Where it all began - for me

I was surprised that the baguette coloration was so light.  The crust was thin and crispy, the crumb was sweet and open - but not nuts open as a lot of folks on TFL are aiming for.  A delight as a fresh baguette, and also as toast for the evening and next morning.

The croissant, I neglected to say, was wonderful.  Both croissant and baguette are significantly less expensive in Paris than in the U.S.

As far as the experience, I didn't even think about going until Friday, our first full day.  His boulangerie is closed on weekends, so that left our last full day, Monday, to head up there (18th Arr.).  And that left the door open to have our U.S. cousins, who we see all too infrequently here, tag along with us. 

I'd taken on the Bousabsa baguette after reading about the collaborated write up by Janedo and dmsnyder after Jane visited him a decade ago.  They get full credit for me even knowing his name in the first place.  So this was a first time visit to his bakery.

I'm so glad we went, and it gives me a satisfying memory and worthwhile experience in Paris to tell.  For all of our traveling, the more special moments seem to come from touching the people and not necessarily checking off the list of monuments and historic sites.  Although pulling out and leisurely eating our bagged lunch while sitting high up in the Colosseum in Rome, and taking in the rest of the folks rushing through to get to the next site, is also right up there.

M. Bouabsa also has a patisserie.  We were comparing the protein levels in pastry baking vs. bread baking and touching on elasticity vs extensibility in flours used for bread baking.

As mentioned, the in-laws have perennially been our favorite travel partners, having traveled numerous trips with them.  We thought for sure that our last excursion, to Ireland 5 years ago would be the last.  But the difficulties of navigating anywhere with a 95 and 90 year old, where balance and arms having to be held at almost all times created logistical issues themselves.

I was an inattentive student as a child and never cared much for school, and especially had little tolerance for foreign language way back then.  Well, I do now, although the learning isn't anywhere near "sponge-like" as when our brains are wired to be much more open and absorbent as we navigate through our early years.

But my sabbatical from work in 2002 drove my desire to spend the two months in Italy.  And therefore I decided to take Italian language classes in the few years prior in anticipation of the trip.  When I retired and we lived in too chilly for me Portland OR, we "needed" that winter getaway and spent our last three winters there in Buenos Aires.  Hence, the desire to start learning Spanish.  I'm pretty rusty now.  As an aside, we went to Guatemala for a week plus in Feb. with a young couple we know who run a small tour called Origins of Food - the name reflective of the focus of their work.  I was surprised at how a lot of arcane "forgotten" words popped into my mind over the week.  Even stranger was that after a few days, our hosts, who are fully fluent in Spanish, occasionally looked to me for a word that they were unfamiliar with.  That was a strange notion.  Ex: nutria=river otter.  Yeah, my vocabulary is a bit nerdy in that way.

I had my hair cut yesterday by my regular - a Haitian woman.  She said that, aside from the native Creole, students had to take English, Spanish and French.  And she also said the she was lucky as schools had recently phased out Greek and Latin before she was a student at the elementary public schools there.  I'll leave my obvious comment about education requirements for foreign language in the U.S.A. to your own imagination. 

opportunities. And we can rightfully kick ourselves, but hopefully there's always a next time.  But there have also be those serendipitous encounters or timings where we just hit it right purely by accident too.  The travel logistics were troublesome.  When my father in law stated a few times to me that he was okay and that I didn't have to physically escort him at just about every step, I reminded him that if he falls and winds up in an ER or a doctor or dentist office, that it will have been my fault.  If they wandered out on their own and couldn't find the way back, the onus was on my wife and me. 

Next time loosen the purse strings and take the trip too ;-) .  At the worst, you'll wind up getting great fish and chips and real ales in the UK and some outstanding pastries in France.

thanks, alan

along with Janedo.  If not for your postings years before I made my way to TFL, I'd never have heard of the gent.  I notice that the esteemed M. Gosselin was a grand prize winner in 1996, the third year of the annual event.

Maybe give Mike a jingle.  You can at least get the handshake one more person removed before next Spring! ;-)

thanks, alan 

who has a poorer knowledge of French than I do!  Actually not at all tempted.  I'm quite content to work with my own levains, which I've been babysitting since first raising the rambunctious little dears using Debra Wink's Pineapple Juice Solution method 4 years ago.  Besides, after a few iterations of refreshes the local flours and ambient yeasts crowd out the original from his environment and I'd have the same anyway.  A fun thought although it never occurred to me.

thanks, alan 

The trip came up out of nowhere in late April when my in-laws declared that they wanted to visit the cousin one last time.  So this wasn't even on our radar until maybe 5 weeks before we traveled.  Being retired has its advantages!

thanks, alan

we were satisfied that we could help my in-laws travel, instead of just travel with them.  But we all agreed this was the last time they would be traveling by air.

A few galettes, onion soups, breads and pastries didn't hurt the cause either!  Plus, just as with other locales these days, the pub scene for draught beers seems to be in full swing there.

thanks, alan

we'd head around the corner to the local boulangerie and get a croissant or other enriched breakfast pastry, a cafe creme and I'd get an expresso (they don't spell it espresso as we do).  As I find the typical French coffee on the weak side for my taste, I just immediately dump the expresso into it.  After the elders have come around to consciousness and are ready to eat something breakfast-like, "we'd head around the corner to the local boulangerie" again!  A life I could comfortably get used to.

The basic baguette - the Tradition, if I have that correct, while no longer government price controlled - if I also have that correct, is quite inexpensive and very tasty indeed.  Just FWS&Y.  My understanding is that there are differing levels of baguettes, depending on the baker and the price point.

thanks, alan

wanted to go to Paris for Dolly's 90th and have us chaperone them, there were some conditions that I set which they would have to abide by.  Wheelchairs on both ends, from front door to gate and back - both ways.  My mother in law, who would have been quite comfortable as a frontier woman, was reluctant, but the ground rules were agreed to in advance.  When she balked at getting into the chair as we debarked in Paris, I told her that if she didn't, I'd be on the next plane back.  And I meant it.    With few instances, they were gems and understood that navigating the crowded narrow and sometimes cobblestoned streets were too daunting without our assistance.

And even if my baguettes are in some weird way "better" - I almost never make a pure simple FWSY baguette, so comparisons to their basic Baguette Tradition are futile.  And I'm not one for comparisons or competitions.  I'll leave that to the big boys.  I'm happy in my little niche as is.  But thanks for the thoughts and continued encouragement.

alan

possessions own you and not the other way around.  Yes, as I mentioned somewhere above, our more memorable travel moments have been when we've touched the culture and people, in however a small way.  I can always look at our pictures of the Eiffel Tower or Great Buddha of Kamakura, etc. and recall the enjoyment of those moments.  But they don't compare to the unique cultural moments, intimate places and people that we have met.

thanks, alan

of mine brought back and elicited pleasant memories of the past for a number of folks.  I never had the luxury of travel with my parents, unless you consider a ride to upstate NY from NYC to visit Cooperstown*, which I'm quite certain was not my mother's idea!  My H.S. summers consisted of local play or working to have spending money come Fall.

As stated above, I could quite comfortably exist on the breads, pastries and assorted other delights.  Which would entail spending twice the time at the gym as I do now :-/ .

Seriously, next up in the Fall may well be our search for some local basic French language skills and conversation classes.  We can foresee ourselves renting and spending a few months somewhere in that country within the next few years.  Solvency in retirement does indeed have its perks!

thanks Phil, alan

*Cooperstown is where the Baseball Hall of Fame is, for the uninitiated.

As I recall you are in now Mauritania or some other location on the continent there.  

Once more thanks tor the inspiration via your collaboration with David.  I've met him for long lunches a few times on my travels to the CA Central Valley, and you couldn't have picked a nicer and more worthwhile collaborator.

alan

it was my first baguette success story.  Before my foray into levains and while trying to get some baguette or other into motion, I latched onto this one.  And although the days of my IDY baking are fewer and farther between these years, it is still my go-to formula for an IDY bake, as is the Gosselin.

alan