Did anyone say Orlando Bloom?
I bought these to make Esther's grilled vegetable couscous salad
http://petalsmarkedwithspots.blogspot.com/2010/01/grilled-vegetable-couscous-salad.html
The best thing? Well there are two - the price is generally cheaper than supermarkets, and the quality of the fruit and veg cannot be better. You will never buy a supermarket apple again after tasting the one's at the Farmers Markets. And another plus - buying produce at farmers markets - no matter where you live - supports the local industry. So really, its all win-win.
For more info on the markets, check out the website: http://www.capitalregionfarmersmarket.com.au/
Now to make some delicious soup!
Gracie
xx
(Snow covered sheep. Hilarious.)
Three times.
This is big news.
It’s big news possibly because it’s my only cooking news (having otherwise gone back to the tuna-sandwich dinner school of thought). It’s also big news because, being honest, I thought I would never make my own breakfast cereal. Like making bread, I thought making muesli was a nice idea, but one for very earnest, organised people, and that the process was probably not nearly as easy all those earnest, organised people said (honestly, how often do people who make their own bread preach to you that it’s so “easy”). Well, although I’m not yet converted to bread-making (for now, I’m buying Vogels or bread from Brooklyn Bagels, thanks) I have undergone a complete cereal turnaround. And so now I’m spreading the home-made muesli love.
Inspired by a lovely climbing friend, I’ve been experimenting with an American granola recipe. Like my friends’ tasty version, my muesli seems to sit on the dessert-esq side of breakfast cereals. For slightly less intense granola/muesli recipes, try either this or this. But, if walnuts, spices, lots of dates and honey is how you like the oats in your muesli to roll (please tell me someone got that joke), read on.
Toasted Muesli
1kg whole oats
¼ cup canola oil
A generous ½ cup of honey
200g chopped dates (you could use cranberries, or any other dried fruit instead if you like. Just add them after you’ve finished toasting though)
100g roughly chopped walnuts (or whichever nut variant you like. Experimentation is a good thing)
1 vanilla pod
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon (though this is kind of approximate. I’m not really one for extremely accurate measures)
1 teaspoon nutmeg (ditto on the “approximate” amount)
Two baking trays (one large and one small should be ok)
Set the oven to 140°. Combine the honey and oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Keep stirring this mixture until it foams and bubbles right up. Take the pan off the heat and add the oats, stirring them round well.
Split the vanilla pod and scrap all the seeds into the oat mix. Add the nutmeg, cinnamon, dates and walnuts. Stir very well. Spread the muesli mix across the baking trays and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes, turning the muesli over every 10 minutes. When the oats on the edges of the trays, at the back of the oven begin to turn brown-gold, the muesli is done (a very accurate way to measure, I know).
Leave the muesli to cool on the trays. Store in a large plastic container and make the world (or maybe just your flatmates) jealous of your muesli-making skills.
Unfortunately, I killed my little point-and-click camera (who knew they didn’t like travelling, sans case, in climbing bags) so I’ve only got photos of my first batch of muesli (I toasted it a bit too much – you don’t want your muesli to be quite this brown when you take it out of the oven).
xx Esther
Put very simply, Separation City is a film about relationships and breaking up in Wellington. The poetic irony is that I watched it, and then was broken up with, in Wellington (screw you, poetic irony). The film follows Simon, (Australian Joel Edgerton), who is married, increasingly unsuccessfully, to Pam (Dannielle Cormack). Simon and Pam are part of a group of several professional, mid-30s friends who all have small children and who all are trying to figure out love and life. Rhonda Mitra plays one of these friends, the supposedly German/Dutch Katrien, though Mitra has got the plummiest accent you’ll ever hear. Katrien’s husband Klaus, (who does sound legitimately German) cheats on her, and Simon, frustrated and not connecting at all with Pam, falls in serious unrequited love with Katrien. Unsurprisingly, stuff gets problematic.
L-R - Katrien, Pam, Joanne, Harry, Simon
That’s the simple outline. Separation City is about a lot more than just break-ups. To begin with, it’s got a sharp, dark, sense of humour. Also, being set in Wellington, it’s got politics, sleazy politicians and wry journalists. When it examines families and the daily, often cringe-worthy dynamics of family life, (used condoms, chocolate cereal for breakfast, remembering to buy "cheapish but still drinkable Aussie Shiraz" for a dinner party), it’s amusing, accurate and not prepared to gloss over the awkward things that matter. Finally, the cinematography in Separation City is fantastic. Wellington comes across as the spectacular, hilly coastal city it is, though in Separation City, Wellington's absolute best side is shown - it’s nearly always sunny and only mildly breezy (filthy lies). It’s worth watching the film just for the beautiful scenery.
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And now I have a confession to make. I really wanted to love this film. It’s set in Wellington! Joel Edgerton is very good looking! Les Hill (who plays Simon’s journalist best friend, Harry, and who is, hand down, the films’ best actor) is (without hyperbole) the greatest character ever!
But I couldn’t love it. I could like sections of it a lot, but in places the film feels forced and contrived. The voice over provided by Simon and Katrien is especially contrived and unnecessary (though Simon’s can be quite funny). The pace is very uneven, and although the sections with the men’s group are all at once hilarious, poignant and revealing, they feel somewhat out of place, like they could be from another film.
This is not to say you shouldn’t watch Separation City. It is very much worth seeing. But just don’t go to it expecting to fall in love.
xx Esther
Elsa Schiaparelli. Evening coat (collaboration with Jean Cocteau), fall 1937. Blue (now faded) silk jersey with gold metal and red silk embroidery and pink silk appliqued flowers Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Elsa Schiaparelli, Monkey Fur Shoes, black suede and monkey fur, 1938.
Schiaparelli's couture designs drew on the advancements of the modern world, seeking to bring a sense of escapism, humour and bohemian liberty to the uncertain world of Parisian high society of the late 1930’s. She was not a trained couturier, instead relying on aesthetic instincts and originality to challenge the norms of the fashion industry. The freedom of Surrealism was Schiaparelli’s rationale to let her imagination run wild in her designs, designs that she envisaged to go “beyond the crude and boring reality of merely making a dress to sell.” The boutique featured interior decorations by many in the group, including the quirky Spanish artist Salvador Dali. One can only imagine what a room designed by Dali would look like!
Elsa Schiaparelli, Evening dress and head scarf with tear design (collaboration with Salvador Dalí), summer/fall 1938. Light blue, magenta, and black silk crepe.
Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Schiaparelli’s collaborations with the Surrealists aimed to encourage new interpretations for familiar objects and clothing. This ambiguity is seen throughout the Dali/Schiaparelli creations, such as their Lobster Dress and Shoe Hat. Each of these again combined the conventions of dress with the peculiar. What could be more appropriate on a luxury evening gown than the image of a lobster? I can't help but think of Lady Ga Ga's outrageous and wonderful ensembles when I see Schiaparelli's Monkey Fur Shoes and Shoe Hat. Divine!
Elsa Schiaparelli, Harlequin Evening Coat, spring 1939. Blue, black, red, yellow, and white wool felt with silk embroidery. Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Elsa Schiaparelli, Dinner Jacket, spring 1947. Black crepe and 'shocking' pink silk taffeta with paillette and seed-pearl embroidery and jet buttons.
Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Elsa Schiaparelli, Blouse, ca. 1937, rayon, length at CB: 21 1/2 in. (54.6 cm), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Schaparelli continued this contemporary, playful approach to the fashion industry in her invention of garment titles and fabric names, still used today. These include royal and ice blue, wheat yellow, and most famously, shocking pink. I wouldn't mind a bit of shocking pink in my wardrobe.
Elsa Schiaparelli, Trompe l'Oeil Jumper, November 1927, Black and white wool.
Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The Surrealist emphasis on distortion and masquerade can be seen in many of Schiaparelli’s designs. This interest is evident from her early design years, with her famous
Schiaparelli's collections demonstrated that fashion need not adhere to convention. Her fabulous designs incorporated bright colours, unusual embellishments and patterns to otherwise standard items of clothing. Despite ending her career in bankruptcy in the 1950’s and being largely forgotten by the art world, one can see in her creations a vision of the Surrealist psyche. Fashion for Schiaparellis was a means of escaping, if only temporarily, from the boring and the everyday. One only has to look at designers like Alannah Hill to see how fashion designers continue to use fashion as a means of visual experimentation. Very fun and quirky experimentation at that!
The message from Ms Schiaparelli, when in doubt, never, never buy the grey suit!
