Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Pumpkin Surprise
The oldest patisserie in Nice (oops, I forget it's name) has a Halloween display in the window. Yes, this is an example of American culture around the world. The display is tasteful as only the French could construct it. Among the little marzipan pumpkins with jack-o-lantern faces nestled in beautiful boxes are larger pumpkins perhaps four inches 'round. The outsides look as real as real can be, the orange tint as if just picked from a garden, the tops sliced off, sitting next to the gourd. However, as the French say, vive las difference! (Yes, I know they were talking about gender, but just wait.) The pumpkins are lined with chocolate and -- oh. la! -- filled with white, sugar-dusted Turkish Delight.
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Mmmm hmmm, I would expect the French to have a classy Halloween, no Pixie Sticks and Gobstoppers for them. Dee
ReplyDeleteDee, I must not have described these confections accurately. They were the most beautiful things you can imagine!
ReplyDeleteYou described them well, they sound divine!
ReplyDeleteI grow weary of our huge American piles of sugar and imitation sugar and genetically engineered sugar. Dee
Anne, do you mean Halloween or the pumpkin is American culture? Jack-o-lanterns were Irish originally (turnips I think) and the Celts in good old England did the original trick or treating! Pumpkins you can claim... (http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_cu.htm)
ReplyDeleteAs for the French, they do everything stylishly, damn them!
No, I wasn't claiming the vegetable or the jack-o-lantern per se, just the notion of blowing anything up into a huge commercial endeavor. I'm sure we're not the only country to do so, but we certainly excel at it! If there was any way I could have transported this thing up the Rhone, had it survive 2 days in Paris plus a plane flight and made it through customs, I would have brought it home. It was really a work of art, not to mention the Turkish Delight which I cna never turn down.
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