Memories usually tend to get better with age, and we are talking about a cake I fell deeply in love with approx. 35 years ago. So the odds of baking a “russe” matching the taste of that very first one were very slim to say the least, but YOU DID IT!
This cake literally transported me back in time and reconnected me to my late, beloved grandmother. She was so fond of this cake, she quickly made it a habit to buy one every single day during the 3 weeks of our summer vacation… We had found this pastry shop along the main shopping street in Luchon (in the French Pyrennees) on the very first day, while walking back to our hotel after the first morning of treatment at the warm waters spa.
We both instantly became addicted. This cake was so good we actually bought 2 more slices each on that very first day. My grandmother was probably the sweetest tooth I have ever met (followed very closely by my mother and sister), and she looked like she just had found her grail, after looking for it for more than 70 years! She simply could not get enough. Forget about diet, cholesterol, blood sugar, and the whole healthy eating thing, she could not even think when she was passing by this pastry shop. And I must say that neither could I!
This cake actually became a reason to get out of our naps and go for a walk in the long and lazy summer afternoons. Maybe I should say “little” walks, because our hotel could not have been more than half a mile from the Pastry Shop, and I don’t think we ever found a good enough incentive to keep walking beyond the shop after stopping by to indulge.
Likewise, watching our kids eating the russe in silence 35 years later, licking their fingers and probably wishing they had a spare mouth made me wonder if they too would remember this day for 35 years. I sure wish they will! Smell and taste create strong, long lasting, beautiful memories. Unlike visual impressions, they simply don’t fade with age.
So thank you for bringing that one back. Now I’ll need MORE, MORE, MORE!
PS: To Dianne, yes I am French too and I enjoy cooking as well (once in a while). But I enjoy eating even more. And with Celine in the kitchen, I must say I am a very happy husband.
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