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Sophisticated inspiration for today’s living, drawing on classic Asian principles and simple, inexpensive ingredients.

Fusing understated elegance, relaxed chic, and the Zen attitude, fashion designer Marie France Van Damme reveals the secrets of successful, sophisticated, and stress-free entertainment on a budget. Five chapters—Flowers, Candles, The Table, Food, and Art—explore how to create a sense of occasion, a relaxed mood, simple pleasures, and food without worry. Each chapter finishes with actual events: a winter birthday at home, with plain black plates, flowers in a single color, and sushi from a local Japanese restaurant; a Belgian celebration in a greenhouse with a wood-burning stove, transformed in two hours at minimal cost into what looks like a page from an event at Versailles; a stylish working lunch with take-out curry. . . . The principles can be applied in any location, culture, or society, from San Francisco to San Tropez, from Seville to Siena. Perfectly attuned to the desires and realities of today’s living, this book will be welcome anywhere on the planet.