a secret forest

Lady O

 

 

 

I love Michelle Obama. How lucky are we to have such an elegant and classy First Lady? The days of Jackie O. are long gone, but I really think Michelle Obama is our generations Jackie. She exudes such grace to me. I love her style. I was reminded of her glamour and incredible style while seeing her in the silver Rachel Roy sheath above during the State of the Union address on Tuesday. 

 

 

 

 

The Obama's make such a stunning couple, don't you think? Lady O recently selected this stunning McQueen gown for a gala honoring China's president. Controversy instantly swirled about her dress choice. Nay-sayers clearly can't grasp such a visionary designer's creation. I think this dress is beyond beautiful -  to me she couldn't have selected a more perfect dress. Alexander McQueen is loving the controversy over it and I'm sure loving our First Lady in his gown even more from heaven. 

 

 

Lady O is fearless in her style. Seeing her wearing that asymmetrical Junya Watanabe cardigan made me love her even more. What other First Lady would've worn that and pull it off in such an effortless, awesome way? She wears Lanvin two tone metallic sneakers! Michelle wears candy colored J. Crew beaded twinsets and the company's stock soars and everything sells out. Her style definitely pays homage vintage cuts, palettes, and prints. She wears kitten heels and vintage brooches! In the White House! She is the loveliest of style personified. 

 

 

 

 

I left my favorite looks of our First Lady for last. I always am so inspired to put on a pretty floral dress and get important things done when I see her in flowers. All of my girlfriends and I would love to be friends with her. We could discuss childhood obesity and work in the White House vegetable garden (what a gorgeous and bountiful garden by the way) in our pretty dresses. What a fun daydream!

 

visions of love, peace, beauty, and sugar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my sugar addled, ballerina twirling mind, all of these images share a common thread. Quite often lately, I've been quietly visiting these images for various reasons. This post doesn't exactly make a lot of sense if I try and describe it, so I'm letting the pictures be the narrative. I hope you enjoy them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know a ton about the Hindu religion and about their gods and goddesses.  I find these pictures really lovely and serene and I had to include them. You can read more about some of these deities here.  You can read all about Anna Pavlova, here. Whirling Dervishes, here. Versailles, here (post coming soon about the lost rooms of Versailles). The Wat Rong Khun Temple in Chaing Rai, here. I hope that these pictures inspire a little love, peace, beauty, and of course, sugar.

Have a good evening friends. 

it's sunday night, you never know it could be great.

This weekend marked the beginning of a mysterious and exciting seven month exploration of sorts for me. I went in with an open mind, but was a little nervous - fear of the unknown and so on. On my drive to our opening session this song came on. I don't really think it was a coincidence. Enjoy Gwen below. I'm going to leave an Alice and Wonderland post for a later date, although it's very tempting to do it right now. Get up and dance. It's Sunday.

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! 

then you shoulda put a ring on it

 

There's something so over-the-top wonderful about gigantic cocktail rings. They remind me of playing dress up as a little girl and scavengering through my grandmother's jewelry box. Fancy ridiculous rings are like grown up candy, don't you think? Huge ostentatious rings are always a conversation starter. They are really the only accessory that you need - they certainly take up a lot of sparkle allowance to any given ensemble. These are probably considered tacky - but I love em.  My all time favorite fantasy ring is the first one, the Cartier panther ring. It's so dazzling. It's almost too much to handle. Look at those emerald eyes! 

Do you love these? I have a thing for gold (real or otherwise), so everything I've posted are all of the crazy gold ring variety. Have I mentioned how much I adore these rings? Is this my inner 85 year old Florida grandma coming out? I won't get into my deep longing love for grandma chic coral jewelry right now then (see below). 

I have so much fun looking at all of these. I hope you do too and find a little shiny appreciation and inspiration from these beauties.

Dior makes such dreamy, whimsical, incredible jewelry. Well, Dior has a long history of creating incredible and iconic pieces. Dior rings are to die. Have you seen them?

 

 

Victoire de Castellane, above, is the brilliant creative goddess behind Dior Fine Jewelry. Her jewels are completely out of this world. To read about her, click here. It really is so much fun being a girl!

 

 

 

it's all in the packaging

 

I am a total sucker for great packaging old and new. These first few items are among my favorite examples of drool worthy package design. Gorgeous blue Lanvin boxes with black satin ribbons are the stuff of dreams to me. Buying something lovely and special is a thousand times more fun when it has terrific packaging. I so appreciate good packaging - it certainly doesn't go unnoticed here. Sometimes what something comes in is more exciting than the actual product. I don't know why. 

 

 

 

 

 

Japan has it going on in regards to packaging. From the simplicity of Muji to all of the over-the-top food packaging, Japan rules supreme in packaging in my opinion. I really like the thought and (often times) humor behind their package aesthetic. This blog post could've been exclusively on Japanese packaging design, but I've tried to mix it up tonight. It doesn't even really matter what the product is to me. In fact, what is the little package below for? I love it, regardless.

 

 

 

 

Simple everyday items are so much more wonderful if they come in something thoughtfully crafted. Innocuous things Kleenex and coconut water are instantly transformed into art. How can you not love that? 

 

 

 

It seems that the majority of decadent packaging that I'm loving houses sweets and cosmetics. No surprise here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A fabulous package really is the icing on the cake, don't you agree?

 

 

It's sunday, and the rain won't keep us from dancing.

Here's a fun little dancey clip from the 1942 movie "The Powers Girl" featuring Benny Goodman and his orchestra and a bevvy of rainy day dancers. I've been a little (very) obsessed with vintage umbrellas lately, and this clip is rainy day dancing perfection. Enjoy!

 

To read a little bit about The Powers Girl, click here. Happy Sunday evening friends!

what are you doing, new years, new years eve?

 

 

 

Can you believe that today is the last day of 2010? Where on earth did the time go? I'm quite glad this year is over and we can all begin anew. I hope you all have a wonderful, happy, safe, dance and sugar filled New Years tonight. You have to love a holiday where people fill the streets to watch a gigantic glittering disco ball drop in crazy glasses, tiaras and top hats (elegant glossy black ones or silver paper - doesn't really matter) and kiss at midnight. Put on your finest things and celebrate!

 

 

 

 

 

I really love New Years Eve. I wish every one could be like the NYE celebration in Radio Days. We always say it, but it's very true that I was born in the wrong decade. Oh well, raise a glass and make a wish for a fantastic 2011!

 

 

 

I have found my dream New Years Eve outfit and accessories for the evening. I can't think of a better way to ring in 2011 but with lots of sparkles and tulle and feathers. What do you think? 

 

 

 

 

Do you have any exciting plans tonight? Do you have any New Years resolutions? 

 

 

 

 

celluloid dream

Oh celluloid, lesser stepsister of vintage glamour bakelite, I love you. I first fell in love with you a million years back at an Art Deco exhibit and sale when I stumbled upon a display of deco era swirly celluloid flower place holders. They were so pretty and tiny and I loved that their exclusive purpose was to finish off a gorgeous fancy fete worthy table. I had never seen anything like them before. I have yet to find those place settings again (and, of course, I've been searching high and low for them for years).

 
I was given one of those little cream floral place holders as a gift once from a nice man who owned an antique store specializing in deco pieces.  He only had the one, and he was very kind to gift it to me. I had it for years. Sadly, it ended up suffering a freak accident falling into a lamp and turning into a fiery little ball. To say I was heartbroken is an understatement. Odd how you remember silly trinket mishaps of your past. Celluloid is highly flammable. Lesson learned. Have you seen Inglourious Basterds?

I adore old celluloid pieces. It's much more common and less valuable than bakelite, and I love that all sorts of figurines, jewelry, buttons, boxes, toys, and everything in between was made out of it. I prefer my celluloid pieces to all of my bakelite finds. It is much more delicate, the colors more faded out than bakelite, and I love how it ages so beautifully. Celluloid artifacts were essentially Depression era dime store finds, pendants and purses were picked up at Woolworth. I think that makes me appreciate these pieces so much more. I was reminded of my fascination of all things celluloid after watching the Wizard of Oz the other night. Munchkin Land is overflowing with giant dreamy celluloid blooms that I couldn't take my eyes off of. Wonderful Glinda's bubble would be made out of cotton candy pink translucent celluloid for sure.

In my pastry obsessed brain, I'm constantly drawing design inspiration from celluloid finds. Floral celluloid broaches and necklaces always translate to blown or gumpaste sugar flowers and filigree to me. They have always remind me of sparkly candy. Two of my favorite things. I have a million saved images and celluloid pieces at home that will eventually end up as edible adornments. 

 

 I know that one day I will find those dreamy place holders again. I'm crazy enough to pay just about any price for them, because they have such a lasting memory to me. I would even be happy with a picture of at this point. A girl can dream. I hope you find these little pieces inspiring too!

it's sunday, and it's been so long since we've danced.

 

  

 

I know that sometimes we are all just in the mood to watch beautiful vintage footage of bellydancing, and tonight was one of those nights. I went on Youtube and put in just that - "vintage belly dancing," and a bunch of really incredible clips came up of Egyptian bellydancer Naima Akef (who I've never heard of before about twenty minutes ago). Naima was a dancing star of the silver screen and made over twenty films during the 40's and 50's. A child born into a circus family of acrobats in Cairo (this fact makes me love her even more), Naima began her career at age four performing in the Akef Circus as an acrobat.  Her first love was always dancing, which she excelled at and become a star of Egypt's Golden Era of cinema. You can read more about Naima Akef, here.

I hope you enjoy this clip and reading about lovely Naima Akef. Have you heard about her before? 

Happy Sunday evening, friends!

 

"take care that you do not make me look like a fool tonight"

Yesterday, we celebrated National Sacher Torte Day. Who knew? Don't you just love historic confections that have their very own day devoted to them?

This chocolate and apricot cake was created in a moment of panic by a sixteen year old baking apprentice, Franz Sacher in 1832. The "coachman of Europe" Wenzel Clemens Prince Metternich wanted to create a glorious dessert for his guests and had given the stern warning to "take care that you do not make me look like a fool tonight" in regard to the creation of this confection. The head chef who Sacher worked under was ill that day, and Sacher had to come up with something fit for a prince and his guests. In pastry school, we had read that the addition of apricot jam (the cake's signature addition) by Sacher was simply an afterthought - and thus the world renowned Sacher Torte was born. Sacher's cake became so famous that he eventually opened the Hotel Sacher in Vienna, where people flocked for his signature dessert.

Want to make a Sacher Torte? 

Makes one 9-inch torte

For 1 Sachertorte base:

4 oz couverture
1/2 cup soft butter
1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar
6 eggs, separated
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup flour, sifted

For the icing:

2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
13 oz couverture, chopped

You will also need:

9-inch springform pan
Parchment paper
About 3/4 cup apricot jam for filling and spreading

On the Sacher Hotel's website, they mention that there is a secret ingredient added, and that the real Sacher recipe is shrouded in mystery. The definition of a Sacher Torte was decided in a Viennese court shortly after the cake's inception. It was decided by the Congress of Vienna that the Sacher was made of two layers of chocolate cake, separated by apricot jam and covered in chocolate glaze. The cake is supposed to be served with a quinelle of chantilly cream.

I have heard that the original cake is quite dry, I've made this cake several times with a little doctoring and it is decadent and such a treat (if you are into rich dark chocolate desserts).  I'm very curious what this mystery ingredient is. Any guesses from anyone who has had the original Sacher Torte? 

The recipe is considered exclusive to the Hotel Sacher of Vienna, and you can only have an authentic Sacher Torte made by the hotel. The tortes are available for purchase online through the hotel's website. The are quite beautiful and come in really lovely wooden boxes. To order a Sacher straight from the Viennese hotel, click here.