Hi, coffee/tea & pastry lovers!

If you wish to tell us about those pastries you love so much and are always looking for in the coffee shop, you can join in for prompt 41 now.

I'm all for puff pastries! Better if they it's a freshly made millefeuille, And, of course, there's a but.

Most of the time, I have my coffee at home. When I have my coffee out, it's usually because I'm meeting family or friends....

One of my last visits to a local coffee shop, La Panetteria, with my husband, sister, and nephew

My last visit to the same coffee shop with my comadre and her daughter, my goddaughter

They've changed the decoration; the square tables are gone and they have round tables now. Besides, when you're inside, you feel that life is orange like a very orange orange, hehe. I guess it's sort of vintage style, but I digress.

When meeting family and friends outside, the occasion usually calls for some pastries to go with our coffees: one talks, drinks and eats, right? Then I'm in the mood for palmiers and/or millefeuilles.

I like honest posting, so I must confess "millefeuille" is something I should never eat 🙈 So I order it, have a couple of bites, and then pull others to finish eating it--before I do. The same goes for cow's milk latte.

I've found that it's "also known by the names Napoleon in North America, vanilla slice in the United Kingdom, and custard slice". We call it milhojas (a thousand sheets) in Venezuela. Basically, this dessert consists of layers of puff pastry altered with layers of pastry cream. It is usually cut and served in rectangles or squares, so it looks like a multi-layered sandwich.

Palmiers, on the other hand, have no pastry cream, so you'd say I'm safe. But I should be careful about gluten; then this is issue for me. Most of the time it's just me and my cup of espresso.

...But also me and my cup of espresso plus half a palmier. They are huge here at La Panetteria.

I like being surrounded by beautiful food, even if I won't eat it, which must be something worthy of psychoanalysis, but that is not the subject of this post 🙈

Anyway, when I go to La Cascada del Pan in the neighboring state, where I have y second job, we like to order mini pastries to take home, but we have them with wine; you can see the little millefeuilles there. They are always fresh; as it's usual in Venezuelan bakeries, pastry shops, and coffee shops, they are decorated with caramel milk and/or confectioner's sugar.

You can see some mini cheesecakes there, next to the mini millefeuilles, which are my second favorites to go with coffee. bakery.

In fact, this is what I order when I go to 212 just some minutes away from this

I seldom order coffee at 212, but when I do, it's usually time for dessert. My usual picks here are cheesecake and brownie gelato. I love these two desserts, so I won't miss the chance if I know they have good ones.

Cheesecake here is firm and soft. It comes topped with strawberry jam, and the crust is crispy and semi sweet, not too buttery. Delicious! I didn't eat cheesecake this time, but it's been my usual pick in the recent past, so here it is.

About their brownie at 212, my sister loves it. I prefer to make my own brownie at home, but if I am with my sister, I know we're sharing one. It's good to be honest: the cake is served warm and it's crispy on the outside and moist and soft on the inside, while the gelato is creamy and won't melt too quickly. But the whole thing is too sweet to my taste, so I usually have a couple of bites only.

Desserts here are big here, and this is why we share.

I'm not picky even though I have limitations because of my mild allergy to gluten and mild intolerance to lactose. If I have really crispy pastries--which have been baking for a good while--with no cream and that are low in fat, I'm good. Below is my wisest pick: garlic and herb breadsticks. These are sold in the same bakery that I frequently visit: La Panetteria.