Yup, I remembered to change the header to 2018. And...Happy New Year!

It's a little different in France, where people say Bonne année, but only on New Year's Eve and after. (And you often hear it through the month of January.) The other exciting part of January is the annual appearance of the Galette de Rois.

The almond-filled puff pastry cake - or tart, depending on how you look at it - is supposed to be for Epiphany Day, but now they tend to show up in December and linger in bakeries and pastry shops in France until the end of January. So there are plenty of chances to get yours! Who says the French aren't enterprising?

In the cake is a fève, a small 'bean,' which used to be an actual bean, but has now evolved into ceramic trinkets, which are highly collectible). Whoever gets the slice with the bean in it, either has to go to the dentist...or gets to wear a paper crown, and be the roi (king).

Sometimes the game is rigged to make sure a kid gets the fève, but I feel like a winner after meeting many of you on my book tour in November and December. I have dates scheduled in Philadelphia and Pittsburg in mid-January, so hope to see more of you there. Traveling can be tough, especially the airport lines, and airline seats, but it was worth it to have such great events.

I hadn't visited Boston in - gulp - nearly forty years, and although Romain doesn't have the same nostalgic yearning for a warm lobster roll with melted butter as I do, we ate very well in the limited amount of time (and stomach space) that I had on my tight schedule. I loved my event at Flour Bakery + Café and dinner afterward at Myers + Chang. I'm a big fan of Asian food and I wasn't disappointed. And I also made a recipe with Chris Kimball for his Milk Street television series, which will be aired next season.

We also loved Oleana, where I've been eager to go since I made the Warm Hummus with Spiced Lamb from their cookbook. The food was worth waiting a year for, and the servers could not have been nicer.

One of the great changes in the Paris food scene is the diversity, and quality, of Middle Eastern restaurants. There have always been plenty of kebab and falafel places, but restaurants like Yafo, Mizon, Ibrik, Tavline, and Balagan are celebrating fresh ingredients in their cooking. And Parisians are eating it up.

If you're due for a trip to Paris (and who isn't?), my friends at Context Travel are giving away a trip to the city! The giveaway includes 3 nights at Le Roch Hotel & Spa, a private half day tour with one of their expert guides, and $500 towards airfare. Oh, and a signed copy of L'appart. You can enter here.

And that's the scoop for this month. I wrote a little end-of-the-year post on my blog to tie things up, and start 2018 off on the right foot.

- David

One event that was especially fun last month was a talk at the 92stY with Deb Perelman. We "played" to a packed house, but if you didn't get a chance to see it, the Y has made it available to watch online.

I was interviewed by Evan Kleiman on the KCRW Good Food radio show.

And I chatted with Richard Martin on his podcast with Food Republic on a lot of subjects, including food, social, and cultural differences. (Richard used to live in Paris and we have quite a bit in common.)

Finally, I got to e-meet Bjork at Food Blogger Pro about Forging Your (or My) Own Path. In my interview with him, we touched on what's changed over the last few years, and how I feel about food blogging now. It's a pretty in-depth interview and we really delved into a lot of related topics.

The Milwaukee Journal talked to me about Setting up my kitchen in Paris.

And I've got a few more upcoming appearances:

I'll be at Barnes & Noble in Philadelphia this month for an open-to-all book signing and interview with Paul Bennett of Context Travel on January 12th at 7pm.

I'll also be at White Whale Bookstore in Pittsburgh on January 10th. For time and info, contact the store.

Closer to home, I'll be at WHSmith in Paris on February 8th for a chat and book signing. It's free, and you can RSVP at their Facebook Event page.

Whole Foods forecasts top food trends for 2018. Semi-spoiler: Mushroom coffee, root-to-stem cooking, and sushi-grade 'not tuna,' made from tomatoes, are supposedly in our future (Whole Foods)

This food photographer has had her photos swiped 18,000 times (Munchies)

A millennial job interview #funny (Vimeo)

What it was like to Bake for the Obamas (Taste)

Will the pit-less avocado help people from stabbing themselves? (SFGate)

Paris replaces red tape with the red carpet (NYT)

The cast of Titanic got fed drug-laced chowder during filming (Food & Wine)

A French farm starts producing foie gras without force-feeding the geese (Connexion)

My binge-watch for December: Fearless (Amazon Prime)

Famous Italian Chef Wants to Open Cantine for the Homeless in Paris (Straits Times)

"Remarkable" truffle grown on rooftop in Paris raises hopes there may be more (BBC)

When Farrah Fawcett was on The Dating Game, in 1969 (YouTube)

It's not French, but I discovered Sorghum, which was lovely in Sorghum Ice Cream with Sorghum Peanut Brittle.

These Chocolate Chip Buckwheat Cookies from L'appart are so good, I couldn't keep them in the pages, and offered up the recipe on my blog.

I browned butter for a batch of brown butter-infused bourbon in Brown Butter Old Fashioneds...

...and used the bourbon-basted brown butter in Brown Butter Financiers, delicious buttery cakes enriched with nuts.

I updated the recipe for Candied French Ginger and the Fruitcake bars, shown at the top of the newsletter.

Got leftover panettone? Make this superb Caramelized Panettone Bread Pudding.

Still got panettone? Put it to use in Panettone French Toast.

- dl