ESOTERIC ESSAYAGES

Fashion’s Night Out Has Arrived

Yesterday Albertine & Odette had the pleasure of attending the third annual West Hollywood – Structures & Style 2011 – Fashion Blueprints, a one-of-a-kind, exclusive, shuttle and walking tour of some of the city’s most innovative fashion retailers and let us assure you, it was fantastic! Each shopping destination we visited was selected not only for the gorgeous clothing and accessories they carry, but for the showroom’s architectural significance. We visited H.L.N.R., Alberta Ferretti, Church Boutique, Roseark, and 3.1 Phillip Lim. At each stop, we were given a behind the scenes look at what goes into creating the perfect shopping experience. Initially we felt the ticket price was a bit steep at $185, but we now confess that it was worth every penny. We walked away feeling glamorous, pampered, super savvy and incredibly well-informed!

While we loved every showroom we visited we are officially crushing hard on Church Boutique. You can expect a full love letter blog post devoted exclusively to them soon (which is why we are only sharing a couple of images from them below).

P.S. Structures & Style 2011 serves as the kick-off event for a series of fashion-based events for this year’s Fashion’s Night Out West Hollywood. If the images below scream speak to you, then do not fret, for we have only just begun! The next big ticket soirée we highly reccommend is Taste Fashion.

Enjoy!

3.1 Phillip Lim

3.1 Phillip Lim

3.1 Phillip Lim

3.1 Phillip Lim

Roseark

Roseark

Roseark

Roseark

Roseark

Roseark

Roseark

Roseark

Roseark

Church Boutique

Church Boutique

Alberta Ferretti

Alberta Ferretti

Alberta Ferretti

H.L.N.R.

H.L.N.R.

H.L.N.R.

H.L.N.R.

H.L.N.R.

EXTRAORDINARILY SACRED

Happy Birthday Yogi Bhajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Mostly we see God as a big, terrible, impossible, scary thing. Instead, we make God a little friend. God should be nothing more to you than your little teddy bear. If you can do that, God will love you one million times.”

-Yogi Bhajan

DEGREES OF HYSTERIA

Because Fondue Is Always Fabulous

I was on the verge of letting out a little squeal of delight when I came across the Dip-Hop Hit Fondue Set. Interactive food is my favorite and fondue is up there at the top of the list. Who doesn’t love an excuse to eat decadent melted cheeses for dinner? But just imagine them being encased in an adorable, bratty, surly looking bunny! What fun!

Should you decide to order one for yourself… Here is one of my favorite fondue recipes from, Fondue on the Menu, Edited by Beverly Kees and Donnie Flora (1971)

Champagne Fondue with Truffles

Ingredients:

• 2 jarred truffles (I prefer black truffles for their divine earthiness)
• 2 cups brut Champagne
• 1 lb. Emmenthaler cheese, coarsely grated
• 3 tbsp. flour
• Nutmeg
• All the fixings: My favorites – cubes of bread, cornichons, slices of pear, rosemary roasted potatoes, endive, sautéed Chinese broccoli, asparagus, cherry tomatoes.

Preparation:

Drain truffles, reserving the liquid, and slice thinly. Heat truffles in fondue pot with Champagne and truffle liquid until almost boiling. Add cheese, dredged in flour, by handfuls, making sure each addition melts before more is added. Add a grating of fresh nutmeg after the last addition has melted and is blended thoroughly. Serve with fabulous fixings and enjoy playing with your food!

CHARMING & GORGEOUS

Stylish Solutions for the Home

We are always looking new ways to keep our homes as stylish as possible, while still being able to function at top speed. Today we stumbled across this insanely cool iPhone docking station and speaker system. The Ozaki iSuppli Gramo iPhone Charger Speaker not only allows you to charge your iPhone, it allows you to indulge in some serious FaceTime while looking utterly chic. The speaker is also great for blasting Fever Ray and Fleet Foxes,  or for having a hands free gossip phone session with your bestie. We seriously heart this product!

Get it here for only $69.99!

CHARMING & GORGEOUS

Lavender Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream

I have been slightly obsessed this summer with making homemade ice cream. I am particularly interested in floral flavors and tea flavors, which are hard to find, even in a large metropolis. This recipe I have adapted from several and it really is the loveliest I have made thus far. The flavor is elegant and subtle… and most importantly, this ice cream has only a mild sweetness.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cups white sugar

5 to 6 teaspoons of Lavender Earl Grey tea, loose leaf (I prefer Chado Tea)

1 teaspoon lavender (optional… I like the additional aromatic boost)

5 egg yolks

Preparation:

Warm the milk, heavy cream, and sugar in a saucepan on low-medium heat. Remove from heat, place tea infuser filled with tea and lavender into pan, cover and steep at room temperature for one hour. Remove tea infuser and set aside for later.

Rewarm tea-infused milk. Whisk egg yolks together in a separate bowl (an electric hand mixer is a great tool for this) until they lighten in colour (2 to 3 minutes). Slowly pour the milk mixture into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking constantly.

Return the milk and egg mixture to the saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring and scrapping the bottom of the pan constantly until the mixture thickens to a custard and coats the back of a spoon.

Pour custard into a carafe or jug and return tea infuser to the custard. Allow mixture to cool at room temperature. Once at room temperature, place the mixture in the refrigerator and chill over-night. It is important to allow the tea to continue to infuse the custard. This will give it flavor.

The following day, remove the tea infuser and freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker, following your ice cream maker’s instructions.

Once done, quickly transfer to an air tight container and freeze overnight for best results.

The following day you will have the most divine ice cream you could ever hope for!

SCHOOL NIGHTS

Ramen Bull Series at Bread Bar

Los Angeles has its fair share of good food… and you can believe that Albertine & Odette are the first ones to eat at most noteworthy places around town… but rarely does something come along that is so extraordinarily delicious, so close to perfection that after only one bite, it is haunting. Our latest obsession is Bread Bar’s Ramen Bull Series. A pop-up beef-centric ramen shop presided over by chef Noriyuki Sugie of Ironnori Concepts.The ramen is like nothing we have ever eaten in the U.S.. It truly tastes like ramen you get in Japan. And the menu has innovative flavors like oxtail (our favorite), and braised short rib (not to worry vegetarian friends, they have you covered with an off-menu version). No matter which creation you select, each bowl comes with the most perfectly cooked mushrooms and a gorgeous elegantly soft egg. To compliment your bowl of heaven, we recommend the house made Hibiscus Tea Soda (which mixes rather beautifully with Champagne, FYI). In one week we have visited  twice and had to restrain ourselves from a third visit.

This is as good as food gets! Hurry along because the pop-up shop ends on September 30, 2011.

Note: Bread Bar does not serve alcohol, but allows for BYOB, with no corkage. Kompai!

Bread Bar: 8718 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles • 310.205.0124

EXTRAORDINARILY SACRED

Beautiful Images I Have Been Saving

Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.

-Albert Camus

SCHOOL NIGHTS

Finding New Ways To Be Creative

We love the new Monster Coloring Book iPhone App! Forget the kids! This is an amazing creative outlet for all of us! There are hundreds of monsters to colour and decorate with options like patterns, backgrounds and stickers. You will never be bored again… however, you may be rather distracted!

DEGREES OF HYSTERIA

You Are Never Too Old For Toys or For Sanrio

Meet Pullip… She is an adorably fashionable doll from Korea… So fashionably cool that you will actually want to look just like her and dress just like her. Sanrio has recently collaborated to create this limited edition Hello Kitty Pullip Doll. They have adorned her in their signature style, dressing her in a Hello Kitty Bonnet, Mittens and Shoes.

Get your very own here: shop.sanrio.com

SCHOLARLY MUSINGS

Opium

“Opium is the ‘femme fatale,’ the pagodas, the lanterns! I do not have the strength to undeceive you. Since science does not know how to distinguish between curative and the destructive properties of opium. I must yield to it. Never have I regretted more profoundly not having been a poet and a doctor, like Apollo.”

–Opium, by Jean Cocteau (1957)