big cream puff and strawberry shortcake (two of my favorite desserts.) We sat down and watched the people on the street. People-watching is a great thing to do in France. It mostly consists of oo-ing and ah-ing over people's clothes and ingenious outfit combinations, but sometimes you get the odd fasion-disaster. That's always fun. Yesterday I spotted a woman wearing some kind of extremely tight black dress (not flattering, I might add) and you could see her large, pink underwear through it. Luckily, in France, when you're just starting to feel bad about your own fashion knowledge, someone usually comes along to make you feel a bit better in comparison.

My pastry had a really long and complicated name, and I agonized about actually ordering it because I didn't know how to say it. But I somehow pulled it off because the smiley brioche man understood what I wanted AND didn't start speaking English back to me. This is a common problem, here. I think people are trying to be helpful, or practice their English, but it's kind of depressing, especially when you only say about one word and they immediately know you're not French. My accent isn't that bad, is it? When I was in H&M the other day (bad idea) literally the only words I said to the check out guy were "bonjour," and "merci," and he still said as I left, "Heve a nize dayyy!" And, when I was walking to school, a woman came up to me on the street in a WWF smock saying, "Hello! You speak English?" HOW DID SHE KNOW? I WAS WEARING A BLAZER, FOF GOD'S SAKE. I angrily ran away saying, "Non!" Oh, France.

Anyway, back to pastry, it was delicious. It was also really pretty. It tasted exactly like a cream puff (only slightly eggy-er and lighter crust) and had little nuts sprinked on top. Definitely an awkward thing to eat, though. I had to take the top off and eat it separately, and then the bottom. There was SO MUCH whipped cream. It was wonderful.