Reims et Champagne Mumm

It's Friday so this must be Reims, Champagne capitol of the world.

I thought I might escape a tasting but once you're there it seems de rigueur. Champagne MUMM is my alma mater so to speak. I did art work for MUMM 20 years ago.

Call the day/week ahead. You will need a reservation.

Even though I worked in the Champagne business for 2-3 years and stayed at Mumm's mansion, it is always interesting to take the cellar tour. Tasting their CORDON ROUGE BRUT was an delight end-of-tour.

The long, long dark underground cellar storing 25 million bottles is the perfect counterpart

To visit Reims Cathedral, above-ground wondrously high passage ways. You feel like an ant.

An overcast day turned absolutely beautiful.

Reims (rhymes with "chance" if you hit the "n" lightly) is merely 45 minutes away from Paris on the new special TGV.

Skip the self-tour audio guide. Unfortunately there is no riveting Malcolm Miller of Chartres to decipher this Gothic temple. But there are well-written explanation posts at each point of reference.

Upon entering the cathedral I could hear the faintest hint of choral singing.

In the Chagall chapel all the way back on the left, a lovely compilation of choral singing is playing. I hope it's played everyday. There is no CD available upfront in the shop sadly. The perfect companion for exploring Reims Cathedral or any cathedral I suspect.

My watercolor stains using reds and blues over a pale, pale yellow wash.

I've used the WATERCOLOR POCKET PALETTE for years for layering colors.

More stained glass of an edible sort rom Waida Patisserie

Back in the cathedral the very fine 'Rose' window is not to be missed.

A 'rose' window made up of chocolate bouchon filled with champagne.

Don't miss visiting MAISON FOSSIER, Home of the famous pink biscuits (le biscuits rose) you can dip into your Champagne and they won't crumble.

The word biscuit comes from bi-cuit (baked twice) and originally colored with carmine to hide the black specks of vanilla bean in the biscuits.

Along with all these other 'must-dos' do read Ina Cara's PARIS TO THE PAST. Thank you Jean for insisting. I even got the audio version. It's perfect for visits to France's Gothic cathedrals, fill of intriguing historic anecdotes and an aesthetic point of view as well.

I love how Caro reminds you to notice the half-Rose window at Gare de l'Est before you set off for Reims. Her book, full of details like that is my new BBF.

Still more watercolor stains for Paris letter/map subscribers/renewers. Here Ye all!

Kings of Pastry 2

Last night I had to eat macarons.  And drink champagne.

At the opening screening of the KINGS OF PASTRY!

Remember I told you about the KINGS OF PASTRY back in August. Well it's here at last.

After the film, filmmakers, Chris Hededus and D. A. Pennebaker took questions. I couldn't resist asking,
"However did you get permission from the French Meilleur Ouvriers de France (or MOF) society to make this film?!" It was not easy.
They had to wait till the very last minute for permission. Even then it was day-by-day up-for-grabs wait to see if they would be invited back the following day to shoot during the 3-day concours. The chance their equipment or even their very presence could disturb the competing chefs or their creations was a major concern. On the last and final day they were given a tiny boxed-area to shoot the film.
C'est comme ca.
Yet in the end the MOF was very pleased to have the competition filmed for posterity. No one had ever attempted it before. After the film we trooped over to nearby Jacques Torres Chocolate for the post-film soiree.



You feel you're inside a giant cocoa bean.
I got to meet the amazing unflappable star and MOF contender of Kings of Pastry, chef Jacquy Pfeiffer sans whites/out of his chef's jacket. Chef Pfeiffer is founder of The French Pastry School in Chicago.


The wives of the MOF contenders are very much heroines in their own right - Mme. Pfeiffer stands by her man.

An MOF winner (at the mere age of 26) Jacques Torres tries to explain why there are no female contenders for the MOF. Jacques is now Dean of pastry at the French Culinary Institute and where there are plenty of female contenders onboard. I drew Jacques 1st business card when he was still head pastry chef at Le Cirque. I used to hang out at his station and get sample nibbles - the good ole days..

Sotha Kuhn, former head chef at Le Cirque was there chatting with FCI Dean, Alain Sailhac.

New York restauranteur, Danny Meyer was there

Three-time contender for the MOF, Stephane Treand was telling me how it really does take 3 tries to get it right. To know exactly where everything you need is to win the race to the finish line. And it is a race against the clock. To be able to express your own unique point of view to win over all the judges. The judges have to eat at least 16 desserts. How do you make yours stand out from the rest?

Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer created this cinematic chocolatey sculpture for the party.

KINGS OF PASTRY will be opening near you soon.

Don't miss the excitement, the thrills, the tears, the laughter. And watch the trailer again

 Don't forget if you in Washington DC, do come have some macarons with me at the opening at the Alliance Francaise svp tomorrow night!

CarolGillott.com

I'm delighted to announce, after 5 long days of labor, I have a new baby on board - Carol Gillott.com was born this week with the superb help of Mat Rosa. It's my chance to show you a few of the things I've done... Did I mention in passing that I painted chef's jackets. Merci Roger Verge. And I've been a party sketcher... Not a bad profession as professions go...

Champagne Daze 🥂🍾

Yesterday K/S said:you've had the coolest jobs!
Paul Bocuse, Champagne Mumm's ambassador, suggested I do artwork for them & made introductions.
They gave me a test assignment. Come up with a big group drawing ✍️ they could gift their employees of tons of celebrities drinking Mumm. Can you spot Kate Moss or Naomie? A Seagrams brothers is embracing a big bottle.
*Note everyone is holding their glass by the stem. Never hold a champagne 🥂 glass by the 'bowl'. You must not warm the bubbles.
The group drawing led to a portrait promotion assignment. Mumm wanted portraits painted directly onto Mumm Champagne 🍾 bottles. 

I imagined my living room a sea of Champagne jeroboams. Last minute I suggested they print their label design on my watercolor paper. I ended up with neat stacks of printed Champagne labels instead.
One of the perks? I stayed at the Mumm mansion in Reims.
The Champagne countryside is magnificent. There's a new fast TGV from Paris that takes 45 minutes. Don't miss it.

I also stayed a week at Veuve Clicquot's country estate in Verzy.
Just me & a giant refrigerator full of Champagne jeroboams.
They said,"Do help yourself"
🥂🍾

 Someone popped in with petit dejeuner most mornings. The rest of the time I communed and painted grapevines. They still use straw panier/baskets 🧺 to pick the grapes in Champagne.
There's a lot of partying in the Champagne Biz. Servers dress up as old-fashioned cellar men. Their job is to turn resting Champagne bottles🍾
Very fun to draw.

This is not me embracing the Mumm bottle. That's my French boss.

Below I’m partying at Chelsea Arts Club Belle Epoch Ball at London's Albert Hall. We had to dress up as characters from Degas/Lautrec paintings. I went as a Degas dancer🩰 

Roger, the club concierge, said,
"If you add one more ribbon 🎀 to that outfit, you'll look like a dog’s 🐶 dinner."
Don't you love the Brits. Pass the Bolly🍾Sweetie Darling