Archive for July, 2010

As we get older, we become wiser with experience. Some happy, some difficult or tragic but one moves forward, taking the learnt lessons on board. One of the life changing experiences for me has been the pregnancy and birth of my children. Once you have the responsibility for the little person, you became more aware of the things happening around you, more compassionate (I hope) and more conscious of the fact that the environment in which we live is far worse than the one that our parents brought us into.

I have been very choosy about what I dress my son in-only natural fibres, like cotton in the summer or wool in the winter, I nursed him for a few months, I cooked his meals from scratch using mainly organic produce and tried (and still do) to put natural, nourishing things on his skin, like aroma-therapeutic oils that my friend Michelle mixes for his skin depending on the time of the year.

Not so long ago I came across the brand that I wrote about, called Tawna Hill Baby and knowing that it is quite natural and gentle I have become a convert. But recently Tawna, the lovely owner of the brand, had sent me the link, that really made me sit down and think about what I use on my own skin.

As you know I love beauty brands and make up but haven’t been a huge advocate of organic brands for various reasons. I had an interesting discussion with Newby Hands, beauty editor extraordinaire at Harpers Bazaar UK about the pluses and minuses of organic skincare earlier in the year but still continue to use ‘mainstreem’ brands with only a few exceptions-Gisele’s Sejaa skincare, Michelle Roques-O’Neils oils and RMS Beauty.

Tawna mentioned to me in her recent e-mail that she joined the group called Campaign for Safe Cosmetics when she started her brand. The campaign’s aim is to try to change the way companies can add chemicals to products. Have a look at the link below and tell me that it doesn’t unnerve you or at least gives you a pause for thought-do I really know what is actually in the products that I use? 

I try to recycle, I mostly use Method cleaning products around the house-very handy if you have children, as their products don’t contain toxins that a lot of ‘mainstreem’ brands do. I try to use baking soda or some essential oils when I clean my house-small things, one might say, but they do make a difference. Try switching off unnecessary lights, don’t put your electrics, like TV on PC on standby, especially if they ‘live’ in your bedroom and use energy saving light bulbs-many of us already do that but not many of us actually give it a thought about what’s in our ready-made meals or what we put on our skin. Are we just lazy or we don’t care enough, until something drastic shakes our foundations? What Tawna said to me resonates with me still and in the coming days I plan to give the idea of what our cosmetics contain and what we put on our skin, our biggest organ, which leads to our bloodstream, a much bigger thought. Why don’t you do too ?

http://storyofstuff.org/cosmetics/

Women are known to have a sweet tooth-some men have it too-but all too many of us are aware that sweet staff tends to go on our waist lines, so what does a girl have to do? One of the things that works for me is high quality chocolate, eaten in moderation-well, if the chocolate is really good, you wouldn’t eat too much of it anyway, I promise you .) 

My recent favourite chocolatier is called William Curley and I popped into his shop a few months ago, after having had a sinful lunch at the Poule Au Pot, which is almost opposite it.

Mr Curley has worked in several Michelin-starred restaurants, including Le Manoire aux Quatre Saisons and La Tante Claire and lately he has been ‘championed’ by none other than Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, who I am sure knows quite a bit about good food and good wine!

The shop in Ebury street is light and airy and has light wood cupboards full of goodies, plus a nicely set out area to have coffee, hot chocolate, truffles or various pastries on offer. But the true gem in this shop is the chocolate and boy, will you be spoilt for choice.

You can try various truffles, my favourite so far are Framboise, Japanese sake or Jasmine or Couture Chocolates-Sea Salt caramel is to die for, but give Blackcurrent & Juniper berry, Apricot & Wasabi, Rosemary & Olive oil or Thyme & Scottish Honey a try.

Last week I went to the shop & bought a box of Spiced Hot Chocolate-I was told that they do 40g of hot chocolate to 130 mls of milk in the shop but if you and milk don’t get on, try making it with water and the beauty of the chocolate will give you immense pleasure on a dull and grey afternoon.

P.s If you like Chocolate & Perfume, the Ebury street shop will be hosting a ‘chocolate & perfume pairing’ eventon Monday, 26th of July together with Robert Gorman from Miller Harris perfume. You will be able to experience chocolate & fragrance pairings while drinking champagne and eating homemade canapes. Who said you can’t combine business and pleasure?

www.williamcurley.co.uk

I have always travelled widely with my parents while living in the UK but has been a little bit lazy since I got married. Not in terms of travel, but in terms of venturing our of London and looking for interesting places to stay or eat and it’s a great shame, because there are lots of precious jewels that are just waiting to be discovered. The Marquis in Kent in just one of those.

 The Marquis is hidden in the rolling hills of the valley (beware, the mobile reception can be bad at times!) and you feel like you are truly in rural England or even rural France (almost!). The hotel has five rooms (each individually decorated) and two cottages that overlook the vineyard (which are a further 5 minutes drive or a short walk) that can be rented. The staff is young and charming and the whole place just breaths ease and charm, so you do want to linger or stay instantly.

We had dinner with the kids on Sunday there and the food was delicious and the staff helpful with suggestions. Children chose to have Sunday roast and even though their portions were supposed to be ‘child’ size they were quite large- not that the kids had any complaints. Dare I mention that the size of Yorkshire pudding equalled the sun?

 Adults had starters and the main course and my girlfriend and I cleared our plate that had guinea fowl and truffled sausage with gusto-just this alone is worthy of the Marquis visit! Dessert was also a scrumptious affair and kids loved the cocktail of cranberry juice and elderflower cordial. The atmosphere is very laid back but the service is efficient so we are already planning our next visit and our friends have already ‘repeated’ the experience since our Sunday lunch together.   

http://www.themarquisatalkham.co.uk/

I was browsing cosmetic counters in Selfridges today and finally got my hands on Armani’s latest make-up invention, called Blushing Fabric (second skin blush). It’s been already written about since April but there has been a delay in its release and Armani’s make-up artists have been laughing seeing me approach their counter yet again, asking ‘is it here yet?’.

Well, there are three shades advertised but only two were released and one is already sold out. I got mine in No.1 and it looks crazily pink, yet when you apply it it glides on smoothly, gives you a ‘blushing bride’ look, smells delicious and stays put, like its sister foundation. It works really well in hot weathers, so I would say a great addition to your make-up bag before you go on your holiday.

The second product that I didn’t plan to buy but in the end couldn’t resist is by Kiehl’s and it is part of their Creme de Corps range. It is called Soy Milk & Honey Body Polish and you just have to smell it to know that you have to have it on your shower shelf. This formulation contains Shea and Jojoba butters plus Sweet Almond Oil that is blended with ground Luffa fruit. The said combination will not only exfoliate your skin but nurture it too, because it contains pure honey and soy milk protein. I initially tried it on my hand and my girlfriend’s son has been trying to kiss my hand since then-what more can a girl want?

A while back I saw Cat Deeley wearing a pair of really cute shoes, the type that I just couldn’t get out of my head. I found out that they were by a beautiful cobbler (fancy word for shoe maker) called Camilla Skovgaard (she has the looks of a model and the legs to match!).

The shoe is question was called Zaha and it had a high heel, side zippers and a side twisty buckle-I was truly smitten!

I raced to Harvey Nichols-at the time the only London stockist of Camilla’s shoes-and even called Camilla’s press people. I had no luck what-so-ever-the shoe was sold out and they had no more stock nor had they any plans to produce this model again. Sadly, I gave up my search but kept a picture of the glorious shoe in my ’stylists’ folder-kind of the look book of sorts.

This week I was browsing through my weekly update from the Outnet and what do I see? I rubbed my eyes and placed an order, almost refusing to breath until I received the order confirmation. Ok, they didn’t have Zaha in grey, my original choice, but black works equally well and after all, who looks a gift’s horse in the mouth? Within less then an hour the shoe was sold out.

Yesterday morning my DHL box arrived and I skipped and hopped before trying the shoes on-nothing short of perfect and at a fraction of the original price. So you see, shopping dreams do come true and they don’t anger the husband or the bank manager .)

Smoky eyes will make any girl feel sexy but it always comes down to application and let’s be honest, not all of us have mastered that art!

MaxFactor’s latest eyeshadow, called Smoky Eye Effect, almost does the job by itself. It has a two sided applicator, with a lighter shade as step 1 and a darker shade completing your look. Those beautiful eyeshadows come in several colours, including brown (perfect for every day!), grey (for a dressy night out), blue, green etc. The applicators are rounded and the eyeshadows glide one easily and stay put, without smudging and giving you a ‘panda’ look.

MaxFactor Smoky Eye Effect eyeshadow £7.99 at Boots

If you read my blog, you already know that I am in love with Mikahil Baryshnikov, the Danser. Russians are raised with the love of art and it is not uncommon to see parents with young kids at the Bolshoi or Mariinskyi. But my love for ballet was inspired by my uncle Mikhail, who used to dance in the Bolshoi, knew Plisetskaya, Vasiliev and Maksimova and still remains very dashing and elegant in his 7o’s-you should see how he holds his back and how he walks! 

When my uncle (named Mikhail incidently too) retired from dansing in the Bolshoi, he went on travelling around the world, teaching ballet and still does it successfully…… 

At the times when travelling abroad was as rare as sunshine in the UK, my uncle not only brought gifts but videos of Baryshnikov or Nuryev dancing and my cousin and I sat transfixed watching those giants of ballet dance and create magic on stage.

I never saw Nuryev danse ‘live’, but I was blessed to see Misha, as he is lovingly called universally, in London’s Barbican and Sadler’s Wells on several occasion and on one special evening even managed to talk to him for less than five minutes.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine sent me a cheeky e-mail, saying that she and her husband were going to see Baryshnikov dance at the Theatre de La Ville in Paris. After a very quick discussion with my husband and mother, plans were made and tickets booked.

A few days before the performance date it looked like I won’t make it, but luck was on my side and I had an interesting evening with my mum, friends and a very Parisian audience-I was surprised that there were so few Russians….

There were four pieces performed-Valse-Fantasie choreographed by the wonderful creative Alexei Ratmanskyi, an extract from Solo for Two, choreographed by Mats Ek, Years later, choreographed by Benjamin Millepied and finally the Place choreographed by Mats Ek.

Baryshnikov, who remains boyishly youthful while aging gracefully-the man has no fat on his body and his muscles will give any 25 year old a run for their money-kept the audience transfixed by his moves, his humour and by just being him, the wonderfully versatile dancer. He lives on stage and his enthusiasm for his craft is still very much palpable, as is his vigour and talent. In Years later he dances against the video of himself, aged 17 (?), while being a student of dance at Vaganova academy, pirouetting at great speed. Mischa is humorous in the admission of age limitations but he does it with such dignity that you know that this is a man who knows who he is and who is at peace with himself.

Place is mesmerising partially because of the performance but also because of the unusual music  by Flaskkvartteen that pulls at your heart’s strings and makes you draw in your breath-it transfixes you and takes you away into an unknown realm, an Avatar of sorts.

 My only problem was watching Ana Laguna, who I didn’t find graceful or maybe I just didn’t enjoy watching the woman not in her prime-maybe woman’s aging is more painful to watch when you can see what awaits you? But then this is a purely an observer’s comment and is not meant with malice. I think Baryshnikov would have shined even brighter if his partner was younger but then, I am not a performer and I don’t have the performers vision.

I don’t know if I will ever have the chance to see Baryshnikov dance ‘live’ again-those opportunities have been rare, but it makes my memories even more special-but I left the audience thanking my lucky stars for allowing me to be present and seeing the transformation of Baryshnikov from a classically trainer ballet dancer into a very modern contemporary one . Bravo Mischa, bravo !

p.s if anyone can let me know how or where I can get my hands on the recording of the Flaskkvartetten’s piece to which Baryshnikov and Laguna dansed-and God knows I tried to ’source’ it!-I promise if not my gratitude then a kiss! Anyone?

June was a busy month in my household as my beautiful and feisty, might I add, nieces came to stay with us. It was mayhem and adults fell into bed exhausted by the end of the day but seeing kids have fun and be cheeky with each other was so wonderfully uplifting, especially as they don’t get to see each other often, with us being London based and them living in Europe.

One day, after my saintly sister-in-law looked after three kids, while I had an acupuncture appointment, I took my family to a very well-known and much loved gastro pub in Chelsea for lunch. The place was half busy but there was a well-known rock star wife and a in-demand model there, so the glamour factor, as ever, was present.

We ordered the food, the drinks arrived swiftly and my youngest niece took a shine to one of the waiters, who sweetly reciprocated. As the little one is a bit fussy with her food, my sister-in-law got down to feeding her a home-made meal, so that later we can all eat to our heart’s content but there was trouble on the horizon as the cute one saw freshly baked that was brought to our table and wanted to have it. My sister-in-law refused to budge and the obvious happened-my niece started screaming. Initially she was ‘discreet’ but as no bread came her way, the screaming got louder. I looked in sympathy at my sister-in-law, as any parent would-does any pregnancy book ever warn you of the regular occurrence of toddler tantrums and how people react to them?

Well, people started giving us looks and not of the adorable kind. All of a sudden a skinny elderly lady materialised by our table and started screaming-yes, I kidd you not!!!-at us, telling us to take the child out and calm her down as we were ruining everyone’s lunch. At first I was so taken aback by this rude and horrendous outburst-the woman looked positively insane that I was lost for words. A minute or so later, when I regained my composure, I told her that it was lunch time, not dinner, it wasn’t a Micheline star restaurant but a gastro pub and we had as much a right to be there as anybody else in the room. The woman had no ounce of fat on her body but her sour look on the face said it all i.e so not happy!!!!!!!!

My niece eventually calmed down, finished her food and got her bread, while me and my sister-in-law, my son and my bigger niece savoured our food with gusto. The model gave us haughty glances, but stopped smiling and the rock star wife, who smiled at my niece before, passed our table on the way out and walked to the demented lady-maybe their were old acquaintances or maybe she wanted to show her her moral support? The woman in question, who after her outburst, hid behind her companion, shortly left too. I, for one, was left angry for a few hours, because hypocrisy drives me mad.

My child and my nieces have been going out with us since they were babies, to appropriate places and appropriate times-for example, I wouldn’t take them to ‘business’ frequented restaurants or haute cuisine restaurants until they were older. We always make sure that our kids are well-behaved or occupied with snacks, crayons, DVDs etc-I don’t leave home without making sure I have everything with me but people with kids are entitled to have a life as much as the people who don’t have kids or who choose to live their kids at home.

My parents took me and my brother out with them, and I knew how to behave in the restaurants form an early age-I want to enjoy my son’s company and allow him to be social while eating at nice places, which I think is part of the educational process. But certain people are so full of themselves, so discontent and arrogant that they think they have rights that people with kids don’t. Have you ever seen the disdain on the faces of the first class or business class passengers where parents try to placate their crying baby? And I always want to smack those people and tell them to get off the high horse and have some sympathy for tired and yes, embarrassed, parents. Everyone is entitled to make their choices but no one should be allowed to impose theirs on other people. And I always considered Brits to be tolerant, if not loving with kids…….

Unfortunately I don’t come to my city of birth often enough but when I do the place seems to become more alien every time . The face of the nation is changing, the traffic gets worse, the shopping assistants or the street cleaners seem to be from any other region of the former USSR but Russia, there are more men who carry beer bottles from the early morning-the list can go on.

Of course it’s not all bad, there are young guys who can help you with carrying of the buggy or a very smart looking elderly lady, who gives you a helpful advice regarding the insect bites, while you are queuing in the pharmacy, or the really delicious food that they serve in one of the Coffee Mania’s –not going to tell you which one, because it’s the best one! The waiters there are smiley, the juices freshly squeezed and delicious and I love watching the nice crowd that gathers there every time I go there, be it for lunch or cocktails.

The laws of how things work bewilder me too, for example I wanted to see Giles Bensimon’s exhibition of Russian celebrities called ‘Bed and Breakfast’. It opened last week at Dom Spiridonova /Spiridonov’s house. My sister-in-law and I tried in vain to get into the place but when we couldn’t open the entrance door, we called the exibition’s space phone line-the guy who picked up the phone was not only rude but told us in a surprised voice that the exhibition has closed….having been open for four days only. Is that the sign of success or the poor level of interest?

But the thing that irks me the most is the use of English language in everything, from news to the names of the restaurants or description of services. We have the most beautifully musical and rich language that is full of synonyms, wonderful expressions and history yet we tend to use English terms, while many people don’t actually speak or know English. Where else will you find the bridal shop called ‘To be bride’ or the café called ‘Flat Iron’-I mean seriously, do people even think of the meaning of the words when they use them? What scares me is that we are on the downhill path of losing our identity, our language and the next generation, who might love Grisham more than they love Akunin, prefer American movies to the ones made by Mikhalkov or Bodrov or Hotinenko and who choose to copy the West instead of following our path and being proud of being part of a magnificent nation who is culturally and historically rich.

On one of the nights, my brother and his wife took me out to have dinner in the restaurant on the 22^nd flood of the Academy of Science, which had a sweeping view over Moscow. I felt almost lost, barely recognising the skyline of the city where I was born and raised and which I dearly love. There are too many high-rises that look out of places, the buildings stand too close to each other and while I know that progress moves us forward, I had a sinking feeling that whoever is building those monstrosities and betting on making a lot of money for himself in the process, does not think of our past and traditions, while planning the future. And without the past there is no future…………