Pastry.... I love pastry and Paris is the city... and it's freshness...

But be careful..... because not everything that shines is gold!
Rules, imperative rules, to buy pastry wherever you may be:

- Take a good look at the brilliant coat on top of the entremets -cakes- which in pastry we call glaçage
It must be really shiny, like glowing. When the top coat has some spots not that shiny, humm... beware of the freshness.

- if it is about a chocolate glaze, just the same as the glaçage; be careful if you see some little spots which seem fade.

- if it's decorated with fresh fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, this is the very best "thermometer" of freshness! they have to look as if they came out of the bushes 5 minutes ago! Never, ever buy a cake with raspberries that look like my grandmother's skin at 90yrs old! you will notice that the red fruits are a very good indicator of the freshness of the product. If they look fade, forget about the cake!

- any other decorations on cakes -like dissecated oranges, lemons, pinapples... they have to still have some brilliance on the surface. If they look like carved wood, again, forget it.

- if the entremet looks like the Pisa tower -falling apart- don't buy it. It also may look as if the superior layers of the cake are heavier than the base as if they were 1cm wider than the base. So, it's been in the fridge for more than 4 days. Run away from it, as fast as you can.

- if chantilly cream (in a framboisier, for example) has little, tini tiny bubbles on the surface... hummmm.... and it has to look white, not beige...

In pastry we have to apply the same procedures like when we go to the market: e.g.lettuce has to be vibrating, has to show us some exhuberating life; if the leaves are falling down, fade, well... that lettuce deserves a R.I.P moment (let's pray for her soul).

Have a beautiful Sunday!!