Bonne Année and Happy Epiphany!

(Gallette Des Rois: my beloved almond paste/frangipani cake from Paris, a tradition for Epiphany.

See past post about this tradition.

Click Here)

January 6th, Epiphany

(the day the three Kings came bearing gifts) 

tends to be my real New Year beginning. 

Usually I'm not quite ready when January 1st hits.

Maybe we're traveling (like this year when we are just back from France 

so... jetlagged),

 or I've come down with an illness, or there's too much on my plate at the moment

or I'm still reeling from the holidays

but by Epiphany (also one of my favorite words)

I'm ready to start making my goals for the year

(my preference to NY's resolutions.) 

And this year,

 (especially because this weekend included a New Moon 

so I would be doing this anyway)

 I'm following in the footsteps of a few others who have created a list 

of the things they would like more of in their life.

So here is mine.

It may include more or less (so probably change) by the next new moon:

******

more love... around me and in the world. more travel. more forest bathing. more writing.

less hearing other people's gossip. 

more angels. more healing... all around. more energy information. 

more family. more entertaining. more light. 

more divinity in our lives. more epiphanies!

less complaining.

more hikes. more exercise. more reading things i love. 

less pain.

more trust in myself. more retreats... and the financial ease to do them. 

more dreams with messages. more writing. more travel for sacred purposes. 

*** more sacred ***

more massages (for me now). more caring less... and caring more. 

more meditation. more time! more tithing. more kisses. more writing.

more hugs (full-on, tight-squeeze, blast-your-fear-around-it body hugs).

more presence. more awakening. more beauty. more honesty. 

more clarity. more gratitude. more sunsets. more compassion.

more F words: fucking fearless, fabulous, fun, fantastic, friends, 

fauna, fire, favorite films,

furry felines,

(none of those bald scary-looking creatures... tho I'm sure they need love too...

or squashed-faced nasty attitude felines like our neighbor George 

who is as old as time and has no claws but still somehow terrorizes our cats).

 more publishing. more writing. 

Did I mention more writing?

******

Feel free to mention some of the things on your More List for this year! 

And Bonne Année to you and yours! 

(Pics of Paris coming up in next posts!)

(Photo copyright: Kirsten Steen)

'That' Time Again in Paris~ Missing Paris Day

I love that time in Paris when all the boulangerie windows

are stacked with the wickedly delicious,

almond-paste filled

Galette des Rois.

Means it's Christmas

as well as marking Epiphany

on January 6th.

I think they are made to be so delicious,

all filled with their decadent frangipane,

so that when you take a bite

an epiphany reminds you, 

 how good life is!

Happy Christmas Week!  

Epiphanies to all!

Oh La La! Book Challenge & Walks in Paris

Ok, Premiere things first!

Ms. Lucy over at Enchanted by Josephine

is starting her own book challenge!

The French Historicals Oh-La-La Challenge

runs from January 2010 to December 2010.

I'm getting in on this one!

Will let you know my first challenge choice when I decide what it will be!

And here in Paris, Epiphany is over (January 6th in France)

but the Galettes des Rois just keep on selling!

The Poilane boulangerie just down the street from us

has it's usual lovely display of goodies.

Oh la la, les Brioches!

Those Galettes make me crazy with their almond filling and fluffy crust.

I had my first taste (this visit) last night at my niece's singing recital.

(She was pitch perfect, by the way!)

Speaking of Epiphanies, a friend told us the other day over lunch

that while having her very first raw oyster, she had one. Epiphany, that is.

She asked if I'd experienced that with oysters.

Uh...Non.

I love them cooked on the half shell in the BarB,

then smothered with garlic butter, horseradish and spicy creole herbs.

Says she: 'You mean so you don't taste them?'

Uh...Oui!

At our house, The Ed is the designated chef. Don't get me wrong, I can hold my own.

I just don't excel. And I don't tend to love it. He loves it!

The other day after shopping at our Grenelle outdoor marche,

I came into our tiny kitchen to find that

the chef had done his best to be creative with the space issue.

I must say, Paris makes me want to learn.

And learn to Love it!

One thing about the French,

the packaging is nearly as important as the dish.

And it's the same with gifts.

I learned that many years ago when we began our sojourns to France.

Always when one is invited to another's house, whether it be for dinner or for the weekend,
a gift is in order. And the gift must be
beautifully wrapped!

From the looks of these creatively packaged meats,

I'm thinking I could very well be a
fabulous cook here!
I'll let you know!

Galettes des Rois in Paris

January in Paris is the time of the Galette des Rois or Cake of the Kings. Their shiny, crusted faces shout from every boulangerie, patisserie and traiteur (catering) window; from the tiny family-run shops to the big name stores: Dalloyau, Pierre Hermes, LeNotre.

Celebrated for Epiphany (January 6th) and the Visitation by the Magi, it is sold all through the month of January, some boulangeries even churning them out in December. Its history goes back to Roman times (though the purpose and names have changed over the centuries according to what kings and society thought it should reflect). Since the Middle Ages, it has been known as a Twelfth Night cake.


When Louis XIV banned it for being
a pagan festival, it became La Fete du Bon Voisinage ('Neighborly Relations Day').
After the French Revolution, it became
Gateau de l'Egalite ('the Cake of Equality').

Never underestimate the people's need for cake!
I should know since cake is my downfall. Cookies can go by the wayside. Chocolate can go stale in my pantry for months (though I don't like to leave it feeling lonely that long however I can start or stop any time I wish). Ice cream can rack up extra layers of ice. But cake eerily calls my name until I have finished every last morsel. Might take me a week (leaving pieces for my partner who may never touch it again but then wonders what happened to it once it's mysteriously gone) but it never gets thrown out.

Forget willpower, cake rules.

And this cake, the Cake of the Kings, is made of puff pastry filled with a creamy interior and (frangipane) almond-paste. The ritual around this cake centers on a lucky charm hidden within its sinfully sweet interior. The youngest (child) in the family takes their place under the table and, as the cake is cut, calls out the name of the person receiving the next piece. The one who finds the charm becomes King and wears the gold paper crown sold with each cake.

Early on, the lucky charm was a bean (une feve) and the lucky King was made to buy drinks all 'round which lead to some swallowing of beans to save on funds. In later years, it became a porcelain trinket but now is most often made of plastic. Both the porcelain and even the plastic trinkets have become collector's items. I've had two Galettes already this holiday season and both cakes produced plastic Santas, which both adult and child Queens were ecstatic to find and keep.

And while I have never yet been the Lucky Queen, I feel certain that I have enough luck and royal blood (or at least attitude) to eventually be crowned. I intend to keep making my way through almond paste and puff pastry until I do.

Photographs copyright: Kirsten Steen