Some of my fondest memories of growing up were the times I spent at my great Aunt Lorena’s house. Aunt Lorena always let me stay up late to watch The Johnny Carson Show with her while we ate a late-night snack together. I ate my first nachos (the kind that come in the Old El Paso kit) with her during one of my stays, and she even let me drink soda right before bed! Aunt Lorena always kept a glass of Pepsi sitting on her nightstand to enjoy as she read romance novels into the wee hours.  

While Aunt Lorena immersed herself in romance stories in her downstairs bedroom, I was in the one of the guest bedrooms upstairs reading the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries that used to belong to my older cousins. After reading into the night, I would eventually fall asleep. I didn’t sleep in too late, though. It was too much fun to drink the ready-mixed chocolate milk Aunt Lorena kept in the fridge with my breakfast. Later, I would go upstairs to brush my teeth with Aquafresh toothpaste. That striped toothpaste was infinitely cooler than the plain white paste we used at home. While in the upstairs bathroom, I’d sit at the vanity with its electric magnifying mirror and pretend that I was the glamorous Nancy Drew.

The thrill of those mysteries still infects me on occasion. A couple of years ago, I read a book by author Ellen Elizabeth Hunter. She loves the charming historic areas of downtown Wilmington and has set several of her murder mysteries in our town: Murder at the Azalea Festival, Murder on the Ghost Walk, Murder at Wrightsville Beach and more. Now, every time I go to The Pilot House restaurant on the Cape Fear River, I think of the heroine in Murder on the Ghost Walk whose physical description is uncannily close to that of Nancy Drew.

While walking downtown recently, I stopped in at the new headquarters for Una Luna World Gallery on 226 South Front Street. Una Luna has been around for years, but they just recently set up shop in a building with lots of local history (old-timers will know it as the old Taste of Country breakfast buffet). This import company was started by two teachers looking to supplement their meager income.  The business eventually grew to a full-time venture, specializing in importing handcrafted products from Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. I met the owner, Marcus (pictured here), who really knows his stuff! As I admired baskets, artwork, purses, and home décor items, Marcus told me great stories about the people that make them, the materials they use, their techniques and their inspiration.

When he learned about my business, Marcus immediately went to find The Bon Bon Basket. The Bon Bon Basket is made from savannah grass and raffia by the women of the Chani region of Zimbabwe. "Why is it called The Bon Bon Basket", I asked. Although lovely, it certainly didn’t look the ideal way to store bon bons to me! I had finally stumped Marcus; he didn’t know. Back home, I sleuthed on the internet, but my research proved futile. So far, here are my hypotheses based on the clues I have found:
1) It has a round hole in the middle that looks like a mini bon bon. 
2) It is made with grasses that are tinted pink and brown which we all know are ideal bon bon colors. 
3) "Bon" means good and "bon bon" means doubly good. The craftsmanship on this basket is so very well done, perhaps its maker just declared it "bon bon".

Looks like I’ll be on this case for a while…

In addition to keeping regular store hours, Una Luna World Gallery supports local artists and features an artist each month with "Full Moon Fridays" (always on the Friday closest to the full moon). The event includes live music and a wine tasting. If you’re in the area, go check them out, and see if you can find more clues to solve the mystery of The Bon Bon Basket.

I’ve been having pleasant dreams lately. Daydreams, that is. Of spending a night in this hotel room with a spectacular view of my favorite city.  If you’re going to be in Paris in the next couple of months, this dream view could become your reality. This is the Everland Hotel, a one-room hotel/art installation designed and built by the artist duo L/B (Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann). For the past several months, this incredible room has been parked on the roof of the Palais de Tokyo, right in front of the Eiffel Tower. It will be there until the end of May. Check out the cool photos and video tours on the Everland website.  

The idea behind this project is to offer visitors an opportunity to experience a piece of art from within. This one-room hotel is one-of-a-kind; it can’t be modified and there are no plans to build more. After all, from an economic standpoint, a traveling one-room hotel doesn’t make a lot of sense. Guests can only book a one-night stay and are considered an integral part of the project. To keep the system as democratic as possible, one night is released for booking every day, always at a different time, working on the principle of chance. The room rate was set at 333 Euros for a week night and 444 Euros for a weekend night’s stay, but from what I can tell, the booking system requires not only lots of luck, but also lots of money. EBay bids for one of the few remaining one-night-stays were up to $1200 when I last checked.  

The Everland (which has been on tour in a few different European cities) has lots of fabulous features. At each location, the exhibit partners with an established hotel that provides reception, cleaning, and other amenities. The public can visit the hotel during the day (like an art museum), but it is reserved for guests from 6 pm until checkout at noon the following day. In exchange for an unforgettable private view, guests have to forget about total privacy, as the big round window at the end of the room has no curtain or shade. Other great features of this capsule-shaped room includes a mini bar where everything is free, breakfast delivered to the room, and towels with gold embroidery naming the city (Leipzig, Paris, etc.) that guests are allowed to take with them as a souvenir. How cool is that? The room has a mod seventies-disco-style décor (a trademark of the artists) and even boasts a record player and record collection (I noticed Prince’s Purple Rain album in the photos – not bad!). 

Time is running out, so I probably won’t get to enjoy a night of sweet dreams as an Everland hotel guest. But as an art installation, the piece did exactly what it intended to do. I checked myself in to a temporary dream world where my imagination had a most pleasant stay…

Married… with Children character Peg Bundy just might be the most famous bon bon-eating woman there is. Actress Katey Segal did a brilliant job of developing the character, a low-class, sex-starved wife of a shoe salesman. In fact, Segal was largely responsible for Peg’s signature look; she brought her own large red bouffant wig when she auditioned for the role. By adding capris-length leggings, a large belt, an off-the-shoulder top, and high slip-on heels, Peg Bundy became the height of trash-fabulous!

I idolize Katey Segal for having not one, but two successful careers. Before making it as an actress, Katy was a backup singer for the likes of Olivia Newton-John, Etta James, and my heroine, Bette Midler. Talk about divine! But, it never occurred to me to idolize Peg Bundy… that is until I read Becoming Peg Bundy by Stephanie Hope Georgopulos. Stephanie writes: "Peggy Bundy lived the American Dream. She chilled on the couch all day long eating chocolate bonbons, but never gained a pound. Her husband worked at a shoe store. She preferred watching Oprah and frequenting strip clubs to housework. If that’s not enough, she wore animal print like it would never go out of style. We should all aspire to be half the woman Peggy Bundy was."

In her quest to become more like Peg, Stephanie discovers the Bumpit (a hair accessory that gives you the Bundy hair bump – I’m so buying one of these!), Three Olives Chocolate Flavored Vodka, and of course, South ‘n France Bon Bons. You simply must read Stephanie’s entire journey into the world of Peg Bundy; I’m still laughing days later. It’s the funniest, the sassiest, and the most risqué review of our bon bons I’ve encountered thus far. Peg would be proud.

In an earlier blog post, I told you that I was cooking up a costume for my nephew Carter to wear at the Wilmington Chocolate Festival’s Friday Night Gala. Here he is making his debut! Carter wore a blue and brown polka-dot jacket to match my pink and brown polka-dot ensemble. The jacket, made by my Mom, had frog closures with mini bon bons (brown pom pons) for buttons.  His hat was decorated with more mini bon bons. In this photo, you can’t see the big brown pom pon on the top of his hat that echoes the big cake on mine. Carter is a very easy-going baby, so we were certain that he would go along with wearing this goofy get-up. And, he did – on the second try. The first time we tied on his hat, Carter wanted no part of it.  But after he’d been fed his evening bottle (yes, even he was drinking at the gala!), Carter willingly obliged. He had never seen me in my crazy hat, but Carter didn’t seem the least bit fazed by his eccentric Auntie. In fact, he seemed more dazzled by my red lipstick than he did by my hat. 

I decided to take him for a spin on the dance floor, and as soon as we hit the floor, pianist Grenaldo Frazier launched into a jazzy version of "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby".  His Auntie couldn’t agree more.

Last week, I told you about the fun I had at The Balcony’s Bridal Event Open House. But I didn’t tell you the entire story… When the Open House was over and all of the future brides and groom and their families had left, photographer Millie Holloman and her staff turn their cameras on to the vendors. Millie’s team is always coming up with fantastic, cutting-edge ideas and they introduced their newest product (a concept I just love!) at the Open House. It’s called The Truth Booth.  

The Truth Booth is a special photography booth set up at a wedding reception or party. All of the guests are invited to step into The Truth Booth and model for the camera. The idea is that "the truth will set you free". Who wants to pose for stiff formal photographs or smile with one hand around the shoulders of your date and a cocktail in the other? With the help of a few fun props and the photographers in The Truth Booth, you can let down hair down, loosen your tie, and reveal your true personality. 

I grabbed the apothecary jar of Pistachio bon bons, a vintage fur wrap and a pistachio-green hat from The Truth Booth trunk of props; then I started hamming it up for the camera. Amanda Holloman got this shot. Be sure to check out The Truth Booth website – it’s tons of fun. One of my favorite photos is of a guy who wrapped himself in an entire roll of tin foil!

Our Valentines’ Dinner and a Movie Series starts today. We’re serving up a five-course meal with our favorite French-themed romantic comedies.  (The series has been sold out for weeks, but you can still join us for our next group of French movies in March.) Tonight we’ll show French Kiss; tomorrow night, Amelie; and our final movie will be Sabrina.  

For weeks now, there has been a raging debate (between Pascal and me) about whether we should show the classic Sabrina film with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart or the updated re-make of the film with Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. I watched both movies back to back and weighed the pros and cons of each. Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford won out. Why? Primarily because the newer film actually takes the viewer to Paris where we get to see cafes, the Eiffel Tower, the Pompidou Centre and other landmarks; the classic was filmed on a Hollywood stage set and shows only a window with a very fake Eiffel tower in the background. But, I personally prefer the Sabrina re-make because of my love for books.

I saw the 1995 version long before I saw the Hepburn version, and much to my dismay there was another important scene missing from the original. In the new version, one night Sabrina comes home to her father’s living quarters. He lives over the garage of a billionaire’s estate where he works as a chauffeur. Sabrina’s father is reading a book when she walks in, and the camera pans around the carriage house to overflowing bookshelves and stacked books in every nook and cranny. Sabrina says:  "I love many things about you, Dad. But do you know what I love best of all? You decided to become a chauffeur because you wanted to have time to read." As an avid reader who treasures my books, this struck me as a most romantic idea. Imagine choosing your profession so that it allows you to indulge in your favorite past-time! I absolutely loved that moment, and over the years I have re-played the scene in my mind dozens of times.

It’s true that I love books so much – the way they feel, the way new books smell, the emotions they illicit – that my respect tends to border on compulsion. I will not write in books (unless it’s to inscribe one as a gift); I will not highlight text in books; I only dog ear pages under the rarest of circumstances; and I read books from cover to cover without ever cracking the spine. Even my most well-used books often look new. That’s why I found this blog entry depicting ways to use books (other than for reading) simultaneously fascinating and horrifying. I actually could appreciate most of the pieces featured, but I especially enjoyed this chair which gives new meaning to the idea of arm-chair reading. 

This weekend, it’s all about chocolate love! Join us at the Wilmington Chocolate Festival or the Carolina Chocolate Festival in Morehead City, for an all-you-can-eat chocolate love-fest. We’ll have lots of fun ideas for how you can turn bon bons into an even more romantic and meaningful Valentine’s Day gift for your sweetie. Here are just a few of them: