Yes, we are finally back in Paris. I am excited for three
reasons. First of all, my favorite restaurant, Verjus, will be open again after
the summer holidays and I can finally have my fried chicken on a bed of spicy
cabbage again. Secondly, my other favorite restaurant, Frenchie, will be open
again and I can have my favorite New York style pastrami sandwich on rye with
their special mustard and pickles. Thirdly, now I can order my favorite
Japanese dumplings from Zen and have them delivered to the apartment with their
special soy sauce that they mix with white vinegar. Too much healthy food at
the lake. All I want now is something fatty, salty and crispy. I’m starving to
death for chrissakes!
My cat, Frances, was sitting right at the front door when we
got back last night. She had a look on her face like, “Where the hell have you
been for the past two weeks, Mother! I was two minutes away from calling Child Protective
Services. Oh, and by the way, I drank all of your alcohol.” Don’t worry, she
had a babysitter but apparently she didn’t “like her.”
We have a big weekend planned. Saturday we are excited to go
to the fancy-schmancy 27th Biennale des Antiquaries at the Grand
Palais in Paris. I love looking at antiques that I can never afford. Jacques Granges
is the artistic director and he designed the theme this year with a nod to the
Royal Gardens of Versailles. This is a very posh big deal antique show and I am
so excited I can barely breathe. I wish my friend Diandra Douglas were going
with me because we live for this shit. Although, she would never say the word “shit.”
Sunday, I have plans to go to a local brocante in the 16th
arrondissement first and then to the farmers market in the 15th
arrondissement. My husband thinks this is the best farmers market in all of
Paris for some reason. I’m looking forward to the shift of produce towards the
fall season. There is a vendor at the farmers market that lures us in with the
scent of crispy pork with rosemary and my husband’s favorite Moroccan sausage
called merguez with spicy harissa. We buy so much food at these farmers markets
that we have to take one of those old lady carts on wheels. My friend Heather
of Habitually Chic blog refuses to be seen with one of these carts at the
farmers market. My husband could not care less. We will be taking one of my
favorite caregivers, Aminta, with us. She has been away for two months because
she has been visiting her family in Mali, Africa. Don’t think that the thought
that she might have contracted Ebola over the summer hasn’t crossed my mind. Wouldn’t
it be funny if I didn’t die of ALS but I died of Ebola.
So, for today’s blog continuation of The Art of
Entertaining, we have to talk about candles, candle sticks and candelabras.
Lighting is important to women. We look better in candlelight. I know I look
gorgeous in candlelight. :-) My husband has this obnoxious habit of turning on
all the lights superbright for a party. I just want to kill him. He doesn’t
need candlelight because he’s gorgeous in any lighting. Annoying. But the
ladies need candlelight for God sake! Let’s start with the basics…
Here are some of my favorite sources for candles. CireTrudon is the oldest wax manufacturer (founded in 1643) in France having been
the official candle maker to the court of Louis XIV as well as the supplier of
candles to the great churches of France. How about that! I like everything
about this company. They have a great array of colors for the basic
candlesticks, they have clever novelty candles shaped like Napoleon, they have thick
pillar candles with cameos and they have the most exquisite scented candles.
The scented candles are otherworldly with fragrances such as Pondichéry whose
description makes life worth living. “Ginger with zests of lemon and vetiver,
Pondichéry gives out a green and fresh touch where floats the exotic sweetness
of patchouli and the warmness of musk. Dreams of Asia with its unforgettable
colours, its silks and strange porcelain, this is the trip to Indian and
Far-Eastern counters, the new fascination for exoticism.” There are brick and
mortar shops around the world that make you feel like you have stepped back
into time and you can also order online if you live in the middle of nowhere.
My other recommendation for candles is a company called
Knorr. My favorite candles at this source are these black drippy candles. They
are exquisite. This company also has great beige candles. My mother loves beige
candles. We used to sell this line at our shop but to be honest most of them
ended up at our house. My mother had a whole secret little closet under the
staircase at her house. It was lined with shelves and it housed all of her vases,
candlesticks, candelabras, hurricane lamps, votive holders, and stacks and
stacks and stacks of boxes of these candles. These are very high quality
beeswax candles.
My third recommendation for candles is a company called CreativeCandles. What I like about this company is their selection of colors and sizes.
And by sizes, I mean that they offer candles the height of a toddler. 39 inches
tall! How cool is that! And they drip really well. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.
Major drama.
My fourth recommendation might sound a little bit tacky, but
they’re not if used properly. I love using candles in a bookcase but that can
be a hint dangerous. Problem solved. Wax drippy battery operated pillar
candles! They even flicker. My favorite come from a company called The Amazing Flameless Candle Company.
Okay, so now that we have the actual candle covered, what do
you put it in? I have a slight obsession with candlesticks, sconces and
candelabras. I am all over the map when it comes to my choices of candlesticks
and candelabras. 17th century Chinese candlesticks, Danish modern
candlesticks, antique Italian altar sticks, Murano glass candlesticks, horn
candlesticks, porcelain, enamel, silver, gold, bronze, monkeys, elephants, birds,
blackamoors! I think I have a great collection on my Pinterest board. Check it
out HERE.
Stay tuned for the next installment of The Art of
Entertaining. Hint: Sucre! Sucre! Sucre!
Bon week-end!
*I thought it would be fun if we knew a little bit more about
each other so let’s do this… Every blog posting I will end with something that
you don’t know about me and then you guys can let me know something about you.
Here’s something you don’t know about me… I hate cherubs, angels and cupids in
terms of modern day decorating. I don’t want to see an angel statue in someone’s
stupid front yard, a cherub painted on a ceiling in someone’s faux Tuscan wine
cellar, or a fat cupid in cheap gilt plaster on a mirror from Tuesday Morning. I
will only tolerate angels cherubs or cupids if it was done pre-19th
century. Voilà! We are getting to know each other!
