Happy Independence Day!

Before this week's post begins I'm happy to share with you that I (finally) have an author Facebook page. I do hope you will 'like' it to get the latest news and updates from my blog and books. Click here to visit my new page or visit: http://www.facebook.com/JenniferLScottAuthor

As this week is somewhat of a holiday I will go light on the blogging but wanted to share my follow up video with you that has further thoughts on the concept of jolie laide. I received a great response from last week's post on the subject and had a few requests to discuss it more.

Discovering the French concept of jolie laide (ugly pretty) was a really important aspect of stepping into my femininity. It was the moment where I decided to embrace all of my 'imperfections' and learn how to make the best of my features.

It's a wonderful concept to teach our daughters as well- that we do not need to fit into a certain glossy magazine mold in order to be beautiful...

If you are unable to see my above embedded video, click here, look in the sidebar of this blog, or visit my channel: www.youtube.com/TheDailyConnoisseur. I am whispering in the video as I did not want to wake up Baby Connoisseur no. 2. (watch to see how that goes...)

Also, thank you to blogger Vintage Bel for featuring me in her Glamorous Mum series this week. Click here to see her article.

I hope you all have a wonderful week with your families. See you soon!

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Before this week’s post begins check out my video called Clutter-Free Home: Checking the Mail. In the video I share with you my top tip for dealing with mail and paperwork in an orderly manner. If you are unable to see the embedded video above, click here, look in the sidebar of this blog, or visit my channel: www.youtube.com/TheDailyConnoisseur

And now for this week’s post:

The Signature Cake

When I lived in Paris one of the things that greatly impressed me were the homemade desserts we enjoyed on a regular basis. Madame Chic had her arsenal of recipes. Fruit tarts were her specialty- mainly apple in the winter and strawberry in the summer- but she also liked to make crêpes, custards, fruit salads and cake.

Madame Bohemienne had a few dessert recipes she always made as well but my favorite was her flourless chocolate cake. That cake was so moist and delicious… It looked very simple but was a show stopper and the ultimate pièce de résistance at her dinner parties. She told me it was really easy to make and that she didn’t even use a recipe anymore- she had made it so many times the steps and ingredients were engrained in her memory.

Having a signature cake recipe, a simple one that you can make easily and that you can perfect, is a great thing to have.

Since being back in America I have searched high and low for a flourless chocolate cake recipe that rivals that of Madame Bohemienne’s and I have found one that I can now call my own.



This recipe is from the Epicurious website. It’s a delicious recipe and oh so French. The ingredients are very simple, as are the steps (everything is mixed in one bowl- which also cuts down on cleaning time). The ingredients are also common- you will most likely have these things on hand in your home so if you find that you’ve got last minute dinner guests it would be easy to whip one together.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus additional for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375°F and butter an 8-inch round baking pan. Line bottom with a round of wax paper and butter paper. Chop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs and whisk well. Sift 1/2 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes and invert onto a serving plate. Dust cake with additional cocoa powder and serve with ice cream if desired. (Cake keeps, after being cooled completely, in an airtight container, 1 week.)

The recipe does require a double boiler like mine pictured below.



If you don’t have one of these you can always use a bowl over a pot of barely simmering water and that should work just fine. Also wax paper is imperative to line the bottom of the pan (and don’t forget to butter underneath and on top of the paper. This allows the cake to come out smoothly…) And finally, it’s not in the recipe, but a small sprinkling of confectioners sugar on top is a nice touch.

I would love to know… Do you have a signature cake?

To see the recipe on the Epicurious website, click here.


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Thank you so much to everyone for all of your lovely messages about the baby. We are all thriving and doing very well. Our baby girl is changing so much every day I am savoring every moment and am filled with gratitude.

Many of you have asked what we named her. I have decided to not announce her name publicly as baby connoisseur knows only too well the importance of maintaining an air of mystery. I will say that we chose a very traditional, whimsical and good old fashioned English name for her… and I must say it suits her very well!

On to other news…

This week I found a large envelope on my doorstep. It was from Madame Sportif and inside was a copy of French Elle à Table (pictured above)- a magazine she had told me about during our many cooking sessions together. It is a cooking magazine filled with beautiful recipes for everything from strawberry tarts to carbonaras. Included with the magazine was a note saying she had asked one of her friends from Paris to bring over the magazine especially for me. Then she told me news of her travel plans and informed me that she and her family will be sadly going back to France next week.

My heart sank at this news. I knew the Sportifs were only here for a year but during that time I forged a great friendship with Madame Sportif. She is truly a wonderful and thoughtful lady. How kind and considerate that she had one of her friends bring me that magazine all the way from Paris! I wrote her back to say that I will miss her greatly and if she ever finds herself in California again, to be sure and look me up.

The sadness I felt when I read Madame Sportif’s note was similar to the feeling I had on my last day in Paris. I’ll never forget it. Famille Chic was on holiday in their country estate in Brittany and I was alone in their 16th arrondissement apartment. My heart was filled with such conflicting emotions. On one hand I was excited to travel back home to California to see my family and friends again and start to live my new life as a daily connoisseur of the French philosophy. On the other hand I knew that I would never have this experience again- living in Paris with a French family- learning their secrets, exploring the city- exalting in life as a student without any major responsibilities. The cafés, the art, the food, the dinner parties, the new friends, the romance of it all…

On my last day in Paris I did not walk by the Seine or go see Notre Dame for the last time- I did not take a solitary stroll down the Champs-Élysées, instead I stayed inside the apartment of Famille Chic. That rich apartment that I had so grown to love. I made myself a small lunch, I played the record player, I drank a glass (or two) of port and I packed my bags. I left a note in the hallway for Famille Chic, thanking them for an experience most magnifique.

My last day in Paris was bittersweet but I also knew it was a turning point in my life and that I (much like the famed character Sabrina) would return to California a completely different girl.

And so I did…

Recently I received an email from Lana, a reader of The Daily Connoisseur. She wanted to know more about Madame Chic’s fashion sense and lifestyle. She had such great questions I decided to devote an entire post to the subject and have attempted to answer her questions below.

For those of you who are new to the blog, Madame Chic is the mother of the family I lived with when I was an exchange student in Paris. I could have also called her Madame Traditionelle because she had a very classic sensibility... but then, I’m getting ahead of myself...

Madame Chic’s Style

Madame Chic was a Parisian in the most traditional of senses. She was conservative and her style reflected her values gracefully. Madame Chic always wore a skirt. Always. On the coldest of winter days she would wear a skirt. The skirts would always be a-line, in tweed or wool, very sensible and slimming and hit just above the knee. She would pair a beautiful high quality sweater set with her skirts and wore minimal jewelry. In the winter months she donned a thick, wool coat, as the warmer months approached, she wore a classic trench coat.

It was not so much Madame Chic’s style that was extraordinary but the way she wore the clothes she wore. They fit her, flattered her figure and she felt comfortable and beautiful in them. Her portfolio of outfits was not overwhelming. In fact, her closet probably only held ten items. She would wear and repeat the same outfits all the time, but always looked put together... toujours. She did not change her outfit or style when hosting or attending dinner parties, but then again, her everyday clothes were a lot more formal than the average womans'.

How did she schedule her days?

Madame Chic worked part time and also did a lot of volunteer work. Her work schedule was relatively light which gave her a lot of time to take care of her family- doing the daily shopping, planning and cooking meals, cleaning the apartment (they did not have a cleaner) and preparing a lovely breakfast and delicious supper every night. Sometimes if I had time between classes to venture back home she and I would lunch together. Other days she would have girlfriends over to lunch. Madame Chic also loved chatting on the phone. She always got up before Monsieur Chic at the early hour of 5:30am. After the two of them breakfasted together and after my breakfast was served (a considerable time later), Madame Chic would chat on the phone to friends for twenty minutes to an hour each day.

What did she read and listen to?

I am not sure what Madame Chic read for pleasure. There was not a bookcase in the main part of the house. I did not see her reading during the day so if she read, it was in the evening, probably before bed.

The family did listen to music every evening. They had a vintage record player and after dinner every night (like clockwork) they would put on a record of classical music and sit and listen to it while the men smoked cigarettes. Other than the playing of classical music every evening, Madame Chic did not listen to any music during the day, save for a morning radio show that she promptly turned off as soon as I walked into the kitchen for breakfast.

Thank you Lana for your questions. I love getting questions from readers… If you have questions about any of the subjects I write about, please leave them in the comment section or email me and I will do my best to answer them!

Pictured above is my trench coat by A.P.C.– a classic Parisian wardrobe staple (inspired by Madame Chic) and one that I readily invested in after living in Paris...

As I write this I have a volcanic clay mask (by Epicuren) richly slathered on my face. Applying a mask is a ritual I have been doing once (sometimes twice) a week ever since I lived in Paris.

Before living in Paris- skin care was not something I paid much attention to. Admittedly I was still very young when I was in France (20 ans) but as far as French women are concerned, you are never too young to start caring for your skin.

In Paris there is a salon de beauté on what feels like every corner. Yes, the French are obsessed with beauty but in a different way than Americans. I find that they are happier with the way they look and would rather enhance their beauty than change it with surgery. Characteristics like a prominent nose, a gap between the teeth and/or a petite chest (all things that are desperately sought to be corrected aux États Unis) are actually revered in France. No, the way the French are obsessed with beauty is by taking care of their assets- what they already have- not by trying to alter themselves.

Perhaps the biggest asset of the French woman is her skin. Most French women get regular facials and use only the best skin care products they can afford when taking care of their skin at home. It is something that is simply done and not really talked about. Both Madame Chic and Madame Bohemienne had excellent skin. Both were women over 40; both with children. I could probably bet my life that neither of them had Botox or any other form of cosmetic surgery. No, their beautiful complexions were the result of years of ritualistic skin care.

Living with Madame Chic, I was too shy to ask about her skin care routine. The question seemed intrusive- too personal. I instead, became a detective to my curiosity. Because we shared a bathroom, I got a chance to see what sort of products Madame Chic used for her skin: Madame’s regime involved cleanser, toner, rose water and moisturizing cream (I’m sure there was exfoliant as well but alas I did not feel comfortable snooping for it- I am only reporting on what was on the counter- which I consider to be fair game!). And I did note on several occasions in the six months I lived with her that she would occasionally come back from an afternoon out in the city with glowing, complexion- the sort that one gets right after having a facial.

When I turned 25 I started to get regular facials. At first (due to my minimal budget) I would get one every two months and as time went on I started to get them every month. After a few years of doing this I can definitely see dramatic improvements in my skin, which has always been rather troublesome. My problems with breakouts and uneven complexion have gone down dramatically, and because my skin is clearer and smoother, I wear less makeup as a result (a must for le no makeup look). I will expound more on the wonders of skin care- Comme les Français in future posts but for now I need to take off my Volcanic Clay Mask.

I would love to know… what do you do to take care of your skin?

Pictured above are three products I really love: Volcanic Clay Mask, Fine Herbal Scrub and Hydroplus Moisturizer... all by Epicuren.