Cupcake lust and canape porn

I’ve been to a lot of press events recently (darling), featuring everything from painting to pore cleansing, but on Wednesday night I went to a couple of events that really brought out the foodie in me. That’s right, don’t be deceived by these skinny limbs, I’ve got an appetite to rival that guy off Man v. Food at times.

First up it was the QVC press day. While Helen was trying on every diamond (and Diamonique) ring she could find and imagining with which one Prince Harry would choose to propose to her, I was transfixed by the best baking gadget I’ve seen in years. The Cassie Brown Cake Decorating Airbrush Set allows you to unleash your inner domestic goddess – or grafitti artist – on fondant icing. The QVCers had taken some ready iced cupcakes and added their own artistic flourishes, which was cute, but frankly, if I got my hands on one of these (hint, hint: it’s my birthday in 2 months people, and I think £109 is very reasonable) I’d be trying to recreate the Mona Lisa on a lemon bun, or at least a blurry version of Monet’s Waterlillies.

After tearing myself away from the cupcake stand we wandered over to – or rather, got a bit lost on the way to – a party celebrating the launch of new website London-Boutiques.com. Here, it was the excellent dessert canape selection that I was feasting my greedy eyes on. I failed to get a photo of the adorable miniature cones filled with tequila flavoured ice cream, but check out this cheeky jelly pop with a glace cherry centre. And I had to hand it to them for their superb branded biscuits. I don’t think Cassie Brown could have bettered them. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to make a Pinterest board called Canape Porn. Or maybe just canaporn?

Is social media stopping us from living in the moment?

Googling an actor from my new favourite sitcom this week lead me to think about one of the dangers of social media.

I fought it for so long, adamant I wouldn’t jump on the bandwagon and that nothing could fill the gaping Friends shaped void left in my life until earlier this year when I finally caved. Yes everyone, I’m now a fully fledged fan of The Big Bang Theory, a good five years after the rest of you. So I decided I wanted to find out more about my new favourite TV characters. However, I failed to find out much about Leonard Hofstadter (played by Johnny Galecki) other than this rather poignant quote: “I don’t understand the current frame of mind in our society that seems to say that any action is not of value until it’s broadcast somehow.”

Upon reading this I was immediately transported back to last year when I was accused by a friend of insulting my other half at the time because I hadn’t changed my status to ‘in a relationship’ on Facebook. These days, it would seem, it just isn’t official until you’ve taken this crucial social media step. I have also received several odd looks when people realise my last Facebook album dates back to 2010, as though they’re wondering whether or not I have actually been out since. It soon became clear Galecki had raised a very good point.

Earlier this week Will.i.am, star of The Voice,  was seen – somewhat triumphantly – clutching the Olympic torch in one hand and his smartphone in the other as he tweeted furiously. It got me thinking about the time I went to New York several years ago. Instead of stopping to properly absorb such a fantastic city I found myself more interested in my new digital camera and becoming far too snap-happy for my own good, racking up a ridiculous 850 pictures by the end of my trip. It wasn’t until I got home I realised I had only really seen NYC – somewhere I had always dreamt of visiting – through a lens. Will it possibly transpire that somewhere down the line Mr I.Am might regret not tucking his phone away in favour of fully immersing himself in the historical event he was partaking in? What was it that meant he just couldn’t wait until he got home?

How many of us have taken a picture, looked at it then exclaimed to the room “Profile picture!” when we liked what we saw? To me it’s just another one of the signs that some of us have unwittingly fallen victim to pesky social media pressure. Could we be in danger – or dare I say it, already guilty – of concerning ourselves more about how we look having fun as opposed to actually having it?

Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s great to accumulate lots of great memories through photographs but if there comes a point where it prevents you from wholeheartedly enjoying yourself and being in the moment, maybe it’s time to put the camera/iPhone/Blackberry down. That goes for you too, Will.

RECIPE: How to make the perfect American cookies

Now that I’m marrying an American, I feel like I should brush up on my cookie baking skills. When I was a teenager a real American mom gave my family a cookie recipe that I have been using ever since. I only really came to appreciate how good this recipe is the other week when I was craving cookies at about 10pm, and, because I didn’t have my usual cookbook to hand, I had to use any old recipe I could find. Now call me lazy or arrogant, but I really believe that if something I bake goes wrong it usually the recipe’s fault. A good recipe is straightforward, tried and tested; as long as you follow it, you are supposed to get good results. (A really good recipe has built in room for slight error and improvisation.) Anyway, these cookies were a disaster. They were flat and completely splurged into one on the baking tray, and they tasted disgusting and salty.

The recipe I’m about to share with you, however, is the best. You can use it as a base and mess around with flavourings, add different types of chocolate chip (in the batch I made last night I used crunchie bar, malteasers, caramel dairy milk, and M&Ms). It’s okay if you look in the baking cupboard and discover you don’t have any vanilla essence, or you mess up and use part self raising, part plain flour. It’s what they call a ‘fool-proof’ recipe. I’m going to learn it by heart so I never have to use a different one again.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Cream 4 oz (half a cup) of soft, room temperature butter with 5 tablespoons of soft brown sugar and 5 tablespoons of white caster sugar. Stir in an egg. Add half a teaspoon of vanilla essence, and half a teaspoon of baking powder. Add 8 oz (1 cup) and 2 tablespoons of plain flour (although last night I used half plain, half self raising and they came out well), and half a teaspoon of salt. Blend well. Add lots of chocolate chips – you can be creative here and smash up your favourite chocolate bars to put in the cookies.

Tear chunks off the dough and roll into smallish balls. Space these well on baking parchment and cook in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Take them out when they are still soft and are just going ever so slightly golden around the edges, because they carry on cooking out of the oven for a while and you want them to be a bit gooey.

The trick to telling whether you’re on the right track in the cookie making process is whether or not you are eating the dough. If the dough is irresistible, the cookies will be good, too.

In defence of renting in London

Flat hunting in London, not as fun as it sounds

Please don’t think this is a defence of landlords in London; it isn’t. They want to squeeze every last penny out of renters in the capital and that will never change.

The reasons landlords are the villains right now is that the cost of renting has gone up again (2.4% UK average, 4.5% in London) and the figures comparing London to the rest of the country make anyone paying to live here (like me) look plain stupid. For instance, London households apparently spend 71% of their salaries on rent, according to a FindaProperty.com Index published this week – the average net wage in London is £36k and £24k of that goes on rent.

When I first moved to London in 2006 I thought a wise ratio to stick to would be to spend 2/5ths of my income on putting a roof over my head. But that was back when I thought rents would stay about £100 a week per person and before I discovered council tax, paying full price at the cinema and Zone 1-6 travelcards.

So renting in London seems like a mad thing to do. But it isn’t. Firstly, think about why people come to London (or stay here) in the first place – a place at a prestigious university, a once-in-a-lifetime graduate scheme or – in my case – the whole damn industry. Yes, you could live in some random part of the UK for a fraction of the price, save up and buy a house there but for education, inspiration and careers London has a lot going for it.

Then there’s the culture, the history and the people. Even if rent saps all your money in the capital, that’s not going to stop you visiting some of the world’s greatest museums and galleries for free, nipping over to Buckingham Palace or finding cheap bars and markets. In a week where I was supposed to saving money, I still accidentally ended up in a Caribbean restaurant in Brixton, at a reading at the ICA and in a basement bar not far from Oxford Street.

So what if I’ve spent over £25,000 on renting in London since my first year at university here? I’m a city girl and as a journalist I need to be in the thick of it or else I’m not much use to anyone. I’d spend the same amount in New York or Tokyo and I honestly believe my interests and awareness would be much narrower had I not moved here. Renting also means you are independent from a) your parents and b) a man who’s richer/ older/ more successful than you and wants you to move into his house. That’s pretty valuable.

The Kitsch and the Cray: Diamond Jubilee gifts fit for a Queen?

Sometimes I pity the richest people on the planet.  I mean, when it comes to birthdays and festive times, special occasions and wedding anniversaries, it must be damn hard choosing your nearest and dearest presents they could otherwise just pick up for themselves on a casual Tuesday afternoon spree in Harrods.  I like to amuse myself that this must have been a constant irritation to the Royal family, and this is why they subsequently introduced the ‘novelty gifts’ idea for Christmas present buying.  I’m sure Prince Charles must have a dozen Burger king crowns by now.  Therefore, I thought it might be a tradition the Royals might extend to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this year, because lets face it, the woman owns most of the diamonds in the country anyway, she aint going to want no more.  Therefore I have scoured the internet and great British High Street to bring Charles, Philip, William and co (and obviously any one else who wants in on the action) a definitive list of th kitsch and the Cray, to amuse one’s humble Queen on her Jubilee. 

1. The Royal Oysters – Limited Edition Oyster Card:

In times of austerity, one might have to start hop-footing it on the jubilee line (geddit?!) and can thus can now do it in limited edition style.  Will also double up as a handy I.D down at the local Wetherspoons.

2. Face Off – Lydia Leith Diamond Jubilee Jelly Mould:

Nothing is more British that a good old tea party, and no doubt her Majesty will be happy to wibble wobble up to get a bowl full of jelly in the shape of her own head, despite it looking like she’s had the chop.

3. A very Vogue idea –  Our stylish Queen:

There is no denying Elizabeth II style credentials.  With the likes of Bruce Oldfield et al on speed dial, Vogue’s novel idea of charting our Monarch’s wardrobe for 1 year to discover her favourite hues paints a rather pretty picture.  And every woman, Queen of the Commonwealth or not, loves to know she is en Vogue, darling.

4. The very funny, very unofficial diary of the Queen:

We all know the numerous celebrity parody accounts on twitter, and one of mine and Katie’s favourites is @Queen_UK a.k.a The Queen Of Twitter.  having been lucky enough to actually meet her Royal Highness (ish) at her book launch last year, it would paint an amazing picture seeing the true queen reading her fictional counterpart’s work.

5. A right Royal Cuppa:

As we all know, the Queen is a very busy lady, and like the majority of her loyal subjects, can’t function in the morning before her cup of tea.  Therefore, as her schedule hots up around the Jubilee, it makes sense her face should be plastered all over these awesome travel friendly cups!  And Philip would never mistake it for his own…

7. Environmentally sound:

And last but not least, can’t you just imagine these on the Queen’s window sill?!  Actual solar-powered waving Queens!  Available from Amazon, I have a feeling Carole Middleton might already be dishing these out with her Jubilee bunting.

An education in exfoliation plus some arts and crafts fun with St Ives

To celebrate the relaunch of their iconic Apricot Facial Scrub, St Ives invited a select group of bloggers to the Hospital Club last week for an evening of informative beauty advice and some arty fun too.

It was basically like a grown-up bloggers crèche. On arrival at the beautiful Forest Room (check out that wicked woody wallpaper) Helen and I were offered a delicious martini cocktail, apricot flavoured of course, and we mingled with fellow bloggers as we nibbled on canapés including dried apricots filled with cream cheese – are you noticing a theme emerging here?

For the first educational portion of the evening we sat down along with Lauren of The Beauty Habit blog to listen to Pedro Mendez, a Technical Manager from St Ives parent company Unilever, who was well versed in all thing exfoliant. Pedro demonstrated the power of St Ives Apricot Scrub by using a little electronic tool to measure the moisture levels on the back of Lauren’s hand. Needless to say, after a gentle scrubbing with a dollop of the apricot good stuff Lauren’s skin had vastly improved in both texture and moistness. Pedro explained (in his adorable Spanish accent) that St Ives scrubs use apricot, walnut and ground corn as their all-important exfoliating ingredients.

Next, Emine Ali Rushton, Beauty Director at Psychologies magazine, gave a fascinating talk about the history of exfoliation. Check this out: crocodile dung, camel urine and nightingale droppings have all been used as exfoliants throughout the ages. Pretty gross, right? I think I’m gonna stick to apricots and walnuts myself.

Finally, we were given the chance to get arty – and a bit competitive. We were presented with a wig block (you know, one of those polystyrene heads they keep wigs on) and told to paint it in a way that we thought represented natural beauty. Despite being totally on brand, with a delicate sunset-coloured floral motif that included actual apricots and everything, we didn’t win the incredible chocolate and marzipan apricot tree sculpture. Clearly, we were robbed. Just kidding, the wig block winner was totally deserved.

The new look St Ives scrubs come in three varieties: invigorating, blemish fighting, and renew and firm, available now at all the usual places. Visit the St Ives Facebook page.

Check out all my photos from the event in the gallery below. Click on the images to enlarge.

Coming soon | On The Road and The Great Gatsby

I’ve got got goosebumps from watching this magnificent trailer for On The Road, Walter Salles’ adaptation of Kerouac’s classic novel, and I can’t wait to see the trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s version of The Great Gatsby, set to be released in cinemas in December.

I recently wrote a piece about literature and fashion for the Alliance of Literary Societies‘ annual members’ journal. You can read the full piece here, but here’s an extract:

The fact that the 20s and 50s were post-war eras of economic boom in the US (in salient contrast with our own time), where decadence, along with a certain frenetic energy and nostalgia for the past marked the fashion trends of the day, makes the two heroes of these classic novels doubly attractive to the fashion world today. Imitating the style of those decades is a kind of wish fulfillment, escapism, precisely because of the financial depression we now find ourselves in. Luhrmann’s new film of The Great Gatsby will be in 3-D. However you feel about 3-D cinema, it just goes to show the extent to which the director wants to push the aesthetic world of Fitzgerald, bringing the textures and colours alive. The visual element of Fitzgerald’s work has always been important, and this year sees his aesthetic influence reaching from the page to the screen and onto the catwalks and viewers – or readers – themselves. Fashion is, in many ways, the physical embodiment of ideas, of an ethos.

Fitzgerald’s descriptions of Gatsby’s parties evoke images that are incredibly familiar to the fashion world: ‘the air is alive with the chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names.’ It could, after all, be a scene from any London Fashion Week party. The Jazz Age and the Beat Generation portrayed in The Great Gatsby and On The Road may be solid enough visual cues to draw the fashion industry into imitation, but their philosophy and their heroes remain tantalisingly out of reach; the ultimate fashion icons, in fact. They are awful in their moments of degradation: when John Galliano was exposed for making anti-Semitic remarks last year, no one in the fashion world knew how to react. We never actually want to see through our heroes, because in them we see what we might wish to be – they represent precious ideals.

High fashion, then, is the communal stamp of approval upon something that must go on to become a very personal quest. Fashion is simultaneously something that is, and is not, learnt. Gatsby’s gypsy butterfly girls flitting from group to group in their ‘gas blue’ silks and pearls are on this personal quest, chasing something elusive on the spray of champagne. Sal and Dean are on this quest, catching a glimpse of America as they wind down the windows and make love to the night as it pours in over the dashboard, lifting their sweaty palms in an ecstasy of rhythm as the trumpet player blows his heart out in a grimy club. It is something you can’t ever quite put your finger on, but you know it when you see it. The worlds of fashion and literature have this great Aesthetic Mystery in common.

Is it a Bong? Is it a Sex Toy? Why, no, its the new MTherapy Beauty Pod!

Last week Katie and myself were invited to road test a new, innovative skincare system being launched by MTherapy, at the Savoy Hotel. Despite our initial reservations when we were confronted with what appeared to be something usually hidden in the back room of Coco De Mer, The ‘Beauty Pod’ as it is known, actually wasn’t as terrifying once it was explained.  

Publicised as the first of its kind, this at home device aims to ‘harness steam power to propel moisture, essential oils and compounds directly in to the skin’.  Now, you may be like me and that kind of beauty guff goes in one lug hole and out the other, so it was great to see this modern-day beauty Dalek first hand.

For the sake of our (soon to be) award-winning journalism, Katie was kind enough to let me submit photos for this article whilst she was literally having hot steam blown on her face.  The small strange-looking egg type objects you can see below are known as ‘podlets’ which  contain all the magic ingredients which the Pod then blows on to your face…Just imagine a futuristic take on the age-old boiling water and flannel over your face in the sink malarkey and you can get the idea of what we were dealing with here.  Although Katie agreed she did instantly feel refreshed, with 4 ‘podlets’ retailing at £60 and the Pod itself at £269, it is definitely more of an investment than a new flannel.  But what a talking piece it could make at your next party!

The MTherapy Beauty Pod and podlets are exclusively distributed through www.mymtherapy.com.

Lacoste launch their new fagrance with a little help from Central St Martins

To celebrate the launch of Eau de Lacoste Rouge, the latest scent in their L.12.12 mens fragrance collection, the French brand turned to London’s most famous art school Central St Martin’s and presented them with a design challenge.

Graphic design students were given a brief at the Lacoste headquarters: to design artworks out of the coloured fragrance bottles of the four scents in the Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 mens collection (it’s pronounced el-douze-douze, with a French accent, naturellement). The latest addition, Rouge – which follows Blanc, Blue and Vert – was unveiled at an event at the Hospital Club last week, along with the winner of the CSM contest. Helen and I went along to sniff out (sorry I couldn’t resist) the competition before we headed over to the Batiste launch event.

All the students’ entries were on display, along with lots of bottles of Rouge. Forget the boys, we like the scent so much we want to use it ourselves. Apparently it features a triple blend of spices – ginger, black pepper and cardamom. Sounds more like a chai tea recipe, I know, but it’s actually a really great zesty combination, not overpoweringly masculine.

Lacoste design director Christophe Pillet, who set the brief initially, had flown into London especially for the occasion. In his swooningly thick French accent he explained, in typical award ceremony style, that it had been a really difficult decision picking the winner. He also suggested, I kid you not, that the students who didn’t win might want to swipe some of the Rouge fragrance bottles later as a substitute. He was very droll. Christophe presented Sabba Keynejad with the top prize for his very cool design in which little Lacoste crocodiles were created from a mass of lots of L.12.12 bottles. After the presentation, we had a quick chat with Christophe (I can confirm he smelled divine, as one would imagine) and asked him why they chose St Martins rather than a French art school. ‘Because we wanted the best,’ he said, explaining that CSM’s reputation for talent and innovation is world famous. Well, vive l’Anglaterre, you might say.

See Sabba and the runners-up designs in the gallery below. Eau de Lacoste Rouge, part of the Lacoste L.12.12 mens collection, is on sale now.

The trouble with politics, or, The Obama myth revisited

There has been a lot of Obama hero worship going on recently what with his coming out in favour of gay marriage and all. People have been calling him ‘brave’, and presenting him as some kind of champion of equality. This seems ridiculous to me. If this is what he believes, why has he changed his tune now? Why didn’t he say this from the start? Surely he’s only doing it now because he’s already alienated the anti gay marriage crowd with the contraception mandate and so is trying to win back waverers on the Left. It’s not that I am against someone changing their mind on an issue (or ‘evolving’, as everyone is calling it). It’s just that there’s nothing brave about giving the people who are most likely to support you what they want. He’s not losing any votes he might have had, not really. That ship already sailed a while ago. He’s only winning back the admiration and support of people he might have otherwise lost if he had carried on sitting on the fence. Make no doubt about it, he was under a lot of pressure from within his own party to do this. The election is approaching, and he had to do something big, he had to make a statement.

I hate saying this, I really do. I was just as excited about Obama back in 2008 as the next person. He seems like such a nice guy. An intelligent, friendly, funny, well read, eloquent guy; such a refreshing change from George W, who seemed like an illiterate buffoon next to Barack. I would like to sit next to him at a dinner party. One of my ‘Favourite Quotations’ on Facebook is from ‘The Audacity of Hope’: ‘[Empathy] calls us all to task, the conservative and the liberal, the powerful and the powerless, the oppressed and the oppressor. We are all shaken out of our complacency. We are all forced beyond our limited vision.’ Finally, I thought, a politician who sees the subtlety of situations, the nuances, who will consider things on a human level and not just think like all the other power grabbing good-for-nothings in politics. But the problem is, we all idealised him too much. You have to get your hands dirty in politics, and he’s no different from the rest.

A recent timeline by ProPublica compares the Bush and Obama administrations in terms of torture, surveillance, and detention. When you think what a reputation Bush had for being a trigger happy war-mongerer, it’s scary to see how Obama has continued and furthered what Bush started. Obama has upped the drones, and despite declaring his intention to close Guantanamo in 2008, he backed out of this in early 2011. I know people who voted for him because it seemed like he might put a stop to the illegal detention and torture of unproven terrorist suspects. His change of tack on this is a scandalous betrayal of American trust.

So yes, if you are pro-gay marriage, by all means celebrate this moment. But remember that a healthy dose of cynicism probably wouldn’t go amiss, either. There’s a great deal of less-than-savoury tactical manoeuvring going on behind this so-called ‘courage’.

Do you think I am being too harsh on Obama? (After all, I do feel bad for the guy – his hair has gone very grey with all the stress of being President… A job I certainly do not envy.) Please do add to the debate and leave your thoughts, below.