Beaulieu: Visit at the Studio of artist Carol Bruton

The pretty town of Beaulieu is only 10min car drive away from Monaco and apart from excellent restaurants, there are plenty other attractions to add to your agenda, that will spice up any weekend and get you out of Monaco without too much driving or planning.
One of the Beaulieu highlights is a visit to Carol Bruton's studio and get to know her art. Carol is a wonderful woman and her art is as exciting and interesting as it is aesthetically beautiful. I am the proud owner of one of her works as well, and I encourage you to see her works in person.
You can find Carol's contact details on her website:
www.carolbruton.com

Here is a little sneak peak and some more on Carol herself:

Carol Bruton was born in Toronto, Canada and studied art at the Bellas Artes de Madrid, the Camden Arts Centre, London and the Edinburgh College of Art. Carol's childhood was spent in Spain, a country she still visits regularly. The strong influence of the starkness of the landscape of Southern Spain with its predominant colours of blue and ochre, is evident in her paintings. She has used the burnt earth colours to mould her work. The stucco-quality of the canvasses is the discovery of the artist herself. She found that by using a palette knife to mix limestone/sand with the oil medium, she was able to produce in texture the sensations of her formative years. This stark earth texture is laid in contrast to the flat sky, leaving a brooding, primitive atmosphere. She also spent much time in the Middle East and Africa, where the open spaces and dry clours of the desert are expressed in the composition and textures of her work.

Universal Blue (by Carol Bruton)

Her first solo exhibition at the Mes Gallery, Tehran in 1972, prompted the art critic Terry Graham to write: "The charm of her paintings is starkly terrestrial - suited for the age of Dubuffet. The paintings reflect a moody, brooding atmosphere, the dark aspect of the psyche. For example 'Infatuation 1' by its very title emphasized the paradox of outer levity and inner preoccupation. The simple block white houses in a Spanish village tower in Chirico geometric perspective over an empty street. An effective use of the palate knife recreates in relief the stucco walls and mud streets, set against an opaque Prussian blue sky. The bold heaping strokes of 'Heat' convey the Dubuffet-like sense of mud and earth. Here they are encased in rigid linearly defined forms. There is a sense of phasia, a groping muteness in these paintings, a crying out for expression. There is no levity in 'Infatuation' but rather obsession. But the sombreness is esthetic and occasionally the obsession is magnificent"

Following an exhibition at the Quadrangle Gallery, Oxford 1975, one viewer wrote giving his impressions: "I was in Oxford on Saturday and went to see your exhibition Carol. I've only seen one of your paintings before and wasn't sure what to expect. Well, I'm glad I made the effort - and effort it was as a stranger to Oxford's bewildering one-way system - as I thought your work was fantastic. If I was a man of means, I would have snapped a couple up on the spot. What better than to return from the crowded confines of a city work-day to the limitless horizons of a stark, uncluttered landscape? I once travelled by train through the plains of southern Spain and can still remember the spiritual impact, the unexplicably joyous light-headedness that the scenery awakened in me. In 6 square feet of canvas you have captured that sense of infinity. The sun-bleached ochres and browns, the torpid hamlets and the timelessness. A self-confirmed materialist, I all too rarely experience anthing approaching spiritual ecstasy and very few paintings have such an effect on me"

Carol has named a series of paintings 'Before 2004'. In 2005 she was given a book 'A Devotional Diary' by Two Listeners. The time spent apart with this book led her in a very different direction. The first evidence of this, came in her series showing the earth's crust - in blues, reds and golds. However the sculptures 'Transparent Pools' perhaps best show the spiritual dimension to Carol's work.

Carol currently lives and works in Beaulieu, the South of France.

Sculpture by Carol Bruton

 PEOPLE:  Johanna Rossi of Cosmopolitan Restaurant in Monaco

Great food, a friendly hostess/owner with never-tiring energy making sure all guests leave satisfied, prompt and refreshingly un-French service and a lovely, well, 'comsopolitan' (!) atmosphere...means you have arrived at 'Cosmo', - as it is called by regulars.
Johanna Rossi is the owner (together with her husband) of this small , but fantastic eatery, which is located on the culinary strip just next to the Larvotto round-about. Neighbors include La Piazza, Mozza and Pulcinella.  Try the eclectic menu and yummy food yourself and pop in for lunch or dinner! It's a great place to start an evening out and surely a reliable lunch spot. Johanna also spices up the restaurant's agenda with little special nights (like Crispy Duck and Chinese Food on Monday nights) and events (charity dinners) on a regular basis.

Here we catch up with Johanna herself:

How long have you been living in Monaco and what brought you here?

I have been living in Monaco for almost 10 years now. My husband was born here. We met whilst studying at the same university in the UK.

Johanna Rossi of Cosmopolitan

Do you find Monaco easy to live with children, what are the disadvantages and advantages for living in Monaco with a family?

A lot of my clients ask me that question! Monaco is certainly a 'safe' place to bring up children, we don't have certain fears that other families live with. Obviously the climate isa huge advantage during the Winter months, my son is very active and loves being outdoors so I'm always happy to see the blue skies! On our days off it is also great to be able to get out of Monaco and have Italy and the French Riviera on our doorstep. One of the big disadvantages I find now is that Monaco becomes one big traffic jam on week days. It is dangerous navigating the traffic with a fast moving toddler, not to mention the pollution levels. I also think as my son gets older it will be important for him to travel and see more of the 'real world', Monaco is a bubble and I think it is important for children growing up to have some kind of 'reality check' in the big wide world.

  

You own and run a restaurant with your husband? Describe the place and menu?

Our restaurant takes after its name 'Cosmopolitan'. The menu and the place are about bringing together different people and tastes from around the world. There are so many different nationalities living in Monaco and we wanted Cosmopolitan to be a place where everyone would feel at home and find something that would be to their taste on the menu. Our menu has a Méditerranéen base as obviously we wanted to make the most of the fresh local produce, but we then picked out various signature dishes with Asian, Anglo-Saxon, Indian and Chinese backgrounds that we hoped would please our clients. Our 'top selling' dishes included our Crispy Aromatic Duck, Fish & Chips with Mushy Peas, Seared Tuna in a Sesame Crust and of course the Banoffee Pie! We also have  quite a diverse team consisting of French, English, Italian, Spanish and Argentinian origin so that is a great factor for the kitchen. We designed the interior of the restaurant ourselves and wanted it to be somewhere people would feel at home and relax. There are many constraints when designing a restaurant so sometimes your design decisions are made for you, we completely gutted the old restaurant and literally had to take the place back to a shell and start over, plumbing, electrics, the lot! 

What is your favourite restaurant in Monaco (other than Cosmo) and why?

The Japanese restaurant at the Maya Bay! It is the only restaurant I have eaten at in Monaco probably for about 2 years. If we eat out we usually end up in Italy. The Maya Bay

has it just right, excellent service, cleanliness, great design and most importantly good food,with no protention!

What is your favourite dish/recipe?

I love good honest food. Most importantly the produce you cook with must be fresh and in season! I don't have a favourite dish as it would be far to hard to choose. I love cooking and thankfully my husband loves eating!

 What are your hobbies and passions outside work?

I studied design all through my adolescence and twenties and obtained a first class honours in Interior Architecture...  Creating is my true passion, which is why I love cooking so much.

I 'make' when I can. You can see some of my work here : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-World-Little-Me/114408755303220 I have very little spare time but if I don't create, I

feel like something is missing. It is innate, I have a very active imagaination and putting 'pen to paper' is a therapy for me!

Contact Info:

COSMOPOLITAN
7 rue du Portier
98000 Monaco

t : +377 93 25 78 68
www.cosmopolitan.mc

Fish & Chips (as good as in UK)

Asian Carpaccio

The restaurant inside

CULTURE: ‘Habiller Une Image’ - a visit at Villa Sauber

With the Spring weather taking a little pause, what better excuse than to put a little museum visit on your agenda!
Today I visited the VERY small, yet precious little exhibit at Villa Sauber. Living in Monaco we often forget that we do have some art shows right in front of our doorstep. This small show has been put together by the students of the Saint Martin’s College for Fashion Design in London and the wool company Pringle , all under the art-trained eye of HRH Princesse Caroline, who is the driving force behind NMNM (Nouveau Musée National de Monaco). The curator-mix sounds a bit eclectic and what you find in this 4-room exhibit appears a bit scrambled together at first, though it starts to make sense at closer inspection.

Grace Kelly’s love and passion for plants & flowers is beautifully demonstrated in an expansive installation of plants. She was the founder of the ‘Monaco Garden Club’ and being a big fan of the Chelsea Garden Show, she visited the event in London annually – so there’s our link to London, I guess J

Another room, my favourite, shows 6 different home videos. I loved each of them. You see Princesse Grace skiing the slopes of the Swiss Alps and teaching her daughters ice-skating. Yet in another short film you’ll see an infant Prince Albert dressed as a cowboy playing with his sisters dressed as Indians, crawling in and out of a wigwam. The video showing Grace Kelly pool-side with family and friends, cracking up laughing and just looking all happy , natural and relaxed, somehow managed to make me gulp up some tears. These snapshots and family videos are so very beautiful to watch and getting that rare glimpse inside a world which seems far gone, yet remains so present in this town, feels special somehow.

Pringle exhibits some 60’s cashmere sweaters next to a small collection of Grace Kelly’s handbags and sunglasses. On IPad touchscreens you can view and read articles from Magazines like Time, featuring the Princesse on the cover and in interviews.
A small room in the corner next to the staircase has an audio transcripts of Grace Kelly’s secretary and a close family friends of hers. Once more, a bit random, but nonetheless interesting to listen too. The story behind the ‘Kelly’ bag is explained and a how she dressed when private or up on Mont Agel.

The show can be toured in a short time, even a lunch break. Or on your way to the beach… Count 20-30minutes as sufficient. Entrance is EUR 6,-
Sadly I was not allowed to take any pictures.

Again, it’s a small show, but it demonstrates in a simple and contemporary manner how this long gone legend and eternally GRACE-ful woman remains still so powerful and fresh to keep shining on this town …

The Exhibition is continues until May 20. Doors open at 10h.

Where: Villa Sauber on Avenue Princesse Grace

Food: Delivery Cleanse arrives in Monaco

Spring is in the air and immediately everybody yaps about losing weight, shedding the holidays’ pouch and  getting into bikini body shape. Now we all know the best way to lose that weight and tone your body, is by exercise and practicing Sports! However a good detox or quick cleanse can help achieve that goal quicker and motivate you on the way to your desired ‘summer shape’.

Most big cities have ‘delivery-to-your-door’ diets and low cal meal plans, so I was happy to find out even ‘our big town’ now offers a similar service.

The Milan based company ‘Time to detox’ has set up shop in Monaco! I studied their website and found it explained well but somehow not really inspiring or appetizing what they offered. So, I ordered a sample day.

At 11:30h sharp a big bag containing lunch, dinner and breakfast was delivered to my door by a very friendly man. He explained what the company offered (3 or 10 full day cleanses as well as 5 days per week lunch plans) and he gave a quick overview on the content of these bags full of (recyclable) containers that would be all I got into my system for the next 24h.

All food is made from gluten-free, animalprotein-free (aka vegan), organic ingredients, and prepared to ayurvedic and macrobiotic standards. The goal is to eliminate toxins and rid your body of excessive water retention and waste products. A copper ‘tongue cleaner’ (yes, to scrap off those toxins) is also included in my bag! Weight loss is a welcome side effect of the program, but the real goal you are embarking on is to detoxify your system , which again will reduce sugar cravings for the future.
Brochures and thorough (English) descriptions are included with each dish. So what did I find in my various meal bags:
Lunch

Soup of Coral Lentils with cumin and lemon quinoa: it tasted sooo much better than it looked. In fact the lemon zest flavour in the well boiled quinoa was quite a revelation and I ate it way too fast. You are supposed to chew very, very slowly. Not me. The ‘afternoon snack’ , wrapped separately in the lunch bag, was a buckwheat chapatti. Now that one, I chewed very slowly and I wouldn’t really kill to have it again. But it did take away that craving for sweets which always creeps up early afternoon for me. So, well done for that!

Dinner

Cream of sweet vegetables mustard and onion bells caramalized with spicy rice. Same again, whilst you heat up your dinner soup (in a pan/no microwave please), you are not convinced that this could be a delight. Once you start eating you are just happily surprised and appreciate the feel-good factor for your body.  The soup/cream was a little spicy but full of flavour and the rice in the other container was cooked to perfection. Little downside: on my descriptive leaflet for the dinner a snack of Umeboshi pearls was mentioned, but they were nowhere to be found in my bag?

Breakfast

Ok, I did wake up hungry but the night wasn’t torturous as I might have expected. The bag contained cup with Kanten Mint, which turned out to be some mint-flavored jelly and a pot of Rice cream with malt and fruit. I found both a bit too sweet for my taste, but given that it will be the only sweet flavour on my taste buds all day, - a welcome flavour after all. Snack was Soft rice Almond Cake, which my 17-months old son snatched away…but the remaining crumbs tasted heavenly. Little chap knows what’s good.

Refreshing herbal tea  bottles are  packed with all 3 meals as well as wooden spoons and the already mentioned tongue cleaner. Now, I am sure you are dying to know the prices. It doesn’t come cheap but considering the rather exotic ingredients all from organic produce, the fresh prep and delivery to your door, I find the prices rather justified: 3 full days are 200,-, 10 days will set you back 600,- and the 5 lunches per week are 100,-. Also, it IS much easier and quicker to organize and definitely a lot cheaper than booking a cleanse or detox somewhere in a hotel/spa/wellness clinic.
Mention 'MCDISCOVEREDBLOG' when ordering to get a discount!!!

For sure, it’s a service that many in Monaco have been waiting for.  I will be back to order after the Grand Prix…the week when nearly everybody here could do with a detox J

Where to order:

http://www.timetodetoxmonaco.com/en

Call to order your menu delivery:      +33 6 78 63 73 69
Here some photos of my menu:

The Tongue cleaner  & descriptive leaflet

My bags arrive :)

Lunch w soup, quinoa, tea and afternoon snack

breakfast jelly and rice cream , snack of almond biscuits and tea

People: Vibeke Brask Thomsen & GenderHopes

Raised in Monaco with Danish roots and a dash of Swiss upbringing, Vibeke Brask Thomsen has been working for the EU in the field of human security in Bruxelles. Today she lives full-time in Monaco, married to her British husband Russ and with daughter Alice. Vibeke, like many Monaco residents, travels a lot (both for work and with her family), but her 'home base' with family and friends clearly centers in Monaco. She is the founder of Gender Hopes and we have asked her a bit about herself and her new association which is based in Monaco:

You have grown up in Monaco but also lived in other countries,- what do you appreciate as main qualities about life in Monaco?

The main qualities I see in Monaco is the security it provides to its citizens. It is a great feeling to walk around safely during day and night, not being afraid of being attacked or having ones' car or purse stolen. Especially for a woman - and when having kids - this is priceless! Furthermore, and although it can be frustrating at times, I do like how small Monaco is: it is always easy to meet up with friends, to arrange a lunch or a play date, etc. It makes it easy to keep in touch and see your friends a lot, which is great. As this blog highlights, this small country also offers a lot of activities: many cultural events, from expositions and shows to conferences and concerts. In terms of nightlife, there are countless good restaurants and bars, making it a fun place to enjoy a good evening out. Finally - and it may sound obvious, but I really like the fact that Monaco is French-speaking! It makes me feel completely at home both culturally and linguistically. 

You are the founder of ‘Gender Hopes’? What made you found it? Describe its goals?

I decided to found GenderHopes after working several years in Bruxelles in the field of human security, arms control and international conflict. I have witnessed the specific damages that conflicts have on women, in terms of sexual, moral and physical violence. And such violence doesn't stop when the conflict ends, it often continues in the household, putting women and their children at extra risk. The objective of GenderHopes is to combat all forms of gender-based violence, both in conflict and in times of peace. Currently, GenderHopes is working on a project along with another Monaco association, Femmes Leaders, on domestic violence in Monaco. The objective is to research and analyze the current situation and the options for a woman who is the victim of violence. The project will run throughout 2012. In parallel, I write a number of articles on gender-based violence in order to raise awareness of the problem. GenderHopes also works with a partner organization in London - Make Every Woman Count - on researching and monitoring elections in Africa and the role of women in such elections. 

What does the future hold for women? Will our generation still live to see an end to violence against women?

I want to be optimistic and say that the future looks bright for women! I think unfortunately, we will not live to see the end of violence in general, including towards women, but that does not mean we should not work towards such goal! In the past 20 years, enormous progress has been made worldwide in terms of women's rights and participation: women can now vote in all the countries, the political and economic participation of women is at the center stage of countless policies and the number of women in decision-making positions is constantly increasing. Of course, progress is still needed: women still earn less than men in the same position, women still do the majority of the household chores, and women are still discriminated against in numerous everyday life situations. Furthermore, in several countries and regions worldwide, the rights and safety of women are being challenged everyday. We are currently witnessing the changes brought about by the Arab Spring and I do hope that this wind of change will also include more rights, especially in terms of political participation, for women. 

Do you think ALL women actually want equal rights and if not will future generations change their approach?

I believe that all people want to live free of violence and feel secure in their daily life, especially in their households. The question of equal rights would probably be challenged by numerous people, including women, in parts of the world, especially the Middle East. However, I do believe that equal rights such as the right to be free from violence, the right to food, to shelter, to chose one's partner, to raise one's own's children and to be economically independent if one so wishes, are shared by most people and should be enshrined in all legislations. Europe, for example, has witnessed tremendous change and improvements in the field of women's rights over the last 50 years, but progress is still needed. In the coming decades, however, we also need to center our efforts on women in developing countries. It is crucial that policy-makers understand the importance of the role of women and also the economic and social costs of gender-based violence. As such, it will be essential for developing countries to include women in the political, social and economic development of their country. 

For more information, please visit www.genderhopes.org and follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/GenderHopes 

Easter Shopping for Kids

Now, every Easter you will find thousands of chocolate bunnies and eggs and man other forms of festive candies in stores. But what should we really hide in the garden for kids? How much chocolate can we consume during 1 Easter weekend? It has become some sort of custom to also add little gifts to the baskets. I just found this sweet little item at Monaco's 'Joue Club' in Fontevielle, which in my opinion makes for a great Easter gift, as it is not edible and also not just another small toy that gets forgotten to quick in a corner. And it looks great hidden in a little basket with some colored eggs.

It is called 'Basilic The Basil' and is a little 'grow-yourself' plant for children.  It is in small green round pot. The kids get to water it and see it grow. A little gardening experience. And , with some luck, mom can cut and put the basil on top of some mozzarella a few days later :)

Where to buy: Joue Club Monaco (Fontevieille). Price: EUR 7,-