Pug Love

I recently returned from a month in Thailand (hence the lack of posts) and firstly, I'm amazed that I haven't been kicked out of The Daring Kitchen for missing the challenges while I was away, and secondly, looking forward to me and my boyfriend getting own own place this year and filling it with rescue doggies.

I'm a fan of the smaller, baby size, can fit in a pram, cuddle in bed breeds, while my boyfriend's ideal dog would be a giant bear pretending to be a dog.

Being both vegetarian/vegan and very concerned about animal rights we decided long ago that we would never pay a breeder for a pup. Pure bred dogs are rented out (like little male escorts) for studding and both the bitch and dog are selected for certain traits that HUMANS like, but the genes that produce aesthetically pleasing little pure breed puppies, more often than not, carry mutilating, disabling conditions too. For example, the gene that creates the perfect spotting on a Dalmatian also causes deafness.

And those gorgeous snuffling little pugs that frolic in my dreams suffer from dislocating knees, collapsed nostrils, breathing problems and blindness.

So since I will never buy a dog from a breeder I am looking to rescue one and am just hoping that a little Pug called Gary will come my way.

And in the meantime, I entertain myself with Pug paraphernalia…

Vegan Pug Cupcakes

Design idea taken from Hello Cupcake and 'veganised' accordingly :)

To decorate my cupcakes I used American Betty Crocker vanilla icing which I coloured,

red Starburst for the tongues,

Sainsbury's own brand chocolate decorating beans for the eyes,

and because I didn't have anything black for the nose I used a Tic Tac and coloured it in!

The ears are made out of grease proof paper, maybe next time I can colour a Starburst brown!

'Pugs not Drugs' Hummingbird cake

I adapted a recipe from The Hummingbird cook book for this homage to Pugs.

The recipe is for a Hummingbird cake, which is now officially my favourite cake (just above carrot and banana).

The Hummingbird cake is banana and pineapple, very moist and crumbly (like a carrot cake) with a light tropical fruity flavour.

The design is based on an illustration by Gemma Correll, an amazing illustrator and fellow Pug lover :)

Pug bisous bisous xxx

Body Shop, Body Shop, Boom Boom Boom

A few weeks ago I was asked to assist on Body Shop's 'Brush With Fashion' catwalk show for the release of their new, sustainable, cruelty free make up range for Spring 2011.

It was a collaboration with London College of Fashion, with alumni Nikki Palmer heading the make up team, alumni designs from the likes of William Tempest and Jena Theo on the catwalk and LCF student Katarina Voloder, a Fashion Illustration student who designed the packaging for the new collection. An LCF family affair!

Here is LCF's own coverage of the night… Snapshot

There were four make up looks all created with the new Body Shop range, and I was in charge of the one above.

It was a really fun night and I learnt something new, LCF keep honey bees on their roof!

I was going to post some photos I took myself, but my iphoto won't open, boo hoo!

So instead here are some links to press coverage of the event, I am proud to link coverage from Vogue, my make up work is on Vogue!!

Vogue, Beauty News

Vogue, Beauty Gallery

Vogue, The Green Style Blog

Grazia

Elle

Bisous bisous xxx

Vegan Holy Grail

Macarons!!

Crispy and smooth shells, moist melt-in-the-mouth with a tiny little ruffled foot (circumference). Kind of.

I had been following a thread on the Post Punk Kitchen forum, started by Andrew, a baker on the vegan macaron quest. It seemed that he was days from revealing his recipe when they archived the live threads and it was lost.

And then he appeared again, with his recipe! http://veganfordracula.blogspot.com/ Hurrah!

And so I got my VersaWhip out and got to work.

For my first ever attempt at Macarons (vegan or not) it wasn't too bad, sort of!

All seemed well until I peeked into the oven after 5 minutes to see the little macaron shells spilling their guts all over the place like tiny volcanoes.

This was for several reasons….

1. The oven was too hot

2. There was too much heat coming from the bottom of the oven

3. The shells had not been left to dry for long enough

I left my shells to dry for over two hours before putting them in the oven, but I think that because it was so cold in the kitchen they had not dried completely, leaving small soft weak spots on the shells where the insides promptly erupted from.

Normally the top of the macarons should be dry to the touch before going in the oven as this helps to prevent cracking and makes the macaron rise up, forming the signature little ruffled foot.

So for my next attempt I shall…

1. Decrease the oven temperature

2. Triple stack the trays, this should prevent too much direct heat getting to the bottom of the macarons, hopefully meaning that they will rise gently

3. Leave the shells to dry COMPLETELY before putting them in the oven, no matter how impatient I am!

Pre-oven, excited!

R.I.P Macarons

I also didn't allow the macarons to

dry before trying to pull one off to eat!

As my boyfriend lovingly commented, they look

like horribly deformed lady bits.

I'm sure I don't know what he means!

You can find the recipe on Andrew's blog. (link above)

I pretty much stuck to the original recipe, apart from I used liquid colouring and vanilla paste rather than powders, which are not readily available in the UK and I was too impatient to make an online order and wait!

The taste was so similar to a non-vegan macaron, I was very pleased on that front!

I think I probably need to grind the almond meal finer to give the shells a smoother dome, but the texture of the shell (and it's spilled guts) were very near perfection. With a little work I think the Holy Grail is in sight!

Bisous bisous xxx

Late for the first challenge!

I recently signed up to an online community of bakers. The idea is that every month a baking (or cooking, depending on which you choose) challenge is set by a member of the community and all participating bloggers must complete the challenge (in secrecy) and post their results on a designated day (the 27th). Which I have managed to miss!

So, this is my late entry, and I'm hoping I remember next month as you can't miss more than two in a row or they boot you out!

This month's challenge was set by Simona (http://briciole.typepad.com/blog/) and it was to bake crostata, an Italian dessert. The base of a crostata is pasta frolla (or pastafrolla), sweet short crust pastry (or sweet tart dough) made of flour, sugar, butter and eggs. Being a vegan baker I was allowed to alter the recipes she gave, as normally you have to stick to the ingredients as instructed. And so here is the recipe I used…

PastaFrolla

250g flour
100g margarine
100g sugar
a small glass of oat milk (to add as needed)
a pinch of salt
grated rind of 2 lemons

Place all ingredients, except for the milk, in a large bowl and gently work with your fingertips (or whiz with a hand mixer) until the ingredients come together in a sand like texture.

Tip out the mixture onto a clean surface and create a well in the centre. Pour the milk, (a little at a time until you have a soft dough), into the well you have created. Using a fork gently fold all the ingredients in together.

You will need to start using your hands to bring the dough together, it will be soft and easy to work, but be careful not to overwork it as this will make the dough elastic.

Wrap the dough in clingfilm and allow it to rest for at least an hour.

Assembling the Crostata

I decided to make a wintery, comforting filling for my crostata, spiced apple and pecan with a crumble topping :)

I collected cooking apples from my garden, peeled and finely sliced them and then mixed them up in a bowl with cinnamon, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla sugar and a tiny pinch of crushed cloves.

The pastafrolla was rolled out to about 2mm thickness, and then placed into individual greased tartlet pans. Prick the bottom of the tarts and be sure that there are no nasty air bubbles lurking there.

When you roll out the dough keep it on the clingfilm, you can then easily flip the dough into the pans without having to try and unstick it from your work surface!

I then arranged my fillings inside the tartlet pans, apple then chopped pecans then a sweet crumble topping with poppy seeds.

They were baked for around 25 minutes at 175 c. (Depending on your oven type and temperature this may vary)

The pastafrolla was buttery and biscuity, the filling was warming and christmassy and the crumble was nice and crunchy :) Not too bad!

Next time I will be a little more experimental with the filling instead of going for the safe and easy option! I'm looking forward to trying out the pastafrolla (minus the sugar) in a savoury recipe, a nice vegan quiche!

Easy vegan tarts, and they definitely kept the fella happy :)

Bisous bisous xxx

Excited!

Apologies for the lack of posts, all you keen followers must have been champing at the bit! Ha!

I have been very busy with arranging holidays and shoots! Today I was on a shoot with Stylist Sophie Surridge, which was such good fun despite the freezing weather and fog. Below are some snaps from the day and I really can't wait to see the final images, they looked beautiful :)

All the rage down in Chiswick Malls ;)

Su Jin, ready for the mud!

Clothes by Lu Flux

Cute! (word of the day)

The beautiful, beautiful model.

This is just a quick post as I'm off to sort out my kit for this tomorrow….

http://blogs.fashion.arts.ac.uk/snapshot/2010/10/06/lcf-announce-first-collaboration-with-the-body-shop-international/#more-17770

Bisous bisous xxx

Shoot with the English National Ballet

Busy busy busy.

Having been on family weddings and holidays I have had no time to bake! So this is a fashion post :)

A few months ago I was lucky enough to be chosen to take part in a collaborative photo shoot with the English National Ballet (ENB), I don't yet have any of the final images as they are to be exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London at the end of this month! Exciting! There have been several shoots leading up to this exhibition and open workshops at the V&A, and I have been lucky enough to have taken part in two shoots. This is a post about the first shoot which was sponsored by Hasselblad!

The team consisted of 5 stylists, 5 photographers, 3 illustrators, 6 make up artists, 1 film maker (all LCF students) and 10 ENB dancers.

The shoot took place behind the Royal Albert Hall in the ENB dance studios.

It was a hectic rushed day, with the dancers coming and going throughout and all having to be done by 4pm in order to get ready for the evening performance of Swan Lake!

There was the usual know-all obnoxiousness from the photography students, but the dancers were all so lovely, they made the day that little but easier :)

http://www.ballet.org.uk/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=26

http://blogs.fashion.arts.ac.uk/snapshot/2010/09/23/english-national-ballet-photo-shoot/

http://blogs.fashion.arts.ac.uk/snapshot/2010/09/23/english-national-ballet-project/

Bisous bisous xxx