Saint Patrick's Day

As you probably know tomorrow (The 17th March) is St Patrick's Day. 

St Patrick's Day is a time to let the imagination free to enjoy legendary Irish superstitions. (It doesn't really matter whether you are really Irish or not). Like most Australians,  I do have some Irish blood so this gives me a better excuse to celebrate. I have been thinking of some fun decorating that I could do to celebrate and remembered these cute green vintage jars. For the sake of the photo, they have green hydrangea stems, but I am planning to pick bunches of fresh clover to place in them. I think that will look cute!

The image above is from Martha Stewart and shows various types of shamrocks simply planted and growing in pots. This is perfect for a St Patrick's Day decor accent, but I am thinking about introducing this to my front porch all year round. (I think even I could manage to keep these pot plants alive!)

 

These cute green cupcakes pictured above can be found at 'bakerella.com' (there are some fantastic ideas here) last year I found some of these cute candy shamrocks at the supermarket. They make a very easy and fun cake decoration!

This image below is also from Martha Stewart. A four leaf clover is tucked into a grooms chest pocket for luck.

 

Of course, we all would like a little extra good luck to come our way......wearing green on St Patrick's Day is a good way to encourage it. I have this gorgeous green feather collar that I bought on a whim once and have not yet worn......I think it will be perfect for 'St Pats' !

Of course, It would not be much of a 'St Patrick's Day if there weren't drinks. You could have a green guinness, but I think these cocktails are much more elegant!

St Patrick's Day

cocktail glass

22ml Green Creme de Menthe

15ml IrishWhiskey

Dash Angostura bitters

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Irish Rose

cocktail glass

45ml Irish Whiskey

22ml lemon juice

2 tsp grenadine

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

It's begining to smell a lot like Christmas! (there are cocktails too)

Amongst all the gorgeous new things that I have here at the store, something that I am really enjoying (and that I will be treating myself to for Christmas) are the delicious smelling fragrant products.

I have quite a few special edition 'Christmas' Scented Products. Nothing evokes a special mood and memory like the sense of smell. For me obvious 'Christmassie' scents are things like gingerbread cookies, mixed spices , fruitcake, plum pudding and of course fresh pine. It's usually too warm here for other traditional foods and drinks like eggnog and mulled wine, but the nutmeg and clove smells used in these drinks still remind me of Christmas.
Speaking of drinks, I will be adding a few cocktails below, I have neglected Champagne Friday for a few weeks...(a combination of being too busy and having a nasty cold) But it is the season to drink and be merry, so I will definitely be catching up on this soon!

Fleurage have just created festive room sprays (appropriately called 'Christmas) that perfectly captures the essence of Christmas, and an absolutely delicious smelling vanilla and orange candle.   Candles always make such an easy gift, it's the kind of thing I like to have on hand when you need an 'emergency' gift for an unexpected guest or an overlooked present. Of course, it's always nice to treat myself to a candle too, it's such a lovely way to enjoy fragrance.

We also have a beautifully presented gift set from MOR, called 'Dear Mr Partridge' which fits in perfectly with the bird decorating theme at the shop this year. This features a soap, candle and hand cream all with the festive scent of Cinnamon and Clove.

And now for the cocktails! Here are some delicious Christmas favorites (or winter favorites best enjoyed during July and August for us Aussies)

Rum Eggnog
(highball glass)

45ml Dark Rum
90ml Milk
1 egg yolk
30ml cream
sprinkle of nutmeg

Shake ingredients with ice. Strain into an ice-filled highball glass and sprinkle with nutmeg. YUM!


Mulled Wine
(This serves 6 people or one very thirsty person)

1 bottle red wine
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
6 cloves
1 orange
2 cinnamon sticks
1/4 tsp ginger
6 slices lemon

Firstly press the cloves into the whole orange, studding it. Place all ingredients into a saucepan and stir and heat. Strain into heatproof glasses.
There is no better drink on a cold December July evening than this!


If these two drinks sound like too much hard work or you don't like the idea of raw egg, try this:


Cheat's Eggnog
(rocks glass)

30ml bourbon
30ml light rum
scoop vanilla ice-cream

Stir everything together  until you have a creamy consistency. Enjoy.

Ginger Joy (& Happy Champagne Friday Eve)

 The Mad Hatter and The Queen of Hearts- both 'interesting' red heads!

This week I am posting a Happy Champagne Friday cocktail early because tonight I am off to see Tim Burton's Masterclass in Melbourne and I am so excited!!!!!! I am sure I will be indulging in a cocktail or two at the 'Burton Club' that ACMI are running Thursday evenings during the duration of the Exhibition.(It is sad to say that tomorrow I might not be in a fit state to be putting together a quality blog post.)

Anyway, if it wasn't for my excitement about  tonight's events I would still be in a state of excitement over the news today that we in Australia have a new Prime Minister..and she's a woman! and she's a red head! As another red headed woman this is big news to me.  I will admit the there are some funny "ginger jokes" out there, but most of them are just down right rude,crude and annoying. ( blond jokes are much funnier)  Thanks to the Summer Heights High TV show , we red heads also have the lovely title of 'ranga' short for orangutang. This is one of my least favorite terms to be coined in recent times. (I much prefer Ginger.)

In honor of this momentous occasion I thought I would honor some glamorous and interesting red heads of days gone by. I'm still distracted by Tim Burton, so let's start with Tim Burton's favorite sometimes red head. Helen Bonham Carter. (She's more an 'interesting' type)

Tim B with partner Helena

Who doesn't love Lucy?! Lucille Ball

Clara Bow

 Ginger from Gilligan's Island

Rita Hayworth

Let's drink a toast to red heads everywhere, with a "Fred and Ginger" cocktail.

Fred and Ginger

highball glass

3 wedges lemon

1/3 fresh pear

1 cm fresh ginger

8-10 mint leaves

splash sugar syrup

30ml white rum

30ml Tuaca

Muddle lemon wedges, pear, ginger mint leaves and sugar syrup and build over crushed ice. cocktail recipe taken from 'Cocktails & Rock Tales' by Jane Rocca, Hardie Grant books

Purple Haze

Happy Champagne Friday! Let's celebrate with a Purple Haze.

Selected items from the Fanantique boutique:  Vintage purple wool coat with mink collar, Comer & King purple regency chair, Vintage Vogue print, Organza flower brooch and purple wool felt hat.

With now less than one week to go until the highly anticipated (especially by me) Tim Burton exhibition opens, I am indulging my adoration of him and of anything with a slightly Gothic edge. I have been digging through my old folios and drawings and I can see that his influence on me is very obvious through my work.

Catwoman, pen & ink, photoshop. from greeting card series 2004

Business Card Design for Gina McCauley, Texta, Photoshop 2005

 

Fashion Design Project for Domus Academy, Milan. 'The Global Garment" this was a fashion project where designers from around the world came up with a collection that reflected their country's heritage in some way. I considered our convict past when completeing the project. This is one page of the work.
Pencil and Pen Illustration, 2000

 back in the day..me with my friend Anthony of the Goth/Glam rock band The Redresser (often mistaken as the hairdresser)

But even before I discovered Tim B, I loved the color purple, and I mean loved. I was very lucky that my parents were happy with me to express my creativity (within the confines of my bedroom) and allowed me to paint my walls and furniture purple...and not a light lavender or a poor excuse for purple, but a deep real purple. (I also adored Prince...another lover of purple, but that's another story)

 Sorry! Couldn't resist adding this!

Now, I still like purple but my obsession has ended and I am enjoying other colors too, but for old time's sake I have selected a few of my favorite purple pieces from the store as well as some of my illustrations to share with you. Oh yes, and being 'Champagne Friday' I also threw in a purple cocktail. This one- 'Purple Haze" (this is a nice easy one- less time mixing more time drinking I say!)

Purple Haze
old fashioned glass

45ml Vodka
15ml black raspberry liqueur
splash of cranberry juice

Shake vodka and liqueur with ice. Strain into old fashioned glass over ice and top up with juice.
Enjoy!

recipe taken from Cocktails & Rock Tales, by Jane Rocca

Selected accessories from Fanantique

Gorgeous framed print, art by Jennifer Gordon. In store at Fanantique.

Fabulous Friday

 

Happy Champagne Friday! I just love this picture of Marilyn...you can see a certain sparkle in her eye as she enjoys a glass of bubbles. This week's cocktail I chose for it's name , "Diamond Glove" it seemed very fitting to accompany this image..but reading the list of ingredients, it does sound delicious! I love the combination of apple and cinnamon. yum!

Diamond Glove

highball glass

60ml Irish Whiskey

15 ml sour apple liqueur

15ml apple juice

10 ml cinnamon syrup

3-5 mint leaves

45ml ginger beer

apple slices to garnish

Combine whiskey, liqueur, juice and syrup in a shaker. Shake with ice and pour into a highball glass. Slap the mint in your hands and stir into the drink. Top up with ginger beer and ice if needed.

Garnish with fanned apple slices.

Champagne Friday - "Drunk Chocolate"

Happy Champagne Friday!
This week I have decided on a Russian theme for 'Champagne Friday'. Last night I enjoyed one of my favorite treats , first introduced to me by my lovely Russian friend, Lana. It's simple really, we all love Champagne and we all love chocolate, why not combine them?! Such a simple idea, I can't believe I didn't think of it myself. One day as I sat with her drinking Champagne, she dropped a square of premium dark chocolate into our glasses,  she seem taken aback by my look of surprise and confusion .
"Vat ? You have never had chocolate in your Champagne?!" she questioned me. "well....no..I haven't."
but I knew she could be onto a good thing (this is a lady I used to work with, she would call me out into the back room for sneaky sips of cognac....she also introduced me to Russian Vogue..amazing fashion, gorgeous women and beautiful furs, oh so wrong, but oh so gorgeous!) So I knew when it came to taste, she was an expert. She had actually invited me for Champagne and a viewing of her designer shoe collection, but I digress.

"Take a sip." She insisted (like I needed encouragement!)
mmmmmm as I brought the glass up to take a sip, the bubbles danced around my nose carrying with me the delicious aroma of chocolate. This sensation made Champagne drinking even more exhilarating than it already was. But this was not to be the best part, as Lana told me, "Ven you eat zee chocolate it is drunk!" mmmm alcohol infused chocolate..how marvellous.
And so to Lana, a toast , "To the woman who brought my two great loves together, I applaud you!"

A Russian Champagne advertisement, " IN VICTORY YOU DESERVE CHAMPAGNE, IN DEFEAT, YOU NEED IT" truer words were never spoken.

To celebrate Lana, I will be making a 'Russian Double Agent' cocktail. (taken from Cocktails & Rocktails once again)

RUSSIAN DOUBLE AGENT
large old fashioned glass

30ml espresso coffee
30ml tia maria
dash of sugar syrup
30 ml cream
30 ml vodka
3 coffee beans to garnish

Combine espresso, tia maria and sugar syrup in one shaker. Combine cream and vodka in another shaker. Shake both then strain coffee mix over ice into large old fashioned glass. Layer cream mix ontop and garnish with coffee beans.

Enjoy!!

The Perfect Champagne Cocktail

Happy Champagne Friday! This week I thought I'd keep it simple and share with you the recipe for the perfect Champagne Cocktail. At the end of every day, I take my favorite spot on the couch and just as I settle in for a relaxing evening I am struck with an insatiable craving for Champagne. Sometimes I am lucky and have a bottle in the fridge to quench my thirst, or if I am really desperate I can convince my boyfriend to go buy a bottle....Anyway, it has occurred to me that the reason my nightly Champagne desire is that every evening I sit directly opposite this classic poster of Grace Kelly. To make matters worse, I also have one of these posters at work, so all day, every day I have this nagging desire to drink Champagne...just thinking about it makes me thirsty!!
Anyway, here are a few more classic Champagne posters along with the "Perfect Champagne Cocktail " recipe.

"The Perfect Champagne Cocktail"
taken from "Highballs High Heels - A girl's guide to the art of cocktails" by Karen Brooks, Gideon Bosker and Reed Darmon. published by  Chronicle books exclusively for Barnes & Noble

1 sugar cube
4 to 5 drops bitters
4 to 5 ounces well-chilled Champagne

Garnish
1 lemon twist

1. Drop the sugar cube into the bottom of the Champagne flute, and pour the bitters on top. Let the cube absorb the bitters until amber-coloured-about 30 seconds.

2. Muddle the cube, breaking it up into a soft, granulated mound. Slowly, add half of the Champagne, letting the bubbles rise, then subside. Add the rest of the Champagne pouring slowly until it just about reaches the top of the glass.

3. Twist the lemon peel over the top and drop it into the drink to serve.

Yum!!!

Cocktail Friday!

Cocktails &  Rock Tales
by Jane Rocca
Hardie Grant Books

I have just received this fabulous book, just in time for the weekend. This collection of cocktail recipes has my mouth watering and I am having trouble deciding what to try first!
If you visit the store on a Friday, you know that I like to indulge in a Champagne or two as we wind down for the weekend and enjoy the 'Friday vibe' in the air.  I have decided that I will feature a cocktail recipe for inspiration, at the end of every week . To kick things off, I am starting with the very delicious sounding 'Ma Cherie'
(I did think about 'cooking' my way through the book, like Julie Powell but thought it my be hazardous to my health...)

'Ma Cherie'

Colada Glass

45ml gin
15ml cherry liqueur
splash of lime juice
splash of lemon juice
1 sugar cube
splash maraschino cherry juice
splash of soda water
2 lime wedges to garnish

Combine all ingredients except for cherry juice, soda & garnish. Strain into colada glass over ice cubes. Top with cherry juice and soda to taste and garnish with lime wedges. Enjoy!!!

More about the book....
Pop goddess? Then sip on a material girl. Rockabilly? You'll need a Cheesecake Rodriguez in between dances. After all, drinks are not just drinks, and tunes are not just tunes- both the music you listen to and the cocktails you indulge in are statements of intent. What you think determines what you drink. So, after hunting down original recipes from bartenders at leading Australian and New York bars, rock journalist Jane Rocca created the ultimate guide to finding the spirit for every soundtrack.


I couldn't resist adding one more cocktail, it sounds so delicious..but a little bit more preparation time involved...going to give  this a try on the weekend. yummmmm.

'Rocky Road'
Martini Glass

5ml frangelico
30ml marshmallow infused vodka*
10ml cherrry brandy
10ml dark creme de cacao
10ml black raspberry liqueur
15ml soy milk
vodka soaked marshmallow, grated chocolate and chopped hazelnuts to garnish

Rim glass with frangelico.
Combine all remaining ingredients except for garnish in a mixing glass and stir well. Pour into martini
glass and garnish with marshmallow, chocolate and hazelnuts.

* To infuse vodka with marshmallows combine a 250g pack of vanilla marshmallows with 700ml vodka in microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1min. Stir thoroughly then microwave on high for another minute. Leave to stand for 5 minutes. Pour into a bottle ready for use.