J'aime la Galette

Today's Wonder of the World is...La Galette des Rois!

Flickr photo by azukibean
Mes amis, have you met the galette? The King's cake?

Allow me to put you under its almond-y, buttery spell!
Today is the perfect day to do it! It's the Twelfth Day of Christmas! Happy Epiphany!

Whether or not you celebrate Epiphany, (the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi,) if you've got taste buds, you'll want to join in the French way.
Here, have a slice!

Flickr photo by page.halfull
But wait!
I forgot to warn you/tell you... There's a surprise inside. A surprise that just might send you to the dentist, if you're not careful!
Let me back up...
The youngest of you out there, would you mind scooting under the table while I slice up the cake? Your job is to tell me to whom I should give each piece. That way, if the treasure is sticking out in plain sight, none of these other greedy people at the table can claim the slice. We want to be fair and square about this for good reason. The lucky person who finds the treasure also gets to wear a golden crown that comes with the cake and be king or queen for the day! And they get to pick a partner to reign with them. So be nice, everyone!

My family is CRAZY about the galette des rois.
Would you like to see proof?
I'm a little embarrassed to show you this, but here goes...

Inside this printer tray is our collection of feves--the little treasures inside each cake. (Sorry, French accent police...I know that first e is supposed to get an accent, but blogger refuses to do it for me. Arrest me later.) Most cakes have one porcelain feve inside, and sometimes two (one porcelain, one plastic.) That tray is almost full, which means during our four years in France WE ATE WAY TOO MANY GALETTES! But hey, we walked all day long back then. Kind of.

In spite of all my resolutions, I'd sure love a slice right now. Boo hoo. No French galettes in Greenville/Greer, South Carolina. I could make my own, but I forgot to buy the powdered almonds. I guess I'll have to be content to reminisce.

Let me show you some of my favorite feves. Maybe that will cheer me up.
Are you ready? Some feves are religious and some aren't.

Once upon a time, before Christmas was the least bit commercialized, most feves were itty bitty baby Jesus's.

You could also take a bite of your galette, and pull out of your mouth a Mary, a sheep, or a wise man! If you're really lucky (or galette crazy like we are) you could end up with a whole nativity set!

Or you might find Puss in Boots, the gorilla from the Tarzan movie, or a dragonfly.

Or maybe a snail! Yum! French snails!

By the way, that snail is sitting next to a plastic horseshoe and a baby with a severe case of rigor mortis, poor kid. The baby came from a king's cake I bought at a South Carolina bakery. As you can see, American feves are much bigger than French ones. That's because Americans like to sue.

Would you like to see some of the kings and queens from our French life?
I present to you King Sam.

And Kings Todd and Scott.


And a couple of years later, Queen Sarah...


And these two princes.

Uh oh! Either Sam is singing J'aime la galette and Ben is enjoying the moment, or the two of them had a little too much to eat. Either that or the apple juice went hard! I should have checked those sippy cups!

I hope you enjoyed the galette tour!
I'm going to go munch on a carrot and repeat to myself how lucky I am to be eating such healthy food these days.
Maybe I'll watch this while I eat! A chef making dozens of galettes all at once!

Galette des rois from video-euro-tours on Vimeo.
Happy Epiphany!
Have a wonder-full Tuesday, everyone!
Love, Becky