Food: A History of Sila Part 4- French Bakeries for Breakfast

Sila was built in a town called Tréguier. When you buy a brand new boat, there are lots of little problems that need to be found and fixed; so, we returned to our home port, Tréguier, many times in June and July. As a result, we became familiar with the landscape and we knew our way around.  Since it was France, we were always ready to get bread in the mornings. Most of the time, we got two loaves of Festive from our favorite bakery unless it was closed. Festive is the baker's special version of a baguette; it seemed to have a little rye flour in it. There were other bakeries near our favorite so we always got bread.

Every morning, either Jack or I, or sometimes both of us would hike up a hill to the bakery. A couple of days a week, Daddy would give me 5 Euros and I would get to pick out two loaves of bread as well as one pastry per person. Originally, I was too nervous to ask for bread and I waited outside of the patisserie while Jack bought the bread. Jack went so many times that he was normally greeted with a "Bonjour Jacques". The day we left Tréguier for good, the bread lady gave us a special pastry from the back, not from the display counter. It was basically a giant, chocolate filled croissant.

Eventually I was able to buy bread by myself, but I made a few mistakes along the way. Once on Isle de Batz, I asked for something like10-15 baguettes instead of two. The nice lady stared at me and slowly handed me a ton of baguettes. I quickly corrected myself and left before I could make any more of a fool of myself. The first time I ever asked for bread I went through an unnecessary trouble about the price. I had said, "Bonjour Madam, deux Baguette, un croissant, deux chocolate éclair, un… si vous plait," and pointed at a cinnamon roll. Preparing to give the lady seven or eight Euros, I looked at the cash register, three Euros! I pointed at the price then back at the warm pastries attempting to give a questioning look. The lady called someone and an older lady hurried up to us. They spoke in rapid French for a moment then the new lady turned to me and told me that three Euros was the correct price for what I had purchased. I walked quickly back to Sila surprised. I had given less than five dollars for two loaves of delicious fresh bread and four mouth watering pastries.

Mama normally had a croissant. On some random occasions, she would ask for flan because that was Poppy's favorite or for a chocolate éclair in honor of Mano (that is my name for Madeleine). Daddy mostly had a raisin cinnamon roll, and I never remembered its name in French. Every once in a while, Daddy would have a strawberry tart. Jack usually asked for the chocolate croissant. I always went with the chocolate éclair or chocolate croissant depending on which one was bigger, the bakery's quality, how warm they were, or dramatic price differences. Sometimes one of the different pastries would be giant or tiny. Some of the pastries just did not look as good as the rest. If I was lucky, I would be in the bakery when a batch of some pastry was taken from the oven. In a few places, some treat was two or three times the price of another equally tasty. I always went with a cheaper treat so that we could sail longer and hopefully make it back to France again in a year or two.

The baguettes themselves spoiled us. As soon as the bread arrived there was a general bustle as we gathered the jam, butter, honey, cheese, and in Jack's case hot sauce. I would cover my slice of bread in butter before adding a chunk of cheese, honey or jam. I would even eat it with just butter. On the way home from a bakery, I would have to exercise self restraint so I wouldn't chow down on the fresh bread. I was really the only one that used the honey. Daddy preferred jam, Mama liked just butter or cheese, and Jack preferred hot sauce. Seriously, he would butter the bread and pour a bit of the not spicy French hot sauce on it. All sandwiches in France, the ones we made on Sila and the ones we bought, were made on a half baguette for each person. My favorite sandwich was ham, cheese and butter on a baguette. When there was leftover bread, we would make French, French toast or croutons for our salads. Basically we never ate bread unless it was fresh that day. There is no better way to start one's day than going to a French bakery for breakfast. 

– Porter