I’ve had a little crush on terrariums over the past few months. Terrariums are little mini environments encased in a container, usually glass, holding small plants or animals.  I’ve not ventured for an animal dwelling one, but I’m loving the plant varieties.  I purchased a beautiful terrarium from Melbourne company, Bosky.  They have beautiful selection of plants.  You can even hire them for special events at very reasonable prices.

Image via Bosky.

I also picked up this beautiful mini terrarium at my local markets on the weekend. It’s just beautiful. I’m thinking of using these for an upcoming event, so I bought one to give me inspiration.

Ciao ciao

I’m currently designing a table for an upcoming event. I found some beautiful fresh stalks of artichoke flowers at my local market this morning and I’ve been playing around with ideas for a table centrepiece.  I thought the artichokes would add a quirky touch to the table.

Whilst I was researching, I found this beautiful DIY project (image below) at Ruche Shop.  It’s a pretty floral arrangement using purple cabbage and artichoke flowers. Isn’t it gorgeous?  I’m torn between a simple single stem or embellish with more flowers.  Hmmm.

Visit Ruche for the very easy DIY instructions.

Tootle-ooh!

We’ve just returned from a long weekend of glamping [glamorous camping] at Anglesea on the Great Ocean Road. Anglesea is a sleepy seaside village with a lovely swimming beach and lots of family fun activities and attractions. The beachside holiday park, where we camped, is a little hideaway with the camping sites mere metres from the beach.

Every morning, my little family and I would rug up and head to the shore to watch the sun rise over the ocean. We’d then walk along the beach to grab breakfast at the local bakery or cafe in the main village. Our cameras were always with us and we managed to capture a few good shots of the area. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Images above: Sunrise was our favourite time of the day.  We really enjoyed watching the glorious sun rise over the ocean.

Image above:  The vegetation on the Great Ocean Road is stunning. This is a beautiful weeping paperbark tree – photographed by my husband on my Pentax K-01.

Image above: This is the stunning Kniphofia which was growing in a bush beside the road.  Isn’t it striking?

Image above: This is a river reflection that my husband pointed out as we were walking one morning. It was such a clear mirror that I had to photograph it too. I also took an iPhone photo and edited the image on Instagram.  If you turned this image upside down it gives you another perspective of the photo. So cool!

Image above: This is Airey’s Inlet, the next beachside village along the Great Ocean Road.  It’s a lovely little spot, and as you can see, the weather was just perfect.

Image above: I mentioned above that we were “glamping”. It was one of the reasons why I decided to relive my childhood memories and go camping this year. We packed a double height queen-sized air mattress, cotton sheets, wall hanging, mats, bunting and pillows for the tent. It was incredibly comfortable.

Image above: Our enamel mugs were perfect for our afternoon chai lattes. As we were glamping, we also packed our favourite boardgames, iPhone stereo dock, tablets and books.  I was inspired by the images that I’ve seen on Pinterest and so I styled our tent with a few creature comforts. 

Image above: I may have shocked my camp neighbours with my vintage bunting, but as one kind neighbour said, at least we can all clearly see your guy ropes now, ha ha.  Precisely!

We had an amazing trip and we are already planning our next glamping adventure. I think I will start a Glamping Pinterest board to inspire my next trip. I definitely want to purchase a larger mat for the outdoor area and perhaps a camping cupboard to hold a washing up basin and pantry. I think I’ll also look into a small teepee tent for the children to play in. We often had a gang of children hanging-out in our tent – much to my horror ha ha. I think due to it’s size and comforts, our tent was quite a popular dwelling .

Happy trails!

P.S. I must make mention of the camping company that we bought our tent and camping supplies from, Van Cruiser in Carrum Downs, Victoria. The customer service is exceptional and not only are the staff friendly and helpful, they are also very knowledgable. For first-time campers like ourselves, the advice was invaluable. We would highly recommend a visit to their store to view tents, caravans and the large range of outdoor accessories.

If you are interested in our tent [pictured last], it is the Bedarra deluxe tent from Outdoor Connection. It retails for AU$449 and is worth every penny in my opinion. The Bedarra is a two-room tent. The rooms are quite large and can be closed off by a central partition. There are generous awning at all sides and both ends of the tent. In fact, if you open the side and front awning, you can create a large covered outdoor area. The whole tent opens up for ventilation at every panel. It has built-in pockets on all corners for storage (we loved this for phones, books, tissues, torches, toiletry bags, chocolates he he). The tent ceiling has a series of hooks to hang lanterns or fairy lights .  We loved the height of the tent too.  My 6ft tall husband could walk the entire tent without stooping. It is such a comfortable tent – we highly recommend.

During the Melbourne Food & Wine festival (held during March) I was invited to join some friends at Fenix restaurant for an Earth, Sea & Fire dinner – a feast cooked over open flames.  The dinner was hosted by Gary Mehigan and prepared by Executive Chef, Dan Javier Szwarc.  It was an outdoor/indoor affair and the weather was perfect.  Whole beasts, fresh fish and vegetables were cooked over an open fire in an Argentian-style BBQ. I managed to take a few happy snaps before we all sat down to a feast of earthly delights.

Image above: The Argentian-style BBQ pit.  I wish I had a backyard to fit this amazing bbq contraption

Image above: The feast laid out and ready to be char grilled to perfection.

Image above: Tasty morsels were served by the Yarra River with live music performed by a trio.

Image above: Guests enjoying the canapés and chilled sangria by the river.

I

Image above: my friend, Samantha, managed to sneak out during the meal for a few quick shots of the fire. I thought I would include her fancy shot here too.

It was a decadent evening hosted by Gary Mehigan. I always enjoy his Melbourne Food & Wine events as he likes to choose a unique theme, held in comfortable settings with beautifully blended cuisine. Check out my article on Gary’s previous MFWF event, a lunch in Gary’s vineyard.

Till we meet again…

Last Friday I had the pleasure of joining my husband and friends at the World’s Longest Lunch. The lunch is the first of many events held during the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. The festival is held annually and takes place all over Melbourne (and Victoria) with some 200 events – it’s a food lovers paradise!

I really enjoy attending the World’s Longest Lunch event, as it’s often held in places that are not regularly accessible to restaurant diners. This year, the World’s Longest Lunch was held in the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens. The weather was perfect. I donned my wide-brimmed hat and drank beautiful local wines and tasted an earth-themed menu created by Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer.  We also had the pleasure of seeing them both at the lunch. Here are a few happy snaps from the day. Oh and here’s the link to the World’s Longest Lunch that I attended last year by the Yarra River.

Next week I’m joining friends at another Melbourne Food and Wine Festival event, called Earth, Sea and Fire.  It’s an outdoor feast cooked over open flames by the Yarra River.  The weather is looking promising – hot and sunny.  I’ll post a few pics from this too.

If you’re in Melbourne make sure you check out the MFWF website for the lastest news of what’s hip and happening at the festival.

Cheers!

It’s been a while between drinks [well, since my last published Cocktail Hour post], so I thought I’d share a recipe from my latest cocktail book.  It’s a special cocktail book that my husband purchased for me at Christmas - The Cocktails of the Ritz Paris, by Colin Peter Field.  

Colin Peter Field was head bartender at the Ritz Paris in Bar Hemingway in the nineties. His book is a fascinating read into the life of a passionate bartender. Colin’s book not only presents elegant classic cocktail recipes, but also the stories behind them, the psychology of mixing drinks and how to prepare them.  Oh and have you ever heard of a cigar cocktail? No?…me either, but thanks to this interesting little book, I now know the importance of the cigar and it’s complementing cocktail .

The cocktail I have chosen tonight is the Elegant, created by Frank Meier in the Cambon Bar, 1933.  You could liken this drink to a dry martini with the addition of Grand Marnier – which was a liqueur often used in the Ritz Paris.

Cocktail: Elegant

WHAT YOU NEED

• 45mls gin
• 15mls vermouth
• 10mls Grand Marnier
• Cocktail glass (90mls)

HOW TO MIX THIS DRINK

Pour the ingredients directly into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Stir well, strain and pour into the glass.

Note: The recipe calls for no ice, but I like a certain chill to take the edge off.

If you are in Paris, or planning to visit, I should tell you that the Ritz Paris is currently closed for a major restoration project.  It’s scheduled to re-open in 2014.  (I’m adding to my travel wishlist).  You can read about the historic Ritz Paris on their website [HERE]. There are some beautiful old paintings and photographs from it’s earlier life.

If you’re interested in purchasing The Cocktails of the Ritz Paris by Colin Peter Field, then you can buy online at Amazon [HERE].

Chin chin mes amis!

This is why I love Pinterest so much. I was happily making my way through a collection of pins and came across this beautiful image of Valentine’s Everlasting Paper Flower.  What is it, I hear you ask?  Well, it’s a beautifully packaged creation by Frances & Frances, London.

The Valentine’s Everlasting Paper Flower is a handcrafted everlasting paper flower packaged in an open box. You have the choice of an Angel Face Rose, a Madame Butterfly Peony or a Floribunda Rose in either pink, purple or red.  Crafted from a locally sourced branch, the flower measures 180 mm / 7 inches when unpackaged.  It’s the perfect everlasting gift for Valentine’s Day.

Now…the next challenge [apart from getting shipment to Australia as the cutoff date has past eek!], is how to get our admirateurs to present us with one!

To purchase visit the Frances & Frances Etsy store.  Shipping deadlines: USA/ Canada/ Hong Kong the latest guaranteed date to order for Valentine’s day is February 4th.  All Australian / New Zealand orders need to be placed by the 29th January.  For UK orders the latest guaranteed date will be orders placed on and before 10th February.*

Il n’y a qu’un bonheur dans la vie, c’est d’aimer et d’être aimé.

[There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.]

I love when the Australian Open tennis tournament comes to town. Our city is filled with tennis fans from all over Australia and the world. This year almost 700,000* people visited the Australian Open. I was thrilled to be invited to this year’s Australian Open by Jacob’s Creek [Associate Sponsor and Official Wine Supplier]. They stylishly entertained their guests with a light lunch and wine tasting in the Jacob’s Creek Harvest Room before watching the tennis.

The luncheon was hosted by Australian chef and TV personality, Pete Evans. Pete talked to us about matching quality food and wine together and gave examples using the Jacob’s Creek Reserve range.  He also talked about his life as a chef and as host of My Kitchen Rules – what a busy man he is.  After lunch, Pete kindly presented us each with his cookbook, My Kitchen, which he personally signed. He was a lovely host. [Pete shared a little restaurant goss with us too. He's about to launch, Little Hunter, a specialist steakhouse, in the Georges building in Collins St.  So if you love your steak, keep an eye out, for it opens next month.]

After lunch and the wine tasting, a few of us went to watch the final two matches.  Here are a few photos of the day.

Image above: The Jacob’s Creek Harvest Room was beautifully styled in a white marquee with hanging lights and flowers and a wall display of their complete range of wine.

Image above: The table is set for our lunch and wine tasting.

Image above: Of course the party stylist had to capture the details. I love the freshness and simplicity of these flower arrangements.

Image above: We managed to catch the end of David Ferrer’s game – which he won.

Image above: Thankfully our seats were in the shade, however these poor fans were not so lucky. They became a wall of waving hands, fans and programs during the day.

Image above:  Maria Sharapova is infamous for her moaning during a match, and she didn’t disappoint her critics, but I was impressed by her focus and drive.

Image above: Following the last match we were invited to return for a refreshing glass of wine to end our day.

Image above: The Jacob’s Creek Reserve range that we were given to try at home.

The Reserve range represents quality, made by carefully selecting grapes from the region that is particularly renowned for that grape variety, giving each wine a unique personality and regional style. There are six varietals in the Reserve range, so you’re sure to find something to suit your taste or accompany your meal.

What do I think?

I was pleasantly surprised by the Jacob’s Creek Reserve Range. I love the Coonawarra and Barossa regions for their red wine and I must say that I really enjoyed their Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2010. We also tried the Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz and they were both enjoyable. The Sauvignon Blanc is made from grapes picked from the Adelaide Hills – an area well known for it’s beautiful cool climate wines. I liked the full flavour and fruitiness of this particular wine.

Jacob’s Creek also offer suggestions on what food to serve with each wine variety. It makes the task of creating a luncheon or dinner menu so much easier for the host. If you’re looking for something a little more premium than your everyday quaff, then you should try the Jacob’s Creek Reserve range, your dinner guests won’t be disappointed.   The Jacob’s Creek Reserve range is widely available from liquor retailers around Australia (RRP $17.99).

Have a wonderful day wherever you are in the world. 

* Source – Tennis Australia (visit for more interesting stats on the tournament)

I was asked to coordinate a corporate end-of-year celebration in December last year. The venue was already chosen, so all I needed to do was come up with a theme, decor, logistics and entertainment – easy!  So with six weeks to the big event, I quickly gathered a small event crew to help me plan the event.  After a wee vote, we decided to hold a White Party.  A White Party is pretty much as it’s title says, a party where the guests dress and the decor is all  in the colour white.

We had to keep our costs down on decor, so I opted for a DIY project and a few low-cost decor items:

• White paper chains – we created a 6ft+ white paper chain hanging to adorn the door to the function room. The guests loved walking through it to enter the white room.
• White paper lanterns – we bought the Martha Stewart paper lanterns which came in three difference sizes.  These were hung in clusters down the centre of the room.
• White drapes – we hired drapes that would encase the room to make it as white as possible.  We also used it to create tiny hideaways with lounge chairs and tables for guests to relax in.
• White balloons – we ordered a mixture of white balloons.  Large 36″ balloons, individually weighted, set the tone for the entry hallway.  Inside the room we created a “forest of balloons” to frame the sides of the room.

I added a few fun items such as baskets of white paper hand fans and white plastic sunglasses for the guests to grab on their way in the door.  As a party favour, I had white christmas trees and star cookies made for guests to take home with them at the end of the night. For entertainment we hired an awesome DJ and a photobooth company (which was a huge hit).

The White Party was a huge success and I was really pleased with the party. We received a lot of positive feedback from guests on the night and after the event.  That just makes it all worth it , don’t you think.  If you’re looking for a great venue and theme for your next corporate event and want to know more details about this White Party, drop me a line.

Thanks for dropping by,

Mlle Belle recently received an invitation to a Superhero Party.  Inside the invitation was a ticket stub and a plain black mask with a little bag of embellishments.  The guests were instructed to create their own masks and come as a known Superhero or as their own superhero figure.  Such a fun idea.

I like to RSVP to invitations with a quick notecard via Red Stamp (one of my favourite Apps) but, I remembered the Kabaam app on my phone and decided to put together a little comic strip as an RSVP to the party.  Here it is below – cute isn’t it.  Check out my other Kabaam pic [HERE].

Image: RSVP card via Kabaam app. Click on the image for a closer look.

KAPOW!