Tribute to a Pastry Chef

Hope you are familiar with Cyrano de Bergerac...

 

 

 

Dear Ragueneau,

Oh kind and generous feeding hand

Of the starving artist

And paupered poet,

Are an inspiration

For many a Frenchman.

The arts you nurture

With your sweet cakes

And uphold the muses’ partisans

Upon pedestals of almond cheese-cakes.

Valour need not be won

Only on the battlefield of blood,

For to combat hunger

And grant sustenance to the body

Is a tedious undertaking,

A war you readily come to arms to

Bearing a loaf in one hand,

Chicken a lá Ragueneau presented in the other,

And before you flee

The demons that plague the empty stomach.

 

And so, to recognize your fight,

Your generosity towards my fellows of art

In feeding for but a simple verse,

I dedicate this tidbit to you.

For you are deserving of many verses

As the great Cyrano himself,

You wield your rolling pin with the same expertise

And finesse as he does a rapier.

Are not the deeds of a generous chef

Not to be credited duly?

 

For Ragueneau!

Reviews

[Karen666]

makes me hungry :)

[♥ Courtney &hear..]

now im hungry!!! :-p

Mmm cheesecake....mmm... LOL


great write baby

[.::Cup^E^Cake*RaWr!*::.]

Ok this one is really good & I'm not sure what to say about it!!!
I love the idea of writing about a chef it's awesome!!!

[R J Askew]

Well this should keep you in fat pies for a month or two! I wish a latter-day Ragueneau would show up in my neck of the woods as I could take a regular supply of merchandise from him. Actually I have a Ragueneau in mind, he has �120 mln worth of pastries, but has yet to realise his deep love of poetry. Great write. It's uplifting to see references to previous literary heroes...makes us feel there is a link to the here and now.

[hyancynthstofeedthysoul]

I once knew such a pastry chef. He was an old man when I met him. He had served in the French Army as a youth. Then he was pressed into service in the Italian Army in WWII. After the war he joined the U.S. Army. I met him in '56. He was a military cook, but at heart he was a pastry chef. Each year at Thanksgiving he would create a cake in the shape of a turkey, which was the center piece in the mess hall. I remember what he said, ''I'm a no soldier, I'm a chef, I'm a no fight." 59 years old, three armies and still not able to retire.


BTW I think you used ''G'' one too many .

[;]

Okay the first part made me hungry! But the rest made me ravenous! Like you said this is a masterpiece...Of the most delicous kind!