Making Abricotage, watercolor. 9" x 11"
A reader said...your eye for detail is something special! I would hate to have to try to sneak past you.
One thing I noticed in Paris - an obsession with GLOSS, sheen, shine, and sparkle. 
Called "abricotage" or abricoter when you glaze a tarte with a syrup made of apricot confiture/jam. A "before and after" shot from cuisine-facile.com. Plus visual instructions on making your own abricotage glace. It's not rocket science. I made it.
Do Paris' grey skies make Parisians long for sparkle?Do Parisians need cheering up? Is glossiness the answer?
Shine and gloss can be found even at your average Paris cafe.
In New York, if you’re looking for gloss, go to a nail salon.
If you see your reflection in the top of a French tarte, a pastry chef has achieved the Nirvana of pastry.
I attended the Lyon World Pastry Cup in '95. Those pastry chefs welded 10" wide bristle brushes of abricotage like it was the World Series. I was taking pictures but I missed that shot. 12 top chefs sat at a long table in full view of the audience, judging and tasting the various team's desserts. Was "gloss" a factor in judging on a scale of 1 - 10?
Gloss/abricotage is on Pierre Herme's pastry palette.
BONJOUR PARIS L'ABRICOTAGE!
