Sunday, July 28, 2013

Le Fraisier

Un Fraisier (pronounce that Frais-YAY NOT Frais-AIR as yours truly was doing). This is why we need smarty-pants servers In patisseries. You can always count on getting a French leçon or two along with your goodies.
Today was a test...
Could I could carry un Fraisier home in one piece without residual damage...
I was coming back from the pool - a good 15 minute walk the way I meander, so British bookies might be up for a bet whether we'd make it in one piece...
WE DID! Hooray
Not the case for this way finer Fraisier from Fountainebleau.
 
Traveling doesn't suit it, but the taste was excellent in everyway if a bit smushed around the edges. Imagine a thin topping of marshmallow, followed by a thin layer of cake, then pistachio whipped cream out-of-this-world with some whole strawberries embedded and resting on a thin base of I don't know what, but it didn't get soggy like most Fraisiers.
Biscuit amande, crème pistache et fraises françaises
They always start at the bottom and work up in these French descriptions.
 
By the way, le Fraisier's traveling companions fared much better, considering they rode on a bus, a train (for 40 minutes), an RER A and finally a Metro! Pretty amazing. They're sitting on a piece of special non-slip paper so they won't slide around. Very clever. I'll cut it smaller, fit it into a box to carry it with me always to avoid future pastry disasters.
 
I wish I'd had it for this short jaunt - just 3 Metro stops is all it took for this baby to list like the Titanic, though I was assured otherwise by the server. Let's face it, creamy desserts have a life expectancy of about 25 steps if that.
 
You'd think frozen sorbets would make better traveling companions. You would be wrong. I bought 3 minis Vacherins. (Please pronounce that VACHrons almost like it's one word, NOT vach-ER-Rans)
 
Once there were three. They were put in a box with a handle. (Again I was returning from the pool (one must counterbalance the intake with output of calories). I forgot to shoot my food but one fell over, hit the other and then fell onto the floor. Don't worry. I ate it anyway. Waste not, want not.
Les Fountainebleau Vacherins are well-protected with lids. Plus I was informed I had exactly 25 minutes to eat them or all Hell would break loose. They could melt.
 
Believe me when I tell you even melted these are un-topable if that's a word. I ate them in the train station and even got a shot first.
 
Plus they make very nice water jars and have a lid so will travel.
I haven't quite finished moving to the new joint yet. I'm leaving a quartier dense with FAB patisseries, for one that may be better for my figure. I noticed these birds with a bell coming back from the pool today. They could either hang on the refrigerator door or I could carry them in my bag to ring when I'm passing a patisserie as a warning to 'WALK ON BY'
What do you think?
 

29 comments:

  1. Oh the pastry are so beautiful and yummy. I think with all your walking and swimming you can enjoy them and not feel guilty! Thanks for the French lesson also I hate to say things the wrong way.
    49 days till Paris for me. My tummy wants to go now!

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  2. Unfortunately there is a BIG imbalance between what I put in and exercise exerted.
    I can not keep up.
    And what a tummy ache I had yesterday...
    I need that bell to carry at all times.

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  3. Anonymous11:03 AM

    I want to find Pistachio whipped cream some where in the states! AND Passion flower sorbet.wow. Anywhere on the west coast would do.
    A lovely post today .Merci~

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  4. I wave the tune Walk On By in my mind now..
    Your painting is sublime:)
    I think I would love that dessert ..maybe the best.. des fraises:) J'aime beaucoup les fraises.
    What an idea for the water..I've been saving vitamin bottles etc..
    Like I need to save more stuff..
    I do have 2 clear dessert things w/ lids rom a pastry shop:) Thanks Carol..another great idea.
    Did you take the black out?

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    Replies
    1. Yup, black and gold removed.
      will replace soon

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  5. Carol - Your emissions are soooo much fun to read and look at! Thank heavens (and in the future for me - a bell!) it is you that are providing me with this online visual of experiencing a different patisserie chaque jour and not the vrai me! I am a beginning watercolorist that needs to get my paints out - and get to work! Merci for searching out these fabulous creations and then painting them, too!

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  6. alll you make is beautiful!!

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  7. Once I'd looked through all of your gorgeous photos, even your paints looked delectable!

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  8. I'm afraid the bird-bells will only announce your arrival to the patisseries, so they will hold the door open to sweep you inside!

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  9. Gorgeous looking pastries :)
    What part of town did you buy them in to do all of that traveling to get home?

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  10. I think I just gained two kilos just looking at all these gorgeous desserts! x Katie

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    Replies
    1. Looking is not the same as eating believe me.

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  11. Anonymous8:36 PM

    so beautiful your water colors in today's post and also the one on the cherries luscious. Didn't know the term fraiser--love the wrapping so you can pick it up. I had a delicious strawberry one from that patisserie near me--you took some photos from their window--Vaudron
    lulu

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  12. Anonymous11:19 PM

    merci for your always so deliciously looking posts.
    if I may say, in French a strawberry is feminine UNE fraise, but the pastry is masculine: UN fraisier [words in -er are masc; they become -ière in the feminine. un poissonnier / une poissonnière, for instance [someone selling fish]

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    Replies
    1. THANK YOU! thank you
      I'm rotten at gramaire and spelling

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    2. Ah ha!
      A ‘pâtissier’ is a male pastry cook, and a ‘pâtissière’ is a femal pastry cook. Gender makes a considerable difference to the pronunciation, but in French, the singular and plural forms of both words (pâtissiers, pâtissières) are pronounced identically to the singular. - See more at: http://www.howdoyousaythatword.com/word/patissier-patissiere/#sthash.wtrJHn8S.dpuf

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  13. Great post!
    Gorgeous Fraisier!!!!!
    I could eat the watercolor! + no calories!
    Fabulous! Beautiful!
    Lois Bender

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  14. Anonymous7:51 AM

    Stuff the calories, Carol. If you do put on a little bit of Paris padding, just remember that it was on yummo sweets. I have no such great excuses for the pounds that creep on. Virginia

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  15. Still smiling over this post! A guide to the perils of pastry travels indeed. And nooo - if you walk on by where will we get our vicarious pastry pleasure from? I'm afraid you'll just have to keep swimming :))

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  16. Okay, you have made me laugh. I was corrected by my sister’s snooty friend. I said, crème fraîche – crem fresh. She said no it is crème freshA. She was so loud about it, my neck went down in my shirt and I said, proceed Madame.

    You have certainly found the best of the best today.

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  17. Love these recent adventures in deliciousness!

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  18. Anonymous11:38 AM

    Your watercolors are always a delight - and nonfattening! Huckleberries are in season where I live, but you have to find the huckleberry patch before the bears get to them - they tend to monopolize. The raspberry bushes in the back yard are a little less congested. And Flathead cherries are scrumptiously in season at the moment. Blessings to you for sharing your corner of the world with those of us who love France but are too far away to enjoy the loveliness of Paris.
    Linda

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    Replies
    1. Not many bears in Paris except for marshmallow chocolate-covered bears
      No huckleberries either so far...

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  19. I find I am ALWAYS smiling as I peruse your post. THANKS - we all need that. The colors, the eye candy, your humor, the food, the presentation - amazing - just LOVE it all.

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  20. As I read the comments about smiling while reading your posts, I realized your pictures (and words) always make me smile too.

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  21. Anonymous2:30 PM

    I laughed reading this..love the art and pastries look so damn good I wanted to reach in and grab them...your trip with them is priceless...
    Lynne

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  22. Sigh. Now I'm enchanted and hungry, too. So pretty they are!

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  23. You kill me--do you really eat all these sweets you paint? Too funny. Love the wc, Carol--beautiful. And keep us posted on the new place. You're doing great in Paris.

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  24. Argh, such desperation I feel. I could have had SO many fraisiers on my recent trip, I intended to have at least one, I certainly saw many delicious examples. I did eat a fraisier eclair, which almost counts, but I hadn't quite put it together that all that deliciousness surrounding the strawberries was pistachio creme... Ah well, I'm sure whenever I do get to eat one, and I most certainly will on the next trip, it will be even more divine for the waiting. And pastries certainly don't always travel well, even though the patisseries and assistants do as much as they can to prevent slipping and sliding.

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