Easter Cinnamon Pears Pancake!

We all know EGGS are a symbol of Easter and I just want to share with you my utmost favourite oven baked "thick" French pancake recipe that would be perhaps nice to make for the Easter Brunch. 

It came from one of the best cooking books! "Cooking in cast iron" by Valerie Aikman-Smith. 

Here it is:

Preheat the oven to 450F.

1. On low-medium heat in a cast iron frying pan melt 2 - 3 TBSP of butter and add medium thik slices of Bosc pear (2 or 1) that was washed and cored (keep the peel). Sprinkle with cinnamon liberarly and turn them after few minutes around. 

2. In a mixing bowl with a hand electric mixer on medium high mix well the following ingredients untill fluffy and smooth: 

4 eggs

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole milk

1 tbsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp brown sugar

3. Pour it over the pears in the frying pan and place in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes until golden brown and puffed up!

Serve drenched in the REAL CANADIAN maple syrup (or honey as the French recipe calls for). 

Enjoy! 

Happy Easter to you all, 

XO Z

Lanterns. 

And other hallway, stairway lighting has been on my mind for quite some time. Perhaps because I just could not find anything special enough...

Yet another cold? I say NO, thank you.

Hello and thank you for stopping by even if you don't want to get my son's cold! Yes poor boy is sick and that despite my new Vitamix smoothie machine and our healthy lifestyle. It must be the continuous depressive Calgary weather, snowing as I write. 

So how about this instead!?

Candice for Victoria Secret 2013

I am still a believer, and here is my favourite recipe, inspired by Lizelle Henegan, my beautiful friend, who came to Calgary with her family from South Africa, and this ever so attractive blond and slim and sexy woman is on top a "novel writer" but I can't tell you more about that now. Just giving you the visual above to inspire your imagination when it comes to my friend...

So here is my Lizelle inspired "green" smoothie recipe to start your day with: 

Place the following into your Vitamix blender:

6 icecubes

1 1/2 cup water

3 medium kale leaves (remove stalks)

2 large chard leaves

2 hand fulls of baby spinach leaves

1 small banana

1 small apple (cored)

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1/3 cup frozen raspberries or peaches

2 or 3 tbsp full fat greek yoghurt (I use vanilla flavored or plain)

Let it work it's own magic and use an available Child Labour: 

And when it turns off by itself, you may serve this heavenly drink to your entire family as the kids love it too! 

Voila: 

On another note and considering the terrible weather, I keep myself busy with interior decorating...and here is a fabric I picked for this lovely Louis XV ottoman that goes with my new Bergere chair!

What do you think? 

Those rosettes remind me of the ever so fabulous Dior Spring 2013 skirt: 

And here worn by Linda Fargo at the Bergdorf Goodman's party:

I just love this skirt way too much, so does Helen Mirren...looking royal in it: 

And the runway looks were spectacular...as well as worn by celebrities...

source

Isn't is interesting and great that everyone is wearing just a simple black bodice with this unique skirt? 

Hope you are having a healthy week and I am looking forward to hearing from you!

XO, Z

Runway to Workway Fashion: Parisian Party Inspired

Hello!

Ready to get dressed? 

I have been blogging too much about the real life I have, which is my passion...

Having said that, my other passion can't be neglected, time to visit some hot fashion parties and bring it to our daily workweek life, what do you say? 

We are taking a peek at the the Paris Fashion Week Festivities here! 

Who else to begin with but THIS beautiful woman "Carine" ... amazing isn't she? Her daughter - beautiful. 

So if you are looking for a great (Carine style) black dress, I found one by BOTTEGA VENETA that is "jersey comfy" yet great for day or night:

We all know THEM! Wow, those sheers that Kate is wearing...

BUT GIOVANNA BATTTAGLIA 

my favourite fashion icon looked the best in Valentino for sure, right? 

We can try this DVF's crocheted day dress that may be that much more practical for a work week day:

Few more beautiful people dressed in beautiful clothes (notice the wood panneling and staircase...the interior is just unbelievable too!): 

ANA GIRARDOT in Valentino. 

And this version of painterly approach to spring in a more casual week day way also by RED Valentino, just the perfect skirt:

DARIA STROKOUS.

DAPHNE GROENEVELD.

Here is a red dress that is a bit more wearable to any cocktail after work thingy....by Lover!

MARGHERITA MISSONI in Missoni. 

ELENA PERMINOVA in Emilio Pucci. 

XIAO WEN JU in Valentino. 

CECILE CASSEL. 

Hope you enjoyed the well dressed people and have fun shopping!

XO, Z

Hallway seat update!

And some more regular life things that are happening...with us in Calgary.

Yes, thank you all ladies for wonderful comments & tips on the "sharp Wall Street" tuffet that is quite fun and colourful too... you were right, it looks wonderful in our hallway. 

You be the judge of that please! 

Normally, I keep the colours less bright, but our nook as you may have noticed reflects some of the same hues as this newly purchased tuffet (teal, blue, yellow, tuscan pink-red) and today we have some colourful  flowers on the table there in Tina's beautiful silver CREST from her Enchanted Shop! With time, this piece looks just perfectly aged, check it out HERE when it was new. 

On another note, our son Radovan has grown a lot since he was 3 (half a year ago exactly). He was 100 cm then and he is 106 cm now! And he is proudly almost always the tallest for his age ... 

Here he is:

And what makes us happy everyday besides the tons of hugs and kisses we give each other and to daddy is the unbelievable amount of SUN shine we get in Calgary! 

Here in front of our house, we play despite the snow...looking forward to the spring in Europe soon...

Hope you are having a happy week as well.

XO, Z

Entry hall setting seat

MacKenzie-Childs

Is this ever a fun blend of colours or o do you hate it? 

I don't know but this whimsical style of MacKenzie-Childs is getting to me that is if I use just ONE piece in my home to make sure I keep the over-all feel more elegant and even then...is it too much? smiles....

 

I am looking for a stunning strong piece of this shape and size for our front entry hall because we have a very large space there with doors leading to other rooms and not much wall to place a settee anywhere so it has to be round seat in the middle in front of the entry doors for everyone to sit down when getting their shoes on or off!

OUR HALL WAY ENTRY:

This Cameo & Ribbons Tuscan fabric is my favorite though and thanks to BELGIAN PEARLS AGAIN (http://belgianpearls.blogspot.ca/ ) I found this magical place with romantic fabrics: Kate Formman 

OR 

This typicaly 18th Centurty French design with its fine drawing? Loving the gentle lines here...I must use one of these fabrics somewhere!

And the delicious Roses in reds, pinks and sage, can't get enough of them.

What is your favourite fabric place you go to when you need the perfec one?

Also, one fabulous superwoman blogger has inspired me with her hallway styling...and many other thins...like her fashion sense and line! Check it our at Sheridan French Blog!

Hope you are having a lovely week.

XO, Z