Goodbye, Alex

Last week was a fellow graduate student's final week. I thought it was an appropriate occasion for the cake, to add to the sweet part of the bittersweet occasion.

The cake was a Galette des Rois, or King's Epiphany Cake, the true purpose of which is to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. In actual tradition, a figurine of the baby Jesus or a bean should be hidden inside and the cake is topped with a crown; whoever gets the piece of cake with the hidden treasure is King for the day and gets to wear the crown. I had none of these things, and I didn't think it was necessary for our purposes, so my cake was Jesus-less and crown-less.

The cake is a puff pastry filled with an almond/egg/rum filling. The most exciting part of the recipe is that it actually calls for frozen puff pastry. Because there was no way I was making puff pastry from scratch. That's just one step too far. Sadly, I couldn't find the type of puff pastry suggested, or even a box of the appropriate size, so I had to use some creativity and kitchen skills to make the pastry fit (see picture). It was otherwise relatively simple, and came out a delicious, flaky, golden brown puff of sweetness.

The whole lab and then some actually gathered in the office for cake. I kind of wished there had been Jesus in my cake, because I was concerned I would need a miracle to make sure everyone got a piece (like the loaves and fishes?). Thankfully we ended up with just enough. It was the perfect cake for Alex--not too sweet, not too heavy (she's not a big dessert person). One of the post docs in my lab was actually even more excited--she lived in France, and apparently this is one of her favorite cakes; she waits all year for it to be "in season." I asked her if it was any good compared to the more authentic ones I supposed she got in France or from her French friends and family members. She assured me it was, and made sure to scrape the last of the crumbs from the pan. A big compliment, in my opinion.

We all spent some non-science togetherness time, made small talk, ate cake, discussed Alex's plans for her time off and her future job. I tried to convince her to stay by pointing out that she would no longer have easy access to an endless supply of baked goods in her new lab. No such luck, though. I will definitely miss her at work. But thankfully she lives close so we can still hang out. And it's proof there's light at the end of the tunnel--she defended and graduated and is moving on to a great job. So it's possible. I'm just hoping it's sooner for me, rather than later.