Days 18-19

flan
This is not from Maison Carratie because they do not make a flan. How can you not have flan in your bakery? So I've been around to the other bakeries in town, sampling flan. This is from a place a few blocks down on Avenue Jean Moulin. It wasn't good because the filling was over baked and rubbery. But, I have to say, I liked the crust. It was basic pie dough and it was under baked. I know, I know, it's taboo to serve raw dough like that but I secretly like it that way. It's a weaknesses I have for certain mediocre foods. Another good example for me is the cherry milkshake at Johnny Rocket's. It's a cherry flavored syrup squirted into vanilla ice cream---super fake yet super appealing.

parc des poetes
I walked through the park on the way to the train station yesterday. Everything is in full bloom now for spring.

...and in other news
Yesterday was a very bad day. I was hastled, harrassed and generally made miserable by the one who forthwith shall not be named. By the end of the day I must have looked semi-suicidal because he actually did something nice for me. He let me make the pastry cream. Granted, it's a foolproof recipe because it doesn't involve cooking anything (water, rum, vanilla, pastry cream powder and whipped cream combined in the mixer). But still, it was nice to be able to put a recipe together myself.
Today we finished by 11 a.m. I did the cleaning and left because they were goofing off in the other room. Chef was away today so no one was very disciplined.
Sundays are annoying because it's the last day before the shop is closed on Monday. That means that there is no fresh fruit to be had---you just try to use up everything that is already in the fridge. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, except today I had to make 4 strawberry tarts (2-6" tarts, 1-8" tart and 1-12" tart) and 4 fruit tarts (2-6" tarts and 2-8" tarts). I ran out of nice strawberries after the first tart and then was forced to use the strawberries with soft spots to complete the second tart. I personally wouldn't pay for a tart with mushy strawberries like that. I guess the nappage does a decent job of masking their faults, though, because there are never complaints from customers. An hour later, Chef's father came in with 15 quarts of strawberries and saved the day.
I was planning to head to Nimes tomorrow, but when I got to the train station to buy the ticket yesterday, I realized that I had forgotten my credit card and only had cash. I didn't have enough for the ticket to Nimes, so I scheduled another beach day, this time in Sete, the town just north of here. It has been 80 degrees the last 3 days and tomorrow is supposed to be the same. I heard that there is a boardwalk of sorts in Sete, so I'll make sure to get pictures of it.