La galette des Rois (King's Cake)

MMMmmmm


Today was my first time tasting a galette des Rois. As my favorite sushi restaurant at home says: it was Raku (heaven in mouth). 


La galette des Rois is a thin, flaky, buttery cake that reminded me of brioche. It's actually more like a puff pastry pie and is served warm accompanied with jams, creams, fruits or chocolate. A traditional galette contains only puff pastry, sugar, butter, egg, almonds, and a little rum or cognac. 


A little prize (une fève ) is hidden in the cake and the person who finds it takes on the role of the "king" and wears the obligatory crown. The galette is eaten on l’Épiphanie, the twelfth day after Christmas (Jan 6th), and traditionally celebrates the Mesiah's incarnation and the visitation of the Magi to baby Jesus. Me being the good half-Jew that I am, did not know about the meaning of this holiday until today. January 9th. Eloise and the boys had saved half of the galette for me, since they could not find the fève and wanted to finish the search when I arrived. 


Though the cake was amazing on its own, me being me, want to try it with chocolate. Luckily these galettes are not solely eaten on the 6th of January and are available during the holiday season (which still seems to be going on in Paris). Perhaps I will pick one up tomorrow if they are not all sold out and split it with Ari. I am sure she would not mind helping me eat the whole thing. With chocolate and jam. 

La galette des Rois

Alexis and Eloise found la fève  in Alexis' piece (it was a little wagon) 

 Alexis is now the King and coronated Eloise the queen, and me the Princess. Hector was appointed nothing. 

 Alexis making a scary face

 Alexis very excited about finding la fève 

 The last slice of la galette des Rois

First week back

The nights and mornings are the hardest. For some reason I believed that I beat jetlag my first day back by taking a five hour nap and then going to work. Unfortunately that was a grave misconception. I have, since my return, woken up at 3, 5 and 6 am and then cannot fall back asleep for hours. During these lovely, slightly conscious hours I roll around, think about home, friends, count sheep, just count in general, and try deep, meditative breathing. My alarm then goes off two hours later and I awake, realize I am in Paris and have to go to work, curse, and throw the pillow over my head and try not to cry from exhaustion. I am officially back in the real world.

In short, break was amazing. I went to the beach on Christmas, ran in a tank top and shorts, and hiked in the glorious sun. Leaving was harder than I thought, particularly the goodbyes. Paris greeted me with rain, darkness, and a pile of bills that I will barely be able to cover. Not to mention that my French was surprisingly rusty after only three weeks in the States. Merdre. A bit depressed, sullen and exhausted I headed to work. Thank goodness I did. Seeing the boys moved me into an entirely new space and I realized how much I had missed them. I also realized how genuinely happy they make me, despite their outbursts, tantrums, or "caca" incidents. Though work is exhausting I feel connected to something, which makes it easier not to long for home, my friends, Jimmy, my family and the sunshine.

I know that I will ease into the routine like usual, and that these first few weeks will be difficult and exhausting. However, the sun seemed to follow us back from California and the winter--much to our surprise--is completely bearable (for now). Seeing Stella and Ari (briefly, as she jetted off to London for the weekend) nestled me back into my Paris life and reminded me that I am definitely not alone in this, as we are all homesick and silently counting the days until we see someone familiar.

I begin marathon training tomorrow (also realized I am 3 weeks behind schedule. Woops); the amazing sales start this week; I have two fun parties this weekend; Stella and I are planning a weekend trip to Bologna, Italy the beginning of February; February break comes shortly after and I am excited for traveling/a potential visit from someone special.

All in all, things aren't too bad and I trust the homesickness will ebb away with the coming weeks. Not to mention I will be loading up on sleeping pills starting tonight. And wine.

Paris resolutions:
Crack down on French.
Find a language partner.
Eat more croissants (trust me, I have been failing).
Go to more bars.
Don't drown in bills.
Travel!!
Cut down on Starbucks (It's my American home a way from American home).