Before you begin cooking the ragout, set out your mise en place that is, everything you'll need for the job, prepped and measured beside the stove.

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It was quite simply the perfect mise en scene.

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Many note, for example, the influence, subtle or otherwise, of Axel Vervoordt, the acclaimed Belgian designer, who from his castle near Antwerp, and in revered books like "Timeless Interiors, " has popularized a mise-en-scene look of surprising (but tasteful) assemblages of art and antiques amidst light woods and neutral linens.

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But learning takes time and concentration, so now we get to claim peace and quiet as we drink wine and set up our mise en place, just like the guy on that cooking show and, if you think about it, just like our own fathers, back when they tinkered in the workshop or stopped by the corner pub on the way home.

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