The sun, a ceremony, and a droopy bottom

A miracle? It seemed like something rather grand was going on yesterday, because after the rainiest spring we can remember, the sun was out, and the sky was a beautiful blue.

That made for a much more pleasant stay at Daglan’s war memorial, in front of the restaurant Le Petit Paris, for the ceremony to mark the Allies’ victory over Hitler’s forces on May 8, 1945 — 79 years ago. It is an important day for France, and May 8 is a national holiday.

As in the past, Jan and I were there with a small crowd of other villagers, to see the flag raised, to hear the Mayor’s speech about the war and the eventual victory, and to listen to the national anthem. Here’s a view, as the Mayor reads to the group:

The gathering at the war memorial.

The pizza follow-up: And now, what about that “droopy bottom?” Well, this goes back to my last post, which was “Our new (local) place for burgers,” on April 19. In it, I wrote that the cheeseburgers from L’Annexe that Jan and I enjoyed were “very good.” But what about the pizzas, another speciality?

In my April 19 post, I referred to comments from a friend here in the village. “My friend,” I wrote, “is well-travelled in Italy, and he said the pizzas at L’Annexe stack up well against the Italian offerings.” So naturally, I had to try them — and ordered one for take-out a few days ago, while Jan had another cheeseburger plate.

And while I give the cheeseburgers a rating of 9 out of 10, I’m afraid my pizza deserved no more than a 6 or 7. Why? Well, the taste was actually very good — with thin slices of chorizo sausage, well-caramelized onions, black olives, and a sprinkling of arugula. But when I picked up each triangle of pizza, the crust simply drooped away, tending to have the topping slide off. This is, I have found, a common problem with French pizzas.

In my view, a pizza bottom should be crisp enough to hold its shape when you pick it up, but with still a bit of chew. So why is there a problem here? Temperature of the oven floor too low? I really don’t know. But I do know that the next time I want to have a take-out lunch, I’ll be having the cheeseburger. Here’s my pizza, by the way:

At least it had a very tasty topping.