Do you remember the little pleasures of your childhood? One of mine are going to the bakery and buying a “Streuselschnecke” – a little round streusel cake or crumble cake – filled with fluffy sweet white cream, with loads of this stuff, actually. I used to eat it from outer rim towards the center, which, after munching ahead for a certain while, left me with the juicy-buttery center, which was more crumbles than dough, and in particular more cream than anything else.
Imagine an 8-year old skinny girl sitting at the doorstep of the bakery, her bicycle leaning against the wall, already full of cake after eating two thirds of it, but still keen to eat the best piece, the yummy center, although she got slowly sick from all the sugar. For me, this was heavenly pain, I did not mind that it was far too much, because I just loved it.
Now, in France, those memories came back and hit me unprepared. We went into the country in Alsace, the first city we visited was Colmar, which is a friendly town, calm and relaxed. It was a time of the day when it was not really time for a meal neither had we eaten a lot for breakfast – in short, it was the right time for a piece of cake. So, we went into Paul’s bakery, to grab some sweet treat. And then I saw the tropezienne. It was far away from the streusel cake of my childhood, but it had the same white fluffy cream in it, so I had to buy it. And yes, there it was, the sensation of sweetness and airy softness of my childhood summer days.
This was not the last tropezienne in my three weeks in France, but it was for sure the most remarkable as it brought back a happy time long gone. And I forgave it the 7.000 calories which came with it, I happily did.
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