Bloom Organics

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Bloom Organics launch on Friday. And I just had to gush about how gorgeous both the launch and the products were! It was a beautiful breakfast launch, with a huge turnout of beauty editors and Bloom devotees dressed to perfection.

The location was just divine. The Commons, tucked away behind Oxford St in Darlinghurst, is in a building that I believe is around 160 years old! Beautiful sandstone, rustic interior with communal long tables and cute little stools - it was so whimsical and romantic.

 Image courtesy of http://bloomcosmetics.blogspot.com/

I got a guided tour from the manager who showed me the exhibition of work by Lyn Balzer & Tony Perkins growing in the gallery area downstairs. Yes, growing. Logs and piles of moss sprouting very mysterious and wonderful shiitakes and blooming pink oyster mushrooms. An interactive event, it looks at the relationship between decay and growth, resulting in the patrons being able to eat the artworks as a part of their meal over the next week.

After last night's proposal I have been thinking how much I would love to have our engagement party there. But curiously enough, in a totally psychic moment, I had actually asked the manager about whether they hold many events, to which he said this was a favour to Natalie and they don't usually do them... damn. I'm dying to go back just to soak up more of the atmosphere.

Anyway, here are some pictures I took around the launch. It was so beautifully set up, using recycled bottles from the new range, large spools of twine, native flowers and candles. The main highlight for me was a beautiful vintage bike, wrapped in woven wicker.

I got to meet Natalie Bloom too! That was really exciting. She's so natural and modest and her talk about the range came straight from the heart. I have a lot of admiration for her work. I haven't read her book yet, but I feel completely inspired to do so now!

Out of 19 products in the range, 16 have the ACO stamp of approval. To gain ACO approval, a product must contain at least 95% of organic ingredients with the balance being made up of naturally produced plant products and/or natural, non-toxic preservatives and additives. Its just amazing how much care and love has been poured into this range.

Because there was such a big turn out I unfortunately didn't get taste any of the wonderful looking food or get a goody bag to take home - although I did a lot of testing of the products lining the shelves! It was an amazing experience, Natalie Bloom is just gorgeous and so are her products. I can't wait to stock up on them when the Bloom Organics range is launched on TVSN on April 6th.

xK

Thai Style Chicken Meatballs

500g chicken mince
1 bunch of corriander (Leaves, steams, everything)
1 chili
garlic (I put about 3.5 cloves)
soy sauce
oyster sauce
sesame oil
a few drops of umeboshi (plum vinegar. Which is Japanese, I know, but it adds that extra bit of salt you need, I think it seemed to make the chicken mince a bit juicer and is also apparently fantastic for liver function? I add a few drops of it to a lot of Asian style food to cut down on the amount of soy I use.)
1 tbsp wholemeal flour to bring the meatballs together (add a little more if you need to absorb some moisture)
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine all the ingredients, except the olive oil, and roll into little balls (the ones I made are around 3cm in diameter). Put the olive oil in a pan and heat. Drop in the meatballs and cook for about 30 secs before tossing in the pan and cooking all over.

Put meatballs on some kitchen towel to remove some of the oil.

Autumn Colour Palettes

 

Autumn doesn't have to involve the use of dull, flat colours. Here are some colour palettes I created inspired by our Australian Autumn.

New Year's Resolutions

This year my goal is to get back into doing some of my own graphic design and artistic work. At the beginning of the year some friends from TAFE I had my first chance to do this when we styled a shoot from a costume we made last year. It was from an Art Finishing course in which we had to create and kill a character, then breakdown the costume based how they died.

Our creation was an Ophelia type of character. Bertron took the photography and I have just started going through and doing a bit of retouching. It was such a fun day and its something I would absolutely love to do on a more regular basis.

 

So now the plan is to start doing more styling and costumes with my best friend Tanya. We caught up yesterday and started get ideas together. I'm feeling very inspired and excited. Stay tuned for more projects!

Fonts, fonts, fonts

I've been looking for new fonts to use at work and a couple of days apart I get this beautiful email from M.A.C. using a similar font to one I was quite fond of.  Memoriam is just the right amount of whimsical and legibility for me! Although not a great font for use on-air, it would be so beautiful for a catalogue, email or postcard to really make a statement - instead of a typical script font. I would just love to use this one.

I must say I was really delighted to walk past the M.A.C. store at Myers to see all the girls working there wearing beautiful pieces of lace applied to their faces and immediately knew it was because this international "Love Lace" branding. Just love the continuity!

Recipes : Calming foods

I came home tonight so stressed an uptight. I'm thinking about a million things all at once between work, relationships and life in general. I had been watching "Good Chef, Bad Chef" religiously over the last few weeks on "Lifestyle Food" and I have found Janella Purcel's recipes so beautiful and delicious. But this has to one of my favourite. (Although, quick warning, is pretty garlic-y the way I make it, so be careful if you're having it for work lunches! I also got comments on how "ugly" it was, I think it looks beautiful and healthy! Haha!).

Spinach, Lentil and Lemon Soup

• 1 tbls olive oil
• ½ onion, sliced finely
• 2-3 medium cloves of garlic, crushed (Janella just says 1 but I love garlic!)
  
• ½ cup brown or green lentils
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• ½ bunch silver beet, white stalk removed
• ¼ bunch coriander leaves and stems, roughly chopped
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 4 tbls taklia – 4 cloves garlic, sliced, ½ cup olive oil, 4 tbls coriander powder, 1 tbls sea salt
• Sea salt and white pepper
• 2 tbls pine nuts, toasted

Method

 

In a large pot saute your onion in the olive oil until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking for another few seconds. Now add the lentils and stir to coat them in the oil. Add the stock and simmer until they are soft. This will take around 30 minutes.

• Roughly chop your spinach then add them to the pan with the coriander, then the lemon juice. Stir well then cover the pot to let the spinach wilt. Puree. Add more water if the soup it too thick.
• For the taklia, fry the garlic in the oil until it just changes colour, don’t let it brown. Put it in a mortar and pestle with the oil, coriander powder and salt. Pound it until it becomes a rough paste.
• Divide the soup between 4 bowls and stir 1 tbls of taklia into each. Taste for seasoning. Top with the pine nuts and serve.

I made a loaf of spelt bread from wholemeal spelt, flour, yeast, water, salt and olive oil and then spread a thin layer of philly cheese (I can't go completely without cheese, I love it too much).

After a big bowl of soup, bread and philly cheese all my worries were forgotten and I'm ready for a bit of relaxation and then a good night's sleep.... zzzzzzz.

Image courtesy of www.discoverlebanon.com because I scoffed my food before I could photograph it...

Current Obsession : Terrariums

Currently I am obsessed with little glass terrariums. Mostly made from glass dome Chemists Bells. But even vintage jars, lanterns and little glass baubles. Either housing little plants, mosses or flowers. Or being the home for little porcelain critters and other homely items.

What I like most is the fact that it can turn these little, normally insignificant, items into an artwork or feature. Especially when layered up with vases or a background of ornate antiqued picture frames.

My problem is we don't have any empty surfaces in our flat to place these things. And I'm on the hunt for the right dome! Anyway, here's my little homage to my favourite terrarium examples.

Images thanks to design*sponge and anthropologie and probably a couple of other places... sorry I'm working on keeping better references!