Baguettes and Macarons

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Louis's store opened on the corner of the seventh district, which is far away from the city center. It is a slum in the old city. The people living here are the unemployed, the disabled, the elderly and orphans. The whole block is full of lifelessness.And this small shop is integrated with this dilapidated old street. It is so dirty that the glass displayed in the window cannot be seen clearly. There is only a huge letter B pasted on adhesive tape, like an old man who has lost his teeth.

The B is the initials of the bakery, and the rest of the letter tape has been washed away by the wind and rain. If it weren't for the smell of wheat from the oven, no one would have been able to tell what this dirty shop was selling.

Louie was well aware of the fact that the store name had been washed out, but he didn't bother to make it up.At this time, he would rather try to beat a bowl of egg whites by hand, and study what kind of strength makes the meringue taste just right: Louis’ father taught him since he was a child that it is better to let the warm aroma of bread Fly farther.

Besides, now is not a good time to go out and fix the windows.It was raining and windy outside, and the sky was dark. Even the pigeons that flew around on weekdays also returned to their nests.Louis stood in front of the oven, staring at the crispy shell of the bread, which was gradually turning yellow, while looking at the deserted street from the corner of his eye.

It seemed that even the poor housewives who bought low-priced processed bread would not show up this evening.Why don't we close now?

Louis was about to stand up when the glass door of the bakery was pushed open.A young man walked in with a body full of steam and an unfamiliar floral fragrance.

Louis took a breath, and suddenly remembered that it was the smell of a lake full of water lilies.

He was young, with a face as smooth as a parfait, hair as black as bitter chocolate, and a slender figure--but too thin for a Frenchman.There is no doubt that this is an Asian, or a good-looking one.

He was wearing a slim-fitting silver-gray suit, and the movement of putting the straight-handled umbrella on the umbrella stand at the door was as elegant as a gentleman from the last century who came out of an old movie.Although his hair and clothes were wet from the rain, he didn't look embarrassed at all, and he didn't look like someone who should appear in a slum.

Although his appearance was novel, Louis was only interested in him. He muttered, "See what you want," and then turned to look after his baked bread.

The young customer was not frightened by his impoliteness. While wiping his glasses with a handkerchief, he smiled and said, "Hello, the storm is too severe now, so I dare not continue driving. Can I sit in your store for a while?"

Louis glanced at him: "You can only sit down if you buy something."

The young man said calmly: "I see. Do you have any recommendations?"

"All the desserts in my store are recommended." Louis said indifferently.

"...then this is the most expensive macaron."

Louis wiped the flour from his hands on his jacket, picked up the green macaron he was pointing at, and asked with lowered eyelids, "Eat it on the seat or take it away? It costs one euro to eat on the seat."

The young man said helplessly, "I'm eating in the restaurant. It's raining too much, so I don't dare to drive for the time being."

Louis bent down, took out a plate from the cabinet with half of the door missing, slapped the macaron on it, put a pair of plastic cutlery on it, and placed it on the cash register: "Four euros."

When he looked up, he found that the young man still had the disgust on his face that he couldn't take back in time, and his eyes stayed on the gap on the edge of the plate.Louis tapped the keyboard hard: "Pay? If you don't pay, I will put it back."

The young man frowned: "I'll pay by card."

Louis tapped the keyboard again: "Can't brush."

"I don't swipe visa, but you can always swipe CB bank card?"

"Can't scan." Louis pointed to the POS machine covered with tape, "It's broken, and you can't scan anything. Don't you have cash?"

The young man frowned, and with a look of disgust that he couldn't hide, he took out his wallet and found a ten-euro cash.Louis sighed loudly, and reached out to snatch his wallet: "I can't find it. Show me, don't you have a five-euro bill?"

He pinched the other party's leather wallet, only to realize that the flour on his hand would definitely stain this expensive luxury, so he quickly pulled out a five-euro note and returned the coin and the wallet to him: "Find a place to sit by yourself."

The young man glanced at the fingerprints on the wallet and said expressionlessly, "If you have time, please pour me a glass of water and a paper towel."

After speaking, he held up the dinner plate to choose a suitable seat. When Louis came back after receiving the tap water, he was still lingering in front of two slightly clean plastic chairs.Louis glanced over the chair covered in bread crumbs, felt a little ashamed, and wiped the cleaner chair with the hem of his apron: "Sit, someone sat on this chair yesterday, it's relatively clean."

Seeing the young man hesitated, he put down his water glass and sat him down on the chair: "It's just bread crumbs, it will be clean after you get up and pat it. You sit down quickly, I'm going to turn on the oven, you're dangling I'm upset."

The young man hesitated to speak, but finally shut his mouth and wiped his wallet with a tissue.

Louis saw that he had finally settled down, so he went to open his own oven in peace.The oven bread was soft and burnt, and the heat was just right, Louis picked a golden one, tore it from the middle, and immediately, there was sweet, warm and soft heat blowing towards his face.

Leaning on the counter, Louis tore the bread with his hands and began to eat.The young man was sitting facing the checkout counter. Seeing him holding the bread in his hand, he frowned slightly, and then asked, "Bread on a stick? It's raining so hard now, maybe no one will go out to buy bread. It will harden tomorrow." Wouldn't it be a waste?"

The characteristic of the famous French stick bread is that it is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, but as time goes by, it will soon become a hard and tasteless stone.Usually the chefs in the bakery get up at [-] o'clock in the morning to knead the dough, bake it until [-] o'clock, and sell it to the guests for breakfast. If they are not sold out after [-] o'clock in the afternoon, these baguettes will have to be disposed of at a low price. , or just throw it away.

It was raining heavily at the moment, there were no pedestrians, and it was obviously impossible for the only customer to buy ten baguettes. This batch of baguettes would definitely end up in the trash can.

However, the freshly baked baguettes are still soft, tough, and extremely crispy.Louis tore off a baguette and stuffed it into his mouth, lazily said, "I'll just eat it myself."

The young man watched him eat half a baguette empty-handed, showing a look of disbelief: "You just eat the baguette like this?"

"The baguette is best eaten straight out of the oven. After a while it hardens and loses its texture." Louis shrugged. "If you spread it with butter and meat sauce at this time, it will cover it up." This fleeting original flavor."

The young man froze for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said, "Your view on baguettes is quite unique."

Louis said seriously: "I have been baking bread since I can remember. They are my art, and of course I have my own opinions."

"I didn't intend to make you angry!" The young man hurriedly said, "You are right, the profession I love is an art."

This made Louis very comfortable, and he eased his breath: "Would you like a little?"

"No need, I'm not very interested in coarse bread like baguettes." As if to divert attention, the young man cut the macarons on the plate with a plastic spoon.

The spoon cut through the crispy shell and plunged into the soft inner core. The young man was stunned for a moment, cut off a small piece of macaron with the spoon, and said, "In the nearby bakery, it is rare to see such a delicate macaron. Macarons are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.”

Louis moved the baking tray to the back of the counter, began to place baguettes, and muttered: "What's so surprising, isn't it the basic requirement for macarons to be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside? Because the proportion of almond powder is not right, the inner core is also hard. It's a layman's mistake."

The young man laughed and said, "Just looking at the storefront and appearance, I can't imagine that you have such superb baking skills. This macaron is not only soft and firm, but also sweet. It is impossible to make macarons into shape." Sweetness is something chefs in many high-star hotels can’t do.”

After he finished speaking, he ate the macaron slowly with a spoon, and said again: "Is it chestnut paste and pistachio almond meringue? Both of them have a delicate taste, no pungent smell, complementary sweetness, and a good match." Ingenious. Your standard is so high, why don't you apply for a job in a high-star hotel, but open a shop in a slum instead?"

His compliment made Louis inexplicably happy, and the latter looked at him twice more, and no longer stingy with his words: "This is the store left by my father, and I don't go anywhere except here."

"Even if you don't plan to leave this store, you can try to manage this store better." The young man stood up, "The macarons you made are the most delicious I have eaten in three months, but because Some other factors—” He looked at the simple decoration in the store, “I almost lost the courage to taste it. I believe that there were many customers who had a prejudice against your craftsmanship because of your appearance, and did not enter your store In the store."

Louis said expressionlessly, "Can you speak directly?"

The young man smiled: "Your image will affect your business to a certain extent, making customers feel that your dim sum is not high-end. If you want to change this situation, you can contact me."

He took out the business card holder from his briefcase, took out a white business card from it, and walked over quickly to hand it to Louis.The latter took a look and wondered, "Image designer, what is this?"

"Literally, I'm in charge of designing your image, from hairstyle to clothing, and I will definitely design the best look for you. Make you and your bakery look brand new, high-end enough."

Louis didn't take the business card: "You don't need a high-end appearance to sell baguettes."

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Rainy day in the South of France... hold back the swear words.

In France, CB can basically be regarded as a specific French local bank card→_→because many stores cannot accept visa.