Hello 2010!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing everyone a great 2010 and all the good stuff that comes with a new year.

Flashback to 1999

The other day I was sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office and normally they will have English papers and maybe the Economist but that day they had an Instyle magazine from 1999 with Drew Barrymore on the cover!

1999! I was thinking "Wow! That was like 10 years ago!" I used to buy Instyle every month at that time so I was flicking through it to see what was 'in' at that time. Surprisingly it was the ads that triggered the flashback.

Elizabeth Hurley was the model for Pleasures by Estee Lauder - she looked so young then.
Nicki Taylor for Cover Girl - Where is she now?
Christi Turlington for Lancome - Doing humanitarian work while raising her kids
Milla Jovovich for Maybeline - With 2 Resident Evil movies under her belt, what next?

Get Carried Away - SATC 2 Trailer

It's here! I am loving Carrie's white sundress and L-O-V-E her chrome aviators.
Out May 28th (USA)!



For a better resolution video, go here: SATC 2 Trailer [HD]

Korea Winter Fashion - Get it all online!

Korean fashion has been quite a popular export in the last couple of years. This partially stems from the popularity of the Korean Dramas and let's put it this way, the women here put themselves together quite nicely. Not just the agashi's, you should check out the ahjumma's on the restaurant floor of Hyundai Department Store on any week day. You'd think they were going to a wedding reception after they are done with their tea and cake.

One thing that I've discovered and secretly enjoy is trawling through the online shopping sites here. You can get all the latest styles from the furry vests that are so popular to the hottest looking boots. G-Market (which has an English option), 11 St and Auction are popular online stores where you can get most everything but I find it a bit of an overload when looking at fashion. Their constant flickering banners can drive you a bit nuts after 15 mins.

So, I prefer some of the dedicated fashion websites. Here are a few of my fav's:
Pastar
Plenty of trendy styles for casual wear. They won't have suitable office wear... I stand corrected, it depends on what your office dress policy is. They don't carry many suits and smart attire for client meetings is what I meant. I like the way this website is laid out, I like the options at the bottom for accessories or corresponding matching outfits that were used by the model (which is always the same model, by the way - if you go to Karuso-gil you might just see them taking pics of her along the street) and the prices are decent.


C-Chouette
You get easy matching pieces from this website. Their ensembles are chic and without too many fussy lines.

Love-K
If you are into Romantic and Sweet, this is the site for you. You just have to see how the model poses to get the feel of their style. I personally have not bought anything from this site yet but it's just one of those situations where I like the look of an outfit but know that I wouldn't be able to pull it off.



Ozzaru and Vavara
These sites were recommended by friends who like me enjoy a 'bit' of shopping. If you want to dress like Leighton Meister or Kate Moss or pay to look drab like Reese Withespoon running out to get the kids, or the latest runway look from leading design houses, these two sites will guide you with your wallet.

La Tavola in Itaewon

So the title is not that exciting but the food at La Tavola was! Sometime earlier last year, we went to the Italian restaurant above Kraze Burger in Itaewon (a stone's throw from Hamilton Hotel, go uphill past Hard Rock) which was called Antonio's or something like that. I had the most delicious Putanesca Pasta. My OH who doesn't like olives was suitably impressed too.

The next time we went there though, it had changed to La Tavola. Needless to say we went away a little disappointed and didn't try it. Recently, a friend of mine mentioned that they had dinner there and it was good. So we decided to give it a go.

The decor looked the same but the menu was different. They have a good selection of pastas and a more extensive choice of pizzas but we both went for pasta. I had the Risotto Funghi and my OH had the Rigatoni with beef and gorgonzola. I am sure there was a funkier Italian name for it but it slips my mind right now. We also had the calamari for a starter.

The calamari was really well done! We have tried many calamari dishes before and have been disappointed many times, sometimes the batter is not crispy or the taste is non-existent. The calamari at La Tavola was fresh and the batter lightly coated and crisp. Their tartar sauce was mild and not to tangy which was a nice compliment. They also served with a few battered prawns and battered cucumber which was interesting. There was also a small side of salad.

The best dish was probably the Rigatoni with beef and gorgonzola. The portions aren't large but when you are going through the creamy dish you tend to get full pretty quickly. The sauce was light and tasty and the beef tender and juicy. The combination was very well thought through and a delight to the palate. The risotto was al dente and they didn't skimp on the mushrooms although I would have preferred slightly different mushrooms. As far as a Risotto Funghi goes, it passed with flying colours.

I heard their pizza's are quite good. That will have to be the next time though.

La Tavola
Itaewon
T. (02) 793 6144

Indulging in Red Velvet... Cupcake Style!

Well, it’s that time of year where red, white and a splash of green is very popular. Christmas! Something else with similar colours that has become rather popular is Red Velvet Cupcakes! These gorgeous looking red cupcakes adorned with cream cheese icing are not only attractive but tasty. Well, I like most things chocolate anyway so I’m biased. The cupcakes are chocolate tasting but the red colouring give it this full and vibrant look as far as food goes and is quite irresistible.

I had a party last weekend for about 50 guests and my OH thought it was a good idea to make these Red Velvet Cupcakes as a party favour. Nice suggestion but I was getting my hopes up if I was expecting any help from there! : )

Before I set to work, I had to first of all get my hands on bottles and bottles of red food colouring which is NOT easy to find in Seoul. The type you get here is the gel type which comes in a pack with 4 other colours and that one tube of red is really insufficient for my needs. I have used that red colouring before but I found it too weak and for what I needed it for I would have to buy boxes and boxes of it which will become quite $$$. If you are desperate, you can find this brand (it’s the only food colouring I have found in Seoul) in most of the major supermarket chains eg. Lotte Mart, E-Mart.

To solve my problem, I had my OH buy them from Australia. There you can get the Queen’s brand food colouring that comes in little 50ml bottles. I used about 5 bottles. However, he had to look in several stores as I suspect due to the Christmas season, red food colouring was very popular.

I had done some research on the internet to find a good Red Velvet Cupcake recipe. Most of them required the same ingredients so I used this one recommended on the House of Annie blog. Overall the recipe is easy to follow, the most tedious of the lot was making the cake flour which I can’t find in Seoul. I followed a method of making my own cake flour and buttermilk to get as close to the recipe as possible.

When you are at the stage of adding the red colouring in, the batter looks really bright and is still quite liquidy but the moment you add the flour that has been whisked with the cocoa powder and salt, the mixture becomes this heavenly red with almost chrome like swirls inside. It was beautiful! I have never been so excited about batter colour before! It was crazy!

The photo doesn't do the batter colour justice. When you make it you will know what I mean.

I did this in 3 batches so really had my chance to admire the batter colour. *LOL* In the pictures and also when you buy cupcakes from bakeries, the cupcake sits quite high up from the cupcake liners itself. Although the recipe asks me to fill the cupcake liners to 2/3 full, the cake itself does not rise very much so I filled it close to the rim (about 3mm from edge) and it was the right height for me as after I added the icing, I still had to fit it into a box.

Here they are out of the oven.

Em’s magnificent Cream Cheese Icing which is also in the same recipe was really GOLD! It melts in your mouth and I reckon it would go well with any type of cupcake! I used the same cream cheese recipe to spread over my banana cake and it added a little ZAZZ to the banana cake that’s for sure.

After the cakes had cooled, I added the cream cheese icing with a frosting syringe that I found in Sydney. As opposed to your traditional frosting piping bag, this syringe is easier to control and for something as small as a cupcake I found it gave me a lot of control. The only drawback is the syringe is not large, so you keep having to refill it every 2.5 cupcakes that you decorate (depending on the kind of decoration that you use).

There is something soothing about spreading icing on the cupcakes.

I ended up with 2 types of decoration, one was just swirling it over the top of the cupcake and the other with little flowers. Over that I sprinkled some pink and red lovehearts. I think they turned out quite well.

I experiemented the lovehearts first on the cupcakes with the swirled icing.

Then on all of them!

The cupcakes taste good on the first day but by the second day, I found the cupcake to be too dense. So, I am still looking for another recipe where the cupcake is fluffier and stays that way for 2-3 days.