Gegessen

Though I’m usually one to pride myself on doing it all in my kitchen, whether it’s pizza dough or pastry cream, there are some things, I think, that are still best left to the experts. Believe me, I’m not one to shy away from kneading dough or tempering eggs–doing things with my own hands can be so satisfying–but then there’s stumbling sleepily into a bakery first thing in the morning and sitting down to warm, flaky perfection. I’m talking about the pretzel croissant at City Bakery in Manhattan. Crisp, light, wonderfully salty, tender, buttery-sweet, and sesame-coated–the pretzel croissant is all of these things. Just genius. And I’m happy to wait for my next trip to New York City to experience it all again. Why? To be fully appreciated, I think, some things should be savoured in the moment, just as they are. Going home and cutting up cubes of cold butter for croissant dough just wouldn’t be right in this case. It’d be like returning from the MoMA and mixing up some oil paints to try to recreate Les Demoiselles D’Avignon in my living room. Sometimes, celebrating food just means tucking in and enjoying it. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately while on this trip (honourable mentions include the strange but incredible olive oil and sweet corn & blackberry copettas at Otto) , but I promise that I’ll be back in my own kitchen working away soon.