Vive La France!

I have just had a blog holiday as we were away for a week in the depths of Burgundy, France. Time slowed to a steady stroll and we were able to recharge our batteries and soak up the riches Burgundy has to offer. I could write endlessly about this holiday, we saw and did so much, but this isn’t a travel blog, this is a singing, cake making and vintage lifestyle blog! Singing and cake making are self explanatory, but what do I mean by vintage lifestyle? I have seen this term used elsewhere and it made perfect sense to me, but for some it needs further explanation. Vintage lifestyle doesn’t mean that I live in a 1930s time warp with no computers, mobile phones or GHD hair straighteners... though at times I wish I did! For me vintage lifestyle is slipping a period of time that I love into my everyday life. It could be going to the shops using my lizard skin 1950s handbag or wearing a 1940s hat at a gig. I get so much joy out of using my Nan’s 1950s bread bin every day, and teatime is so much more fun with real vintage bone china cups and saucers and cakes on my 1940s cake stand. The period I have a particular interest in is the 1920s to the 1950s. I love social history and I am fascinated by the designs that are reflected not only in the buildings of this era but also in the clothes, fashion, music and everyday household objects. Vintage lifestyle, I must confess, is a rather huge addiction in my life and my sweetheart Paul believes himself to be my ultimate addition to my collection as he was actually was born in the 40s!!! I digress. On our return from our all too brief stroll in France, we visited a Deco fair and were stunned to see so many art deco items for sale en masse. The designs are timelessly contemporary, classy, functional and oh so glamorous. The fair also revealed addiction on a mass scale and left my collecting habits for dead! Most stallholders that we spoke to were so addicted to all things deco that they had to dabble in dealing on the side to cope with their collecting excesses. For some, their need to possess these items if only on a temporary basis, leads them to have stalls at such events. They travel miles from home to sell and buy while holding down a “real” job to provide the money that funds the collecting bug. All quite fascinating, but a rather longwinded intro to the real purpose of this blog!
Well I couldn’t leave France without a little vintage purchase could I?
First of all, what I didn’t buy!
It was in a locked glass case, which should have served as a warning to me. With my newly acquired French phrase, pointing to a Hermès blue 1930s crocodile and suede handbag, I tentatively asked the stylish sales assistant “c’est combien s’il vous plait?” Paul had to translate the reply as my French counting only goes up to a hundred. 2,000 euros - I wasn’t quite prepared for that! I don’t have that kind of money to spend on a handbag, but if I did I would buy a beautiful handbag such as this, a slice of history and French design perfection all in one. I wouldn’t buy some modern day designer label bag like Posh Spice reportedly does.
I did get to touch the handbag. In fact the generous sales assistant allowed Paul to photograph me holding it in various positions around the shop to get good lighting for the perfect pic. The owner of the shop, who designed for Hermès for 20 years, believes it to be 1 of only 2 handbags of this design. The other is currently housed under lock and key at the Hermès museum. I was looking for a navy bag for my visit to the Napier Art Deco Festival in New Zealand next year, where I will be performing, but this isn’t the kind of handbag you stuff into your suitcase when flying economy class! I blew the bag and the lovely sales assistant a kiss goodbye and filed the experience into my vintage collecting dreams.

Then we have what I did buy.

On the whole we found France to be well picked over and the prices were often rather ridiculous, made all the worse by the euro rate. Literally a few hours before we boarded the ferry home we found an original 1950s French felt hat, made in Paris, in a side alley brocante shop. What a perfect souvenir. This time I could understand how much it was, 4 euros and with the slight drop in the exchange rate I spent the affordable sum of £3.20. I will cherish and look after my hat the same way as I would the 2,000 euro Hermès handbag if it were in my care. My hat too is a slice of history and French style perfection and it made a brilliant diversion in the ferry queue while waiting to board. Vive La France!

Footnote - Paul kindly told me yesterday that due to the euro rate dropping I could now purchase the Hermès bag I spied for 400 less euros making it a tidy sum of £1600 pounds instead of £2000. We haven’t booked a ferry back to France however!

Rendevous i gigi General Store and Café

Have you ever been in the situation where you’ve made a date with a friend but you’re not sure if they got the message, so do you or don’t you go? Not wanting to risk standing my friend up I thought I should go to the said rendezvous point and accept that this could be an afternoon tea for one instead of two. Well it wasn’t a difficult choice really as I had been wanting to try out a café I had spied above i gigi General Store in Western Road, Hove, and judging by the glorious goodies downstairs I had a feeling there could be a cake and coffee heaven waiting for me upstairs.
So while I waited at i gigi café, knowing in my heart that my friend probably couldn’t make it, I penned this list on the back of a till receipt –

Ten things to do while waiting for a friend to turn up.

(All of which I actually did!)
1 Clean out my purse.
My purse was starting to bulge with till receipts. I must admit I’ve never been that cautious about destroying them properly , but now I’m back living in the UK it seems a week doesn’t go by when someone doesn’t warn me of the perils of credit card fraud and identity theft. So now I collect all my till receipts in bundles and periodically tear them into tiny pieces if they are not needed for business purposes. We have a paper shredder at home but I find it oh so very satisfying tearing by hand... most therapeutic!
2 Tackle my inbox on my mobile.
I am a shocker and don’t always send instant replies. That’s why I was in this situation as I thought my friend might be like me.
3 Talk cake.
Well that’s so easy for me to do. I gigi buy their delicious temptress cakes from Treacle and Co and the “kitchen boss” was so enthusiastic (and quite rightly so) about them and their creator. I nearly chose the Beetroot and Cream Cheese Chocolate Cake but noticed a piece that hadn’t quite been finished on the table next to me. There were at least 4 forks placed around the plate so I thought it might be a rich option. Considering it was looking increasingly like I was to be on my lonesome I chose a smaller slice of gluten free Lemon and Lavender Cake made with polenta.
4 People-watch.
That was a little tricky as i gigi isn’t massive and my 3 other fellow cafe goers were in rather close proximity. I had to be a little careful as I didn’t want to frighten anyone and look like a nosey parker. I did notice the couple next to me brought their own magazines to read and seemed to sit in silence. The other lone woman was reading the menu continuously which was a little odd until I realized there was no reading material for adults available, just some board books for children. If I hadn’t kept so occupied with the above I too may have resorted to extensive menu reading.
5 Drink coffee.
The best latte I have had in ages. Little ole NZ is really very brilliant at making coffee and every time I order one here I cringe a little on the inside as I know it is going to be a disappointing experience. Glad that on this occasion I was to be proved very wrong.
6 Eat cake.
My choice of Lemon and Lavender was served with the perfect amount of whipped cream, a huge succulent strawberry with a dusting of icing sugar and a lovely tart berry coulis. This was summer cake perfection on a plate! Apparently Melody who makes these delicious cakes has blue hair and is super slim. I can taste that she loves what she does and her creations are very inventive. I’m on the cuddly side myself. My dear friend Melisa advised me: “You should never trust a skinny cook,” which makes me feel great, but some people are just dead lucky and can eat whatever they like without putting on weight. I choose to believe the latter of Melody as you can definitely trust her cakes.
7 Talk to “Kitchen boss.”
We two girls covered everything from holidays in France, “The BIG C”, our own mortality, passionate cooking, killing animals with “love” for meat, (that needs extensive explanation which I don’t have time for now,) children, more discussion of cake and general chit chat. Luckily for me everyone had left by this point, and we chatted while “kitchen boss” worked and I indulged in my cake and coffee. I gigi is a bit like a French country kitchen, with its cream walls, pine country furniture and intimate atmosphere. It’s made even more homely because “kitchen boss” doesn’t get to hide in her kitchen as you are sitting in it!
8 Talk to friend who was meant to be at rendezvous.
Yay, she rang on a new mobile as her last phone was dropped in a puddle. We laughed about the situation and considering she was halfway to Wales having just got back from France the previous night, it was no wonder she wasn’t able to reply to my email.
9 Enjoy the change of scene.
When I squirrel away at home working, getting out and being in a different space just seems to wake me up and re-fire my creative juices.... or was that the caffeine! I read somewhere that part of café culture was that “people want to be seen,” and it seems that we can do this alone or with friends and family. Working at home can at times make you feel rather invisible so it is no accident that the café has had a long association with the artistic community.
10 Write notes for my blog.
Writing a blog is the most liberating experience. I have always wanted to write but I have been paralyzed to do so up until now by my terrible spelling and a crappy education. Now I’m at a point to brave the world with my words, I bash away with my spell-check and trusty dictionary (and my secret weapon Paul, my proof-reader.) When you have been ridiculed for most of your life for your poor English and spelling, (to the point where I would come out in a sweat while writing a cheque in front of a bank clerk in fear of a spelling humiliation moment,) I figure the only way you can get better is to do more. I hope people enjoy what I post on my blog.... but do you know what? If no one ever reads this I still feel better for doing it. People who have difficulties in writing still have a right to write!
http://www.igigigeneralstore.com/
www.treacleandco.co.uk