PARIS FOR VALENTINE'S DAY!

 Happy Valentine's Day TLB friends!

I recently had a conversation with my sister where we discussed a Paris trip that hubby and I took a few years ago. With Valentine's day being right around the corner, I thought our Paris trip would make a great Valentine blog. As I browsed my photos all of the memories started flooding back. 

Paris is such an amazing city. It is rich in history, is home to some of the most
beautiful architecture, amazing food, and markets.  

The Champs Elysees is one of the world's most lovely and talked about streets in the world.......

Visit the Rue Cler Market---

We enjoyed the panoramic views from the Eiffel Tower where we overlooked the Trocadero, and the Seine River. We feasted on delicious food and outstanding wine.....and the company was great!

Our final evening in Paris was a romantic dinner cruise on the River Seine. We again enjoyed another delicious dinner complete with champagne and enjoyed glorious views of the Parisian Boulevards as we floated down the river.

It was truly a night to remember!

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Kathleen

BEAUTIFUL LADY FINGER CENTERPIECE

One of my favorite places my husband and I have traveled to was Paris. We celebrated our anniversary there two years ago and the memories are still fresh in my mind. 

It's difficult for me to pick my "favorite thing" that we saw, experienced or ate, because the entire trip was a dream come true! I must say the Rue Cler street market was pretty high on my list. Fresh produce, fish, cheeses, deli foods,chocolate shops, and the wonderful bakeries! Ahhhh.....the bakeries. Never before have I seen such gorgeous displays of tempting pastries, macarons, cakes and of course the breads!

I recently found a photo of a beautiful Lady Finger centerpiece. It reminded me so much of our days in Paris. I thought I would attempt to create my own version. Of course I did not bake my own Lady Fingers, but I found a great substitute in the grocery store......and here is my LADY FINGER CENTERPIECE!

**Sidenote: My middle daughter gifted me this beautiful lace runner from her recent trip to Belgium.  I just love it!

Below are the items you will need--

1. Hat or floral pins.
2. Moss
3. Fresh roses and babies breath
4. Ribbon
5. 2 packages of Lady Fingers (if you use my size layers)
6. Floral foam for 3 layers  1- 6", 1-8",1-10" (approx. 2 inches thick)

Hot glue gun, scissors, plastic wrap

 2. Cut floral foam (see below)

3. Soak each layer of foam in water and wrap securely in plastic wrap. (you don't want to get your Lady Fingers wet!)

4. Glue layers together leaving perimeter for flowers or babies breath. Poke holes for flowers around each layer. The pattern is up to you. You may also use the babies breath in between.
HINT: I started by placing 4 roses equidistant around each layer perimeter, and built the rest from that point. 

5. Push moss in between flowers so that the plastic wrap and floral foam are not exposed.

6. Place a bead of hot glue on the bottom 1/3 of the lady finger layers and press carefully into place; pressing against the edge of the foam wrapped layer. 

7. Wrap ribbon around the perimeter of each layer. Attach the end of the ribbon with hat/floral pin, sticking it into the foam layer securely. I made sure this was located at the back of the centerpiece, however, the pearl topped pins look very pretty on the ribbon.

****THIS IS NOT EDIBLE****

I hope you have enjoyed today's blog.

This centerpiece is a bit time consuming and should be made the day of the event. The Lady Fingers are fragile and should not be exposed to moisture. 

*** If you are using hearty,fresh picked roses or flowers that can withstand the better part of a day without drooping, water soaked foam may not be necessary.

Options for use of centerpiece:
1. Bridal shower
2. Wedding shower
3. Baby shower
4. Anniversary party
5. Afternoon tea
6. Any party with a French theme
And the list goes on.....use your imagination and have fun!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend! 

au revoir!!

Kathleen

*****
******Don't forget to stop back on Monday! Also, our THE LAVENDER BOUQUET FACEBOOK page has lots of ideas and articles that aren't on the blog. Don't forget to stop by and while you're visiting LIKE us!! That's how we grow! 

BAKING MACARON'S--OH MY!!

I talked my friend Sharon into taking a cookie baking class with me in Naples, FL. When I told her what class I wanted to take I referred to it as a Macaron class. (pronouncing it like Macaroon) Sharon had visions of Coconut Macaroons in her head.....which I didn't realize until we started mixing our ingredients! Poor Sharon....she is always such a good friend, she just went along with this crazy idea I had in my head. I really wanted to learn how to make these beautiful cookies because I had them in Paris! The taste is delicately light with such a little sweet taste---who could resist.

A macaron is a sweet meringue-based confection made with eggs, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food coloring.The Macaron is filled with ganache or buttercream filling in between two of the cookies. The name comes from the Italian word macarone, the Italian meringue.

How ironic my friend is Italian!!

This is the banana buttercream before adding food coloring.

This is the pink meringue.

Our chocolate Macaron with raspberry brandy buttercream filling was perfect.........some of our others........well let's just say, they tasted great---but they sure weren't pretty. They say "practice makes perfect!"

I have somehow misplaced my Sur la Table actual recipe, however, this link is great too:

http://www.chow.com/recipes/28339-french-chocolate-macarons-with-chocolate-ganache

My advice would be to allow time when you will not be interrupted for a couple of hours.

  GOOD LUCK AND BE PATIENT!

Kathleen

   ****Thanks for stopping by The Lavender Bouquet. See you on Friday!
                   

Life's Challenges---It's All About Attitude!

I have been trying to figure out what happened to me last year......my usual daily trips to the gym became non-existent. I used to get out of bed, get dressed for the gym, and head out the door by
7:00 a.m. rain, snow or shine!  I loved watching GMA during my workout. It always caught me
up on world events, sprinkled in some cute anchor banter, and it had the best "Deals and Steals," which my girls were always grateful for.

I just stopped going to the gym....I had quit something that I prided myself in doing to stay healthy as I aged. A routine that I started when my oldest daughter went to college. (and believe me it has been years!) We had moved to Ann Arbor, MI and I felt a need to do something for me to fill that void. Gosh, I missed that child!

Fast forward to moving again, getting ingrained in a new community, home renovations, life, life and life. I had quit going to the gym, but why? I made a promise to myself that in "2014" I was going to get back to my normal healthy morning routine.

Well I may be a month behind, but I rolled out of bed this morning, got dressed and hit the gym. As I swiped my membership card, the moths flew from the swiper machine.....Yes, I was back! I must admit I took it a bit easier than normal as I hopped on the elliptical and got moving.

I left the gym feeling great........energized and ready for that cup of coffee. I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some fresh fish for dinner.  As I stood in line to pay I noticed there was a woman in front of me with what "looked like" muffins in a plastic container. While the cashier was ringing her up, she was "picking away" on the top of one of them, and I could tell she was loving every minute of it!  I had to laugh when I saw her. This was something I have been tempted to do, but never had the courage! She saw me glance at her, and in her beautiful French accent said, "these are 500 calories and I just got out of my spinning class....aren't I terrible?" I laughed and said," you look great." She said, "that's because I am French!" We both had a good chuckle and she left on her way.

Her French accent took my thoughts back to our Paris trip. One of the things Ron and I enjoyed most about Paris was being able to walk everywhere. In the mornings we would see the French with their coffee and croissant in hand, walking or riding their bikes to work. And on the way home, walking or riding, carrying the infamous baguette in hand for dinner. Exercise........lifestyle.......she was right!

I have always thought that people come in to our lives for a reason, but this morning........my little French lady friend.......with her sweet and carefree demeanor, made me think about how easy it was to turn that switch on again. Heck, she just rode her buns off for an hour and said, "you know what,

I want this muffin and I am going to eat it."  It's all about balance......anything good in life is worth working for....I'm back and I'm up for the challenge.

Are you up for a challenge?


                                                               Have a wonderful day!

                                                                       Kathleen