On monday I told you about my gluttonous weekend. I’m still recovering, and officially on Jillian Michaels’ shit list.
But whatevs. I’ve never been one to play by the rules, especially when it comes to “eating right” and “exercising.” These are both activities that can be manipulated to my specifications. Let’s take my visit to this gorgeous French bakery, Le Fournil, for example. “Eating right” in France entails coffee and pastry for breakfast. I mean, you wouldn’t be French if you didn’t. So naturally, I ate right.
Venturing into this cute Eastlake cafe, I faced a serious dilemma: which pastry to choose? A cream cheese croissant?
Or one of the apple variety?
Pain au chocolat, peut-être?
Something containing nuts? That could be considered protein.
Of maybe just basic butter? A plain croissant is the bar for which to measure a French bakery, after all. Let’s go with this one.
Shut up, Jillian.
From the outside it was perfect: crispy, flaky, and not even one tiny bit soft as inferior croissants tend to be.
The inside was chewy, buttery, and seriously, seriously tasty. This was one mighty good croissant, my friends. One of the best I have ever had in this city.
Licking the flaky crumbs from our lips, pal Jen and I decided that we needed to fulfill the “exercise” portion of this whole “eat right, exercise” phenomenon. So we picked our butts off of our chairs, walked an entire ten feet to the pastry case, and peered inside. I believe we even needed to bend over and squat to see some of the lovely baked goods.
See Jillian? I did a squat. Boo-yah.
I believe a mixed fruit tart would count as a serving of fruit.
As would a blueberry tart. And, by the way, have you ever seen a cuter mini-tart? This ones surely take the cake. Or in this case, takes the mini-tart.
Rosemary pear? Get out. I love creative flavors.
Chocolate? I dig the half ‘n half design with the little lemons. Too freaking cute.
But the winner? The chocolate eclair. How could we not order this gorgeous specimen of French pastry? The dough was lightly crisped around the edges with a bittersweet ganache on top. Inside (which I neglected to photograph because I was…well, scarfing the whole dang thing down) contained a richer-than-rich chocolate mousse. It was a blissful combination of textures and flavors. By far the best eclair I have ever, ever tasted.
With our curiosity about this delicious bakery satisfied (two thumbs up) and our tummies full of pastry, we headed home to nap it off. Wait, I mean…we went home, grabbed our hand-weights and did the 30 Day Shred.
If you happen to run into Jillian Michaels today, please tell her I’m at the gym. But in reality I’ll be at Le Fournil sampling their delicious croissants and eclairs. I would recommend doing the same.
Happy Hump Day! (*snickers*)
-RDG
