Get Set for Winter!

The weather in my part of the world has been most inclement all summer long!  Sunshine? What's that?! Anyway I found a pink cw of La Vie Du Grand Nord which looks nice and icy ready for winter! 














There are lots of lovely Arctic animals and Eskimos in this design.

I have not played with the scarf too much yet but in the basic bias fold you can see the polar bear and husky dog quite nicely.

Bolshoi - 2

After seeing 2 performances of Le Corsaire, my favourite ballet was next - Don Quixote! 

This ballet can be relied upon to being a smile to any face with its wonderfully virbant, happy, music (Minkus) and the sunny story of Kitri and Basil who love each other but Kitri's father is determined she should marry a wealthy nobleman, the hapless Gamache.  Long story short, Don Quixote goes on his travels to find his Dulcinea and on arriving in Barcelona finds Kitri is her exact likeness, thus liking Kitri DonQ helps her to marry her true love Basil! All ends happily ever after!

Shown above are Alexei Loparevich as Don Q and Alexander Petukhov as Sancho Panza.  

This is a real "show off" ballet with fabulous jumps and high speed turns throughout. My favourite stars Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev (who I have seen before but who have now matured) danced 2 performances and I have never seen anything like it in my life -nor has the Royal Opera House! The audiences went wild with excitement and I don't think the two young dancers could quite believe the storm they created. It was truly amazing stuff and the reviews in the newpapers bear this out.  It was certainly an occasion to say "I was there"...what a thrill!

Ivan performed amazing high jumps and Natalia demonstrated high jumps and super fast turns - it left one breathless just watching!  Yet in the middle of it all comes the Dream Scene and this is a beautiful piece of ballet, drawing a gasp from the audience when the curtain rises on the exquisite scene.  It requires a dramatic change in character for Kitri as she assumes the role of Dulcinea in Don Q's dream, Natalia pulled off this change with ease and it was a pure classical dream to watch her.  Add to this fabulous costumes and I was in ballet heaven!

Left to right, here are Nina Kaptsova as Cupid, Natalia Osipova as Dulcinea and Maria Allash as Queen of the Dryads.

And below Natalia and Ivan at the curtain call on Sunday, where I was closer to the stage.

The other performances I saw were also beautiful, but not as quite exciting as the 2 given by Natalia and Ivan.  At the Saturday matinee there was a lovely flower throw - something you do not see very often, and more usually when a dancer retires, however this was a mark of appreciation for a wonderful season - you can just see the flowers at the feet of Ekaterina Krysanova and Andrei Merkuriev:-

On Saturday evening I saw a lovely performance by Marianna Ryzhkina and Mikhail Lobuhkin and I loved how Marianna took her curtain call en pointe - every inch a prima ballerina!

I believe we have to wait 2 years now for a return visit, but hopefully I will be able to catch the Bolshoi somewhere else in Europe before then :-)

Bolshoi Ballet - 1

Over the last 3 weeks London was home to the world famous Russian ballet company The Bolshoi.  The 2010 London Season certainly showed a company on sparkling form.  I attened many performances and 2 in particular have left me truly stunned: Spartacus on 31 July and Don Quixote on 6 August.
The first visit I made was, however, to Serenade and Giselle a double bill.  Sadly the dancer originally cast for Giselle was Natalia Osipova, but was she switched to the opening night due to the injury of the leading ballerina Svetlana Zakharova, so instead I saw Anna Nikulina.  It was a nice performance but the reviews of Natalia Osipova's performance show that I missed the best one! Anyway I enjoyed it and that was the main thing - here a pic of Anna as Giselle with Alexander Volchkov as Albrecht.

The second ballet I saw was Spartacus, often referred to as the Bolshoi's "calling card".  It is a truly spectacular piece, especially when cast with the right dancers and I was lucky to see the young upcoming star of the Bolshoi, Ivan Vasiliev, in the title role - just 21 years of age he has taken to the role as if born for it and I am still incredulous at the height and speed of his jumps!  It was a real thrill to see Ivan in this performance and he brought the house down! 
In the photo you can see left to right: Nina Kaptsova who played Phrygia (Spartacus' wife), Ivan Vasiliev as Spartacus, Maria Allash as Aegina (Crassus' wife/partner)and Alexander Volchkov as Crassus (Spartacus' arch enemy).

I will post some more pics another time of the other shows I saw.

London

Well I have been up and down the country to and from London - 5 times in 2 weeks - so now I am totally exhausted!  The reason - the Bolshoi Ballet were visiting but more of that in another post.  For once I did a few touristy things - which is always nice to do!

On my way to Claridges to attend an Afternoon Tea Masterclass my taxi went up The Mall just in perfect time to see the Horse Guards on their way from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade to Change the Guard.  As it had rained the soldiers had their capes on - but don't they look regal and spectacular?   I saw them again on one of my later trips and I will post some pics later as I have not resized them.  It is amazing to think these guys are serving soldiers and serve out in Afghanistan as well performing ceremonial duties like this. 

Anyway I was going to Claridges, famous for their afternoon tea, but this visit was to attend a masterclass with the Head Pasrty Chef.  We got see him make macaroons, creme patissiere, cream slices and scones.  When you see an expert like Chef make the macaroons you realise just why they are so expensive to buy in the likes of Laduree - not only are the best ingredients used, but the process is very labour intensive, so next time you bite into a macaroon spare a thought for the artisan who made it!
After we saw the cakes being made we were given a nice lunch with wine:-
Clockwise from the top right - goats cheese and raspberry and beetroot, red mullet with beans and butternut squash jus, a warm terrine of chicken with spinach and wood sorrel leaves, and a tomato risotto (yum).

After the lunch came the afternoon tea goodies!!  Here is the full selection presented on a long silver pewter "tray" and you can see the scones in the background.

Here is a close up of a Cherry Streusel tartlet - it was delicious!! Note the attention to detail in the chocolate drop with a "C" for Claridges on it!

And here are the other cakes closer to:-

Cherry Streusel tartlet, cream slice, chocolate dome mousse which had an oriental fruit in it (I can't recall the name but it was similar to orange), and a rose flavoured macaroon.  Clear jam was used to immitate rain drops on the rose petal!

Claridges offer Masterclasses on lots of different subjects like game, carving, fish, flower arranging and chocolate etc.., but I have only ever done the afternoon tea....hmmm I wonder why??!!

Belt Converter

When I was in London last weekend I remembered that Asprey the jewellers make leather belt converter for scarves. So I went to the shop and although they did not have many left, I managed to get a lovely one in pink ostrich leather.  I found using a 90cm Hermes scarf was too big so it fits better for me with the 70cm vintage size scarves.  I think I will get a lot more use out of scarves with this handy gadget!!

Asprey's corporate colour is purple-including the ink in the pen to sign your bill with!

A silver coloured buckle finishes the look.

I have attached my Kelly en Caleche 70cm vintage scarf to the leather belt ends.  There is a bit of a knack to tying the scarf on, but once you get it, it works well.

Worn to the front, but the belt will look equally good with the converter to the back.

Now I am looking forward to seeing the new design for the next season!  I have to say the SA was a dream in Aspreys so I won't be shy to go in there again :-)

London & Rhinos in Chester!

I had to go to London for work this week and I was lucky enough to stay near Tower Bridge - I managed to get some nice photos of Tower Bridge and the River Thames at sunset.

On my way home at the train station there was a Rhino scuplture!  The Roman city of Chester is having  Rhino Mania and there are lots of different brightly painted rhino sculptures appearing all over the city - some large and some small. 

They will be auctioned off later in the year but they certainly bring a splash of colour to Chester!  My favourites so far are this Roman Centurian Rhino sponsored by Virgin Trains at Euston Station in London - he is called "Maximus Rhinocerous - Guardian of Chester".  The other I like is a smaller one housed in a jewellers shop in Chester called "Bling"  he is made like a mirror ball in a ballroom with tiny mirror squares all over his body - so cute!  You can find out more about the Chester Rhinos here.

Happy Birthday

Princess Diana would have been 49 today - I like this photo for it's mischief!
Photo taken by Patrick Demarchelier.

Some goodies from FSH - Paris Final Part

I brought home 2 scarves from Hermes FSH so let's see straight away what I got...
First I had to make a very very difficult choice between a flat or plisse version of my favourite design "La Femme Aux Semmelles De Vent" - in the end I went for the plisse.

Brown is not a colour  I usually go for but this one seems to work well on me - I was so surprised and of course very happy.  Here for demo purposes (it being a very hot day!) I teamed it with a fur collar - can't wait for winter!!

Here I folded the scarf in a basic fold (as best I could for a plisse) to try and get some of the brighter colours to show and I just tied it around the neck twice and pulled out some of the pleats to give this result.

Flower knot with a scarf ring:

And this look is achieved simply by tying a single knot then getting hold of 2 of the edges of the tails and knotting them together to give this twisted/floral look. 

The second scarf I got was a Cotton Charm Kelly en Caleche - I finally managed to find a pale colourway for summer so this one came home too.

Sorry but I have not made any modelling photos with this one!

Montmartre - Paris Trip Part 4

My last afternoon took me to Montmartre as no visit to Paris is complete without a visit up to Montmartre.

I love to mingle in the hustle and bustle of the Place du Tertre with its cafes, restaurants and of course the wonderful artists!

One of the lovely artists at work.

In the evening I went for my favourite French Onion Soup, and my own home made version is based on this one shown below.

I always return to my hotel by walking down the Rue des Martyrs as it is full of lovely little florists.....

......and grocery shops.....

and......Pâtisserie Delmontel -  owned by Arnaud Delmontel and I believe he is the Pâtissier-Boulanger to the French President no less! And yes the cakes are every bit as good as they look :-) Sadly I did not get a chance to sample the green coconut domes but this HAS to be my favourite pâtisserie in Paris.

....and another pâtisserie...

and another delightful florist....the downside of being on a short trip is you have no need to buy any of the lovely goods on display...oh to live in Paris!

La vie est belle!

A little shopping on Rue du Grenelle - Paris Part 3

I dropped by the Hermès boutique on Rue du Grenelle not expecting to find anything, but lady luck was on my side and to my delight I found a Tohu Bohu 90cm silk twill scarf! Here she is...

There was a choice of 3 colourways and I chose the black for it's dramatic colours.

Cowboy Knot

A Friendship Knot (FK how to video)

A Half Ascot Knot (AK video) pulled to the side.

Equestrian style secured with scarf ring.

Loose flower knot with scarf ring.

I was very happy indeed to find this scarf!!