January 2007 Entries
As stated in the January edition of the Gifts and Table wares Magazine, the casual luxury trend is growing even more. These days, people like to buy things / collections that could be dressed up or down. This is what casual luxury is all about.
People want more luxury in their everyday life. In the kitchen, people want better qualify tools, dishes and serving ware. When you spend more on everyday dinnerware and wine glasses, you can use them when you entertain. By changing how you accessorize or set your table, you can create a full range of looks with the same tableware. This is what makes casual luxury so appealing to the masses.
I, for one, is an adept of this philosophy. The casual luxury movement shifts the style toward more modern patterns and shapes. Your best bets are solid, pale neutral colors because the food looks better on them.
I was therefore happy to learn that Portmeirion is extending its line by Sophie Conran. If you do not know her, Sophie Conran is a British cook and the daughter of the style icon Sir Terance Conran. Being raised by a father that is famous as a furniture designer, retailer and restaurateur, Sophie was around good design on the kitchen all her life.
Categories:
EVERYDAY
TABLESCAPE
ENTERTAINING
posted @ Wednesday, January 31, 2007 2:15 AM | Feedback (5)
Follow up news: If you do not know the guy behind the Ace of Cakes TV show, you will learn a thing or two. Look at the Tim Burton inspired cake installation.
Link: January 19, 2007 Newsweek interview with Duff Goldman
Categories:
FOOD + drinks
DINING
posted @ Tuesday, January 30, 2007 10:34 AM | Feedback (0)
A new show on Food TV Canada that started earlier this month is the American series Ace of cakes. By shaping cakes with drill saws and blow torches and staffing his bakery with fellow rock musicians, Duff Goldman is not your typical baker is an excerpt from FoodTV.ca show synopsis. You know first hand that this shows is different. No recipes here. You will not learn things to do at home. What the show is all about is pure fun and originality.
I like to see what crazy ideas people come up with for their cake. With the price of the smallest, basic cake starting at 200 dollars(now 500 dollars, see my update message), you can only imagine the price of the cakes featured on the show. To give you an idea, it takes the team from 10 to 200 hours to make a cake.
April 8, 2007 update - Price of a cake:
Lots of you are interested by how much cost a cake from the Ace of Cakes’ working party. I did some digging. Cakes start at 500 dollars. I was under the impressions that a cake from Charm City Cakes starts at 200 dollars from reading a previous interview with Duff Goldman. I suspect that Charm City Cakes stops making simpler cakes due to their popularity.
Categories:
BIG events
CAKES
ENTERTAINING
DINING
posted @ Monday, January 29, 2007 8:54 PM | Feedback (15)
Throwing a cocktail party can seem a lot of work. After all, you need to serve on average 4 to 5 kinds of canapés. And you need 6 to 8 pieces per person for a 2-hour event, the amount of work adds up quickly.
I got a few books on canapés and hors d’oeuvres at home. Although they show great looking recipes, I find out that most of them will require me to cook all day. Not an option. The frozen appetizers do not taste good enough. So, I used to hire a caterer until now.
But for my next cocktail party, I will do it all by myself thank to the cook Michael Smith. He showed us on the Hors d'Oeuvres Party episode how to make nice hors d’oeuvres on his show Chef at Home at FoodTV.ca.
His table setting was interesting. He shows us how to think outside the box to display the food. My only complain is about the dull, small flower bouquet he put on the table.
Always set time and money to buy some flowers from a talented florist. Flowers are important to set the right mood. Buy exotic flowers at best or get an intriguing arrangement of local species. In no circumstances, you should place a supermarket bouquet on your table. Cheap looking flowers ruin everything.
Categories:
EVERYDAY
FOOD + drinks
ENTERTAINING
DINING
posted @ Saturday, January 27, 2007 9:19 PM | Feedback (1)
I am glad to start a new blog in English. I have a blog in French, my mother language, for a while. But most of my articles talk about cooks, books, TV shows and blogs in English. Not the best for my target audience.
To get a more participating audience, I decide to start writing in English. So here I come.
Categories:
IN the press
REVIEWS
posted @ Saturday, January 27, 2007 6:15 PM | Feedback (0)