PALLANCA's EXOTIC GARDEN

I heart Mediterranean gardens very much - cacti in bloom in all their varieties of size and form, palms, sandy paths curling among stone terraces filled with aromatic herbs! Today, let me welcome you to one of such places - a beautiful, old (100 years of age), private botanical garden -- Giardino Esotico Pallanca, located in Italy, town of Bordighera.
The Garden was created in 1910 by Bartolomeo Pallanca and nowadays, it is maintained by his descendants - the owner and designer of the garden Barth Pallanca and his two sons, Giacomo and Gio Batta.

The garden has an incredibly rich collection of cactaceaes  and succulents - 3200 species of plants in total; the eldest plant comes from Peru and is 300 years old! The soil and climate on the downhill of an extinct volcano Nero, where the garden is located, are perfectly favorable to the cacti growth.

 Blooming cacti - what a wonder! If only they were not thorny! :)



Source: scans from Maison Francaise mag. Photographer: Ferruccio Carassale

They are going to have an on-line store where they'll be distributing their plants, even rare ones! The shop is still in development, but I think bookmarking the link would be worthwhile. Hopefully they will sell worldwide.

 

You may also check a photography blog Ombre di Luce where I have found some more nice close-up views of the garden's plants.

THE KING OF KITSCH

The flamboyant, Mexican-themed “The King of Kitsch” collection has been presented by an iconic Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee at the Grand Finale for Wills India Fashion Week 2011.


 I, personally, am not aware of any fashion attempts to play up with Frida Kahlo's style (are there any?), so for me, Sabyasachi is the first one who could incorporate it, and so organically at that, into his vibrant Mexican-Indian fusion haute khutoor!





{...He uses unusual fabrics, texturing and detailing, ‘fusion’ of styles ‘patch-worked’ with gorgeous embellishments in a vibrant eclectic colour palette to make the feeling of going back to the ancient and medieval ages and giving the designs and the women wearing an ethnic look.. He describes his own collections as ‘an International styling with an Indian soul’...}  source: sareez@wordpress.








Bipasha Basu wearing a Sabyasachi apparel at IIFA Rocks Fashion Show 2011





These above were shown at Lakme Fashion Week 2011 { something Mexican is still felt here, but may be even with a slight Japanese touch, as suggested here :}







Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Vidya Balan (actress)

Images via here and here

AISHWARYA RAI's UNSEEN HiBLiTZ LOOKS

Here's the continuation of a post I made in October, 2010, but now more detailed images and even some unseen photos from the fascinating Parisian Aishwarya's photoshoot are featured here!
















These fantastic clothes were exclusively designed for Aishwarya by a prominent Indian couturier Sabyasachi Mukherjee.

Culture through Objects: OLD IS GOLD

I absolutely love these stunning jewelry pieces from Azerbaijan, all dated 19th century! And the way the stones are set into a mounting is my most favorite, too!


Bracelet


Pendant


Belt


Pendant


Necklace

Scans from Baku magazine

SUMMER REFRESH ~ Lemon Sherbet

When I was sixteen, my grandmother bought for me a thick cookbook in a dark-green cover with a few pages in colour in the middle, all containing recipes from Caucasian countries (in those times, all being Soviet Union Republics - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Daghestan etc).
Since then, the book is one of my most treasurable and I use it often.

This flavourful sherbet comes from Azerbaijan and is highly refreshing and toning up. I should have better come up with this recipe in the beginning of the summer since it's perfect for a hot weather. Anyway, I hope August is going to have for us many warm days ahead to be filled with this citrus joy. If not, just don't put ice in your sherbet ;), it'll be all the same super delicious!

Ok, now to the recipe itself:

1. Finely chop 1 lemon's rind and cover with hot water (1 liter or so).
2. Boil for about 10-15 min and set aside to cool for 3 hours.
3. Filter and add about 100g of sugar and a freshly squeezed lemon juice. Add then
4. Pour in a saffron infusion to your taste and a few ice cubes.

Serve with a nice piece of Summer music from Azerbaijan:)