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January the 6th is an important date for anyone who’s knee-deep in Cake-love. Y’see, it’s a special date to consume a particular cake called the Galette des Rois – a super delicious French cake made simply with flakey puff pastry & frangipane filling (almond cream & custard cream mix of 2:1 ratio).

(Note: some pâtisseries just use almond cream filling, & some pâtisseries sell other flavoured fillings as well as the ‘classic’ version. Ie: Hermé’s got several types, one of which is filled with his famous signature combo, the ‘Ispahan’, which is, rose-flavored almond cream, lychees & raspberries.)

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‘Scuse the pun, but the “charming” factor that gets everyone raving is that the galette hides a ‘fève’, a small ceramic (sometimes porcelain or plastic) charm. The lucky person who stumbles upon the fève in their slice is crowned the King or the Queen of the day, & get to wear the golden crown supplied. He/ she can also get to choose who can become their fellow King or Queen to enjoy such privilege together.

– I guess you can take this to your advantage & choose someone you fancy as a flirting tool! – That is if you’re single & available though! I guess I’d probably have to choose my D. – Then again… if George Clooney was attending the same party… … [!!] No, no, do not worry! (cough cough…).
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Of course, I ‘should’ mention that the date means a lot more than a cake-eating fest!

January the 6th (or the first Sunday of January) is a Holy date called the Epiphany, commemorating the Twelfth Night when the Three Kings arrived in Bethlehem bearing gifts for baby Christ, thus by so doing revealing Jesus to the world as the Lord & the King (The term Epiphany means ‘to make known’).
– Although, I think nowadays many people attach no particular religious significance to the date, but just enjoy the culinary tradition of it alone. (- a bit like the modern day Christmas, non?)

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(Medium size, measuring around 9 inch diameter was £11.00. Their large-size costs £14.00. The crown is white & gold, the traditional colour of Epiphany.)

(The fève, front & back view. The cake came with a note on which printed the following words: “BEWARE OF THE CHARM – Make sure you look out for our royal charm, hidden somewhere in this Galette des Rois, please don’t chip your tooth on it or swallow it. Whoever finds the charm in their slice is crowned King or Queen for the day, traditionally they also have to buy the next Galette.”)

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My Galette des Rois 2008 was purchased from the pâtisserie PAUL.

I guess if I was living in Paris I would have ordered mine from the likes of Hermé, or other super-artisanal pâtisseries, that are less ubiquitous. But this is London, & the only place I knew that would sell the Galette des Rois was this PAUL & Maison Blanc.

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In Hampstead, North London, these two chains exist opposite each other. In comparison, MB’s one looked rather sluggishly made, with the sides of the galette sloping outwards like a splat. PAUL’s was straighter & glossier, although the top surface was bubbled-up & uneven, the pattern poorly executed & was barely visible – definately not picture-perfect either. BUT, again, “this is London”, this is what had to do.

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Of course I could have made one myself. But y’know, dare I admit, I felt like hibernating. I know, I know, straight from my motivational blurb on my previous post about experimenting, it’s a bit embarrassing.

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But on this occasion, it turned out beautifully to my favor, because I re-realized that there’s nothing like the excitement that you get from especially travelling to “buy” a cake that you know will be delicious. And especially with this cake, I won’t know where & what design the fève might be!

(- Also, I often find that baking my own cake puts me off eating it slightly, because I know how much sugar & butter went in to it, which is… ‘a lot’!!)

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After purchasing the galette, when we were browsing in Waterstones Bookstore, I had the most wonderful experience of noticing that I received a straight-from-the-oven galette. The base of my cake box was hot to the touch, & the gorgeous smell of super-freshly baked pastry filled the air, the buttery-ness almost too over-powering. [!!] I urged D that we gotta go home a.s.a.p.! This baby’s too delicious to wait around!

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And guys. yes, it truly was heavenly delicious! The puff pastry had a glossy top, was delicately flaky, & was not too sweet, slightly salty even – it went well with the moist & sweet almond frangipane inside. After having a small bite, I decided to pour myself some Nilgiri tea. I know, I know I should stay away from caffeine, but I also knew the combo with the Nilgiri would work great to refresh the palette from the rich buttery-ness. A sip now & again between my bites. I just had to. A ‘erbal just wouldn’t be up to this job!
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PS: Gentle reminder.

Have you tidied away your Christmas decoration? Apparently “Twelfth Night is when all Christmas Decorations should be removed so as not to bring bad luck upon the home.” [!!]

(Over this Winter holiday we watched Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘anti-musical’ musical “Une femme est une femme” (A Woman is a Woman,1961) & I instantaneously fell in love with the lead actress Anna Karina. – Obviously the director fell for her too, as they married after filming!)

(She’s sooo cute! I hear Agnès b. has channeled Anna Karina as the muse for their latest collection. I wonder if they sell a similar trench coat & cardi? I must get myself to one of their shops…!)

(In the strip cabaret: This was the ‘it’ scene for me, when she seductively sang to the camera, about her beauty. The song melody has been playing in my head ever since…!)
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Firstly, Happy New Year to you!

Every time I greet the new year, I just can not believe that it’s ‘Another’ new year. It’s like ‘What?! 2008?!!’ How can time fly so quickly? I mean, I still can’t believe we’re in the 200x (in the Noughties) anyways!

Maybe my reaction is a sign of getting old… *sigh…*
Just yesterday, our friend T told us how he had a work-experience student coming in for a week at his workplace, who’s born in the… mid-90’s! – Huh?! mid-90’s??! Everyone around the dinner-table (all aged 30+) shook their heads in disbelief (& consequently checked if their ears are still hearing correct)!

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SO, dearest blog readers! Have you thought of what your new year’s resolution might be? Any plans or goals for this year? In Japan, we say “1年の計は元旦にあり”, It means New Year’s Day is the right timing to plan your year ahead when your mind & spirit is fresh.
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Huh? What? My new year’s resolution/ plan?
Well, I’d like 2008 to be about re-establishing my passion for making chocolates & pastry making. On self-reflection, the whirlwind of the last two years, franticly making the same stuff for every Saturday, had not given me enough time for new explorations. And the products I produce for the market is often limited/ restricted to popular stuff that would sell well, & I certainly hadn’t been making desserts (such as with mousse, ice-cream, etc) that is not suited to sell if not in a refrigerated food display.

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This year’s schedule is going to be quite different, what with giving birth to my second child. – meaning I’d be spending a lot more time at home, meaning there’ll be a bit more ‘Me’-Time! Yay! Very exciting. I want to use that time to make new desserts & do all-sorts of things I wanted to do but couldn’t because of my market-commitments. Be it working on my camera-skills, channeling sexy-cute Anna Karina for fashion…, & how about being a better mommy who’s there everyday… …
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Currently I’m thinking of working for another one more month in February (I want to be selling chocolates for the Valentine’s season), before giving birth. And then give myself a six month break, & go back to regularly doing the market again from around mid to end of September (I want to start after my first child starts reception class – he’s gonna be going All-day 9.00 to 3.30!). I’ll be working for the whole of the Winter season, which is the best season for selling my chocolates.

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– So for anyone who visits my stall, it seems like I won’t be around much this year… I will miss you…

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“Happy New Year to you!
May every great new day
Bring you sweet surprises!”

t xxx
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(Christmas Time! I displayed my newly purchased Christmas wreath from Sally Bourne Interiors (I like it because it makes me think of Dragon scales). I also had twigs of Mistletoe on my table, given to me by a neighbouring stall holder.)

(This week’s star product was definitely the chocolate assortment box! All the boxes sold out by 12:40pm!!! – – The truffle flavours were raspberry, hazelnut crunch, classic & caramel.)

(My stall & my bump.)
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Saturday 22nd at the market was Madness.

The chocolates were flying off the stall with mesmerizing speed. It was very stressful to keep up with the demand. – Despite pre-filling some of the boxes late Friday night, those filled ones got sold so quick, I was having to fill more boxes while customers waited. Some waited for 20 minutes, while I had to pack the back-orders that kept piling up, & I felt terrible. – And so it was around 12:40pm when I sold-out on them that I finally relaxed, & ripped myself away from the stall table to buy a pain-au-chocolat (from the De Gustibus artisanal bread stall) for breakfast, & pour myself some Rooibos Tea from the thermal flask.
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The second best-seller of the week was the ‘Flour-less Chocolate Cake’. They also quickly disappeared off – & was sold out by 1:30pm. I wish I had made more of these cakes & the chocolate truffles… I could have sold a lot lot more – possibly double as much – the opportunity was there – but as D puts it, I’d be crazy to increase work-load as I was at my limits already (more like ‘past’ my limits actually!).

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Many customers asked questions on how long these cakes last, as they wanted to serve them on the 25th. Three days is a bit of a big gap for leaving cakes around, especially the ones with fresh fruit like raspberries.

– I know this is gonna sound like I’m a dim-wit, but I didn’t know until I started doing a market stall that every year the week-day goes one forward:

ie: If this year’s Saturday is on the 22nd, next year’s will be on the 21st – although there’s the exceptional years when a February has 29 days (leap year), then it jumps two days forward.

Next Christmas (2008) is such a year & will lie on the 20th. FIVE DAYS away from Christmas Day is a huge gap – I do wonder if it’ll dent the sales… We’ll see I guess…
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What are you doing this Christmas? (Or, if you’re reading this post-Xmas, what did you do?) Tell me! I can bet it’ll be better than mine, as…:
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The new UK government guideline suggests pregnant women abstain from consuming alcohol completely – so, for me, this Christmas would be spent sober – while everyone around me would be merrily drinking themselves silly…

When I was pregnant first time round (back in 2003), the guidelines were that women can drink one or two units of alcohol (the equivalent of a single glass of wine) once or twice weekly. But this year’s Christmas, I’ll be pulling the crackers & putting a stupid paper hat on rather straight-headed. Oh Joy…
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Christmas Recipe:

– Combine loads of good wishes,

– whisk together heart full of love & armful of hugs.

– Sprinkle with laughter & garnish with mistletoe.

– Top off with presents.

– Serves everyone!