MODEL TO WATCH: darya kurovska

pics courtesy of freshvodkalatte 

LOVE LOVE LOVE

When I was litle, I had this book - I forget the name - about a little girl who makes friends with the fairies in her garden. Now as we all know, no fairy book is complete without a grand fairy ball and this book really came to the party. I remember paging through the illustrations looking at ball-gowns in every colour you could imagine made from tulip petals and rose buds to dew drops and silvery spider's web thread. When I came across these H&M pics I was reminded of this story, it made me smile:) I hope they make you do the same.

This dress makes me want to weep it is so beautiful. It makes me want to go out and drink cosmos with the girls and dance till sunset * sigh * click here for more. In my little dream world, these -items below- are hanging in my closet. (I also look like the girl above:).

OH JOY! AND HYSTERIA

I am completely wild with excitement at the discovery that OH JOY! stationery is available in south africa. I have been an oh joy blog addict for ages and never thought i would get to actually hold and touch one of their gorgeous products-ever! let alone own some of it. HOORAY! 

OTTOLENGHI

This christmas I was introduced, by my also cooking obsessed mother, to the delicious world of Ottolenghi . To say I am obsessed would be an understatement. "Ottolenghi draws on a wealth of culinary traditions – with a focus on the Mediterranean basin – providing inventive yet honest food, anything from a lemon and mascarpone tart to a grilled mackerel with olive and raisin salsa." I flip through this gorgeous book every day and perve over just about every recipe all of which are written in a super user friendly and easy to follow manner. I cannot wait to start working my way through these wonderful recipes and highly suggest you get your hands on a copy and start cooking today, you wont regret it:)

Point Road Shoot

Hi hi, here are some pics from a shoot Jono Nienaber and I did in the dead buildings on the point road death row. A big thanks you to Leigh Schubert for letting us use her gorgeous clothes and to the weather man for giving us a break in the Torrential rain. Enjoy x

Photography: Jono Nienaber Pure studios 

Styling: Lexi Bechet

Model Coco (Models international) 

Clothing: Leigh Schubert 
Make up: Lindsay 

OH, DEAR SANTA

Please may I have this diamond encrusted, white gold, 

I would give anything in the world to have this, Garrard ring for christmas. 

I promise to be good for the rest of my life,

thanks a mil

x

THE LITCHI ORCHARD

OFF TO MARKET WE GO

"Our litchi trees are the star of the show here. 

Most of our trees are over 80 years old, and 

still bear some of the sweetest, juiciest 

litchis around."

For me there are few things as delicious as a ripe litchi picked straight from the tree so when I found out about the fresh produce market happening at Eb's litchi orchard in Ballito I was pretty much hysterical with excitement. Doug and I jumped in the car this morning and took a lovely drive down the coast to see what was potting and were wonderfully surprised. 

Eb has built an awesome wooden structure in amongst the litchi trees- which are dripping with fat little litchis ready for the picking- which houses the many yummy delights ranging from cupcakes (that look like they have just come off the set of the Marie Antoinette movie) to delicious indian food, gorgeous vegetables, macadamia nuts (also grown on the farm) pesto's and pastes and many more scrumptious nibbles. 

So, If you find yourself waking up on a saturday with an adventure in mind I suggest you cruise down to Ballito and grab yourself a box of the most delicious litchi's in the whole universe and a cupcake (if you have the space after eating a whole box of litchis) and sit yourself in the shade of a litchi tree and bask in the glory that is summertime in durban.

For more info visit the litchi orchard website

ODE TO JULENE

I have this funny obsession with paper cutouts, it has an almost meditative effect on me, and an incredibly beautiful result, I can spend hours perched on our window seat in my own little cutout universe so you can imagine my joy at discovering this site. After a good hour of perving and peroozing through Julene's spectacular amount of intricate and completely inspring work i decided to make one of my own (more of a love letter than a cutout!) you will notice that julene's is much neater than mine!

MY LITTLE DRAMA

I really want this from here

MY FIRST FREE DOWNLOAD!

I have decided to do a little recipe card series so that once you have read one of my delicious recipes, you can download a card and scribble it down:)

I can pretty confidently say that once you have tasted these delicious biscuits, they will immediately be top of your list of favorites. Everyone I know has a lovely memory attached to these crumbly, jammy scrumptious little squares, most of them including tea with granny. 

I hope the taste takes you back in time to a happy sunny day. Enjoy x

APRICOT SQUARES OF LOVE

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup margerine (I use butter)

1 egg beaten

2 cups self-raising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

a tin of apricot jam

METHOD

x Beat the sugar and marge/butter together until smooth and creamy. Add the beaten egg, stir in the flour and vanilla essence. Knead until a smooth dough is formed.

x Divide the dough in half, wrap 1/2 in glad wrap and refrigerate. Press the remaining 1/2 into a square baking tin or lamington tin

x Spread generously with a layer of jam. Be as liberal as you want, everyone likes a different amount so you are going to have to play around and figure out how jammy you want them (i like mine pretty jammy:)

x  Grate the remaining half of dough over the jammy layer and bake at 180 c until golden brown.

EBONY AND IVORY RIBBONS

Are these not the most beautiful ribbons? I cannot help but be completely obsessed with the Ebony and Ivory ribbon company, every time I visit them I leave with an armful of gorgeous ribbons. They are the perfect way to jazz up gifts and look stunning wrapped around goodie filled jars. I use it whenever and where ever I can. Visit them here for your ribbon fix. Or Go to their shop 52 Main Road Diep River Cape Town.

CHOCOLATEY HAZELNUT STACK

INGREDIENTS

250 g plain chocolate biscuits crushed

60 g butter, melted

4 eggs separated

3/4 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup hazelnut flour (ground hazelnuts)

2 tablespoons plain flour

TOPPING

125 g butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

200 g dark chocolate

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

METHOD

X  Grease and line a 20 x 30 cm lamington pan

X  Combine 2/3 of the  crushed biscuits and butter and press into the lamington pan. Refrigerate

X  Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually add the sugar, beating until it is dissolved between additions. once a shiny mass has been reached, fold in the ground hazelnuts, remaining biscuits and the flour. Spread the mixture over the biscuit base.

X Bake at 180 C for 20 min. Cool

X Reduce the oven temperature to 170 C

X Meanwhile make the topping by beating the butter, sugar and egg yolk until it is light and fluffy. Stir in the melted chocolate and spread over the slice. Bake for a further 20 minutes.

X Once baked I used a cookie cutter to cut out some rounds, I sandwiched them together and put little chocolate collars around the stacks to give them a more elegant look. I also spread a little butterscotch sauce over the tops for some added goodness.