Summertime in London

It's February, it's dark & cold & wet. For some of us in England, it's been really really wet. Flooding has been a major issue for many people, bringing with it power shortages, destroyed train lines & all sorts of disruption. At times like this, I long for summer and reminisce over the happier times.

Last summer was epic for me & whilst seeking inspiration for my latest nail art designs, I remembered this birthday cake that I made for a friend's landmark birthday & just had to go with it!

The birthday girl

The cake was designed to encompass the things that make us happy; London, love, art & music with cherries on top. 

So fast forward to 2014 and I'm in the middle of a love affair with nail art. What better way to bring on the summer than combining my two favourite things, nails and cakes!

Special thanks to L Does Nails for the nail art and Alexia Lenoir for help with the cake design.

Peace & Love

xx

Fiesta Time....

This weekend we celebrated the birthday of my son and my nephew, with a Mexican Themed party and lots of cake!

The table

The table was put together with the help of my gorgeous niece and Alexia Lenoir, who had the unenviable task of trying to stop her from eating all of the sweets before the guests arrived!

The shot glasses with sweets was just too much of a temptation!

Confetti, confetti everywhere!

On the menu were vanilla cakepops, chocolate & ginger cupcakes and birthday cake.

Chocolate and ginger cupcakes, topped with Chantilly creme, chocolate and sprinkles

The cupcakes are a new recipe I'm working on which were inspired by the Primrose Bakery. All will be revealed soon but for now, check this link for the original chocolate and marshmallow version.

The birthday boys

A word to the wise, sparklers don't make great candles for birthday cake, especially if you are trying to light more than one. That said, they look cool so you will be forgiven for trying anyway!

Peace & Love
xxx

恭禧发财 (Happy New Year!)

The beautiful table

This weekend I celebrated the coming of the Year of the Horse with my girl the talented events planner and designer, Alexia Lenoir and friends with a Chinese themed lunch at my place. It was another excuse to work with Alexia, to celebrate the new year in style but most of all to treat our friends to a tasty feast and some quality time.

Handwritten invites

We decided to send handwritten invites via post; in today’s world of Facebook invites and text messages, it’s nice to actually get something in your hands.

Homemade fortune cookies

Menu

Starters

Steamed prawn dumplings

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Homemade Fortune Cookies

Prawn Toast

Prawn Crackers

Mains

Chilli prawns on skewers

Sticky Jasmine Rice

Steamed Pak Choi

Vegetable Stir-Fry

Steamed Sea Bass

Desserts

Mango, passion fruit and banana dessert

Coconut & lime ice-cream

Prosecco, mango, apple and pomegranate jelly shots

To top it all off, we had delicious Jasmine Tea and Green Tea cocktails.

The theme of the day was ‘doing you’. Someone asked me what I meant by that the other day so here is my attempt to explain it.

For me, it means expressing myself freely and living my life authentically without fear of judgement from other people. More often than not, other people aren’t the problem. We are our own worst enemies and we enslave ourselves with fears and worries and judgements. I have found that when I allow myself to be authentic, people are much more inclined not only to accept me (even if they don’t necessarily agree or support what I am doing), but also it gives them the freedom to do the same in a way that feels right to them. As the African proverb says ‘When there are no enemies within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you’.

‘In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds it’s morning and is refreshed’ Khalil Gibran

Wishing you prosperity and happiness!

Peace & Love

xxx