Another Saturday at the Ferry Building and I stopped inside Boulette’s Larder, a restaurant/shop on the water side facing the farmer’s market. I have never eaten there but I like to stop inside and see the glass case of prepared food and desserts. This art piece on the wall made me smile as we are in the middle of the Tour de France. The polka dot jersey goes to the best climber in the race and is the “King of the Mountains.”
The whole wall with edibles in front
My very first Paris Brest that I made a couple of months ago in pastry school. According to Wikipedia, the Paris Brest became popular with bike riders racing from Paris to Brest and back to Paris. The high calorie content gave them extra energy. It also looks like the shape of a wheel. The Paris Brest is made with choux pastry and filled with a praline-flavored pastry cream. Then whip cream is piped in between the two choux layers.
I happened to be in Paris two years ago when the final stage of the Tour was happening. I waited all…day. Here is a look.
It was around 10am when I started waiting at Rue de Rivoli on the corner of the Place de la Concorde. I decided against going to the Champs-Elysee because I thought it’d be too crazy. I’m not even French and yet I was one of the first to wait in my area.
People killing time by reading, smoking and…painting. Yes. There was enough time for that. I wrote postcards.
To keep us entertained before the riders were to come through, there was a parade with sponsors cars and floats.
Here is a truck decked out in the polka dot jersey theme with mountains covering the top.
I was completely clueless going into this and didn’t even know Lance Armstrong was in the race till I read reports later. I must have been too caught up with eating pastries.
There were some odd vehicles. Poor Saucissons & Terrines. Brief car trouble but that guy in the back was unfazed and kept cheering. I give him points for trying.
Finally 6 hours later the first group of riders started to come through. I particularly like this shot because you can see all the people out on the balconies watching. What a prime viewing location.
The riders come around 8 times so you can’t miss any of the action.
I’m in the mood for something savory so I’ll end with a link to a Gougeres recipe from David Lebovitz, former pastry chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and since then been writing books on ice cream, desserts and my favorite, his life in Paris. The Gougeres are also made with choux pastry but have cheese incorporated into the dough, making them the perfect little appetizers.