Merry Christmas/Joyeux Noël/Fröhliche Weihnachten!

... with one of my favourite Christmas songs "Do you hear what I hear?", performed by Carrie Underwood at the NYC Rockefeller Center.
Enjoy and have a wonderful Christmas time, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, our saviour!

Celebrating Epiphany!

This year I decided to join in the celebration of Epiphany. This day (6th Jan in Geneva) is dedicated to the three kings who brought gifts to child Jesus. There are some nice pastries to buy for this occasion. Geneva has the great privilege to be influenced by Swiss and French traditions. You can either buy "Dreikönigsbrötli" (3-kings-buns) in a package which contains not only some raisin buns, but also a crwon that can be worn by one or more family members thoughout the day. This buns or the similar cake was already made since 1311, disappeared during reformation time and was newly brought up by bakeries in the 1950s. Here's a recipe.
I've read that it is also a tradition to hide a bean in the cake - and whoever finds this bean is king for one day!

These two pics below show cakes with a similar recipe and are called "Couronne" (crown or wreath, both translations would make sense...)

The French have another Epiphany cake called "Gallette des Rois" (Kings'cake) which is also sold in Geneva. It has an almond filling. Check out a recipe here.

It was fun to think a bit more about Epiphany and the connected traditions. Contrary to Germany, Epiphany is no bank holiday here in Geneva (that's surely a pity!).