le petite pup.

i have really exciting news, my darlings.
i. am. an. auntie.
to the most loveable. most snugglie. most darling little man.


meet jakes.
the newest member of the brett clan.

and doggonit.
he sure is a cutie.


jakes spent his first weekend out at the beach house.
and i think he had a great time getting a little sand on his, eh, paws.

this little pup is so loved already.
no bones about it.

emerson fry giveaway winner.

congrats to the emerson fry giveaway winner.
ms. samantha of the brunette one.

excited for you to rock your very own emerson fry gold coin necklace.
we can't wait to see how you style it. 
will it be solo or stacked?!
be sure to post pictures on your blog. 

oh, and for all you other darlings out there, 
be sure to check out all the goods over at 
they have the most chic styles ever.
i promise you will adore all of her pieces. 

thanks for being a c'est si bon reader, samantha.
xoxo

garden to table.

you may remember awhile back when i started my little garden.
well, it is completely growing. sprouting. thriving with every passing day.
a whole lotta florida sunshine. some sprinkles of water. and a dash of love.
is the perfect recipe for a darling little veggie and herb garden.


i am almost wondering if i planted too much in too little of a space.
as the mint & the cucumbers have gotten to become close friends. 


i just adore my abundance of greens. 
it has brought so much excitement watching them grow. 

and i even spotted my very first veg this morning.


well, hello little baby zucchini. 
isn't he the cutest thing ever?

in my exuberance of seeing the real fruits veg of my labor,
i decided today would be a day of enjoying the harvest
from le jardin mills.

a garden to table sort of day, if you will.

i love sundays.
sundays have always been my very fave day of the week.
the hours go by slowly. the day is lazy. there is no routine.
and i happen to like that a lot.
so,
this sunday i spent the day in the garden & the kitchen.
snipping. patting. sprinkling. chopping. baking. mixing. 
just trying to impress my lovie with my creative culinary skills. 
i decided that each dish for tonight's dinner 
would incorporate at least one part of our garden. 


i snipped from our bounty of basil.


and i clipped from our mountain of mint. 



our romaine is running rampant, 
so i pulled two big bundles.


and i just have to share,
i felt so wonderfully country chic
as i overfilled my basket with fresh, organic, greens. 


oh, and purples, too.

i did a little taste test after i washed all the romaine.
and to my surprise, it tasted just like the romaine you buy at the store.
yahoo! we really can grow our very own romaine lettuce. 

the menu for tonight was the following.
basil & sour cream mashed potatoes.
romaine salad with the works.  
feta & fresh basil stuffed chicken breast. 
minted ice tea.


these potatoes were done without a recipe, and simply done by taste.
they were absolutely divine. 

wash five or six red potatoes.
boil them till fork tender.
mash them up a bit.
add a dash of heavy cream.
and a few heaping spoonfuls of sour cream.
chop up a few handfuls of fresh basil.
mix it all together.
salt & pepper to taste.


this salad is my all-time fave.
it is so easy to throw together in a snap.
romaine lettuce. 
pecans.
sun dried cranberries.
crumbled feta.
green olives.
& champagne vinaigrette.
it has the perfect amount of sweet & salty. 


this is one of the easiest recipes.
and it is easily one of the best.
many thanks to the one-and-only, ina garten.

two chicken breasts.
pull the skin away from the meat.
stuff with fresh basil leaves & feta cheese.
drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top.
sprinkle a generous amount of salt & pepper.

roast the chicken at 375 for about 35 minutes.
or until the chicken is brown & crispy on top.

what is great about this recipe is that you can be creative.
whatever strikes your fancy at that moment, you can incorporate.
i have made this with goat cheese & basil pesto.
and it was divine.
i would be curious to try an olive tapenade & feta combo. 
maybe that will be next week.

to top off the night, i wanted to make fresh mint & oreo ice cream for dessert,
but i think a strawberry and basil sorbet might be a little bit healthier.
so, i think i will try that.

anyhoo.
it was great fun to create this garden to table dinner for my lovie.
i can hardly wait for all the veggies to start sprouting so that i can experiment with them. 

tell me, do you have a garden to cook from?

shaggin' mod style.

i have a new obsession.
the current alice & olivia collection is so totally hip.
with a cool manner of channeling mod glam in sassy shag style,
these garbs have me begging to be dancin' down the streets a la austin powers.


i picked up these pants last night at neimans.
loving the wide legs & bold stripes.
ya, baby, ya.


mad for mod.
love this.


day time chic with a twist of glam.


the sherbert hues are so pretty.
and i am drooling over that belt.

do you love mod fashions as much as i do?

{images courtesy of aliceandolivia.com}

mother dearest.

mother's day is just a couple weeks away.
so, i have been racking my brain to come up with the 
most perfect way to honor my mother on her very special day.

while jewels. and shoes. and everything fancy would absolutely delight her,
i am certain that something from the heart would be so much greater.
something that really shows her how much she is
loved. appreciated. valued. respected. needed. admired.

over the last twenty-seven-almost-twenty-eight years,
my mom has been my very dearest friend.
i often get laughed at because i spend so much time with her.
but i just take it as a wonderfully great compliment,
because not very many girls are blessed enough to have a
mom and a best friend all wrapped in one. 

if any of you have ever met my mom,
you know how wonderful she is.

she taught me how to love. how to forgive. and how to apologize.
she taught me about faith. and perseverance. and humility.
she taught me the value of kind words. and a gentle spirit.
she has taught me everything i know.
and, well, she is still teaching me.

just today she taught me a most valuable lesson about marriage.
but i won't mention it on here, because i am still trying to learn it.
my heart has got it. my stubborn personality... not so much.

anyhoo.

my mother really is quite swell in every possible way.
she is deserving of all the worlds joy.

so, i have a little mother's day surprise for all of you.
the one-and-only mister john wind has generously offered to spoil
one c'est si bon reader with a sweet little mother's day bauble.
a beautiful charm & bracelet for the dearest mother.


isn't she a beauty?


a sweet note of love that any mother would
be proud to wear any day of the year.
because mothers should be celebrated every single day.

this would be a darling gift for a mother. a mother-in-law.
a new mommy friend. or even for yourself if you are a mommy.
this charm & bracelet are beautiful worn solo,
but would look smashing paired with an armful of jewels.

to enter in this giveaway, follow the following steps.

one. 
become a subscriber of c'est si bon.
do this by putting entering your email on the right sidebar.

two.

three.
leave a comment sharing one thing your
mother has taught you. 

four.

the winner will be announced on may 2.
good luck to all of you. 
this is such a sweet little prize.

tell me, how are you going to honor your mother this may thirteenth?

the best kind of home.

life has been super busy lately.
and busy in such a great way.
doors being opened. doors being closed.
all by the direction of His hand.

you see, let me explain. 
about two weeks ago my lovie and i fell in love with a house.
a great big house with great big promise.
and just a hop, skip, jump away from our parents.
{which is the most great of all}
we loved it so much so that we said, 
hey, let's put our house on the market... just to see what happens.

and what do you know?
the day we put our sweet little bungalow on the market, it sold. 
in four hours flat.
closing date of may third.
yep, you heard me right. 
may third two-thousand-twelve.
that is in nine short days.

the last several days we have been up to our elbows in 
boxes. packing tape. and sharpies.
wrapping with newspaper. labeling by room. and dropping off at storage.

naturally, we thought that this great big house was meant to be ours.
and so we gave it our best run. 
but, it didn't quite work out. 

after a few shed tears. and a few lovie hugs.
i remembered the great promise of our even greater Lord.
the promise that everything has passed through His hands.
and that His home is much greater than any home here.
i can assure you of that.

so as lovie and i are temporarily without a home to call our own,
we find great comfort in knowing that our real home is in the heart of our Lord.
and i am certain that He will never ask for a down payment. 
now that is a sweet deal. 

diana e kelly giveaway winner.

a big hip hip hooray to
little miss natalie bauman devicente

you are the lucky winner of the diana e kelly cork clutch, sweet girl.
i can't wait to hear which one you choose to be your very own.


thank you for being a c'est si bon reader.
i am so very appreciative.


oh, and just a little treat for all of you.
natalie writes a darling blog that you must go read.
you can find her at forever the hostess.

xoxo

meet emerson fry. great giveaway, too.

please help me in welcoming c'est si bon's newest friends from
emerson fry.

i have been a long time lover of emerson fry.
the quirky way that they celebrate the uniqueness in every individual.
and the daily dose of celebration, simply for being alive.
emerson fry has a contagious energy that is sure to captivate you.
not to mention, their fashions are impossibly cute.

the darling emerson & her hubby, ryan, work together to 
create livable. comfortable. classic. fashions
that are certain to grab the attention of passer-bys on the street.
with simple silhouettes & saturated fabrics,
emerson fry knows chic. 


i am loving the midi-length of this chic dress.
& the angular lines are to die for.


channeling retro style with this great piece.
maritime meets mod with the rope trim.


effortlessly chic.
loving the four button jacket.


oh my goodness. 
yes, please.
i'll take a pair in every color.


terribly chic shoes.


nothing says street chic louder than a simply shift & black slingbacks.


i simply adore this get-up.
casual day wear at its cutest.


short suits are so classic.
loving the length of these shorts & the rose hue.


and it goes without saying,
every girl needs an airy-dotty blouse.

be sure to scoot over to the emerson fry site.
for quick & easy access,
click on their button over to the right.
you will surely find some great pieces to work into your summer wardrobe.

oh, and of course, emerson fry wants to spoil one lucky reader
with a great little giveaway.


emerson has several different styles of these gold necklaces.
and one is yours for the choosing. 
she believes that the more reminders to have good thoughts, the better.
and so she designed these necklaces with different symbols & meanings
to spread positive thoughts to all.
great for yourself. or to gift a loved one with.

to enter in this giveaway, simply follow these few steps.
one. 
two.
three. 
leave a comment on the c'est si bon facebook page 
sharing which necklace is your fave.
the winner will be revealed on april 29.

thanks, emerson fry, for sharing the love with c'est si bon.
we think you are quite cool.

happy online shopping, friends.

paris patisseries.

knowing my love for all things frenchie.
and my appreciation for absolutely beautiful things.
and my impossibly huge obsession with over indulgent sweet treats.
it only seemed natural that adam, of paris patisseries, and i should be friends.
if for no other reason than for the utter enjoyment of
living vicariously through him throughout his tour of pleasures.

you see, adam, lives a sugar-loving, france-loving girls dream come true.
he travels around paris simply to try out all of the patisseries.
literally, eating his way through the parisian streets.
i am having a terribly challenging time controlling my envy.
but for the sake of sharing this post, i will try to compose myself.

i started following adam's culinary adventures several months ago,
and i am beyond intrigued by his learnings. his writings. his tastings.
adam so generously agreed to interview with me.
and so i am here to share his story.

before we begin,
you may want to grab a box of chocolates to nibble on.
your sweet tooth with thank you for diffusing a bit of the sugar envy.

meet adam.


it all started back in 2009.
an ex and i had gone on a trip to paris.
she was a pastry chef, so i thought it would be great to check out
as many patisseries and chocolateries as we could.
but it turned out, i enjoyed it more than she.

we ended up calling it quits the following month.
so i booked a three month long return trip back to paris.
just wanted to get away from things back home.
i had no intention of a blog at that point.
i just planned on roving around europe.
and then an idea came to mind.
a pastry-a-day.

so i whipped up a blog site & planned to catalog one pastry everyday
for the three months i would be there.
but soon enough the idea morphed into a bigger idea.
buy & photograph three or four pastries each day.
that way i had enough material for a year of blog entries.
and that is exactly what i wound up doing.
moderation is obviously not my thing.
{said with a wink}

i have no training at all in culinary skills.
and i can't imagine that anyone with serious skills would ever openly
critique chefs in the manner that i do.
unless they wanted to sabotage his own career.
it takes an outsider to provide the level of honesty that i give.
however, now that i have become friendly with so many of the chefs,
i have a hard time writing anything negative.
i now try to only review the best pieces from each shop.

while i do not have culinary training,
i do love to bake.
both of my parents are extreme bakers.
my mother loves to hand arrange the pecans in her pecan pies so that
they form perfect, concentric circles.
and my father bakes his own birthday cake.
i am certain their love for baking has rubbed off on me.

i love to bake it all. cookies. cakes. breads. its all great.
but my real passion is waffles.
so, after i am done with the pastry site, waffles are going to be my focus.
i hope to integrate much of what i have experienced in the
french pastry scene with my crazy waffle fixation.

before i started this venture,
i had to do a lot of research about where to visit.
in fact, that was a big catalyst in why i started the blog.
almost every travel guide & website mentions the same four shops.
laduree. storher. pierre herme. gerald mulot.
but the reality is, only two of those,
pierre herme & laduree,
are actually off the charts good.
there are atleast a dozen other
amazing patisseries that nobody has ever heard of.
and i wanted to create a greater wisdom about what is the "best."

of all the many pastry shops in paris,
i always recommend people visit jacques genin.
he focuses on the great classics,
so it is a great place to start your french pastry experience.

monsieur genin's eclair au chocolate is
arguably the finest in all of paris.




monsieur genin's baba au rhum is also amazing.


then there are his caramels. pates de fruits. & chocolates.
all of which are incredible.

a few of my other favorites are the following.



the pomme tatin from des gateaux et du pain.



the macaron mangue from hugo & victor.



and finally, the tarte caramel sale from sadaharu aoki.

everyone always ask about macarons.
the great debate.
who makes the best macaron? and why are theirs the best?
it is hard for me to say who makes the best in paris.
there are atleast three or four different styles, and each has their strength.
for me, the best seem to have fairly strong flavors
that are a little out of the ordinary.
like poppy flowers. russian cranberries. or kaffir limes.
they also tend to use an italian meringue for the shell.
they have just the right amount of filling.
meither too much, nor too little.
that is a hard balance to strike.


le macaron violette.


le macaron coquelicot. poppy flower.


le macaron fleur dorager.


le macaron fraise coeur pistache.

i certainly know i am living the dream.
exploring paris. eating dessert for breakfast. lunch. and dinner.
but there is a down side.
i gain about six pounds a month.
even though i walk everywhere & anywhere.
so, in my breaks back in the united states, i am on a strict diet.

i'm terribly sorry, adam.
this girl does not feel bad for you one little bit.
and i don't know about you all,
but i would love to try each one of those treats.
something tells me i could get used to eating sweet treats everyday.

please do hop on over to adam's blog to follow his day-to-day.
it is facsinating to learn about all the different patisseries.

merci. merci. merci, adam.
this was certainly quite a treat.

{all images courtesy of paris patiiseries}
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