Day 2 of France Trip 2010
See that? That's food in the mouth of food. What you have here is a mutton eating some pain. In France, even sheep likes bread. Unfortunately for the sheep, she didn't get it the way I did, which was slathered with Brittany butter. Sorry sheep, no butter for you. Day 2 was pretty fantastic, and full of food. I'm going to go light on the descriptions and heavy on the pictures. So the day started with breakfast which of course was bread, three kinds... croissant, chocolate croissant, and mini baguette. Too hungry to take pictures for y'all. But then...
Yea, that's a giant seafood platter. The same kind that Anthony Bourdain ate on his trip to Brittany. It's pretty awesome. It was spider crab, regular crab, sea snails, langostines, shrimp, and some special mayo made with egg yolks. Really delicious stuff. There's nothing like digging into crustaceans. They're so good and fresh.
We drove through the beautiful city of Dol de Bretagne and there were some cool old buildings made mostly of stones? I mean, really sturdy stuff, not that wood shit that we use in the U.S. You know there's history in those walls. We then went to the afternoon destination that was by the sea...
Saint Malo! There's a song to go with this but I don't know the song. It's one of those songs that your dad would sing while your face turns red and you're like 'Dad, no one sings that song any more!' Oh but they do. Saint Malo is by the sea and the city is fortified by the sea. There used to be pirates and English people. Those pesky Brits, always up to no good. But behind the walls, there's a nice cute, and boutiquey area.
The streets were made out of cobblestones and the buildings were all old and very European looking. It's funny because you just know you're walking through Europe and not Asia, North America, or Anarctica. This stuff just screams out years and years of history. And it's on these streets that we came by this little store...
They had some baked goods, and quite frankly a lot of stores had baked goods. This particular store was smart because they had theirs by the window and many of the pieces of the specialty was gone. When I see that people ordered a bunch of the same stuff, I figure that stuff is good. Right? The special thing is common in Brittany but not so much elsewhere. The specialty of course, is Kouign Amann.
Imagine a brownie. Now instead of a single consistency, imagine layers. Ok, now instead of chocolate, imagine butter. What you have then, is a kouign amann, a layered pastry that swims in butter. It's soft and moist (probably because of the butter) and the edges are crispy. I think this is probably good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Someone keep this shit from those kinds in Huntington, WV, or else Jamie Oliver would go bonkers. This stuff is high calories and awesome. Eat one.
Later we had some crepes that were just ok, and at night I had some homemade crepes made by Steph's mom. Homemade ones beat out the ones at the restaurant by far. I didn't even eat mine with nutella. Just butter baby. More Brittany butter.
Until tomorrow kids...
That pastry looks incredible - as much as I love the concept of pure butter (why would you mess with a good croissant, for example), I find myself wondering how that would work interspersed with lemon, honey or maarmalade... or bacon jelly... mmm, jelly....
Totally sharing this with our blog's facebook fans, btw! Great series :D
James
April 29, 2010 7:27 pm
im fascinated of France already =)
Steve
April 13, 2010 1:31 am
I'm so happy to see this series! I'm traveling to France next week (Paris and the South, so I'll see different stuff than you), and this is really getting me in the spirit. You have me nervous about the rail strike, though - we're taking the TGV from Paris to Marseille, and I'll be damned if I know what we'll do if it's cancelled.
Ben
April 12, 2010 1:29 pm
Oh shizzzzz I can feel the butter in my veins, almooost. I've never had a kouign amann like that! Note to self: get meself to Brittany.
I'm loving these posts! And your awesome photos! And I applaud you for updating so diligently! :O
Robyn
April 12, 2010 10:39 pm
Je suis très heureux de voir ces photos de St Malo où je me rends régulièrement (j'habite Paris) pour humer l'air marin, du kouign amann que j'aimais au goûter sur la plage mais que je préfère le matin avec un café.
J'attends la suite de vos aventures avec impatience.
la flore et la faune
April 12, 2010 4:54 am
Loving this series! I also happened to be in St Malo a number of years ago - love the little town!
Su-Lin
April 12, 2010 8:52 am
And you have to try the spectacular "crêpe suzette" (on fire). And the farmer cidar. And... Bon appétit.
la flore et la faune
April 12, 2010 11:09 am
Blogging on vacation, now that's dedicated! Keep the posts coming, loving the Brittany series.
bionicgrrrl
April 12, 2010 11:48 am
Oooh, I remember that seafood platter from Bourdain. How much does one of those cost? Just like Anthony, I am convince I can eat one all by myself.
Hungry
April 12, 2010 12:28 pm