Marie Antoinette's

Anabel, from Trianon de la Reina, has just pointed out a Marie Antoinette inspired cake, and as you know, anything inspired by the brilliance of the 18th century is ok in my book!

Layers of cake, flowers and ribbon make up the five tower cake by Cake Coquette. (They have a great gallery of their cakes you can browse through.)

Check out the images and accompanying blog post on it.

What do you think? Would Antoinette approve of such a cake? Is anything missing? Anything out of place?

The second half of the eighteenth century had its share in price spikes but the sharpest occurred between 1788 and 1789.  The cost of a 4lb loaf rose from about 4 sous to 14 sous*.  To many this was just not manageable, especially when rents were rising at the same time.  Why was everything rising so quickly?

Poor harvest, sure, but not poor enough to create famine.  The cost of bread rose when the harvest was less than stellar but more effective to this spike were the past harvest and anticipated fears of the future harvest.  With the earlier harvest producing so low, there was less corn to buy for seed and subsequently less available to sell.  The fear of another poor year was enough to create a paranoia about food supply. This had an impact on prices.  Prices were this high in most city centers, not only Paris.

"The crowd, besieging every baker's shop, received a parsimonious distribution of bread, always with warnings about possible shortages next day."

There was a general feeling of anxiety with France's political environment. With the rising cost of corn, the cost of a loaf rose.  With the increased price of bread came a decrease in 'pleasure spending'.  That decrease led to less jobs, and now we have poorer populations without steady work and not enough sous for the pricey bread.

On top of that, there had been a disastrous silk harvest previously, and a significant drop in wine prices.  These merchants were left in an unfortunate financial state.  To further the misery of the French, livestock populations had taken a dive after epidemics that killed the animals off.  Could it be worse?

*in Paris

"The name comes from the French phrase croque en brouche, which means "crunch in the mouth"...."  Read the Full Post here!

YSLGuy, of Let Them Eat Cupcakes, has recently posted on croquembouche, a very fun and delicious dessert.  I enjoyed his post and now I find I am very curious about the fragrance he mentions which is inspried by the dessert!  I have also found a fragrance inspired by the same, and I am interested in comparing the two.  Has anyone else come across a fragrance like this? Would you try it? I am looking for suggestions based on the sweet scent!

YSLGuy's post:
Croquembouche

Ironically I cannot find a link to the fragrance mentioned by YSLGuy and the Croquembouche I have by Demeter Fragrance Library, well it was knocked over and spilt everywhere! Now their site seems down. le sigh! I did find the body lotion though:
Demeter Croquembouche body lotion

More on croquembouche and it's history

While Mr Franklin visited Paris in March of 1778, there were many celebrations in his honour.  But not everyone was impressed with the man.  At a supper, Madame de Créquy found herself appalled with the presentation and behavior of Mr. Franklin.  The first thing that caught her eye was his long hair! She goes on to describe him:

"'like a diocesan of Quimper,' brown coat, brown vest, brown breeches 'and hands of the same colour;' a linen cravat; but most remarkable, of all his way of eating fresh eggs.

He took five or six eggs, broke them into a goblet, put butter, salt, pepper, and mustard; and then 'nourished himself with little spoonfuls of this joli ragoût philadelphique.' He bit his asparagus and took a knife to his melon."

Her final assessment was that he was an unpleasant savage!  Mdm de Créquy clearly did not approve of breeches in etiquette, and etiquette at the dinner table was most important.

As much as I love food I do not post about it as much as I ought. I came across this from the, sometimes dull, Memoirs of that saucy duc de Lauzun. It marks a ground breaking moment, to him and his party, in the forever interesting history of eggs:

"Yesterday morning, a day for ever memorable in the history of eggs, during breakfast all the implements necessary for the great operation were brought in: a cooking brazier, some new china sent-I believe, by you- some gravy, some salt, some pepper and some eggs, and behold! Mme de Lauzun, at first blushing and tremulous, but then with intrepid courage, breaks the eggs, crushes them in the pan, turns them right and left, over and over, with a precision and success quite unexampled.  Never had we eaten anything so good. The experiment was on a small scale, for there were but six eggs; it is to be repeated to-day on a larger number.  If she is to succeed equally well, it is an undoubted and superior gift."

There you have it. Scrambled eggs, omelets, a superior gift you should be so lucky to hold! The memoirs continue to include that Mme de Lauzun received 6 pretty aprons from her grandmother, decorated with lace for the 'triumph'!  I do not even have 1 pretty apron, but I think I should invest.  Suggestions?

At Versailles the King and Queen would dine publicly. You may recall the awkward yet humorous dining moments from the 2006 movie, Marie Antoinette.

This tradition took place in the Queens antechamber, and both the public and members of the court would attend. Those traveling to Versailles from abroad made sure to make an appearance to the event. People did not just gather around the table and stare. They were allowed to walk through the rooms, checking out the decor and mirrors! It was like walking around a museum but they could not quite approach the dining table.

Standing between you, the viewer and the royal couple's spread, was a line of impenetrable Swiss guards. There were also guards at the main entrance making sure all that were attending the event were dressed in a presentable manner! So if you didn't wear your best, you may not be able to watch your sovereigns eat!

Women of fashion had very strict rules to stick with, if they wanted to keep their beloved title. Their life was ruled by what constituted a fashionable lady, and it was not all shopping for lace.
Well actually it was a lot of shopping for lace!

First things first, to be fashionable you needed to be up on the latest trends. Yes basic information right? But even people who think they are tres fashionable can fall behind on trends and that is just embarrassing. Remember Kenley and how embarrassing it was for her not being in on what's hot?

If if you were caught in last weeks and god forbid last month's style you would be laughed at! It was fun to see who fell behind in style and even more exciting when you obtained the new style first. So step one, be on top of your game and at the boutique first.

Marie Antoinette was always first to sport the latest in France, likewise Georgiana would pioneer new styles in England. The two even sent gifts to each other of serious fashion breakthroughs when discovered. A fashionable lady would look to Antoinette and Georgiana for a guide as to what to wear.

Once you managed to see what the queen was wearing sadly you could not run down to the shops and pick it up. Sometimes a latest style would not be sold to anyone (even the highest ladies of rank) for up to a week after it was premiered.

What else do you have to do to be Fashionable? This may seem silly now, but go get a small dog! All the fashionable ladies carried a small dog around with them. Sometimes in the rush of mornings a lady might be whisked off in her carriage while still in a daze, and if she forgot her dog, a second carriage would be sent to fetch him so she would have the puppy for the days events.

Requirements for a fashionable dog? Small, always white and at least, mostly white and usually has curly hair.

Last but not least, fashionable ladies were known as Lamps. Etiquette demanded that they did not rise before 11am. Later was not unusual. It made sense, considering the late night parties and gambling.

Breakfast? One cup of chocolate in bed!