Extraordinary Women Magazine, July 2022

E X T R A O RwDoI NmA eR nY JULY 2022

Flower Love The

FRENCH ISSUE

FRENCH PASTRY Stay Cool Fashion DREAM. NURTURE. GROW.

Gorgeous floral arrangement designed by Amy Kupec Larue, Garden Guide Paris Photo by Krystal Kenney

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

editor’s letter elcome to Summer and the Rebirth of Travel!

Planes, trains, autos and taxis, I’ve joined the movement and truly loving every moment of it.

This issue of EW Magazine embraces travel, whether you are physically traveling or traveling from your favorite sofa via this magazine or traveling towards the creation of something you love. Extraordinary Women are on the go!

You’ll read about two American women, Molly and Amy, who decades apart, made France their home and built amazing businesses that actually expanded in possibilities during covid!

On the theme of travel, in My Parisian Life, I share the central differences I noticed on a recent trip from Paris to London to see the musical My Fair Lady. It was a tad difficult to see Harry Hadden-Paton as Mr. Higgins instead of Bertie Pelham in Downton Abby but the star, Miss Amara Okereke, who plays Eliza Doolittle pulled me into her world. She was absolutely loverly. It was an eye-opening experience to arrive in London with French culture in my soul, rather than my native American culture.

As we leave our homes and neighborhoods, this is a unique time for us to notice how we changed during the last two years. We all seem to have a lot more clarity about what we value and The curtains are now open and we know what in our lives is authentic, true and real. I think each of us have now learned to love the women we truly are!

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Sara Griot, our amazing style contributor has some great tips I know I’m going to incorporate into my summer wardrobe. One thing I notice whenever I’m in Paris, is that the care I take with my clothing and accessories, really does reflect how I am feeling about myself. Therefore, that is something I remind myself of when I'm back in the states.

I’m also going to dive into Molly Wilkinson’s choux pastry recipe! Molly is an amazing pastry chef and if you haven’t signed up for her classes or purchased her book, do so now. I’m determined to figure out how to get my gougères to puff because I want a freezer full of them for my impromptu apéritif gatherings! Yum! In the spirit of the incredible gardener and flower arranger, Amy Kupec Larue, who is also highlighted in this issue, I plan to attempt a balcony pot planting when I return to Boston. Amy is always so encouraging for those of us who are gardening-challenged, but the value of flowers, plants, and trees on our mental health, is indisputable. I hope you too are surrounding yourself with the beauty of mother nature.

Bon ètè or Happy Summer everyone!! And love the woman you are…

"J’accepte la grande aventure d’être moi."

I accept the great adventure of being me. ~ Simone de Beauvoir

Sharri Sharri Harmel, Editor-in-Chief 5

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Garden Guide Paris

Photo by Krystal Kenney

River Seine 95

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What to Wear When It’s Steamy Outside!

STYLIST SARA GRIOT

When temperatures start rising, so does the challenge of what to wear to stay cool and still look chic, stylish, and pulled together in any business environment.

And even though our standards of dress have relaxed somewhat, there is still the expectation that you should show up looking sharp, modern, and ready to go. That being said, I think that summer is one of the hardest seasons to dress for professionally.

Who hasn’t walked into a place of business and seen a co-worker wearing something that looked like it belonged at a pool party? Don’t let this be you!

Let’s explore what will keep you feeling cool and appropriate in the heat while not losing your polished edge.

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Stick to a clean, effortless look Business is business; you must look professional even when the heat is suggesting that fewer clothes are best. This is easier to do when you remember a few clothing rules that support a polished look.

What works: Solid colors are more professional than prints and three pieces are better than two. Enjoy the summer’s bright colors but in moderate doses.

Consider wearing a skirt or pant in a neutral color with a jade green or coral sleeveless silk blouse and then add a linen blazer to the mix.

I love the combination of a neutral pant, a white blouse, and a flax-colored linen blazer as well - so classic and so chic.

Instead of wearing two pieces, like a skirt and a blouse, try an ankle pant with a knit shell and a silk/linen blend cardigan with three-quarter length sleeves.

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You can even create a three-piece look with two clothing pieces and a prominent accessory. For instance, slip on a slim pencil skirt, tuck in a blouse that has sleeves and then add a wide belt.

The belt is the defining piece that steps in as that third piece. Or wear a sleeveless solid-colored dress with a cardigan and add long, layered, metal chains as the third piece.

I love timeless, summer separates in high quality fabrics, and they will serve you for years to come - but the simplicity and ease of just slipping on a dress is hard to beat. Much like the LBD, a little white dress is a fail safe pick that will form the backbone of your spring/ summer wardrobe.

What doesn’t work: Avoid wearing patterns that are distracting. Simple floral prints, thin stripes or polka dots in neutral colors work well in a business setting.

Unless it’s a Zoom call, then I think a vibrant color stands out and can elevate the mood of the meeting. Save the wild prints for the weekend.

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Go for featherweight fabrics Your summer outfits can be made up of lightweight, effortlessly wearable fabrics and then layered to get the right effect.

What works: Cotton voile, cotton gauze, and tropical weight wool, fine linen blends and silky cotton knits are great choices. Look for clothing that has body and doesn’t cling to your skin. You’ll look cool and in command.

What doesn’t work: Linen, although breathable (a favorite of mine), wrinkles easily and may not be the best choice if you’re leading a meeting and need to look crisp and on point, but it also can work perfectly in the right setting.

A white linen shirt dress accessorized with a belt and shoes in a pop of color is a look that will take you through the whole summer. Loose knits or crocheted tops are very breathable with tank tops underneath them but may look too casual.

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Accessories Are Necessary Your accessories always play an important role in creating a look. They are the finishing touches to an outfit and add to your credibility.

I also think that if you have a wardrobe of mostly neutrals, accessories are where you can have some fun. A bright colored shoe or bag can change up any outfit What works: Try wearing a statement necklace or multiple strands of necklaces with your blouse and jacket. Scarves in lightweight linen, cotton, silk, or featherweight cashmere can be a great source of pattern and texture.

A wide cuff worn at the wrist works well with three-quarter sleeve blouses sweaters or jackets. Your accessories don't have to match perfectly, but they should have a consistent theme. Mix metallic tones or wear colors that match your own coloring (eyes, skin tone, hair tone).

No summer accessory rotation is complete without a straw bag. Long revered by the most stylish of French women (who took their cues from Jane Birkin in her 70s heyday), it’s the sort of piece that elevates more tailored, elegant outfits with ease, thanks to its rustic quality.

What doesn’t: Avoid overly embellished earrings. Stacked bangles can be somewhat intrusive and noisy, so one or two bracelets will be less distracting. When making your choices, lean to a more understated look.

Stay Cool!

Contact Sara to learn how she can help you find your unique wardrobe style.

She also has a Virtual Styling and Shopping service: www.saragriot.com 15

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Do you have an idea for an article that would be a good fit for EW Magazine?

Drop us a line, we’d love to talk to you. Email us at sharri@extraordinarywomenmagazine.com

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A Good Read withTea The EW Summer Reading List!!

The Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear I am completely engaged in these books. It’s just the right combination of mystery, psychology, intuitive gifts and detective work, along with observing how our life’s experiences get played out in the lives of our families and friends with certain choices and decisions.

Perfect for travel and vacay reading!

The Art of Growing Up, Simple Ways to Be Yourself At Last by Véronique Vienne I actually like all of Véronique’s little books but start with this one. It’s an oldies but goodie, but if you are like me, you’ll read it entirely different at your current age than you did a decade or two ago. Her books make you think, journal and want to get busy with creating the life you want. Here’s a fabulous quote from the book, “At long last, you can flaunt the intelligence of your face.”

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The Well-Loved House by Ashley Whittaker First, I should come clean and tell you that I love wallpaper. No. I don’t just LOVE wallpaper, I’m obsessed with wallpaper and I think Ashley, the author of this book has the same addiction!!

She takes traditional spaces and jazzes them up with fun wallpaper and upholstery. For instance, try

Pierre Frey's Balloons in your bathroom or Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Homes Olive Branch wallpaper in a bedroom.

The Fearless Woman’s Guide to Starting A Business by Ameé Quiriconi Super fun. Downright hysterical at times. But excellent if you ready or have started that business doing what you love. Reading Ameé’s book is like having a good long chat with your girl friends about taking the hobby you love and turning it into a business.

Prince Charming Isn’t Coming by Barbara Stanney Now I’m a former stockbroker, so I get money and actually enjoy conversations about money, especially investing. But not that long ago, when I brought up investing with a couple of women around my age, I was nicely told that we shouldn’t talk about things like money and investing, but ladies, we should! The statistics on women and money are dreadful, especially for women who divorce after many years of being married. Also, more and more women are in the workplace making good salaries, and it’s time we educate ourselves, debate about financial options, wills, estate planning and taxes. Money gives us the freedom to pursue our dreams, so let’s get started.

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LISTEN

N HERE!

Photo by Krystal Kenney 22

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with Sharri Harmel

I have just returned from three months in Paris and trying to get my American mojo back again. It always takes times to adjust even though I’m an American gal through and through.

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y Parisian Life this time, included a short trip to London in May. It was the Eurostar for me, not because it’s the cheapest because it isn’t, but I love train travel. I was born more than a century too late because if I had my way, I’d always travel by train.

I read that train travel is actually the greenest way to travel today, so another reason to jump on a train.

Still concerned about Covid, I upgraded to premium.

Therefore, I had a lovely seat by myself and was able to control my surroundings, which feels super important these days!

Travel aways seems to heighten our awareness of the small differences between one culture and another.

I can walk almost anywhere in Paris and get to where I want to be in under an hour. If I take a bus or the metro, I’m there in minutes. London is big. Really big and consequently incredibly noisy.

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in

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hat surprised me though, was that from the moment I arrived, was how different I felt once again. Going between cultures always takes an adjustment, as you slowly shed the culture you just left to embrace the culture where you just landed in. Visually, London architecture isn’t all that different than Boston, just many times bigger.

After months in Paris, it felt strange to hear English being spoken, but also a multitude of other languages as London felt much more diverse than Paris.

My brain couldn’t seem to land in a comfortable language place. It was like looking for a Wi-Fi connection with your computer.

Yet, the look of the people, the clothing, the way people move their bodies in space, how they were interacting with each other was so similar to Boston.

At no other time, have I noticed such significant differences between the culture of London and Paris.

No wonder France and Great Britain have had a centuries old love-hate relationship!

The sea between these two countries created different lifestyles, values, and even beliefs between these two great cultures.

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And differences? More than I can mention in this article but a few I could see right from the start.

Lots of drinking in London and smoking is a common activity in Paris.

Clothing and how people put together outfits, was stunningly different.

In Paris, everyday style matters. It’s often the accessories that bring an outfit together. Much like Americans, London everyday style was much more about comfort dressing.

Ooh la la, even the average French man chooses entirely different clothing ensembles than the average British man regardless of age!

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You may recognize Rule Restaurant from the television show, Downton Abbey 28

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Having snagged tickets to the musical revival of My Fair Lady, I was in the theatre district on a Friday night. As always, it was amazingly loud and yet quaint with cobblestoned streets, beautiful old cozy theatres, and little containers of ice cream at intermission.

Musical theatre is not a thing in Paris. The opera in Paris is fabulous. Burlesque hysterical and jazz fantastic but no real musical theatre culture.

I mentioned the noise level in London, but the people are also loud in London.

There was some sort of football event in Piccadilly Circle, and after the theatre, the area was filled with men celebrating, singing, waving flags and drinking.

The same scene in the US could have been a bit scary but in London it was happy, inebriated, multigenerational men, celebrating their teams, and breaking out into chants.

You would w never see that in Paris.

You’ll only hear chanting and yelling when there is a protest of some kind, but it appears that no one gets all that excited in Paris. Now maybe it’s different on football days but the stadium is outside of Paris and no big screens are set up inside of Paris to watch games.

London’s iconic telephone booths.

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an we just talk about breakfast for a minute? The British culture includes breakfast! Staying at Kit Kemp’s Number Sixteen Hotel in South Kensington, breakfast was in the most beautiful conservatory every morning with yummy choices including the traditional English Breakfast of eggs, tomato, sausage, and toast.

In Paris, breakfast consists of a café and maybe a tartine, which is a halved piece of a baguette with a little confiture or jam on it. French people don’t really eat breakfast, maybe because they typically eat dinner very late at night.

The English love their breakfasts and it didn’t take long for me to look forward to the scrambled eggs every morning. Honestly, when I returned to Paris, I had to retrain myself to love my tartine and café again!

In contrast, Parisians love their lunches or déjeuner. Try to get a seat at a good café at 12:30pm without a reservation and you’ll be waiting. The French like schedules and routines and lunch is always from 12:30-2:00.

The streets and cafes are filled with people during the lunch hour, and the focus is on lunch with colleagues or friends. There are still shops in Paris that close during those hours.

My drycleaners does!

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The Brits in contrast seem to be very casual about lunch. They’ll eat something on the street or probably at their desks, two big no-no’s in Paris.

If a Parisian gets take away food, they’ll go to a park and sit with colleagues to enjoy the lunch, conversation, and sun.

Mostly, though, the French like to sit down in a café for lunch and order the plat du jour or the special of the day. It’s not uncommon to see even the very High tea at Number Sixteen thin Parisians use a piece of bread to wipe their plates clean of the last bit of yummy sauce left on their plates. The French relish their lunches.

The food in France is always good and I believe the French invented the clean plate club. How do they stay thin you ask? They won’t put another morsel of food into their mouths until dinner.

The French are not snackers, and highly disciplined about most everything in their lives, whereas the Brits are more like the Americans, we like to snack. Everywhere I looked, people were eating. It was a shock to me!

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o more obvious is the cultural differences of the British and the French than in their gardens. I spent three hours one morning walking it through Kensington Gardens, and because of the wild plantings and paths, I felt I was alone in the countryside.

Kensington Gardens, which runs next to Hyde Park, is filled with places to sit, flowers, walking paths, little gate houses, plants, and some of the coolest trees you’ll ever see. You could be in the countryside as easily in the center of London. It’s messy, soft, and cozy.

When I’m in Paris, I spend a lot of time in all sorts of gardens, the large public ones especially the Tuileries and the Luxembourg, but also small, convent portages in my neighborhood that are now open to the public.

I love both French and British gardens, but the contrast is astounding.

French gardens are ruled by symmetry, conformity, lines, perspective, and the beauty of the details as well as the big scope.

The French garden designers had drone vision long before the invention of drones.

The landscape is conformed to a design.

There is no wildness, there is no craziness, no randomness. Everything is beautifully planned.

The beauty of the French garden design is truly breathtaking.

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Kensington Gardens

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So, I ask you, as you hopefully went on this journey with me, what makes up a country’s culture? It is everything I’ve mentioned and more.

The language, the humor, the preferred topics of conversation, the food, the daily habits, how people dress and interact with each other, the gardens, the architecture, plus a multitude of other ingredients I haven’t mentioned in the layers of life that make up a culture.

America is a big country with a common language, so as Americans we aren’t required to speak a different language when we land in Vermont or Texas, but we are a land of many cultures, sometimes even within our own cities!

As we travel, how fun is it to notice a different culture and even try to blend into that new culture rather than holding tightly onto the culture we live in most of the time.

My Parisienne Life is all about embracing the differences of this very beautiful and old culture. Je’taime les differences.

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A London street in bloom after a shower.

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Dreaming of Once you’re clear about your dream, go all in!

Molly Wilkinson, who goes by Molly J. Wilk on all her social media sites, is a model of a woman who listened to her inner brilliance and passions, tapped into her strengths, and kept moving forward on her dream.

Molly’s charisma, professionalism and expertise are evident in all of her social media posts and videos. When Molly is explaining how to make a pastry, a macaroon, a yummy new cream to consider putting inside your pasty, I’m ready to jump in and believe I can make it!

With the success of her first book, I predict that Molly might just become our next Julia Child with a highly popular television show all her own!

Photos by Krystal Kenney 41

olly, you are from Dallas, Texas, and now live in Versailles, France.

Let’s go back because our readers would love to hear how a Texas gal landed on being a pastry chef in Versailles, France?

When I was little, I loved to bake. I baked with my mom and enjoyed memorizing recipes. It was how my mom kept me occupied because I loved it.

But, when it was time for college, I didn’t think being a baker was a real job.

I went to TCU (Texas Christian University) and started in interior design. That wasn’t a fit. I switched to business and began in finance. I did horribly! Then I switched my focus to marketing and loved it! I spent seven years in marketing, but my love of baking never left.

In my internship interview with the marketing company I ended up working for, the woman interviewing me asked what I loved to do outside of marketing. We ended up talking about baking for over five minutes!

She asked me if I had ever thought about culinary school, and I said no way.

I got hired for the internship, which led to a fulltime position, but I kept on baking. I lived alone, so every week I’d bring my creations to the office. My colleagues continually asked when I was opening up my own bakery.

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The marketing agency where I worked really fostered us to explore our passions, it was really quite amazing they did. So, while I still had my full-time marketing job where I now managed six people and had a major hotel as a client, I decided to explore pastry schools. The options within the US were not good. Very expensive and all were combined with business courses, which I already had taken in my degree.

I had always loved Julia Child, and she went to Cordon Bleu, so I looked up the school in Paris and it was half the price as the one in Dallas! It was a no brainer!!

The marketing agency where I worked, was super supportive. So, I packed my bags and went to Paris as a student, while continuing to work remotely for the marketing agency! I’m the type of person who always wants a backup plan.

I wasn’t ready to leave the corporate world until I was sure what my next big step was going to be. So, I went between the two fields for almost two years. Financially I needed to do so, but also, I felt that I had to have that fall back plan.

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o, you’re in Paris. How long was the program at Cordon Bleu and what happened next?

The program was one year long including the internship. My internship was with a teeny tiny patisserie in the 10th arrondissement, where there were only three people.

I could have gone to a large company like Pierre Hermé, but I knew I’d only learn one or two things there because of the size of the staff. In the small patisserie, I was a part of every process and so I had an amazing learning experience!

Once school was over, my Visa ran out, so I had to return to Texas. My big plan was to be back in France in three months with my Visa in hand.

That didn’t work out, so I continued to work part-time for the marketing agency. My head was swimming in Excel all day and in a pastry shop on nights, where the owner, a woman, had just started selling her macarons at the local farmer’s market.

The macarons sold so well that she was able to get a kitchen and very quickly, a store front. It was great experience for me. It was physically taxing andI was exhausted, but I got to see how this woman took her business from basically a start up to a thriving store front.

Yet, I was still trying to figure out a way to get back to Paris. I had this crazy connection with two French guys who were trying to start a Mexican restaurant in Paris and wanted me to help them. (We are both laughing at that idea.)

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It wasn’t what I wanted to do but I thought it might be a way for me to get back to Paris with a needed work Visa, so I agreed. Well, as everyone knows, opening a restaurant takes forever. The three months turned into one year, and during that time, I got nervous knowing it wasn’t what I really wanted to do.

Then I got an opportunity to work for a château in the south of France, and I took that job. When that ended, I went to work for La Cuisine Cooking School in Paris, where I worked the front desk.

I was a little worried I had taken a step backwards, but all those connec-tions later helped me to get my professional Visa, and it was really good experience for me to hear class feedback from students and learn how to teach and market a cooking school.

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s that when you began teaching pastry classes all in?

Yes. I decided that I wanted to teach simple. I want people to learn the base recipes and then add in what they specifically loved, whether it was lemon or chocolate.

I also want people to be able to use tools they already have in their kitchen.

So many cooking classes have tools that people don’t have at home, so you really can’t replicate what you made in the class.

I make sure to find multiple uses for tools we all have, like how to use the outside of springform pans to make a cake mold, muffin tins for lots of different creations so no one needs to purchase a silicon mold they’ll use one time.

The ingredients also must be accessible for the American cook. The only special tool I encourage people to purchase is a scale and that is because it makes your baking process so much easier.

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How did people find you?

I posted a LOT of pictures on IG, and I started teaching when I had about 5k followers.

Plus, the workshops I had done really helped. I met a woman who owned a massive stationary company in the US, so you just never know who is going to show up for a class or who is following you on IG. Plus, Versailles is so close to Paris, I could now be a part of tours, where in Strasbourg my clients were all expats. It was then that things really took off.

All the while, I kept thinking I’ve got this amazing kitchen, how can I take this to the next level? It is the marketer in me.

On IG, I started these live monthly bake-a-longs. It was SO fun! François was behind the camera and with his French accent, he’d share the questions that were popping up. We all had a great time. Ahead of the class, I’d tell people the ingredients, but I wouldn’t tell them what we were going to make until the day of the bake-a-long.

People participating had many different skill levels but what I loved was that those classes actually changed people’s mind about their fears in the kitchen.

We had people making caramel, something most people are afraid to make and an easy way to make puff pastry.

People loved it and at the end, everyone would have a dessert! I encouraged people to post their desserts in IG and invite friends in. It was so much fun, and it really grew my business.

Everything was going great and then, Covid hit.

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"I decided that I wanted to teach simple. I want people to learn the base recipes and then add in what they specifically loved, whether it was lemon or chocolate."

Molly Wilkinson

Envision the sky at sunset, ablaze with bright colors, 49

ut I’ve heard, goodness came out of Covid for you, right?

Yes, a publisher contacted me about doing a cookbook. It was such a compliment! They had been following me on IG. I now had around 26K subscribers, which sounds like a lot but compared to other big cooks, I was small.

One thing I always say though, is that it is super important to attract quality people as followers on social media. I’ve never paid for followers; it has all grown organically for me.

But a cookbook intrigued me, so I said yes!

Tell us about the process of writing a cookbook. We’ve all seen the Julie/Julia movie when Irma Rombauer said she never evaluated even one of the recipes in her cookbook. Is that true?

Well, you have different levels of cookbook authors. Some are excellent and test everything and others test nothing.

For me, I had to make sure all the recipes were foolproof and would work all around the world. My tarte recipe took 26 tries to make sure it was perfect.

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So testing was super important to me! I knew my cookbook was probably going to be for people who had never made pastry before, so it all had to be right.

I also knew that if someone mastered the fundamental, basic recipes, they could do a lot with it.

For example, pâte à choux. It’s been around since 1450. Catherine de Medici brought it with her and if you can make a good pâte à choux, you can make éclairs, cream puffs, Saint Honoré, even churros.

Next if you learn the basic cream recipe, you’ll not only have fillings for your pastry, but you also can make flan or use the cream as a base for a sweet soufflé. You can also change it up with your preferred flavors or use what you have in your frig or what is seasonal.

In the book, there are 10 sections, each is a fundamental, principal recipe.

Then within those sections, I go into how you can change up the flavors.

There are 60 different recipes in all.

In my recipe testing, I knew the ingredients would be incredibly important, so I had my Mother ship me U.S. flour so I could test all my recipes using what my students would purchase. Flour in France is very different from the flour in the U.S. Honestly, if a recipe doesn’t work, it’s most likely the flour.

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Tell us about the difference of a say, American dessert and a French dessert.

In America, our desserts tend to have one note. I love chocolate chip cookies and when you take a bite, you immediately taste sugar. Sugar is the leading taste.

In France, it’s layers of flavors and those flavors all work together, balance each other out and creating an experience.

Our taste buds can change over time. Mine have the longer I am in France. I think that is why I have so many people come back for my classes. This flavor layering intrigues Americans.

What is your favorite pastry to eat?

It goes back to my American roots. There is still nothing like a chocolate chip cookie.

But what I find so interesting in France, is different regions have different dessert specialties.

Chinon is known for great wine, so they have an apple tart with a wine jelly on top.

In Dordogne they are known for their walnuts and strawberries. Last July we were there for two weeks, and I tried out five different walnut cakes. I was told there is boulangerie outside of this little town, which has THE best walnut cake. Off we went, but they were sold out, so of course, I ordered one for the next day. It was incredible!! They won’t give me the recipe, but I’m getting very close to making it myself!

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How fun! I’m excited to try that walnut cake. Yum! Molly, can you now share your online cooking school with us?

I’d love to! It’s called the Molly J. Wilk Online Pastry School. It’s a full-fledged school with every class professionally recorded. It was important to me that people can access it anytime and from anywhere.

In addition to the video, there is text to help people understand what they are doing. I don’t share things you don’t need to know, but I wanted it to be read like one of my classes, so lots of tips.

I release a new recipe each month with a live Q&A with me in the middle of every month for people to ask questions about the new recipe or any others in the library.

Everything seems to go together! I love how you have structured your business!

Yes, everything does go together.

The cookbook, my classes (both live and in-person) pull from my cookbook, and my online school is the next level of support because those live classes are only accessible for 30 days. The school is the ongoing resource for cooks. I’m also getting into physical products. Please do check out my aprons!

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I have and I bought two of them. They are beautiful! Okay, this all sounds like a LOT! How do you take care of Molly and avoid entrepreneur burnout?

Back in November I decided I had to get some help. First, I got a housekeeper to help with the dishes. When I’m working on a recipe, when I’m creating, everything is out because I just don’t know what I’ll need, so it’s a HUGE mess.

I also knew I needed an assistant, but I was reluctant because you have to find just the right person, and then you have to onboard them, which takes time. Then a friend brought someone with her for a get together at my home.

We talked and it turned out she is perfect and now works part-time for me!

That has freed me up to be more creative, getting the classes out, focus on taking really good photos, create super interesting desserts and not worry whether the emails are being taken care of.

My final question Molly, is one I ask everyone … what are you must haves in life?

First, a supportive network. It is what boosts me up when I need it and it allows me to do what I do today.

Second, some really good chocolate!!

Learn more about Molly and how you can take her online and in-person pastry classes, and enroll in Molly J Wilk Online Pastry School

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Business Tips from Molly Wilkinson

Have patience to make the transition from one thing to another.

If you are currently in a corporate position OR finished raising the kids and getting ready to launch your own business, patience is the HUGE gift you give yourself.

Prepare for the transition Save up funds so you aren’t stressed to make that business successful right out of the gate because few are.

Take time to envision something really BIG! (Rose) Your business is off the ground, take the time to imagine, envision what could it be and go BIG ladies!

Social Media followers Build up your followers organically. These are the real people interested in your business.

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Keep honing your skills in your business idea even if you haven’t launched yet.

Practice whatever it is you want to create.

Connect with people and talk about your business whether it has launched or not.

Get feedback, hear their thoughts. It will all help you to tweak your business idea. Call it market research!

Sometimes, you just need good chocolate!

We all need breaks and treats. When you’ve hit a roadblock and don’t know what to do next, take a break.

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Merveilleux Recipe by Molly Wilkinson

Reprinted with permission from French Pastry Made Simple by Molly Wilkin Page Street Publishing Co. 2021. Photo Credit, Joann Pai 56

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Prepare the Meringue In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, start whipping the egg whites on medium speed until they completely resemble foam.

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Then, increase the speed to medium-high and very slowly add the granulated sugar, about a tablespoon (15 g) at a time.

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Keep whipping, then check the peak. If it’s not at stiff peak, whip for a bit longer and consider increasing the mixer speed. This can take a total of 10 to 15 minutes to do! Look for a very thick meringue.

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Sift the powdered sugar over the whipped egg whites in two additions, gently folding in to combine: Use a spatula to go down through the middle and then scrape up the side and over the top. The consistency will become a bit more fluid after folding it. Try to keep as much air as possible in the egg whites.

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Dab a little meringue in the corners of your baking sheet and press a piece of parchment paper on top.

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Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip (10 to 12 mm), or cut to a large opening. Make small, closed swirls to create thirty 2 to 2½-inch (5- to 6-cm) circles on the prepared baking sheet. You can also simply spoon the meringue onto parchment and smooth with the back of a spoon or knife.

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Bake for 2 hours. Don’t open the oven door while baking. When the timer goes off, turn off the oven, resist the urge to open the door, and leave in the oven for at least 1 hour to cool.

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Prepare Your Toppings To shave the chocolate, simply use a vegetable peeler and run it along the edge of the chocolate bar or process it in a food processor. Place the chocolate and the other toppings in separate large bowls and set aside.

Make the Whipped Cream Icing Whip together the cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and mascarpone at medium-high speed until very thick, like a buttercream. The mixture will seem overwhipped. This is beaten more than you would normally whip cream to pipe beautiful swirls on top of a cake. If adding any flavorings, add them when the whipped cream is at medium to firm peak.

Assemble the Merveilleux Put a nice tablespoon-sized (15-ml) amount of the cream on top of one of the disks and sandwich another disk on top. Hold between your thumb and first fingers and ice around the sides.

Note: If the meringues aren’t stacking nicely because of points or bumps on the cookies, trim them with a paring knife.

Ice the top by mounding the whipped cream on top to make a dome shape.

Smooth with an offset metal spatula or butter knife. Then, roll or sprinkle with toppings and place on a flattened cupcake paper. Chill the bowl of whipped cream as often as you need to throughout the assembly.

Chill the finished merveilleux for about 30 minutes to firm up before serving.

Storage These are best the day they are made but can last for 1 day in the fridge.

Order Molly’s book, French Pastry Made Simple Here 59

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For the Love of

Originally from Kinston, New York, Amy Kupec Larue is a garden and flower specialist, tour guide and flower arrangement designer who has lived in France all her adult life.

Amy built her business while her children were young and gradually expanded it as they grew up. Essentially, she raised her business while she raised her children!

Statistics tell us that almost 50% of all businesses started by women were created to pursue a passion and Amy is another fabulous example of an extraordinary woman who embraced her passions and started a business out of something she loves.

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Amy enjoying the flower displays at the Bagatelle Gardens in Paris

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onjour Amy! Let’s jump right into gardening, a topic I know little about. Have you always loved flowers and gardens?

I’ve always been drawn to beauty, but I didn’t study anything close to gardening in college. My degree is in business, marketing specifically. After graduating, I worked for several years for Home & Garden Magazine, here in France, but I was in the advertising department. I’d look through each issue of the magazine, yearning to get to the creative side of the magazine, where the lovely homes and gardens were pictured. But it took a while for me to get there.

Tell us more about how your upbringing nurtured your creative, beauty loving side.

My father was a computer programmer at IBM, but also an amazing photographer. My mother was a wonderful gardener, and my brother is a landscape designer, so gardens and an appreciation for beauty were always a part of my life.

My grandfather was half French and as he aged, he completely embraced his French heritage. He was an amazing man, truly a renaissance man, traveling back and forth between France and upstate New York, learned the language at age 75, and created a mini Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte garden in his back yard!

I remember as a child, the little gifts he’d bring back from his travels to France, and walking around his garden, observing the symmetry he had created. So, I was exposed to beauty and an appreciation of gardens and our environment from a very young age.

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ow did you end up in France?

I was always drawn to Europe and Europeans, even in high schooI, I connected best with the European exchange students. I fared miserably in foreign languages, but I knew I wanted to live in Europe, so when I graduated from college, I did the Eurail experience and fell in love with France, so I signed up for a six-month language course at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Even though I had met and fallen in love with my French husband while we were in college in Boston, we weren’t together when I landed in France. I was subsequently hired by House and Garden Magazine but in the advertising department due to my marketing degree!

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So, when did you transition from magazine advertising to your own gardening/flower business?

After House and Garden, I went to work for Ralph Lauren’s flagship store in Paris. It was more creative but still heavily business focused. Management changes happened until me and several colleagues all left to start our own businesses.

One of my former colleagues was a decorator who was hired to redo all the Lauderée tea salons. He asked me to come and do the flowers.

That was an amazing opportunity and, in many ways, legitimized my flower business but I just got ahead of myself.

While in France, my French college boyfriend and I reconnected and got married. Getting back to what I love, I did a small garden for my motherin-law and one for myself. So, my garden/flower business started in the dirt so to speak.

My mother-in-law also used foliage in many of her flower arrangements, which was a bit new for me, so I’d observe and try to copy for myself. I took on a few lovely clients who patiently let me learn.

In those days, pre-YouTube, we all learned by walking and looking so I would window shop at flower stores to educate myself on flower arrangements.

Soon after, having connected to the expat community in the Paris area, I started doing weekly bouquets for clients as well as window boxes and terraces for those who were missing their gardens back home.

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Sometimes all it takes is one high profile client to launch your business, but rather than trying to look for your unicorn, just keep on connecting. Those fabulous connections can come from the most seemingly unlikely places.

Amy creates gorgeous bouquets in her home.

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You mentioned connecting to the expat community in Paris and how that was a significant step in the growth of your business. Tell us more about that.

Being American, married to a Frenchman, I was very connected to the expat community and a member of several expat groups. Those days were very different from today.

In the early 90s, there were many high-level American executives placed in Paris because English wasn’t as widely spoken by French corporates executives as it is today.

Plus, this was pre-9/11, so the large global American companies such as Minute Maid, Coca-Cola, IBM, etc., all had many high-level executives in Paris. The spouse arrived with children, often with no contacts, and they had to step right into corporate entertaining.

I began doing flower arrangements for their homes and even their corporate spaces. Word of mouth was and still is a powerful advertising tool, so my early clients were almost exclusively expats.

Find groups to connect with and talk about your business … the work you do … the company you are starting.

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And when did the garden tours begin?

The tours were perfect when my children were young. I was doing tours for various travel groups inside of Paris and the Ile de France circle. It worked because I could do the tours during the day while my children were in school.

Then as my children grew older, I started to curate my own trips and could go further distances.

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I still love doing tours and I see that as an expanding part of my business.

The flower business is hard on the body. Carrying water buckets and getting up very early to go to the flower markets, has made me realize that I just don’t have the juice I had when I was much younger!

My children are all now grown. Before Covid, I had started to build out the tour side of my business. I had several tours to the south of France, the Périgord region, and more. I was loving working on both the flower side and tours.

When winter arrived, the tours would end and I’d be decorating homes for Christmas, creating arrangements for the embassy, doing some workshops. Then Covid hit.

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What was that like, what happened?

Everything stopped. I had to re-reinvent myself! (Love that phrase!!)

I started to do online workshops and lectures. I actually found that quite inte-resting. I began with some museums, AWG (American Women’s Group in Paris) and then I started to get special requests. I truly love all the variety!

Tours, workshops, and conferences are all left brain, they require researching and writing.

Flowers in contrast, are creative, manual, tactile, spontaneous, and physical, which is right brain.

I love this combination of left versus right brain and I see those same traits in many of my family members.

Amy will soon be feaured on Bloom TV Network, a streaming video channel devoted to all things floral. Listen to the Extraordinary Women Magazine, Episode 91 here.

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I love that you honor who you really are and built your business around that self-awareness. What are you planning and doing right now given the world has opened again?

So many things.

First the garden tours in spring, summer, and fall. I’d love to expand into Holland and Belgium … even to the United States to the Hudson River Valley where I am from. People are traveling outside their countries less, so I’m going to go to them.

In the winter, I enjoy the conferences. I’ve done several on zoom, but it would be fun to travel and do live presentations. I also plan to write more. I’ve done a few articles for Bonjour Paris and France Today and enjoyed that.

Right now, I’m working on creating a map called Remarkable Trees in Paris. Now this is a perfect example of what my mother used to say to me. She’d say to me that I would always leap before I looked and she’s right!

How the map happened is one night, I was reading about Blue Crow Media’s The Remarkable Trees maps for London and New York. I thought, well I could do Paris! So, without hesitation, I sent off an email to them and a few days later, I was on board with the Remarkable Trees of Paris map!

It’s literally a folding map and at first, I worried whether I was qualified to do this map. This was going to be printed so I had to let go of my horrible drive to perfection, which wasn’t easy.

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Our final question I love to ask, what is it you can’t live without?

Family. I need my family to feel connected, no matter where they are.

It’s a security blanket for me and gives me the confidence to jump off in all sorts of different directions.

The countryside. Nature in general. My husband’s family home is on an island off the coast of Brittany, and we have the most special times there.

My own extended family was very small growing up, but my husband’s French family is huge, and I love how we all gather as family.

Also, we try to work one week a month from our country home, and I find it refuels me and every aspect of my life.

Learn more about Amy on her website, Garden Guide Paris 78

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To learn more about Amy and her garden tours go to her website.

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Issue 6 July 2022

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