The blog of Eleonore Bridge

If you are a Francophile, a dreamer, a lover of fairytales, picnics and cupcakes, you will totally love the blog de la Mechanté of Eleonore Bridge! Eleonore takes the most exquisite photographs of Disneyland rides, picnics, Alice in Wonderland inspired hotel decor, Coco Chanel's Paris Appartment and anything to do with that especially French obsession, The Patisserie! Check out her beautiful blog if you want to get some inspiration for any interiors projects you are working on at home; the palettes in her photography are lovely! Site is readable in French and English versions!

Design Democracy

I am pleased to announce that I have been nominated for the MyDeco Design Democracy Awards in the Best Newcomer category! MyDeco is one of my fave design sites, so you can imagine my joy at this nomination! Part of the ethos of MyDeco is the concept of Design Democracy, and so here I shall endeavor to give my interpretation of what this means to me.

Being a blogger, I know first hand what democracy means in terms of creativity. I love to write about and share great design, beautiful objects, impressive new talent. Blogging enables you to easily be able to source and research these things. You don't have to be an industry insider or go to a dusty library to swat up on art or fantastic design. Also, I don't feel that I would be able to collate and creatively showcase these things without the very new technology which has only very recently occurred. It is easier than ever for people like myself, who are not creative professionals but have a love of beauty and who would like a vessel for their own frustrated creativity!

So for me personally, good blogging can have a great design ethic, whilst coupled with that true independent spirit of say a zine, but with the chance to reach a far wider audience without great financial cost. And what could be more democratic than that?!

Fred Butler headpiece for Kabiri

I wanted to share this beautiful headpiece that the amazing Fred Butler has been making. She posted it yesterday on her outstanding blog. It's been created  for the ever so bang-on-the-money Kabiri (who have the most incredible range of jewellery in the world ever, well apart from the ancient Byzantines, who I suppose you could say, were pretty good at jewellery making!)

Pop Justice strikes again!

Oooh yes, I love Pop Justice. It's one of the funniest savviest blogs on the block. If you have a day where you are feeling crap, PJ lifts you up! Don't believe me? Then check out the following review of the new Katie Price (Jordan) single below. Sheer brilliance!

"SOME PEOPLE ARE NATURAL POPSTARS"

Some people are not.

Some people are not, and never will be.

Some people are not, never will be, and know they never will be.

Some people are not, never will be, know they never will be, and hope that nobody else has noticed.

Some people are not, never will be, know they never will be, and know that everybody else has noticed. But they go through the motions anyway because they hold pop music, their fans, and all music fans in such low regard that they think it doesn't matter.

...Worse than Scouting for Girls"

Sadly there is no photo to accompany this piece of writing: Instead I've opted for an alternative picture of a couple of cute kittens.

Pop Justice

Friends of mine are often intrigued/ confused/ alarmed, by the variety of stuff on my Ipod. It ranges from Bobby Brown to Sonic Youth. Whatever pleases one camp of people dissatisfies the other. I have given up trying to please everyone and now just play what I want, mainly because I can't be bothered to justify every single track. It is especially very difficult  to explain the merits of a good pop song to alternative music fascists (think of Jack Black in High Fidelity).

Just to straighten things out a bit, I like a bit of  pop cheese. Especially "Chuckaway pop", which has an even shorter shelf life than throwaway pop - it's the difference between Chipmunk and Lady Gaga! It's the kind of music that you probably love for about two weeks and then totally hate; only to listen to it about 15 years later when it is retro (and then you probably hate it after one week). After that it gets relegated to the dusty bargain basement bin of crap music history, never to be exalted in ever again! But there is a place for this type of music: Jimi Hendrix was indeed a great musician, but his stuff is no good to do ironing or aerobics to! If you are still confused, then check out "Pop Justice" and they will tell you why pop music is great and good! http://www.popjustice.com/

Kylie: Fainting in tight corsets isn't just for Victorians you know

Pierre Hermé Chocolate Mousse

I was just sitting at my laptop, mooching about whilst half watching rubbish late night tv in my glamorous blogging attire of track bottoms and Fit Flops (erm, I mean my DVF dress and feather mules), and then suddenly, I hit food-blog gold! This recipe's one adapted from famous pastry guru Pierre Hermé, and whilst I haven't yet tried it, I most certainly will be tomorrow evening! The aforementioned blog is called Serious Eats, and seriously, they are SERIOUS! http://www.seriouseats.com/

Read on for recipe...


Adapted from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé by Pierre Hermé.

- makes 6 servings -



Ingredients

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/3 cup whole milk

1 large egg yolk

4 large egg whites

2 tablespoons sugar



Procedure

1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over (not touching) simmering water or in the microwave oven. (If you want to melt the chocolate in the microwave, set it to 30 seconds and stir thoroughly, then every 15 seconds thereafter, until melted.) If necessary, transfer the chocolate to a bowl that is large enough to hold all of the ingredients. Keep the chocolate on the counter until needed. The chocolate should still feel warm to the touch when you're ready to use it.



2. Bring the milk to the boil, then pour it over the chocolate. Using a small whisk, gently blend the milk into the chocolate. Add the egg yolk and whisk it into the chocolate, again working gently; stop when the yolk is incorporated.



3. In a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed just until they hold soft peaks. Increase the speed to medium-high and gradually add the sugar. Continue to beat the whites until they are firm but still glossy. Scoop 1/3 of the whites out of the bowl onto the chocolate mixture. Working with a whisk, beat the whites into the chocolate to lighten the mixture. Now, with either the whisk or a large flexible rubber spatula, delicately but thoroughly fold the rest of the beaten whites into the chocolate.



4. Turn the mousse into a large serving bowl—glass is very nice for this dessert—or into individual cups, and refrigerate for 1 hour to set.



On storage: Although the texture of the mousse will be lighter if you serve it shortly after chilling, it can be covered and kept in the refrigerator for up to two days. It will be just as delicious, if a little denser.

Pretty Uglies

"Pretty Uglies" is the blog of fantastic Polish illustrator Magdalena Wolan. Her works reminds me a bit of the caricatures of modernist artist George Grosz (whose work I totally love). There is a wonderful mix of the bizarre and the morbid, but they are also very pretty too - hence the name "Pretty Uglies". Check out the fantastic Kate Moss illustration! http://pretty-uglies.blogspot.com/

Broad Bean & Mint Dip.

I love this little foodie blog. It has a very nice community feel to it: has excellent recipies which are illustrated with great photos, and (totally coincidentally) also finishes with the word, yeah! I've had a go at a few of these recipes now, and I have to say they are very user friendly! The only thing that I have found recently is that they have a lot less posts than in previous times, but hey, it is the summer and we are all entitled to a break! Here is a great broad bean recipe. Now, I know that some people don't like broad beans, but I do think this is down to fact that they had them cooked in a nasty 1970's school-dinner-overboiled-stylee. Either try this recipe from Foodforfriendsyeah!, or have a go at a salad with rocket, broad beans, asparagus and goats cheese - very nice with a lemony salad dressing. Find dip recipe here:
http://www.foodforfriendsyeah.co.uk/2010/06/01/broadbean-and-mint-dip/

Pop 'Africana

Pop 'Africana is a breathtakingly beautiful magazine which promotes an image of Africa that doesn't follow the usual trail of stereotypical representation; or as the online magazine puts it: "A magazine dedicated to delivering a rejuvenated image of Africa and Africans in the Diaspora and a robust and educative guide documenting the endeavours and achievements of Africans, home and abroad". Well you couldn't paraphrase better than that! The fashion and photography is soooooo evocative and the styling is incredibly inspiring. I also like following the Editors blog, which is cool, stylish and well informed, taking in fashion, film, photography. Please read Oroma's lovely post on the film "The Lover" (one of my favourite films!) http://www.popafricana.com/current_issue.html

British Sandwich Week - The TLT!

Yes, this week is British Sandwich Week and if you want to be really flash, here's a veggie BLT that takes forever to make, but is well worth it!!! This TLT (Tempeh, Lettuce & Tomato sarnie) is taken from the utterly brilliant 101 cookbooks blog (woman has lots of cookbooks and decides to actually cook something out of them - ring any bells?) Get stuck in and make your colleagues v. jealous indeed! I've ever so  slightly customised it for a UK audience, but if you want the US version, click here! http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/tlt-sandwich-recipe.html

3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup shoyu sauce (or soy sauce)
2 tablespoons of Reggae, Reggae Sauce.
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar (or maple syrup)
8 ounces of tempeh, cut into 1/3-inch thick strips
1 small basket of cherry tomatoes (2 cups)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil olive oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar (or maple syrup)
scant 1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 small head of romaine lettuce, cored, then cut into 1/4-inch ribbons
1-2 large avocados, mashed with a pinch of salt just before assembling
4 or 8 extra-thin slices of hearty whole grain bread, well toasted

More


Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

Whisk together the 3 tablespoons of olive oil, shoyu, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar and a teaspoon of Reggae, Reggae Sauce. Pour 1/3 of the tempeh marinade into an 8x8 baking dish (or something comparable) - you want a dish that is just big enough to hold the tempeh in a single layer - this way it will be fully enveloped by the marinade. Pour the remaining marinade over the top of the tempeh, cover and keep in the refrigerator for a couple hours, overnight or until ready to use.

While the tempeh is marinating, go ahead and roast the tomatoes. Cut each tomato in half and arrange them in a large oven-proof baking dish. Mix together the olive oil, sugar, and salt and pour this over the tomatoes. Gently toss them a bit, making sure they all get coated, finishing with each tomato facing cut-side up. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes or so, until the tomatoes are shrunken and sweet.

When the tempeh is done marinating heat a large pan over medium-high heat and cook the tempeh slices for a few minutes on each side. You may need to do this in batches if you don't have a big enough pan. Set the tempeh slices aside until you are ready to assemble the sandwiches.

To assemble each sandwich take one slice of bread and slather a generous layer of mashed avocado. Place a small helping of the shredded lettuce on top of the avocado, a few tomatoes, then a few slices of the tempeh, and more tomatoes. Enjoy either open faced or topped with another avocado-slathered bread slice.

Makes four sandwiches

AnOther Magazine

NoOne does photo-shoots like AnOther Magazine. If you want evidence of this then check out the below pictures of the mesmerizing Marion Cotillard in the most recent edition. Their shop also has some top stuff in it. http://www.anothermag.com/

Print & Pattern

I've always had a love for stationery, cards, wrapping paper & nice material. No wonder then that Print & pattern is one of my favourite blogs. It's a UK based blog which showcases the best printed design here and Stateside. As well as more well known designers, such as Cath Kidston and Orla Kiely, they have featured other of my faves such as Angie Lewin and the below, Ella Kirk. P&P now have a very nice book out, which you can get from Amazon. I've stuck one in the bookshop, but do also check out the link, http://printpattern.blogspot.com/

Letters of Note

Sometimes you stumble upon an idea that is so ingenious that you simply can't understand why someone hadn't thought of it before. Enter "Letters of Note"; a blog, that publishes, funnily enough, "Letters of Note"...from the rich, famous and fabulous! I particularly like this Andy Warhol one, which is incredibly sweet and humble. It was written when Warhol was just starting out as an illustrator, and is a response to a request from Harpers Magazine for some biographical information. You'd never guess from this scribble that he would go on to become such a massive self-publisizing genius! http://www.lettersofnote.com/

Transcript

Hello mr lynes
thank you very much

biographical information

my life couldn't fill a penny postcard
i was born in pittsburgh in 1928 (like everyone else - in a steel mill)
i graduated from Carnegie Tech
now i'm in NY city moving from one roach infested apartment to another.

andy warhol

randomfashioncoolness

This is a great fashionblog that I've recently come across. The references are spot on, but what I especially like are the gorgeous pop photomontages in parma violet, cupcake pink and canary yellow. Sometimes blogs which are so visual can dumb down on the text, but this is not the case here. The wording is very eloquent and there's a lot of care taken with the detail. The below picture showcases the most incredible tights from "Queues de Sardines". Do enjoy. Here's the link. http www.randomfashioncoolness.com/blog/