France

Monet's Kitchen in Giverny, France Check out Monet's RangeIf you ever visit Paris in the summer time, be sure to take a side trip to Monet's home in the village of Giverny outside of Paris. Here you will see the spectacular gardens that were featured in some of his most famous paintings, as well as the country house where Monet lived with his large family from 1883 until he died in 1926. Although the house was there from the start, Monet was responsible for everything in the interior.The blue kitchen has many copper pots and pans that were once used daily, but they also provided a contrast with the blue tile from Roen. The kitchen leads to an adjacent yellow dining room, demonstrating that Monet employed the generous use of vivid colors to identify his various rooms. Then again, our White House has a blue room, green room, and a red room. Being an appliance geek, I had to check out the huge cooker above in the blue Monet kitchen. I made the assumption that the stove was La Cornue. If so, it must have been added by Monet after he'd been in the house at least 25 years, since La Cornue was founded in 1908, and Monet moved into the house in 1883. Also worth noting, this stove is a wood and coal cooker with a chimney, and I believe that even the early

Facts and Trivia about the upcoming year. What's on tap for 2015? We're all looking forward to 2015. It's going to be a great year! Here are some interesting facts and trivia related to 2015 or MMXV as the Romans would have said. Did you know that 2015 has been proclaimed the International Year of Light? And of course, as we all know, 2015 is the 200th Anniversary of The Battle of Waterloo. Fought near Waterloo on June 18th, 1815 in what is today Belgium (then part of the Netherlands), Napoleon's French Army was defeated by a coalition of Anglo troops commanded by the Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard von Blücher. I was surprised to find out that Lithuania has become the latest country to adopt the Euro as their official currency as of Jan. 1, 2015. However, Great Britain is still on the Pound Sterling currency. It seems the Brits are still interested in re-establishing the British Empire. After all, the Brits did win The Battle of Waterloo...let's see, wasn't that 200 years ago? The most interesting date in 2015 is going to be - 05/15/2015. In Back to the Future Part II (1989): Dr. Emmett Brown, Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker time travel to October 21 of 2015 (the latest date in the Back to the Future Trilogy). Lawyers are abolished, automated clothing is in vogue and people travel in flying cars and on hoverboards. I can hardly wait to get

White or Red? What do most people choose? Wine consumption seems to be at an all time high, but are we drinking more white or more red? U.S. wine consumption is more red than white (unless you live in Nebraska, Kansas, or Iowa). In France, they drink much more red than white. In fact, in France white wine is not even in second place. They drink more rosé in France than they do white wine, and of course more Champagne. Curiously, France was recently surpassed by China for red wine consumption. Bear in mind, that China has 1.3 billion population and France has about 66 million. Per capita, the Chinese average about a bottle and a half of wine per person per year. The French hold up their reputation with over 44 liters annually per person. In the U.S., we're doing out best to catch up and we managed over 10 liters of wine per capita in 2013. We're headed in the right direction and are expected to increase consumption to 386 million cases by 2017. GOOD JOB USA! Regardless of your preference, you can help the U.S. continue on its goal to exceed France in wine consumption! It's the patriotic thing to do. Clearly, you're going to need a new wine storage unit so take a look at our previous blog on the excellent choices for wine storage at Universal Appliance and Kitchen Center by clicking on the link below: Wine Storage for the Holidays Call Universal Appliance and