GALETTE DES ROIS AUX POMMES

A NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

For the past two years that I have tentatively been blogging, there is something that I have really wanted to do. That is, to enjoy the events and festivities that appear on the calendar, and to bake and blog accordingly. If you are thinking that that sounds like a basic thing for any food blogger to do, you are probably right. So why not me?
"Because you are a worrier", says the voice in my head. "Because having a bake schedule will drive you crazy being the perfectionist you are. Do you want to be miserable throughout the whole year?"
The voice is persistent, trying to talk me out of following a schedule.
"It would be better for you to bake and cook as you please; to be spontaneous. Who wants to feature chocolate during Valentine's and bake cookies during Christmas? Bo-ring!"
And to be honest, I have given in to this voice for the past two years, skipping seasonal events and going against the majority of the food blogging world. No Valentine's or Christmas for this blog, no Easter, Mother's Day, Halloween or birthdays either. This blog would be spontaneous and free, giving no thought at all to all the festivities I was actually enjoying in real life, away from the blog. So spontaneous was I being that there were times when I did not blog at all for weeks.

INDIVIDUAL TARTES TATIN

THE HAPPY ACCIDENT

Tarte tatin was the result of an accident. Or so I've read.
There are a few versions of the story but it is commonly said that Stéphanie Tatin, one of the two sisters that ran the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, was overworked one day and while trying to bake her specialty "tarte aux pommes", accidentally placed the apples and sugar in the pan before placing the pie crust first. In a rush, she threw the crust on top, baked the whole pan in the oven and turned it out on a plate upside down . . . and the rest is history. An accident turned one of the most famous french desserts of all time. "An accident in the kitchen story" surely does not get better than this. But that does not mean there aren't other good stories.

The storyline is a bit different but these tartes tatin was a result of an accident too: there were some figs trying to be caramelized and they collapsed. Luckily there was an apple.

As the Tatin sisters' story tells us, the kitchen is a place to learn that not all accidents are failures — quite the contrary, some of the most beautiful and delicious things can be a result of one. How odd to welcome these "accidents" when all my life I have been more than careful to avoid (m)any, going to great lengths at times. It is like looking at the world (or the kitchen) through a different pair of glasses, and improvisation and spontaneity and a few spills and crumbles here and there . . . it is all welcome. Accidents do not end as mere accidents but become happy accidents. Which brings us back to the tartes tatin.