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Lady Violette

The Romantic Lifestyle

Archive for February, 2011

Lady Violette’s Personal Flowers

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

Madame Violet Roses symbolize Creativity in the Language of Flowers

I believe that everyone should have a personal flower, or several, and I encourage you to choose your own. Flowers have been assigned traditional meanings which can be found in lists or dictionaries of the Language of Flowers. I have two, the Violet, of course, and the Madame Violet Rose. The Madame Violet Rose was newer and had not yet been assigned a meaning, when I chose it, therefore I assigned it one. That is Creativity. It is perfectly fine for you to choose a meaning for a newer flower if a traditional one does not already exist. After all, that is how all of them originally acquired their meanings!  Someone assigned them to them. It is fun to have a personal flower. It is like having a special signature. Your personal flower is symbolic of you! And it adds beauty and mystery to your life.

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Oscar Wilde Advises

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

“Be Yourself! Everyone else is already taken!” Oscar Wilde, Playwright

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Lady Violette’s Lavender Sugar

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

Making Lavender Sugar

In a larger than 1 Cup capacity glass jar with a tight fitting lid:

Combine:

1 Cup granulated sugar with

2 Tablespoons organic lavender flowers.

Screw on the lid and shake vigorously. Set this aside in a dark cupboard.

Allow to process for 2 weeks or longer, shaking the jar occasionally to disperse. The lavender flowers can look like bugs in the sugar if people aren’t  forewarned ! Explain that what they see are flowers.

Shake well before use.

Variation #1) To use in baking you can use directly as is, leaving the whole lavender flower buds in the sugar. Or, if preferred, you can strain them out. The sugar will taste very intensely lavender flavored either way.

Variation #2) To use for sugared rims in cocktails place the sugar in a small food processor and process on high speed long enough to pulverize the flowers in the sugar. There will then be very small pieces of the purple colored flower throughout the sugar. And it will taste really good! Prepare the sugared rims as you would with any other type of sugar…

Lavender Sugar can be used to flavor baked goods such as cookies and cakes, to flavor frostings, or lemonade, to stir into iced or hot tea, and to sugar the rims of floral cocktails. It is delicious over fresh berries or used to sweeten blackberry pies. It also goes well with all manner of chocolate and can be used in candies and chocolate sauces. I have used it in custards and cheesecakes and pound cake and ice cream. Experiment! And enjoy! You will undoubtedly find new uses!

To make bigger batches simply mix larger amounts using the same proportions.

It is lovely served from an antique sugar bowl with a silver spoon for afternoon tea.

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Sir Cecil’s Good Advice!

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

“Be daring, be different, be impractical. Be anything that will assert your integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the common place, the slaves of the ordinary!”  Cecil Beaton, Stage & Film Designer

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Lady Violette de Courcy’s Family Crest

Monday, February 7th, 2011

Violet flower and cordate leaf.

The name Lady Violette de Courcy means Violet of the Heart.

It is interesting to note that the violet plant has both a beautiful flower and a cordate leaf in the shape of a green velvet heart!

Thus Lady Violette de Courcy  has chosen the image of the Violet Flower and the Heart-Shaped Violet Leaf for her personal family crest.

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