There's probably no bread more famous than this round loaf of sourdough from Poilane. This wonderful little bakery is located in the Latin Quarter in a very tiny storefront with a wood fired oven in the basement. This bread is now shipped all over the world and I've heard you can buy it at The Belly Bakery on Highland Avenue.

Lionel Poilane, founder of the bakery, died in a helicopter crash in 2002. The enterprise is managed today by his daughter, a Harvard graduate. Poilane believed in the magic of the physical process of bread making -- that the work should be done by hand with one baker responsible for his loaf from start to finish. In this tiny basement, that is exactly what happens.

It's quite warm down here -- I believe the tshirt is optional and worn only for guests.

Salvador Dali commissioned Poilane to make him an entire bedroom suite -- bed and all. He wanted to see if he had mice. Yes, this is a true story. Here is chandelier from that bedroom -- made of bread.

One of our special treats for the week was a lunch at Restaurant Guy Savoy. Go to the website and watch the opening movie...you'll get a feel for how he markets himself and the creativity behind such an experience. It was a feast for every sense...the obvious taste, sight and smell and the less obvious sound and touch. I know it was widely extravagant and not likely to be repeated, but at least I did it once. And, I imagine, the experience hosted by Patricia, who helped make Guy Savoy in the early days, was something quite magical and difficult to duplicate without her. So....more on the whole Paris thing later, but for now, check out the lunch.

Many special tiny little starters...just a taste. The most superb foie gras (which I usually don't care for) and this tiny little waffle. I believe it's one section of a Belgian waffle used as a miniature cup to hold what tasted like parmesan.

Spring green and lovely...peas served cold in some jelled liquid with a quail egg.

My favorite presentation. Thiny sliced radishes and carrots artistically arranged and topped with a few drops of oyster dressing/sauce -- not like any sauce or dressing you might imagine. This salad was served on a plate sitting in a bowl. The plate was perforated so some of the sauce dripped into the bowl underneath. After I had eaten this salad (every morsel), the waiter removed the salad plate and voila...look what was underneath.

Actually, the oyster wasn't there -- he added that. This is more of the oyster sauce/dressing with a chiffonade of the leaf of that little blue flower. Amazing, huh?

Then my own personal little red snapper topped with mushrooms and, of course, another sauce. It's served almost like sitting up opened down the back.

See what I mean?

Guy Savoy is well known for this black truffle and artichoke soup. With good reason.

Then, it was the main course. Lamb -- tiny little lamb chop. Then, another cut broiled and crispy served with potato and some type of what tasted like root vegetable almost pureed.

 Then, the perfect cheese plate, of course from the cellars of Marie Quatrehomme. Oh my is all I can say about these.

then, the desserts started coming. Three little perfect bites -- wait, I think there were four but I ate one before I could take the photo. Unfortunately, I was so stuffed I could not eat these. I should have had the good sense to wrap them up and put them in my purse, but I didn't. 

And finally, tah dah....strawberry ice, topped by strawberry sauce with lots of little sliced strawberries standing at attention. How did they get those strawberry slices so thin?

More on cooking class later.

Memory Mixer is the greatest little software package. It's the perfect software for the digital scrapbook artist -- why take hours and hours to create a scrapped page when you can create 10 in the same amount of time. But it's also great for creating announcements, invitations, etc. The cost is around $50. The software is so intuitive that a 6 year old could use it. You can check it out at www.memorymixer.com.

Here's my dish...asparagus with proscuitto

Here's the winner -- A fennel bulb and an antique slab of wood made all the difference to stuffed mushrooms.

John's bookshelves after rearranging. The secret is high to low -- of course, if your bookshelves are full of books, then they are more functional and less decorative. But most of us have "stuff" in our bookshelves.

One of the neatest things David and Dana did was to go out into the woods and find little plants -- floral and greenery, twigs and sticks. Then, they added "micro beads" and glitter and set their holiday table with lots of this. It was so pretty.

Laura and the kids did wear costumes but before I could photograph them, they were wet and dirty and had changed. But I was happy they were there.

Julie and me with our best friend at Halloween.

Doesn't this scarf just make my outfit?

Spent the weekend in Rhinebeck, NY at the Wool & Sheep Festival. Don't ask me why. Not quite sure myself except that I've never been to any part of NY other than NYC so it seemed a good opportunity to see some of the countryside. Rhinebeck is beautiful -- quaint little village although on cloudy, rainy days it's a bit Stephen Kingish. There were sooooo many people, you could barely move through the exhibits. And the people -- hmmmm, all I can say is I don't think they get out much and they must not sell hair color in the state of NY. But, the sheep were really cool.

 I think she left the curling solution on a little too long???

Does this coat make my butt look big????

It's a totally French thing. Only the chicest of the chic can wear this.

I was horsing around with the camera this weekend. She's always willing to ham it up for me. 

Yes, I know how to French braid!

Guess who has lost two more teeth?

The pony taggy we can not get through a day without.

A brother's help is not always welcomed, but this time it was OK.

We're off and running.

A little wobbly at times....

And for some reason, sticking out your tongue always seems to help your balance.

But sometimes, it's just easier to get off and walk the thing back!

Some of us could whack that little ball. Some of us could not.

But all of us had a good time thanks to Patricia.

Christina & Patricia think it over.

Clint and Sam plan their strategy. 

We hold this how and do what?

Babies always take precedence over croquet....right, Honey? Especially when it's little JK.

 Some guys are so nice they play with your baby while you play croquet!!!

And you just have a gay ole time whacking that little ball....

Form was important....as Sam demonstrates.

Christina & Doyle (look like they) knew what they were doing...

 So is everyone's form all that funny Russ?

The knitters on the sidelines sure seemed to think so...

This was not your Mother's pinch pot class....Yes! These are pinch pots.

And check out all the smiling potters....

Table One

Table Two

Table Three

Table Four

Gwen just could not stop smiling (but then that's Gwen, always smiling)...

But Pepper's little creature was no slouch...

Instructor extrodinaire, Hope, and her Mom, Cathy.

A protective Wendy nurtures her new little creation.

Just another great day at Serenbe.