This post is inspired by a request from Laura M for some pastries with delicious details.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a few pics of treats I've enjoyed.

Chocolate fondant with pistachio ice cream

Parisian-style frozen nougat

Gascon flaky apple tart

Tulip cookie with lemon emulsion which sounds better as Tulipe et son emulsion au citron de menton.

Chef took issue with our suggestion that this emulsion was a typical English lemon curd. He added that British cooking really had very little to offer and this was not English, but we still left the kitchen feeling it was a great lemon curd recipe.

Almond croissant and Pan au chocolate from des Gateaux de pain

des Gateaux du Pain is a owned by a female baker. Female bakers are not to common and there isn't really a feminine word in French for female baker.

David Lebovitz has pondered about this and suggested starting some such as...boulangesse?...boulangeuse?

Well, honestly this doesn't begin to cover the sweets I've eaten, but it's all for research right? Getting to know a culture through its foods is a job I take seriously--just don't ever ask me to make these. I'm a cook not a boulangeuse.

Here's a short review in French and reference in English to the boulangerie.
http://www.paperblog.fr/1225659/des-gateaux-et-du-pain-patisserie-et-boulangerie-paris-75/
http://www.monocle.com/webprogrammes/Quality-of-Life-Index/Des-Gateaux-et-du-Pain-Paris/