Mhaolain's Child, a Renaissance Thinker in a Post-Modern Culture

Nature's Advent Calendar

When my mother died in December of 2009, one of her friends sent a gorgeous white-flowered Christmas cactus as a memorial to our family. I failed to inherit my mother's green thumb -- that gene went to my brother, who died in 1994. Nevertheless, I determined to protect the plants given to us in her memory as best I could. Imagine my surprise when in November of 2010 white buds appeared on the Christmas cactus. It flourished throughout the Advent season with its first flowers unfolding precisely on November 15, and its last flower falling almost exactly on January 18, which is the day of Epiphany, or the 12th Day of Christmas, according to the Eastern calendar.

Again this past season of 2011, the first white buds appeared on my cactus about November 1, the first flowers precisely on November 15, the first day of Advent. But something happened differently this year. The plant that was in full flower during our American Thanksgiving holiday began to drop its unopened buds. It was as though Christmas never quite unfolded for my cactus in the 2011 season. And so, I brushed the last dead blossoms from its branches and put it back into its usual growing space, out of the limelight, simply resting in the gentle evening sunlight that fills my bedroom. Perhaps my cactus sensed its caregiver's emotions because that's much the way I felt this year. The Advent season, filled with parties and Church activities, rushed along and I with it. But my heart somehow never completely opened to its usual Christmas fullness. Me, the point guard for Christmas in our family. The one who puts up the tree mid-November and hangs Valentines on it in February.

As the 12 days of Christmas came and went on the Western calendar and then came and went on the Eastern calendar, I began to take down and store away my holiday decorations. Naturally, my tree still beams its dark-night banishing light, but I struggled to generate that vibrant room-filling enthusiasm I usually exude during the holiday season. As if in solidarity with me, my barren Christmas cactus gently put forth a single white bud this week. I'm waiting for it to unfurl its flower to brighten my mid-winter days. It reminds me that there are seasons of life when it's fine not to flower, fine simply to sit quietly and grow into the next season.

“And why do you worry ....? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin." -- Matthew 6:28

(Ig)Noble Rot

Recently, my work took me to the beautiful Napa Valley for a few days. One of my favorite places to visit there is Ma(i)sonry, an art gallery and tasting room blended together like a perfect meritage in a historic building in Yountville. During my previous visit in November, I had the opportunity to taste a beautiful dessert wine from the R.A. Harrison winery. While I'm not usually a fan of sweet wines, this wine, appropriately named Nobility, captured my taste buds, and I bought several bottles. So, imagine my delight when, last week, I'm walking through the garden at Ma(i)sonry and, almost literally, run into Roger Harrison, the maker of this delicious nectar. I felt a little like my niece the first time she met Carrie Underwood!

As Roger and I talked about his work, he taught me a little of the process of making dessert wine. In contrast to the majority of winemakers, Roger actually looks for grapes, in his case Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes, that have been blighted by mold. While his fellow winemakers do everything they can to keep mold away from their grapes, Roger actively searches for those grapes that other winemakers discard. He watches over these molded shriveling fruits and carefully encourages them to reach their fullest potential for sweetness. He nurtures these rotting fruits on their vines weeks after other winemakers have harvested their grapes. Then, when the sugar levels in the grapes reach their target, Roger carefully harvests them. He gently scrapes the mold from the juices time after time after time until only the pure sweet nectar of sweet wine remains. The result is pure bliss.

As Roger shared this tedious process with me, I couldn't help but think how winemaking once again teaches me so much about the love of God. God looks beyond the mold and stink that often covers humanity to see our potential for sweetness. Maybe, just as He distills the essence of nectar from my life, He can use me to nurture others who are molded and rotting, those who have been discarded by the majority of fellow men. May I be like Him who sees the sweetness that lies within even when covered by mold. 

Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop and Scholar 26 September 1626

The entry below is from today's Book of Common Prayer meditation, written by James Kiefer. How encouraging to me is the writing of a saint who lived 400 years ago alongside the writing of a modern-era saint. May our thoughts and meditations likewise bring glory to the Father in the ages to come.--MC

Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), Bishop of Winchester, was on the committee of scholars that produced the King James Translation of the Bible, and probably contributed more to that work than any other single person. It is accordingly no surprise to find him not only a devout writer but a learned and eloquent one, a master of English prose, and learned in Latin, Greek, Hebrew and eighteen other languages. His sermons were popular in his own day, but are perhaps too academic for most modern readers. He prepared for his own use a manuscript notebook of Private Prayers, which was published after his death. The material was apparently intended, not to be read aloud, but to serve as a guide and stimulus to devout meditation.

What follows is a brief extract from the section for Thursday Morning. The reader will note that he commemorates three events associated with Thursday: (1) the creation of air and water animals (mostly birds and fish) on the Fifth Day of Creation as described in Genesis 1; (2) the institution of the Sacrament of the Lord's supper by Our Lord Jesus Christ on the evening before He was crucified (Matthew 26); and (3) the Ascension of Our Lord into heaven forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1).

      COMMEMORATION

      Blessed art Thou, O Lord
      who didst bring forth of water
      moving creatures that have life,
      and whales,
      and winged fowls:
      and didst bless them,
      so as to increase and multiply.

      The things concerning the Ascension:
      Set up Thyself, O God, above the heavens
      and Thy glory above all the earth.
      By thine Ascension
      draw us withal unto Thee, O Lord,
      so as to set our affections on things above,
      and not on things on the earth.

      By the awful mystery of Thy Holy Body and Precious
      Blood in the evening of this day:
      Lord, have mercy.

      FAITH

      Coming unto God,
      I believe that He is,
      and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him:
      I know that my Redeemer liveth;
      that He is the Christ the Son of the Living God;
      that He is indeed the Saviour of the world;
      that He came into the world to save sinners,
      of whom I am chief.
      Through the grace of Jesus Christ
      we believe that we shall be saved
      even as our fathers withal.
      I believe verily to see the goodness of the Lord
      in the land of the living.

      THANKSGIVING

      O my Lord, my Lord, I thank Thee
      for that I am,
          that I am alive,
          that I am rational:
      for nurture,
          preservation,
          governance:
      for education,
          citizenship,
          religion:
      for Thy gifts of grace,
                       nature,
                       estate:
      for redemption,
          regeneration,
          instruction:
      for calling,
          recalling,
          further calling manifold:
      for forbearance,
          longsuffering,
          long longsuffering towards me,
                   many times,
                   many years,
                                until now:
      for all good offices I have received,
              good speed I have gotten:
      for any good thing done:
          for the use of things present,
              thy promise
              and my hope
                  touching the fruition of the good things to come:
      for my parents honest and good,
             teachers gentle,
             benefactors always to be had in remembrance,
             colleagues likeminded,
             hearers attentive,
             friends sincere,
             retainers faithful:
      for all who have stood me in good stead
          by their writings,
             their sermons,
                   conversations,
                   prayers,
                   examples,
                   rebukes,
                   wrongs:
      for these things and all other,
         which I wot of, which I wot not of,
         open and secret,
         things I remember, things I have forgotten withal,
         things done to me after my will or yet against my will,
      I confess to Thee and bless Thee and give thanks unto Thee,
      and I will confess and bless and give thanks to Thee
      all the days of my life.
      What thanks can I render to God again
      for all the benefits that He hath done unto me?

               HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
      Thou are worthy, O Lord and our God, the Holy One,
        to receive the glory and the honour and the power:
          for Thou hast created all things,
            and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.

written by James Kiefer

 

Watermelon Coolers Beat Summer's Heat

My sweet sister-friend Robin is the hostess with the mostest. Last Saturday, she and her family hosted a birthday celebration dinner party in my honor. Not content merely to serve up her usual delicious fare, Robin scoured the world of recipes to serve foods that I particularly love, like watermelon and cucumber and salmon. As much as I loved the wonderful food and drink, I love even more the thoughtful consideration this dear friend put into creating a menu especially for me.

When we arrived at her home, she offered us these wonderful cucumber-watermelon martinis. They were the perfect antidote for a sizzling Southern summer evening. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Robin's Watermelon Martinis

5 sprigs of mint

1/4 oz. organic agave nectar

ice

1 1/2 oz. freshly prepared watermelon juice

1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice

2 oz. Effen Cucumber-Vanilla Vodka

Remove leaves from all but one sprig of mint, reserving that sprig for garnish. Place mint leaves and agave nectar in a cocktail shaker and muddle for 15 seconds. Add ice, watermelon juice, lemon juice, and vodka. Shake for 15 seconds. Strain the drink into a chilled martini glass and garnish with the remaining mint sprig.

Delish!

Cool Summer "Soups"

Yesterday, several friends gathered in my shady backyard for a lazy summer celebration of my upcoming birthday. We are all foodies, so the afternoon featured a parade of small plates, including what we teasingly called "cool summer soups." Among these savories was a locally made hummus that I served with chips made from lentils. A marvelous gluten-free cool snack. The second cool soup was one of my own concocting years ago. So easy, it's simply equal parts cooked lentils and prepackaged salsa. My favorite salsa to mix with the lentils is readily available in the refrigerated section at our local grocery stores, like Publix or Kroger. It is made by La Mexicana. I find the Medium Salsa the best, but yesterday I used the Mild Salsa since others in our group have sensitive tummies.

The third offering in the cool soup series was another salsa. Nothing brings cool to a Southern summer day like watermelon, and "Uncle Jon's Watermelon Salsa" is the best recipe I've ever tasted. Available at AllRecipes.com, I offer it below as my own birthday gift to you. Happy Summer, Y'all. Enjoy!

Uncle Jon's Watermelon Salsa

Ingredients:

8 c. cubed seeded watermelon

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 large white onion, chopped

2 large jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 c. white wine vinegar

1 tsp. salt

Stir all ingredients in a bowl until evenly mixed. Cover and refrigerate overnight for best flavor.

Chef Daniel Rose and Spring Restaurant: a Perfect 10

 --the 16th-century cellars

Instead of waiting for me to reach a conclusion paragraph at the end of this review, I’ll save you the time by saying up front Chef Daniel Rose’s Spring Restaurant in Paris definitely lives up to its hype. Was it worth the extreme effort to gain a table? Absolutely. Would I go again? In a heartbeat. In fact, I’d put Paris in the Top 5 Bucket List Vacations again just to return to Chef Daniel’s kitchen.

As I began to make my list of possibilities for dinners in Paris, Spring Restaurant very quickly emerged from the reviews as the top candidate for one of our evening meals. It also quickly became the most difficult table to secure as it is one of the few restaurants with almost no access via the internet. One either calls the restaurant directly during the tiny window during which they answer the telephone or one makes a booking in person. Both options proved extremely difficult. I was fortunate to enlist the help of the concierge team at American Express who made a series of telephone calls and reserved 2 spots out of a mere 26 to be seated in the dining room at Spring on our designated evening. (Just days after our dinner Chef Daniel introduced a new schedule offering 2 seatings for dinner and opened up his cellar wine bar to include its tables in Spring Restaurant’s inventory.)

Spring Restaurant offers only a chef’s tasting menu, but who could argue with the offerings from Rose’s kitchen. The 12 tables cluster around the kitchen for a true dinner theater experience. Starting with two amuse bouche, we progressed through six courses of the freshest, most creative culinary combinations I’ve ever tasted. Green peas, lima beans, fish, duck, raspberries, grapefruit all sacheted across my tastebuds, leaving a trail of fairytale magic in their wake. Combinations of fresh herbs, fresh vegetables, and perfect sauces kept each course new and satisfying to the palate. Pleasant banter among the tightly-seated patrons intermingled with comments from the servers as well as from the kitchen staff increased the enjoyment of the meal.

After most of the diners in the main room had reached their final course, Chef Daniel pulled up a chair to chat with me. Among the many conversation threads we pulled was a comment about how a Chicago boy reigned among the great chefs in 21st-century Paris. When I asked Chef if he ever considered opening a restaurant in the USA, he quickly instructed me as to why that was an impossibility. The contents of that conversation will come in a forthcoming post, so stick around.

Though we were unable to garner a table in the main dining room for a return to Spring Restaurant on one of our remaining evenings in Paris, Chef encouraged us to arrive in the hope of getting a bar stool around 7:30pm at the door of the wine bar he had created in the 16th-century cellar of his building. From the bar stools, one could order the main course from the tasting menu served upstairs in addition to ordering cheese and charcuterie plates. Following his instructions to the letter, we had the extraordinary pleasure of eating from his kitchen two evenings in a row.

As I mentioned earlier, two days after we left Paris, Chef Daniel changed the use and schedule of his dining room and wine bar. While lucky patrons who arrive early may gain one of the 6 bar stools in the cellar, the tables down there are now by reservation only. The good news is that Spring Restaurant now offers two seatings, introducing one that begins at 6pm, and has doubled its seating capacity. Furthermore, they are experimenting with an internet-friendly system for booking at least some of their available reservations.

In addition to the building in which Spring Restaurant and the wine cellar are housed, Rose has a wine store across the street. He and his partner host wine tastings there. Additionally, they are building a wine club program to feature their favorite wines from France.

In conclusion, I repeat my introduction. Perfect service, perfect food, perfect wine pairings, perfect setting (the cellars were supposedly built and used by the court at nearby Louvre Palace). The perfect meal may be capped by a moonlit stroll through the courtyards of the Louvre, which sits just a couple of blocks away. Did I mention perfect?

The Jules Verne Restaurant: Scaling the Heights of the Eiffel Tower

One of the privileges of working with A-list clients is that they, like my husband and myself, enjoy intriguing food and wine experiences. Not every dish has to be complicated, nor does every bottle of wine require a pedigreed label. But the flavors and fragrances need to create a memory. As such, it was a thrill to be invited to dinner at The Jules Verne Restaurant, one of the restaurants in famed chef Alain Ducasse's coterie of restaurants. After all, our own president and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Obama, declined dinner at the presidential home of his French counterpart in order to share an intimate dining experience atop this quintessential Parisian monument.

Gaining access to the Eiffel Tower is in itself a difficult task. Long lines exist even for those planners who long ago bought tickets for entry at a specific time and day. Not so for the lucky reservation-holders to the JV, for they have their own private entrance in the South pier of the Tower. At the door, one presents proof of a reservation and is "marked off" the list on the IPad of the greeter. Next, one submits one's purse and jackets for security clearance while the person him/herself walks through the metal detector, much like clearing security at the airport. The Tower is often a target of bombing attempts, so I didn't mind the security efforts at all. After security clearance, six lucky people board the glass-sided elevator that whisks its riders more than 400 feet (actually, 125 meters) up the side of the mighty Tower. The ride is slow enough to get up-close and personal with the rivets and beams that make up the structure.

Stepping out of the elevator, we found a restaurant that is gleaming with granite, marble, polished wood, and floor-to-ceiling windows. The tables are arranged to afford every diner, even those not immediately adjacent to the window, a glimpse of the view. Our table was perpendicular to the windows, and, though I was not seated window-side, I had a breath-taking view of the sunset over the suburb of Paris they call "Little Manhattan."

While each diner has the option to choose individual dishes to compose his/her meal, our group opted for our table to enjoy the Menu Degustation, including a wine sampling paired with each course. Lest anyone worry about the tolerance of this tiny Southern woman, let me say that the pours were indeed mere sips designed to accompany the small servings of each course.

Our meal began with beautiful cold soup amuse bouche and champagne. (Real Champagne, I discovered, doesn't taste much like the "champagne" we get in the South. Turns out the French keep the good stuff to themselves.) The courses progressed through lobster starters, entrees of fish and then pigeon, followed by a dessert with raspberries, and, finally, chocolates. By the time the chocolate grand finale came, I was very happy I'm not a dessert fan. The food was delicious, a wonderful sidebar to the gorgeous view. The service was genial, just the right amount of personal banter between servers and patrons. Its tempo was appropriately measured, never too fast nor too slow. Very professional.

One interesting facet of the restaurant itself is the ingenious design of the restrooms. I felt like I was in one of Jules Verne's novels or a Star Trek set when I waved my hand over the beam to open the door. The room was almost entirely encased in black marble that sparkled. It gave me the feeling of being in a pod hurtling through the depths of darkest space amid twinkling stars and planets.

Now, for the big question -- would I return to the Jules Verne on a future trip? Absolutely, IF I was an invited guest. If I was on my own nickel (or Euro), probably not. The meal was very good, but nothing was so good it made my eyes roll back in my head. As my week in Paris progressed, I would have dishes that indeed made my tastebuds dance a tango and at a significantly lower cost. However, nowhere else in Paris could you have the combination of such good food and luxurious service with such a breath-taking view. I'm privileged to have enjoyed the experience once in my life. But, it was an expensive experience, and I'm very grateful to my gracious hosts.

If I'm ever back in the City of Light, I think I'll take a picnic up to Montmartre and watch the sunset over Paris from up there. Less cost, less pampering, but the same gorgeous view, only that one includes the Eiffel Tower.

So Many Restaurants, So Few Days: Dining in Paris

One of my favorite facets of planning any business or pleasure trip is the process of choosing the restaurants at which we will eat. Whether it’s choosing to buy groceries at the local farmers’ market for a picnic or to dine at a storybook restaurant, I love to make my way through other diners’ experiences and reviews to gain my own perspective and fix our itinerary. In addition simply to creating a Google search, I also search websites like Frommer’s and Fodors’ travel forums, Chowhound, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. It’s amazing what a search engine will turn up these days, both positive and negative. Most restaurants have their own websites, Facebook pages, and Google map pages that have pertinent information as well as reviews. I read most of these reviews word for word in order to see how similar the reviewers' situations and expectations are to my own. Often, I disregard a negative review merely because my parameters are dissimilar to those of the reviewer.

As I began the process of choosing restaurants for our Paris trip, I had very few prerequisites. First, since I was gathering information for my restaurateur client, the restaurants had to receive favorable reviews consistently from the Paris food bloggers, like the team at ParisByMouth. It’s one thing to wow the tastebuds of your diners on a single evening and another thing altogether to do so on a regular basis (which is why I love Nashville’s Virago). Secondly, the restaurant needed to offer me the opportunity to book my table in advance so my itinerary was in place for both my clients’ sake as well as for my own interest. Thirdly, I wanted restaurants we could walk to from our apartment, or at least walk easily from the Metro to the restaurant, which is the case for almost any restaurant in Paris. Fourthly, I wanted restaurants that offered creative contemporary food like that of my client, restaurants that did not rest on the recipes from 50 years ago. Finally, I wanted restaurants that didn’t cost an arm and a leg for a meal.

Even though we had 7 nights in Paris, it was a monumental task to select only 7 restaurants for dinner. That final parameter, the cost, helped eliminate many of the Michelin-starred restaurants of Paris. Ultimately, however, we were privileged to be included in a dinner party at one 5-star restaurant, The Jules Verne Restaurant atop the Eiffel Tower. With Sunday night set aside for our business dinner party, I had six slots to fill and thousands of likely candidates.

As such, I narrowed my parameters further to include only those nearest the apartment where we stayed. Directly across the street from Notre Dame Cathedral, this apartment served as a perfect location for both my business interests as well as our vacation ideas, being in the center of the heart of Paris. Therefore, I decided to limit our choices to restaurants located in the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th arrondisements of Paris. This limitation helped narrow the field tremendously.

In addition to reading the online reviews of my dining possibilities, I discovered the French version of Open Table, an online booking/review site. La Fourchette offered an incredibly easy solution to very long distant booking. Later, after I had completed my reservation process, I discovered another online booking resource, Book A Table. This site offers additional restaurants to those at La Fourchette. Yum.

Finally, my list narrowed to eight restaurants: Spring Restaurant, Ze Kitchen Galerie, Les Bouquinistes, Mini Palais, Sola, Flottes O.trement, Bar a Manger, and Christophe. Reservations at five of the eight were attainable either via La Fouchette or by directly emailing the restaurant. Unfortunately, because he required telephone booking, I removed Christophe from my list, thinking I might drop in for lunch. Albeit Spring also required telephone booking, I determined we were going to eat there, so I enlisted help to get that reservation. Ultimately, we arranged to have dinner, in chronological order, at Jules Verne, Ze Kitchen Galerie, Les Bouquinistes, Spring Restaurant, and Sola. We booked lunch at Flottes O.trement, Bar a Manger, and Mini Palais, again based on the neighborhoods we were visiting on a particular. As the day unfolded, we were unable to eat at Flottes O.trement as a business meeting conflicted with that reservation. Additionally, we spent one day visiting Versailles, where we were invited to a fantastic lunch at Veranda Restaurant at the Trianon Palace Hotel. Wow! But more about that spot on another day.

If I can make one suggestion to fellow foodies, it is to avoid trying to fill every meal with a storybook restaurant. How much more delightful to pick up a quick bite at a recommended wine bar or a crepe stand or to collapse into the seat at a strategically situated cafe to fill your eyes as well as your tummy! Be armed with options, but be ready for spontaneity. I had a short list for each day of bars and restaurants in the neighborhood we visited that did not require reservations, though most days at lunch we just dropped in to spots along our path or bought picnic supplies to eat in one of Paris’ many parks.

If I go back to Paris soon, will I choose to return to my carefully selected restaurants? Some, yes. Others, no. My reasons will be revealed as I review my chosen restaurants.

Each year, my job as travel matchmaker becomes exponentially easier with the availability of information on the internet. Sifting through all the information is a fun though sometimes frustrating job. And the best part -- I don’t gain weight just reading about the food.

--Hungry for Paris by Alexander Lobrano served as a trusted guide through the maze of restaurants.

Visiting Paris: a Costuming Conundrum

I have long been one to immerse myself in the culture of the people I am studying. Whether I'm researching family history documents or patterns for business clients, I set aside the time in which I live and attempt to imagine myself as a contemporary of the people about whom I am reading. This mindset serves as my travel guide as well, for when I travel I try to assimilate with the people I'm visiting. As I prepared to return to France, I remembered the times in years past when I had lived there, and I determined that, until I opened my mouth to speak my heavily Southern-accented French, no one would know I was an American, not because I'm embarrassed by my nationality but because I want to take on the culture of my vacation spot. I remembered from my school days there back in the 1970s disparaging elder French citizens who looked on all non-French natives as interlopers to be snubbed. I confess that I had more than a few qualms about this trip to France.

However, I found an entirely different attitude among the French during this most recent trip. Perhaps it's because France has so many immigrants or because their young people no longer settle in their home towns (sounds globally familiar, n'est-ce pas?), but I found the French people to be cordial, helpful, and welcoming. While they didn't go out of their way to lend assistance to travelers confusedly studying maps (they left that task to me, the helpful American), they were gracious to a person, from the ticket seller in the Metro to the gardener at Versailles. They suffered through my Southern-laden French and indulged me with slow, kindergarten-level replies that I could easily understand. "Vous parlez le francais? Quelle Surprise!" was a remark I heard often, laced with appreciation that I put forth the effort to speak their language instead of imposing English on our conversations. 

One reason they had no idea I was not French before I spoke was that I determined to avoid wearing the typical costume of the American tourist. You know the look, clunky white tennis shoes and summer beach clothes. Just as I always teach my theater and Rhetoric students, one should costume oneself according to the role one is playing. If you are going to Disney World, by all means wear shorts and tennis shoes. But, this is Paris, home of Balmain and Jean Paul Gauthier, Chanel and YSL. As such, I carefully packed black pants, crisp white shirts, and a jacket to go with my Ecco walking shoes, then a LBD and wedges for dinner. Perfect! And the best part was that all my clothes fit in my rollaboard suitcase.

With this mindset, I often sat at cafes and watched the people go by. It was interesting to me to notice a distinct lack of American travelers outside of Paris. Most of my fellow travelers were French-speakers, families on holiday in the wine-producing countryside. This microcosm was not so in Paris, though, at least at the tourist sights where busloads of American and British students and Asian tourists converged on Notre Dame, St. Chappelle, and the Louvre. And, yes, most of them wore the tell-tale white athletic shoes of tourists.

In defense of, however, and perhaps contrast to my fellow travelers' attire, I must comment on one of the latest fashion rages for summer in Paris -- the return of the Short-Short.  With increasingly warm temperatures enveloping Paris, most French women choose dresses and skirts as their summer frock. But last fall the Paris Fashion Week shows highlighted short-shorts as an alternative to skirts for the spring/summer 2011 season. And not just shorts and sandals. No, these shorts are worn over colorful tights or sheer stockings with high heels, wedges, or even boots. I thought I had been teleported back to 1974! I also noticed that Parisian women of all ages most often wore stockings, even with sandals. I seldom saw a bare leg under a dress. Furthermore, contrary to the mantra of "Parisians always wear muted neutral colors," the most popular color for this season's fashions, both for men and women, is a brilliant purple. It's a gorgeous color that I love to wear. I loved to visit the Saturday market where the colors of the produce vied with the colors worn by the chic women of Paris. So much for neutral....

Albeit, my geographic setting in Tennessee will not permit me to wear shorts with tights or even hose during the summer. After all, it's only June, and the temperature is already tapping on the door of 100-degrees hot. Nevertheless, I will be interested to see how purple short-shorts worn over tights and boots make their way into Nashville fashion. After all, Paris is the fashion capital of the world, mais oui!

The Matchmaker's Life: Souvenirs from the Villages along the Path of Life

Like most people who have reached "middle age," I often reflect on my life's path. Its general direction is somewhat as I had envisioned it as a child and a teenager, but it's the details along the path that are radically different. The seasons of my life, like villages in Tuscany, have similarities but are truly unique in appearance, context, and purpose. For instance, my first job during undergrad studies was as an assistant to the fashion buyer at a Memphis department store. Then, just out of grad school, I served as the Assistant Director of a graduate school's library, again researching concepts, purchasing goods, and processing them to the shelves. The next season of life saw me as a young homeschooling mom and manager for my husband's growing business. This common theme of research, seeking solutions to questions, designing appropriate processes to reach those solutions, and implementing those solutions seems to follow me from village to village along my path. About four years ago, I decided to put these skills to use in my own production management firm, a business my friend Shelia Mullican calls Matchmaking. 

Matchmaking, by its very definition, requires a network of acquaintances. I marvel that, as I've wandered through the villages along my path of life, I've met so many wonderful people. Artists, technicians, logitians, historians, celebrities, medical persons -- people from every walk of life with every personality temperament. Now, after walking so far along my life path, I can almost always come up with a "match" when my clients and my friends need help or merely need a new friend. I'm always saying, "You need to meet (fill in the blank)." Like said friend Shelia, to whom I'm forever sending running partners who then become so much more than running partners.

My most recent matchmaking project allowed me to overlap the research for three clients, all of whom are in the food and beverage industry. One is a restaurateur, one a winemaker, and one an organic gardener. My research took me on a storybook trip -- to France. My husband went with me, suffering through winetastings and 6-course meals, tours of vineyards and biodynamic gardens. It was hard work (wink, wink). Now that I've made my reports to my clients, I thought I'd share some of my findings and observations with you. So for the next several days, I will post on food, wine, restaurants, fashion, and my renewed love of France. Stick around. This section of the path is great!