"Joie De Vivre" & The Chef Doll

Chef Doll - 24" Fabric - Original Sculpted Head

By Robert Rae - 2012(c)

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Robert has sculpted more than a dozen of these charming character heads.

At one time - I started to paint them and make Hats for them - the one shown above - I envisioned as a Cook. 

He sat in our kitchen on a shelf in our China Buffet for too long - so I decided it was time to start working on a Chef costume for him.

This is the first one of a group that I've completed so far.

Maybe that's a cup of Tea or maybe Hot Chocolate in one of the demitasse cups that I enjoy collecting - they're so perfectly doll sized-!

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Speaking of Chefs - I have been reading a charming and engaging book entitled - "Joie de Vivre" written by the reknown restaurateur Robert Arbor.

He sucessfully maintaines several French-Style restaurants here in the U.S. - But his Summers are spent in the French Countryside where he and his family reside in an unpretentous - typical stone manor house.

The charm of the book is it's minute to minute discriptions of what daily life is like in France today - the Food - the Meals - the Shopping at their local markets - and the socializing with family and friends.

(All is presented so simply and accessable-!)

I didn't know that the French do not Bake their Bread or Pastry - All is purchased from Professionals with shops daily - this one fact in it's self explains why their life necessitates a lot of "Going to Market"-!

Many many more unknown facts about French life are reveiled in the book - too many to list here.

By the time one has finished the book - you feel as though you have really spent the most intimate and peaceful weekend in the French Countryside with a great deal of their "Joie de Vivre"-!

(Because the author is a Chef - there are included in the book - many delicious - yet simple recipes you will want to try-!)

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THE BOOK: "Joie De Vivre" Simple French Style for Everyday Living

By Robert Arbor & Katherine Whitesides - Simon & Schuster Pub.

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