Emma Watson
0.50 Carat Diamond Hoop Earrings in 18k White Gold- £999
Jennifer Lawrence
0.50 Carat D/VVS2 18k White Gold Stud Diamond Earrings- £999
Kerry Washington
5.00 Carat Tennis Diamond Bracelet- £9,969
All available from Vashi.com
What do you think?
We received two cool books to review from the Bonnie Marcus Collection: Guilt-Free Girl Desserts and Cupcakes & Cocktails. First impressions of the book is that they have a great design. Second is: I am now hungry. And I want a cocktail.
Guilt-Free Desserts is my kind of book. Who doesn’t want to eat dessert without getting fat? It may seem like a pipe-dream but you can make dessert as guilt-free as possible. These desserts are low calorie, there are a lot of figure-friendly recipes. Some of the desserts have fewer than 250 calories each. The book is bursting with great desserts that will make you a domestic goddess. It is hard to choose a favourite but I particularly thought the Banana and Coconut Ice Cream Balls looked amazing.
The book also lets you know what ingredients to add that are super-foods and will make you healthier. This is a stylish book with great dessert ideas.
Cupcakes & Cocktails
Cupcakes and cocktails. Just so yummy and they really make a party. This book even helps you match cupcake and cocktail flavours, or make the ingredients clash. There is even cocktail cupcakes to try.
This book should be on every bookshelf. It has a huge amount of cupcakes and cocktails, all delicious. It doesn’t just have recipes, it also has tips on baking. There is also a lower calorie chapter and a chapter entirely on chocolate. Heaven awaits. There are so many to try it will take a while to get through them all. Which is only a good thing as it will be a lot of fun.
Bonnie Marcus launched her stylish stationery company, the Bonnie Marcus Collection “Where Fashion Meets Paper®” in 2002 from her dining room table, while expecting her first child.
As a former wedding planner in New York City, Bonnie was well-known for her event planning expertise, and found there was a void in the stationery market in terms of fashion-forward, stylish designs. She decided to combine her passion for fashion (having worked for designer Diane Von Furstenberg) with her love of event planning, and her collection took the stationery industry by storm!
Bonnie’s stylish designs are now available in thousands of retail stores world-wide, and celebrity fans include Cindy Crawford, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross and many others. Bonnie has been recognised as a pioneer for women in business and is proud to be an established partner of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Autism Speaks.
Available from Amazon UK
We were pretty delighted to review Pudology Banoffee Pie and CHI Natural Chocolate Coconut Milk. Our first thoughts about Pudology was just what an amazing name it was. The design is great too but none of that is as important as the taste. So how was it? Well, before we get to that let me just tell you that the puds are dairy and gluten-free. Because of this we thought maybe it wouldn’t taste as good. How wrong we were. They are amazing. Absolutely delicious. We are converted. Available from Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
CHI’s Natural Chocolate Coconut Milk
Coconut milk (and water) is hugely popular at the moment and chocolate is, well, always popular. If you love coconut you will love this. It is also dairy free. It is delicious and less guilt inducing than other chocolate drinks. Available from Whole Foods and Amazon UK. RRP £1.79 for 330ml
Being healthy never tasted so good.
Big Easy Bar.B.Q & Crabshack: the evolution
A new 300-cover, American Bar.B.Q restaurant and bar in Covent Garden
London’s Chelsea institution, Big Easy Bar.B.Q & Crabshack will open a new restaurant in Maiden Lane in March 2014. Taking inspiration from its King’s Road sibling it will offer a serious evolution of the beloved ‘crabshack’ in a more urban West End setting. The new venue will provide the most authentic, American fresh-smoked Bar.B.Q, seafood, cocktail and drinks offer in the UK.
In the kitchen taking the coveted and key role of Pit Master will be Pete Daversa, former pit master at Hill Country Barbeque Market in New York. Pete has also worked at Blue Smoke BBQ (NYC and opened in Hong Kong). Big Easy Founder, Paul Corrett’s design vision has been overseen by industry heavyweights Macaulay Sinclair.
The site has a formidable history: it is located in a former electrical power station built in 1883, owned by the Gatti Brothers and first used to light their own restaurant, ‘The Adelaide’ on the Strand. On the back of their success in the electricity business , the Gattis’ then formed the Charing Cross & Strand Electricity Supply Company and the site went on to power the first bright lights of the West End. The interior will honour the building’s original heritage, retaining many authentic features, such as copper conduits, brickwork, and steel and concrete girders, complemented by industrial lighting. Exposed timber beams and lots of Big Easy appeal – neon lobsters, Americana and nautical touches will add to the charm – set over three floors and 10,000 sq ft, forming an awe-inspiring space.
A central feature will be the striking nine metre theatre-style kitchen situated on the lower ground floor. Focus will be on a ‘wall of fire’, comprising two, 2.5 metre Argentinean-style parilla charcoal grills as well as a two-metre rotisserie spit that will roast whole hogs, and a huge 2.5 metre wood burning oven. A dedicated Bar.B.Q pit area will house two, 1.5 tonne J&R wood burning smokers imported from Texas where meats will all be freshly smoked on the premises using a variety of woods, including Oak, Hickory, Apple and Cherry, for up to 18 hours to impart their unique flavours. Diners can keep an eye on what has just come out of the smoker via the restaurant’s website and social media.
The menu itself will be based around the finest Bar.B.Q pork and beef cuts, rare-breed British steaks and freshest local seafood. In addition, carefully sourced beef including Wagyu and USDA and traditional-breed pork will be showcased together with what Big Easy is also renowned for – the very best and freshest lobsters. The lobsters will be sourced all year round from Nova Scotia for their consistency, flavour and quality. A specially designed 1500kg lobster tank has been constructed on the premises to house almost 2,000 live lobsters with sizes ranging from 1 to 10 lbs. As always Big Easy’s ever popular daily-changing specials will continue to ensure unparalleled value for money.
Big Easy Covent Garden are getting serious about their drinks offering too: situated on the ground floor, will be a jaw-dropping, nine-metre bar, boasting over 500 bottles on nine levels with a focus on domestic and imported premium and American whiskeys, as well as rare tequila, rum, liquor and French and Spanish brandy. Imported, purpose built cocktail machines will dispense frozen Margaritas and other well loved cocktails as well as Manhattans and Old Fashioneds on tap. The bar list will also include ‘Boozy Juices’ and milkshakes with an alcoholic twist and a great list of craft beers including exclusive brews on tap.
Big Easy will continue to boast live music seven nights a week with two to three sets a night featuring some great musicians, with perhaps a few stars of the future making an appearance.
Big Easy Covent Garden
12 Maiden Lane
London
@bigeasylondon #thebiglaunch
The lottery games of today are varied and incredibly numerous, offering a near-endless range of gameplay options, risk:reward ratios and odds of winning. Some people fancy their chances playing online on sites like Coral, whilst others prefer to yell and groan along to the TV. The rules and the mediums differ, but the essence of the game is just about the same everywhere.
Lotteries are now played in almost all countries throughout the world, from Ireland to Italy, Australia to the United States of America, but where did the game come from in the first place?
The British Isles?
Whilst it may be tempting to search close to home to begin with, the birthplace of lottery games is almost undoubtedly elsewhere on the world map. Perhaps the two best known lottery draws from this part of the world are the nationally televised UK National Lottery – founded in the mid-nineties – and the Irish Lotto, which began in the 1980s. Whilst lottery games undoubtedly arrived in the UK in some form much earlier, the roots of the lottery actually extend far deeper into the past…
The Italian Quarter?
‘Italian Lotteries’ were widespread throughout Italian-American neighbourhoods of the USA around the turn of the 20th Century. The link between Italy and lotteries seems a particularly solid one – the nation’s own national draw SuperEnalotto has existed in some form or other for over half a century – and, as our next destination proves, it goes far further back in time.
Ancient Rome
Whenever you’re in doubt as to where something useful in modern society comes from, there’s a fairly strong chance that the place of origin was ancient Rome. The Romans gave us everything from viaducts to vomitoriums (we still have those, right?) and are often spoken of as the progenitors of civilisation as we know it. Hard as it may be to believe it, the Romans played the lottery too, in a range of variants from dinner party games to area-wide fund-raising lotteries not altogether dissimilar from those seen today!
China
Everyone knows that every great genius steals their ideas from somebody else. If the Romans were those great geniuses, then maybe the ancient Chinese were that somebody else. The earliest evidence of lottery style gaming in China comes from around 200BC, in the form of kendo slips. Remarkably, it is believed that the money raised through the game was used to help fund the construction of the Great Wall of China! Could it be that we’ve been playing the lottery since the dawn of civilisation? Written evidence suggests that the Chinese were doing so hundreds upon hundreds of years before those kendo slips were made!
Ellie Goulding looked amazing whilst leaving the Radio 2 studios on Tuesday. The UK singer chose to wear the Gerard Darel white Puffball Coat.
Do you think she looks great?
Here you are, the most viral moments in Oscar history, just for you. Enjoy!
Jennifer Lawrence Backstage Interview at Oscars
Jack Black and Will Ferrell Oscars Performance: Get Off the Stage
Jack Nicholson Interrupts Jennifer Lawrence Interview at Oscars
Hugh Jackman’s Opening Number at Oscars
Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey Oscars Duet
Adrien Brody Kisses Halle Berry at Oscars
Michael Jackson Performs Ben at Oscars
Roberto Benigni Goes Crazy after Oscars Win
Russell Crowe Acceptance Speech for Gladiator
Tom Hanks Gives Acceptance Speech for Forrest Gump Win
Most viral Oscar moments measured by Visible Measures and its True Reach methodology and patented video platform to analyse over 8.1 billion video views across the web during 2013.
Visible Measures has tracked over 3 trillion video views, 500 million videos, 16,000 video campaigns since 2005, and sees over 380 million people cross its platform every month. Pretty impressive.
18th – 22nd & 25th – 29th March 2014
Shuttlecock Inc. return to London in March with a Gallic spin-off of their sell-out pop-up, Rumble At The Deli… Rumble: Part Deux.
An off-the-wall parody of Frances rich gastronomic tradition, Part Deux will be fronted by Shuttlecocks latest comedy creation, Arnaud Hérouville-Saint-Clair-
Putting their reputations on the line, Part Deux will see chefs from both sides of the channel battle it out for the chance to scrub the great mans oven with a toothbrush.
In the line-up of so far are Shuttlecock’s very own Ollie Templeton (Moro), defending champion Max Pasetti (Bocca di Lupo, Trullo), Tom Stracker (The Walnut Tree, The Ledbury, The Dorchester Grill, Heston’s Dinner), Tom Forster (St John, Bocca di Lupo, Trullo, Roberta’s, Chop Shop, Clamato, Septime), Freddy Money (El Bulli, The Dorchester Grill), James Knight (Moro, Barrica, Copita, Quality Chop House) and Ellen Parr (Moro, The Art of Dining).
Once again, the rules are simple:
Three rounds of no-holds-barred culinary one-upmanship
Two guest chefs
One winner
Inspired by some of Arnaud’s most famous recipes and using three key ingredients bought from the market that morning, the two challengers will create their own three-course menu for the evenings diners, with each course going to a vote when the plates are cleared. Best of three: starter, main, pudding.
The winner soaks up the applause, the loser washes up the pots and pans.
Shuttlecock Inc. are four cousins from the creative Templeton family: Anna, Ollie, Will and Ed who share a wealth of experience from the event, theatre, culinary, cocktail, music and advertising worlds. Last year was their busiest yet, with a string of sell out events including immersive pop-up dining experiences, Mile High, Vieux-Québec, The Great Indian Peninsula Railway and Rumble at The Deli. Following Part Deux they will take their unique travel-themed concept to New York this April.
Allez allez!
Rumble Part Deux
16 Hoxton Square
London
N1 6NT
@shuttlecockinc
18th – 22nd March
25th – 29th March