There used to be a bakery ten minutes from my house, Le Royal. It was a French bakery that would open up at six AM, with tiny almond croissants and napoleons and tiramisu. My older sister would go there on the way to university, and sometimes pick them up. At the time, I wasn’t a coffee person, but I learned to like the croissants. When I went to the same university, I would sometimes stop by the bakery for breakfast. The two brothers who ran it would greet all the customers cheerfully: “Good morning! How are you?”
For me, good croissants can be hard to find. The ones at the grocery store are often too buttery for my taste, and crumbly. Ones as big as your head can be hard to eat.
The brothers have since moved on from that bakery. They sold it and opened another restaurant by the airport. The bakery stayed open for a few more years, before it sold and a new place took over. I felt despondent. Other bakeries with good croissants had also folded. It felt like we were never going to find the place that we wanted.
My sister is visiting this week. She told me she looked online and found another bakery, with good almond croissants, near the old location. We went there this morning, before grocery shopping; she got a chocolate almond croissant while I got chocolate hazelnut. It was a delicious, filling breakfast with coffee. Parking is tough, but if I go next time, may arrive super early first.
Some days when things are awful in the news, you have to find a good croissant. It makes you remember the little things.
