When time affords the opportunity, I bring down from the cupboard the company worthy collection of antique and vintage sugar bowls, creamers, flatware, and demitasse sets.
This timeless color combination choice is the most distinct of distinct color choices- an interior design and interior decorating classic that commands the room while beautifully owning up to the bragging rights of presence through powerful neutrality.
Black and white makes a strong and timeless statement. This color combination strikes a stunning scheme resulting in the desired effect- a chic and commanding presence.
I hail from the land of Steel Magnolias, Divine Secrets of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood, grand interiors and impeccable tastes.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then I have flattered with the best of them.
In my attempts to recreate the glory of fine, whimsical and vintage interiors, I have found I like home decor memories and keepsakes weaved throughout my decor.
It’s a nice way to incorporate the wonder times of my childhood, friendships, travels, and family.
I’m neither a Southern Belle nor Hollywood’s interpretation of one. What I am is an appreciator of tasteful objects that take me to a place in my life timeline as I pass by, place around and prize them.
My mother, a true Southern Belle with a nth degree black belt in retail, is of the firm belief shopping and lunch go together like Visa and MasterCard.
My brother and I were not particularly thrilled to see this idea of a circus come to town.
The brand of circus I speak of was the weekly ritual of lunching and marathon shopping at “the Village.”
The Village was the largest shopping center in town and the epicenter of early nineteen seventies shopping.
Carnival by Scalamandre
When I can’t sleep there is no sheep counting for my inner insomniac. I think back and place the shops in their rightful storefronts circa nineteen seventy something.
Works every time!
Fast forward to today’s Village where all that is left of yesterday’s retail offerings is one national chain grocery store and a family favorite, Piccadilly Cafeteria.
I believe I have spent a collective decade of my life at the Piccadilly. When you are the only kid on the culinary block it just works out that way.
With frequent visits came a strange familiarity with the surroundings. My parents viewed after dinner visiting with fellow diners, local friends and dignitaries as the final course of the meal.
As my childhood patience was tested, I would stare at the chandeliers, grandfather clock, draperies and paintings in the dining area for what seemed hours.
I always loved the gold gilt framed oil painting of cows that graced the wall of the dining room with its larger than life presence.
Some years later the exterior of the cafeteria was remodeled, and the addition of eight large decorative pineapples found a new home atop the cafeteria’s exterior pillars.
Word spread fast throughout the community of the Piccadilly renovation and liquidation sale of interior and exterior decorative goods.
My checkbook, my brother and my memories headed to the Village faster than you could say dilly plate.
The beautiful oil painting proudly hangs over the master sitting room fireplace in my brother’s home, and the “Piccadilly Pineapple” graces our kitchen dining area.
The pineapple is a symbol of hospitality, and goodness knows the Piccadilly served up enough of it over the years to my family.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages…
A memorable memento from where we’ve been, what we’ve seen, and who we are celebrates us and brings it all home.
When it comes to selecting a French onion soup recipe, I find I’m beginning to feel like the character Albert in The Birdcage.
Albert, brilliantly played by Nathan Lane, convincingly explains his mispronunciation of Armand’s surname in a context I find myself relating to.
“Oh yes… Coldeman.
The “d” is silent in America. It’s Cole D’Isle au Man, or Cole of the Isle of Man, in France, where Armand’s chateau is, Cold-e-man in Greece where Armand’s work is, and finally the vulgar Coleman in Florida where Armand’s home is, so actually, we don’t know where we are until we hear our last name pronounced!
Ahahahahahahaaaaa!”
Living in Louisiana we are heavily influenced by Creole and Cajun French.
Mon Ami Gabi in Las Vegas both serves a fantastic French onion soup.
How I would love to be on the Las Vegas strip right now watching the Fountains of Bellagio while enjoying French onion soup goodness!
Since I’m not, I’ll bring a pinch of Paris, a dash of Creole, and a smidgen of Canada to the Places In The Home family table.
French Onion Soup
Ingredients
2 Tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
6 medium onions thinly sliced
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 bay leaves
½ cup white white or sherry
2 quarts (8 cups) low sodium beef broth
French bread baguette
Gruyère cheese slices (2 slices per soup serving)
For Creole Seasoning
Ingredients
1/3 cup paprika
3 tablespoons dried oregano
3 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoons cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon granulated onion
4 teaspoons dried thyme
4 teaspoons granulated garlic
Directions
Heat butter and olive oil in a Dutch oven over a medium- high heat. Add sliced onions and bay leaves to the pan, saute for 5 minutes or until tender. Sprinkle sugar and Creole seasoning over onions, stir to incorporate.
Cook onions and company for 30 minutes or until softened and reaching a caramelized stage. Add sherry and bay leaves to onions. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn heat back up to medium-high and add beef broth.
Allowing broth to heat through, reduce to simmer, and continue to simmer for 15-20 minutes in order for ingredients to marry and live happily ever after.
Remove bay leaves.
Slice French bread baguette and place on a baking sheet.
Place under broiler until slices reach a light golden brown.
Place crocks or oven proof bowls on a large cookie sheet. Ladle soup into crocks or bowls.
Place one slice French bread in each bowl and top with 2 slices of Gruyère cheese. Broil on high until cheese is melted and browned.
Directions for Creole Seasoning
In a medium bowl combine paprika, dried oregano, ground black pepper, dried basil, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, granulated onion, dried thyme and granulated garlic. Stir to combine.
Can be stored in an airtight container for up to three months.
Movies are not the only thing Hollywood does well.
Some of the most memorable motion pictures in the history of cinema are not simply known for their cast or cinematic content, but for the classic Hollywood interiors of big screen legend.
It’s probably not intentional, but actually a huge coincidence when a home or a set designer’s interpretation of the home comes to life on a sound stage and takes over as the star of a film.
When the architectural vision of near perfection captures the viewers attention and commands top billing it doesn’t necessarily speak to the weakness of the movie, but to the strength of the chosen piece of real estate.
Nineteen sixty seven is dear to my heart.
It’s the year I turned five, the year The Beatles introduced the world to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the year one of my favorite movies, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was released.
I hit the Turner Classic Movies jackpot when I noticed it was on the afternoon viewing schedule.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner holds my attention on three points:
A relevant and positive message.
Three Academy Award winning actors showing why they deserved Academy Awards.
The kitchen featured in The Intern is not a set, but actually a real honest to goodness on location kitchen in a brownstone in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn.
So many of the design and decor accessories from The Intern kitchen remain relevant in today’s style preferences.
Two Academy Award winning actors strutting their mad acting skills and one fabulously designed and decorated beach house set in the Hamptons hits all the Hollywood high notes.
It’s the perfect, lovely, sexy, and inviting setting for the lady of the manor to discover that in fact her mojo hasn’t left the building, and for the viewer to glean a few ideas of their own in both the love and decor departments.
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Grand elements of master interior design and period decor makes the Technicolor master suite of Scarlett and Rhett from Gone With The Wind difficult to forget.
Another spectacular vision of regal and grand set decor by Hollywood standards is elegantly evident in another Vivien Leigh classic, That Hamilton Woman.
Barton Cottage in Sense and Sensibility, the period drama film based on Jane Austen’s 1811 novel of the same name,remains one of my favorite movie houses.
It possesses a quaint English charm suited to the period piece and period pieces featured in the film.
Set decorator Susan Bode Tyson wonderfully re-created Julia Child’s kitchen for the film Julie & Julia, a film contrasting the early years of Julia Child’s life culinary career with Julie Powell, the New York blogger who deliciously mastered the culinary detail of cooking all 524 recipes printed in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook, one recipe per day for one year.
