Juliette Hogan Designer....Botany's Desires Wish List

after completing a bachelor of design (textiles) degree in wellington 2001, juliette spent time working for chris and helen cherry as their design assistant. She then went on to win the karen walker/steinlager ‘dare to be’ scholarship: her prize was to complete a senior year at parsons school of design, new school university, new york, arguably one of the world’s top two fashion design schools. while in new york, juliette completed an internship with rebecca tailor’s design team.

in 2004 juliette established her own label, making waves instantly with her ability to blur the line between classic femininity and contemporary fashion. her clean minimalist approach to tailoring, along with her careful selection of textiles, textures and colourations make for functional yet beautiful garments. each piece is modern yet shrouded in a timeless quality, making it able to surpass the seasons.

above all juliette’s collections are sensitive to simplicity of form and are infinitely practical. her dedication to quality, style and femininity and her coolly sophisticated design sense ensure that her collections will continue to be anticipated and celebrated with each new season. her collection was once described as ‘quietly sophisticated clothes that well mannered girls want to wear’; and that’s juliette hogan to a tee.

2007 saw juliette open her flagship store on ponsonby road in auckland. 36 months later the label continues from strength to strength, with juliette showing for the 5th consecutive time at new zealand fashion week with a show last year that was dubbed her best yet with rave reviews.

A.B.K leather designer

Based in Brooklyn, NY a.b.k leather products are hand crafted by Alya B. Kazakevich. Her designs combine a sensibility for urban style, simplicity, love of the countryside and a hint of nostalgia. Alya puts care into creating durable leather bags and shoes that tell a story of their own.

Originally from Belarus, she has lived in New York for almost a decade, apprenticing with Barbara Shaum and the wonderful craftsmen of E. Vogel. Since 2009 a.b.k brings its own unique blend of influences to the leather craft.

a.b.k uses domestically produced, vegetable tanned leather . Each product is both hand dyed and stitched. Hardware comes from discontinued production stock or small leather hardware suppliers in the U.S.

Culinary Health and Beauty Secrets from Red Island Australia

So, for a while now I have been eating strawberries soaked in olive oil but never realized that there were other people who found this a delicious midnight treat. I always just ate these two together because of the individual health benefits and simply it taste good to me. So, while googling today, I found this delicious recipe to be eaten just as a treat not on a regular basis because of the sugar. Well, try it out and let me know what you think.

Strawberries in Olive Oil Infused with Vanilla
Serving size: Serves 6

Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients

2 to 3 punnets of ripe sweet strawberries (at room temperature)

80ml njoi red or redisland extra virgin olive oil

2 vanilla pods

1 lime – Set aside a few long strips of zest cut into thin pieces and the remainder finely grated

1 tablespoon castor sugar

200gms double cream or mascarpone

Method

1. Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds, cut the pods into 2cm strips and place the seeds and pod pieces into a small saucepan with the olive oil. Warm the oil and vanilla on low heat for 10 minutes, remove and cool.


2. Wash and hull strawberries and place in a bowl.


3. Squeeze the lime juice and sprinkle the sugar evenly over the strawberries and toss until evenly coated.


4. Add the grated lime zest and zest strips to the strawberries.


5. Pour over oil and gently toss through. Add extra sugar if the strawberries need more sweetening.


6. Serve with a dollop of double cream or mascarpone and a piece of vanilla pod for garnish.

New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Why or Why?????????? I am trying to lose 10 pounds. Why would they do this to me? Tempting me with such images of sugar and chocolate. For those of you that are not trying to lose a couple of pounds here is the link to the article with the recipe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?_r=1

Cozy up for the Winter......

Warm Healthy Muffins, Dark rich Cacao from Coppeneur, Fine Rooibos tea from Numi and wonderful fine Alpaca and Wool yarn from Peru. Use the yarn to create an amazing scarf or sweater or throw this winter.

For the Love of Wood

http://www.etsy.com/shop/michaelarras If Santa is reading, I hope he realizes that I really really would like to have one for Christmas.