Melbourne Shops: Hokey Curator Boutique

I wrote this post a while ago, in October. I didn't have time to finish it back then, but here it is! Let me know by comment if you visit the shop, and what you think.

It has been an incredible week. I can't seem to believe how much there is to do even when you are not working full time. There are all those things that you have to neglect and then rear their ugly heads when you thought you could kick you feet up and enjoy a well earned break. I have had to deal with quite a few of them this week, including my garden, which seems to have overflowed with weeds that have grown taller than I am. The weather here in Melbourne has been nice for a while now, even though it is still predictably unpredicatable.

That said, there has been things I have done and writen down in my litte black book but have simply not posted up. One of them is my first blog post on a boutique. On Tuesday, I walked past a fashion boutique on Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn called Hokey Curator. On a shopping district such as Glenferrie Rd which overflows with a range of fashion boutiques, it can be hard to hold your own against them. Yet, in my opinion, Hokey Curator stands out from the crowd with an understated and spacious setting which I found charming and elegant. The shop was not crammed with fashion so it overflowed out the door, but everything in the shop seemed to have been selected with care and good research, and the result was a "quality of quantity" feel. The shop stocks some wonderful local  Australian and New Zealand labels as well as some international ones, including fantastic Something Else by Natalie Wood T-shirts with designs and some with geometric patterns, and brands such as Insight, Dhini, Sara Phillips, Strummek, Lover, Sretsis, Ruby Smallbone, Karla Spetic, Karen Walker and Material by Product. The quality of this clothing is amazing and the spring/summer collection has some pieces for all occasions and ages, and I found the owner a lovely woman who was more than happy to help (and let me take some photos!). Thank you Olivia for tolerating me! :)

So feel free to check out the store if you are in town!
Hokey Curator
773 Glenferrie Road
 Hawthorn
3122, VIC
613 9819 3039

I am back from my 'holiday' in Dubai, which was pretty exciting but had some very stressful moments. I apologise for abandoning the blog for a whole month, as with Christmas shopping, Christmas with family and then my three week trip, I have not had much time or much access to internet. In fact, while I sit in my messy room writing this post, finally at home with large piles of unpacked suitcases and bags, and the prospect of a huge washload quite unappealing, I am jetlagged but happy.
This was one of those trips where I travelled down to visit family members, some of them who, unfortunately, have a tendancy to be difficult. I felt a lack of personal freedom and space, and as much as I love travelling, am looking forward to the next time where I am planning to go to Europe alone, and enjoy some time at my favourite restaurants, shops and museums, and just unwind.

I have some unfinished posts from around Christmas time which I am going to finish and post up, and I am going to be a little bit less of a perfectionist on this blog, and more just expressing some random thoughts, because otherwise I don't put enough stuff up!

Anyway, some photos from my trip, and I'll be sure to post some more up later as I blog. Firstly though, the view of the Dubai Marina from the bedroom of the apartment that I stayed in, which were lovely.

I'll blog several times a day now, for I've deprived you of a month of juicy goss.

xxx

Queen of Diamonds 

Karen Millen End of Season Sale

Karen Millen is having an end of season sale in Melbourne with up to 50% off Spring/Summer stock.

Day and party dresses, suits, denim, summer jackets, summer knitwear, resortwear and swim, shoes and handbags - all new season stock with huge reductions!

As you may know, I am quite a fan of this label and used it in my Milan Fashion Week: Georgio Armani post in September on "How to get the look".

When: Monday 13th September until sold

Where:

KAREN MILLEN GPO Shop G05, Ground Floor, Melbourne GPO 350 Bourke Street Melbourne VIC, 3000. (03) 9650 0060 KAREN MILLEN Chapel Street 555A Chapel Street South Yarra VIC, 3141. (03) 9827 8237 KAREN MILLEN Chadstone Shop G037 West Mall Chadstone Shopping Centre 1341 Dandenong Road Chadstone VIC. (03) 9001 0228 KAREN MILLEN Westfield Doncaster Shop 1151 Westfield Doncaster 619 Doncaster Rd Doncaster VIC, 3108. (03) 9001 0201 KAREN MILLEN Chadstone MYER Concession Women's Fashion Floor 1341 Dandenong Road Chadstone VIC, 3148. (03) 9567 6281 Times: Monday to Thursday: 10am - 6pm Fri: 10am - 9pm Sat: 10am - 5pm Sun: 12pm - 5pm See centre and MYER trade hours for specific Christmas late trade I am definately going. This is NOT TO BE MISSED! xxx Queen of Diamonds

Arabella Ramsey Xmas Sale in Melbourne

I neglected to check my email for a couple of days and so I didn't receive this until a little late. But Arabella Ramsey is having a Christmas sale, that ends today (sorry guys!) for 50% off current season stock and 80% off selected stock. Sorry for the late notice but it only started on Thursday...

Doors open at High St armadale at 7:30am and 10am at Flinders Lane CBD Thursday 10th.

Unfortunately I myself won't be able to make it :(

Queen of Diamonds

xxx

Recipe: Crepes with ricotta filling and bitter orange sauce

Recently I have been shocked to hear that many people struggle to make crepes. I know that they can be hard to get the right consistency, but once you find the right recipe you are set up for life. They can be eaten for breakfast with jams, brunch, or dessert with exquisite sauces, yoygurt, ice-cream or fruit. They are a cooking basic that everyone should have in their cookbook.
I have decided to share my secret recipe (which is actually Bill Granger's not-so-secret recipe from "Bill's Food" page 22).
You do not need to use the ricotta filling or sauce but choose to use the basic crepe recipe to enjoy as you like. I have created some other delicious crepe sauces that I will add on a later date and you can use those if you wish.
This recipe makes approx. 4 crepes, which is enough for 1-2 people but if you want more simply double the recipe.

Basic Crepes:
90g (3/4 cup) plain (all purpose) flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
250 (1 cup) milk
20g (3/4 oz) butter, melted
a pinch of salt
extra butter, for greasing the pan

Ricotta Filling:
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons sultanas
250g (1 cup) ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons icing (confectioners') sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

To Serve:
icing (confectioners') sugar, for dusting
bitter orange sauce (below)

To prepare the crepes, put flour in a large bowl, add the egg, milk, melted butter and salt and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate for 2 hours before cooking.
(Refrigeration is in the original recipe but I have made it loads of times and while it is good to refrigerate it is far far essential and I find that the recipe can work just as well if you cook it straight away. You have to decide how much time you have).

While the crepe batter is resting, prepare the filling by heating the milka nd ultanas in a small saucepan over a low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the milk and sultanas to a bowl, add the ricotta, lemon zest, icing sugar and vanilla extract and stir to combine.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and brush a little butter over th base (I usually just drop into the pan a small amount of butter, enough to light touch the whole base of the pan-careful not to do  too much because otherwise they will be really grasy and holey).
Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the pan (I usually put about 4 tablespoons because I tend to make bigger crepes but you should judge depending on the size of your pan) and tip the pan slightly to quickly and evenly spread the batter. After a minute, lift the outer edge of the crepe (you can also shake th epan a little to loosen it and make sure it doesn't stick) abd flip it over and cook for about 5-10 seconds on the other side. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre of each crepe. Fold the crepe into quarters (I like to roll it into a roll with the ricotta filling in the middle). Crepes can be made in advance up until this stage.
Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and brush with butter. Put the filled and folded crepes into the pan and cook for about 30 seconds on each side Place two crpes on each serving plate, dust with icing sugar and drizzle with sauce.

The bitter oange sauce is optional, even with this recipe, but I find it adds a lovely acidic and zesty taste to a creamy filling.

Bitter Orange Sauce:
80g (1/4 cup) good quality orange marmalade
60ml (1/4 cup) orange juice
1 tablespoon brandy or Grand Marnier (optional)

Put the marmalade, orange juice and brandy or Grand Marnier, if using, in a small saucepan over a low heat and stir until the marmalade has melted. Serve with the recipe.

Enjoy for breakfast, brunch or dessert! I will be adding more recipes soon and I will be heading off to Dubai on the 28th December so I'll have a lot of adventures to blog about! Keep posted!

xxx

Queen of Diamonds

Ralph Lauren 25% off Christmas Shopping Weekend!

Well with Christmas rapidly approaching, the shops and malls are becoming crowded with people doing the dreaded Christmas shopping. By now I think we have established that I am a shop-a-holic who probably follows the same bible as Becky Bloomwood. But I absolutely LOATHE doing shopping at Christmas time (but I do it anyway because the sales! the sales!). I mean, I think most of you have gone about the new years eve shopping at Macy's, Bloomingdales, Harvey Nichols, Galeries Layfayette or David Jones like I have. I don't think this is a sentiment expressed only by me. If you go shopping, you don't want to wait forever for a salesperson to fetch that pair of shoes. Nor do you want to get uncharismatically aggressive when that other woman tries to snatch the last item of your size that you have decided you must have. And yesterday, while going about my shopping business in Bourke St Mall, a large lady stormed by me and rammed into me, stepping on my favourite Chanel flats without so much as an excuse me or a sorry. So much for the spirit of Christmas. But anyway, that is not the point of this post so I'll be kind and rewind.

Ralph Lauren are having a sale in their stand-alone stores in Melbourne with 25% off storewide. Unfortunately, gift cards are excluded from the offer.

When: Friday 3rd December-Sunday 5th December
Where: Chadstone, Melbourne and Doncaster Stores

Ralph Lauren is always a treat so don't pass up this rare opportunity while Christmas shopping.

xxx

Queen of Diamonds

Cafe Spotlight: Boheme, Richmond

Boheme Cafe and Bar

368 Bridge Rd
Richmond 3121 VIC

This place is quite a trendy cafe/bar. A couple of weeks ago when I was tired and hungry while on Bridge Rd, I stopped at this cafe on my way home because I saw this sign:

Having already spent an incredible and I think unprecedented amount of money this month, not to mention that day, (perhaps I exaggerate but still) I was going to avoid eating out. But the temptation of cheap (and hopefully good) pizza proved to be a bit hard to resist. So I made myself comfortable and enjoyed flicking through Vogue while I waited for my Mediterranean pizza to arrive. Take a look at my yummy yummy pizza:

 It might not look much but the smell was incredibly good and it tasted better. And it is quite a nice portion, but a average person could finish it off. I usually don't eat that much but in that particular occasion, I hadn't eaten all day and it was about 3.30pm, so I was starving!

There was quite a large range of pizzas to chosen from and when it arrived I was very pleased with it. It has to be on my list of top 5 pizzas that I have eaten in Melbourne. Perhaps third place, with Ca de Vin coming first with no thought. But this pizza had a beautiful crust and was wonderfully Italian, not, I assure you, those foamy crusts and ridiculously greasy pizzas typical of take out places. This was a pizza worthy of a price such as $17.50, but as you can see, all you need to do is go there on a weekday during your day off or on the holidays and dine in anytime between 11.30am and 4.00pm. And you get great pizza for great value after spending too much money on clothes (guilty), shoes (double guilty) and all the other wonders on Richmond's Bridge Rd.

Fantastic pizza. Wonderful price. Reasonable conditions with no newspaper vouchers. What are you waiting for?!

xxx

Queen of Diamonds