FRIED CAMEMBERT with CRANBERRY SAUCE

If you like Camembert cheese, then you would be really delighted to try this amazing dessert! Though being very easy and fast to make, it has a taste of haute cuisine, and not without a reason - the recipe, spotted in one of the local lifestyle mags, is by a Parisian Chef Guy Savoy!

You will need:

Camembert cheese (by the quantity of eaters)
Cranberries (fresh or frozen), accordingly.

Method of cooking:

1. Press the cranberries with a fork. Approximately a half of the mass should consist of whole berries.
2. Boil the cranberries for about 8 min with a small quantity of water. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
3. Fry Camembert circles until golden on both sides.
4. Serve with the cranberry sauce.

DOLCE&GABBANA SPRING/SUMMER 2011

I just ❤ this newest Spring/Summer collection by Dolce & Gabbana - exquisite fabrics, feminine silhouettes and so romantic looks!

This lace dress is my absolutely favorite! It's already bringing images to my mind... like this: a hot Sicilian summer, a fountain splashing fresh water at a town square and a gentle touch of a dazzling white lace texture against the sunburnt skin...








zimbio.com

Photography and Inspiration: THE BACHCHAN COUPLE for VOGUE, Jul. 2010

A beautiful, first-ever photoshoot of Aishwarya Rai and her husband Abhishek Bachchan together for Vogue, July 2010!

 

You may see the images on a much larger scale and also read an exclusive interview of the couple here.

AISHWARYA RAI FOR VOGUE, Feb 2011

 

Images from here

JARDIN MAJORELLE

Today I invite you to spend some time in a magnificent Majorelle Garden in Marrakesh created in the early decades of the 20th century by a French painter and botanist Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962). The garden has been open for public tours since 1947.

Apart from the rich botanical collections, the Majorelle garden amazes with intensive colours where the dominating one is a cobalt blue that has also acquired a name of Majorelle azur. It is used for the artist's studio, garden constructions and even flower pots, contrasting with lemon-yellows and light sky blues of the forged bars and gate.

The studio is surrounded by incredible variety of plants brought by the artist from the continents around the world: bamboo from the South Asia, African palms and Mexican cactuses, plants from Mesopotamia and India, Canary islands, Mediterranea and even California!

The Majorelle follows a typical tradition of  Morocco to protect the privacy of housings behind the wattle and daub walls. Lush tropical greenery under the burning Moroccan sun, babbling Arabic fountains and gazebos,  golden fishes frisking among water lilies in the blissful coolness of ponds, narrow paths curling among bamboo brushwoods - Jardin Majorelle is a pure garden paradise!

After a car accident Jacques Majorelle had to return back to France but the garden remained open for public visits, and since then is one of the most famous sights of Marrakesh.


After Majorelle passed away in 1962, his wife tried her best to save the garden but it wasn't possible because of the financial problems and the garden was put on sale... Fortunatelly, the Majorelle Garden was saved by the famous couturier Yves Saint-Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé. The friends bought the garden, made some necessary restoration works having in mind an idea  of the future granting tenure to the state. 

...An American landscape designer Madison Cox took care of the general appearance of the garden and a Moroccan botanist Abderrazzak Ben - of the plants themselves. As a result, the quantity of the garden's rare plants was increased twice! The studio of Jacques Majorelle turned into a museum of Moroccan Art where the paintings of Majorelle and a collection gathered by Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé are exhibited.
I do hope that this virtual journey would become a reality one day soon for those of us who haven't visited it yet..! 

Credits: text by me, images by Corbis/RPG, Alamy/Diamedia, Garden Picture Library via Seasons magazine.

Enjoy a more 'live' tour around the Majorelle :)

After reading several Majorelle Garden related materials I have found myself wondering  about Majorelle's paintings as well. So, here I've googled a few to share:

Irounen

Les bons verts

Souq el khémis

Scène de marché à Saint-Louis

Tinghir Todra 

 J.Majorelle-Vue panoramique de Taourirt 

 J.MAJORELLE-Femmes dansant 

 Village de montagne, vallée de l'Ourika. 1938
Jacques Majorelle

GUDRUN SJODEN ~ COLOURFUL SPRING HOME 2011

And again I am turning to Gudrun Sjoden, this time for their home textile featuring series which evoke nostalgic dreams of a summer in a country-side...

I have also updated my November post on Gudrun Sjoden with some colourful images, so, please, have a look and get inspired there as well!

Easy Tahini cookies

... if you happen to have some tahini left-over yet puzzled about how to make any good out of it, you might like to prepare these easy tahini balls cookies of light sandy texture and a warm halva flavour!

Ingredients

200g tahini

1 packet vanilla powder

200g powdered sugar (I used a ready mixture of powdered sugar and vanilla)

200ml vegetable or olive oil

1 cup crushed nut or walnut (not roasted)

3 cups* flour

½ tspn powdered cloves

cinnamon in powder

*1cup=200g

 

Method of cooking:

1. Mix tahini, oil and sugar. 
2. Add flour, nuts and cloves. 
3. Knead to form a soft dough. But the dough’s feel should be a little sandy. Make balls at size of a walnut (the crumbly cookies would be easier to cope with...mine were a bit over-sized but we still could have managed with them well;)
4. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes at a degree of 170 degrees Celsius. Sprinkle cinnamon powder when they start to cool.

MARC JACOBS SPRING/SUMMER 2011

I got realized that Marc Jacobs is my fav European designer after so many times of leafing through fashion mags when each time I exclaimed -Oh, what a beauty!- the model happened to be by MarcJacobs! Here's a bit from his newest spring/summer collection 2011!

 ...and the Maestro himself

Images are from Elle where you may see the rest of the collection.