6th Year "anniversaire"!!!

        Chers Students of "L'Ecole du Bon Gout" , Today marks the 6th year "anniversaire" of the start of this e mailed "School of Good Taste"!! We have studied many specific details of "good taste" through the last six years, but today I address the central reason for the importance of utilizing "Bon Gout" !

       As time goes on, I feel that "Bon Gout" is not an optional luxury but a true requisite in daily living! Today, most of us live in a world where the general daily outer experiences of auto or air transit, shopping ,etc. are not sensorial treats but are actually abusive if not even painful to our senses!! Having a tastefully furnished and comfortable home ( and office !!) is for me a therapeutic essential for a happy daily life.

       The best antidote to me, is to have one's own personal environments in both the home and work world, be enclaves of beauty and taste as well as positive cultural and esthetic enhancements.

       To celebrate this "anniversaire" and my very successful spring buying trip in "la belle France", I have included here a "panaché" of photos of some of the antiques I acquired on this trip. Any of these would certainly brighten up your environments with some requisite "Bon Gout" and enhance your personal daily life.

       If you would like to see even more, visit the web site which was just updated.

http://www.auvieuxparisantiques.com

or come by for a visit at the shop svp, 337 332 2852!!


Mes Amities,
Robert E. Smith, professor "L'Ecole du Bon Gout"

Visit the Au Vieux Paris Antiques homepage (click here)
Browse a sampling of the merchandise available (click here)

Mes Amities,
Robert E. Smith   (337) 332-2852
http://www.auvieuxparisantiques.com

St. Valentine's Day!!!

Chers Amis de l’Ecole du Bon Gout”, Bonjour !! February 14th, St. Valentine’s day, named for a 3rd century Roman saint, gives everybody a great opportunity to let the special person (or persons) in their life know that they are so very dear !!    Candy, flowers and cards are certainly tried and true methods of communicating your affections, but if you would like to make a more sensational and long lasting expression of your appreciation, I suggest a gift of “Bon Gout” from Au Vieux Paris Antiques.

You could also consider a two part gift. For example: a set of antique champagne flutes with a chilled bottle of bubbly to go with them, or an old Paris porcelain vase with fresh roses in it, or a set of silver dinner forks and spoons and a catered meal sent in just for the two of you!!

With two recent shipments of antiques just in, I see many imaginative possibilities here in the shop, so if you would like to work up a truly memorable gift, please give me a call and we can select something special together.  I will be happy to wrap it in some extravagant yet of course “Bon Gout” way !!!!

Mes Amities,
Robert   337 332 2852

Visit the Au Vieux Paris Antiques homepage (click here)
Browse a sampling of the merchandise available (click here)

Mes Amities,
Robert E. Smith   (337) 332-2852
http://www.auvieuxparisantiques.com

Hi from BB La !!!

Chers Amis, Bonjour!!   During my recent stay in Uzes, my winter time next door neighbor, Lambert O'Neil, came over one night bringing a chicken dish for our supper, cooked with preserved lemons, green olives,whole garlic toes, dried figs and onions.  Well the predominate taste thrill was that of the preserved lemons!!  I was "hooked"!!!   I asked my friend in Nashville, Lisa Manning for her recipe so I could make my own and have a ready supply!! Besides being a taste treat, a jar or two of these is also a very "Bon Gout" visual addition to your kitchen décor!!    Enjoy!       Cordialement, Robert

Lisa II's Preserved Lemons

Cut whole, washed lemons in quarters from tip to almost tip leaving the end to keep fruit intact.

Make a mixture of coarse organic sea salt and spices you wish to impart. Fennel, peppercorns, and coriander seeds are most commonly used. Generously "heap" your salt mixture into inside of lemon trying to cover each part. Place in bottom of clamp-top jar or jar with tight fitting lid. Pack lemons as tight as possible and with each layer of lemons, add fresh bay leaves and cinnamon sticks to the sides of the jar for decoration as well as flavor. Top with fresh squeezed lemon juice. Turn upside down several times once or twice a day to mix liquids. Lemons will be ready for use in one month and
last for two years. Mixture does not need to be refrigerated. It will become cloudy.

Voila! I use for a variety of tagine Moroccan dishes, for seasoning couscous, for lamb or chicken dishes, etc. Some slightly rinse piece to be used but I use as is and omit salt.

Enjoy!

Visit the Au Vieux Paris Antiques homepage (click here)
Browse a sampling of the merchandise available (click here)

Mes Amities,
Robert E. Smith   (337) 332-2852
http://www.auvieuxparisantiques.com

Family of chosen friends

Chers Amis du l’Uzege,  Bonjour de la Louisiane!!  We all know well what a special “wealth” we have in the relationships we have built up over the last several years in our lives in Uzege.   To describe this wondrous “wealth” in words to someone out side the circle is not easy, though those within the circle feel it strongly every day.  I found the attached quote that begins to express in words some facets of this “wealth” .  I look forward to many delicious experience of our communal “wealth” during this next winter season!!

JTETF  Robert

Visit the Au Vieux Paris Antiques homepage (click here)
Browse a sampling of the merchandise available (click here)

Mes Amities,
Robert E. Smith   (337) 332-2852
http://www.auvieuxparisantiques.com

This is "Bon Gout" too?!?!?!

Chers Amis du l'Ecole du Bon Gout, Bonjour d'Uzes !! You may think the hot sun here in Provence has fried Professor Smith's brain when you read this, but I actually have been wanting to address this touchy subject for some time. Artificial flowers!! I think they can be "bon Gout"!! They are not a modern occurrence SVP!!

M. Denis Diderot , saw the necessity to address the fabrication of artificial flowers in his master work " L'Encyclopedie" published 1751 to 1756. He devoted numerous pages to this subject, two of which I have pictured here. In New Orleans, there were adds in the first decade of the 19th C in the news paper "The Bee", offering interested parties lessons in making artificial flowers. Today one can find extremely realistic artificial flowers, some of which even feel quite real to the touch!! My advice for success when using artificial flowers begins with their careful selection. Choose flowers and leafy greens in textures, colors and color variations that reproduce accurately those of the "real" species they are meant to reproduce. i.e. : No blue roses SVP. After a careful choice of the container, in scale with its final location, I begin the arrangement with the leafy greens, followed by the flowers, starting with the smallest blooms and progressing to the largest blooms. A few petals or single bloom "fallen" to the table below the arrangement, can add a convincing and poetic touch. Scenting the arrangements with the essential oils is also a very nice idea. Even though I have numerous artificial arrangements about the house, I still very much enjoy having some fresh cut flower arrangements too. 

After you have installed several time saving artificial arrangements about your home, perhaps you will have the time for a visit to Au Vieux Paris Antiques. After the photos regarding the subject of artificial flowers, find some photos from the shop to further tempt you out for a visit!!

Merci cordialement, Robert

Visit the Au Vieux Paris Antiques homepage (click here)
Browse a sampling of the merchandise available (click here)

Mes Amities,
Robert E. Smith   (337) 332-2852
http://www.auvieuxparisantiques.com

Elixir: Chocolate Chaud

Chers Amis du l'Ecole du Bon Gout,  Bonjour!!  Hot chocolate, which the Spanish conquistadors discovered was Montezuma's favorite drink, has had a colorful history ever since!

Originally this exotic new drink, bewitched all who drank it.  It was thought by some to have been a health drink, an aphrodisiac, ( banned by the Catholic church for a time!!), and a medicine, but always a very special somewhat magical elixir to be savored.

I have been enjoying making, not to mention drinking hot chocolate, especially since 1996 when I stayed in Provencal B&B where Mme. Florence Hospital taught me her art of making hot chocolate! 

Today my version is:  For two cups of finished chocolate, place into a pot: two cups of water, two heaping, large, French soup spoons of "Van Houten" unsweetened coco powder (this chocolate is available at all stores in France, however in the US you could use one double square of "Baker's Bittersweet Chocolate" for each cup) and a generous dusting of very finely milled cinnamon. I use "Adams" brand cinnamon . The cinnamon adds flavor but more importantly it thickens the drink considerably.  Bring to a boil, stirring with a whisk as it heats. It is best to get this part done 1 or 2 hours before drinking or the night before. When you are ready to serve, reheat and add one to three of the following flavorings : almond ,vanilla, orange, mint, or anis extract, ginger tea ,coffee, red pepper ( Montezuma's favorite additions were red pepper, vanilla and cloves.  He is said to have drunk  50 cups a day!! When he wanted to be dramatic, he drank it from a solid gold cup and when finished, he tossed the cup into a very deep lake for effect, much to the consternation of the onlookers!!)  When the hot chocolate is in its preheated cup, I like to add a bit of honey or unrefined sugar and a bit of evaporated milk.  I also have had great success adding fresh thyme in flower (this is exotic), orange or kumquat confiture, mint leaves.....so you just need to be creative!!

In case you don't have the proper chocolate cups and other serving equipage, I have attached here, some photos of antique items available from Au Vieux Paris Antiques, which can help you to fully appreciate your creative chocolate experiences.              I look  forward to reports of your successes with this 17th &18th century "bon gout" craft: "chocolate chaud"!!!!

Cordialement,
Robert E Smith    337 332 2852

Family imbibing in the elixir: chocolate chaud , painted by Pierre LeMazurier, 1772

Think creativity and alchemy!! 

Cups to suit your personality or that of a friend. (These make great gifts!)! 

President Jefferson acquired this pattern in Paris for later use at Monticello.

Instead of "Tupperware" for your boat, one could have this set with a nautical decor!! 

A "bon gout" and "not on the run" breakfast is one of the great luxuries in life!

If you weren't "born with a silver spoon in your mouth", I can fix that!!

Visit the Au Vieux Paris Antiques homepage (click here)
Browse a sampling of the merchandise available (click here)

Mes Amities,
Robert E. Smith   (337) 332-2852
http://www.auvieuxparisantiques.com