October 26th, 2021

Buttery, Flaky, Light and Delightful.  Ladies and Gentlemen I give you, The Croissant.   Every time I say the name I feel a little pretentious but when I eat them, I feel, perhaps a little Parisian?  Clearly,  I am a fan.

Still, I hadn't had one in years.  I had not even had even the tiniest glimmer of a thought about croissants cross my mind in years.  Then out of the blue, about two weeks ago,  I was struck with one of my weirdo cravings.  Suddenly, nothing would satisfy me but a croissant.  It was my first and last thought every day.  I tried to resist. I really did. But when I get these kind of cravings it becomes totally consuming.  Eventually, I gave in.   (we all knew that I would) "Okay okay okay!"  I told myself, "You can have a Croissant.  But just one!"   Then the dilemma became finding one.

Naturally I checked the grocery store bakery.   Every Monday I do the grocery shopping anyway, so while I was there a week ago Monday, I checked it out. I knew that I had seen them there before.  I searched  that bakery both high and low.  I checked out every shelf, every table and every display.  Zero Croissants.  Dang.  I took that as a sign that I was not intended to actually have a croissant.  It was like the universe was telling me a big "No".  

Oh well, I thought to myself, it's not as if I actually need a croissant. I just want one.   I was determined to put it out of my mind.  I intentionally thought of many other things.  I kept myself very busy.  And it didn't work at all.  Not one single solitary bit.  As per usual, the only way for me  to resolve a craving is to give in to it.

Last Friday, Joy asked me to do a little shopping excursion with her downtown Venice.  Absolutely yes!   Not only would I get to spend a little unexpected time with my sister, but I would be distracted from my croissant desires.  This would be a good thing!  And it was.  We popped in and out of a half dozen or so shops on the avenue and chatted and laughed and did what we always do when we spend time together.  And one of the things that we did was to walk past the French Bakery in my town.  

It's not as if I wasn't aware that we have a French bakery or even that it temporarily slipped my mind. Of course not!  Venice is my town.  I live mere blocks away from the downtown area. I have walked past this bakery on a regular basis for 5 years now.  I was trying to obey the message the Universe gave me which was No Croissants for Sam!

But as we walked down the sidewalk and we neared the bakery, which is called, "Croissant and Company" by the way, I found myself walking right in.  Without a second thought or a moments hesitation, I stepped right up to the counter.   To the nice girl behind the counter who stepped right up to help me I said,  "Deux Croissant S'il te plait".  If I'm going to be pretentious, I am going to do it all the way. She bagged my order, I paid for it,  "Merci" in two directions and it was done.  So much for my resistance.  I defied the Universe!

I did mange to wait until I got home to eat one and it was not just consumed, it was devoured! I fell on that first Croissant like a starving lion on an unfortunate gazelle.  It was not pretty.  But it was delicious.  And just like that, the craving was satisfied.  I offered the second one to Tim but he declined so I ate the second on the next day.  Far more slowly and politely, but with just as much pleasure.  Now I no longer crave croissants.  If you offered me one right this minute I would say, "No thank you" without a seconds hesitation and no regret.  It will probably probably be years before I have another mad craving for one.  

I do not understand these crazy cravings.  But I do understand the delight of a beautiful croissant.  In the end, I'm glad that I didn't find one at the grocery store.  Publix is a great store and has a perfectly fine bakery.  But there is something special about buying a beautiful perfect croissant at a French Bakery that completes the experience beautifully.

The origin of the croissant, if you are interested (clearly I was) is actually Austrian!  Way back in at least the 13th century there was something called a Kipferl made in Austria that was often  filled with nuts. (not unlike a rugelach).  In France, in the 1830's,  an Austrian artillery officer named August Zang,  founded an Viennese bakery in Paris.  One of the things he created there was the Kipferl, but he tweaked it a bit to give it more of a French feel by using puff pastry and voila, the Croissant was born.  Within 30 years, it was a breakfast staple in France.

There are many variations of the wonderful Croissant all over the world, all with their own geographic twists and often called by other names:  Medialunas, Xuixos, Cornetto, and Ay Coregi are a few of the names I came across.  One of the longest is from Poland, it is rogale świętomarcińskie. I am not going to embarrass myself by trying to pronounce that.  So if I ever travel to Poland and am overcome with a craving for croissants there, I will have to just point and smile.  And then I will eat and enjoy!

No matter what you do to a Croissant to adapt it to your culture or countries cuisine, I bet it's still absolutely wonderful.  (but wow that was a lot of the letter C!)

I am laughing at myself.  The amount of energy and time I put into resisting a craving only to (nearly always) finally giving in to it, is ridiculous.  I should have just walked over to the French Bakery a week earlier and purchased the darned thing and gotten it over and done with.  Ultimately, we all know that I was going to give in at some point.  Maybe I just like torturing myself?

At any rate: Mission accomplished. Craving satisfied once again.  Moving on.