The Porcelain Mystery Object Revealed

This diminutive drummer boy has a very specific purpose - can you guess what it is?

Photo: Chronica Domus

Well, I must say you are a clever bunch!  Thank you all for playing along in the latest mystery object game.  I can now reveal that the little drummer boy is indeed a vintage French féve.

For those of you that haven't a clue what in the world I'm rattling on about, a féve is a good luck charm or trinket that is baked into a celebratory cake called a Kings Cake, or to use its French name, a Galette de Rois.

Galette de Rois

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Kings Cake is traditionally served on Epiphany, January 6, to commemorate the day the Magi Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar bestowed gifts upon the infant Jesus.  In fact, a figure of a baby is often used as a féve in a Galette de Rois.  In New Orleans, Kings Cakes make an appearance in local bakeries anywhere from January 6 right up until Mardi Gras, which happens to fall on February 13 this year.  It is said that he who finds the féve is crowned king for the day and reaps all the benefits of the good luck that comes along with the charm.

Other countries have their own traditions centered around finding lucky trinkets in sweet treats.  Take the British, for example, and the long-held tradition of baking a silver six-penny piece into Christmas puddings.

Ah, there it is, the prized silver sixpence!

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Greece and some of the other Balkan countries bake coins into Vasilopita, a cake served at midnight on New Year's Day.  Vasilopita is named in honor of Basil of Caesarea and his famous coin and jewelry cake, baked and distributed to local families.  Here's a link to that story.

No Vasilopita is complete without the addition of a Drachma Euro

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The féve I selected to feature in my mystery object post is one of six that have somehow found their way to me.  I believe they were made during the first half of the twentieth century, or possibly earlier judging by their lovely muted colors and traditional forms.  Modern féves tend to be garishly decorated in lurid colors, and many are fashioned after popular cartoon characters.

Apologies to Minion fans but these little googly-eyed féves would be enough to
put me off my cake!

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Let me introduce you to my enchanting drummer boy's Lilliputian companions.

This lantern-carrying féve resembles a fisherman from a bygone era ...

Photo: Chronica Domus

... and these peasant women must surely be his shore-side companions

Photo: Chronica Domus

Here's the ship's captain and his young deckhand

Photo: Chronica Domus

How could one fail to be delighted at finding any of these charming fellows peeking from within a slice of cake?

Half a dozen years of good luck

Photo: Chronica Domus

Perhaps you too have had the good fortune of discovering a similar charm in a cake or a pudding.  Do please tell me about it, or of any other similar holiday tradition revolving around the unearthing of such lucky trinkets.

Thank you once again for being such good sports.  I look forward to sharing another mystery object with you in the not-too-distant future.

A Porcelain Mystery Object

Photo: Chronica Domus

It just dawned on me that the last time I published a post on a mystery object was last February.  So, today I present you with another, a little porcelain drummer boy, for your consideration.

The object is a scant taller than an inch in height and is attractively decorated in pleasing muted tones.  Although he requires no other companions, there are plenty more where he came from.

Do please tell me what you think his purpose is.  I will reveal all in my next post.

Happy guessing!

It's Been A Fun-Filled Couple of Weeks!

Happy New Year to you all!  Please forgive the paucity of posts over the last few weeks but as you might recall, I've been busy entertaining overseas house guests for the holidays.  We've all had a marvelous, fun-filled time but all good things eventually come to an end.  As such, we bid adieu to our guests at the airport this past Thursday with promises of a reunion over the next year.

Now that things have once again settled down at home, I've had an opportunity to fondly reflect upon the last few weeks.  As with so many others, an awful lot of celebratory feasting took place (between bouts of playing tour guide).  Perhaps that would explain my quickly expanding waistline.  Anyway, the culinary indulgences kicked off on Christmas Eve and continued right up through New Year's Day.

I was up early on Christmas morning and glimpsed the colorful sunrise from the balcony

Photo: Chronica Domus

No Christmas dinner table is complete in Britain without a novelty Christmas Cracker at each place setting to add to the merrymaking ...

Photo: Chronica Domus

... and a scrumptiously dense, booze-soaked, fruit-filled traditional Christmas cake

(this one was lovingly made by my dear mother months in advance to allow the flavors sufficient time to mature)

Photo: Chronica Domus

Here's what the table looked like right before we sat down to tuck into our Christmas feast ...

Photo: Chronica Domus

... and here's the grand finale, a traditional Christmas Pudding, topped with holly ...

Photo: Chronica Domus

... and set ablaze with a liberal dousing of brandy

Photo: Chronica Domus

And, what's Christmas Day without some postprandial entertainment to shake one from one's torpor? Eschewing a time-honored game or two of charades, furniture was instead pushed towards the drawing room walls, the music cranked up, and voila! a makeshift dance floor revealed itself.  Our guests and we managed to pull off all of our best moves, mastered long ago in some of Europe's finest discotheques during heady summer holidays.  We had an absolute blast!

The drawing room, after our spontaneous Christmas evening dance party had concluded - who needs extravagant disco lights when fairy lights will do!

Photo: Chronica Domus

Boxing Day and the days that followed were spent showing our guests some of the area's best places of interest. A day in wine country wound up in the quaint town of Sonoma with a lovely dinner at The Swiss Hotel.

A corner view of Sonoma's charming town plaza

Photo: Chronica Domus

Sonoma's City Hall and surrounding trees aglow in festive lights

Photo: Chronica Domus

A little window shopping in San Francisco's Union Square is always a fun diversion for out-of-town visitors.  On the evening we were there, the shops were buzzing with post-Christmas sales activity.

The madness that is Union Square during the post-Christmas sales

Photo: Chronica Domus

An enchanting gingerbread concoction displayed in the St. Francis Hotel's lobby on Union Square

Photo: Chronica Domus

Everything here is made of sugar including beribboned packages and elves that march up 

and down the gingerbread castle's staircase

Photo: Chronica Domus

One of the last excursions of the year was spent pleasantly cruising down the coast to Santa Cruz and admiring the spectacular views.

Photo: Chronica Domus

I adore walks along the beach, whichever coastline I am lucky to find myself upon

Photo: Chronica Domus

Our last dinner of 2017 was enjoyed at home in our very own dining room.  And, just to remind ourselves we were rapidly headed into a new year, I made sure to mark the occasion as follows:

A homemade mushroom and leek pie to herald in the new year

Photo: Chronica Domus

Of course, there were sweet treats too, including a King's Cake, baked in a crown mold, complete with lucky charm.

New Year's Eve desserts included juicy tangerines, a Kings Cake with a hidden lucky charm, 

and the Christmas fruit cake baked by my mother

Photo: Chronica Domus

That was a tasty bit of cake!

Photo: Chronica Domus

Another lit fire to keep us cozy until the midnight festivities began

Photo: Chronica Donmus

We barely made it to midnight and into 2018 without nodding off, a feat which becomes a little more challenging, I have observed, as one ages.  The dawn of a new year is, however, such a thrilling moment especially when one begins to ponder the possibilities and opportunities which may lay ahead.  I haven't missed one yet!

The scene from our balcony, with the smokey remnants of distant fireworks ushering in 2018
Photo: Chronica Domus

The morning after the night before

Photo: Chronica Domus

With the understandably slow (and late) start to the first day of the year, we took things in our stride and hopped into the motor car for a gentle drive up to some of the Gold Country towns of Northern California.  Most of the towns were deserted but it was nonetheless a lovely treat to wander around in relative tranquility.  The highlight of our day was the year's first sunset which had us pulling off to the side of a country lane and enjoying a truly spectacular sky.

I could almost hear Vivien Leigh uttering those famous words "As God is my witness"

Photo: Chronica Domus

Christmas in our household is well and truly over on January 6, the Twelfth Day of Christmas, or Epiphany.  This is the day we dismantle the tree and attempt to pack away the ornaments.  I counted two hundred and thirty-two of them on our evergreen tree this year, not including the topper.  There are more on the goose feather tree.  And, as I predicted, the ornaments are still laying about, cluttering up the dining room table.  A beautiful mess if there ever was one.

The prospect of packing all this away calls for a stiff drink!

Photo: Chronica Domus

I do hope that you too found plenty to celebrate during the festive season.  Please do tell me what some of your highlights were.