gateau des rois

So, instead of today being my 3-year blip as I thought, it was yesterday's shite entry with gross Chinese food! Quel dommage!

Ah well, I'll just pretend it's today :) Especially as I've got a celebratory gateau des rois photo! Another Provençal tradition at this time of year. Like a sweet brioche with a "sujet" (or a little porcelain nativity character e.g. baby Jesus, a donkey, or one of the 3 kings) and a fève (a white haricot bean) baked inside. The person who finds the sujet is the king for the day (and wears the accompanying crown that comes with the cake when you buy it), and the person who gets the fève is the queen. In some families, the "roi" must buy the next cake!

We had a lovely lunch with Pierre's parents and Annie's dad i.e. Pierre's grandfather, Papi Béber (his real name is Albert, but Papi Béber is what his grand kids called him).

We had gorgeous roast lamb. I'm not a lamb fan at all, but it's definitely not as strong here as it is at home, so I really enjoyed it.

The gateau des rois was brought out for pudding and I got the sujet! :)

Pierre's mum and I went to see the crèche in the nearby church in Chartreux. It was amazing - all different moving parts. Really impressive.

That afternoon we drove back to our house in Les Pilles and, once again, we were glad to be home.