PFM HQ

Our sunroom has been many things over the last many years.

Catch all.

Music room.

Orangerie.  (Dang I love that word.)

It's latest phase is Parisienne Farmgirl Magazine Headquarters!

I am typically very reluctant to incorporate pink into my downstairs floor scheme but I decided to step out of the box and bring down some pretties from my bedroom.  I must say, it's rather fun against the soft gray walls and of course, my favorite thing in the entire house, the black and white painted floor.

This magazine is taking off like crazy and I am working every spare moment after the kids are down for the night and so I needed a desk - asap.  We grabbed two "horses" from the garage, ran to home depot for a wooden door and a drop cloth and came up with a nice space for me to display just a handful of the coffee table books that inspire me, my favorite bread tin/cabinet, the Ladurée box that has never really found a home etc...

Here's a little glimpse...

A sweet little favor from Jo Packham (Editor of Where Women Cook) commemorating my 15 minutes.  (See sidebar).

Busted doorknob I can't bare to part with, Veuve bucket, Vénus de Milo and some of my favorite books for inspiration.  

Yes, that's Chanel and Laura Ingalls side by side.  

Very Parisienne Farmgirl.

That purple Provence Style book is one of the BEST EVER!

Snaps from a family cram into a photo booth.

Pink Jasmine Hydrangea dried from the Potager and simply one of my most favorite pieces of furniture - my tin bread cabinet from a bakery in Minniapolis.  SO COOL!

I want to fill that big frame with some recent photos of the kids but for now it's part of my "Gigi's" collection.

Vieux.

Not quite nouveau.

But let's imagine you want to see it in person?

Can you say - "Launch Party?"

Hmmmmm.....

Linking with SavvyCityFarmer's Thriftin' on Thursday.
Linking with LauriAnna's

Anybody for a Picnik???

Say it ain't so.

For those of us to lazy to open up Photoshop 

(Um, that would be me... I am SO put out by the 15 seconds it takes to load :).

For those of us who loved those easy, crazy edits like "Cross Process."

For those of us who LOVE hard to come by fonts like "Pepe".

For those of us who just re-did their header using all "Polaroid" frames - ahem.

I know, I know... there's Picassa and Google + something or other... 

(I swear, is Google becoming the freekin' AntiChrist or WHAT???  They are starting to scare me!)  

I don't WANT to learn another online editing program.  

I like Picnik!

"I don't want FOP  &?%^$*!  

I'm a Dapper Dan man!"

I don't want to wait 15 seconds for Photoshop to load.  

I don't have 15 extra seconds to hit the loo.

Well, I am crying - 

are you?

Say it ain't so Picnik.

We will miss you.


This just about kills me every time.  It never gets old.
Sorry for the cursing.

Settee Crazy!

I am a sucker for settees.
This house has four... and counting.
I think that if you are going for a Parisienne Farmhouse kind of look you just about have to have a settee.  There are few pieces that look as cool when paired with rustic, farmy accents and settees have that authentic "Paris Apartment" look that few other pieces of furniture can give a Francophile.

I've only been in a handful of Parisian flats.  Most seem to be decked out in a truly European combo of antiques-meets Ikea-meets flea market.  You'll often see the influences of the French colonies too like a bit of Morocan flair.  I was lucky enough to be invited for lunch to the home of a rather affluent Parisienne once.  Right on the Blvd. St. Germain.  This building was the real deal.  Red carpeting, an old iron clad lift, large spiraling staircase.
I was giddy.  And rather nervous to meet this friend of a friend.
She of course like a true Parisienne entertained me with lively conversation, graciously assisting me with my French when needed.  I calmly tried to eat only as much as she was even lest I look like a hog though she had made my favorite salad (endive with walnuts and blue cheese).  Everytime she left the room I tried to take in all that I could from the GORGEOUS elaborate plaster moldings that trimmed the ceiling to the ancient painting of a family member placed above the buffet and of course the settee.  It was all I could do not to stand on the table, rip the chandelier out of the ceiling and run for la Butte!*  Showing restraint I found myself instead fascinated by this lovely, interesting woman who in the last year had learned how to bind old books and reupholster antique chairs.
Yes, she was that cool.

After lunch we walked to the Jardin du Luxembourg and I hung on for dear life as she prattled away as only the French can do.  Finally a particular word lost me and I had to interrupt. She had been ranting about the hideous Montparnasse tower and had lost me with this word I had never heard.  Today, years later I don't remember the word (It was a word that meant something like "grievous error") but I do remember the way she defined it by equating the Tour Montparnasse to Martin Luther and his 95 Theses.   She had been such splendid hostess that I did not have the heart to tell her that I was rather intrigued with Luther.  She was after all, the first person of Faith I had met in the city which seems to be rather Faithless so I kept my mouth shut not caring about small or even large theological differences.  We continued our walk to the garden, stopped for an Orangina, found two chairs along the pond talked a bit longer and then went our separate ways.
What does that have to with settee's?  Nothing much.  But it's a fond Parisian memory for me.

If you wait patiently you will find the perfect settee but you might need to be ready to paint or whip up a slip cover.  Plan to spend anywhere from nothing to $1500 or so depending on the level of your patience and your resourcefulness.
Here are mine, where I found them, what I did to them and how much I paid...

This one lives at the edge of my bed.  It is covered in green silk but the wood was icky, speckled 1970's so I painted it.  It desperately needs to be recovered.  That blue throw covers a whole mess of duct tape.  For real.  I paid $90.00 for this lovely around the corner at a re-sale shop.  I have never seen anything like it and hope to be able to afford to have it reupholstered some day.  It features a Louis VXI leg which is my favorite.

This one is green too...

I am admittedly horrible with fabrics.  I believe this is green velour and it has seen everything from almost black nail polish to a dark chocolate disaster one New Years Eve.  I paid $250.00 for it at an "Antiques in the Park" day across the street from the house.  It too was 70's and speckled so I painted it gaining inspiration from Annie of Eurotrash fame's sofa.  It really needs to be repainted.  It's been about eight years.  I'll cry when the material finally gives out.  I just love it.

And now the garbage pick...

Well sort of.  Let me see if I get this straight...  I think my Mom bought it from a dealer friend who had garbage picked it and then charged Mom $80 for it.  Then Mom got sick of it and I adopted it as my own.  I am assuming I paid Mom for it, but maybe I owed her money for something and we wrapped it up with this sofa.  Nonetheless - look at those legs.  Once again it's that 1970's French Revival looking speckled wood.  This settee made books and magazines last year but now that it has a new home in my sun room it's getting a paint makeover ASAP.  Oh, and I can't WAIT to show you the rest of the room.

And now, the piece de resistance...

Craigslist baby.
$175.00
That's right.  $175.00.
Peachy, paprika velvet.  Down filled.  From an antique store in San Fransisco.  We went to pick it up a couple years ago - the day Chicagoland flooded.  We arrived at the lady's house on the swanky North Shore a half hour before she did.  It was a total deluge.  She called us, told us how to get in so we went in and waited.  Glancing down her open basement stairs we could see her basement was flooding.  She got home just then and we proceeded to help her frantically save all her family photos which were on the basement floor.  ...Opening boxes of them and spreading them all over her house to dry.  It was so weird and so sad.  Then we wrapped our new sofa in YARDS of plastic drops cloths that we had brought with us, duct taped them and loaded the kids in the truck praying the whole way home (one hour) as we drove thru the streets-turned-rivers that our sofa would make it OK.

Now since I have never slip covered my own (yet) I wanted to show you this charming little number I found over at my new friends "Dear Lillie" - this is your typical, ugly, thrift shop settee and I was just so impressed with this simple makeover I had to show you!  (Promise me you won't get lost on their blog and never come back to mine!  It is SOOOOOOO wonderful!)

Isn't that FABULOUS!??

And, now, if you find yourself licking your chops for a settee of your own I want to show you how easily you can find one.  Below I have five settees/sofas from major cities across the country.  Click the link to see the actual Craigslist page.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/fud/2800737479.html
$1,000

http://houston.craigslist.org/fuo/2812644898.html
$500 -OMG.

http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/fud/2813585441.html

No price listed and yes, it's more of a SOFA - but you should SEE what else this store carries!

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/fuo/2764614837.html

$450

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/fuo/2759253967.html

$499

Hope you enjoyed~!

Oh, and "la Butte" - well if you got that then you are marveling at how funny I am!  HAHAHA!

If you didn't, you're not alone I am sure of it... that was my lame attempt at humor and to say "run for the hills" as I was referring to la Butte de Montemartre - Paris' little city on the hill.

All photos not labeled as mine:  Google Images.

Music played during original post:
Compainte de la Butte from Moulin Rouge

The War Against Boys - Where Have all the Cowboys Gone???

I am pretty burned out.
Not because I am the Momma of a little boy but because I am the Momma of a little boy.
Allow me to explain...

If you get me going you'll be hard pressed to get me to shut up on the joys of being a Momma to a little boy (two little boys!).  It is so awesome and I love it!  (I'd have ten little boys.  The challenge is thrilling.)  You'll also be hard pressed to get me to shut up on the frustrations of being a Momma of a little boy and it's not because of the boy.

I am of the opinion that people, most people just don't "get" little boys these days.  I am of the strong opinion that anit-male feminism has corrupted our view of little boys and what they should be like.  Even sadder, I feel this anti-male feminism has pervaded our church and our families.


I am reading Christina Hoff-Sommers Book "The War Against Boys" so I have a lot of feelings up at the surface this evening.

Today so many... SO MANY little boys are drugged into submission and tranquility.  So many are wasting away in front of the television, Internet and video games.  So many are pumped full of sugar and then dumbed down on tranqs.  It's heartbreaking.  And almost all little boys are told to...
sit still,
don't hit,
be quiet,
don't run,
don't build,
don't shout,
don't fight,
don't get dirty
... did I say, "sit still."  Go to most homes, most church Sunday school rooms, most day care rooms and you will see a pile of safe, girly toys.  Nothing to jump off of, nothing to bash, crash. build and destroy.

This has been our families struggle in the last couple years.  We can clearly see that our son needs more room to be a boy - part of our desperate desire to get to a farm.  You should see him when he has room to "be".  He is a completely different child.

We live in a culture that is the advanced stages of beginning to find men completely disposable.  This culture seems to want to strip everything from men that makes them men, (and the same goes for little boys).  Today most men are so soft.  It's gross.  Their nice, safe and neutered.  And who needs men right?  Today women can earn tons of money, fight wars, shimmy up a fire(wo)man's ladder, heck... they can get pregnant without a man.  Men are to be soft, kind, polite... they can shake propper hands at church but when do they get to really cut loose... shoot a gun, shoot hoops, spar, drink a beer, act like they don't need a women around to tell them what to do???
I digress.  Sorry.  I do that on this topic...

Back to boys.  Let me give you a little reminder.  Boys are loud, aggressive, creative, destructive, curious... they eat A LOT, they shine flashlights in your eyes, they pester their little sisters, they want to wrestle, the bristle when you tell them to be careful, they don't want to be called "little", they long to know how strong they are, they want to be respected by their mothers and they want to feel like real men around their fathers.  You can tell them all day to be quiet, sit still and play nice but you might as well tell the sun not to shine.  Now, I am not excusing disrespectful or bad behavior... but sometimes I wonder how much we interperet as bad behavior because we too are a part of this brainwashed, overly feminine culture???  How might that behavior change if we were sure to give our little boys a chance to be BOYS.  How much of that "behavior" is because they feel like caged animals in our pretty, suburban houses and politically correct classrooms???
Where is Tom Sawyer with his pockets full of toads and his hilarious entrepreneurial white washing skills?  Where is Huck Finn and his risky raft?  Where is the worm and the fishing pole?  Where are the dirty bare feet?  Where are the cap gunns, the smoke bombs and dirt bikes?  Heck, where is John the Baptist... rockin' it out in the wilderness eating bugs and honey and skinning dead camels for his latest ensemble???

I am very wary of it all.  Probably to the point where I sometimes let my son get away with things he shouldn't because I get defensive when I think people think he should be behaving a certain way.  But I believe, we are paying for it as a culture... we want them to sit still and be quiet and then women complain when full grown men sit and play video games all night!
 Well, you wanted them to sit still didn't you???
I do fear for my son.  By the time he is a man I believe the popular consensus will be that he is totally dispensable as a man.  In the meantime I am trying to raise him to be a man.  Strong, courageous, Godly and dare I say... a bit wild.

Go on Man Cub.  Momma loves you.




To read all my "Cowboy" posts from the last couple years - CLICK HERE.

Do You See What I See?

Real quick girls.

Lame post here before I post one I have been working on.

The new header.

I am pretty pleased with it HOWEVER people keep telling me it's all messed up on their screens.  What I see is my title header with the highly photoshopped "die-cut me" and the name.  Then, I see six photos/tabs across with another six tabs/photos across.  Everything is nice and symmetrical in my world.  It looks great.
  However some are saying the header is too big for their screen, others are saying they get ten tab/photos across and two underneath... etc...

So.  Obviously it takes A LOT of time to trick out ones blog and I am pretty bummed if it looks all jacked up to you girls out there?

Do you see what I see????
Aidez-moi!

Oh.  BTW.

You would not BELIEVE the articles and photos that are pouring in for this magazine!  IT IS GOING TO ROCK!  And like fine wine... get better with time!  I am so excited!!!!!

Today in The Kitchen - Pierre Hermé's Chocolate Éclairs

Now I wasn't praying for this snow but my Chickens sure were.  They were ready to bust out the 1/16 of that Cherokee Heritage of theirs and run outside for a "Snow Dance" but alas, lace fell from the sky for the first time this winter.

I sighed.

They ran for the snow pants!

We had to celebrate and since my little, sweet Amélie is showing such an interest in Patisserie lately (she sits and looks at cookbooks like they are a Cinderella story!  It's so cute) I thought I would "whip up a batch" of Pierre Hermé's Chocolate Éclairs.    By the time I got to the chocolate sauce topping everyone was coming in with rosy cheeks and sopping wet gloves so I made my own recipe (you will see, they are not the most attractive éclairs) but nonetheless everyone was thrilled with this mid-winter, first snow of the season treat!

Recipe to follow photos.  It's a doozy.

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs

makes 20-24 Éclairs
Cream Puff Dough / Pâte à Choux (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.
2. Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

Piped pâte à choux.

1. Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Baked pâte à choux sliced horizontally. It actually came out hollow!

Notes:

• The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the Éclairs:

Mise en Place:

Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1. Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.
2. The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40 degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.
3. Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:

• If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.
• The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Pâte à Choux

makes 20-24 Éclairs
1/2 cup (125g) whole milk
1/2 cup (125g) water
1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, at room temperature

1. In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
   boil.
2. Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
   and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
   quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
   need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
   will be very soft and smooth.

Pâte à choux before adding the eggs.

1. Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
   handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
   beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
   You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
   not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
   have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
   should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.
2. The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:

• Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.
• You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream

2 cups (500g) whole milk
4 large egg yolks
6 tbsp (75g) sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona Guanaja, melted
2 1/2 tbsp (1 1/4 oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil.  In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
2. Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture. Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.
3. Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled.  Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat). Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.
4. Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice-water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it  remains smooth.
5. Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice-water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice-water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes:

• The pastry cream can be made 2-3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
• In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.
• Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze

makes 1 cup or 300g
• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1. In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.
2. Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Adding the pieces of butter to the chocolate glaze.

Adding the chocolate sauce to the glaze to finish.

Notes:

1. If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly? in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.
2. It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104  F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce

makes 1 1/2 cups or 525 g
4 1/2 oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (250 g) water
1/2 cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1. Place all the ingredients into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly.  Then reduce the heat  to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

Linking with some GORGEOUS BLOGS...

 http://www.flamingotoes.com/2012/01/think-pink-sundays-no-46/

                   http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2012/01/sunday-showcase-party-no-86.html

Today in the Kitchen - Tapanade Provençal

I hated olives as a child.

Once, my Dad... in some sort of sick and twisted joke convinced my brother and I that if we ate a big, black olive (the worst kind there is!) that we could open a Christmas present early.  My dearly departed super-strict Christian Grandparents' box had just arrived in the mail and one of the presents was small and VERY heavy and the curiostiy was just about killing us.  (Now you may be reading and thinking, Hey Parisienne Farmgirl... "I would call YOU super-strict Christian" - well, I wouldn't but... fair enough... however... these Grandparents, bless their hearts sent us games like Bible Checkers when we wanted Strawberry Shortcake and Legos... you get the picture.)

So, me, who NEVER wants to know a surprise early, who, till this day would NEVER peak at a present before it's intended open date... well, I just HAD to know what that small, heavy package was and so, I gagged down a big, black olive.  Dry heaving with tears streaming down my little girl cheeks.

I was full of anticipation over the heavy mystery gift...

You won't believe this.

It was a piece of petrified wood.  Grandpa said it was from the days of Noah.

My brother... to this day swears that he didn't actually swallow the olive but instead successfully fooled our Dad.  

Brat.

Can you believe that?

I am still traumatized... by the taste of the big, black, gross olive and the disappointment over such a stupid gift.  

These days, I do love olives... green and provançal style that is.  Don't you dare serve me black olives - cause I will gag.

At the French bistros in the area once you are seated they serve you a small ramekin of tapanade and I just had to figure out how to make it for my family.  Here is the recipe we enjoy... no petrified wood surprises either.  

Pinky swear.

Four cups green olives (I use Lindsay from Costco and with pimentos is fine)

1 1/2 cup Greek Olives

3 large carrots

1/2 cup lemon juice (I use Volcanic Organic Lemon Juice)

1/2 cup Canola or Olive Oil

2 Teaspoons Italian seasonings

2 Tablespoons white wine mustard

Using a food processor chop the carrots to approx. 1/2 inch pieces, then add the rest of the ingredients and pulse chop, scraping the sides down as needed.

Slather onto fresh or toasted baguette and enjoy.

Other ingredients you can add...

Capers

Red Peppers

Onion

&

Tomato

Bon Appetit!

Got snow?

We finally do!



Linked to http://laurieannas.blogspot.com/

AND THE WINNER IS!

Magazine Subscriber

TRACY BROWN!

Lovin' that chipped nail polish!
Congrats Tracy!

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT IS THIS AFTERNOON 5pm CST!!!

Get ready girls!

The big giveaway winner will be announced today!

Can't wait!

Thank you so much for helping me get the word out about the magazine.

I have an amazing team assembled and you should SEE the 

GORGEOUS first edition we are putting together for you!

Did you subscribe yet?

A bientôt mes amies!!!!

Trés Funny

I just found this on Facebook...

Yes, you long time Parisienne Farmgirl's I have completely sold out thanks to the Magazine and now use Facebook toute le temps...

I even Twitter for the magazine... though I once spouted on this blog "shoot me if I ever Twitter".

These days I don't see how you could run an online business without the two.  Have you subscribed to Parisienne Farmgirl Magazine yet?  (You're not gonna want to miss our first Edition!  You should see the articles and spreads we've got ready for you!)   I can't believe the lovely contacts I have made in the last ten days on FB and Twitter.  But you'll never see me sign on and say something stupid like, "I just ate a really big burrito" or "OMG my BFF just LHAO at this video"

But you might laugh yours off.

I almost fell over at the "Putain Maird" part. (pardon my French)  Seriously.  This is a most accurate spoof on French conversations!  

TODAY IN THE KITCHEN coming later this week!  Parisienne Farmgirl's restaurant worthy (If I do say so myself) Tapanade!

Pantone's 2012 Color of the Year

 Pardon my crappy graphic... I was too lazy to re-do it.

Let's just call it orange... cause "Tango" makes me way too sad (Hubby and I used to take Tango... dream come true... but now we don't...)
Something happened to me after 30.
I fell in love with orange.
From my Chinese Poppies to my orange wig I wore to be Syndy Bristow one year for Halloween and then last year to be Madeleine for Amélie's birthday...
Orange is fun, bright, super sexy and goes well with almost everything.

Not for the faint of heart though... it does really zing!
I use it in décor... and love, love, love the orange Nine West strappy heels that my SIL  gave to me. (I'll never understand why??)
If Tangerine Tango is the color for 2012 I say bring it on!  The more to choose from the better!

So what say you on Tangerine Tango
Yay, Nay or all the way?


What's your color for 2012???

Dresses found on Polyvore... Prices $3000-500.00

LipGloss - Tarina Terantino... my new favorite... even if I don't own it yet!