Dreaming of France

     On Sunday I took my boyfriend to the airport for his month long trip to France.  He'll be cooking in a restaurant in Paris for 2 weeks and traveling around northern France for the other two.  Four weeks of incredible food, wine, and exploring a beautiful country.  Well, I'm pretty darn jealous, and I'm missing him a lot.  So, I decided I needed to have my own small food adventures around town while he is gone.
     This morning I went over to An Xuyen Bakery on 54th and Foster.  I'd read great things about their  French and Vietnamese breads and pastries, and I've been craving a Banh Mi sandwich...it was calling my name.  The tiny shop was overflowing with beautiful pastries, breads, and buns.  They also make specialty cakes and wedding cakes.  I purchased a traditional banh mi, a baguette, a Walnut Crisp (basically a flat round of puff pastry covered in sugar and studded with walnuts), and a guava cookie.  $5.23!  What a steal.
Shiny display case, great prices, they're really winning me over.  And the taste followed through.
The banh mi was nice- crunchy vegetables and spicy mayonnaise.  The crisp would be perfect with an espresso with a bit of cream.  I'm a sucker for the flaky layers of butter and sugar.  But it's this guava cookie that really sealed the deal.  I'd like to go back and get ten more.  I didn't realize what I was getting.
It just looked like a sugar cookie with bits of guava flecked through it.  Boy was I wrong.  The most tender, buttery crumb opened to a gooey, deep rose, guava jelly interior.  It was so delicate that it barely held together as I bit into it.  This is the best mood I've been in since my blues began on Sunday morning.
So, this will just have to be a month of food finds, new restaurants, and experimenting in the kitchen.  Maybe I'll learn something fabulous too.