Galette de Roi - or King Cake

[Anne]

In France, this cake is eaten at New Year and during the month of January. A puff pastry case is filled with a creamy almond, eggs, and butter mix. Hidden at random is a small charm and the person who finds this charm in their slice is crowned "king" or "queen" for the evening. 

We had our galette last night with 5 of our immediate neighbors. We drank champagne and when the galette was eaten turned to the homemade chocolates provided by one of our guests. For us, it is an opportunity to spend time with people who live in the same building but with whom we don't socialize. We're a friendly group of neighbors but don't have much in common other than our choice of residence. Each year we learn something new about at least one of the party. This year we learned that the man on the third-floor, who made the chocolates, suffered from prostate cancer this year. This shocked the rest of us as we had no idea. There was a short period when he struggled with his shopping and some daily tasks. As a result, we have pledged to keep each other informed of any such difficult times in future. We will involve the other neighbors who were not available to join us last night.