for tonight's festive mood

jen mccabe of the archer (on oregonlive.com) suggests adding orange blossom water to your celebratory gin & tonics tonight if you're not in the mood for champagne.
find her sweet post here about NATIONALE and this fantastic cocktail.
so cheers to that and a happy 2009!

© jen mccabe

they're here!

2008 ends in a glorious way with the arrival of our friend pierrot gourmand and two different chesnut spreads.
the pierrot gourmand bust is a traditional display for the lollipops of the same brand (75¢, in milk caramel) and can be found in most bakeries/tabacs in france:

as for the chesnut spreads, the clément faugier one (same brand as the already popular 'chesnut spread in tube') is now available as a 17.50 oz can, $8:

typical uses include fillings for crêpes or simply as a jam on fresh bread and butter.
we also got the bonne maman brand, in cute little 13 oz glass jars, $7:

all these treats definitely call for a happy new year...

the day of all visitors

they didn't just come to visit.
they brought me flowers, champagne, wine, babies, bellies, sidewalk company.
and they dressed up, too!

come and get them

a quiet start with some of my favorite records:
yoko ono and john lennon, double fantasy, 1980, $8
loretta lynn, entertainer of the year, 1973, $8
valet, naked acid, 2008, $10 (new from marriage)
bruce springsteen, born in the usa, 1984, $8

the whole story

it turns out that one of the difficult/awkward parts of this "opening a shop" business has been to answer questions about it. i feel i've been so vague and somewhat speechless when it comes to telling people about what kind of store NATIONALE is.
so here's a pretty detailed interview i did a few weeks ago for marjorie skinner of the portland mercury.
read more...

current artshow

niles armstrong, untitled, $60:

niles armstrong and clea partridge, untitled (detail), $100:

ryan jacob smith, no trace remains, $200:

dana dart-mclean, door, $30:

dana dart-mclean, untitled (detail), $40:

dana dart-mclean, for michael jackson (detail), $100:

carson ellis, untitled, $400:

tim root, untitled (framed), $80:

tim root, untitled (framed), $80:

to purchase or for more info, email nationale.portland@gmail.com

una loves you

our lovely neighbor UNA is having a bigbig sale for the next few days:

all clothing is 40% off
all jewelry is 30% off
all housewares 20% off

oh you know you want to.

una
2802 se ankeny
portland or
503.235.2326

joyeux noël...

same house (as our banner), different children.

or rather the children's parents as children (1979 vs. 1951).

*******MERRY CHRISTMAS YAY*******

NATIONALE will be closed on december 25th.
thank you for all the support and excitement of the last few days.
what a fun way to start!

carson ellis

at the pub
ink and watercolor on paper
5X7 (framed)
$400


lucky green dress
ink and watercolor on paper
5X7 (framed)
$1,200

to purchase or for more info, email nationale.portland@gmail.com

what is the task of genuine love, etc.

"What we all hope in reaching for a book, is to meet a man of our own heart, to experience tragedies and delights which we ourselves lack the courage to invite, to dream dreams which will render life more hallucinating, perhaps also to discover a philosophy of life which will make us more adequate in meeting the trials and ordeals which beset us. To merely add to our store of knowledge or improve our culture, whatever that may mean, seems worthless to me. "
--Henry Miller

"I was . . . heartbroken. And with the dull ache came exhaustion and loss of spirits. The place now seemed like a morgue to me. A dozen times a night I would wake with a start, thinking that they were calling me. There is no emptiness like the emptiness of a home which your children have flown. It was worse than death. . . . I wept like a madman. I wept and sobbed and screamed and cursed. I carried on like that until there wasn't another drop of anguish left in me. Until I was like a crumpled, empty sack"
--Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, p.190

Miller circa 1953
Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, New Directions, $16.95

for kids and grownups alike

we're so happy to have this new collaboration between jo jackson and chris johanson in the store.
from our favorite little publisher nieves (switzerland).
peaceable kingdom, $20

landing/atterrissage

NATIONALE landed tonight at 7pm.
watch for the light in the barber pole:

dana dart-mclean's pieces:

bigger things for the home and lots of stocking stuffings:

this beautiful little set from haviland & co. is already gone:

a bit more about haviland and limoges porcelain (from wikipedia):

Limoges porcelain designates hard-paste porcelain produced by factories round the city of Limoges, France from the late 1700s and is still ongoing. The manufacturing of hard-paste porcelain at Limoges, following the discovery of local supplies of kaolin, was established by Turgot in 1771 and placed under the patronage of the comte d'Artois, brother of Louis XVI. Limoges had been the site of a minor industry producing plain faience earthenwares since the 1730s, but the first identified French source of kaolin and a material similar to petuntse, the ingredients used for the production of hard-paste porcelain similar to Chinese porcelain, were discovered at Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, near Limoges, in an economically distressed area, and began to be quarried in 1768. The manufactory was purchased by the king in 1784, apparently with the idea of producing hard-paste bodies for decoration at Sèvres, a venture that did not work out. After the Revolution a number of private factories were established at Limoges, the chief of which was and remains Haviland. Thus "Limoges porcelain" is a generic term for porcelain produced in Limoges rather than the production of a specific factory. Limoges maintains the position it established in the nineteenth century as the premier manufacturing city of porcelain in France.

chasse neige

i found this song by france gall (written by julien clerc) entirely dedicated to the "chasse neige", the snow hunter, a vehicle portland seems to have no idea even exists.

France Gall - Chasse Neige

stay tuned to see how badly the weather messes with our opening.
i will post as soon as the curtains open, hopefully for a few hours later on in the afternoon, or monday at noon for sure.

not so "tordantes"

despite its claim for "blagues tordantes" (slidesplitting jokes), carambar humor is pretty lame. try this one: "in the series: what's worse? croissant with rillettes for breakfast or steak with jam for lunch?"
well at least the outside of the wrapper's good looking and the tootsie-roll like caramel miam miam.
50¢

possibly the best shelf ever

clément faugier chesnut purée in small tubes $2.5
monteux orange blossom water $4.5
flavigny anis candies $3
papier d'arménie (home sanitizer/fragrance) $6
pierrot gourmand caramel lollipops 75¢
grains de provence licorice candies $1.5
vichy mineral salts mints $1.5
alsa levure chimique (baking soda/baking powder all in one and the coolest packaging too with the traditional alsacienne!) 3 for $2

body/home

things to look forward:
elmex (action against cavities) and elgydium (sensitive) toothpastes $8
rogé cavaillès deodorants $13
palm oil 300 grams savon de marseille $8
olive oil 600 grams savon de marseille (lucky fer à cheval brand) $13
liquid savon de marseille (in verbena and lavender) $17

ironically

william haswell

photos of grenoble by william (skip) haswell sent via internet, december 2008.
skip just flew from los angeles to paris, rode down to grenoble, and then up to my village to present his selected short movie, fellwalking the seventh intersupercontinental, at the autrans film festival of ski and mountain.
he introduced it to a full audience and all in french. they laughed a lot and were, without a doubt, charmed by his passion and efforts. at some point they told him he could speak in english if that was easier, but he had no idea how to translate his speech back so he went on with the french.
i am so proud of him. for taking the huge journey of making this film. for all the ridiculous travels, the photos, the postcards. for learning french out of nowhere. for the art he pours into life every day. for being one of the last few romantics.
william haswell will be presenting a new collection of line drawings at nationale sometime in late spring 2009.

patiently/gratefully

glad the weather got in the way and made me stop for a minute.
i now have a proper excuse to not be ready by monday, or tuesday, or wednesday.
the video is from the bathroom window of my little alpine house, back in march.

tell no one

a good french thriller, who would have thought?
nightly at 7:10 across the street.

read a book/tip your barista

working on getting some of my favorite books in the shop before wednesday.
opening a business in three weeks is not allowing me much time to contact distributors, publishers, set up accounts and what not.
so i'm doing it my way for now, using le système D as we say back home, making mistakes and learning as i go.
getting the shop together also means that i haven't been able to pick up shifts at the café in two weeks and i'm starting to miss everyone quite a bit.
that's why, in honor of all my wonderful stumptown coworkers, i announce the read a book/tip your barista month.
through the end of december you will get $1 off your book purchases if you let me know that you'll be tipping your barista next time you go to the coffeeshop to read your new book.
give/get/give/get/give/get/give/get/give/get/give/get/give/get
lame deer, seeker of visions, $5.99
howard zinn, a people's history of the united states, $18.95
give/get/give/get/give/get/give/get/give/get/give/get/give/get