Let’s talk about coffee. Along with cheese, chocolate, and wine, coffee completes the four food groups. And it OWNS me in the morning, but that’s okay. Wine owns me in the evening, and chocolate comes along at 2:00 a.m. so between the four of them it’s a balanced addiction system.

Couple of rules. 1) Coffee is meant to be STRONG. Enjoyed in small, ascetic sips that will get you through the last section of le Monde, while watching you daughter crochet a sweater. 2) It must be served with delicious, heavy cream. Unless it’s the morning after a late-night chocolate binge, in which case you drink it black because a pound of chocolate has the same number of calories as a teaspoon of cream, right? RIGHT? Forgo that splash of loveliness and we’re all leveled up.

My favorite morning ritual at le Château is having Giselle brew a beautiful pot of Carte Noire while I wander the rose garden. Cream is served in a gorgeous, pewter pitcher that makes me feel like lady of the manor. Oh my God, I AM lady of the manor, loves. Perfection.