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BOOKSELLERS Chic & Slim Toujours is available from BarnesandNoble.com here The Book Depository Amazon.ca (Canada) Amazon.co.uk (UK) Amazon.de (Germany) Amazon.fr (France)
eBOOK versions SOON ISBN-10: 1937066096 ISBN-13: 978-1937066093 |
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Bonjour Anne,
I am reading your newest book "Toujours Forever" and it is hard to put down. This book is so very different from your others and I love it! Thank you for addressing the "aging" issues that women of our age group face. I turned 58 last Friday and my book arrived yesterday. It is wonderful and I am feeling much better about my birthday. Actually, I don't feel or look anything like my 58 "revolutions around the sun".
Will there be a sequel?
Many thanks to you again.
Sharon Ann
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A Little Taste of TOUJOURS |
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20 February 2012 - FrankenSalmon
Yesterday was my Second Most Dreaded Day of the Year.
The Most Dreaded Day of the Year is the day I have to take my cat for her yearly vaccinations. Kitty does not like to ride in a car in a carrier. Kitty yowls. Continuously and LOUD.
My Second Most Dreaded Day of the Year is the annual Texas car inspection. Those of you who live in Texas know why car inspections are a trial. I will spare those of you who live elsewhere the details. Car inspections where you live may not be a picnic either.
Speaking of Dreaded, one of the Chic & Slim readers Jan has emailed a reminder about a proposed law concerning labeling of genetically-engineered salmon. According to the information she sent:
The FDA is on the brink of approving genetically engineered salmon for human consumption. This would be the first genetically engineered animal on supermarket shelves in the United States. The salmon is engineered to produce growth hormones year-round that cause the fish to grow at twice the normal rate. The government already requires labels to tell us if fish is wild-caught or farm-raised – don't we also have a right to know if our salmon is genetically engineered? Without labels, we'll never know.
According to Jan, there is an internet petition directed to the Commissioner of the FDA circulating. (The above paragraph was quoted from it.) If you are concerned about this matter and aren’t a petition-signer, you can contact your representatives in the US Congress to make your feelings known.
I enjoy salmon. It is on my lunch menu today in a fresh spinach, cucumber and salmon salad which seems right for the warmer weather we are enjoying. I wish I had shopped yesterday at the store that sells the fresh dill. Sprigs of fresh dill would make a nice addition to the salad. But I will have to make do with dried dill in the vinaigrette dressing.
As I said, I enjoy salmon. But I choose not to eat foods that have been genetically altered. And I certainly want to be able to read labels and know which is which.
Though I have defined the first and second-most Dreaded Days of the year, I have never defined a third place. The way things are going, third place may soon go to shopping days when I search the shelves of the supermarket trying to find natural food products safe to eat.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
20 February 2012 - Washington’s Birthday
Washington’s Birthday. Well, not actually until Wednesday. But to accommodate a three-day weekend for those fortunate enough to be given a holiday from work, we celebrate on Mondays.
My most memorable Washington’s Birthday was second or third grade. Sometime in the early 1950s. We cut silhouettes of Washington’s head based on that famous portrait that graces our money. These silhouettes were pasted on solid color construction paper, and the teacher hung our creations in a long line across one wall of the classroom.
Whether or not this art exercise focused on “the father of our country” increased my sense of patriotism, I cannot recall. But it did create in me a love of the silhouette as an art form.
I am perhaps remembering the Washington silhouettes not only because of the holiday, but because of the slideshow I viewed this morning in connection with an article I was reading in The New York Times. The article was an account of the Gerhard Richter retrospective at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie to celebrate the German artist’s 80th birthday.
The various photographers whose photos of these paintings make up the accompanying slideshow used silhouettes and semi-silhouettes of those viewing the exhibition to wonderful effect. One thing I noticed was that all those men and women photographed viewing the Berlin exhibition were slim. I couldn’t help thinking how similar slideshows of those viewing art exhibitions in the USA often contain individuals of bulky proportions.
I have hope that the new book French Children Don’t Throw Food will bring attention in the USA to how the French raise their children to eat healthy food — which may in itself be a positive influence on their behavior — as well as prevent childhood obesity now such a problem in the USA.
My concentration on my current projects has not left me time yet to read the new book, but I received an email from one of the Chic & Slim readers who had read the book. Annemarie wrote:
I bought the book and I am finding it fascinating and completely in agreement with all of the points that you describe about the French lifestyle.
Starting children on good eating habits from their first tastes of solid food is important for instilling lifelong healthy eating that makes for adults with slim silhouettes.
be chic, stay slim — Anne
17 February 2012 - Overeating and Car Theft
My back is still recovering from four hours Thursday on a lumpy sofa in the waiting area of the auto repair shop. Overheard during this wait was the older mechanic/owner of the shop telling a younger mechanic about a young man he had helped several decades ago.
The young man’s family were car thieves, and while still in his teens his involvement in the “family business” had landed him in prison. When he was released, he very much wanted to lead an honest life. My mechanic gave him a job, and for a time, he was doing well working in the auto repair shop. But eventually family pressure to participate in their activities landed him in prison a second time.
During the young man’s second incarceration he came to the conclusion that the only way that he would be able to lead an honest life was to move to a distant part of the country far away from his family and thus out of reach of their bad influence. With my mechanic’s help, the young man made that move and has since been able to earn his living honestly.
Hearing the story made me think of how many families exert enormous pressure on family members to overeat.
Of course, overeating and car theft are not directly comparable. Overeating might ruin your appearance and damage your health, but as long as you overeat lawfully acquired food, it is unlikely to land you in jail.
But if family pressure is causing you to overeat, as family pressure caused the young man of my story to participate in car theft, it might be necessary for you to remove yourself far enough from family influence that you will not overeat. The solution might be as simple as eating at different meal times or moving to separate living quarters — rather than making a cross-country move.
be chic, stay slim — Anne
12 February 2012 - La Tourangelle
A recent delightful discovery at my supermarket: La Tourangelle Huile de Noisette, roasted hazelnut oil. Lovely taste.
Something else I like about this oil is, as it says on the label, Handcrafted in California with 150 years of French tradition. The oil is made by hand at La Tourangelle in Woodland, CA by the French company La Croix Verte Et La Tourangelle, SARL, France.
In this product we get made in the USA, but by the tradition and quality standards of the French.
The French use quality nut and seed oils for weight control. In a quality oil, the flavor is so full and rich that you only need a small amount to give exquisite flavor to your salad or other dish. A small amount (thus fewer calories) will give as much or more flavor as a larger amount (thus higher calories) of an inferior oil.
For instance this morning, a bare teaspoon of the roasted hazelnut oil gave lovely flavor and made a healthy alternative to butter on my buckwheat pancakes. Another day, a teaspoon gave wonderful flavor to a piece of warm chocolate cake and made a sugary frosting unnecessary, especially when I added some thinly sliced, lightly poached apples flavored with cinnamon. I like hazelnut oil almost as much as walnut oil in a endive, pear and feta salad.
La Tourangelle makes a variety of quality oils I have been delighted to discover. You can learn more about these quality oils on their easy-to-use website here.
be chic, stay slim — Anne
10 February 2012 - Learning Pleasure
While it may seem to be you that I have been neglecting the Chic & Slim website of late, that is not really the case.
Actually, I have been putting in long, intense workdays on the website for the past several weeks. That work, by its nature, has not produced much in the way of postings for you to read. In fact, it has so engaged me, that I could not tear myself away to write a posting.
At what seems to be shorter intervals, changes in technology for producing a website require acquiring and learning new technology, new software. I don’t mind this. In fact, despite my frequent difficulties totally grasping a concept — I am no techie — I take great pleasure in the learning process. Learning for me has always been pleasure — and often fun.
Find the pleasure. “Find the fun,” as Mary Poppins said, “and the job becomes a game.”
Often I find parallels between something not specifically related to weight control or personal style and the process of losing weight and staying chic and slim. That has been true with my recent work to learn new software and determine how this will best accomplish my design and goals for the Chic & Slim website.
The process broke down to five stages.
First, learning the basic technologies employed in the new software.
Second, determining what I wanted the new software and new techniques to accomplish.
Third, determining what parts of that software program I needed to learn to accomplish my goals.
Fourth, the actual learning. Lots and lots of exercises and tutorials.
And lastly, the part that I am just beginning: incorporating all this into my workflow so it becomes as automated as the previous way in which I work.
Learning the Chic & Slim system works in a similar way.
First, you must understand all the various techniques and how they really work.
Second, you need to decide what you want these techniques to accomplish for you. This will be somewhat different for every person.
Third, you need to tailor the Chic & Slim system for your own success. No one uses ALL the Chic & Slim techniques — at least not without some fine-tuning to your own lifestyle.
Fourth, the actual learning. How YOU actually carry out the technique. Moderation, for example, how much do you put on your plate? Always making sure that when you go out your door you are makeup perfect and carefully dressed. How much makeup do you wear? What is carefully dressed for you? Skirt and heels or clean jeans and polished boots? How do you do these things within your budget and time to devote to the effort?
And last, making the new system your lifestyle so that you don’t have to think about it, you just do it habitually. That automation can take time. But I believe it is worth it. Just as I believe the effort I have currently been putting in on learning new concepts and software will pay off in producing the kind of website with the kind of useful information that I want to provide for the needs of my Chic & Slim readers all over the world. Eventually.
Please be patient. And find pleasure in your own learning efforts. — Anne
5 February 2012 - Book on French Parenting
One of the questions I frequently have been asked: Is there a book in English about how French parents raise their children? Until recently, the answer was always no.
Now there is such a book. I learned about it thanks to Elizabeth in NJ who alerted me to an article about the book: French Children Don’t Throw Food by Pamela Druckerman. You can read an article about the book here.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
1 February 2012 - Things Don't Work Out
Some things don’t work out. My last posting was a brief and excited announcement that I was taking time away from the website to pursue a project. In fact, I was hoping at that point to buy a property for the new headquarters for Chic & Slim.
Wouldn’t a home built in the French Chateau style be just perfect for Anne Barone’s Chic & Slim? Below is the house. It is still for sale, but various events and situations have caused me to give up my hope of buying it.
All in all this has been a difficult month. I returned from viewing the property about teatime. When I put on the tea kettle I had no gas. The gas company testing lines had determined that I had a small leak. Somewhere. The gas company technician could not find it. Nevermind, my gas (no heat, no hot water) was cut off for the coldest week until I could get plumbers to install new gas lines.
While the pilot lights were out and the cooking range moved out from the wall, I decided to do the much needed painting of the utility closet, back hall, kitchen and bathroom. When a paint tray began to slip off its perch, I grabbed for it, lost my balance, fell off the stepladder and injured my back.
And then . . . twenty feet of my privacy fence was mysteriously knocked down. I have been having car problems. The painting project still is not finished. I receive email asking what the hold up is on the Kindle and Nook editions for the Chic & Slim books. The website has serious problems I am trying to learn how to fix.
Needless to say it is a bit of a struggle to keep from feeling stressed. Especially since everything is in such a mess with the only partially finished repainting. And January the first month of 2012 is already gone!
be chic, stay slim — Anne
4 January 2012 - Beginning Well
2012 is beginning very well for Anne Barone and Chic & Slim. Exciting opportunities have presented themselves. Following up on these opportunities will take me away from the Toujours — Anne postings for a while. (Sorry, can't be more specific on how long.) Check back about 1 February 2012.
I hope that 2012 is beginning well for you too!
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
1 January 2012 - Bonne Année - Happy New Year
How exciting. How hopeful to be starting a new year! I had planned to end 2011 with posting the last of the 13 desserts segments on New Year's Eve. But here in North Texas on 30 and 31 December we had two days of near-perfect weather. I used it for gardening chores. What a joy to be outdoors. Yet in a way, posting the last of the 13 desserts on 1 January is appropriate. In my childhood, holiday goodies were always still available on New Year's Day — and usually several weeks into January. You can read the last installment of 13 desserts here. Bonne Année — Anne.
29 December 2011 - Motherhood in France
So many of you have emailed asking about childbearing and childrearing in France. Today an article in The New York Times compares treatment of motherhood in France, Great Britain and Germany. The author Katrin Bennhold writes:
Just how differently the state treats one of the most basic experiences — motherhood — has been plain in my recent experience of pregnancy and birth in Europe’s three biggest economies.
In London, where I just had my second daughter in a public hospital by Caesarean section, I was sent home after three nights. Midwives who were supposed to check up on me and my baby at home in the days after never showed up.
In early 2009, when I had a first Caesarean section in Germany, I was in the hospital for more than a week. Pediatric nurses gave me one-on-one lessons on how to pick up my baby, bathe and even massage her. A specialized physiotherapist exercised with newborns every morning.
Meanwhile in France, where I spent most of my two pregnancies and the time between, I was offered months of physiotherapy to get abdominal muscles back into shape after giving birth.
And you keep asking how French women get back in shape after childbirth. Here is one answer. And it is covered by their health insurance.
More differences pointed out by Katrin Bennhold:
In Britain, more than one midwife evangelized about the benefits of giving birth at home, breast-feeding and drug-free “natural” birth. In France, when I inquired about waiting on an epidural, the doctor brushed me off by saying that 97 percent of French women have epidurals — “and for a good reason.” The same doctor informed me about hormones to stop the milk flow if I preferred not to nurse.
Mothers are nudged into different directions and choices in neighboring European countries. Most friends in France, where mothers get four months paid maternity leave and child care is heavily subsidized, went back to work full time soon after. In Britain, maternity pay is modest but child care so expensive that many mothers end up taking long periods off work, and returning part time. In Germany, where most kindergartens and schools still end at lunchtime, women with career ambitions often forgo children.
The 97 percent having an epidural in France is something that is different than it was four decades ago. When my son was born in the early 1970s, at that time in France, the Lamaze Method of natural childbirth developed by a French doctor was much in use. Children were most likely to be delivered by a midwife in a clinic where doctors were available in case of complications. I will also point out that when natural childbirth was the norm in France, the birthrate was about 1.5. Now with the "97% epidural" the birthrate is up to almost 4.
Of course, the French, now as then, do not much go in for breastfeeding because it is very important to both women as well as men that nothing is done to disfigure a woman's breasts. Arguing health benefits to the child with breastfeeding little persuades those for whom appearance and sex are so important. French women think that nursing makes them look unsexy.
Though it should be noted that while the French do not much advocate breastfeeding, they are deeply concerned about nutrition for growing children. French children eat much less junk food and have far better school lunches and are taught good nutrition more frequently than American children.
be chic, stay slim — Anne
27 December 2011 - Chicer & Slimmer You in 2012
Change your name. Change your life.
In Chic & Slim, one technique I advise to help you lose weight and stay slim à la française is to take a new, French first name — and if you already have a French name, to take a different French name.
Taking a new name is a strong first step on becoming a new person, one who has left defeating habits and attitudes behind.
In today's New York Times the singer/writer Alina Simone tells how changing her name changed her life in an op-ed Want a New You? Change Your Name.
Twelve years ago, I changed my own name to Alina Simone. (I used to be Alina Vilenkin, until I swapped my father’s last name for my mother’s.) So I know that whenever someone changes her name, a body gets stuffed in the closet. When I think back to my old self, I think of an entirely different person, not altogether likable, whose singular distinguishing characteristic was the chronic inability to follow through with anything she said she would do. I picked up and abandoned projects with great regularity back then, careful to always avoid the frightening terrain where my true ambitions lay.
Then I changed my name and it changed me. In my new incarnation as Alina Simone, I had no reputation, no history of unmet expectations, nothing to lose. I started singing; I formed a band. I poured my best self into my new name.
In a few days, we begin a new year. The New Year is the time many resolve to make positive changes in their lives. New Year's might be a good time for you to take a new name — or if you did so previously, make a new committment to that name — to help you have a marvelously chic and slim 2012.
Bonne chance! Bonne Année — Anne
26 December 2011 - More Childhood Christmas Desserts
And now, having enjoyed or — depending on your perspective — survived Christmas, we make our way through the last days of 2011. I continue with my reminiscences of the 13 desserts of my childhood Christmases. Today, my grandmother's contributions.
My mother's mother was no sweet little grandmotherly type. If you have ever seen the film version of Oklahoma!, Aunt Eller was surely based on my grandmother: tall, slender with hair in a severe bun on the back of her head and a sharp wit that was always ready with a zinger of a one-liner. And she made great pies. Here.
24 December 2011 - Christmas in SW OK - 13 (and more) Desserts
Where did the month go? It was Thanksgiving Day and whoosh! now it is Christmas Eve. I hope your holiday plans and activities are marching well, as our French friends say. A chance of snow here in North Texas. Oh dear! I much prefer Christmases without inconveniences to life that snow causes in a region where it is an unusual occurrence — and thus exists no such thing as a snowplow.
Snow or no snow, today I continue with the 13 desserts of my childhood Christmases. My plan had been to start these postings sufficiently in advance of Christmas Eve that the last segment would go up today, that holiday when the 13 desserts are traditionally served in the Provence region of France. Well, perhaps by New Year I will reach the 13th. Today I shall cover desserts 4 and 5. You can read my reminiscences here.
Joyeux Noël — Anne
15 December 2011 - French Christmas Carol
My favorite French Christmas carol is "une chanson très traditionelle et bien aimée à Noël" Title: Il est né le devin enfant. He is born, the divine infant. You can hear many versions and many different recordings of this carol, but I like Roberto Alagna's version arranged by Robin Smith and recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Il est né is one of 18 songs on Roberto Alagna's Christmas Album. You can listen to samples of all 18 on the album's page on iTunes. Robin Smith's English/French arrangements are delightful and Roberto Alagna's voice just perfect for these arrangements with the children's choir. This album of traditional Christmas music put me in a French Christmas spirit.
You can hear Roberto Alagna sing the carol on YouTube here.
On iTunes to hear samples of all 18 songs on the album, search for: Roberto Alagna Christmas Album
Joyeux Noël — Anne Barone
14 December 2011 - Skin Care
Anne's comments about a type of skin care cloth used by a French actress. Here.
11 December 2011 - Anne Barone's Tip for Avoiding Holiday Weight Gain
Here's another Avoid the Holiday Weight Gain Tip.
I was well into the French system of a close connection between amount of food prepared and the number of people to eat that food when I returned to the USA for my first American Christmas in a number of years.
Dinner that year was at the home of my sister-in-law's mother. On arrival, I was surprised when I ventured into the kitchen to discover that not only was there a huge roasted turkey, but also a huge roast of beef AND a large baked ham. Potatoes were being mashed, even though there was also a large casserole dish of escalloped potatoes and another of marshmallow-topped candied sweet potatoes. Additionally, homemade hot rolls and dressing with the turkey. In the low-cal arena, all I could see was one small green salad and a dish of green beans.
Then I stepped out into the utility room and was astounded. Every square inch of the tops of the washer, dryer, chest freezer, and even the ironing board were covered with an amazing number of pies — as well as three cakes. Hearing my exclamations of surprise at the number of desserts, my hostess told me there were "more in the bedroom." There were. A card table was set up in the bedroom to hold more pies. There were even a couple on top of the chest of drawers. In all. I counted 32 pies besides the cakes and the several sugared fruit compotes.
32 pies! There were only 27 guests at the dinner, and several of them were young children.
In parts of the American South, I understand it is customary to say not "I overate," but rather, "I was over-served."
While this may seem like a humorous way to shift the blame in the face of one's own lack of moderation, there is some reality here.
When you put a huge amount of food on the table, you are over-serving your guests — and yourself. Too much food will encourage people to overeat simply by the existence of over-suppy.
Tip of the Day: If you don't want to overeat at your holiday dinner, don't over-serve.
Think chic for the holidays. Chic-thinking will help you stay slim.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
9 December 2011 - Health & Chic in the Holidays
A recent WebMD article reported on ways women can reduce their risk of breast cancer. Among the ways: "not taking combination estrogen/progestin hormone therapy, not smoking, minimizing their exposure to radiation during CT scans and the like, avoiding weight gain after menopause, cutting back on alcohol, and staying active."
Note that one about avoiding weight gain after menopause that I have bolded. Staying slim is not only about appearance, as I keep reminding you. Health benefits are another excellent reason to avoid weight gain in certain age.
One way you can avoid weight gain after menopause is to avoid the annual holiday weight gain: that time between Halloween and New Year's Day when the average American gains 5 to 7 pounds. (Year after year, you can gain 50 pounds without even trying.)
Here's Anne Barone's Tips of the Day for Avoiding Holiday Weight Gain.
Don't wear loose-fitting clothes when doing holiday baking. Wear form-fitting chic. You will be more conscious of the ravages that excessive tasting might do to your body making you unable to wear the form-fitting size you wear this year, next year.
To avoid grazing on the baked cookies or cooling candy, put your cooling racks in a room distant from the kitchen in which you are working.
Think chic for the holidays. Chic-thinking will help you stay slim.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
6 December 2011 - Chic French Fashion
A few days ago, one of the Chic & Slim readers Sandra emailed an interesting posting from the Keep It Chic blog about what chic French women in Paris are wearing. You can read this report from Paris here.
4 December 2011 - French Certain Age Skin Care
You can read comments here.
2 December 2011 - Lately Lentils - Le Puy
Cooking real food takes more time than just reheating processed foods in the microwave or eating take-out. At busy times of year such as our current season, my time-saving for meal preparation is a big pot of soup in the refrigerator. Fill a bowl. Heat in microwave. Supper.
Lately lentils taste good to me. Because the French are so fond of lentils, I included a lentil recipe in the updated recipe section in the latest version of Chic & Slim Encore.
I have been making this lentil recipe with some Arrowhead Mills organic lentils and the results were delicious. But when I saw the variety of petite green lentil which the French prize most highly available from Bob's Red Mill (though these lentils are apparently USA-grown), I added a package to that recent order of buckwheat flour.
Le Puy is the region of the Auvergne famous for this variety of small, black-green lentil. These lentils are prized for their slightly peppery taste and that they hold their shape during cooking.
Yesterday I cooked up a big pot of my lentil soup recipe using these petite green French-type lentils. I must say that these small green lentils do not work as well in my recipe as the more common brown variety of lentils. Even after an hour's cooking the lentils tasted hard and not-quite-done. I did not find their flavor combined as well with the celery, carrots, onions and garlic, even when I took a tip from the French lentil soup recipe on the lentil package that recommended adding dried oregano and dried sweet French basil.
The BBC website has Le Puy lentil recipes that look as if they might work better with this variety of lentil than my recipe. I want to try the Nigel Slater Sweet onions with lentil stew. That looks really tasty.
You can compare the difference in the size and color of the common brown lentil and the French green lentil in the photo. You get a good idea of their relative size in comparison to sunflower seeds on the right.
Lentils are high in protein and the petite green French variety are higher in protein than the common brown lentil, but all lentils are an excellent source of protein. You can combine lentils with vegetables for a soup that will make a balanced meal. When I am very busy, the convenience of time-saving leaves me not minding eating the same supper several days in a row. Adding salsa one meal and a dollop of plain yogurt the next can give some variety. For some reason, I do not enjoy the taste of cheese with lentils. Not sure why.
Do make some effort at time-saving this busy holiday season. Try to find at least 20 minutes a day to relax and pamper yourself. By refusing to exhaust yourself, in the long run, you will accomplish more on your "to-do" list.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
29 November 2011 - Shopping - Skin Care
Shopping. I do not like shopping. Despite my best efforts at minimalist Christmases with the emphasis on the meaning of the holiday — and not the stuff — I can't avoid all shopping. There are also the charitable donation to make. I would not enjoy the season half so much without the sharing via The Salvation Army, the Veterans organizations, the Humane Society and such. But the shopping and organizing the donations takes time. With other projects, I haven't found much time for website postings. But I suspect that many of you are too busy with your own holiday schedules to read the website.
For those of you who are checking in, I will pass along a bit of skin care information. In Chic & Slim Toujours, I mention the Nuxe skin care products. Nuxe is a French skin care line based on natural products and a popular line sold in French pharmacies. Nuxe products are sold in the USA and Canada and in other countries outside France. Several months ago when one of the Canadian readers of Chic & Slim emailed that she was trying some Nuxe products, I asked her to share her experience with the products after she had used them ]for a while. She recently reported:
I'm using the Nuxe foaming cleanser and the Creme Fraiche face cream. I do like them both. I've grown up with very oily skin and acne and now that I'm very close to 60, my skin is normal to dry. It's been a difficult transition for me these past few years to start using moisturizers because it just didn't seem right. I also bought a lovely rose night cream (home made) at a recent craft fair. It's very light and practically dissolves to an oil before I can put it on my face. This same person also makes wonderful goat milk soap. I have an unscented bar and one containing oats and honey. With our climate up here, most of us complain about very dry skin during the winter.
I agree that for those of us who had oily skin for most of our lives, using moisturizers can seem a counterproductive thing to do. For me, the difficulty has been finding the best moisturizing product that will smooth the lines of aging without causing clogged pores and breakouts. But there are lots of products to try and better products being created every year.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
24 November 2011 - Thanksgiving
This week, this comment from Roger Cohen of The New York Times:
Over in Europe, dreams are also unraveling. In France, according to a Pew Research Center survey, only 27 percent of the population now believes that “our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior.”
I haven’t read such depressing news in a long time. When humility overtakes French culture, it’s over, folks.
French culture is superior. Just consider the cut of a Chanel suit, the sweep of the Champs Elysées or the line of Bernard-Henri Lévy’s brow. It’s obvious — to everyone except the doom-struck French, apparently.
Here in the United States, according to the same survey, 60 percent of Americans over 50 believe “our culture is superior.”
I’m not sure what’s more terrifying: the new French modesty or an old U.S. delusion.
Roger Cohen is South African-born, raised in the UK and only spent a brief (and apparently not particularly happy) time in New York City before beating it back across the Atlantic. Had he more experience with the USA, he would know that for most of our history most Americans have not had this belief that "our culture is superior." In fact for most of our history we have believed that in many areas our culture really needed a great deal of improvement.
Various individuals — everyone from Thomas Jefferson to the architect Richard Morris Hunt to former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to even Anne Barone — looked to France as a source of inspiration for improvements and solutions to problems. And one reason for the quality of French culture is that the French early set high standards and continue to put a great deal of societal pressure on its citizenry to maintain those high standards.
Note: Thanks to photographer Riki7 who made this photo of the turkey available through Wikimedia Commons.
Lately my tea reading has been Walter Issacson's biography of Benjamin Franklin. Issacson explains how Franklin through his inventions and writing, especially his "Poor Richard's Almanac," set the definition for American character as one of hard work, frugality, moderation, practical inventions to make life better and unceasing self-examination and self-improvement.
On this American holiday dedicated to giving thanks, we might be sufficiently thankful to make a rededication to those American values that have built our country. When we sit down to the Thanksgiving meal, we might particularly remember moderation.
And on the day after Thanksgiving, we might remember that frugality does not mean buying a LOT of stuff just because the price is lower than normal. Instead frugality means not buying stuff that we don't really need. Frugality means wise choices in purchases and using well what we already posses.
By the way, we might also note that Benjamin Franklin preferred that the American national bird be, not an eagle, but a turkey. Franklin said:
For in Truth the Turkey is in Comparison [with the eagle] a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America... He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage.
Happy Thanksgiving — Anne
13 November 2011 - More Skin Care
More skin care today. Actually at the end of the article I veer off into hair care. My excuse for not putting the two topics in two separate sections is lack of time: I am in the midst of a painting project. The back screen door definitely needs its personal style updated. But you can read the posting on skin and hair care here.
10 November 2011 - Iris Lotion
When I was researching Chic & Slim Toujours, I discovered a new world of bio (organic and natural) skin care. Over the past year I have been trying a number of these products that are popular with chic French women — to the definite improvement of my skin. From time to time I report on these products here on the Chic & Slim website. Today some Iris Lotion. Here.
7 November 2011 - Taste of Toujours
One advantage of being slim is that you inherit clothes that others can no longer squeeze into. My neighbor was given an outgrown wardrobe by a friend. Those items she could not wear she passed along to me. The prize piece was a pair of never-worn black leather pants, a have-if-they-can-possibly-afford-them item in chic French wardrobes. In honor of this new acquisition, I will post a Taste of Toujours, a section in the book that deals with black leather pants. Here.
28 October 2011 - Rainy Autumn Food
A cool and rainy autumn morning. The rain began early yesterday and has, with some brief interludes, fallen steadily. I raced the rain clouds to get my garlic planted in order to take advantage of the rain.
I like my plantings's first watering with rainwater, rather than chemically-treated city water. Always amazing how the garlic sprouts in the late fall and then sits there unfazed by winter cold and snow. Then, when spring comes, the garlic begins its progress toward June harvest.
Originally I bought my starter garlic from Burpee — their easy-to-grow variety. (Though it is not as mild as I would like for some of the dishes I prepare) Now each year I use some of my garlic heads to separate and plant for the next year's crop. The photo below shows the first year's crop of Burpee garlic when I was still living in the little cottage. I like to plant garlic with flowers, expecially iris. They seem to do well together. Garlic also gives flower beds some green during winter when other annuals and perrenials are not visible.
My son reports he gets a good garlic crop buying garlic at the supermarket and planting those cloves. I think you would have to buy organic garlic. I tried planting garlic bought at the supermarket the year before I bought the starter garlic from Burpee. The supermarket garlic did not sprout for me. I understand most of the supermarket garlic (unless specifically marked with country of origin) is grown in China. Perhaps it doesn't like my Texas soil.
Autumn Breakfast
You who have read Chic & Slim for a while know my dislike of boxed dry breakfast cereals. (Pas chic, not chic.) But chilly mornings such as we are having now, I do enjoy hot cooked grains for breakfast. (Especially when, as yesterday, I was too busy to make a bake bread.) I had some Bob's Red Mill 7-Grain Cereal left from my experiments with the LeRoy version (recipe here) of grains bread. (Grains bread are currently popular in France.)
The cooked 7-grains cereal makes a porridge that is a bit gritty for my taste. But the flavor of the whole grain-wheat, rye, oats, triticale, barley, brown rice, oat bran and flaxseed goes well with milk and a touch of honey augmented with some stevia to increase the sweetness without adding additional calories. I find it makes a hearty meal.
Buckwheat Galettes
The 7-grain cereal is hearty, but not as hearty as those French buckwheat galettes whose recipe I include in the updated version of Chic & Slim Encore. I can't buy buckwheat flour locally so I also order buckwheat flour from Bob's Red Mill. The most economical way to purchase buckwheat flour is in the 25 lb. bag. Unfortunately the shipping from Oregon to Texas adds $1 per pound to the cost. Still it is less expensive than several orders of the 4-bag box.
I have become almost addicted to buckwheat galettes. I like to eat them for lunch the French way: a galette with a fried egg (or equivalent egg white omelette) and spinach and grated Emmentaler cheese folded inside. In the photo you can see how large the 25 lb. bag. I put the 5.5 x 8.5 inch (140 x 216 mm) Chic & Slim Encore, the book in which my galette recipe appears, next to the bag for comparison.
Buckwheat galettes are filling. More than wheat or oat pancakes. I was amused to read a blog post from one Paris-based American chef who commented that he overate galettes the first time he made them and spent the next two years digesting them.
Cooler autumn weather and rainy days brings an appetite for heartier foods. Fortunately many foods that taste especially good in autumn are healthy — and can help us stay chic and slim.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
25 October 2011 - Food Joy
The French take much pleasure and derive much joy from food. There is absolutely no reason why we of other nationalities cannot also take pleasure and find joy in food.
Mid-September I received the following email from Mary in Austin.
Dear Anne, Over the years, you've been such an inspiration to me, as you have to so many others. Through your books, you taught me life lessons, armed me with techniques for coping with our unhealthy food culture, and fostered new ways for me to think, specifically instilling the idea that eating real food, and making it at home, can have a positive effect on both physical and mental health. Sure, Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, Alice Waters, and others have helped to develop my food philosophy, too, but you were the initial voice of reason for me, the voice that got the ball rolling, and for that I'm eternally grateful.
I'm also excited to see that you've affected others in a similar way. I noticed in your recent AnneMail update that Judy particularly emphasizes the importance of buying real food and preparing it "in simple, elegant ways". I'd like to think that the joy of living this way is dawning on more people every day, thanks to your work and the work of others.
To (hopefully) continue promoting this message, I've started a blog called FoodJoy: Eat (real) food. Have joy. Along with regular recipes, photos of food, and food news that I hope will appeal to a wider audience, I'm also going to spotlight local (Texas) foods, restaurants, and writers. And since you've influenced me so much, I'd love to post a quote from your original book with the hopes of spreading the word about your work.
Mary's FoodJoy blog has been adding a copious amount of material for more than a month now. I am delighted if I have in any way been an inspiration for this endeavor and doubly delighted to be quoted on the blog. I love not only Mary's message but also her blog's wonderful photography and its elegantly chic format. Chic & Slim readers will find much to enjoy on the FoodJoy blog. You can explore it here.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
23 October 2011 - Plans Awry: I Never Got To The Goat Farm
Things did not work out as planned. Today I planned to visit the Open House at the Latte Da Dairy, a farm here in North Texas that makes artisanal goat cheese. You can be sure that I was taking my shopping bag. I am very fond of goat cheese. And I think the milk of Nubian goats is particularly good tasting.
Chez moi these past few days I am also having roofing work done. Though I have scoured the ground for stray nails that might have been scattered, I apparently missed one that my tire found. When I headed for the Latte Da Open House, I never got out of the driveway. Complications followed by more complications.
I had also planned a posting for you about the Latte Da Open House when I returned. Alas that is not possible. But I am working on another food in Texas posting that I think you will enjoy. I hope to have it up to read by Tuesday afternoon on 25 October. In the meantime, you can read about the Latte Da Dairy and their goat cheese making operation here.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
20 October 2011 - New (petite) Chic French Woman
When I picked the chic French women to feature in Chic & Slim Toujours, I did not really expect that any one of the women ages 43 to 89 would be giving birth.
But French president Nicholas Sarkozy announced the birth of a daughter on Wednesday. Carla Bruni Sarkozy, 43, and, as yet still unnamed baby Sarkozy, are reported doing well at the La Muette clinic in Paris.
Women giving birth in certain age is nothing new. My own grandmother gave birth to her last-born child (of 5) in 1924 at age 43. And her mother, my great-grandmother, gave birth to her last-born child (of 10) in 1886 at age 46.
La Petite Sarkozy is the first child born to the wife of a serving French head of state since Napoleon. Napoleon declared himself Emperor while Nicholas Sarkozy is an elected president.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
19 October 2011 - Eggplant
Finally! Would you believe that I planted the eggplant seeds in April? I have babied these plants in pots on the patio through the summer heat and drought. Now it is a race to see if the eggplants will grow to eating size before frost. Of course, I am devising plans for a makeshift greenhouse to get them through the first frosts. Actually it will more likely be a greentent affair with supports and a plastic sheet. A cousin in Oklahoma City keeps her prize rosebushes alive through blizzards by draping them with an electric blanket plugged into an outdoor outlet. I don't plan on anything that high tech. But I do hope before cold weather to have eggplant large enough that I can prepare at least one recipe of ratatouille made with eggplant from my patio pot potager.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
16 October 2011 - Lovely Golden Autumn
Autumn. What a wonderfully golden season.
No, the photo is not North Texas. The splendid autumn foliage is West Virginia, courtesy of my son who lives there. Doesn't that look like the perfect spot for a good book and a cup of tea?
In autumn I love the Ceylons. To my taste buds, those teas grown in Sri Lanka pair best with the autumn bounty: apples that make such wonderful pastries, as do persimmons and pears.
In years past, I chose either the Kenilworth Estate tea or the Dimbulla from SpecialTeas.com for my autumn Ceylon tea drinking. SpecialTeas.com is no more. Lately I have been ordering from EnglishTeaStore.com. My choice this year was Taylors of Harrogate's Special Rare Ceylon. A lovely afternoon tea that comes in a pretty tea canister (caddy).
Taylors of Harrogate describes this tea as:
a fine grade pekoe tea from Kirkoswald estate in the Dimbula region's famous Golden Valley. The estate, known as Letchumy Totem in Tamil, is named for the Hindu goddess of prosperity, pleasantness, and wealth. Situated in one of the most beautiful locations in the hill country, overlooking waterfalls, where the high altitude, rich soil and cool climate produces tea with a bright golden appearance and delicate citrus tones.
Unfortunately The English Tea Store did not pack the canister properly and it arrived dented. Annoying because I had ordered a number of other teas in soft packages. The Ceylon could have been put in the center and the other soft packages arranged around it to protect it. Sloppy packing with the invoice wadded down inside the package. For the prices English Tea Store charges for shipping, they could do better. I will look for another source from which to order my teas.
But, happily, the tea inside the canister was undamaged, and it tastes lovely for late afternoon teas on my patio. My patio, I am extremely happy to report, has a new roof. When it finally did rain here in North Texas, I discovered that winter's ice and this summer's relentless heat had finished off whatever was left of the 40-year-old roofing materials. My patio roof had as many holes as Emmentaler cheese. Water dripping down the back of your neck when you are having tea really diminishes the pleasure.
But cozy and dry, tea in a soft afternoon rain can be quite lovely. With my Ceylon tea, I nibbled cucumber sandwiches and a McVitie's digestive wheat biscuit spread with cultured organic cream cheese and some ripe persimmon. I hadn't seen these McVitie's biscuits in years when I recently found them on the cookie shelf of my local supermarket. It's really wonderful how many of the British and European biscuits (cookies) are finding their way into American stores. Most of these buiscuits are lower in sugar and freer from all those chemical ingredients that seem to pollute so many American-made commercial cookies.
These McVitie's digestive biscuits are also good spread with a creamy French cheese I also found in my supermarket: Boucherolle. Why do Americans eat such awful processed, chemical-laden foods, when, if they do a bit of searching, they will find that there is a great deal of delicious real food available in our stores?
Enjoy the golden delights of autumn.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
12 October 2011 - Gorgeous Weather Chores
Gorgeous weather is all too brief in my part of the country. So it is wise to take maximum pleasure in these little interludes between too hot and too cold. The gorgeous weather adds an element of pleasure to tasks that in less comfortable times might be drudgery. So my projects at the moment are some mortar repair on the brick exterior of my house and getting the garden ready for winter. I also hope to start some interior painting that has been so long neglected.
Garden news: Those eggplant plants (oh dear! that sounds redundant) started from seeds in April FINALLY have baby eggplants. I am excited. There are actually three eggplants I can see. Let's hope they are edible size before the first frost. If not, since I have the plants in pots, I can move them inside at night to try to extend their growing time.
If you find yourself at one of those points where you seem to be constantly hungry, household repair projects are a good way to keep your hands too busy to be conveying food to your mouth. There are so many instructional videos on YouTube and product websites that many jobs for which you thought you would have to hire a repairman can now easily be DIY. While you make your home more efficient and beautiful, you can make yourself chic and slim.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
9 October 2011 - Walks That Inspire
Like so many, I received the news of the death of Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. via one of the Apple products. At that moment I seemed to be particularly engaged with Apple. I was seated at my iMac with my new iPod connected to the iMac for its initial charging and syncing. Listening to an Internet radio station in Switzerland on iTunes, I was reading technical information about iPod batteries on the support section of apple.com. When I took a short break to check in on the news, there was the headline that Steve Jobs, Apple's visionary co-founder and longtime chief executive, had lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.
The media have been filed with Steve Jobs tributes and analyses these past days. As someone who bought one of the first Apple computers and have remained devoted to Apple products since, reading the articles and commentary has been bittersweet.
Chic & Slim books and website have been created entirely with various Apple tools. The initial version of Chic & Slim was written on one of those original little Macintosh computers that could be carried in a backpack ($40 extra). Since the Windows operating systems have always been and remain incomprehensible to me, I can accurately say that without Steve Jobs and Apple computers, you would not have had the Chic & Slim books and website.
Of the many Steve Jobs articles I have read these past several days, I particularly enjoyed Steve Jobs Was My Neighbor by writer Lane Wallace.
As you who read the Chic & Slim website know, I enjoy immensely my walks in historic neighborhoods. Gracious old houses surrounded by their venerable landscaping soothe my soul. On those walks past their elegant bracketing and comfortable porches, like Lane Wallace, I work out problems—and often find inspiration for my writing.
One reason I prefer walking for exercise is that not only is it a way to stay slim and healthy, but it provides an opportunity to enjoy and study — and find calm and inspiration — in the places that you pass.
You can read Lane Wallace's remembrance here.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
5 October 2011 - Fat Taxes
Recently Mark Bittman in the New York Times commented on Denmark's new tax on foods high in saturated fat. (Trans fats are illegal in Denmark — as they are in Austria and Switzerland.)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Well lookee here: the inevitable move toward taxing unhealthful foods to raise income and discourage damaging diets has begun. Last month, Hungary, almost unnoticed, began taxing foods with high levels of fat, salt and sugar. And earlier this week, with just a little more fanfare, Denmark instituted an excise tax on foods high in saturated fat.
By our standards, the Danes aren’t even that fat: their obesity rate is about nine percent (it could be all that bike-riding), well below the European average of 15 percent and less than a third the rate of Americans. More startling, perhaps, is that the tax was introduced by a center-right government that was simply looking for new revenues.
In Mark Bittman's NYTimes column he also mentions that Hungary had passed a tax on fat and gives a link to an article about it.
I was interested that the spiegel.de article on Hungary's tax said that it was originally called the "hamburger tax." A couple of years ago, friends shared with me photos they had taken on a visit to Hungary. One photo was of a Budapest Burger King. I was troubled by the obesity of the Hungarian customers entering and departing from the Burger King. Oh dear! Apparently the Hungarian government was also troubled and have taken steps to try to moderate the consumption of fats and sugar.
You can read about Hungary's fat tax in an article (in English) on spiegel.de here.
If you have NYTimes registration and have not yet read the Mark Bittman article on Denmark's law, you can read it here.
be chic, stay slim toujours — Anne
2 October 2011 - Autumn
Autumn this year is a nice reward for the brutally hot, dry and wildfire-ridden summer we suffered. Lately the weather has been lovely and afternoon tea outdoors a delight. The monarch butterflies are migrating, and a contingent has decided to take a rest stop in my yard. Copious watering during the summer kept alive several blooming varieties butterflies find tasty. The butterflies flit and swoop between the blossoms as I sip tea and read.
Tea reading this week has been Gillian Gill's biography of Agatha Christie. I missed this book when it was published in 1990. That was the year I was busy relocating to the Texas Riveria and writing a (never published) novel.
Agatha Christie has always been a favorite mystery author. By the 1980s, I had collected all the mystery novels, a number in French as well as English. I had also read four of the six very autobiographical novels Agatha Christie wrote under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. Many of the mysteries and all the Westmacott novels have departed in various winnowings for moves, but I still have a number of the mystery novels that I enjoy rereading.
Gillian Gill's book combines the usual biography features with analysis of the plots of various of Agatha Christie's works and the connections between the author's life and those works. The analysis gives insights into this woman who was very reticent about personal information.
Perhaps because I am reading Agatha Christie: The Woman and her Mysteries in autumn — and in my own certain age, I was particularly struck by one passage. Though in the quoted passage, you may, as I did, find it strange that Gillian Gill considers that at 50 a woman has "passed" middle age. I think today most would consider 50 about the beginning of middle age.
Note: Max Mallowan, Agatha Christie's second husband, was 14 years younger than she.
With the youthful Max by her side, Agatha entered into an Indian summer of renewed energy, of enjoyment heightened by an awareness that only experience can bring. The fortieth and fiftieth birthdays that most of us dread came and went, and yet life was, on the whole, better as time marched on.
Christie was clear-sighted in her perception of the advantages and opportunities we have when we have passed middle age. She writes of the excitement of finding that life at fifty can mean new challenges as well as a renewal of old pleasures that had been laid aside to accommodate lover and husbands and children. There are paintings to see, books to read, concerts to attend, journeys to be made, and once past middle age one has the energy the time, the attention, and the resources to enjoy things as never before. [ Agatha Christie explained it:] "It is as if a fresh sap of ideas and thoughts was rising in you."
This deep, joyful conviction of the new possibilities of life when one is no longer young informed the even, undramatic, yet marvelously full and varied life that Chrisite was to lead for the rest of her life.
be chic stay slim toujours — Anne
Read September and August's Toujours Anne here.