What's in the box? September 2019

September 04, 2019

What's in the box?

We just received a shipment from our supplier Coucke. It's always a thrill to un-box shipments and lay eyes on new products for the first time.

This is no exceptions with several notable new dish towels.

Lutèce and Alesia: These two related towels are what I like to refer to as "Franco-French"! They include various symbols that represent France. There is no question what the theme is! Here we have the Eiffel Tower, French bread, French cheese, French wine, croissant, coffee, the Arc de Triomphe and a French guy's outfit with a striped shirt and beret. As a Frenchman, I actually love it. Having all these familiar French things together like this gives me a warm happy feeling!!

How about the names Lutèce and Alesia? As somebody who learned ancient French history mostly from the pages of Asterix (a French comic), I had to do a little digging. Lutèce is the French name given to the ancient Roman city of Lutecia. Lutecia stood where Paris is now.
Alesia is an other ancient Roman city located in France. There seem to be some questions as where exactly it sat, but it looks like it was where Alise-Sainte-Reine is located today, near Dijon.
In anyway, I think these are going to be very popular and are going to fly off the shelves.

Le Chien et Le Chat: The dog and the cat. This is not the first time that Coucke releases tea towels with illustrations of our favorite best friends and they always are very popular. As pet lovers ourselves we are very excited to have canine and feline themed towels in stock again. We'll make sure to keep them in separate bins in the warehouse to avoid any fights! Now, let's see which one is going to sell faster!!

Mushroom, Squash, Cabbage, Root Vegetables and Winter Vegetables: Some of the best selling tea towels we carry are themed after foods, especially fruits and vegetables. It makes sense since the towels are used in the kitchen in close proximity to the aforementioned. Here we have four jacquard towels and one terry towel of similar colors. The Squash, Cabbage and Mushroom jacquard towels show variants of each plant while the Root Vegetables shows different types of  underground plants such as parsnip, celery, turnip, salsify, beet and more. The Winter Vegetables terry towel shows a variety of vegetables you would expect to grow in France in the winter. 

Grand Cru and Chardonnay: Another popular theme for tea towels is wines. As a matter of fact we carry another competing brand that was started with only wine themed tea towels. That brand is called "Torchons et Bouchons" or "Towels and Corks"! Since the next room after the kitchen you'll find tea towels is the bar, that makes perfect sense! Anyway, here we have two new jacquard towels from Coucke that show wine bottles and glasses and the name of some popular French wines. They come in a gorgeous shade of green  with a yellow stripe.



Religieuse and Rum Baba: Yes, the French are obsessed with food and drinks! After vegetables and wine, we have French pastries. The Religieuse is made of two profiteroles (choux pastry balls) of different sizes with the smaller resting on top of the larger. They are filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate. The word "Religieuse" can be translated by "nun" because the pastry is supposed to resemble a nun. Regardless, if you've never had a religieuse, I would recommend you try one next time you are in a French bakery. The Rum Baba or "Baba au Rhum" is another French classic. It is a small yeast cake soaked in rum syrup. Not as popular as the Religieuse, it seems like the Baba is making a comeback in France and we are delighted!

All these as well as previous styles are now in stock and ready for purchase!

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