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The second week of January we had our first snowfall of the season. It’s such a grounding experience when it happens. How the world seems to quiet down as the sound is absorbed in the snow. I felt a deep gratitude that my friends down the street were willing to indulge my need for a snowy walk. We were all home with our kids given that the roads weren’t cleared. We didn’t get very far but I think it did us all a world of good to get outside. It also felt good to put on all those layers that usually only come out for ski holidays. But January is also a deep season of reflection for me. I’ve been trying to spend time thinking about what did and didn’t work in the past year. I pulled back a little more and spend some time accessing my own needs, my own creativity and reconnecting the dots a little differently. It has felt really good.
Creating space
I carved out space to get back into recipe writing which felt very fulfilling. Was I a ghost on social media most of the year? Yes! But in the end I shared a few posts that connected to the season I was in, a little less pretty, but they were rich in life and in the slow moments. It has to be said that shooting my own food is exhausting. Beautiful presentation excites me, but not after I’ve done the cooking the cleaning and the recipe writing. It’s a lot. I admit, I don’t usually go the extra mile to style it all for the sake of my sanity. I think this is why I prefer shooting on locations for others with their food, their wine and in their beautiful spaces. It allows me to come in with fresh eyes seeing all the details as I move through the moment and capture it on camera. Without feeling like I have to juggle it all. Also it means I get to work with others, and I love that too!
Going forward
To show up better for myself and for you, I’ve written down a few ideas for each month. Topics I’d like to cover, recipes I’d like to create. I hope this will help guide me through as I go so I’m not scrambling for photos or asking myself what to post. Will be the secret sauce for easing myself back into the rhythms of working on my business while also showing up to give value to you? That’s the goal!
And as it’s January, I think I should update my galette des rois recipe! If you’ve never had a galette des rois it’s a January institution in France. Lucky for you, it doesn’t have to be hard, and you can whip one up easily. While I admit it’s best with homemade puff pasty, I skip it most times and buy store bought because life is short (and we have 3 kids!) Just be sure you have a ‘feve’ which is a little porcelain treasure to hide inside. If you don’t have one, check out etsy for some great options! I found this little Mozart character at the grocery store this year, great for my budding pianist!
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat your oven to 400F / 200C
- In a medium bowl or stand mixer, beat together room temperature butter with sugar until it becomes light in colour.
- Add in eggs and thoroughly incorporate them before adding the ground almond meal and the almond and vanilla extracts.
- Roll out your first layer of puff pastry and place it on parchment lined baking sheet. Prick the surface with a fork.
- Place your Almond mixture onto the centre of the puff pastry with a piping bag or offset spatula leaving ensuring to leave a half inch/ 1.5cm edge without the almond cream. Place your feve inside. Wet the edge with a touch of water before adding the second layer of puff pastry and press the edges together to create a seal.
- Using your extra egg all beaten together, paint the top of your puff pastry. Next using s sharp knife, score the surface with the pattern of your choice, poke a few holes through the surface to let the steam escape and place in the oven for about 35 minutes until it's nice and golden brown.
