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

Clare Vivier Ipad Sleeves

I don't have an Ipad as yet, but after seeing these Clare Vivier sleeves today, I really do wish I did! Available in 3 almost edible candy colours, these are made in the States, with a focus on quality and ethical employment (her wonderful leather products wear the "locally made." moniker). You can now buy over here at Bodie and Fou: http://www.bodieandfou.com/

Jewellery Triptych

Just because I'm a very nice person, here's a selection of my favourite jewellery pieces from that triumvirate of online fashion - Matches, Net-a-Porter and Browns.

Tina Lilienthal necklace from Brown's Fashion website.

Coral Valentino necklace at Net-a-Porter

Tom Binns for Disney Couture at Matches Fashion

Riviera style with Pucci at Outnet!

Cannes film festival may have now finished, but the sun has officially moved to the UK. If you fancy bringing a riviera vibe to blighty (admittedly this does require a fair bit of imagination), all is not lost. Simply follow these steps; hold your head high, borrow a mini fashion dog to carry around in your bag all day, and then simply kit yourself out in some of these top Pucci deals (up to 70% off from completely bargainous Outnet.com!) As per usual, you have to be pretty quick though. http://www.theoutnet.com/

Jamie Oliver Greek Salad...

...Perfect for hot lazy days! Saw this on "Jamie Does..." the other night. This is J's best series for ages. I normally find Greek salad in this country a bit sharp (well, a bit like eating a pot of salt really), but I tried this and found it to be a lot more flavoursome! I really love the way the Jamie suggests things like crushing the black olives so that they absorb the other flavours (oh so true), and also laying the slab of feta on the top and drizzling with oil. Make sure you get a nice creamy feta though! Here's the linky from J.O's very generous website: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/greek-salad

Sewn up

What's wonderously 70's, colourful and updated and improved for the 21st Century? No it's not Engelbert Humperdinck, it is of course - clothkits! If you visit http://www.clothkits.co.uk/ you will see that they have a collection of fantastically cool and well priced items designed by people such as Rob Ryan and the fabby Jane Foster (her stuff on here is my favourite). So, if you think sewing is too difficult (yep) - beg, borrow or steal a cheapo sewing machine and get stuck in! I've posted some pictures of  what I think are the real showstopping pieces!

Groovy bag man

Jane Foster bag and purse kit

Trellick Tower children's dress (People Will Always Need Plates)

Cute sewing machine necklace

Afternoon Tea

Beautiful teaset by Baita Design

Lord Snowdon pic of Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole at The Dorchester.

Laduree special Alice in Wonderland Macaroons box set

lady Gaga has a nice sit down and a cup of tea.

The Spatisserie at the Dorchester

Punky Allsorts

Anybody who knows me knows that I LOVE plastic jewellery. I would actually go as far to say that quite often I prefer it to fine jewellery! If you know of any great plastic jewellery brands or shops that I could feature, then please send me an email to the pargypost address, and if it fits with the overall aesthetics/ tone of the site, then I will give it a review!

Punky Allsorts are a really fun/ young/ vibrant company. Their arm candy is often spotted adorning the limbs of uber celebrities; but yet this stuff is affordable for us mere mortals! I particularly love their bracelets - nearly good enough to eat (although they really are plastic and not candy jewellery like when you were a kid!) http://www.punkyallsorts.com/

Punky Funky bracelets!

Patternity

I know I say this everytime, but this is one of my favourite sites right now. Patternity is a fantastic online presence dedicated to "seeing pattern everywhere". http://www.patternity.co.uk/ And these girls really do see pattern everywhere! There is the wonderful website, which they called their resource - a kind of online pattern book I guess, to "inspire and inform". There is also a studio and a shop where you can buy their things. You can also get some stuff online from a shop called Supermarket Sarah! http://www.supermarketsarah.com/

WFP: Rear Window

Weekend Flick Pick

I have many favourite Hitchcock films (well, OK, all of them really), but the one which I watch repeatedly, without ever getting tired of, is Rear Window. My goodness, Grace Kelly is the epitome of style in this film. She is the best Hitchcock actress on the block (Sorry Tippi you are amazing in The Birds, and Isabella, you really are quite the socialite in Notorious; but neither of you are quite in the same league as "the Princess"). The clothes are incredible, the storyline is totally unbelievable and Jimmy Stewart is the coolest actor in the world ever!!! (Yes, even cooler than Steve McQueen - but only just!)

OK, so lets look at the dodgy premise for the film.

Wheelchair bound journalist bored of convalescing at home, finds a pair of binoculars and takes up spying on his neighbours. Meets Grace Kelly, spies on her, witnesses a murder which puts him in a tricky situation totally of his own making because he is such a complete nosey parker. Moral dilemmas abound: should the guy go to the police, or let somebody know? Maybe he could hire a detective, I mean he's an American right?! Nope. He breaks into the murderers flat whilst he is out (what a total stupid)! Anyways, I'm not going to tell you any more. Instead I shall be Hitchcock's advocate and keep you in suspense with a gripping cliffhanger!

This film is paranoid, beautiful, claustrophobic and full of sexual tension. Please watch it and find out what happens to Jimmy!

Tate shop goes pop!

Who said Modern life was rubbish? Either get yourself down the Tate Modern shop or go online and check out these poptastic items! Way too cool!

limited edition Peter Blake lithographic print

Pop art: life in a material world (great book!)

Really cool Tate only Tatty Devine necklace

May the Kitsch be with you!

I found these unbelievably kitsch plates on Etsy today. They are very reasonably priced and bound to bring a smile to the sternest face! BeatUpCreations are the brainschild of a woman from California called Angela, who describes her work thus: "Unloved, Thrown Out and Abandoned Creations!" Beautiful! http://www.etsy.com/shop/BeatUpCreations

Lord Vader chills out

Che takes a break from the revolution

Sid and Nancy do it their way

Eat Seasonably.

Sometimes, when one is swatting up for new and exciting stuff to write about, you stumble upon things that refer to each other. For example, only the other evening, whilst watching a cookery programme by Hugh-Fearnly-Whatsisname, there was this fantastically simple, but ingenious recipe for eggs and asparagus. It's basically soft boiled eggs with a few drops of cider vinegar and some butter for a bit of a hollandaise sauce vibe (and then you dip your cooked asparagus "soldiers" in and eat!) Well, I was too busy drooling over this to pay exact attention to how to make it really but then I came across this fabulous site called "Eat Seasonably", which instructs you how to do exactly that, and the above mentioned recipe also makes an appearance. Click here for recipe, and enjoy whilst asparagus is inexpensive and tastes great! http://eatseasonably.co.uk/what-to-eat-now/recipe/hughs-asparagus/Asparagus/

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

Shoes for Monday blues #2

Maguba clogs. Set up in London by a group of friends from Sweden, Italy and Mexico, these pretty clogs are hand made in a traditional way, but look anything but traditional. You can even design your own customised pair! Please try this out - it is great fun to make your own pair online. Below are some that were made earlier!

Shoes for Monday blues

Whilst I apologise for doing two shoe posts in a row today, I might also add that I've only written one shoe post up to this point! Writing about shoes on a Monday has two distinct advantages: a) it doesn't require a great deal of brain power to put up a few nice piccies of shoes (hence ideal for when you are feeling a little jaded after the weekend) and, b) It really will cheer you up to see these lovely Lara Bohinc heels and Maguba clogs! First up then, Lara Bohinc. If you love the jewellery (and lets face it we all do), then these shoes will leave you speechless. More like art than footwear!

Fred & Friends

I found this wonderfully witty US company online today. Not sure if they ship to the UK yet, but I think they are probably going to be big! My favourites include: Inanimate object stickers that you can use to give your stapler, cup (or whatever you want really) a cute face; an "I am not your doormat" doormat and talk bubble paperclips! http://www.worldwidefred.com/