Love at First Sight

I was out shopping in the leafy suburb of Montrose on the weekend, when I spotted something gorgeous. How beautiful is this illustrated chocolate packaging from Pink Lady!!! I don't usually need an excuse to buy chocolate, but this beautiful vintage style drawing compels me to purchase it!
I am not sure who the illustrator is , (will need to research this)  but the style looks very much like a French born, Australian illustrator called Michel Canetti . His work is definitely worth a look here anyway. A quick look at the Pink Lady website and I can see that there is a whole range of products packaged with these beautiful illustrations.....I might need to collect them all!

Oleg Cassini and the Classic Little Black Dress

One of the extra special pieces that we have in store at the moment and featured in our show, is a classic black dress by designer, Oleg Cassini. (pictured above, worn with vintage silver pumps and silver purse) Cassini was best known for being one of the favorite designers of the first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy. Jackie will always remain one of history's greatest style icons. Cassini was also a favoured designer of Grace Kelley and Audrey Hepburn.

Jackie dressed in a Cassini formal gown

A Jackie Kennedy Barbie doll, dressed in a classic Cassini Design.

Alongside this gorgeous classic dress, we also have some other timeless little black dresses, a must for every wardrobe!

and being Champagne Friday, the post would not be complete without a cocktail. Today's has no real connection to the theme, I just saw it and it looked delicious so I had to share !

Chocolate and Chilli Martini

Martini glass

60ml vodka

30ml dark creme de cacoa

1 bird's eye chilli, sliced

1 extra chilli to granish

Combine all ingredients except for garnish then shake and double strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with extra chilli on the rim of glass. yum!

Bastille Day!

Well it's Champagne Friday again and this week it has been Champagne Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! Wednesday was of course Bastille Day and being lovers of all things French (especially Champagne!) we thought it was a great excuse to celebrate! Amongst the guests, I had the lovely Natasha Burns. Natasha is a talented artist who has a fabulous blog that you can see here.
I was lucky enough to have some beautiful photos taken of the event by Natasha which she will be posting on her blog soon...stay tuned.

In the meantime, here are a few photos of our cupcakes. Of course we featured the Champagne Cupcake and Parisian flags that I have been working on in my last posts.

Champagne  cupcakes

Marie Antoinette cupcakes (featuring fairy floss 'wig')

'Cocoa Chanel' (Chocolate) and 'La Vie en Rose' (Rose) flavor cupcakes

Thursday the celebrations continued and a group of us braved the Melbourne winter and ventured out for another Bastille Day event at  'Red Bennies'. It was fab! I never realized there were so many French people in Melbourne! With conversations happening in French all around us and the cool sounds of the Martini Sisters (you can listen to them here) It really felt like we had been transported to a cool Paris Jazz club.

 

The invitation for the evening encouraged fancy dress, amongst the costume choices were the Jazz age and the Moulin Rouge , so I jumped at the chance to get my feathers out!

 

Emma of Fleurage and I,  Heather of Trouve accessories and husband Julian

Gabor and Julian share a laugh

In honor of the fantastic performance last night by the Martini Sisters, I thought what better cocktail to drink than a classic Martini?

Martini

Martini glass

3 ice cubes

2 pitted green olives

2 teaspoons dry vermouth

1 1/2 Cups cracked ice

3 ounces chilled top quality gin, such as Bombay sapphire or Tanqueray

1.Rinse a martini glass with cold water, fill with ice cubes and place in freezer for 5-10 minutes to chill completely.

2.Meanwhile,spear the olives with a toothpick. Pour the vermouth into a small saucer. Add the olives and turn several times to coat with the vermouth. Let stand for 5 minutes.

3.Fill a cocktail shaker with the cracked ice. Drain the vermouth from the olives and add it to the shaker. Then add the gin. With a long handled bar spoon, stir very gently to chill, about 15 times in a clockwise direction. Or just swirl the gin shaker until chilled. Either way, work quickly so the ice doesn't melt and dilute the gin.

4. Remove the glass from the freezer and discard the ice cubes. Set the speared olives in the martini glass. Strain the gin over the olives and serve.

Recipe taken from 'Highballs High Heels'- A girl's guide to the art of cocktails. by Karen Brooks,

Gideon Bosker and Reed Darmon. Published by Barnes & Noble