The Lil(le) Black Dress

Now that winter is well and truly on it's way, why not do a post about a really hot summery daytrip in July, eh? The occasion was The Manbacon's 35th birthday, and I'd spent the previous two weeks frantically arranging tickets to Lille, and making sure that he'd booked that day off, while keeping the trip a surprise from him. I also managed to make myself a little black dress for the trip, in between everything else. 

It's difficult to make out many details on this dress, but it's made with black jersey (from the op-shop, of course), to a bodice pattern by Sew Vera Venus. The pattern itself is only available in one size, for busts between 35 to 37 inches, and is meant for woven fabrics. Since I usually wear a 34" bust, I simply 'cheated' and made the seam allowances slightly larger, instead of faffing about with grading it down. I figured that since my fabric had quite a bit of stretch to it, it wouldn't really matter too much if I accidentally took too much in.  

Once the bodice came together, it took no time at all to make a skirt from the rest of the fabric (simply two rectangles joined at the side seams) and attach it to the top. I also cut a long strip of fabric and sewed it into a tube, to make the spaghetti straps for my dress. Probably not the best idea to use a flimsy strip of stretchy jersey to hold up your dress - I spent many minutes throughout the day tugging at the bodice and tying and retying the straps and as they had a tendency to stretch and head south as the day progressed. 

Other than that little problem (which seems to have finally sorted itself out - the straps seem to have stopped stretching), the dress itself was a dream to wear, especially on a filthy hot, humid summer day. I've since worn that dress several times, putting it to the test by cycling and even getting tangled in blackberry bushes while wearing it, and it's held up wonderfully. 

As I mentioned above, it was a pretty disgustingly sweaty type of day, so we passed the worst of it in the seemingly under-hyped treasure that is the Lille Natural History Museum (Musee d'Histoire Naturelle). There was almost no one else there except for us and the staff, so we explored the collections in peace. There's plenty of wonderful taxidermy animals in it, including the rather magnificent Ron Swanson-like snow leopard above, as well as a little tableau showing how they mount the animals for display. 

The twitchers among you might also be interested to know that the museum has a vast collection of stuffed birds, all displayed in beautiful old vitrines, including hundreds of jewel-toned hummingbirds. These were breathtaking, I spent ages staring at them trying to memorise every single detail. There are a few displays of dinosaur fossils, although nowhere near as spectacular as the displays at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. And, almost forgotten in a hidden corner upstairs, is a rather lonely little axolotl. It's quite a small musuem, but it's got such a still, old-fashioned air about it that it's easy to lose hours in there enjoying the various exhibits. 

Dress - self made, pattern from Sew Vera Venus, handbag - vintage, belt - Sainsburys, sunglasses - vintage

Musée d’Histoire Naturelle

19, rue de Bruxelles
59000 Lille

France

Villa Royale, Paris

Nope, there's no need to adjust your screens. The Villa Royale, which was our home for our four nights in Paris, is indeed this colourful and OTT. Oh why yes, I did go to Paris again, a mere month after my last 24-hour trip there. Why? Mainly because I just wanted to spend more time eating tiny cakes and walking around Paris, and also because it was a big-number birthday for me. I was completely enraptured by the blinged-out decor when searching for a hotel online, and to top it off, there was a whopping 30% off the price. Sometimes the stars just align...

Anyway, the Villa Royal certainly lived up to my expectations. All the photos above were taken in the lobby, and I haven't even got to the rooms yet. Each room is named after a notable French person - we got the Edith Piaf room, which had French windows that opened out onto a little balcony overlooking the Place Pigalle. 

Now, Place Pigalle has a reputation for being seedy and rowdy, and is lined with neon-lit sex shops, so may not be the ideal destination for some, but I really enjoyed staying there. I liked the neon lights, and the liveliness, and the general energy of the area. Aaand it's only a 5 minute stroll from the famous Moulin Rouge, as well as being very close to Montmartre and Rue des Martyrs, a street lined with yummy food shops and restaurants (more on that in a later post). 

Our room was on the small side, but then again, most rooms in Paris seem to be small. It's a very crowded city, after all. Anyway, who goes to Paris to spend all day in their rooms?! By the way, did I mention our room had pink silk walls? And a princess bed? And pink padding on all the doors? All in all, a delicious girly confection of a room. I did feel rather sorry for Manbacon, although he did say that he liked it a lot more than other more minimalist hotel rooms. I'm sure he actually loved it too.

Rainbow Cake

Some gorgeous cutie turned 31 last Saturday, but unfortunately didn't get the lightsabre laser he was so desperately wishing for. They're insanely cool, but then again, I haven't got an extra £200 lying around right now. So I baked him a rainbow instead. Behold! 

I present - the six layered, six flavoured, megaton birthday cake! Yep, that's right, six different flavours in this one cake. 

The flavours were, from left to right (or top to bottom, depending on how it ends up on your plate):

Red - Cherry

Orange - Orange zest

Yellow - Mango

Green - Pandan

Blue - Blueberries

Purple - Pomegranate and berry jam

I mixed up nearly 2 kilos of batter, and then separated it into 6 portions, before adding the fruits/ flavours and colouring to the individual portions. It took heck of a long time, but it was worth it, if only to hear the Mancreature go 'Wow! Awesome!' upon slicing the cake. 

The individual layers were then sandwiched with pastry cream, before being stacked on top of each other. I left out the frosting, as I had to prepare a wagon load of cakes and biscuits for the Artquest Jumble Sale on Sunday, but if I had to do it again, I may disguise the colours with a buttercream frosting. In fact, I may just attempt it again, because it's the most cheerful cake I've ever made.

Oh, and here's a gratuitous unicorn shot, just because...

Two Cakes and A Fire - So Much Excitement!

All I wanted was to get a kilo of prawns this past Saturday. Alas, this plan was scuppered when I came out of the op-shop just after mid-day and was greeted by this...

That's right, smoke billowing out of a car! It was all so sudden - things were moving along normally, we went into the op-shop, came out 5 minutes later, only to be greeted by a crowd of people who were staring at something to the right of the shop. I smelt burning plastic, turned around, and was greeted by this sight about 100 metres away! 

It all happened fairly quickly, and no one was hurt, but it was probably one of the most exciting things to happen along that stretch of road in quite a while. The cops managed to cordon it off just after the fire started, and all the excitement pretty much died down within about 10 minutes, though there were still some gawkers lingering around, which is fairly understandable if you see the burnt-out carcass of a car in front of you.

And if you're wondering what this all has to do with me not being able to get some prawns...well, you see that yellow sign in the picture above that says 'Wing Tai...Daily Fresh Seafoods'? Yes, that was where I was planning on getting my prawnies from, and they were right in the path of the stinky smoke (if you look closely, they're in that blue box beside the guy in the apron holding a broom). I certainly didn't feel like eating smoked prawns after all that!

Still, the day wasn't a complete washout. I invited two friends over and we had a huge hotpot meal that stretched on for a couple of hours. There was a mountain of food (but alas! No prawns!) - lean, thinly sliced beef, oyster mushrooms, chewy egg noodles, two types of stock (spicy, and miso), and various kinds of fish-related products. 

The feast was topped off with not one, but two birthday cakes for yours truly. It's become a birthday tradition, and one I like very much.

This cake was a joint effort between The Mancreature and I. He'd actually baked one the night before, but the oven was stupid, and we ended up throwing it into the bin. So he work up extra early on Saturday morning to bake a whole new cake for me! It's just a basic cake recipe that we sliced in half. We then sandwiched some mixed berries compote in the middle, and topped it all off with a nice glossy layer of dark chocolate ganache (I made that!). Then some fresh strawberries to make it look pretty. 

The second cake was made by me dear friend H, with his grandmother's recipe. Doesn't it look delicious? You'd never guess he baked his very first cake only two months ago! I felt a bit like a proud mother when I cut into his cake, because only two months ago, he was calling and asking for help with his first cake, and now he'd baked me a birthday cake! 

So, all in all, a fairly exciting day! Now I'll have ridiculously high hopes for my next birthday, and a car will probably have to explode (showering bystanders with burning hot shrapnel) before I'll be satisfied. 

Birthday Baking, Brownies and Buntings

The Mancreature turned 30 last Friday, and I made him some goodies to celebrate.

Chocolate and cherry cupcakes from a Nigella recipe.

And a giant brownie.


In case you're wondering, yes, it does say 'Happy Irthday'.

The Mancreature had received a cake from some clients on Wednesday, and brought it home to share with me. When we opened the box, he's promptly popped the 'B' candle into his mouth and chewed on it, thinking it was icing. Silly!

So anyway, I thought it'd be funny to recycle the candles and have them say 'Happy Irthday'.

I also put up a string of heart buntings on our door to decorate, and I like them so much I've left them up permanently.

A Long Birthday

The good thing about living halfway around the globe from most of your family and friends? Your birthday feels like it's extended for at least a month.
The Man had given me my present way back at the start of March, so I wasn't expecting anything else from him, although he very kindly made me a giant cake on the day itself.

But last Friday, my second* favourite postie (who looks very much like an older Tom Baker) knocked on our door and thrust a largish package at me - from my sister Tiffany. Hmm...soft insides...towels? (I got some large fluffy ones last year from her.) Nope, yarn! 6 balls of awesome yarn, in neutral tones.

I've already broken into the two balls of Panda double knitting yarn to make a neckwarmer in moss stitch for a friend's upcoming birthday. The nubbly grey Intarsia will become a beanie for Tiffany - the gift that...gives back? And I'm not sure about the variegated bamboo yarn yet. Maybe a Moebius cowl? I like those.

Finished neckwarmer

I'm fairly certain the recipient of this neckwarmer doesn't read this blog, so it's fairly safe posting this picture here. I love those vintage green buttons.

Anyway, the next day, Tom Baker knocked on the door and thrust another large, soft package at me - more yarn! This time from Hazlina (for whom I made the neckwarmer).
Check it out - supersoft new wool in bright autumnal colours! I'm still deciding what to do with them. Any suggestions?

*My first favourite postie is Charlotte, of course.

Cake-ztravaganza!

Battle of the Eastern European cakes

Twas my birthday this past Sunday, and lo and behold, the heavens presented me with not one, but TWO birthday cakes! And if you've met me before, you'll know I love cake. I wuff cake!

That's the second year in a row that I've ended up with two cakes in a day for my birthday. Does that make it a tradition now? I hope it does, it's an awesome tradition!

Cake no. 1 by my housemate Emese. Just chillin' in the fridge, ya know, hanging out...
It was supposed to be a surprise but The Man let it slip the day before that she was making me a cake, so I had to put my 'oh, what a surprise!' face on.

Cake no. 2 aka 'The Monster'. The Man made this...with a recipe from a Polish website. He kept calling it a 'torte'. But then I told him it was pretty much like a Black Forest cake...and he still kept calling it a 'torte' but I think it became known as a Black Forest torte thereafter. The white layers are there because we ran out of cocoa powder. And also coz we believe in racial integration. (Integration now! Segregation never!)

It weighed as much as a new-born baby and I just had the last slice for breakfast. Is that why my tummy hurts now?

Before demolition

Look how much cake no. 2 towers over cake no. 1. It tries to intimidate with sheer bulk!

Halfway through demolition

For your consideration - I had two helpings of cake-age. That's how tuff I am. Don't mess, mofo.