For me, flowers are much like chocolate. What is there not to love? I guess that’s why I so enjoy reading Debra Graham’s (Bloomers Floral Design) blog. Debra has great style (I love her vintage-inspired brochure!) and she shares a philosophy similar to my own. On the Bloomers website, Debra has this wonderful proverb: "When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other." It’s a great companion to one of my favorite quotes by Emma Goldman: "I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck."

Not so long ago, Debrah featured Parisian flower shops on her blog. She is right, the French do indeed like flowers in abundance.  They also have a strong preference for monochromatic arrangments.  It reminded me of this story:

I was living in France during tulip season. I love tulips; they are one of my favorite flowers. At the time, in many of the American shelter magazines, you could find an ad for Martha Stewart paint colors. The ad featured a paint can with a huge, luscious bouquet of all different colored pastel tulips coming out of the can. I thought it was beautiful, and I had the idea of re-creating this bouquet as a gift for a friend. 

I went to one of the neighborhood Parisian florists where there were buckets and buckets of unwrapped tulips in a rainbow of pretty colors. I greeted the florist with the obligatory "Bonjour, Madame!" and asked for her help. I explained that I wanted to buy a large bouquet of tulips, but not just in one color. Rather, I hoped to take a couple of tulips from each bucket and mix them together to create a colorful pastel bouquet.

"Mais non!", the shopkeeper exclaimed in absolute horror, "Why ever would you want to do this?!"
"Because I like lots of color", I replied, stupidly adhering to my American-instilled attitude that the customer is always right.
But the florist refused. In France, the shopkeeper is always right. She told me that monochromatic bouquets were far more sophisticated, far more chic. I should trust her expert advice and stick with one color of tulips as she simply could not tolerate the idea of mixed tulip bouquet leaving her shop. 
I held fast to my desire to have a mixed bouquet, and she held firm to her monochromatic principles. I left her shop highly insulted (and without my pastel tulips)! 

Truth is, I appreciate all kinds of flowers from the humble dandelion to the most exotic orchid. I love to see fruits and vegetables and cabbages and greens and branches blended into beautiful bouquets. But, I also love the striking drama of one single flower repeated in abundance. I may not have understood her at the time, but now I realize that "Madame" was right. The understated elegance of a monochromatic bouquet is very… I believe the term in France these days is "de classe"  ("chic" has become "passe".)

No matter the flower, no matter the arrangement, no matter the vase, I think Iris Murdcok had it right: People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us!

Every trade has its tools. Carpenters use hammers, nails, screwdrivers, drills, and saws. Seamstresses use scissors, needles, and threads. Chefs have their knives, pots, pans, whisks, spatulas, and blenders. Often, there is a strict code of conduct surrounding a professional’s most valued tools. As kids, we knew we’d get in BIG trouble if we dared to touch my mother’s good sewing scissors.  Use someone else’s knife in a professional kitchen, and you could soon find yourself on the wrong end of that very sharp object! 

Chef Daniel Maggipinto expressed it beautifully when he wrote: "I’ve had many of my knives for my entire 25-year career, so they have a special place in my culinary walk. Of course, some have gotten lost and some have gotten stolen, but a chef’s tools are like a knight’s armor and sword… I have a knife for every kind of food preparation: paring knife, straight boning knife, flexible boning knife, bread knife, slicing knife, chef’s 8-inch Japanese style knife, 10-inch chef’s knife, all kinds of spatulas for fish, dessert, temperature gauges, peelers, pastry bags, piping tips, string and various other implements of food preparation. No, you can’t see them or use them, they are my special tools."

That’s why New York Times bestselling author and independent journalist Lisa Rogak started the blog: Behind The Knife. She noticed that during interviews with chefs, the conversation often turned to their toolboxes. Her bio explains: "They spoke of some of the tools like a lover, and told wild stories about others. In fact, she got the feeling that if they ever lost them, they’d pull out the knives and use them on themselves, or on the hapless culprit who borrowed it without asking…" (See, what did I tell you?)

Lisa quickly discovered that in addition to the standard knives and kitchen utensils one might expect, chefs often tote around some really crazy tools to help them execute their culinary pieces de resistance:  bubble wrap, dental floss, power drills, torches and more.  Recently, Lisa profiled Pascal’s most beloved kitchen tool: a standard sewing needle. Read about how South ‘n France became the first company to be featured in her "crazy kitchen tools" category.