Saturday, March 25, 2006

This Moment's Pastry!

The hand-lettered sign in the lighted display case, red letters on a cream-colored card edged in black, was intriguing:

Patisserie du moment


















"Pastry of the moment" is the literal English translation. What a great concept!

Of course, we are familiar with the idea of "soup of the day" so "pastry of the day" wouldn't be very surprising. But, "Pastry of the Moment"? Now that's an idea that the Ingredient Sleuth can wrap her brain around!

The setting, of course, was a French-speaking locale, in this case Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport. For a change, I had time to spare upon my arrival there, at the end of my Paris visit. What better way to pass the time as I waited for my departure than to visit just one more eatery!

Front and center, in the display case next to the cash register, the pastries glistened. Croissants, brioches, some savory, some sweet. But just there, right in the front, was the astonishing item: patisserie du moment!

You have to LOVE the idea of a pastry of the moment -- at least if you LOVE pastries half as much as I do! It's not simply sufficient to have a featured pastry of the DAY. Let's feature them at a moment's notice!

Undoubtedly, this designation provides additional opportunities for the baker to feature more items, more frequently. In addition, the baker doesn't have to be concerned with just how many of any one item to have on hand. When the first pastry (and moment) has disappeared, another can't be far behind! Or, as a more-pedestrian explanation, maybe it is just a great marketing tactic: feature the same item all day, but make it APPEAR extra-fresh by calling it the pastry of the moment!

In any case, at the moment that I happened to stroll in, the featured item was apple tart. And, as billed, it did taste very fresh, with the anticipated juicy apples on a buttery bed of pastry. Just the thing to fortify myself for that walk to the departure gate, through the jetway and down the aisle of the plane.

A lovely slice of delicious apple tart to remember contentedly as the engines roared, wheels rolled, and the beauty of the French countryside glistened (once again, it was raining as I departed Paris) beneath us.

And a reminder of oh-so-many lovely moments in the City of Light.

Bon appetit!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another great moment in pastry history! Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Maybe someday you will be held over for a full day at the airport and then you can see how many different pastry kinds are featured. And if you're like me, try them all?

Anonymous said...

What a terrific idea to have a pastry of the moment!!! At this moment, wishing that I had that apple tart!!!

Jennifer

Anonymous said...

Wishing I was back in Paris eating apple tarts and croissants ............. You triggered very happy memories with this story! 8)

Anonymous said...

This story made me so hungry for apple tart last weekend that I bought one at my local Trader Joe's. It came frozen but really was good when it was baked, just out of the oven. Also .... I told my friend who runs a bakery counter at a supermarket about the pastry of the moment idea and he thinks he might use it.

Anonymous said...

Ooooh la la la la -- this looks delicious!