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Asian Voice - Saturday 17th December 2011
f ashionista
by Debasree Ghosh
Be a Fashionista, Be You! If you have any questions or a story or a new style to share with us, please write to Shree at aveditorial@abplgroup.com
The Christmas-ista This week, I have my work Christmas party i.e the sociological and psychological minefield. As daft as religion itself, and as unavoidable this time of the year. It’s a litmus taste of social dos (be friendly) and don’ts (but not so friendly that you end up in your boss’s flat, alone) while chugging alcohol by the gallons and desperately trying to come up with non-work related topics of conversation. What to wear in this battle of bored boundaries? What you are looking for here is classy, unassuming, quiet and completely non-individualistic. You don’t want to look smart, sexy or God forbid, fun. The look you are going for here is Nice, with a capital ‘N’. Labels that offer this are Massimo Dutti, Banana Republic, Issa, Theory and Joseph or if your bonus is 40k upwards, Prada and Bottega Veneta. Like me, my fiancé also has his merry obligations of the season, and unlike me he expects his other half to accompany him to most of those. This is a tricky situation. I am friends with some of his friends, a few among whom are rather good-looking and a few of whom are women and a couple of them even decide his corporate fate. So, the brief is to look sexy enough for the man to feel proud, but not so sexy that people think our union is on shaky grounds, classy but not uptight, fun but not ‘haha..is that what the fashionable kids in advertising wearing these days?’, and definitely not anything covered in sequins. J.Crew, Hoss Intropia, Jaeger, Farhi or Milly are your playground. Me, I am wearing the DvF bought off Outnet.com. ‘Tis the time for friends and family tra la la..ahem. Family....sigh. Make no mistake, there will be family. And the family will frown at your Balmain jacket. I have had Christmas dinners at the house of my in-laws, where I was the only person in shoes not even resembling ‘sensible’. And I have had Christmas dinners in my home where I was so frantically busy checking the turkey and mashing the cranberries that I ended up spending the whole evening in a tracksuit while all my guests had made the effort to not look homeless. What I am trying to say is, when it come to family dinners or heck, family anything, you just can’t get it right. It’s pointless.
Gaga about gadgets In a Telegraph magazine, meant for only suggestive Christmas gifts, Matt Warman writes about the gadgets that are turning people gaga.
Top gadgets: l
l l l l l
Vita R I portable radio (￡159) and carry case (￡32), Sight and Sound Smart Speaker- A Q Audio (￡219) Bose QC 15 noise cancelling headphones (￡279), Bose Sony tablet (￡349) Nokia Lumia 800 (￡399.95) iDeck 200 (￡399.95)
(Prices may change. Terms & conditions apply)
There are so many age-groups, deranged psychologies, generational attitudes and personal equations involved that at least three people are going to trash you anyway. So, don’t try too hard. My only advice is, wear good underwear and clothes that accommodate them. It’s dangerous to bend down to ring out the twenty pound roast while wearing strapless backless chiffon slinkiness. And finally, The one party that you actually want to go to. The one that has your friends, not your colleagues; the one where it’s okay to do tequila shots secure in the knowledge somebody will shove you up in a taxi and hold your hair back while you ‘de-tox’ yourself; the party where it’s fine to admit your love of tinsel and make eyes at the cute bartender, because hey, it’s Christmas. ‘Tis the time to break out the sequinned micro-mini. You are spoilt for choice girl! Half of High-street and almost every fashion brand cater to you. Break the rules and make your own. Be individualistic, go all-out hot and in-your-face glamorous. The only person, who can stop you here, is you. And above all, be thankful that you have all these parties to go to. Merry Christmas, everybody! Mmmm..eggnog.
Finger in the pie
A Christmas Tale This Wednesday evening 50 members of the Dickens Pickwick Club will meet at the George & Vulture, an ancient hostelry in the City of London where people have gone to relax since Chaucer’s father downed a glass or two there! At the cry of the ‘Wittles’ they will take their seats for a heroic supper that will certainly include Pickwick pie (aka steak and kidney pud)followed by Stilton. They will eat in a shabby, tobacco stained room which looks the same as it did to Charles Dickens when he went there with 34 Chums on January 20, 1836, just before he began writing The Pickwick Papers. The G&V would appear in that show-stopping book at least 20 times. His framed bill, for 11 and 5 shillings, survives. The club was founded by Cedrick Dickens (1916-2006)great grandson of the writer and the living embodiment of Pickwick himself. Its aim is to preserve and celebrate the spirit of his ancestor’s oeuvre. It will certainly play an enthusiastic role in the bicentenary celebration next year. Boris Johnson has pledged that London will do Dickens proud: “Dickens stands for London. He
Mini Mincemeat Pies For The Lazy Cook: (Serves 12) Ingredients l 1 (500g) pack of pre-made puff pastry l 450g mincemeat (You can make this at home, but save yourself some bother and buy from store) l 50g dried cranberries l 1 tbsp lemon zest l 4 egg yolks beaten l 50g golden caster sugar
(Ref: The Ghost of Christmas PresentsThe Sunday Times Magazine)
Help yourself
n Shree As everyone knows, eating is seriously detrimental to fashion. While this is completely true, as well-documented by everyone who has lost five pounds and gained it back, in my experience, not eating doesn’t do good things to my sanity. Especially at time time of the year, you have to be a fool to starve yourself. Now, I like desserts. I don’t particularly like eating them, but I absolutely love baking sweet things. This weekend I’ll be making lots of jams and preserves that bottled up, will serve as Christmas presents to friends and family. And I’ll make batches of mini mince pies that I’d take to work to be vanished within the hour. If you, like me, would like to shamelessly lap up praises and compliments for your cooking skills, give this very easy recipe a try.
not only created an incomparable pageant of London characters, he turned the capital into the greatest character Charles Dickens of all.” Dickens wrote about Christmas all his working life, but it was in A Christmas Carol that he gave us the finest, clearest and warmest account of the festival ever written.
Method Preheat the oven to 200°C / gas mark 6. Mix together the shop bought mincemeat with the cranberries and lemon zest. Roll out the pastry until it is 2mm thick. Stamp out 12 x 6cm rounds with a pastry cutter and lay on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Fill each case with one heaped teaspoon of mincemeat and brush the edges with a little egg wash. Stamp out 12 x 6cm fluted rounds for the lids and put on top of the mincemeat, sealing to the edges of the bases, by pressing down gently with the tips of your fingers. Brush with the egg yolks and sprinkle lightly with golden caster sugar. Make a little hole on top. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown sprinkle with the sugar and cool or serve warm.
Everybody may not have a lot of money to spend on an expensive Christmas gift. In that case, make your own Christmas present. Jazz Domino Holly, who wrote Queen of Crafts (published by Penguin) has suggested a few tips on how to make your own Christmas present. l Make the time: There’s a bigger sense of personal value when you give friends and family something home-made. You don’t have to be really creative. A lot of people get very scared and think they are not crafty enough. half of the fun is experimenting and seeing what works. l A Sound Idea: If you are not really crafty and don’t fancy sewing, make the equivalent of a personalised mix tape, burned on to a CD. You can even make your own CD cover on Adope photo shop l It’s a wrap: Try using brown paper or old maps to wrap and tie with colourful yarn instead of ribbons. Or use a paper doily as stencil, rest it on some brown paper and spray-paint a bright colour on top