I'm definitely going to be trying some of these, so many delicious berries everywhere right now.... and with the weather so hot in London, these summery drinks are perfect - and a great way of getting your children to consume lots of fruit (not the alcoholic ones obviously!) My new favourite food blog Spoon Fork Bacon has some great suggestions for drinks & delicious fruit ice cubes....
Which one of the above would you choose? (recipe links available under each image)
It only takes a few consecutive hot & sunny days here in London and we've all managed to convince ourselves that summer is here to stay.
There's nothing better than eating al fresco....even the simplest of meals seems to taste better eaten in the open air, preferably in the sunshine.
Plus possibly a view....of the sea or endless green fields.
A fabulously set table is wonderful but if you haven't the space - or the perfect table - simply take a summery tablecloth and put it on the lawn.
Some colourful/fun plates, some tealights in jam-jars if it's evening-time....
add some french bread, a bowl of salad, some cheeses or meats and a large jug of water flavoured with lemon or lime....
and you have yourself a pretty good picnic.
Above and below are some of my favourite "al fresco" images....
I think simple is the way to go....it doesn't have to be expensive whatsoever and I think the fact that you can throw it all together relatively quickly makes it even more appealing.
Great lighting also adds so much, there are so many options.... alternatively, a row of tea-lights dotted around the table always looks so pretty.
Add multi-coloured or mix & match chairs & tableware,
When we're in the south of France during August, dinner is often on the beach....
and very often consists of just 4 or 5 items....
a baguette, good cheese, tomatoes, salad, olives....
these are the meals & the times that my children remember....me too actually.
There's something special about being outside, the freedom, the space....
Hello Everyone, I hope you had a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend! We escaped to the Bay of Arcachon* and stayed in our small house. I have a soft spot for this house...It's where I broke my waters while standing on top of a ladder painting our kitchen wall (as you do!) and then I stayed there with Mila until she was old enough to keep her eyes open for the passport photo so we could head back home in the UK. The weather was amazing like last weekend and with the beach 10 min away, it was pure bliss.
The downside for me when we are in France is that I usually binge on French baguettes, pain au chocolat, biscuits and cheeses (and God knows we have heaps in France!) but this time, I was determined to stick to my healthy diet so as soon as I arrived I went to buy a 40 euros blender and plenty of fruits and vegetables to keep on track.
Having been very ill recently, I made some drastic changes to my diet to ensure I would feed my body the right nutrients. As a result to the same changes I've made, I have also lost 1.8 kg in four weeks - which is a major bonus for me since I have been trying to get my pre-maternity figure back for the past 8 years :-( When I was pregnant, I ate for England and France together andput on 15 kilos!! I eventually managed to lose 7 but the remaining 8 were are a real pain in the bum! I think apart from a few lucky ones who managed to get their figures back within weeks, we've all been there. It is a frustrating, painful road paved with obstacles but I feel I'm finally turning a corner.
I don't know if this would help anyone to know about the changes but for me the major positive trigger was starting Bikram Yoga and then completely changed my diet
{Small changes I made to improve my diet}
- Go to yoga 3 times/week (I feel not only relaxed, stretched but cleanse inside/out and more focus). As a result, my cravings for carbs and sugar have disappeared. - Drink 2 Lt of water. It's a pain to start with but if you always have a 50ml bottle of water on your desk, it becomes quickly a habit to take a sip every now and then. - Replace brown toasts in the morning by low-fat, organic vanilla yogurt + fresh blueberries (never thought something like this would taste so nice!) - Replace sandwich at lunch time by mixed salad. My favourite one is mixed salad with low-fat, organic mozzarella, one soft-boiled egg & parma ham for proteins, tomates, avocado (for my skin), cashew nuts, olive oil & balsamic vinegar (it's surprisingly filling and delicious!) - Snack on fruits rather than biscuits - Listen to my body (and drink first before reaching out for food) - Always prioritise taste. I'm an emotional eater (sad, happy, bored, excited you name it, I eat!) so for me it's super important to really enjoy the food I'm eating. You can check my Instagram for inspiration on what to eat. Have a fantastic day! *45 min drive from Bordeaux Airport
Yesterday Francois & I was styled & photographed a collection of prints for a client in my homeso I made sure we had a healthy, filling salad at lunch time. Once recipe I have been doing for a long time (long before embarking on this healthy eating journey) was the Spicy prawn salad by Michele Cranston from her Seasonal Kitchen book. Her book and Donna Hay's Seasons are by far my two favourite cooking books (the styling in Donna's book is amazing) and as general rule, I'm much prefer the relaxed approach of Australian Chefs than French Chefs. I'm not much of a cook and for me, cooking is all about entertaining, having friends and enjoying good foods so I like it when it's all relaxed, easy to make and super yummy. Oh and I almost forgot!! Here is an example of how I use cotton bags to store Mila's things as mentioned in my post yesterday. {Spicy Prawn Salad recipe} 20 cooked prawns (shrimp), peeled and deveined 1 large red chilli, seeded and finely chopped (this is too hot for me so I replace mine by Light Sweet Chili sauce in a bottle) 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger* 2 spring onions, finely sliced 2 tablespoons lime juice 4 tablespoons olive oil a handful of coriander leaves* 2 small avocados (sliced) Steamed couscous (I swap couscous for Bulgar Wheat) Put the prawns in a bowl with the chili (or sweet chili sauce), cayenne pepper, cumin, ginger, Spring onion, lime juice and olive oil. Toss to coat the prawns well, then add the coriander and avocado and season to taste. Lightly toss again and serve on a bed of steamed couscous or bulgar wheat (and I'm pretty sure it would work with Quinoa too). *items I usually don't add and it still tastes delicious // Recipe from Michele Cranston's Seasonal Kitchen | Photography by me
Last December I had one of the coolest days ever. Lean Cuisine is reinventing and they invited famous chefs and farmers and a handful of bloggers to come to a round table event here in New York just to eat and chat about food and style. They held the round table at one of the coolest venues I've seen - Haven's Kitchen in Chelsea.
All day long I was sneaking photos of the decor at Haven's Kitchen. Seriously, I want to move in.
This staircase was stunning with the great, graphic art on the black walls. It was really cool.
Everywhere you looked - amazing, amazing chairs!
I loved this idea of creating an inset out of subway tiles for a chalkboard wall in a kitchen. I would love to do something like this someday. Uber-chic menu planning!
While the decor at Haven's Kitchen was completely drool-worthy, the day was all about the food. We were grouped into three teams for the round table. On each team there were two chefs, a style expert (the bloggers), and a farmer. My team's farmer was Josh Kilmer-Purcell, who had (seriously) won Amazing Race the week before, has a wildly popular blog of his own, and a TV show on the Cooking Channel. Also there could not be a nicer man on the planet.
Our team's chefs may or may not need an introduction. Brad Farmerie is the owner of Michelin star rated PUBLIC and competed on the Food Network's The Next Iron Chef. He was hilarious and the life of our party, for sure. And James Beard Award-winner Michelle Bernstein of Top Chef fame is probably one of the most famous chefs out there, so I probably don't need to tell you about her successes. I will say that I want to fly down to Miami to hang out with her for a week straight, just to hear her tell stories and share wisdom. Seriously, what an inspiring woman.
And then there was me. My job was to shop around the city for some pretty things to set the table with, inspired by Josh's produce and Michelle and Brad's dishes. And then just eat and talk about food and style. Best job ever, right? I could so easily do the eat-decorate-talk-eat-decorate-talk rotation until the cows come home.
Here we are making plans for the dishes and decor. We all decided something more rustic and earthy would be perfect for the table setting.
While the chefs got to work in the kitchen, I hopped into a giant van, armed with two assistants, but with only two hours to rush around the city and buy everything to set the table for our team. I'll admit, it was a teensy bit stressful, but mostly it was just really, really fun.
My first find was actually at West Elm. These wooden antler candle holders were just the look we were after - modern, sort of Scandinavian and a bit rustic.
We shopped at about ten other stores and things sort of fell into place. It was fun to see what my fellow bloggers Liz and Jessie found while they were out scavenging for place settings and flowers too.
I checked in with the chefs just before dinner (it smelled so good in that kitchen) and they loved the direction our table design was going.
And here's what I came up with for my version of a Scandinavian/rustic/modern table:
I bought the striped linen at Jem fabrics and literally ripped it into two wide strips so the edges would be a little frayed. I tried to have a lot of textures on the table - linen, woven chargers, smooth woods and soapstone, hand-thrown porcelain, etc.
I found these mini enamelware mugs in the clearance section at Sur la Table. I'm discovering that I like to have a big floral centerpiece and then little individual flowers at each setting. I think it is so pretty and makes guests feel special. Also, how great is this antique engraved silverware that we borrowed for the dinner? It weighed a ton and made everything taste even more delicious. :)
I found a lot of the little accessories at thrift stores and at Pearl River Market.
The soup tureen was probably my favorite thing on the table, though. Michelle had a fabulous Celeriac soup on the menu, so she asked me to pick up a tureen. I really wanted to find something unique to be the focal point of the table, but everything I saw out shopping that wasn't all white was really fussy-looking. So I bought a plain white one on sale and picked up some porcelaine paint at the art supply store and painted on the bright red border on the tureen. I really love how it turned out. Just enough color for our "rustic" table.
The flower arrangement was another favorite part for me. I didn't end up having the time to pick up enough flowers to completely fill the creamy white faux bois vase I had found at Housing Works, so I filled the empty spaces in the vase with herbs I snuck from the kitchen and even some leek stems, which kind of look floral when they're cut on the diagonal! :)
You'll have to keep an eye out for Liz and Jessie's posts about their table settings - they both did a really great job. I love those talented ladies.
After the table setting was done, the food was brought out and that's about where my memory drops off. (TOTAL FOOD COMA.) I ate way too much, but how was I not going to at least taste every single one of those super-delicious dishes made by super-duper-famous chefs!? No choice in the matter at all. It all was so, so good.
I was so honored to be a part of this round table. Meeting all of those talented, creative people, hearing their thoughts about the future of food, and, of course, tasting all that deliciousness was nothing short of completely inspiring.
PS The entire event was filmed (there are lots of clips on Youtube), if you're interested in seeing a little more from the day!
This post is brought to you by Lean Cuisine . I was invited to the Lean Cuisine Culinary Round Table and was provided with a stipend for the visit and experience. All thoughts and opinions surrounding the experience are authentically my own.
clementine & red wine spritzers / mint cucumber & lime crush / blackberry meyer lemon gin tonics
and finally this vermontucky lemonade by the fabulous Deb Perelman from Smitten Kitchen
