0 Pastry Meditation...

Religieuse Violette, watercolor, 9" x 11"
I thought I was posting on the lovely, orderly way Parisian patissiers...
Line up their creations...

Like soldiers standing to attention in perfect rows.
Then I had one of those Eureka! moments. Is it possible my obsession with French pastry has everything to do with a desperate need for order and nothing to do with chocolate or whipped cream?

These perfect disks lined up with such precision...

Labeled and priced, measured centimeters apart, are the exact opposite of my chaotic studio...

I fight a losing battle with entropy daily,

Yet the vision of glossy tartes...

Is like a Zen meditation...

Do I start an ashram in Paris and spread the joie?

Should I go to pastry school?Would you like a peek at my studio 2011 to see if there's been any improvement?

Do tell PBers.
BONJOUR PASTRY MEDIATATION!

0 MILLE-FEUILLE!

Jar O' Macarons, watercolor, 9" x 11"
Having a jar packed to the brim with macarons in your vitrine/ window is an essential in any French patisserie...
If your facade looks typically French this is a plus factor. Mille-Feuille has been open just a month but they're hitting their marks again and again.

All the little details of a French patisserie are there, like this ardoise/blackboard are present...

Handwriting/ecriture on the wall is tres correct.

Les porte-etiquettes/little pastry signs are plentiful...

I've read les bon reports on their viennoisserie...

As well as their namesake, the mille-feuille - this one loaded with vanilla beans. They sell the beans as well one by one...

They even have those little Frenchie stickers/auto-collant and pretty boxes...

It's always a delight to see the macarons in the case, freshly made, rather than boxed up and pre-packed. These sell for $1.90 each and come tres pres/very close to the Parisian version. For some reason New York altitude does not encourage the shiny meringue shells you find in Paris...

But the taste and range of flavors is excellent. Chef Olivier Dessyn earned his pastry bones at The Paris Ritz cooking school, The Meurice Hotel and Pierre Herme(!)

Triple Vanilla, Espresso, Pistachio, Rose, Raspberry,Chocolate Praline, Coconut, Chocolate, Passion fruit etc.

I prided myself on getting through last week almost pastry-free (except for les 2 croissants). Then I read about Mille-Feuille and ran out the door to tell you about it this morning. You can find Mille-Feuille in Greenwich Village at 552 LaGuardia Place (Bleecker Street). I suggest you run (literally) home and eat a HUGE salad like this. My eco-friendly petite niece, Louisa Shafia will show you how to make it here.

New York is overflowing with 'REAL' French patisseries but it's still New York.

BONJOUR MILLE-FEUILLE