Short Memoir 2

One day while I was was living in Paris I was at the bakery buying bread and my gaze fell upon some funky colored, tiny, hamburger-looking things. When I say funky-colored, I mean FUNKY colored. Bright yellows and placid greens, teal, neon pink. It was astounding, and slightly sickening. I had no desire to buy them, eat them, or even stammer through the necessary french to figure out what in heavens name they were. I pushed them from my mind and focused on remembering the name of my bread loaf so I could order speedily and not bring attention to myself. A few weeks later [maybe even a month later I am ashamed to admitt] I finally communed with these strange, but utterly delightful, little pasteries.

And commune I did. Upon first contact with my tongue my entire being rippled with ecstasy. I "MMMMMM"-ed like a 3 year old. The slight crunch, the sticky creaminess, the melting cookie, the kick of bold intruiging flavor, it became a part of me.

There were three of us that day. Together we had bought a box of 5 at Ladurée and then taken them down the Champs-Élysées [do not tell this next part to Mme Welch] to McDonalds where we ate french fries [I swear this was the only time] cleared the table, and began our ceremony in a cushioned darker corner of the wanna-be posh 'restuarant.' We had gotten multiple flavors and this meant no repeats. So, we took turns taking the first bite and then passed the cookie around. Each girl had dibs on the first bite of her personal anticipated favorite flavor. I got lemon and, let me add, lemon was the winner that day.

Photo documentation was taken of each too-small bite. Our faces, of course, were distorted in pleasure. We twisted, we melted. We shivered and sighed. And we were crippled with sadness that this was the end of our time in France. How in the world did we last this long without partaking of this precisely contained piece of Parisian perfection? This was France at its finest to me: classy, colorful, sweet and sculpted. As well as slightly stand-offish and intimidating.