Coming back from skiing the other day, and buying my lunchtime baguette in the bakery (I felt very French, walking home with my skis under one arm and my baguette under the other) I couldn't resist buying a 'couronne' for the girls' 'gouter' after school. In January, in France, there is the tradition of the Galette des Rois, a cake with a small figure baked into it, and whoever gets the figure when the cake is cut, gets to wear the crown and choose their regal consort (at least, that's how I understand the tradition). I wasn't tempted by the actual Galette des Rois, but this 'couronne' was fabulous - like a very light lemony bread with crunchy sugar crystals on top. It came with a crown from the bakery and everything. I think we're going to have to buy a few more before the month is up.
(I've also become rather more sophisticated in my baguette buying as well - I've been here long enough to distinguish the many types of baguette, and have my favourite. I like a 'baguette tradition', a slightly denser, chewier, shorter baguette than the 'baguette ordinaire'. Occasionally I'll be tempted by a 'baguette rustique', which is a little rougher and seedier than the others, and don't get me started on the flutes etc..)
In the meantime, the skiing continues apace. The girls have skied all week in glorious sunshine with their school, and today was MiniClub and another great day out. In fact, so keen were the girls that even after we returned from their afternoon skiing they stayed outside until it was pitch black, building their own ski piste in the back yard, and practicing going down on one ski (and backwards on one ski...). On Wednesday, I went them up the valley to Les Tours, and had a great time practicing my own skiing while they were in their lessons. Les Tours is my kind of skiing - big, wide pistes that aren't too steep or too crowded. It looked almost lunar with the snow-capped mountains. Amazing.
And when I came back, Toby surprised me with a new pair of skate skis! (I'd been doing my skating lessons with my classic skis, and was definitely blaming them for my struggles up the hills. Now I have no more excuses.) Thursday Toby and I went skiing together so I could try them out. And there's really something magic when the sun finally hits the valley (around lunchtime these days...more on valley living another time). The skis were pretty fab too.
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