Montreal Fall/ Winter Fashion Week 2012

Assalamualaikum

This is a long overdue post..

Last February, (yeap, I said February) Sarah Hanafi and I went to the Montreal Fashion Week. Such a fun experience! After weeks of hard work in school, it was fun to let our hair/hijab down for one night. Teehee. I didn’t even know that Montreal holds a Fashion Week every year! So Sarah and I decided to make this event our “bonding time” every year. Oh boy oh boy! If you have never met Sarah, you should.

From: Belle de Nuit

Boy don’t I love clothes, shoes and bags! When I was younger, I wanted to be a supermodel. I know. I know. Say what?! I would do catwalks in the living room, playing with my mom’s scarves, shoes and make ups. I LOVE IT ALL. As you can see, the plan didn’t work out for me. I stopped growing taller at the age of 15?16? In the runway world, I’m short. Remember the ANTM where they bring in “short” models? They’re my height. But even if I’m taller and skinnier (and prettier?), I don’t think I would be a supermodel. Parading my body for the world to see, doesn’t scream the word modesty! Oh well..Last time I moved from my apartment, I have one whole box of bags and a big gigantic black plastic bag just for my shoes! Don’t blame me, blame the genes! It’s in the blood I’m sure. My father loves bags and shoes too. Really. I think he has more shoes than my mom.

To be honest I’m not too familiar with the whole Canadian fashion scenes. Sarah on the other hand had been religiously watching Fashion Television since she was young! I was clueless. Absolutely clueless. I don’t know which show to go to as I don’t know the designers’ styles. In my opinion, to enjoy the runway show, it is important to understand the designers’ styles and motives, to really enjoy the runway show. Then only you could relate with the designs that were being displayed. Anyways, I let Sarah choose which show to go to. Easy.

We ended up going to Martin Lim’s event. Fun fun fun! Check out their designs at their website : Martin Lim

Their designs were simple and sophisticated. A lot of dresses I tell ya. To be honest, I really think that some of their designs have some Salwar Kamez influences. With the knee length dresses and skinny pants to go with it. I’m just saying. Are they wearable? Definitely. Anyways, my favorite would be their white dress ( no surpise!). I have an obsession with flowy dresses! OBSESSION!

They played with color blocks in most of their pieces to create a sense of boldness. It worked! Pairing black statement lines with delicate fabrics was a great idea. It controls the flowy-ness of the garments.

Their makeup and hair do was very minimal. Red lips and high bun hairdo, in my opinion, compliments their designs.

 (Why is there no pictures of the runway and designs? Refer to number 3 below.Pictures were blurry.)

So what did I learn from that event?

1) Plan your outfit/ gadgets daysss ahead.(especially when you have exam the week before or ehem, the DAY before the event).I was studying Behavioral Neuroscience AND ransacking my closet to fine something nice to wear. Not fun!

2) Do a research on the designers!

3) Learn how to use a DSLR. Jakun trang tang!

So me, being unprepared for the event and pretty much penny-less from the move, I had to find something in my closet. I settled for an all-white outfit. I paired my white chiffon skirt with a white blazer. I don’t want to look like a walking ghost in the middle of Old Port, so I out on some black chunky bracelets that matches my black clutch. Since I don’t know anyone with my shoe size who owns a pair of killer black boots, I settled on my own dark brown ones. When I say killer, I don’t really mean killer heels. If that’s the case, I’d be falling flat on my face every 6 feet or so and my white outfit..won’t be white anymore.

Sarah and I dolled up and RUSHED to Marche Bonsecours. It was crazy. She had a tutorial until 6 (if I’m not mistaken). It was funny to have people looking at you for being overly dressed for a metro ride. They knew for sure that we weren’t on a date because if we were..ehem..we’d be taking cabs instead?The whole event was madness!People were lining up,everyone was checking everyone out. It was ridiculous. People from the press, magazines, and fashion bloggers were all there. It’s like watching Devil wears Prada, LIVE! Great, great experience! I can finally cross a “watching a runway show” off my list. Been there, done that. Do it again? Oh oui,oui!sil vous plait?

What shall I wear next time?

Oh. Just looked at the trends for next fall. Three words baby, Love,Love,Love!

Wasalam!

Till then, Salut,

Love,

Anggerik

Oh-range and Pop-py!

Assalamualaikum

Tacky title.I know=p

How’s Ramadhan so far? The last two days I was half dead. I don’t know what I ate or what I did but it was definitely a challenge. I was so dizzy for iftar once that I felt like throwing up. So I ate only a bit but later had Maggi Kari for moreh. AHAH! Or perhaps it’s the heat. Yearsss living in Malaysia and I still can’t take the heat. I take three showers a day. THREE. Sigh. Sabr Soffy. Sabr.

Since it’s Ramadhan, I haven’t baked anything just yet. I made caramel pudding the other day, which wasn’t as yummy as it’s supposed to be. It’s funny how I’ve made caramel pudding a couple of times already and used different recipes each time. My sister just gave me her recipe so we’ll see! I could NEVER say no to caramel pudding. Could you? I could eat the whole pudding on my own and I’m not even joking. If I were to make this pudding for entertaining a small number of guests, I’d deifintely make them in ramekins. Definitely cute! But, if I’m making it for myself. Boy oh boy. Ramekins? Really?No my friend, I’d go for the big ol’ baking dish and EAT.ALL.ON.MY.OWN.huargh!*wipe drools* Moving on..

So on the last day of Sya’ban which was last Friday, our cousins came for a visit. Yeap. It was the perfect time to whip something up in kitchen. If you haven’t noticed, I LOVE entertaining people. (with food.not singing.not dancing.just food). After discussing with mummy and mama bear (hi kak!), we settled on Orange Poppy Cupcakes. I know right? Poppy Seeds! I still remembered when I was 7 or 8. My friend told me an easy way to remember how to spell Oranges.You spell "Orang" and add "e" at the back.Haha.Good ol' days when our greatest concern was how to spell right.

Orange cake was never a favourite of mine.Don’t get me wrong, I’ll eat it still but, to me, there are some cakes that NEEDS frostings. What’s a carrot cake without the cream cheese icing? One time, someone made Zucchini Cake instead of the usual carrot. Carrots are too mainstream? Anyways, imagine eating Zucchini cake on its own. I know right?*flips hijab*.So I decided to make a frosting as well. Why not throw some extra fat in while we’re at it ey? It was the day BEFORE Ramadhan begins anyways. No harm done, I can assure you. Since I had extra orange zest and juice leftover (I purposely saved some zest), I decided to throw that in the frosting to make Orange Cream Cheese frosting instead.. You can stop drooling now.

I got the recipe from here.

   

Orange Poppy Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons orange zest (2 oranges)

1/2 cup fresh orange juice (1 orange)

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons poppy seeds 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with baking cups. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Stir together milk and 1/4 cup orange juice.
2. Beat butter, sugar, and the orange zest with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy,
3. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
4. Beat in poppy seeds.
5. Divide batter among muffin tins (filling each cup 3/4 full). Bake until golden around the edges, 18 to 20 minutes.

Ingredients

Orange zest that smells AMAZING!

Freshly squeezed orange juice

 

Fresh from the oven:)

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick of cream cheese (250ml)

1 1/4 cup of icing sugar

1 tablespoon of fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon of orange zest

1. Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy
2. Add icing sugar, 1/2 cup per addition
3. Add in the orange juice and zest

Assembling ideas

1) You could simply spread it on the cupcakes using a butter knife and sprinkle some poppy seeds onto them.

  

2) You could put it in a piping bag and pipe the  frosting nicely on top of the cupcakes and sprinkle some poppy seeds onto them.

3) Take the cupcakes out from their cups, cut in half. Pipe some cream in the middle and the top. Yeap, you’ve guessed it right. Sprinkle some poppy seeds on to those gorgeous, scrumptious, mouth watering cupcakes!

I personally like the last one best! I’ve put enough sugar in the frosting but somehow it was a still a bit soft. I’m pretty sure it’s the weather. It was pretty hot then.=(

This recipe calls for a lot of liquid which makes the cupcakes very dense and filling. Like I’ve said before, orange cake was never a real favorite of mine but the poppy seeds. Oh Lord! It’s a wonder how those little tiny bits can make those cupcakes crunchy. Is that crazy? No its not! Because the cake WAS crunchy. Try it yourself.

Whenever we're posting pictures online, mommy will tell us to use the nicest dishes. This whole set up was her idea as well. Teehee.

Have a blessed Ramadhan!

Wasalam!

Till then, Salut,

Love,

Anggerik