How to Be Svelte as a 2013 Cannes Film Star~

Celebrity favorite: Hotel du Cap-Eden Roc

Nicole Kidman is a judge at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes Festival waterfront locale

The official 2013 Cannes poster features Paul Newman
and Joanne Woodward  from their 50s film, "A New Kind of Love'~

Leonardo De Caprio and Carey Mulligan stars of "The Great Gatsby"

Vintage Cannes with La Liz

 Cara Delevingne 

Isla Fisher 

Emma Watson, star of Sofia Coppola's latest, 'The Bling Ring"~

Steven Spielberg is presiding over judging at the 66th Cannes Film Festival (May 15 -26), with Nicole Kidman also on the panel. The world's premier film festival opened with the ‘The Great Gatsby’ based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel--and starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Carey Mulligan. 

The Fitzgeralds spent winters along the Cote d’Azur, often with Sara and Gerald Murphy. Spirited, stylish, big-hearted and rich--the Murphys were friends and supporters to Picasso, Stravinsky, Léger, Diaghilev, Cocteau, Hemingway, and many others. And they were Fitzgerald's models for Dick and Nicole Diver, characters in his novel, ‘Tender Is The Night’. You can imagine the entire ensemble both fictional and fact sipping cocktails together: (here).

Sofia Coppola is married to a Frenchman, lives in Paris, and is in Cannes promoting her latest, ‘The Bling Ring’. Coppola's crime drama is based on the audacious $3 million rip-off of clothes, shoes, art, and jewels from stars like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox, Rachel Bilson, and Orlando Bloom by a group of fashion obsessed teens. Emma Watson plays the lead in the film that opens in the U.S. theaters on June 14th. 

The 20-Best Foods To Look Like a Cannes Star:

The #1 rule to look like a star is to eat an alkaline based diet and you’ll be forever slim, with energy and ultimate health. Eating acidic foods promotes disease, weight-gain, aging, and diminishes vitality. Food charts that help: (here). An excellent short explanation that can change your life: (here).

Make these the all organic staples of your eating plan: 

Almonds, avocados, asparagus, berries, bell peppers, black beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, edame, eggs, flaxseed, garlic, onions, spinach, salmon (wild, not farmed), sweet potatoes, tomatoes, Greek Yogurt. 

Radishes, beets, carrots, turnips, horseradish and rutabaga. Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. Kale, Swiss chard, turnip greens and spinach (#1 choice). Raw is best. Juicing even better. Garlic helps lower blood pressure, cleanse the liver and fight disease. Cayenne peppers are highly alkalizing and fight off free radicals. Lemons are a natural detoxifier. Check out your usual purchases to ensure green, healthy and safe selections: (here) 

Where to go in Cannes: (here) Great advice from Will Smith: (here) Sinatra's "You Brought A New Kind of Love to Me" (here). Happy Le Weekend!

You Can! You Must! You Will!~

Hotel Balzac Paris

Honoré de Balzac's 'Sweetest Dream'~     

Honoré de Balzac born May 20, 1799 

His grave in Père Lachaise

While in prison, Balzac ordered dinner from the
world famed La Grand Véfour~ 

Scene in La Grand Véfour from Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris"~

French writer, Honoré de Balzac, lived in the first half of the 1800s and would have been simpatico with Maria Shriver's credo, “You Can! You Must! You Will!” . Balzac also demonstrated iron-clad willpower and labored in fifteen-hour days. He said: “All happiness depends on courage and work. There is no such thing as a great talent without great willpower.” Though unlike Maria who was blessed with affirmative parents, his own let him starve.

As a four day old babe, Balzac was banished to live with a wet nurse until the age of four. At 8 he was packed-off and abandoned at a boarding school where his parents visited twice in 6-years. And while fellow students were brought regular gifts of pocket money and food, Balzac eventually departed the institution at age 14 so weakened from poor nutrition that he was sickly for life.

Unsurprising then, that in his 1835 “Le Père Goriot” Balzac depicts the post-Napoleon era of heartless greed in Paris society as it manifested within families. His genius was a fine-tuned comprehension of human foibles that were fleshed-out in his characters by evoking their trappings and mannerisms. His realism influenced Proust, Zola, Dickens, Poe, Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Henry James, Faulkner, Kerouac, Italo Calvino, and others. 

Balzac's studies at the Sorbonne in classical literature and philosophy were augmented at his father’s behest by training in law followed by three "banal and dehumanizing years" of toil in his father's profession. He quit, preferring to freeze in a garret while churning out dozens of potboilers in order to eat: "Vocations which we wanted to pursue, but didn't, bleed, like colors, on the whole of our existence."

As his life became more comfortable he had the luxury of time to breathe intense life into characters that were as real to him as if he’d met them in the street.

In 1836, Balzac, now a best-selling author, was sent to prison for not serving in the French National Guard. He would order dinner from the world-famed Véfour to entertain associates in his cell that was outfitted with his desk, chair, bed, and crammed with fine food and wines. 

Balzac corresponded with a married fan, Ewelina Hańs, for years, even visiting with her in St. Petersburg. After her older, wealthy husband died, they married in March 1850 despite that Balzac's health was in steep decline. He joined illustrious Heavenly scribes within six months of their vows. And wrote: “When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give us credit for nothing, not even our virtues.” 

Victor Hugo served as eulogist at his funeral attended by most every notable writer in France, after which Balzac was buried alongside the greats in Père Lachaise. (here): "The smallest flower is a thought, a life answering to some feature of the Great Whole, of whom they have a persistent intuition." 

'French Heart' Publishing~

A town near Quimper my mother loved and my son visited recently~ 

A long ago sketch for my mother~

In Brittany. Mystical land of the
Merlin Forest...origin of the King Arthur tales~

Favorite spot in Carmel-by-the-Sea below poet Robinson
Jeffers 'Tor House' and Hawk Tower'~

The view from my late brother's former property~ 

The property we owned together in our 20s~

Memorial I made for my brother on Cannon Beach
nearly a year ago...seems like last month~

Quick sketch I did of the Fairmont on a drizzly day~ 

Concept cover I made for my writing spot
 while in the UCLA Creative Writing program~

I gave up the ghost of my fundraiser on Indiegogo after it achieved less traffic in two weeks than I do on my site daily by 9AM. So, instead, a simple pre-order of the eBook copy of “French Heart” here. (PayPal link in the right hand column). It's readable on all devices with active links to story settings in Provence, Paris, and for example this Lake Como Villa for a pivotal scene: (here).

Robyn Russell who did the initial copy-edit will do the final polish. She spent 10-years at a literary agency that represents Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winners. (here).

My "To Do" list includes a professional redo of my self-designed site with a cohesive Internet marketing, PR, and social media blitz by pros like "Authors on the Web" and "Blue Moon." Plus design of all materials including book jacket, logo, marketing materials, stationary, purchase of mailing lists... 

I’ll hire a temp techie to assist with Instagram, Google, Amazon Author Central, Pinterest, Flickr, Scribd, Goodreads, LuLu.com, EzineArticles, Barnes and Nobel, Kindle Direct, Apple iBookstore, Nook, Kobo, etc.  With ads on The Blogger Connection, Facebook, Google AdWords, Blogards Book Hive, MJ Rose AuthorBuzz. Plus purchase of ISBN number and start-up costs for French Heart Publishing...!

As Guy Kawasaki, best-selling author, Silicon Valley venture capitalist, and Apple Fellow wrote, “Writing is often a lonely, difficult process…on top of the complexity of writing, (is) something akin to a start-up business where you’re the entrepreneur in charge who must create product, test it, raise money, find talented specialists to assist, and customers often as a parallel-process…"

With much to do, I’ll be posting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Much as I love the rhythm and discipline of posting daily...

Hope you’ll support my work by pre-ordering an eBook (see right column) and ask others to do so too!  Thanks so much! Fantastic art-making of my city, San Francisco: (here)

That First Mother's Day~

On my first Mother's Day, I was 17 and my mother 36. Mom, my husband and I were ecstatic with our angel, Robbie. He'd entered the world two months earlier via a dramatic emergency c-section that translated into hyper-realized gratitude for the greatest gift possible. Sadly, his father died when Robbie was 16, bringing my son and mother even closer. Both were only children who lost their fathers far too young in traumatic ways, which they'd responded to with quiet courage.

As a treat a few days before that first Mother's Day, Mom and I drove downtown to Bullock's Wilshire adjacent to Hollywood and Beverly Hills, and where Silver Screen stars once shopped. We made our few purchases, then rode the elevator up to the Tea Room for finger sandwiches and French chocolate cake.

Mom reminisced about her glamorous California pre-teen road trip with her opera singing father, and chic bookish mother. And with David O. Selznick Studios nearby, she spoke about her favorite Selznick film "Rebecca" based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, and with its opening scene set in the south of France.

Years, later my brother and I would own property together on the lake that our maternal grandfather loved during his trip to the Golden State. And my son became an exchange student in the south of France. Thus, the simpatico threads were picked-up and continued.

The last Mother's Day to date that I spent with my son, was in France. I
looked at him thinking, not long ago this wonderful man was my adorable toddler in the stroller that I'd wheel all over town daily to dazzle him with  beauty, magic, and possibilities just around the corner. Today, my beloved French-American son lives in Amsterdam for his work and, for me, out-dazzles, out-magics anything I've ever seen. Just by being him. 

Now my beautiful mother, whom I associate with the Virgin Mary, has been gone for two and a half years. Through eternity, Mom and Rob, and the unending graces they showered on me, will remain the greatest part of my soul. 

May you have a joyous Happy Mother's Day with those who bedazzle and grace you too.

May Day 1950s Tea Party~

From Grace Kelly's 1955 film 'High Society' with Bing Crosby
and Frank Sinatra, music by Cole Porter 

'To Catch a Thief' co-starring Cary Grant

'Rear Window' with James Stewart

'To Catch a Thief' filmed close to Monaco

Let's quaff gardenia-entwined May Day nostalgia for a moment, shall we? Floaty dresses. Young ladies offering Lily of the Valley nosegays and Heavenly little cakes from white-gloved hands. Whispery, tissue-wrapped thoughts. There. All better. 

In April 1956, Grace Kelly’s “High Society” graced big screens as she sailed the USS Constitution across the Atlantic to wed Prince Rainer in Monaco. 

To celebrate the freshly minted May why not don charm bracelets and materialize a 1950s tea. Pour the Sauvignon Blanc and view newsreels of Grace Kelly's nuptials: (here) (here) Today is the Fête du Muguet in France. (here)

Smoked Salmon-Wasabi Tea Sandwiches

Makes 24

1 tablespoon wasabi powder

2 teaspoons water

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

12 very thin slices whole wheat bread

8 ounces thinly sliced smoked salmon

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

Mix wasabi powder and 2 teaspoons water in medium bowl to form paste. Add cream cheese; using electric mixer, beat until well combined.

Place all bread slices on work surface. Spread each with wasabi cream cheese, dividing equally. Top 6 bread slices with smoked salmon, dividing equally. Sprinkle lemon peel, then cilantro over salmon. Top with remaining bread slices, cheese side down. Can be made 2 hours ahead. Wrap sandwiches individually in paper towels and refrigerate.

Trim crusts. Cut each sandwich into 4 triangles. Transfer to platter cut side up.

Apple Tea Cakes

Makes 56 tea cakes

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons light butter

56 paper petit four cups (1 inch)

14 ounces almond paste (pure marzipan)

1 tablespoon pure apricot spreadable fruit

3 whole eggs

1 egg white

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 large apples (preferably Braeburn or Golden Delicious), peeled, cored and chopped into 1/4-inch cubes

4 teaspoons confectioners' sugar

Preparation

Heat oven to 350°F. Place butters in a bowl and microwave until melted, 30 to 45 seconds. Let cool 10 to 15 minutes.

Arrange petit four cups on a large baking sheet. Combine almond paste and spreadable fruit in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape inside of bowl to incorporate all ingredients. Beat in eggs and egg white one at a time. Beat in flour at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds. Add butter and beat until blended, about 30 seconds. Pour batter into a 1-gallon plastic resealable bag. Force air from bag and seal. Snip 1/4-inch piece off one of the lower corners and pipe batter into cups, filling them three quarters full. Place a few apple cubes on top of each cup. Sift sugar over cakes. Bake until light golden, 26 minutes. Let cool.

Grace Kelly's 1955 'To Catch a Thief' filmed around Monaco: (here)