Last weekend was murder. I don’t know why but it was THAT much harder to get out of bed to do anything at all, and yet, it was probably one of the busiest weekends I’ve had in a while. Because…life.
I kicked Saturday off with a trip to Vanity Fair with my co-workers Alina and Odini (Odini is a menswear designer from St. Vincent). I’m currently in the process of bribing Odini to make me some fab shirt-dresses so I’m being really nice to her until that happens (Hi Odini! You look radiant today!)
After browsing some fab fabrics, Odini left with a few yards of a super secret fabric that will be revealed at Style Spirit 2014, and we headed over to Pennywise in Grand Bazaar for some much-needed toiletries. What is it about Pennywise that makes you forget yourself and suddenly decide that you better buy that deodourant and shampoo in bulk…or else. Because God knows Pennywise won’t be there tomorrow for all your cotton pad and St. Ives Facial Scrub needs right? Sigh. Anyway, left there relatively unscathed and with the items I actually went in for. Someone needs to design some chic blinders stat so I can don those every time I have to go to Pennywise. By the way, it was brought to my attention recently that there are people on this island that have never been to Pennywise. Wut? How do you live?
We then headed off to the real highlight of the day: the Pop Hop Shop hosted at 6, Carlos by the fabulous Team M. Pieces by Meiling, Sanianitos, Rachel Ross, Shannon Alonzo, Zidelle and Anthony Reid were up for grabs at this chic little shindig, which also featured glorious desserts from Oh Sugar Cookies, Dulce Desserts, Sweettooth Cakery and Stella Magnolia. Meiling, was, as usual, the most gracious host, serving up lovely orange sangria and some rather conspicuous marshmallow eggs.
I personally left with one super gorgeous striped skirt by Shannon Alonzo. Easily one of my favourite things I’ve ever bought. It’s so feminine and lovely…really made me feel like what I imagine Audrey Hepburn felt like in most of her outfits – and to feel like Audrey Hepburn is, of course, one of my many life aspirations. I wore it for my Sunday evening shenanigans, so you’ll get to see the whole look when I post on that 😉
Right after I dropped those girls home, I changed quickly and headed to Fanatic Kitchen Studio for the launch of Off Menu – a brand new dining concept brought to you by the brains behind Meet Me At Fanatic, which you all may know is a fixture on my schedule.
The concept goes like so – Chefs Peru and Juman are given a ‘secret’ ingredient to manipulate into a four course menu and a cocktail. The ‘secret’ (and I keep putting secret in quotations because it really wasn’t a secret, lol) ingredient for the launch was apples. Yay! I love apples. We started out with an amuse bouche of granny smith gelatin spheres topped with Himalayan sea salt and apple brunoise relish. Tangy and delicious. I have a real weakness for salt, rather than sweet so this was a nice opener for me. Next up was a course I was particularly looking forward to: cream of coconut pumpkin soup with spiced apple fritters, thyme-cider foam and roasted pumpkin seeds. The apple fritters weren’t as sweet as I expected, which I was totally fine with. Everything about this dish was perfection, and it was served with some rustic garlic bread, which proved particularly useful for mopping every last bit of soup up at the end. The next course took a while to reach my plate (because I swapped out pork for the all-of-a-sudden-in-demand salmon) but once it arrived it was totally worth the wait. Tri-spiced pork tenderloin (salmon steak for me) drizzled with rosemary and red wine jus, served atop saffron infused risotto, grilled asparagus, fire-seared cherry tomatoes with a bell pepper relish and confit apples. Despite this dish being one of the most delicious things I think I’ve ever tasted in Fanatic KItchen Studio, it was also the one I felt was least influenced by the star of the night – the apple. I harbour no complaints though…it was definitely amazing and very filling. Somehow I managed to make a bit of room for dessert though (obviously), which was double chocolate brownies topped with apple-cinnamon ice cream, drizzed with fresh strawberry compote, tri-colourd apple salsa and sweet chips topped with pulled caramel sugar. I soldiered my way though this one…but it really was a struggle because everything was so sweet (thanks to Chef Juman for hitting me with ‘It’s a dessert’ when I brought this to his attention though -_-) and as I said before I’m much more of a salt girl. I’m also not a huge fan of ice cream, but Chef Juman had graciously obliged me with half a scoop rather than the full thing, so I made it through that part ok. I also have to mention the drinks we had that night – apple infused sangria, and a lovely dry prosseco with slivers of desiccated apple. Crisp and fresh on both counts and a really lovely accompaniment to the meal. I’m surprised I didn’t have to be rolled out of Fanatic, actually…
Enough talk though! On to what you really came here for: the pictures!
3 responses to “Out & About // Oh What a Saturday!”
Thank you Ceola and have a HAPPY and BLESSED EASTER?
Enjoy your post! This might seem obvious but ever tried a list when going to Pennywise!? I find that working for myself lately and I’m so proud that I don’t buy everything in sight!!
Sometimes I do try a list…and it works relatively well. But on the days where I just happen to be in the area and decide to pop in…disaster!