When Taste Is Accompanied by Memory

 We sit at the kitchen counter with a vase of daffodils and a tray of delicacies.

Tony has just pulled from the oven warm, buttery, flaky croissants. They are a part of Williams and Sonoma's frozen French pastry delights, and they easily rival (except for authentic French ambiance) a Parisian baked croissant.

We sit side by side pulling apart the many layers of sublime taste which must have taken generations of French, Turkish, or Austrian (they all claim to be the originators) bakers to perfect.

But somehow the croissant has become a symbol of all things French-beautiful. Les Francaises aiment les belles choses! You go to Turkey for baklava, lamb, and history. You go to Austria for music and streusel. You go to France for le Tour d'eiffel and croissants!

It has been a twenty year practice to order the W&S croissants for one another's birthday or Christmas presents. We've even sent a box to our eleven-year-old grandson who has a fetish for pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant).

Last Christmas, I sent a box to my oldest-time friend. She was born in Paris, is the daughter of a one-time Miss France, and returned more than once to visit her grandmother.

Those days are long gone, but in our fantasies we'd always planned to return to France with our husbands. 

Then her husband was stricken with a life-debilitating disease. 

The consolation was a box of Williams and Sonoma croissants. 

She sent me a shocking photo. She had baked them all at once!!

She didn't understand my intentions when I sent her an eight-pack of croissants. She was to dole them out two at a time, and just as we sit at our counter and savor each bite, she too was supposed to savor each batch over a period of months.

But a gift isn't so unless it is given without conditions. Instead, thank you Linda for indulging in an indulgent present.

This morning as we savored our warm croissants, Tony thanked me for discovering the W&S croissants.

"Mais non," it wasn't me. Years ago, someone gifted them to my sister's boyfriend and without context for such a treasure, the croissants sat in his freezer for who knows how long. Finally, they were passed on to Tony and me who recognized the prize gift right away.