A galette de Roi is what is called a king cake in Louisiana, a cake serve on Epiphany celebrating the arrival of the Three Wisemen who came to visit Jesus after his birth. You see them for sale in every boulangerie and patisserie in France around Christmas along with a paper crown as there is a small fugure inside and the one who gets it in their piece of cake gets to wear the crown and be the king. The cake itself is good with an almond paste inside and I’ve always meant to try making one myself-with already prepared crust-but never have. I’ve collected a few of the little figures found inside the cakes at brocantes but was recently really taken with some that I saw at Laduree. They are too pretty to put inside a cake I think.

Here they are-all figures of elegant women. Aren’t they great?

Another view.

These were in the window too. I’m not sure if they were real cake or some sort of container.

And look at this great crown they sold too. I think with those female figures and a crown like this, you should call the cake a Queen Cake. I’m thinking of going back and seeing how much they cost.

Is there anything better than chocolate? I don’t think so. It was once considered medicinal-cures what ailes me, that’s for sure-and it was too expensive at one time for us common folk. Of course, walking into one of the famous chocolate shops in Paris can give you a price shock as most of it is hand made, but you will get a taste that you will always remember.
As the temperatures in Paris have started warming up, I finally got out of the apartment and did a little exploring. The area around Blvd. St Germain is full of interesting shops and one that I entered was Debauve and Gallais, famous for their chocolate.

Since this shop was founded after the Revolution, I had to think what kings would be present after 1800. It turns out to be Louis XVIII, Charles X and Louis Phillipe. None of them reigned very long during the turbulent years that followed the Revolution. I guess it’s a real feather in your cap to say that a king ate your chocolate. I think it’s very big in England if Queen Elizabeth is your customer too.

Two hundred years of chocolate goodness.

A look at what is for sale inside the shop.

A box of chocolate in their window.

There is a lot of work going on in the area around our apartment. A tramway that will circle Paris is being built on the street nearest us and it is a huge mess with giant holes being dug and enormous pipes being laid. They also dug deep tunnels down each street, including ours, looking like it was something electrical being done. Not only that, but the telephone company is digging ditches along side all the buildings on every street in our neighborhood for what I guess is new technology.
There is an old abandoned railroad track a few blocks from us. I don’t know if they will ever do something neat with it like the elevated Prominade with walking paths and gardens. Underneath it, at a corner and naturally a block from our apartment, was what I guess was an old storage space, fenced in and locked, that somehow a homeless man was able to make a living space for himself. He put up big sheets of wood for privacy, was able to lock it, and lived there for as long as I have been here. You couldn’t see all that he was doing in there except I could see a bed and a chair. He was a talkitive, friendly guy who seemed to spend a lot of time drinking. This time when we returned he was gone. We don’t know if he died or not, but suddenly the sheets of wood were gone and there had been some attempt to clean out the area. I was amazed at all of the junk there and the thousands of beer cans. What a mess. Nobody has finished cleaning it. I think they will need a dump trunk to get all of the stuff out of the area. Maurice sent an email to the mairie asking for something to be done and they wrote that it isn’t their problem but that of the company running the trains. I don’t know when or if it will ever get cleaned up. They did put up a new door so I guess it won’t be taken over again by anyone.
Nation, a big square not too far from where I live is undergoing some huge renovations of the two columns found there, built as a place to collect taxes centuries ago. A few years ago they put some tall fences around the two columns and then nothing as far as I could see was done. When we returned to Paris this year we found scaffolding had been put up and that the two statues usually on top and the top two thirds of the column had been taken down. There is a long explanation on one of the fences telling all that will be done, including bronzing the statues of Phillip II and Louis IX. I have a feeling that it will be years until the whole thing is finished. A few photos showing before and during. I’m looking forward to taking the after photos one day.

Before

During

It has been bitterly cold here in Paris, so much so that I haven’t really been out with my camera at all except for a few shots here and there of snow. I’ve had to go back in all of my saved photos to see if I had something I could post about. Many of the more recent ones are Christmas windows but I am so finished with the holidays and glad they are behind us. I lugged our dead Christmas tree down three flights of stairs and put away all of our decorations. I’m ready for a bright new year, a clean slate and excited about what lies ahead. So what are the photos?

I’ve got photos of a shop that makes perfume and saw these wonderful containers to hold the new brews. I can’t remember where I took the photos, I think maybe in the Marais.

The window was full of interesting things.

I thought these decorative containers were so cute.

Nice mirror too.

This isn’t really a recipe, not the usual kind, but it is a good, especially on a cold, snowy day like this one which greeting us this morning:

The recipe is made with cheese that can only be found at this time of year and, usually, only in France. It called Mont d’Or.

A blurry look at the label. As you might be able to see, it says raw milk. It is a very pungent cheese and the refrigerator reeked each time it was opened. My apples and bottled water even tasted like the odor. I should have put it in a sealed container. It tasted fabulous though.

As the days get shorter in late autumn, Mont d’Or with its typical wood box can be found at cheese counters and especially in December. It is made in Franche-Comté at the border with Switzerland. It is only produced between the middle of August and end of March. This cheese is made of raw cow milk from just two breeds of cattle. It is shaped into its round shape with a rind of spruce bark and then placed in a round box made of pine or spruce. It’s good stuff.

Here it is all melted and delicious. You cut a hole in the middle and pour in some white wine and insert garlic slices throughout. I saw a recipe where the cheese is marinated in the wine for a day but I didn’t plan that far ahead. Anyway, because it is such a soft cheese, it has to be kept in its wooden round box because you have to put it in a hot oven for 30 munutes until the cheese is all hot and runny, so you have to wrap the box in foil. It is then put over boiled potatoes and ham or sausage. Easy and good. I think it is similar to raclette, just a different flavor.

The Marais is such a great area to explore. I think I’ve posted photos like these more than once but here they are again. Just some things that always catch my eye.

This carving has been preserved on a building that had the rest of it renovated. I’m glad they saved it. It once advertised a man who did knife sharpening. Why he is winking and holding a wine glass, I don’t know.

This is above a door and I think it is especially elegant.

A castle which started out as a building for the Catholic church, then was lived in by royalty and is now a library.

This toilet isn’t actually in the Marais but in a bistro in my neighborhood. I just thought it was very cheerful looking in its red and white tile. Notice that the toilet doesn’t have a seat. That’s very common in France. I think the French don’t think seats are sanitary and don’t sit anyway-sort of hover. I’m just glad to find a toilet and not one of those turkish toilets which is a hole in the floor.