labor day!

So I'm not going to lie, I don't blog on major national holidays. If Wall Street can close, than so can Shades of Grey... 

i'm off to the beach, jump in my suitcase

My vitamin a swimsuit that goes with everything... a beautiful silk caftan... aviator sunglasses... my favorite pair of jeans (seven for all mankind bootcut stretch jeans)... fun gold hoops... a silk cami and colorful tees... a sweet pair of snake sandals from roberto cavalli... a magenta resin bangle with attitude from jessica kagan cushman... plenty of cute minis... neutrogena ulta sheer dry-touch sunblock to protect my lilly skin... and bobby brown beach body oil to give me glimmer... and a fabulous island necklace from mawi. PERFECT!

macaroons

a box of assorted macaroons from laduree

macaroon (en.), macaron (fr.), maccarone (it.)

I fell in love with baking sometime during high school. I watched marathons of the old Food Network stars... Sarah Moulton, Ming Tsai, and (of course) Martha Stewart. I became a bit of a cookie monster, constantly baking and nibbling on all sorts of concoctions from shortbread lemon "scotty" dogs to enormous glazed sugar cookies and crunchy chocolate chip cookies with coconut... fortunately I had quite a metabolism. I still have a sweet tooth, and I make it my business to find the best sugary confections everywhere I go... which brings me to the macaroon.

The delicious little European confections have a somewhat mysterious (and confusing) history, as the definition and ingredients vary depending on locale. Most Americans are familiar with the coconut macaroon, a super-sweet and dense confection of flaked coconut commonly dipped in chocolate. In Europe (France and Italy) macaroons are almond-flavored cookies or biscuits made from almond powder and meringue. They are light and fluffy on the inside with a flaky exterior... a work of art.

According to legend, the macaroon originated in an Italian monastery and was brought to France during the French Revolution by two nuns living in asylum known as the "Macaroon Sisters" who paid for their living expenses by selling the treats. Fact or folklore, Parisians are serious about their cookies. 

For the ultimate macaroon experience Ladurée, the historic tea salon, can't be beat... The establishment at 16 rue Royale in Paris dates back to 1862 and is where Louis Ernest Laduree first conceived the ganache-filled cookie. The shop is traffic jam of hungry locals and bewildered visitors... but it's worth it. The boxes are gorgeous (famous textile designer Tricia Guild of Designers Guild just designed a new line) and the cookies are spectacular. They are the perfect souvenir if you can avoid eating them on the way home...

inside the famous Laduree

www.ladure.fr

traditional flavors: chocolate, dark chocolate, vanilla, coffee, rose petal, pistachio, salted butter caramel, cherry amaretto, raspberry, orange blossom, and liquorice

special flavors: lemon, praline, ice mint, coconut, grenadine, java pepper, indian rose, aniseed, champagne, orange-saffron, lily-of-the-valley, white amber, strawberry-poppy, gingerbread, candyfloss, havana, and muscovado

pretty packages by textile queen Tricia Guild

www.designersguild.com

flower girl

shades of grey 2008

I just took an AMAZING trip to Paris where I attended floral design school at L'ecole Artistique de Catherine Muller at La Belle Ecole. Most people go to law school; I go to flower school. I try to avoid late-night cram sessions and standardized tests whenever possible. It's much more entertaining to hang out with crazy French designers than a Kaplan softback. The school was founded by floral master Christian Tortu, who has been called the "Yves Saint Laurent of flowers." Catherine Muller is fabulous rising talent and prodigy of Tortu whose avant-garde desings have earned her accolades in Tokyo, Seoul, and New York.

shades of grey 2008

We worked on everything from traditional round bouquets to large-scale floral installations... all while sipping tea from tiny green mercury glass cups. That's my kind of continuing education. These are just a few of my creations...

shades of grey 2008

The best part of the trip was, of course, Paris. Everything seems better in Paris. The streets are cluttered with flower markets and exquisite boutiques and boulangeries that showcase artisan breads executed as carefully as a Rodin. I met a fabulous French designer named Georges at the lobby bar of the posh Hotel Georges V (I was there to see the flowers, I swear). He told me that "Paris was the only city created for woman" in a thick French accent while he sipped on a beautiful French rose from the Loire valley. I didn't disagree. Instead, I traded in my cosmo and followed him and his entourage of elite Parisians doe-eyed for a splendid night out on the Champs-Elysees.