Week end Synthesis...

Last weekend (well on Friday actually) we had the King's day.... have no clue on how you English peop call this day, but that's the day the Arab kings came upon the lil Jesus' bed after his birth. The celebrations we have for Christmas are all christianity-related, so let's embrace it. Whatever. While I am not a believer, I like this day a lot, since we used to bake a cake at home, and put a dry bean or something, in the mix before baking it. The person who'd get the piece of cake with it would become the 'king/queen' of the day. Dunno if it was my parents' doing, or just me being lucky, but I actually have good memories of getting quite often the said bean. then people'd have to oblige to my every wish for the day. I guess this is why we always had this cake close to going to bed... ha ha parent's cunning ways should never be underestimated. 

Well. I personally would never put up with myself as a queen for a day, especially as a kid. 

I was a monster.

A few years ago I learned that in French bakeries they actually use fine porcelain figurines that they put inside their almond paste pastries. It's much more interesting to keep those than to keep beans, if you want my opinion. When I was living in Montreal I bought one, and ate the whole thing with my best friend, just to have the thing, and it ended up being the leg/arm-less top half of a woman body wearing a corset. That was quite depressing... I personally had hoped I'd get a cute strawberry cupcake, like they had as display figures in the store. My bad. 

Anyways, point is that this year, we ordered 4 of those tarts in Bistro Jezz for the occasion, and had three couples in a row getting the figurines. We gave them golden paper crowns to wear - looking back now, I wish I had taken a picture of those people with the figurine and the crown. that would have been a nice memory - and let them keep the figurine. Sadly, a couple forgot it, so we kept it at the restaurant. A cute baker-lady and her fresh bread. 

I add up also, two desserts of the week, a chocolate génoise with chocolate mousse, maple and strawberry sauces and a cheesecake with a raspberry mousse and mint leaves. The first, I tried, it was delicious. the latter, I missed the opportunity to taste. I am sure it must have been great... *sobs*

This weekend was the last few days my parents were away, so I took most of my time cleaning the second floor - where my bedroom is - and did it like a bauss :) I actually hung curtains I had made last year for my apartment, and it helped a great deal with the look of the bathroom. I am quite happy with what I ended up, even in this very old-school in-need-of-retuning-bathroom. 

My mother and I took hours to make three curtains similar to this one. I am very picky you know, so just choosing the colors and patterns to use was quite a big deal ha ha. But I love the result. It's cute, without being too over the top.

 On Monday, my boss had an awesome menu for the lunch. Lacquered turkey - Quebec turkey - in maple sirup sauce, sweet potato chips, pecan confits, veggies and sour cream. Bliss. Literally. Now you know why I did not take the cheese cake. There was no more space in my stomac after this, especially since, waking up pretty late, this had been my breakfast...