Down South, the word "débutante" usually conjures images of young ladies dressed in white gowns and gloves, curtseying ever so carefully so not to disturb their heavily-lacquered up-dos. In France, however, "débutante" rarely implies the pageantry of young aristocratic Southern girls coming out to society. It simply means "a beginner". Over the past few months, Pascal and I had the pleasure of grooming our own sweet Southern débutante for her introduction into a different society: the culinary world. 

A high school senior, Tosha has been accepted into Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Las Vegas upon graduation. (Instead of a white ball gown, she’ll get to wear a white chef’s coat!) At the suggestion of one of her teachers, Tosha contacted us with a request for twenty hours of mentoring. We introduced Tosha (and her palate) to a host of new dishes and flavors. She tried her very first bon bons, sweet and savory crepes, goat cheese soufflé, smoked salmon, rosemary, and sauce au poivre while observing our gourmet cooking parties. Here’s more on Tosha’s mentoring experience in her own words:

"Hi, my name is Tosha and I am a senior at North Brunswick High School. Every senior who graduates has to complete a senior project. You choose your own topic, find an expert on that topic, mentor with the expert, and become an expert yourself. After becoming an expert you present everything you know to judges. They determine whether or not you graduate high school. It is a very big deal! 

Luckily, I chose French Cuisine for my topic and not only one expert, but TWO: Charlene and Pascal. When Ruth (a South ‘n France customer) said ‘Charlene’s a smart girl; great choice on the mentors!,’ I thought she was kidding. She sure wasn’t! Charlene and Pascal took time out of their busy schedule in the bon bon business and helped me out big time! I learned a lot of valuable information during my time with South ‘n France. It really helped that I got to experience the hands-on activities. They were so nice and welcoming it really surprised me. They invited me to help at the Chocolate Festival, which by the way was amazing! That is where I tried my first crepe EVER. Charlene made it for me and it was delicious. I also attended a Bon Bon Party, a Crepe Party, and a five-course French dinner. I learned that putting those parties together is hard work, but it seemed to pay off. All of the people left with smiles! 

My whole experience with South ‘n France was unforgettable. As an aspiring chef, I will never forget where I first learned all of the great things I have learned. Charlene and Pascal are great people and even better mentors. I will keep in touch from Vegas.  Thank you so much and thanks to all of the people who made me feel welcome during their parties." -Tosha

We wish Tosha "Bon Courage" as she embarks on her culinary journey, and we look forward to welcoming her back to South ‘n France someday as a guest chef!

On Valentine’s Day, a sweet husband came by to pick up bon bons for his wife. We recently got this email from her that tickled my funny bone: "My husband came down and got me a box of bon bons for Valentine’s Day. I’m sorry it’s taken me this long, but HOLY BON BONS, BATMAN! They are heavenly. I’m officially addicted to Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Cookies ‘n Crème , Coconut and Café au Lait! Thanks for helping him with selections. We will be back." -Courtney Arnold

If you’re a Batman fan, you remember that his sidekick, Robin, was especially well known for saying "Holy (insert), Batman!" whenever he encountered something startling. We love that our bon bons are so startlingly delicious they caused Courtney to say "Holy Bon Bons!" Here more attributed "Holy (insert), Batman!" quotes that I found from a group of (not-so-reputable) online sources: 

Holy Bill of Rights, Batman!
Holy haberdashery, Batman!
Holy heart failure, Batman!
Holy atomic pile, Batman!
Holy priceless collection of Etruscan snoods!
Holey rusted metal, Batman! The ground. It’s all metal. It’s full of holes. You know, holey.
Holy demolition, Batman!
Holy Long John Silver, Batman!
Holy Kleenex Batman!  It was right under our noses and we blew it.
Holy Captain Nemo, Batman! 
Holy molars, Batman! Am I ever glad I take good care of my teeth!
Holy costume party, Batman!
Holy hole in a donut Batman!
Holy strawberries, Batman, we’re in a jam!

I may be partial, but I think "Holy Bon Bons, Batman!" could rank right up there with the best of them. What do you think? Enter your own "Holy (insert), Batman!" submissions in the comments.

Lately, I’ve been assembling a new "vision board", a collage of images that comprise my current visual wish list. Much to my surprise, I seem to be dreaming about kitchens. When I saw these two photos, I had powerful kitchen envy/envie. The huge oven and the center island in the first photo, the traditional French table in the second photo, and the wood-burning ovens in both, appeal to me. They’d be perfect in that French farmhouse we plan to own one day. 

Our current dining room table is almost 10 feet long; we can fit twelve people at the table. I love that table, but I dream of an even bigger one similar to the communal tables you find at Le Pain Quotidien. My dream table would also come with drawers like the one in this photo. Why do French tables have those little drawers? They are used to store napkins and napkin rings. When it comes to dining habits, the French have been ‘green’ for a long time, using cloth napkins instead of paper ones. So that the napkins can be re-used throughout the week, each member of the family has their own unique napkin ring (rond de serviette), often engraved with their first name. I count the two traditional wooden napkin rings Pascal bought for us at Mont Saint Michel among my greatest treasures. On one side, they have a very touristy painting of the island; on the other our names are hand-written in black paint. For me, they are a symbol of our union as a couple. We had those napkin rings long before we had wedding rings, and each night when he pulls them out for dinner (his boasts a blue cloth gingham napkin; mine is a coordinating red gingham), it reminds me that we are a family.  I look forward to the day when that little drawer in my dream table is filled with napkin rings, each engraved with name that represents a friend or relative who always has a place at our big communal table. Who wouldn’t envy a kitchen like that?

Devorah Sperber’s art hangs by several thousand. Two Sundays ago, my brother Chad suggested that we take advantage of "Be a Tourist in Your Own Town Day". New Hanover County museums were open to the public free of charge, encouraging residents to take advantage of the cultural opportunities available to us. After picking up the "art" Chad and I had made in a glass blowing class the day before (marbles this time), Pascal, Chad, Cara, Baby Carter and I set out for the Cameron Art Museum. This was 3-month-old Carter’s first dose of the cultural arts, and he didn’t seem too impressed; he slept through the entire visit. But one art installation really impressed the rest of us: After the Mona Lisa 2 by visual artist Devorah Sperber. Ms. Sperber uses everyday items like beads, pipe cleaners and marker caps to represent pixels of well-known images (The Last Supper, The Mona Lisa, Andy Warhol’s Tomato Soup Can, Dr. Spock from Star Trek, etc.). Her favorite medium is thread. The installation of an inverted Mona Lisa that we saw is comprised of 5,184 spools of thread hanging from metal chains. Because Sperber’s work is meant to explore the links between art, science, and technology in the digital age, a viewing sphere in front of the installation allows you to see the image as the eye would normally see it (as a smaller, right-side-up, un-pixelated version). This article gives a great overview of Devorah Sperber as an artist (you can see a picture of her too).  

Thread company Coats & Clark provides partial funding for Sperber’s thread spool works. We couldn’t help but wonder if my Mom (a seamstress by trade with an extensive collection of threads, fabrics, and sewing supplies) has enough thread to make her own art installation. What iconic image could we make with her thread? Like all good art, this installation got my creative juices flowing and has inspired me to look at things differently. I can’t wait to find a way to introduce a Sperber-esque idea into my own life. Meanwhile, in researching this blog post, I found a great decorating suggestion for Chad’s bathroom, a VW Bus made of flower decals on a shower curtain. Now that’s what I call ‘groovy’.

For the past several weeks, Pascal and I have been immersed in research, planning and preparation for our soon-to-be-unveiled Wine and Dine Parties. We have been reading up on French vineyards, screening films like Bottle Shock, and creating food pairings for a select group of French wines. All of this research has re-awakened Pascal’s dream of being a "cave" man. In France, wine cellars are called "caves", or to be more precise, "caves aux vins" (pronounced calves-oh-van). While I envision owning and decorating a picturesque French farmhouse one day, Pascal is more concerned with what the hidden space underneath that house will look like.  It’s not counting imaginary sheep, but rather counting dusty bottles of wine that sends him into a dream state. His vision is very precise. He wants an old, damp, crumbling, authentic wine cellar filled with bottles that he will select.  

A few months ago, I stumbled upon a modern wine cellar solution that fascinates me. The spiral trap-door wine cellar was invented by a Frenchman (of course!) in the late seventies who saw that few modern houses had wine cellars, but that people still needed a place to store their wine. His design uses the earth to insulate the wine bottles and create good storage conditions, taking up a fraction of the space required by a regular cellar. The cellar is also "green" because it maintains a constant temperature without using power. I particularly like the model kitchen with the clear glass trap door - take a peek. Talk about a great conversation-starter at parties! Naturally, this ultra-cool bottle storage system comes with a magnum-sized price tag. It costs about $30,000 to install a complete system. But, since Pascal’s taste tends more toward "cave man" than "state-of-the-art futurist", I know one thing for sure: When we have an extra thirty grand to spend, we’ll be investing it in a pile of old, cold French rocks.

At many of our parties, women ask me about our French counterparts. It seems that we Americans are intensely curious about the mysterious, secretive ways of French women. Why don’t they get fat? How do they always look so stylish? What exactly is that "je ne sais quoi" they seem to possess in spades? A quick search on Amazon.com reveals dozens of book titles that promise to reveal how we can dress like French women, eat like French women, act like French women, and seduce like French women. There is:  French Women Don’t Get Fat, French Women Don’t Sleep Alone, Entre Nous, A Woman’s Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl, Fatale: How French Women Do It, and All You Need to Be Impossibly French: A Witty Investigation into the Lives, Lusts, and Little Secrets of French Women, just to name a few.

These blog posts at Fashion Nation and The Huffington Post are great primers on what we can learn from French femmes (they may not get fat, but you can take some comfort in the fact that the French word for ‘women’ [femmes] rhymes with ‘hams’). Although there are practical considerations (French women eat less processed foods, exercise more, eat smaller portions, etc.), it seems that the big difference between us and French women is an "état d’ésprit" or state of mind. Yves Saint Laurent said: "The most beautiful make-up on a woman is passion…" Coco Chanel said you should spray perfume "wherever you want to be kissed." 

And consider these dietary "secrets" from French Women Don’t Get Fat:
French women typically think about good things to eat. American women typically worry about bad things to eat.  In other words, French women eat for pleasure and don’t eat thinking about guilt. 

Presentation is just as important as taste; a French woman slowly savors her food using all five senses.

French women know one can go far with a great haircut, a bottle of Champagne, one rich satisfying, low-calorie chocolate bon bon, and a divine perfume.

Likewise, French women get a kick from Champagne, as an apéritif or with food, and don’t need a special occasion to open a bottle.

French women entertain at home and enjoy dining in as much as dining out.

French women know that l’amour fait maigrir (love is slimming).

French women love to sit at a cafe and do nothing but enjoy the moment.

So there you have it: just add a little more pleasure, a little more freedom, and a little more self-confidence, and you too will exude the joie de vivre of a French femme fatale.