East Coast Bound

Heading for the East Coast tomorrow to visit family and friends and eat my favorite soft custard on the Boardwalk. Will return the first week of December. I don't have a laptop (Can you believe it?) so I'll take the time now to wish you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving. I'm so looking forward to being with my family again and spending an entire month along the Jersey Coast. Will see you when I get back.

Photo C. Andrako - Kohr's Custard - All Rights Reserved

Halloween Party - Circa 1930's

So much of my life has been lived in costume that it's no wonder I love Halloween. My Aunt once asked me, "Are you sure you're from this family? We hate Halloween." The love of costumes must have skipped a generation. Here are my Grandparents and their neighbors enjoying the occasion. They've gone all out and there seems to be a pair thing going on here - an eerie looking clothesline and two men as siamese twins in one costume.

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How fitting that I'm in the midst of reading a biography of Diane Arbus.

Above is a photograph of friends that I took at a party in Brigantine, N.J. in 1977. I was taking a photography course at The New School in NYC and our assignment was to shoot a roll of film and develop it in a changing bag. I developed it on the floor of my bathroom in the Village and printed it in the darkroom at the New School.

Happy Halloween Everyone! (Don't drag your bags on the sidewalk and lose all your candy!)

Photos C. Andrako All Rights Reserved

Reprise

I wanted to take my blog back to the way it was when I began. This was my original header. I took the title from a writing by Cocteau. He was looking back on a youthful, over-confident time in Venice. When I began this blog I wondered - Would this be something I would come to regret? Would I feel as Cocteau did....pigeons slapping away? Hmmm. Yet to be determined.

Very busy. More travel in a few weeks. Very strange to step away after such a long time. Gosh, you all write such great posts! Will pop in now and then. Miss you all.

Catherine

Ciao, from Caffe' Reggio

To all of my blogging friends and Followers - I've decided that the time's come to bring "A Thousand Clapping Hands" to a close. Thank you so much for your visits each week, for your kind and supportive comments, and for the many awards you've lavished on me over the past year. I can't rule out that I won't return to blogging in the near future, but for now I'm finding the need to concentrate all of my energy on my art and on studying new things. I envy those of you who can do both, but for me blogging takes up so much of my time that I'm finding it difficult to work on the things that mean most to me.

Instead of deleting my blog, I'm going to make it private at the end of the month. I think that you'll still be able to access it by typing the address in your browser if you would like to reach me or leave me your e-mail address. And, of course, I will visit your blogs and comment when I can.

But, before I go, I have to send my very best wishes and Congratulations to my friend and fellow blogger, Vicki Archer, on the publication of her new book, "French Essence", and to the photographer of that book, another friend and blogger, the fabulous Carla Coulson. I can't wait to read it, and I wish you both much success.

Thanks everyone, and Happy Blogging!

Catherine

P.S. For those of you who asked: The header photo is another of the cottages at the Queen's hamlet.

Bottom photo- Me - Last week in NYC. Photos All Rights Reserved 2009 C. Andrako

An Autumn Trip

I've missed visiting all of my favorite blogs this week, but I've been busy, busy, busy getting ready for an autumn vacation. (No, not to the Petit Trianon but to someplace I think is equally as exciting.) I'll return in two weeks. See you all then.

Photo C. Andrako/All Rights Reserved

The Queen's Chocolate - A Brief History

One of the first things I do when planning a trip is to browse through my files, travel books, old magazines, and numerous websites in search of the perfect chocolate experience. I'm not fussy really - a good quality chocolate bar or drinking chocolate will thrill me just as much as the artisanal chocolate masterpiece (well, almost) - but it is an absolute must that I know the whereabouts of every bakery and chocolate shop within a five mile radius. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? But imagine being a chocoholic who comes home from one of the greatest cities in the world only to discover that La Maison du Chocolat was right around the corner. Or Pierre Herme'. Or Demels, in Vienna. No, no, no my friends. That is not for me! I am on the front lines when it comes to chocolate.

And if I were queen, I would have chocolates made according to my wishes, as Marie-Antoinette did. What those wishes would be, I have no idea. I've never even given it a thought...knowing that I'll never be queen. But Marie-Antoinette gave it a lot of thought and those chocolates are still being made today.

I have never tasted Debauve & Gallais chocolates, but I came across their website the other day and was so intrigued by this chocolate history that I decided to share it here.


Monsieur Sulpice Debauve was the pharmacist/apothecarist to King Louis XVI. Queen Marie-Antoinette was not happy with the unpleasant taste of her medicines and suggested to Debauve that perhaps they could be taken with the hot drinking chocolates she had enjoyed in her native Vienna. Although adding a medicine with a strong taste and smell to something hot would only make it more unpleasant, it was the beginning of an idea to put the medicine in solid chocolate.

Cocoa, cane sugar, and the required medicine were made into the shape of a coin and soon the Queen began requesting other flavors. Debauve delighted her with orange blossom, Orgeat cream, coffee, vanilla, and almond milk, which is believed to be her favorite.

Debauve opened his chocolate shop in 1800 on the Left Bank in Paris. By 1804 there were 60 shops throughout France. He was also the official chocolatier of Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis Philippe, and his 99% dark chocolates were enjoyed by the Tsars of Russia.

A box of Pistoles de Marie-Antoinette will set you back a mere $200.00 USD.

Visit their website, here, for more stories of other chocolate-lovers in history.

Lady Pouring Chocolate by Jean-Etienne Liotard

Top photo from Debauve & Gallais, Liotard image Wikipedia

Sad Beauty - My Visit to Le Hameau

I wanted to write this post without the emphasis on historical facts. After all, who, by now doesn't know the heart-wrenching tale of the life of the child Marie-Antoinette of Austria who was dispatched to France to become Queen? Numerous biographies exist and movies are readily available. The cult of Marie-Antoinette enthusiasts is strong. So, what else can I possibly add to this horrific tragedy? Nothing, really - just the memory of my visit there and a few photographs snapped during the brief moments when I wasn't gasping with astonishment.

One summer, not so many years ago, I was sitting with one of my closest friends, a talented and revered blues guitarist, who asked me what I would do if I could do anything in the world. I answered without missing a beat: I would go to Paris for the first time. I would travel to Versailles and I would see Le Hameau. These were places I had been drawn to for most of my life, but for some reason the trip had always eluded me. It would be a dream come true. Six months later, my friend ended his life and I went to Paris - a posthumous gift from my friend. To say it was a bittersweet trip, would be an understatement.

I arrived at Versailles early on a spring morning, long before the crowds gathered. I sat alone in the Marble Court and waited for the ticket office to open and the guided tour of the King and Queen's private apartments to begin. Not a soul was around, and with the exception of the busts that looked down on me from the outer walls, not a soul in the world knew where I was. It was a beautifully surreal experience that I will never forget.

After my tour, I began the long walk to the Queen's hamlet, which lies just beyond the Petit Trianon. The walk begins here, in the photo above, along the tapis vert and the statuary near the Grand Canal. And then you turn right. You can ride in a carriage or take a shuttle cart, if you prefer, but I wouldn't have had the experience of looking across the grass at the site in the following photo if I had. It was my first glimpse of Le Hameau. Don't go alone, as I did. You'll need a hand to clutch when the Queen's house comes into view.

The hamlet of Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France. Who wouldn't want their very own village in the country where they could get away from it all? The idea for this fairy-tale was not a new one - the Prince de Conde had a hamlet at Chantilly and the Queen was enamored. She chose Richard Mique as the architect; already a favorite of hers who had laid out the gardens of the Petit Trianon, (probably with Hubert Robert, though no plans exist) and work began in 1783. Mique, Robert, and the painters Tolede and Dardignac spent five years creating a romantic, humble, and rustic village where the Queen could play at being a shepherdess; where only those she invited were welcome. Even the King required an invitation.

Eleven houses, faux painted to look aged and weathered, spread out around a man-made lake. Five were for the use of the Queen and her guests, four for the peasants who worked there. The village consisted of the queen's house, her boudoir, a barn, farmhouse, mill, dairy, gardener's cottage, dovecote, henhouse, guard's cottage, and tower. The farm supplied produce to the hamlet.

This is where Marie-Antoinette lived a 'simple' life away from the rigors of Palace etiquette, and where she spent her happiest days as Queen. I found it to be a sad and melancholy place. Charming, yet heartbreaking. Ghostly, even. Some say that they have seen her in her white chemise dress walking among the cottages.

The Guard's House

The Vineyard

The barn. Her animals were brought from Switzerland.

This is the grotto near the Belvedere. The Queen was in a grotto on the grounds of the Petit Trianon when she was summoned to return to the Palace. She would never see her beloved hamlet again. The rest is history.

Architect, Richard Mique and his son were arrested in a conspiracy to save the Queen. They went before a Tribunal, were found guilty, and guillotined the following day.

Here are a few sites of other aficionados of the 18th century:

Ingrid Mida - Fashion Is My Muse, blog
Paris Atelier's romantic French finds on Etsy

Tristan Robin Blakeman's 18th century inspired theatres and much more on his Website

Photos C. Andrako All Rights Reserved 2006

These are low-resolution images.