Take a Sip: The New Flavors of Bellocq Tea

Though the cold weather has come and gone, the desire for a perfectly balanced cup of tea has not. Back in October we introduced a new line of gourmet teas by Bellocq Tea Atelier and they quickly captured the hearts and taste buds of our customers, employees and fellow tea fanatics. For the spring season we have stocked our shelves yet again with Bellocq and are proud to provide an assortment of new flavors to both new and old Bellocq fans!

Choose from a variety of new flavors by Bellocq Tea Atelier.

Here is what's inside some of our favorite blends.

Siam Basil Lemongrass
An exotic caffeine-free blend of bright organic lemongrass and feverish ginger with notes of fresh basil, delicate orange blossom and red mandarine.

Gypsy Caravan
A beguiling blend of organic Indian and Chinese black teas, rambling rose and tongue tingling chile give way to soulful smokey notes reminiscent of a distant campfire. Full-bodied and smooth with delicate floral notes and a wistful, smokey finish. Gypsy Caravan is well-suited to holiday afternoons in a comfortable chair in front of the fire.

Kikuya

Beguiling hand-crafted blend of organic Japanese sencha and the essence of Bulgarian rose strewn with rose petals. Named in honor of the first geisha,  Kikuya retains an air of elegance and mystery.  The emerald leaves of Sencha, delicate with prominent oceanic and grassy notes, balance beautifully with the voluptuous scent of rose.   The resulting pale jade liquor is at once fragrant and refreshing with a long blissful finish.

Charleston 

A tea created for and inspired by the magnificent gardens at Charleston, the country residence of Bloomsbury artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Our tea pays tribute to the cultivated yet bohemian spirit of the times in a blend of Ceylon black tea subtly enveloped in a cloud of linden with notes of poppy, chamomile and lavender. We wish you a "dithering blaze of flowers and butterflies and apples…". 

Le Hammau

Beautiful organic herbal blend evocative of a summer meadow. Think: 'Manon of the Spring', meets Marie Antoinette after a stroll through l'orangerie. Organic lemongrass and verbena mingle playfully with lavender, rose petals, mint and sage. Refreshing and light-hearted, Le Hammeau may inspire you to adorn your livestock with blushing pink ribbons too. Caffeine-free, this tisane may be enjoyed all day. Delicious iced as well as hot, serve garnished with thin slices of orange and a sprig of just plucked mint, sage or lavender. 

Next time you reach for a cup to quench more than just thirst, try some of Bellocq's tasty new blends.

Available now for sale at The Paris Market!

On the Shelf: The Secret Garden

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” 

― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

One of our currently favorite displays is tucked away, hidden under the stairs in a wonder weave of branches and garden accessories. With the warmer winds comes the desire to play in the dirt and The Paris Market has everything you need to capture nature and watch it grow!

Choose from a variety of container garden supplies, antique terra cotta vases, and brightly colored moss! See what other new spring gaden items are stocked on our shelves and be sure to stop by for an eye-full of our warm weather displays!

Only at The Paris Market!

Not Your Regular Garden Gnome...

Modern garden gnomes are based on the legendary “Gnomes” of myth, mysticism, and fairy tales. Gnomes have historically been described as small (from a few inches to a foot or two in height) stout beings who live in underground. Gnomes were said to wear conical hats and to be able to move through the earth itself as easily as we humans walk upon it, yet if any of these underground dwellers were caught out in the daylight it was said that the rays of the Sun turned them into stone. The visual of these dusty, dirty, little bearded fellows isn't too appealing but it seems that the ceramic version is quite a bit cuter.

We are in love with our newest, and smallest, additions to our garden section. These ceramic Garden Gnomes have been capturing the hearts of our customers and creating quite a bit of mischief in our shop. You can sometimes find them hiding in the strangest places....

Can you find the hiding Gnome in each of these displays?

If you were stumped by our hiding gnome here is where he can be found...

Be sure to take home one of these mischievous little trouble makers for your home or garden!

Now available at The Paris Market! 

Sending a Special Message: Our Favorite Cards

Sometimes Stationary sends much more than a special message...

With the multitude of designs, colors, and images, cards can also be a fun way to display your personal style. Our newest card line by J. Falkner brings something chic into the world of paper goods. Their home base in Palm Beach, Flordia shows off their vibrant inspiration for colorful designs. Their hearts are in the right place too! A percentage of their card sales are donated to the Trevor Project, an inspirational youth-oriented charity.

So next time you choose to send a special message, don't forget to add your personal style in that envelope with one of our J. Falkner cards!

Available at The Paris Market!

Reading in the Kitchen...Our Favorite Cookbooks

Among the various useful and sometimes necessary tools in the Kitchen, the perfect cookbook can't be overlooked.

Our Kitchen section has been stocked full of some of our favorite (and essential) cookbooks of the season. From Southern Staples to the Sweets of Paris, these cookbooks will have you donning that apron and whipping up something special for you next sit-down soiree.

 

Subdue that rumbling stomach and head over and pick up a new cookbook, now available at The Paris Market!

Timeless Authors: Horatio Alger Jr.

As someone who is an avid bookworm, I have a serious soft spot for vintage books, especially books for children. You can often find vintage reads scattered on our display shelves, but our collection of Horatio Alger Jr. novels have every literary fan swooning over the yellowed pages, beautifully illustrated covers and historic significance of these timeless books.

Horatio Alger, Jr. was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty.

His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age. Essentially, all of Alger's novels share the same theme: a young boy struggles through hard work to escape poverty. Critics, however, are quick to point out that it is not the hard work itself that rescues the boy from his fate, but rather some extraordinary act of bravery or honesty, which brings him into contact with a wealthy elder gentleman, who takes the boy in as a ward. The boy might return a large sum of money that was lost or rescue someone from an overturned carriage, bringing the boy—and his plight—to the attention of some wealthy individual. It has been suggested that this reflects Alger's own patronizing attitude to the boys he tried to help.

Alger secured his literary niche in 1868 with the publication of his fourth book Ragged Dick, the story of a poor bootblack's rise to middle-class respectability, which was a huge success. His many books that followed were essentially variations on Ragged Dick and featured a cast of stock characters: the valiant hard-working, honest youth (who knew more Latin than the villain), the noble, mysterious stranger (whom the poor boy rescued and by whom he got rewarded), the snobbish youth (cousin), and the evil squire (uncle). 

In the 1870s, Alger took a trip to California to gather material for future books, but the trip had little influence on his writing. In the last decades of the 19th century, boys' tastes changed, and Alger's moral tone coarsened accordingly. The Puritan ethic had loosened its grip on America, and violence, murder, and other sensational themes entered Alger's works. Public librarians questioned whether his books should be made available to the young. By the time he died in 1899, he had published around a hundred volumes.

If you love books, history, and timeless stories, you will love Horatio Alger Jr's work.

Pack your reading glasses in your pocket and head on over to The Paris Market to see our collection of antique books and novels for the vintage literary spirit.

Poisson d’Avril

For centuries, April 1st has been a day marked by hoaxes and practical jokes played on people around the world. France is no exception to this world-wide tradition, and in fact many people think April Fools’ Day originated in France. 

Today in France, those who are fooled on April 1 are called the “Poisson d’Avril” (the April Fish). A common prank (especially among school-aged children) is to place a paper fish on the back of an unsuspecting person. When the paper fish is discovered, the victim is declared a “Poisson d’Avril.”

While it is not clear of the origins of fish being associated with April 1, many think the correlation is related to zodiac sign of Pisces (a fish), which falls near April.

If you are looking for an easy way to prank your friends or family, doodling or cutting out a paper fish and sticking it on the back of an unsuspecting victim is an easy (though admittedly juvenile) way of commemorating the origins of April Fools’ Day.

The History of “Poisson d’Avril”

Although the origins of April Fools is obscure and debated, the most widely accepted explanation actually credits the “holiday” as starting in France. The most popular theory about the origin of April Fool’s Day involves the French calendar reform of the sixteenth century. The theory goes like this: In 1564 King Charles XIV of France reformed the calendar, moving the start of the year from the end of March to January 1. However, in a time without trains, a reliable post system or the internet, news often traveled slow and the uneducated, lower class people in rural France were the last to hear of and accept the new calendar. Those who failed to keep up with the change or who stubbornly clung to the old calendar system and continued to celebrate the New Year during the week that fell between March 25th and April 1st, had jokes played on them. Pranksters would surreptitiously stick paper fish to their backs. The victims of this prank were thus called Poisson d’Avril, or April Fish—which, to this day, remains the French term for April Fools—and so the tradition was born.

What Pranks are you Playing Today?!

Play with Texture: Our Favorite Textiles for Spring

To a creative eye, texture is a necessity in life.

In our home, our wardrobe, and our world we are drawn to those objects with depth. Whether it be a pattern or a woven wonder we just seem to not be able to live without it.

 Our store is currently swimming with texture.

 Our newest throw pillows, clothing, blankets and bags have some of the most delicious prints, faint-worthy fabrics, and tasty textures around. We just can't seem to get enough!

Here are some of our favorites.

Add a bit of woven wonder into your home, wardrobe and world this spring season and be sure to stop by The Paris Market to see some of favorite textiles!

Behind the Glass: The Spirit of Easter

Easter is almost here and our windows have bloomed with colored eggs, green hues, and essential spring products. Display gals, Shelby and Kelsey, worked tirelessly behind the scenes creating this oversized egg, paper petals, and natural woven bird nest.

We love holidays, here at the Paris Market, and our store is now fully stocked with Easter gift items and other spring goodies for our warm weather shoppers.

Click here to see what was behind the glass last Easter and be sure to stop by this month to see our magical windows for yourself!

Joyeuses Paques!

Our Customers Behind the Lens!

This past week the streets have been filled with travelers, flocking from far and wide to celebrate St. Patrick's Day the Savannah way.

We have loved seeing all the fresh faces in our city and in our store, hearing their oohs and aahs, and getting a chance to see The Paris Market with a new set of eyes.  Our latest visitors have snapped, clicked, and flashed their way into our hearts and onto our Instagram.

Here are some of our favorites!

 

@cannekitch/The Paris market = Heaven

 @jrizzle/Pretty flippin' sweet! Feels like I'm watching "Midnight in Paris!"

 

@mizrach_mcclelland/Grabbing a mocha at the Market.

 

@limaannn/We can't stop. Need to live here...

@jileensargent/In love with this store.

@bnick41/Beam me up.

@pemberleyjones/My favorite spot in Savannah

Rest you're cameras you creative travelers and thanks for visiting with us!

  Follow us on Instagram, username: theparismarket, if you don't follow us already, and share your photos, comments, and favorite items with the Paris Market community!

We can't wait to see what you come up with next!

 

Orange d' Azur, the spring line by Vintage d' aujourd' hui

Jewelry line, Vintage d' aujourd' hui, is no stranger to the Paris Market. Designer and creator, Isabelle Brassard, has had her creations on our shelves for many seasons and her newest spring collection is one of our favorites. With the warmer weather comes the need to add a little originality to your classic jewelry. Check out Orange d' Azur, inspired by the orange citrus hues of coral and the deep blues of the mediterranean sea. Available at The Paris Market!

Whether you're on the way to the beach or out for dinner, the newest spring line by Vintage d' aujourd' hui will keep you and your style cool during the upcoming warm weather months.

Check out our last feature on Vintage d' aujourd' hui and be sure to stop by and see what else is spotlighting our jewelry cases!

Only at The Paris Market!