La Galette des Rois

There are a few French traditions I kind of miss abroad. On a daily basis I do not miss the French baguette, the saucisson or the camembert as some of my fellow countrymen do but I admit that I missed the Foie Gras or the Boudin Blanc for Christmas and last year I was very annoyed not to have gone to Carrefour in Singapore to get a Galette des Rois (King’s Galette) on the 6th of January. The tradition of the King’s Galette is linked to the three Wise Kings in religion but, religious or not, these galettes pop up in the windows of all the bakeries in France shortly after Christmas until late January and disappear. It is of course impossible to find one in Australia so I decided to make my own. I really thought it would be more complicated to make.

Chopsticks

In Europe we have shops specialised in cutlery with some brands fetching vertiginous prices. In the Asian world the equivalent exists for the chopsticks. They come in all sort of material (bamboo, plastic, wood, bone, metal, jade, silver and ivory) and length. My favourite sticks are Japanese and the main difference with Chinese ones comes in the way they are shaped with pointed ends. This shape supposedly takes its origin in the fact that Japanese eat bony fish in their daily diet. They are traditionally made of wood and are lacquered. Some sets even include two lengths, shorter for women and longer for men. Sexist? The etiquette also surely is extensive and interesting and varies depending on the countries. Last and interesting fact I remember reading somewhere is that the use of chopsticks relieves the pain in the hand after holding a computer mouse or a TV remote control for a prolonged period of time.

My own personal chopsticks come with silver dogs engraved on the tip (my zodiacal sign).

Krampoueshour

A Krampoueshour is a crepe fanatic in Breiz (Breton / Brittany language). So much for prosperity! After my prosperity burger a couple of days ago I am back to another prosperity tradition today being 40 days after Christmas. This day is called La Chandeleur in France (the day of the candles) and as per custom you have to make the crepes jump from the pan holding a coin in your hand in order to get prosperous during the coming year. Being a kid I remember we used to do this at home holding a Louis d'Or as it was the most valuable coin in the house. Unfortunately all my Louis d'Ors are in France and I can only do it with tiny unvaluable Singapore Dollars!

Prosperity Burger

I’m usually not buyin’ it but I’m in Asia and the Chinese New Year (or CNY as they call it here) is fast approaching. Therefore I made my way to McDonald’s and decided to try the two chicken and beef Prosperity Burger specials! They nearly taste the same because of the identical black pepper sauce that fill them both by the way. So what kind of prosperity can they really bring me? Maybe a bit of fat or cholesterol? As if I needed this… Somehow it was a good change to yesterday’s gizzards though!