"Fascinated" by Cherry Chau

In Paris in the Marais we stumbled upon this fabulous shop owned by designer Cherry Chau.

Yes, she makes the fascinator headpieces that Kate Middleton has made instantly popular. Cherry has been making couture bridal and wedding dresses and accessories for her upscale clients for years.

How's this for a nice little Oscar dress????? Maybe with...


This??????

We were lucky to meet Cherry and score some of her bracelets for the shop, which we brought back with us from Paris. This a wood and velvet with crystal bangle.

This little cuff is fabulous with the crystal.... It looks like space, with stars.

This is a generously sized leather bangle with leather, hide, and jet trim. We like our leather here in Texas especially when mixed with...You guessed it!

Bling! Here, a leather lined "Cherry" red hide cuff with gorgeous stones, that I thought went nicely with This....

This is a faux pony cape, lined with silk. It is fabulous.........Looks great on either side as it is reversible....... And drop dead gorgeous with either of those last two bracelets..... Think white, shirt, Jeans, boots.

A close up of the detail....

OOPS! Almost forgot this stretchy woven bangle accented with leather and brass. To see Cherry's Shop in the Marais, go to 30 Rue de Sevigne, say Hi to Natasha......

Cherry also has shops in Selfridges in the UK, a shop in Madrid....

If you decide you would like to purchase any of Cherry's pieces we brought back, just email us at the shop (beadboardupcountry@sbcglobal.net) for pricing and information.

Chau!

Parisian Fleurs D'Hiver

One of the things Robes and I do first when we get to Paris is go pour "Les Provisions".

This means we get bread, fromage, cornichons, coffee, real yoghurt, confiture, bottles of wine for the apartement and some incredible FLOWERS.... Not any flowers but ones we can't get at the "unsupermarket" we have here in a small town.

So, while we are going through this cold snap here in South Central Texas ,( which is on a similar latitude as Tampa) and the wind chill is 7 degrees..(Yup one digit.) I am reminicing about balmy Paris in JANUARY!

After Pascal Mutel ,where we used to get flowers, closed one of his shops on the Carrefour de L'Odeon, we were surprised it is now a shop devoted to artisanal single malt scotch and whiskies mostly made in Japan.( not a problem, but we were in search of Les Fleurs.) When you are in search of flowers Scotch just doesn't cut the mustard, AND when you are in search of Scotch, flowers don't quite float the boat either!!!!!

We were sooo happy to discover this lovely shop. Frederic Garrigues, Styliste de Fleurs,

in the Marais, at 2 Rue St Gilles.

Love this very basic domed light fixture with little postcards of musical notes ....

Do you think it has something to do with the fact he studied at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts???? Nah!!!!

The French love their spring bulbs and hyacinths are prolific everywhere.

As you will see in later posts.

Another great idea, take your curly willow put small vases in some organza bags and put some orchids in there. Simple, Classy, Elegant.

What did we leave with??? The anemones from the first picture.

Look at how they do the bag, with the little sprig tied with raffia....... And their card.

Thanks Frederic!!! We'll be back!

Ma Bourgogne, Paris, JUST EAT

Restaurant Ma Bourgogne is one of our places to eat real French food in Paris.

Situated in the Marais on the corner of the Places de Vosges(where the x is) by Rue Francs Bourgeois, ( the great shopping street in the Marais) they serve us things you come to France to eat!!! They serve up steaks ( a thing like us Texans like to eat ) with the crispiest frites ever.

The archways go to the Place de Vosges.
Back to the food.



Here is Madame Marie Therese Cougoureux serving up a "portion" of the steak hache.The house specialty. We know it as steak tartare in the US.
We also love their giant size Escargot, and their foie gras is served with a big portion of aspic( jellee) that melts in your mouth. Wash it down with a coupe de Champagne or a carafe of the house red.

We saw Gerard Depardieu here, the locals love it, and it is a great place to just BE. Except for the Italian Fashionistas, all decked out in their Fashion Week ensembles who arrived for lunch on Sunday, 6 of them, seated right behind us, and I strongly suspect the one intern sitting next to her boss ( like in the movie The Devil Wears Prada )was in some borrowed pieces.
The Boss was in a sable and had agorgeous leather new handbag, obviously designer and pricey. Miss Intern had on a gold puffy jacket, and when her beer
was placed in front of her (and they have generous drinks here) somehow she knocked it over, shattering onto the stone floor, all over Boss's handbag(I offered an napkin immediately)and more importantly, her gold designer coat.... It doesn't stop there....Amid the bursts of Italian and while being watched by everyone in the loggia, she snatches the coat up and she and a helper go upstairs and SOAK the coat with water in the Lion's head fountain in the Loo, and they came down and to everyone's amusement,were ringing the water and the beer out of the gold coat out into the gutter! SOOO Classy! Then, for some reason they all departed
AAAHHHHHH Fashion!!!!!!!!!
(but it could have been anyone, we have been known to have our faux pas, especially Robes!!!!!!, He is watching me write this!)
For your own Ma Bourgogne adventures go to 19 Place de Vosges, Paris. AND

BRING CASH, NO CARTES CREDIT HERE. They don't need to...;)