Wednesday 30 January 2013

Style for Days.....

Style for Days will be posts about those fashion icons who inspire us and I hope you enjoy what you see. The first of this series may seem a little "out there" but I LOVE her style none the less.

Dita Von Teese! 


 Fig 1
 Fig 2
 Fig 3
 Fig 4
Fig 5 Yep, that's what she wears just running errands about town!

Yes she is a burlesque dancer. Yes she was married to Marilyn Manson. Yes she loves to wear sexy lingerie and do a bit of fetish modeling (who doesn't!). But who can claim that this woman doesn't know what she is doing when she puts her "look" together in the morning?

What impresses me about her style is the attention to detail she demonstrates. Everything is carefully thought out from her 50's inspired hair to her flawless makeup and her unique accessories. Take a look at Figure 4,  the close up shows her choice of wicked hot sunglasses, a perfectly sultry red pout and the lovely broach that she uses to add some sparkle to her low cut dress.She always looks sophisticated, polished, sexy and well....she just looks the way a Woman should look. To me anyway :-)

Who are the style icons that you admire?

Soup from a Professed Soup Nazi!

Here's the deal....I LOVE SOUP! It is the only redeeming aspect of this season called Winter and it is a filling, healthy meal that warms the cockles of your soul. There are so many varieties and possibilities for soup and that drives me to spend countless hours on Pinterest looking a new, taste-bud pleasing soup to try. I also love MAKING soup! The relaxing chopping of veggies, the add-a-little-this-add-a-little-that approach, the stirring, the smells that drift through the air. Seriously, have you ever walked into a home where a big pot of soup is on the stove and heard someone say: 

"Ewwww! What the f*%$ is that smell!? Throw that crap out!"? Hopefully never!

The only exception to that is when my Mom prepared homemade chicken stock. The boiling of a chicken carcass in your kitchen would probably make me blurt the above statement out. But the product of that yucky process is still, delicious SOUP!

Here is a recipe that I am sharing for a Low Fat Shrimp Chowder. It is very easy to make, perfect for a weekday meal for a family or if you are a free wheeling single. Best of all it tastes great and leaves you FULL and SATISFIED.

What you'll need:

1 onion finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves chopped
1 Bag of frozen baby Shrimp
2 cups of milk (use whatever you like, 2%, 1%, or skim)
1 small jar of Salsa (I like spicy but choose any heat level to suit your taste)
1 can of cream corn
1 can of Cream of Celery, Cream of Mushroom or Cream of Broccoli condensed soup
1 package of light cream cheese, chopped up in to 1 inch cubes.
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (optional or you can toss the seeds to reduce the heat)
1 Tbsp Olive oil (use any kind or brand you like, EVOO is great too)

What you'll do:

1) In a pot, heat the olive oil under medium heat. Add the onions and the garlic. Cook for about 5 mins until the onions start to soften. Add the jalapeno here if you are using.
2) Add the cubes of cream cheese and a little bit of the milk to incorporate the cream cheese. *Reduce the heat if you think the milk could scald*. Use a whisk to blend the cream cheese, it will melt into the milk as it heats through. This is what will give your soup a creamy, velvety texture with out the fat! I use this method for making creamy pasta sauce too.
3) Once the cream cheese is melted through, add the rest of  the milk, the jar of Salsa, the cream corn, the can of cream of *whatever* soup. Stir with a spoon or use the whisk until the soup is bubbling (approx. 7-8 mins).
4) Now add the bag of shrimp and cook for another 5 mins until the shrimp are heated through.

Now serve it up with crackers, some chopped scallions or with some Sriracha Sauce squirted on top. Enjoy! I will post a picture of the final product later as I made this soup this week. I have been eating it everyday and I am not sick of it yet.

And to close out this post and  in reference to the title, here are a couple of fun Seinfeld facts:

The Soup Nazi is based on the actual owner of a take-out soup business in Manhattan on West 55th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue. 

As Kramer became more popular, his entrance applause grew so prolonged that the cast complained it was ruining the pacing of their scenes. Directors subsequently asked the audience not to applaud so much when Kramer entered. 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus did not appear in the series' pilot episode. In fact, she was unaware that the episode existed until it was released as part of the DVD box set in 2004.

Source: IMDB



Tuesday 29 January 2013

DY-NO-MITE!

Due to some financial set backs, I have been out of the shopping game for a LOOOOOONG time. I also found that I really didn't NEED to buy all of the things that I thought I NEEDED. One of the reasons for my finances being less than stellar was due to my obsessive shopping. So I started to think of buying clothes as a waste of time & money and resorted to only picking up cheap staples at Wal-Mart. But I have started to look at my closet with the utmost hate and disdain  My closet stared back at me and was all like "Well...what do you expect? You can't grow flowers if you don't feed the garden!" My closet was right; I had ill-fitting, cheaply made, old and ratty clothes. When I wore said clothing, I felt the way I looked, old, drab and frumpy. Now not all my clothes fit into that category but it was time to FEED that garden!

I have also gained a few pounds so shopping is not totally fun right now but I didn't let that stop me. So I hit Dynamite and Aritzia a couple of weekends ago and here's what I picked up:

 Rag & Bone Jeggings.
Black Lace top from Dynamite
Black Sweater from Dynamite

As you can see, my colour choice was pretty standard. I also picked up a BLUE T-Shirt that is not on the Dynamite web site. I do LOVE black though. It is so classic, functional and when I do actually go out for dinner or drinks, it is my go-to colour. Once I start to feel a little better about my appearance  I will post pics of me actually wearing these cute tops and Jeggings. The outfits look really cute with some tall black or brown boots. I am looking forward to posting more in the coming weeks. I have a trip to the Turks & Caicos coming up, so that will inspire me to wear something other than black! 

Have you ever lost your lust for shopping? What were your reasons?