Shopping in the starting blocks

Yesterday was one of these high-speed great days. I had a day off work and my friend Sarah proposed we'd go shopping together since she had to grab a couple things before she left for her weekend in the vineyards. No need to say more than "shopping" for me to agree, especially since I just had put my paycheck in the bank. So off we go, after a few stops and a semi-lost trip in the middle of nowhere we arrived at the Palm Desert...


Shopping Mall...


The first thing to do was to fill these empty stomachs of ours so we made a quick stop at Charley's Grilled Subs to devour one of these:


Then serious things began and although we didn't have much time in front of us we managed to score a few cute things and for Sarah to spend her Forever 21 gift card...I talked her into buying these nice purple shorts that can be dressed up or down and she found herself a leopard pencil skirt that will turn heads on that hot body of hers (not that she needs to since she has a fiance).
There's nothing better than to go shopping in the middle of a weekday cause then you pretty much feel like the shops are there for your eyes only.
Here is what I fell for this time...


Left to right:
-Black and grey striped tube top with bottom lace trim - Charlotte Russe
-Purple crystal alike bracelet - Forever 21
-Lace tights - Rampage for Charlotte Russe
-Black and white pinstriped tube top with satin belt - Charlotte Russe

So after that we decided we haven't had enough and it was just us getting started so around a Starbucks green tea frappuccino for me and chai tea frappuccino for her we planned for another way longer round of shopping next week with this time NO distractions to stop us!...we're good citizens, we try to fight recession and keep the economy going,right!haha

Spring-Summer 09 Crush

As we switched to Daylight Saving Time and as the sun is starting to warm this side of the Earth, we need to take a minute and think seriously...what clothes and accessories are we gonna fall for this season?!...YES fashion is a serious concern, at least when you have the big bucks. For those of us who don't, well it's still inspiration to look for as you're very likely to find High Fashion tendencies transcribed into cheaper brands.
So here is a little patchwork of what I'd LOOOOVE to indulge myself with this season if ever I was living on the Upper East Side like the Gossip Girl protagonists.
First and foremost, Dior! Dior is simply the best of the best...or actually "la crème de la crème". Whenever I look at anything from this house I just start giggling like a baby in front of a new toy, I mean even the name is perfect (thank Christian for that). I have been a Dior fanatic for quite a few years and love to see how John Galliano keeps collections fresh and innovative yet classy; most importantly he manages to conserve the French spirit and soul of this brand. Which is probably why he has been rewarded with the highest French distinction in early January of this year, the "Légion d'Honneur". But enough talk and more visual, for me this summer with Dior is ALL about the accessories:


the Dior Savane bag, a little piece of delight


as seen on the runway


Dior Le 30 bag

The new Lady Dior collection is absolutely fabulous, everything I enjoy, and Marion Cotillard brings grace and beauty to the ad campaign.



Lady Dior sunglasses in purple

Then cherry on top of the icing, you can plunge into Dior madness with their new Lady Dior cell phone!! The little precious has 640 Swarovski stones (3251 carats total!!!)and comes with additional features including a 2.6-inch QVGA screen and a 2 MP camera...

to show this fancy gadget to your friends around a cup of latte, it will cost you 18 000 euros/28 360$!!! a little hard to swallow for most of us, right!

So now that you have a new purse, sunglasses and a shiny phone, what do you need?...SHOES!
Shoes have 2 names this season, Chanel and Vuitton. My Nordic Beauty friend fell hard for the Chanel guitar and cases so here are some shoes to help her complete the look.

those Chanel peep toe ankle boots are deliciously posh and pretty


and these beauties would do great on a warm shopping day paired with a cute mini skirt and your favorite trench coat.

Vuitton is more on the wild side but really tempting too. Not happy enough to have revamped the Gladiator pump (made famous by sweetheart Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex And The City The Movie) giving it a bolder, more colorful look; Vuitton gave itself the luxury of having none other than MADONNA to promote the spring collection. Madonna's crazy legs in a smokey Paris pub with a little help from Vuitton, here's what it looks like:



Vuitton Zesty shoes


I fell hard for these shoes but haven't seen them anywhere besides from this snapshot from the runway.
(ndlr: if ever in Paris, you HAVE TO go take a look at the Vuitton store located on the famous Champs-Elysées...taking a whole street corner, it is GIGANTIC, the ultimate Vuitton temple!)

You have everything now but missing the masterpiece : actual clothes!!!
This summer I would definitely play the duplicity. Bright colors and light fabric for your little daytime dress switch to super glamorous and edgy dark dresses at night.
Jeremy Scott came with some cute designs for a runway show clearly inspired by France's first ever fashion icon: Marie-Antoinette.



This collection was named Let Em Eat Gas...wow, someone was in a pissy mood much?!

The award for most exquisite dresses goes to Balmain with feather-weighed dresses that would draw all the attention on a night out in town. Fellow friend and blogger Chrissy liked their military jacket.

Short or long, black/white/purple, the choice is yours:

No need for dramatic makeup, you already have the dress for that!




This belted beauty is my favorite



On a side note, I really loved the destructured side buttons opening of this Chanel piece, the big black bow tops it very nicely...I would love to see this on a jacket/trench coat.


Ok out of paradise and back to planet Earth, I hope you enjoyed my personal picks of the Spring/Summer 09. I will stick to my little piece of luxury for now, Mr D has been adorable and surprised me when getting on the plane for Paris on V-Day with a box of Dior's perfume Dior Addict 2 (pure bliss of a smell!)


...the folks at Dior made it even sweeter by adding a little extra gift


which contained

purple eyeshadow set?they must have known it was for me :P

That's it, have fun getting inspiration from your favs, next post will be about cheaper fashion.

Saint Patrick's Day 09 at Paddy O'Reillys

Once a year, always on March 17th, green becomes my favorite color for a day!! ^^ Therefore yesterday was an orgy of green themed items, I have a very good excuse now (besides the drinking) to celebrate Paddy's Day...my lovely half happens to have some Irish blood so how could we miss it right?! It all started with myself, this year I took out the green toes:



We happen to have an Irish Pub called Paddy O'Reillys right down the street from where we live (I swear we didn't pick this place for this reason!lol) so with Mr D and my mother-in-law we headed there for some quality festive time and... some green beer:




There was a great atmosphere, the place was packed, the green everywhere and the house's potato skins and Irish nachos to die for:




I found a real leprechaun that I decided to kiss for good luck:



I even got a nice little Baileys tee-shirt for free:



Then we got back home and shared some of my special Green Day cupcakes:



Green Velvet cupcakes with Baileys frosting...yummm!

Overall a very nice day :D

On June 16th....

Grab your Proton Packs and get ready for a ride in the Ecto-1...
Ghostbusters the video game is released and damn it looks REALLY GOOD!!



If that's not enough for you then check out the Batman Arkham Asylum game due this summer too.



Game makers are being kind to us, that's for sure!

PS: a script is in the making for a possible Ghostbusters 3!!! Apparently the original crew wouldn't be the center of the action but would have a side appearance in the flick...I will avoid comments at this time and just hope they'll make something good out of it.

Candy Travel Guide : Norway

After over a month of non-posting and a last post about dieting, what's best than a little candy talk to come back to life uh?
For my defense I was having the time of my life with my husband in France, seeing my family and friends again and playing tourist with my infamous Mr D.
During my stay, I got visit from my lovely friend Chrissy who lives in Norway and as a consequence we decided to do a bit of candy swapping! I was pretty excited since I have never put a foot in Norway (yet!) and therefore don't know any of their confections (besides the all over Europe types).
She exceeded my expectations and brought me a HUGE selection of candy.



I haven't been able to try many so far but here is my review of one of the most curious ones:

the Smash! bar



The originality of this milk chocolate coated bar is that the inside of it is a mix of milk chocolate (always a winner) and little pieces of those crunchy hats look-alike that you usually have as a snack, yes the salty ones! I'm not sure as to how they call these in the US but in France they're sold under the name of 3Ds.
I was both curious and doubtful at first as to how this combination would work.
The bar looks like any regular chocolate bar though it is a pretty big one so one will be enough to satisfy your sweet tooth.



When you take your first bite you can see that they have been generous with the snack bits.



I am NOT a big fan of the sweet&salty combination usually unless it's Asian food but I have to say that this bar managed to change my opinion. The salty grain of the snack bits makes the milk chocolate even tastier and this bar is a very nice change of pace in the world of candy.

This bar raises at 211kcal so don't make an orgy out of several ones if you wanna fit in your brand new bikini this summer! But it's definitely worth the try!

My note: 7.5 out of 10

My Master Cleanse journey day 2

So here I am back...almost 48 hours after the start of my detox.Let me recap for you...
Yesterday was going good and I didn't really have any symptoms (besides obvious hunger) like fatigue or headaches etc so I was all happy and proud of myself...even could stand going to the grocery store to get more lemons and juice. It was all good and steady....until 6:00pm! Then I started being extremely HUNGRY, I needed food and I needed it N-O-W! I tried to not think about it, tried to sit down, drank my vegetable broth but nothing helped (especially not my man eating chicken wraps and Boston crème pie,grrrr) and I finally gave up, ran to the kitchen and made myself an English muffin with no-fat cream cheese...bad, BAD Frenchie! I felt really ashamed of myself afterwards, like come on people starve for weeks and you cannot even handle 24 hours?! But I couldn't bear it and I felt dizzy so I didn't wanna pass out either. After the English muffin intervention I decided I'd still keep on doing the cleanse so I drank my herbal tea and went to bed.
This morning, Day 2, I woke up with a bad BAD headache. I don't know if it was from the lack of food OR the female cat who decided to make a nest under our bedroom (ask for the details) and cried ALL night but I thought "Oh great, this is starting good!". Then magically after my herbal tea and glass of lemonade the headache disappeared and left me all motivated again. So now it is 8:30pm and I am still alive and guess what?...NO fridge mission for me today...I didn't even really feel the need! I still would enjoy some food but I don't have that awful hunger feeling anymore (at least not today). I could even stand making my man dinner and getting his lunch pack ready for tomorrow without feeling like cutting my own arm to either beat myself with or devour it! I have to say though that I'm having a bit of a problem with the vegetable juice...I'm not a fan of it, I think because of the tomato juice (yerkkkk tomato juice!) in it. So it took me forever to drink my glass tonight. Besides that still no sign of fatigue, I feel just like any regular day.
Now off to bed and we'll see what tomorrow brings....

UPDATE: After 5 days of this diet I slowly started to eat again just because I felt like I had achieved my goal of getting cleaned up and my body felt much lighter and in better condition. I also didn't have any cravings such as candy, fast food, etc...it was a pretty funny feeling to be in the grocery store seeing all the Valentines Day candy and think "yeah I know that this is good but i don't feel like eating it right now". I couldn't weight myself but I know I lost a few pounds cause my clothes felt looser and well I could see it in the mirror too...even my man noticed!

My Master Cleanse journey

Day 1:
For a couple months now i had the Cleanse idea in the back of my mind but December ain't really the bestest time for this kind of program, yes who could resist the fresh baked pumpkin pie smell or the goodness of a Christmas turkey uh?! Right, so I waited a bit longer til we were completely off the Holiday Food Mania to take my resolution into act...ok maybe I was being scared and lazy too!
I heard it wasn't so good to do this when you're on your period because your hormones are already playing ping-pong in there so you don't need to starve yourself on top of this mess.
So here I am period-free and well decided to give this Cleanse everyone is talking about a chance. First let me say that I am NOT doing it for the weight loss, it is indeed a nice bonus but I'm very aware that I'll gain back half of the weight I'm gonna lose faster than you can say "cherry pie with whipped cream". No my intent here is to get rid of all the nasty toxins and bacterias accumulated in my system...especially since it is my 1st year in the US anniversary (did I hear someone say fast food?!). If I can kick some cellulite in the face I will be grateful too... All this to tell you readers that in no way you must count on this to make you lose weight and stay fit after, you can use it as a jump-start plan to help you begin your diet but after that you have to follow a good life hygiene just like with any diet.
So here is the deal...at least mine cause versions vary in length and components...

For 1 full week you are not to eat anything but here is what your regular day will consist of:
Breakfast: Upon rising, drink a glass of Enzyme Lemonade (8 oz./250ml of water, 1 tablespoon organic maple syrup,2 tablespoons organic fresh-squeezed lemon juice,1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper) and a cup of herbal tea. For a morning snack, drink two more glasses of the lemonade.
Lunch: Drink a glass of lemonade or 12 oz./375ml fresh-squeezed lemon,lime,apple,pear, watermelon or cherry juice diluted with water.
Snack: Drink 12 oz. organic fruit juice or 12 oz. organic tomato,beet, celery, carrot, spinach or wheatgrass juice, plus one or more glasses of lemonade.
Dinner: Enjoy 12 oz. warm organic vegetable broth or vegetable juice. For a pre-bedtime snack, drink 12 oz. vegetable juice and one cup of herbal tea.
Note that it is best to use organic items because they do not contain any preservatives nor have been treated with pesticides...you don't wanna eat/drink bad stuff when trying to detox or what's the point?!

My own experience:
I woke up this morning and got everything ready to start the cleanse, i was highly motivated and it felt like my body was asking for it too...helps when your body is on your side! So I prepared my first glass of lemonade and I have to say that it actually tastes pretty damn good...I was kinda scared to mix maple syrup with lemon but it is good and that makes it easier to follow too. Now it is 3:15 pm and even though I would appreciate food I do not have a starving kind of feeling (the one where you could eat anything you may find). Of course I don't wanna ear about food and I guess tonight is gonna be the real challenge...having to make dinner for my man while I'll be sipping my vegetable broth! But so far so good, I don't feel tired and I'm actually more inclined to get active since I wanna keep my mind off the food.I have to go to the store to get more lemons and organic juices...I've been a die-hard today and only drank the lemonade and a 12oz. glass of lemon and grapefruit juice mixed with water! I still wonder how the food lover Frenchie that I am will survive this week and also IF I will go through the whole week.Time will say I guess.
I sadly don't have a scale to keep track of the possible weight loss but I will update this post later with my body measurements and see at the end of the week if there is a difference.

Z-Day!!

It's here, it has come....Z-Day is upon us! Relax, no need to grab your copy of The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks for now cause you might just survive this one with a good night sleep and a few headache pills.
Now, what do you get when you mix this:


With that:


Rum with zombies????Well you'd think you might get a missing limb pretty damn soon if you drink during a zombie attack...but no that's not the point, here is what you get:




























The Zombie Cocktail!!!!

Seriously, a zombie cocktail???How in the hell haven't I heard about that before???I mean ME, the zombie freakomaniac!lol

Anyway this deadly cocktail has been invented in the late 1930s by Donn Beach (formerly Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gannt) of Hollywood's Don The Beachcomber restaurant. The legend wants that Beach concocted it one afternoon for a friend who had dropped by his restaurant before flying to San Francisco. The friend left after having consumed three of them. He returned several days later to complain that he had been turned into a zombie for his entire trip. *here comes the good part lol* Its smooth, fruity taste works to conceal its extremely high alcoholic content *there you go..death dealer!* . For many years the Don the Beachcomber restaurants limited their customers to two Zombies apiece. According to the original recipe, there are the equivalent of 7.5 ounces (2.2 dl) of alcohol in a single Zombie; this is the same as drinking three and a half cocktails made with a fairly generous 2 ounces (0.6 dl) of alcohol per drink. The restaurant limit of two Zombies, therefore, would be the equivalent of 7 regular cocktails.

Well I don't know about you guys but Rum always puts me into Lala-sleepy-land (now I know why pirates were half-dead 90% of the time lol) so this cocktail is not really recommended if you're gonna have to drive after...therefore try it safe at home or when you'll have a transportation option like taxi or subway ok folks!

Here is one of the possible recipes (Donn kept the formula secret for a while so different versions have been invented):

Ingredients

• 1 oz light rum
• 1 oz golden rum
• 1 oz dark rum
• 1/2 oz apricot brandy
• 1 oz pineapple juice
• 1 oz papaya juice
• Dash of Grenadine or other syrup

Note: 1 oz equals 30 ml

You can add or switch for lime and grapefruit juices (they were the ones used in Donn's recipe)...note that in the original recipe 5 or 6 different kinds of Caribbean rums were used but since they're no longer easily available we have to go for generic ones.

I gave you guys a recipe that "only" contains 3 1/2 oz of alcohol (which is already an almost double regular drink dose!!!) because I think it's best if you can enjoy more than one and also cause you might wanna wait a bit more than 1/2 hour before you fall dead on the floor! XD
I would also personnaly add a dash of Curaçao or any blue food coloring in order to give it a greener zombier color!

Hope you guys will have fun and you might try the Shaun of the Dead game: Let's Play Zombie!



Just be careful and don't give any to your pets or else...



HAHA!!!

The Unborn

When I first saw the trailer for The Unborn about a month ago my first thought was "damn, it looks pretty freakin good!", and that surprised me since this movie is produced by Michael Bay (we all know that is a synonym for crappy movie). Therefore, when I went to the movies last saturday to see the baby my expectations were pretty high...and I have to say that sadly The Unborn actually lives to the Michael-Bay-produced standards!
Now to give the piece the justice it deserves I have to say that I still enjoyed it a bit. There were a few good points that saved the boat and caught my attention in a good way.
But first thing first here's a quick synopsis to get you guys in the context:
The Unborn draws upon the legend of a dybbuk, a malevolent spirit that refuses to leave the human world and inhabits the body of a person. Protagonist Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman) is plagued by merciless dreams, visions of strange looking dogs, and an evil child with bright blue eyes. After being hit with a mirror by her neighbor's son, Casey's eyes begin to change color and she learns she had a twin brother who died in the womb. Casey begins to suspect that the spirit haunting her is the soul of her dead twin, being possessed by a dybbuk, wanting to be born so it can transfer to the world of the living.
The Pros:
-Although the whole "evil possession" theme is nothing new and might seem boring at first glance, The Unborn has the bright idea of examinating and situating it through Judaism (and more specifically Kabbalah)offering us a new kind of haunting spirit and a different approach on the exorcism performed during the movie (no " The power of the Christ compels you" here...I know some of you will get the reference).
- Gary Oldman who plays a rabbi....we wonder WHYYYY he is in this movie but we're thankful for that!
-Some creatures/possessed ones visual effects were pretty tricky and well done...my fav one probably was the old guy.
The Cons:
-Odette Yustman walks REALLY close to the mediocre actress line!! She's not convincing in her role, sometimes you can tell she's "reciting a book" and the only moment she's quite decent is during the exorcism scene. So what did the director do? He included plenty of shots where Odette aka Casey is seen wearing nothin but panties and a tank top....trying to make the bitter pill that is her acting easier to swallow....but guess what?that didn't work!..at least not if you've passed your 17 yrs old hormonal rush!
- The scenario has flaws, especially in its way to present the Judaist implication of the story. Not to mention the Kabbalah references that are not further explained...not everybody knows what the red bracelet signifies. Casey's faith also seems to pop out of the blue at some point of the movie...yes being tracked down by an evil spirit would wake pretty much anybody's faith but why not earlier in the movie then and why induce it and not show it?!
Conclusion: The Unborn knows how to pull the teenagers screaming strings and it is an entertaining moment but do not expect anything else from it as it's as septicised as any horror movie coming out of the Hollywood machinery these days.

My note: 6 out of 10

Green Tea Cupcakes

Being a green tea compulsive freak it was of course only gonna be so long since I started to put it in food! I mean green tea smoothies, green tea frozen yogurt, green tea mochis, green tea candy, green tea perfume...you name it, I tried it!
So it had been on my mind for quite a while to actually experiment with it myself. I had the cupcake idea in mind but first of I had to put my hands on some Matcha Green Tea! The Champagne of green teas, produced in Japan only through a certain process (it's sold as a powder not leaves) and therefore quite expensive. May I also add that since you absorb the powder and therefore the whole grounded leaves it gives you a huge anti-oxidant kick that you don't get quite as much if you only drink regular green tea.
My quest ended on EBay where I found some second grade Matcha that's good enough for cooking.Here's what Matcha tea looks like:



Then it was all about the cooking and tasting! Thanks to my lovely man who has been my "cobaye" once again (he likes that!).
Here is my recipe:

For about 18 cupcakes (depending on what size you choose)

Ingredients:
-1 cup (2 sticks) *225gr* unsalted butter, room temperature
-1 & 1/4 cups *250gr* sugar
-2 large eggs
-2 large egg yolks
-3 cups *380gr* all-purpose flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder (levure for my French fellows)
-1/8 teaspoon salt
-1 cup *250ml* milk
-2 tablespoons matcha

1. Prepare cupcake papers or in my case spray cupcake pan with cooking spray.
2. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
3. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs/egg yolks one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each.
5. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add to batter and mix to combine.
6. Mix matcha in with the milk. Add to the batter and mix until combine.
7. Pour into prepared papers or pan.
8. Bake for 22-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Matcha Frosting

-1 stick *110 gr* of butter at room temperature
-2 tablespoons of single cream
-1 tablespoon of matcha powder
-3 cups *380gr*of icing sugar, sifted

1.Make a paste by adding the matcha to the cream.
2.Whip the butter briefly and scrape down the sides.
3.Add in the sifted sugar and matcha paste. Whip all together until it's a smooth, light and airy.


Here is my pretty alien green batter:



And the final result, TADAH!!





I effed up my frosting cause the cream I got wasn't appropriate but these lil ones were still very good and the matcha taste was fully satisfying :D

Just sayin!

If you're only gonna see one movie this month...

...make it this one:


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the new David Fincher movie, though do not expect anything similar to Fight Club or Seven because here Fincher explores new territories, delivering us a magical and touching story.
As the title states this is the story of Benjamin Button, a man born in 1918 in New Orleans right at the end of World War I... a man like no other since he was born at the age of 85! Rejected by a father who couldn't bear the sight of this wrinkled monster looking baby and his mom having died giving birth to him, Benjamin was abandoned in front of a retirement institution and found by Queenie, the young black tenant who will become his mom.
First thought to have a few days to live because of his physical condition it appears after years that Benjamin is aging backward and therefore becoming younger as time flies.
This movie is a brilliant, emotional and visually perfect tale...the tale of a man who's trying to grow up as he is growing young, his journey through a world in constant evolution and his struggle with the sight of people in his life dying as he is himself getting more alive. The tale also of his search for love and how to accept that he'll ultimately end up dying as an infant, forgetting how to talk, walk and losing the memories of the people he once knew.
There is so much depth in this movie and so much reflection on the human condition that it takes away your breath. It is indeed an over 2 hours and a half escape in an imaginary world that feels oh so real.
The characters are vibrant and touching, I am not a Brad Pitt fan but I had to acknowledge the profoundness of his performance as Benjamin. The other good surprise is the character of Daisy played by Cate Blanchett whose beauty is simply striking in this movie...like a fascinating porcelain doll...not to mention the incredible work she did as an actress being that she performed ALL her dancing scenes herself.
If you are a down-to-earth skeptic type of person this movie most likely won't talk to you, but if you are willing to take a beautiful ride with your mind wide open then you will be delighted with your trip.

My note: 9/10