Tag: croissants

Food & Cooking

Tomorrow is National Croissant Day!

Caitlyn4 Comments

national-croissant-day-january-30_editedI’ve mentioned time and time again that ever since visiting Paris a few years ago I have been obsessed with croissants. I can still be quite picky about them–if they don’t have the right buttery layers and flakiness, just forget it. (Unless you add Nutella. You can add Nutella and things will work out. I may have just done so to a supermarket croissant and consumed it happily with coffee a few minutes ago.)

Despite my ongoing obsession with croissants, I actually never thought a lot about the origin of the delightful pastry. Of course France is generally famous for croissants, but did you know that the origin is a little more complex than that? In preparation for National Croissant Day tomorrow, here is a little Smithsonian article: Is the Croissant Really French? After reading the article, why not treat yourself to a croissant to celebrate your new-found knowledge?

In a pinch back home, I would settle for Starbucks’ warmed croissants, but I really had trouble finding good ones in my area of Michigan. Fortunately Japan has loads of nice bakeries with decent croissants, and right around the corner of our apartment is a tiny bakery where a sweet little old lady sells a few delicious croissants every morning (always sold out quickly). I’ll probably indulge in one of those tomorrow if I don’t go into labor.

YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT AND NO BABY STILL HASN’T COME YET AND YES SHE WAS DUE MONDAY.

Phew. But that’s okay. She’ll come when she’s ready. Or not, and the doctors will induce labor. Either way, I have sort of been putting off blogging because 1) we haven’t gone far all month in case baby decides to come suddenly (so there has been a lot of hanging around home getting ready), 2) most of the crafty projects I’ve been working on are gifts for people who haven’t received them yet so I haven’t posted about them, and 3) any baby-related posts I have planned are ones I want to post after she arrives.
Photo 1-29-16, 4 15 01 PMANYWAY, that’s why I haven’t been posting as much as I would like, but I’ve been thinking of you! Eat an extra croissant (or at the very least, a heaping spoon of Nutella) for me, and keep us in your thoughts as baby’s eventual birthday approaches!

Happy National Croissant Day (a day early!)!
xx Caitlyn

Food & Cooking

Nutella + Croissants = Love

Caitlyn6 Comments

Breakfast in ParisBreakfast on our first morning in Paris, March 2012. Croissant, baguette, and hot cocoa.

When we took our 18-day FISH trip a couple years ago (France, Italy, Spain and Holland), we enjoyed some awesome food. I especially indulged in eating croissants in France–sometimes just buttery and flaky ones, other times buttery and flaky ones with chocolate inside. Since going to France, I have yet to enjoy croissants that are as delicious as the ones we ate in Paris. (I mentioned before that Starbucks’ new La Boulange line has some croissants, but they can’t compare.) Elizabeth Bard describes croissants perfectly in her book Lunch in Paris, which my sister-in-law and I made recipes from for our book club months ago.

“I like flake, a croissant with an outer layer so fine and brittle that you get crumbs all over yourself from the first bite. When you pull it apart there should be some empty space, pockets of air between the buttery layers of dough. When you finally do rip off a hunk to dip in your coffee, it stretches a little before it breaks. More crumbs, but utterly worth the mess.“

Ahhhhhhh *drools*….oh yeah…where was I? Oh yes, I was reaching a point about all this croissant-love. After leaving Paris, we headed to Rome, and part of the breakfast served at our hotel was croissants and Nutella. This was my first experience eating Nutella. (I had always mistakenly thought Nutella originated in France–when in actuality it’s from Italy–because when I studied abroad one of my French dorm-mates was constantly eating the stuff. That was the first time I had ever seen or heard of Nutella, so I wrongly assumed Nutella was French. My error was corrected by one of my lovely French friends a couple weeks after we got back from Europe, but when we were in Rome I was like, “Wow, Italians love Nutella, too!”)

Apparently, everyone loves Nutella (and why wouldn’t they!?), because the Nutella-croissant combo was also offered to us at our B&B in Barcelona. I quickly realized that I was developing an unhealthy addiction to the new-to-me breakfast treat, so it was good to return to Japan where Nutella was too pricey to buy regularly.

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Believe it or not, I actually never did purchase Nutella–not until I needed some for our bake-off last weekend. In honor of those glorious days in Europe, I decided to whip up some Pillsbury croissants this morning to have with some of the leftover Nutella. Of course the little meal wasn’t the same as what we had on our trip, but it definitely was good enough for a stand-in on a blustery winter morning. I’ll never tell how much I ate.

Do you have any foods that just aren’t the same as ones you had while traveling? What are some breakfasts you enjoyed while on a trip?