WELL THANK GOD THE FRENCH HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED

A decade ago, Abry, a French pastry chef, gave up the luxurious kitchens and fancy pastry shops of France to move to the Middle East, bringing his creations and training to the gastronomically disadvantaged, even in dangerous places like Iraq...

"They don't have the basic things," he said. "It's very difficult for them to improve. We need to start with the basics, to teach them how to make the sponge cake, how to make the nice croissants with butter. We hope to go in Baghdad one time with chefs from Lebanon, Syria and Jordan and to make some training course there. It will be really nice. And it will be our part to help them in the reconstruction of the country."

Think of it as Pastries without Borders, or Eclairs sans Frontières.