‘Tis the season of the “kings’ cake” in France…starting on the day of Epiphany (Jan 6) and continuing…well, apparently until the bakers stop selling their ‘galette des rois‘. This year’s research into what this holiday is really about (in the religious sense) brought in the information that the bible doesn’t mention “3″ kings specifically, just “3″ gifts. So the number of ‘wise men’ (or kings) is uncertain. Which is just fine for the galette tradition, where in a season or at a party, the number of kings (or queens) varies greatly. The kids (the 7 year olds) argued this year about whether the person who finds the one ‘feve’ (a porcelain figurine for us) gets to keep the paper crown or has to give it to his/her queen/king, and who keeps the feve? All this became much too confusing last weekend, and thankfully, the 5-year-olds saved the day by initiating a pass-the-crown sharing game, and we all just ate the lovely galette.
What we know for certain, however, is that the PRICE of these galettes at the local boulangerie is always shocking relative to the size, and we’re always left craving just a bit more of that luscious, fatty, lovely almond filling. So Read the rest of this entry »