There are days when only the finest tea and perfect Parisienne delicacies will do.
There are days that cry for civilized behaviour to counteract the brute reality of life.
On days like this? One must raise their pinkie in sheer chi-chi defiance of all things base and banal and hustle on over to Soirette Macarons & Tea.
It’s a lovely new place down on that lonelier western end of Pender Street. It is Paris and modern and crisp and yes, it is focused. Unlike drugstores that sell bananas and grocery stores that sell pharmaceuticals, this little place knows what it’s about.
And it’s all about tea, quality loose-leaf aromatic teas and of course, macarons, those heavenly meringue-ish confectionaries that make me think I’m eating a pastiche of air and sugar and love.
I tried the Mumbai Chai.
Ahh, India! It was a swirling concoction of all the best smells of that perfumed land; a heady fragrance of cardamom, cinnamon and those heady oils that are only released in the finest of teas.
It was a liquid incense, my body, the temple. I sipped and reflected on all the best things in life while nibbling on a pistachio macaron, and then, I confess, a lavender macaron…there might have been a caramel fleur de sel after that and yes, it’s possible I indulged in the violet one as well. Who’s to say for sure…
But by the time I left Soirette, my world felt prettier, fairy tales more possible and life much, much more gracious.
For anyone who read yesterday’s post, you’ll know I was struggling to stay in the writing game. Mostly because I’m still not sure what the game actually is, not to mention that I am generally not a big fan of games of any sort.
At one point in the afternoon I ended up talking to my cousin, who, though slightly older, is none-the-wiser than me (I know there will be some serious repercussions to that statement – but let’s just say we both struggle on a few shared topics).
He too, was raised within the clear strictures of the black-and-white Mennonite world. And because I was also wrestling with my aforementioned writing of my novel, I started asking him about one scene that I’d been trying to nail down. It involves a young girl watching a movie about the rapture in a Mennonite church basement in 1970. Clearly I am modeling her experience on mine, so I told him what I remembered about that terrifying film.
I see it now as a completely abhorrent and horrible thing to do to anyone, but especially a child…which is when my cousin told me that he too had been completely freaked out. But first he practically screamed into the phone when he said, “The shaver! Remember the shaver buzzing around in the sink?”
But better than that, he gave me the name of the movie; A Thief in the Night. Apparently, it’s an ongoing crowd pleaser and is still being shown in various church basements. All I know is that kids are pretty dependent on having their parents around and it’s not very nice to tell them they could disappear any second. I am being very restrained when I say it’s not very nice. I am trying to remain polite about this.
In reading the reviews about the movie, people talk about the cheesy sets, the 70s bad clothing, the lousy production values…but mostly, they talk about being scared spitless. As my cousin emailed me later, “And we weren’t allowed to watch horror movies. Hmmmm…”
There is a lot of talk about the Mennonite writer. I still don’t really know what that means. Maybe it means writing past the fear. But then I suppose every writer does that. What I do know, is that in watching this two-minute trailer, I was transported to being ten years old and terrified. I hope I can capture that on the page.
On the Parents Advisory page on the IMDb (Internet Movie Database) the caution reads as follows:
“As you can see from many of the comments, this movie can be extremely traumatizing to children, especially if they are told the the events in the movie will actually take place–that “The Rapture” is real. I saw it when I was 12 or 13, and it gave me nightmares for many months. In fact, I am in my twenties and still have nightmares because of this movie. Please, please do not show this film to children. If you would like to teach them about the Rapture, there are ways to do it that will not traumatize them in such a fashion!”
If you want to be inspired to live an authentic and true and very LARGE life, than please run out and rent this documentary, The Topp Twins – Untouchable Girls.
You know how sometimes when you revisit something - like a book or a movie or even a place – it doesn’t quite measure up to the way you remember it?
I am happy to report that was not the case with my lablog viewing of [amazon_link id="B001Q8MMGU" target="_blank" ]Harold and Maude[/amazon_link]. I watched it again last night…I’m sure it’s been at least twenty or maybe thirty years since I saw it. It might even be that I only ever saw it when it first came out in 1971, then again, I remembered so much of it that I think I must have seen it again sometime between then and now.
But there was still a lot that I’d missed in that first viewing(s). I loved all the layers of life that Ruth Gordon embodied in her portrayal of Maude; the moment when Harold notices her concentration camp tattoo, her reference to Vienna, the wonderful Cat Stevens soundtrack…all of it funny and tragic, but mostly a wonderful tribute to living life as loudly as possible.
If you need to shake things up a little and want a life-affirming film, then I’d suggest you watch Harold in his various suicide attempts…there’s nothing quite like it.
I think I just need a Boston fern for that empty corner by the window and I am still on the lookout for a fat orange tabbie cat that could lounge on some of the overstuffed chairs.
I got such a good deal on those big burgundy velvet sofa chairs. Isn’t it great how I’ve placed them in all the warm corners so you can enjoy a quiet read? Did you notice the perfectly positioned lamps?
I’ve actually had it open for a few days now, but was still tweaking some of the behind-the-scenes stuff. So. We’ll call that prior period the soft launch and now it’s time for the balloons and the flat white cake with that nasty blue icing-writing. This is the official hard launch.
You can see the STORE button on the ‘pinned’ tabs at the top of this page. Get out your noisemakers and help me celebrate
I’ve added a carousel that shows some of my favourite books on writing as well as some reviews for some of my favourite books. I’ll be adding more displays with other great reads soon. My page on Films will soon be linked for purchase too.
Yes, this is the same stuff you can buy on the Amazon site, but if you buy it through my store, you’ll help fund my coffee habit and you’ll get to pet that cat while you nap in the chair in the sunny window (yeh, I know that’s not real…my mother always said I had a too-vivid imagination).
At the very least you’ll have my unwavering gratitude. There’s that.
