The snow falling in the mews outside my window is so pretty it’s distracting me from writing two features… one on British teeth, the other about cellulite.  Both of which seem rather apt for what I shall present you with today!

Because when the kids get home from school, and it’s cold and too dark to play in the snow, we shall be making a Galette des Rois, a traditional French cake with a tiny ceramic figure hidden inside, to celebrate Epiphany, the day when the three wise men came to see the baby Jesus in the manger, for all you ignoramuses out there.

And for this simple pleasure we have my friends at the I Prefer Paris website to thank…or more specifically Richard Nahem, who’s a New Yorker in Paris.  Sign up now, even if you never go to Paris, because their witty restaurant reviews, news of what’s up for grabs in the sales, or art show openings, will make you FEEL like you’re in Paris, even when you’re not.  (Someone once said that the more you live your life in fantasy the smaller your life is in reality.  RUBBISH!  Keep fantasising, that’s what I say - and look, you’re in Paris!)

So, mes amis, let’s get busy in the kitchen today! Click on here for the recipe, it LOOKS really easy - a bit of puff pastry and some marzipan right?  Although quite how we make the ceramic ornament in the middle is another thing, but I’m sure there’s a figurine knocking about on our cluttered mantelpiece, a little marie antoinette or a shepherdess or a look-mummy pottery ashtray from nursery-school days.  Improvise, right?  I’ll let you know how we get on tomorrow…