January 30, 2017 - National Croissant Day & Memories of France

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 75 DAYS 

MONDAY --- YAY!!!
I know - I'm nutty for loving Mondays.  But, I really get bored over the weekend and cannot wait for the week to start again.

Anyhoo, this weekend in particular I was totally out for the count with the little stomach bug.  

But, I'm back to my old self now. 

Well, I'm sure you noticed that today is

​National Croissant Day!!

Who woulda thought this day even existed? Mais Oui!  It certainly does!

What's the first thing you think of when you hear the word Croissant?  For me, it's France, specifically Paris.

Oh boy, do I love the Parisian breakfasts - tea with butter and chocolate croissants!! So yummy!

And only the French can eat this all the time and never put on an ounce of weight!

BUT...DID YOU KNOW ...
AUSTRIA IS THE ACTUAL COUNTRY OF "BIRTH" OF THIS FAMOUS PASTRY?  

Let's take a walk down Croissant History Lane, complements of Labadiane Restaurant in Vietman: 
​
* In 1683, Vienna (the capital of Austria) was under siege by over a hundred thousand Ottoman Turks. After several months of trying to starve the city into submission, the Turks attempted to tunnel underneath the walls of the city.

TRADITIONAL BUTTER CROISSANT

* Fortunately for the entire city, some bakers hard at work in the middle of the night heard the sounds of the Turks digging and alerted the city’s defenders. This advance warning gave the defenders enough time to do something about the tunnel before it was completed.​

* ​Soon, King John III of Poland arrived at the head of an army that defeated the Turks and forced them to retreat.

KIPFERI - MADE BY AUSTRIAN BAKERS (credit: 10Awesome.com)

* To celebrate the end of the siege and the part they had played in lifting it, several bakers in Vienna made a pastry in the shape of the crescents they had seen on the battle standards of the enemy.

* They called this new pastry the “Kipferl” which is the German word for “crescent” and continued baking if for many years to commemorate the Austrian victory over the Turks in 1683.

MARIE ANTOINETTE IS CREDITED WITH BRINGING KIPFERI, TO FRANCE, WHICH IS MADE MORE ELABORATE BY COURT BAKERS AND CALLED THE CROISSANT. (credit: Pinterest)

THANK YOU, MARIE ANTOINETTE...

* It was not until 1770 that the pastry came to be known as the croissant when Austrian Princess married King Louis XVI of France. 

* Princess Marie came to France as a new bride when she was only 15. The young queen missed the simple cake in the shape of crescent of her homeland.

* To honor their new queen, the bakers in Paris made some “kipferls” of their own. The only difference was that they called it by the French word for crescent, “croissant” and made it looks more complex for royal dining table.

* In 1920, Croissant officially became a French pastry. 


Today, there are many varieties of the croissant including chocolate filled croissants and almond croissants. 

CHOCOLATE CROISSANT

YUM!!!!

ALMOND CROISSANT (credit: Essential Baking Company)

All this croissant talk has me yearning for Paris!

​Well, thank goodness we will be traveling there in less than 2-1/2 months as far of Gianna's 13th Birthday Trip to London in April!!

I told both girls several years ago that for their 13th birthday, we would go to the destination of their choice.  Gianna has always wanted to go to London so that was pretty much on the agenda for a while.

THE EIFFEL TOWER (c)travelincouisns.com

ME AND KELSEY CLIMBING TO THE TOP OF THE EIFFEL TOWER IN 2013 (c)travelincousins.com

But the more I began planning the trip, I thought about how fun it would be to take an overnight trip to Paris - clearly one of the girls' favorite cities in the world!!

And so, that's exactly what we are doing.  It's going to be about the "experience" of taking the train from London to Paris and seeing the countryside along the way.

Then, once in Paris, we will be staying two minutes away from the Eiffel Tower!  Our day will be all about visiting the Tower and going to the top! 
Then we will have an incredible French meal!

More on this as we get closer!

Well, here's to a great start to your week!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 7 DAYS 

OMG can you believe that in exactly one week from today that we will be in Montreal?!

How super exciting!!!

Well as of yesterday we have officially started the packing process and I helped Dave pack his luggage - he is the most difficult person when it comes to packing...ugh
Anyhow, he is now about 90% packed and we'll take care of packing the incidentals sometime this week.

Now I need to get the packing underway for myself and the kiddos. This probably can't be tackled until tomorrow at the earliest, as I have an associates meeting this evening that I need to prep for.

​Did you realize that this will be the kids second visit to France in the last 8 months?! And Dave and my third visit in the last 8 months!!

Appreciating the view - Paris, France 2012 (c)travelincousins.com

You just gotta take this pic - 2012 (c)travelincousins.com

Twinkling nightly (c)travelincousins.com

Now when I think of France I think of the most AMAZING Baguettes ever!

But also, how can you not think of Croissants???
​
It is the land of the Croissant, but certainly not the only place to get these delightful flaky pastries!!

Have Baguette will travel. France - May 2016 (c)travelincousins.com

In fact as a vegan getting and finding Croissants has been rather a difficult task.

It has only really been a few years now that Croissants have even been available "veganised" and what I can honestly tell you that I don't remember the original butter laden pastries being anywhere near as good as the ones that I've (over) indulged in over the recent years.

​In fact the God's honest truth is that I actually don't even remember really liking Croissants until having them as a vegan.

We found this GIANT Croissant in Grindelwald, CH 2013 (c)travelincousins.com

And it's not like they are readily available and certainly not all Croissants are created equal...

​Here are a few that are standouts:

New day, new Baguettes France - May 2016 (c)travelincousins.com

Back in Paris, France - Aug. 2016 (c)travelincousins.com

Chocolate filled from Passion Flour Bakery in Salt Lake City, Utah (c)travelincousin.com

Faux Ham and Cheese filled from Passion Flour in Salt Lake City, Utah (c)travelincousin.com

Jam and vegan Nutella filled from Santoni Cafe in Barcelona, Spain (c)travelincousin.com

Of course we cannot wait to hopefully get some more great ones on our upcoming trip! Nom nom nom

Check out Elisa's column for more on traditional Croissants including the history behind the Croissant.

And so now, back to yesterday...
It was a day of packing, going to the stables, going to the bookstore and of course EATING!

View from the stables (c)travelincousin.com

Dream is curious about the camera (c)travelincousin.com

Cosette and Dream (c)travelincousin.com

This poor tree had fallen over with all of the recent high winds (c)travelincousin.com

Little did I know that Dave's blood sugar had sand to a new low and although it was HIS choice for us to go to the stables first, by the time he was finally eating he was about ready to self combust!

Ordering some tacos (c)travelincousins.com

Tacos from Oasis Cafe (c)travelincousins.com

Well folks that was my day and my 2 cents!

Oh and btw - there apparently was some missing text in yesterdays Daily Scoop. So here it is again...
January 29, 2017​

Catch y'all back here tomorrow,
-T