Annie Leibovitz exhibition has opened this last Thursday at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. I love Annie, she is one of my favourite photographer. I always adore her photo shoots in particular the ones before the Academy Awards for Vanity Fair, also called The Hollywood Portfolio. It always looks like she is able to stop time, even if there are several people in one shoot, she just capture the best out of all of them. No matter who they are, what they are doing, or thinking… I guess this is what makes her one of the best and most appreciated photographers of our time.

The exhibition is going up to the 25th of March, so you have time. To purchase the ticket, you need to go on the Mca website, the perfect way to jump the queue!

Don’t miss it, I am sure it won’t disappoint.

Photo courtesy of Vanity Fair

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During my time at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the question I was asked the most by visitors coming to experience the exhibitions was: “what does this artwork mean?”. I guess for some the answer was easy, for other it was necessary a bit of study on my behalf, and for the rest of them… well, let’s say that some artwork was incredibly difficult to understand.

Something I always said to everyone though is that the most powerful thing about Contemporary Art, is that it speaks differently to each and everyone of us. No matter what your background is, your education, your sensibility to beauty or ugly, art will set off a reaction, whatever that might be, wherever you want it or not. So if you are angry because you “don’t get it”, that’s fine too… I believe there is no need to explain in details what an artwork means. There are millions things don’t making any rational sense every single day, but we don’t get upset all the time, right? We simply experience them on a different level, subliminal, emotional, perceptional.

What am I trying to say? I discover this artist through Siba Sahabi website and I love his work. I can’t really say why, and I don’t want to start an analysis on the different reasons… I just wanted to share it with you.

His name is Andreas Kocks, and the creations you see here are part of his Paperwork Collection. Why do I love them? Not sure… maybe because lately I feel the same way, like I don’t know where I came from and I definitely don’t know where I am going, but here I am… splashed throughout the surface!

And you, do you have a favourite artist or artwork, favourite museum? Tell me more about it, I would love to know!

Photo courtesy of Andreas Kocks

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What if I told you that the items you see above are made out of paper? and not some sort of compound extremely hard to find, but from simple cutting, rolling and gluing paper forms 3 dimensional objects, beautiful ones I must say.

“My aim is to translate culture into objects; i want to build a bridge between the Orient and the Occident. I want to emphasise the ongoing importance of the melting pot. “

This is the vision of the artist behind these great creations, her name is Siba Sahabi (daughter of a German mother and an Iranian father) lives in Amsterdam and design various paper objects all inspired by the European and Middle East culture. My favourites are Bucchero and Homer’s Inspiration, a series of extraordinary paper vessels inspired by characteristics black Etruscan ceramics who used to fire their pottery in an atmosphere charged with carbon monoxide instead of oxygen, a well known technique called “reducing firing” used by Eastern culture to produce objects with a shiny and metallic look. Each item is hand crafted by dark wallpaper resistant light, so it won’t fade through time.

Have a look at the entire range on Siba’s website, simply divine!

Thanks to Design Boom, photo courtesy of Siba Sahabi

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Living in Sydney is wonderful but it does have one small downside… As I am not 100% sure this is going to be home for good, I don’t feel that I can buy home ware and furniture as much as I would if I had my own place. I dream about my future home, wherever and whenever that is going to be but for now I am just talking about everything I would buy. This made my discovery of hardtofind joyfully painful!

hardtofind is a lovely website, put together by two very clever ladies, Trudi and Erica, with great taste and a keen eye for unique and boutique items. So let’s talk about what I want on my list, shall we? it also has wonderful ideas for your Christmas Shopping!

Where to start? Well, scented candles from Kobo I think are an absolute must. They are gorgeous little environmentally friendly candles with the most unusual scents like Green Pearl Jasmine or Portuguese Olive Blossom… you cannot resist them!

And then you can’t really ignore this crochet Blanket by Lilly and Lolly with matching cushion… they are supposed to be for kids, but I want them!

Then we also have this perfect Dandi chopping board, which is exactly what you need to create your festive table, and also Anne Black decorations, in handmade porcelain. Oh, and the ones at the top are from Chez Moi, beautifully manufactured eco-friendly cushions your couch is dying to have for Christmas.

And you… what is your Christmas Shopping list?

Photo courtesy of hardtofind

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I am not really sure if after my Macarons Masterclass I mentioned my homey attempt of recreating these lovely and adorable French pastries. Well, I did and the result wasn’t what I expected. They were flat, footless, chewy… overall, not pretty. I guess my mistake was not mixing the almond flour and egg whites properly, and now that I think about it, they didn’t rest enough as well. Which apparently is a crucial step for the formation of the foot and missing it, didn’t help in achieving the final result. I didn’t take any picture of those embarrassing macarons but I did take a picture of the ones I did couple of weeks ago. They made me proud!

So, what did I do differently? Well, I started with half the ingredients, used my boyfriend to mix part of them (extremely helpful!) and I let them rest properly… I also opened the oven after 4 and 8 minutes so the humidity could escape avoiding unpleasant explosions. Now, they were not all super pretty, but they tasted goooood!
Also, keep in mind, as much as it seems to be an impossible task, they do need to rest 3 or 4 days… they taste heaps better!

Here we go with the recipe and the quantities I used, next step is getting crazy with the ganache. Oh, the picture I have taken was soon after they were assembled so the filling doesn’t look as it should. They were a lot more expressive after few days… Enjoy!

For the Macaron Shell

Ingredients Part 1:
300gr TPT (150gr almond meal & 150gr icing sugar)
60gr Egg Whites (they have to be separated from yolks, out of the fridge for more than 3 days. The more you wait, the better!)

Ingredients Part 2:
150gr Caster Sugar
33gr water
60gr Egg Whites
2gr food colouring (you pick the colour!)

For the Chocolate Ganache:
225gr Thickened Cream
200gr Dark Dark Chocolate
75gr Butter

Step 1 – Making the Ganache:

Chop chocolate to very fine consistency. Chop butter into small cubes. Boil cream and when at temperature, pour 3/4 into the chopped chocolate and leave for few minutes. Start mixing slowly with a spatula, trying not to incorporate air. Once the mixture is shiny and homogenised, pour the remaining cream over the chocolate. Temperature should be no more than 55°. Add butter and mix until incorporated in the chocolate. Wait till cool, cover with clingfilm so there is no air and then place in the fridge to set.

Step 2 – Making the Meringue Shells:

Mix the TPT with egg whites, until you have a smooth paste. Use your boyfriend, it’s quite exhausting and he can be proud of the fact they are actually perfect!
In another bowl, mix caster sugar, water and colour and commence cooking monitoring temperature. Once sugar got to around 100° commence whipping eggs until they reach ‘soft peak’ consistency. When the sugar reaches 118° it’s time to remove from the stove and pour slowly on the still mixing egg whites. Keep going for about 3 minutes, until the meringue is about 50°. Using a spatula, commence incorporating the meringue into the TPT and egg white batter. Work the mix gently from the side to the middle until you reach a homogeneous, shiny texture.

Using a plastic piping bag, pipe the shells onto a baking sheet. You should have a template to make sure your shells have the same size… very important!
Leave macarons outside at room temperature for 15 minutes or until they seem to have formed a skin, or are dry at touch. Cook for 20/25 minutes (forced fan) at 150°. Open the oven gently at minute 4 and 8, to let the humidity escape. Once cooked, let cool on a wire rack.

To create macarons: try to pair the shells so they have the same size. Take the ganache out of the fridge and leave for a minute to reach room temperature. Use a piping bag and then start filling one half of the paired shell generously. Pick up the macaron filled with ganache, and the empty pair in the other and gently close them together.
Put the macarons on a tray and leave in the fridge for at least 24h. It’s hard, but the more you let them rest, the better!
Leave the macarons out before serving, at room temperature they give their absolute best… Let me know how you go!

Recipe courtesy of Baroque Bistro

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