Have Some Decorum: candles

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 27^th 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 16^th arrondissement first and then to the farmers market in the 15^th 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.

photo by Wendy Jenson

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. 17^th 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-19^th century. Voilà! We are getting to know each other!

Honey, I’m home.

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