Garter, dress patch and something else that's blue

I am really getting into the nitty gritty wedding accessories and those little things that will make the wedding special (to me, if no-one else).

I have been making my own invitations (I'll wait for another post to talk in more detail about that), buying accessories, confetti, champagne flutes and have a number of DIY projects up my sleeve.

For now, though, I wanted to show you my garter and dress patch from The Gartermaker. I found out about this company from The Knot (evil source of ways to spend money on things you didn't even know existed). The Gartermaker is a great little company and not expensive at all, so I thought I'd indulge in a garter and dress patch. It's nice because the dress patch actually came with an explanation of its history. I cynically thought it was just a product invented by the wedding industry to make us buy yet one more thing, but this isn't the case.

My dress is lacy and not poofy and therefore easy to store. Because of this, and since it's custom made, I won't be selling it after the wedding. So I like the idea of a dress patch to turn it into an heirloom.

I debated a bit on which colour to get. It's traditional to get blue, and then the patch will work as the 'something blue'. But I really wanted brown, to fit in with the wedding theme, so ultimately that's what I went for. I'm really happy with how they came out.

This, of course, left me with quite a dilemma as to what to do with regards to something blue. Blue isn't really featuring in my wedding, so I didn't want an outward thing. I decided that I'd wear blue pants! I then struggled to find any at all, still less some that I like. I guess winter isn't really the time for baby blue to make an appearance. My lovely friend Meredith introduced me to Rigby & Peller though, gorgeous posh lingerie shop, and it is there that I found these.

I have never spent so much on one piece of underwear, but I do love them. They're perfect. So, as I said, I'm getting really excited and am enjoying all the little details! So much girlie fun.

Paris here I come!

I miss Paris so much! I miss the freedom I had there - I could come and go as I pleased - the ability to walk everywhere, the fact that there people still buy bread from the baker and fish from the fishmonger, I miss the markets, I miss my wonderful ex-colleagues and friends: in short, I miss the wonderful life that I lead when I was there. Don't get me wrong: I missed home. I missed Marc, my Dad, my friends and my London life. But I loved the French lifestyle and that's still something I hanker after now that I'm back home. Paris was my home twice, for a year and a half in total. It is unquestionably a part of who I am. I really need to go back every once in a while, to reconnect with it and of course to use my French. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love speaking French - and how scared I am to lose it.

Around this time last year I came home at the last minute to attend Sarah and David's Thanksgiving dinner. I was delayed by four hours and, as compensation, received a free return ticket from the Eurostar. I did make trips after that, but never used the free ticket for some reason. It expires on 30 November, so I decided to book myself on for a (free!) trip to my beloved Paris.

I leave tomorrow and will be staying with lovely Audrey. On the list of things to do are visit our favourite Japanese restaurant (I know it's Paris, but I want to revisit my Paris) as well as the little boutiques of the Marais. We may visit the Louvre on Friday (gotta love free entry) too. I'm going to pop in on my colleagues as well. After having left my firm job because I was so desperately unhappy there, being back in Paris and witnessing what a lovely atmosphere exists at the company to which I was seconded will definitely give me pangs of sadness that I can no longer be there.

The coolest thing about the trip? I've signed up for a macaroon class at LeNotre! I'm so lucky! I'm going to learn to make those stunning and delectable treats, and once I know how I will be sure to blog about it and teach you. You may be far from Paris but no-one should be far from its much loved macaroons!

Au revoir and see you soon!



Can you believe this was my walk to work? I saw this every day? Pangs, I tell you. Pangs.

Moroccan feast

I love Moroccan food - it's high up on the list of my favourite food ever, particularly after I visited Morocco with Marc in 2008. It's fragrant and aromatic, yet hearty and filling, and it satisfies my desire for sweet and savoury flavours. Honestly, I could never tire of it.

We hosted some friends recently so I decided to make this easy Moroccan inspired meal. I really can't recommend it enough. It's so easy and definitely a crowd pleaser. Chicken that is sweet and savoury, syrupy and succulent, lovely couscous and a starter of filo pastry parcels. Yum!

Chicken:

I won't give precise instructions, because it's as simple as this: you don't need them. It all depends on the quantities. What matters are the ratios. 50% soy sauce, 50% honey, one or two chopped peppers, a pinch of chilli powder, turmeric and cinnamon to taste, 10 or so chopped tomatoes, a chopped onion, one or two tablespoons of oil, half a cup of water, 5 cloves of garlic and you are done! Mix together, put in an oven dish with the chicken and put in the oven as you normally would for chicken (around 200 degrees celsius for 50 minutes).

Couscous:

We know how easy this is to make. Follow the instructions on your pack, normally involves either simmering in water for 5 minutes or leaving in a covered bowl with hot water for 10 minutes. I add a few scatterings of turmeric to give a yellower hue to the couscous. Soak a handful of raisins in water and add to cousous. Fry a tin of chickpeas until they are slightly browned and mix in. Salt and pepper to taste.

Filo pastry squares:

You can fill these as you like! You can make them veggie if you prefer - I use chicken and vegetables.

Cut of chicken breast into small pieces. Fry with onion and garlic until onion and garlic until are soft and brown. Add very finely chopped vegetables and continue to fry for two minutes. Season with chilli powder, cinnamon, turmeric, honey, salt, pepper, lots and lots of chopped parsley. Wait to cool.

Lay out a few sheets of filo pastry. Dollop a tablespoon or two of the now cool mixture into the centre of the filo sheets and fold to make triangles or squares, using sunflower (or similar oil) to bind the filo pastry at the ends.

Fry in a frying pan right before serving with fresh parsley sprinkled on top.

Salads:

I love serving this with mediterrannean salads. My favourite is chopped parsley, sweet baby tomatoes, olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon. So refreshing.

You could use lettuce, pomegranate seeds and pitta croutons (cut pitta bread into small squares and fry).

You could serve beetroot with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.....

The options are limitless!

A definite favourite of mine - I urge you to try it!


 

Celebrity sighting

A few nights ago I went out to a lovely restaurant with Marc and a good friend of ours. 

As soon as we walked to our table, I spotted Amy Winehouse. Or at least I thought I did. You see, I am remarkably talented at spotting people who look like people, but aren't them. And whenever a celebrity and I are in the same place a friend or Marc is bound to notice, whilst I miss it engrossed in, erm, picking china (happened just this Sunday). 

Well this time it really was her. And you know what? She looked radiant. Yes, radiant. I know the drill: Amy Winehouse is described as (1) gaunt; (2) drugged up; (3) wearing last week's makeup; (4) tatty... the list goes on. 

She wore a bright pink fluffy jumper, her skin glowed, she looked young and healthy.

This just makes me think that the media manipulates our view so much. It suits papers and magazines to post ever shocking photos of a young talented artist. That is, after all, what sells papers. Media can be such a harmful medium - it plays with our brains. On the one hand, it makes some people falsely gorgeous, airbrushing their flaws, changing their physiques, on the other I'm sure it uses those same tools to make people look larger, to print a story saying they've gained weight, or gaunt with shadows if they have a drug problem.

Shame on them, and kudos to Amy for a year being clean. It shows! And whilst I'm not celebrity focussed, it is a bit of a thrill to see someone famous and to think and appreciate that I live in one of the world's coolest cities (at least I like to think so). 

Fastest finger first - flights booked!

I spent much of today calling vendors and setting up meetings (seriously, don't you wish you were me?). Our calendar for February is already so full - it's going to be a real stretch to get everything done.

I also booked mine and Dad's flights out to Israel. We're late with this: Marc and his parents and even some friends booked a while ago, with BMI (a scheduled carrier).

On the plus side, Easyjet's (Britain's super low cost airline) flights are now open for booking, meaning that Dad is flying for £122 instead of about £350. Amazing!

But scheduled flight prices have risen quite a bit. I had a dilemma: fly out and back with Dad for £122 or fly out on my own and back with Marc for £350. I know it's a huge difference, but we discussed it and ultimately we both really wanted to fly back together as husband and wife.

In the end I booked an Easyjet outbound flight (so I can fly out with Dad) and a BMI inbound flight (so I can fly back with Marc). It cost a bomb, yes, but somehow flying with Marc on the way back was important to us and we had decided together that the extra cost was justified on this occasion so I didn't feel too bad.

Why 'fastest finger first'? Well, because I promised my friends £100 flights with Easyjet if they got in there quickly. That was the price this weekend. Just a few days later, the prices have risen to £150 plus. It's still cheap, but I really hope that those coming are booking their tickets so that they can get a good deal. I can't help but wonder whether the price fluctuation means that some of our friends have booked. I hope so!

In any case, now that I'm all booked it feels even more real! Arghhh!

Crazy dreams

Ok, so last night I dreamt this: I was walking around my venue in my wedding gown, but wearing my worn out black patent pumps. I had forgotten my wedding shoes at home and paced anxiously, wondering what the date was, whether this was my wedding day. There were guests arriving but I didn't recognise any of them, and I dared not ask what the date was because they would laugh in my face if it was indeed my wedding, quite rightly expecting me to know the date. Don't ask me why I'd be visiting the venue in a white dress on any other date - it made sense in the dream. I wasn't wearing makeup and my hair was a mess. I woke up in a complete panic.

Is this how it's going to be, then, for the next 7 months? I really hope not.

Pastry class at LeNotre Paris

I have no idea why I didn't ever blog about one of my most magical Parisian adventures: a croissant-making class! On my penultimate day in Paris, I treated myself to a course at LeNotre. Remember I blogged about it way back when? The fabulous patisserie that effectively introduced sumptuous French pastry to the world? It is also a professional cookery school, and thankfully they run courses for amateurs like me!

It was such a fun thing to do before leaving Paris! I was so excited with anticipation that I could hardly sleep. So many of us imagine the lovely career we could have if we could only go to pastry school and open a cake shop. Or is it just me?

Actually, the class made me realise that professional pastry making is an extremely meticulous exercise, and an extremely tiring one at that. We were taught by a wonderful, passionate, man however, in the typical French way, everything had to be 'just so'. The flour's temperature has to be measured before the mixing even occurs and at many intervals thereafter. The dough has to be left in the oven with a vessel of water underneath it, whose temperature must be precise to the degree, and periodically checked. The flour's thickness is measured, and once the dough is rolled out the triangle that will be rolled to make each croissant is measured with a ruler (yesm a ruler!) for optimum size!

The whole croissant making process is an extremely laborious and long one, taking about 12 hours! And some patisseries really do make them fresh every day. There are croissants made from frozen pastry, of course, but you can imagine the frowns that that would elicit from the pastry chefs at LeNotre. The steps are too complicated to recount and certainly too complicated to give me the will to replicate them. Not gonna happen.

I had a wonderful insight into the mystery of a professional pastry kitchen, though, to tools I had never seen, to a level of precision to which I can only aspire. I would encourage any home baker to take a class and be exposed to the stringent standards of a professional kitchen.

And the croissants? Words cannot describe the delectable joy! Anything made of 50% butter would be sumptuous, granted, but these were a delicious beyond belief. Flaky, melt-in-your-mouth, stick-to-your-thighs-forever heaven!


Just look at how beautiful they are!


Glazing
Pain au chocolat

I am in my element
I took all these home!