Monday, June 13, 2011

Let Them Eat Cake!

AtticGal Rachelle says:

Last month it was my turn to host our book club, and I chose Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund. It is the story of Marie Antoinette, the famous (or infamous) queen of France who lived the good life before being made "6 inches shorter up on top."

She never said "Let them eat cake!" by the way, (but she might well have said "let them eat petit fours and macaroons.")

I decided to do my own version of an opulent royal banquet, with lots of lace and toile and rhinestone tiaras and some of my favorite sweets and breads from my favorite French patisserie, Clementine! (See my Clementine post here, then come in for a visit.) Oo la la! I also had a nice platter of French cheeses, of course. I am a cheese freak!

And French honey and fig jam, and my very own lavender lemonade (See my lavender post here for recipes.)

We discussed the fascinating life of Marie Antoinette while we nibbled on dainty macaroons, delightful petit fours, and and my very favorite pear tarts which are exactly like the ones we savored when we were in Paris! Abundance, to be sure!

And of course the discussion of Marie Antoinette ended the way her life did when I unveiled at the end a real working guillotine (on a smaller scale) that my son Nate happened to have recently built for his French class.) Perhaps a tad gruesome, but I couldn't help myself.

You know what they say,

Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow... OUCH!