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My Delicious Valentine       The few days before valentine's day are always fun (& kind of cheesy). My friends and I scout for 'V-Victims' (valentine's victims), you can tell who those are by the matching red shirts, the red lipstick, the rose, and even sometimes a decal sticker on the bumper of their vehicle. Sad. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against a celebration of love, but I just don't see why someone would wait 365 days to tell someone "I love you" or buy them a gift. That, in addition to fashion crimes committed on that day made it register as a cliché in my mind -for the most part, that is. Instead of spending Valentine's day with love, I opted to spend it doing something I love. A workshop with Monsieur Pierre-Hermé, the master chef behind the delicious hug-like macaroons at Pierre Hermé of Paris It was so interesting because there it was, our chance to ask the world's best macaroon maker about the validity of the many macaroon-making myths. The eggs, for instance, are aged before use in the fridge for 3-4 days uncovered, no egg white powder no nothing. All fresh, all accessible, and all feasible. I had him sign my recipe notebook in which I write down the recipes I've invented, it felt like a blessing from the Godfather of master cooks to be honest. Now, my recipe note book has this glow of holiness around it, and holds many small dirty secrets of experienced cooks. Je t'aime Pierre Herme! Je t'aime, je t'aiiiiiiiime Labels: Cookingfessional, Domestic Goddess, La Dolce Vita $3 in my moola box | link | email this post In The Absence of a Blogger When I sat down to write this post, I hesitated for nearly 10 minutes - Where do I start? Do I pick up from where I left, ..or do I omit the past month from the chapters of the blog and pretend the pages accidentally fell out of the book? I think there's no better way to communicate an emotion than the unrehearsed version of it. Same goes to writing. I'm sorry, I am terribly sorry for many things. I am sorry for our loss, I'm sorry for not having the time to reply to your emails and some of the comments left here (please know that I read them all, everything). And I'm very sorry for making my blog second priority over the past month. Will it ever happen again? je ne sais pas but I rrrrrrreally hope not. What was keeping me away? Well, for nearly 2 weeks, my ISP denied me access to my FTP server (yep, seriously) it took several troubleshooting tickets and a myriad of phone calls to get that activated again, it turned out to be a 'small' technical error (to say the least). Next, and more importantly, I was living the drama of moving from one continent to another. I never knew that the logistics involved in decorating a place remotely, implementing plans, and organizing matters for a move from Abu Dhabi to France could be SO consuming. Lesson learned? Never trust a domestic curtain maker, EVER. After four months of rigorous selection of fabrics, matching, and mind sucking attempts to a fruitful imagination, my interior contractor decided to give me the boot, 1 week before agreed delivery date (which was by the way 5 days before booked shipping date), his explanation was that he was running under capacity due to a new project on board, outfitting of a wedding and the couple's new home. What is it about us in this part of the world? Why does everything have to stop with no chance of competition when it comes to the mention of a wedding? After a series of mini nervous breakdowns, I knew I had to recollect myself, it was time for critical thinking (a course we took at college a century and a half ago). I knew it was a lost battle, and I couldn't afford to spend the time eating myself up on his shortcoming. Instead, I picked up the phone to my own version of 911 (a.k.a. Lamya) & asked her for help. After two days in Dubai, maaaanyyy hours flipping through rows and layers of fabrics at Silk Land & Co. and by some twist of fate (& a lot of luck, if I may add) we met Mr.Sanfoor, my Merlin in this entire pursuit who made EVERYTHING sound possible, despite the slightly confused look on his face. I decided to commission him for everything; the curtains, the cushions, the bed covers, bed skirts, and everything else -- to me, it was a leap of faith (well I had no choice really) and to him, it was "this crazy lady from Abu Dhabi who wants everything done in 3 minutes"      Mr.Sanfoor kept to his word and delivered the first batch 3 days after the date of order. The batch contained: - Bed cover + bed skirt of the master bedroom (my room)       Two days later, the second batch: - 2 fionka foot stools for the living room And yesterday (or the day before? I lost track) I received a 3 seater sofa for the living room, 2 curtains in taupe, and adooorable fionka bed covers for the twin bed room. It was a relief. I am now eligible to write a book titled "How to Decorate a Mansion in 48 Hours" and if anyone argues with that, I'll punish them by introducing them to Mr. Ditching Contractor.    The moovers came by for packing yesterday, and with everything box the sealed I felt a slight comforting breeze of relief. Bit by bit, my place started going back to its original condition: neat. They then headed out for the storage I have in Al-Wathba for the bulk of the stuff, ..they're still packing. It's amazing how us girls in our culture almost never go through experiences like these, ..we grow up sheltered, our life planned for us in ways precisely fitting the mold of the norm. The first time my mom heard me say that I intend to decorate my place on my own, with the help of my loyal crew comprised of a slightly overweight lady (Naima), a maid that doesn't know when to stop laughing at herself (Serena), a driver who uses classical arabic as his main form of communication (Rasheed) and a bunch of spoiled -but nonetheless courageous- tiny dogs, she went insane. She still doesn't think it's a good idea. To tell you the truth, neither do I. But what I know is that a bad idea is not bad until you've tried it and experienced it for yourself. As far as I'm concerned, everything is possible - we just often don't believe it is, or are too afraid to have a go at it. I don't know where I'm going with it, and with my increasing responsibilities at work, I know I won't have the luxury of time to spend reasonable amounts of time there. But I have plenty of ideas for the place, ..and who said you have to see the whole staircase before you take the first step? I'll opt to take the first step in faith, and wait for the next one to unfold - one at a time, one pleasant event at a time. This post may have been longer than what your appetite calls for, but it's only a portion of what I have to share. Had it been not for my soar and tender muscles, and the smell of my warm bath luring me to it, I would have spent the night writings.. I miss you x Labels: Deco, Domestic Goddess, La Dolce Vita $7 in my moola box | link | email this post Homemade with Love (Part Un): Foi Gras Wrapped in Porcini Mushrooms  If you live in Abu Dhabi, you probably have heard of Jones the Grocer opening its first branch (old news? peut-etre, but wait..) Aside from their fingerlickin' Wagyu beef burger (I give it a rating of 8/10 - only preceded by Five Guys burgers in the US) the up scale grocery stocks all sorts of gourmands' treasures: black truffles, white truffle oils, peanut sauce, foi gras foam, and french cheese to name but a few. One of my favorite things is to search the stacks of neatly lined jars and packs on their shelves for the inspiration to my next gourmet experiment, it's a fun experience, kind of like putting together a jigsaw puzzle - only without knowing what the final picture would look like. This time my compelling curiosity goaded me to buy a pack of Porcini Mushrooms (Oooh! pronouncing the name already makes me feel like an über italian 5-michelin star chef! Por-cini.. Porrrrr-ciiini) I had no idea what I'd do with it, but I remembered a conversation I had with Nermine Hanno a couple of months back on how to treat dried mushrooms, and the bulb of inspiration was instantly lit Foi gras tenderly wrapped in porcini mushrooms for dinner, s'il te plaîtSo, if you're someone who likes having foi gras this recipe is for you (& if you're an animal rights enthusiast, please don't over flood my comments box, I can't do anything to stop force-feeding of geese) Ingredients: - 1 200gm pack of dried porcini muchrooms - 2 cups of boiling water - 1/2 pack of foi gras - 4 table spoons of fresh cream - Salt to taste How to: 1) In a bowl, pour the hot water on the dried Porcini mushrooms and let soak for 10 minutes. Make sure you do not stir and let the water as is. 2) Carefully, and without causing too much motion in the water, take out re-hydrated mushrooms and place them on a side dish. You'll notice now that the water turned brownish with a residue at the bottom of the bowl 3) Slowly pour the mushroom hydration water into a casserole making sure NOT to include the residue ...at this point, preheat the oven to 175 degrees... 4) Turn on the heat on high, add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt (to taste) & let boil till water is reduced into a thick mushroomy-sauce, quickly add 3 spoons of fresh cream and take off heat 5) Line a small souffle bowl with a 1cm layer of mushrooms 6) On top of the mushrooms, add a layer of foi gras (1/2cm slices) 7) Cover with another 1cm of mushrooms, and press the top with the back of a tablespoon or gourmet pusher to flatten and hold in place 8) Add 1/2 of tbsp of fresh cream on top of the souffle bowl, and put into the oven. Let cook for 15 minutes, and serve with great traditional baguette (good luck finding that) or alternatively, a good piece of brown bun Bon apetite ♥ Labels: Cookingfessional, Domestic Goddess, Recipes $6 in my moola box | link | email this post Re-charming the Vintage  This vintage lace table cover will soon become my château's kitchen window curtain -- I can't quite make up my mind whether to have it in two pieces or just one, or whether I should have the top border in dusty rose or beige (for the rail hoops), I have to make that decision before 8 pm tonight, if you have suggestions; fire away =D Labels: Deco, Domestic Goddess, La Dolce Vita $4 in my moola box | link | email this post Le Bonheur & DIY Magic: Turn the Ugly Black Duck into a Gazelle N'ayez pas peur du bonheur I've been away for too long, living up the days and events that have just passed, so let me first catch up all I've been up to, the nows, & the things to come. How pleasant is it to write a blog post while having a scrumptious breakfast outside of your room's window? The few drops of rain on my macbook don't bother me, nor does the dust under my bare feet; soon it will be completely wet, & the smell of trees and sand will rise in the air -- Oh how I love that smell ♥ Happy belated Eid, Happy National Day, Happy Holidays, - Yes, that's how long I've been gone. At work, to say that it has been hectic would be an understatement - so much to deliver before end of the year, it's that busy book-closing time of the year. On the personal spectrum it has also been busy, a series of explorations and discoveries - pleasant ones for the most part. I've also been quite busy with with latest horse acquisition: Robinhood. A very pleasant boy who doesn't seem to mind jumping obstacles up to 145cm so far. My living room at home still looks like the after-effect of an atomic bomb, catalogs are still lying everywhere, I'm still decorating my château one room at a time; so far, there's the blue room, the dusty rose, the taupe, and the living room of course which -the more I look at, the more hesitation I feel towards execution of current palette- Yesterday my first order was taken, I decided I would execute plans for 1 room, observe the quality of stitching and upholstery before I give a green light for the other 2 rooms, it would be a lot easier to fix one thing that goes wrong than 10. In the meantime, I'm still contemplating the colors, fabrics, & textures at home. Mom brought over a huge piece of voile that will come in handy for the bathroom vertical windows and the servants' quarter outside, perhaps even for the extra exterior building which I intend to convert into a Gîte I've also been enjoying getting creative with things that have a chance for beauty. Let's face it, we're not surrounded by beauty all the time, in fact, not even most of the time, but nearly almost everything around us has a shot for beauty, the potential to be enhanced an look better. Those were exactly my thoughts when I eyed the black photo frame at IKEA with a giant yellow price tag AED.120 -- It looked like it would make a nice bathroom mirror, after a substantial amount of work, of course. Without hesitation, I bagged it into my trolley and headed away to the cashier. My next stop would be ACE Hardware.. I picked up the one and only plastic-specific paint can they had, the only one that seemed to work anyway, and the color was a light shade of pistache. Next, I've underlined the frame with newspaper to save my tile floor, & painted gradually, one layer at a time, occasionally pulling the paint can farther to capitalize on the original dark color of the frame and create an 'antique' effect by spraying a lighter color on top in an uneven way..      I then had Rasheed stop by a mirror-cutting shop to make a piece perfectly suited to fit the picture frame, et voilaaaa! I now have a gorgeous mirror that will hang in the washroom on the ground floor of my château in France ♥♥♥ I have to say that the final product was sooo much more than I had anticipated lol, I was so happy with the result that I went and bought another piece, recreated the same thing -though not identical- but would be happy to hang it in the gîte nonetheless The former experience encouraged me to explore, and while I was walking through HomeCenter, I couldn't help but notice a very very ugly 1-bulp sorry-excuse-for-a-chandelier which you'll see below:  Lightening struck, and in my head I could allllllmost see it perfectly beautified ♥ When I asked Serena to buy it, she gave me a hesitant second look as though she couldn't believe I had just asked her to take home something so ugly, but she did anyway. Now, think ACE hardware again -- this time, metal-specific paint, color of choice? Khaki.   I had also sent Serena & Co. to brush through the lighting shops of Abu Dhabi in search for chandelier beads and crystals, luckily, she found a couple of shops that were willing to sell. I bought 500 pieces of the small beads, and several larger pieces (the larger pieces from Dubai) -- I made strands of beads to beautify the basic bland and boring metal frame, & added the final pieces -- the outcome? Spectacularly pleasant experience, and prettyyyyyyful mini-chandelier that will go into the small laundry area of the château by the kitchen. I ♥ it! Have a prettyful rest of the day x Labels: Deco, Domestic Goddess, La Dolce Vita, Music, Pony Tales, Videos $11 in my moola box | link | email this post Meet The Palette   Ladies and gents, je me presente my THE palette! After many days of scrambling through stacks and stacks of catalogs (182 catalogs, to be exact), laying them out on the floor, staring at them for days.. under both natural and artificial lighting, I've finally decided on the fabrics of my chateau's living space. Now, all I have to do is find a bunch of Louis XVI medallion arm chairs, some mirror furniture, and a lotttt of patience. Having said that, I still have no clue what's going on the walls of the stairs after I strip off the red wallpaper (seriously, red) but until I make up my mind, I'm reading about the different techniques of removing wallpaper here A bientot <3 Labels: Deco, Domestic Goddess, La Dolce Vita $6 in my moola box | link | email this post The Fireplace Heroine  I love the color palette, & whilst my walls are not white (yet) this makes me consider going for all-white on both walls and ceiling as opposed to a pale shade of taupe with pinks, which is what I've had in mind for a while..  Okay, this photo makes me want to go back to my initial plan of taupe on the wall, ..or grey. From this photo I got my inspiration for the middle room    Mirrored furniture pieces are lovely. Those cubes are perfect for this room as a giant coffee table.. Photos via Aljyoon Finally got my copy of Cheminées Magazine, merci beacoup to Gwen who also coupled it with a few more publications to help. Did I mention how much I love the supplemental magazines of Le Figaro? I love it! I love it! I love it! There were also some other articles that I found extremely helpful on ELLE Décor: + Fireplace Excavation I love the Internet =D I also love The French Collection of fireplaces at Chesney's (via Aljyoon) Somehow, they're pretty much what I was looking for; unlike the existing 2 in brown/maroon marble, these are carved on pale marble and are easier to adapt to any déco palette of choice. My favorites are: + The Versailles Louis XVI don't want to rush just yet in my purchases before I know what will become of my existing ones, and whether or not Monsieur Deboi will be able to source the same designs closer to me in France as opposed to having them shipped from the UK; after all, they're all French fireplaces, non?         My main focus now is to get the palette right. Still loving the one below, and much to my convenience, the parquetry of the living rooms are already the herringbone pattern, in oak. The wood itself needs refurbishing, & I intend to do that with a muslin cloth, a bucket of boiling water, a cloth drenched in tea, turpentine and lineseed oil (thanks for Jane Webster author of The French Table for the former tip, and Jeanne for the latter) I found a couple of sofas -much to my liking- yesterday on one of my shopping endeavors, & as I type this, I'm waiting for a few more fabric catalogs to be delivered, just to find that perfect piece and pattern for the foot stool of the middle room, and the separator-sofa of the hallway. Mirror furniture! I need Mirror furniture - bedside tables et al, any clue? I have this sense of relief that finally, ..fiiiiiiinally I'm starting to visualize the château's living space -vaguely. The fabric catalog delivery is here, a tout aller Labels: Deco, Domestic Goddess, La Dolce Vita $3 in my moola box | link | email this post At My French Table: Food, Family, & Joie de Vivre in a Corner of Normandy  "..This time Michel gave us a little of it's history. The Napoleonic style Château de Bosgouet is considered young by European standards. It was built in 1853 on the foundations of a sixteenth-century château that had burnt to the ground some thirty years before. The five-storey château sits within a 50-acre park and has many outbuildings, some of which were used as servants' quarters. The château was occupied by the Germans during the second world war and two rather unremarkable outbuildings were built on the grounds to accommodate the troops. One was used as sleeping quarters and the other built as a mess hall. Only those with rank and seniority could have ever expected to see the inside of Château de Bosgouet." Its been a long time since I picked up a book that I related to at many different levels, en fait, the last book of that effect on me was Sacred Contracts  -- in many ways, this book had the same effect on me, just in a very different context.'At My French Table' is where Jane Webster tells her story of selling her house in Melbourne and moving her four kids to Normandy to open a cooking school. She speaks about the beautiful countrysides, the decadent charms, her impressions, her recipes, and the complicated French system (the latter I know too well)  Buy at Amazon Or, go to the château on your own, or through an organized culinary trip - I know I can't wait to take mine =) + Mariek's Art of Living: A Culinary Vacation Beyond Expectations + At My French Table: Visiting Chefs & 8-Day Itinerary More on the subject, & I also like: + A Table in the Tarn: Living, Eating and Cooking in Rural France  + French General: Handmade Soirees: Simple Projects for Special Occasions  Okay, I'm off to start my day -- Did I mention I did a very crazy thing yesterday that I'm -still- trying to comprehend? No, I didn't but now you know, so I'm off to spend my comprehension Have a lovely weekend x Labels: Books, Cookingfessional, Domestic Goddess, La Dolce Vita, Travel $2 in my moola box | link | email this post |
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