"I know some men couldn't care less about flowers, linens and stationery, but at the very least, they're usually present at the wedding planning meetings and show some small sign of emotional support for their fiancé.
The wreath in ancient Egypt was most popular in the form of a chaplet made by sewing flowers to linen bands and tying them around the head.
Gum and bird poo show up on several works in the show, along with paintings consisting of crushed flowers on linen, and a seascape whose title gives the exhibition its name.
The château's authentically preserved kitchen, with its enameled ranges and open fireplace, was certainly more intimate than the dining hall, but tonight's table was nevertheless dressed with flowers, starched linen, and fine porcelain.
The difference, they claim, is in the ambience: the flowers, the linens, the battalions of sous-chefs, managers and minor functionaries they are convinced that Michelin demands.
As Maria McBride-Mellinger, author of "The Perfect Wedding Reception" (HarperCollins) and a wedding consultant at the Hudson Hotel, pointed out, "If you are obsessed with things like flowers and linens and sugar, there are a lot of talented people in this city who can help fuel your obsessions".
But before his Italian apprenticeship, English received a rigorous training in French cuisine at New York's La Côte Basque, the high-society hangout where owner and chef Jean-Jacques Rachou regularly spent thousands of dollars a week on flowers and linens.
Flowered dresses and linen jackets may be hitting store shelves, but it is not yet springtime for American retailers.
The hand-painted linen flowers, rimmed with flexible wire, can be shaped to hold a bowl, a basket or a pile of chips.
Imagine, butter melting on hot river stones while cool glacial waters that smell like white linen flowers, citrus, crunchy nectarine and other stone fruits rush over them at pace, cleansing and cooling the stones, and leaving behind fine mineral traces of residual adrenaline and joy... well, that would be an understatement.
