When guests come to our place for a Bon Bon Party, we try to incorporate lots of special touches – fresh flowers, candles for ambiance, great background music, and a pleasing bathroom. We can’t help but smile when the first guest visits the bathroom and then comes back to the party and starts nudging friends: "Go check out the bathroom".
What do we do? We fill our old clawfoot bathtub with water and float rose petals, candles, or other flowers on top. During the holidays, the entire bathtub is filled with vintage Christmas tree ornaments. And, on occasion, we’ve been known to line the entire bottom of the tub with seashells (a trick of this recessionista when the budget was too tight for fresh flowers). These little surprises make a big impact (as evidenced by this photo which was taken by one of our Bon Bon Party guests – yes, people actually take photos of our bathroom!).

Of course, we are not the only people who understand the importance of marketing all of the way from the front door to the water closet door. Check out these crazy restrooms found in hotels, restaurants, and even jewelry stores.  From gold fixtures to voyeuristic women in the men’s bathroom, these water closets may not be our style, but they certainly achieve the same effect: they give customers lots to talk about!

Last week, we conducted a pre-launch trial of our newest Wine & Dine Party. Three groups came on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to experience our three different versions of a fun, unique, and educational French wine tasting. We discussed all sorts of things from wine renegade Michel Picard’s rise to fame (that’s his château pictured here) to why the French put serial numbers on corks. We are most grateful to our gourmet "guinea pigs" for their participation and their feedback. At the end of each pre-launch evening, we gave a simple poll to our guests. Here’s what they had to say:

Our Question: Did you learn anything new at the Wine & Dine Party? If so, what "take-aways" will you remember?  ("Remember" being the key word after sampling four different types of wine!)

Some of Their Answers: 
How to read wine labels                                                 
How to pair foods with wine                                               
About the "châteaux" wineries                                               
All about wine corks                                               
That you can pair spicy ethnic foods with certain wines                                               
That Michel Picard Pouilly-Fuissé is a really good Chardonnay!                                 
About the AOC                 
What makes a wine taste like things that weren’t used to make it (i.e.  blackberries, peaches, minerals, oak, etc.)
What "mis en bouteille" means
1-100 scale wine experts use for grading wine
2005 was a very good year for many French wines and why
How food really changes the taste of wine
How to choose wine in a store
How to tell the location of wine production  
Stories about famous wine makers
Why some wines are more expensive than others
That you can drink certain red wines with dessert
What color tablecloth to use at a wine tasting
About decanting red wines      

Our Question: Please grade us on the wines we served and the foods we paired with them.

Some of Their Answers:             
Great choices!
Awesome!  Everything was delicious.
10-Good mix of price and taste on the wines
10+ Loved the food – yummy!
Excellent
Food was nicely paired with wines to enhance the flavors of the wines
Dessert was so good, I wanted seconds!
I’m not a fan of red wines, however, I thought all of the wines were great!
Wines were excellent and a good variety.
I am not a wine drinker, but I enjoyed trying the different wines.
Superb flavors!
Wines 100%; Food pairings 110%!!
The dessert course left me speechless – was there other food?

Our Question: What else should we know?

Some of Their Answers:             
You guys do a great job!
1 platter of appetizers for every 4 people works well!
You need to sell the dessert you served – amazing!
Love the entrance to your place.
This would be a great idea for a "pre"-bachelorette party!
I think everyone should experience one of your parties!  Love it!
Make the street address/house number larger; we had trouble finding it.
We have been to previous parties at South ‘n France and this was our favorite. The people were diverse and the wine and food were absolutely perfect!
I ate a light dinner before I came (as per your suggestion), but I don’t think I needed to. I’m so full!
Fine event.  I would return for another.
I’m a really picky eater and there was food I liked. Made me happy!
It was highly entertaining.
It was amazing and so are y’all!

Want to know more? Visit our Wine & Dine Party page or call Charlene for details:  910-762-6882.

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!

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.

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.

A couple of weeks ago, my Mom and I planned a girls’ shopping trip in Raleigh. I worked a half-day and then drove with her up to Raleigh for an afternoon and evening of shopping. We spent the night in a nearby hotel so we could hit the stores again the next morning for more bargain hunting. Pascal loves it when I take these trips. He stays home and gets to live what he considers the ideal temporary bachelor’s life: eating fried pork chops and watching "guy" movies. 

So, I wasn’t at all surprised when I returned home from my shopping marathon to find him sitting on the sofa, eating sardines, and watching a Steve McQueen movie. I unpacked my new purchases and settled in beside Pascal (once he’d finished those smelly sardines) to watch the final movie of his film fest: About Schmidt with Jack Nicholson. We’d seen the movie before, but Pascal is a huge Nicholson fan; Pascal particularly likes Nicholson’s cranky old man roles which comprise much of the actor’s body work. Early on in About Schmidt, Nicholson’s movie wife says: "Don’t dillydally!"

"Deal-ee Dah-lee?", asked Pascal. "What does this mean?"
I explained the concept of dillydallying (to waste time, especially by stopping often) and gave him an example using one of our family members who is infamous for dillydallying. (You know who you are!) 
"Deal-ee Dah-lee", Pascal repeated, trying the word on for size. "It’s perfect."
And then, a few minutes later:
"Deal-ee Dah-lee… I love this word!"
A little later, I’ve given up on the film and moved on to checking my emails, but I hear Pascal’s infamous giggle from the other room followed by a sigh and another "Deal-ee Dah-lee".
He lingered on that word for the rest of the evening, and I just know that he’s waiting for the perfect moment to introduce it into a conversation. As his wife and business partner, I can only hope that it’s the sound of the word he enjoys and not the concept!