Karen Cheng

A Perth Fashion and Lifestyle Blog

Archives for November 2010

Online Fashion Boutique: Fashion Artiste

Clothes from Fashion Artiste

Fashion Artiste is another great fashion boutique based in Australia, with flat international shipping rates.

It stocks over 20 designers including, Life With Bird, Marnie Skillings, Antipodium, Kate Sylvester, and Spencer Lacy.

I’d say that the *best thing* about the online shop is their collection of low to mid-range prices of designer clothes. Meaning you get designer quality styles for a pretty good price. AND they are currently having a 30-70% off SALE.

They are also offering all my readers a special discount – 20% off everything in store, including sale items when you use the code KARENCHENG at first stage of checkout.

The Blue Skirt I’m wearing (above) is by Marnie Skillings. I am absolutely in love with it! It’s so cute, flattering, tailored, a bit quirky, the quality is fabulous and the blue is so pretty.

It arrived last week and I already wore it 3 times. It was an amazing 70% off! From $330 to $99. Which means if you buy it, you’d get a further 20% discount and only pay $79.20 for it.

The skirt was a size 8. I’m usually size AUS/UK 6, so I’m guessing the Marnie Skillings range runs small. But you can check all that out on the sizing charts on the website.

In the photo, I was getting hell bored with my usual pose and was mucking around and showing off my calf muscles as the result of all my cycling *I’m very proud!*.

Clothes from Fashion Artiste

Here on the left is a Singlet Dress by Cybele, made from a leather-look material and sheer panels. It looks hot! It was also 70% off, from $232 down to $69.60.

On the right, I’m wearing an Antipodium Sequin Dress, again 70% off. It has a kind of 60’s feel to it. All I need is a bee-hive hair do!

So yep, I’m enjoying the range of dresses and tops on the site.

If you’re thinking of buying, don’t forget the special discount code for 20% off everything in store, including sale items. Just use the code KARENCHENG at first stage of checkout.

Enjoy!!

( See all my Daily Outfits here )

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Check out more of my favourite online shops in my Women’s Online Fashion Shopping Guide.

Nigella Lawson’s Banana Chocolate Muffins

Nigella Lawson’s Banana Chocolate Muffins

Nigella Lawson, in case you don’t know, is a British Food Goddess.

Last week, I tried Nigella’s Banana Chocolate Muffin recipe. The muffins turned out to be lovely and moist, with a light texture, which was not too rich or overly sweet.

However, I found the banana flavour was pretty strong in this recipe, and it over-powered the chocolate. Maybe Australian bannanas are more flavour-some than British ones?

So I made it again and changed the recipe – less one banana and added chopped dark chocolate chips instead of the cocoa powder.

The result had the same delicious, light, moist texture, but more of a chocolatey taste with a hint of banana flavour.

Plus I used dark chocolate, so it had that deep, rich and slightly bitter taste to it. DIVINE!!!

Nigella Lawson’s Banana Chocolate Muffins

Nigella Lawson’s Banana Chocolate Muffins (slightly modified by me!)

My changes are bolded!

2 very ripe or overripe bananas (not 3)
125ml vegetable oil
2 eggs
100g soft light brown sugar
225g plain flour
3 x 15ml tablespoons best-quality cocoa powder, sifted
60g of grated dark chocolate (in addition to the  cocoa powder)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 x 12-bun muffin tin

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C and line a muffin tin with papers. Don’t worry about getting special papers: regular muffin cases will do the job.

2. Mash the bananas by hand or with an electric mixer. Still beating and mashing, add the oil followed by the eggs and sugar.

3. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, grated chocolate and bicarb together and add this mixture, beating gently, to the banana mixture, then spoon it into the prepared papers.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15–20 minutes, by which time the muffins should be dark, rounded and peeking proudly out of their cases. Allow to cool slightly in their tin before removing to a wire rack.

Serves: Makes 12

The un-Karen-Cheng-ified Original Banana Chocolate Muffin Recipe is HERE, along with a whole lot of  other excellent recipies.

Life on a Plate

A few weekends ago, I was at the river with my family. We were having a picnic, taking a walk and enjoying the sunny weather.

Scrambling up a bushy sand bank, I noticed these two pieces of a broken, old plate stuck deep in the ground.

broken-plate01

They were dirty and crusted over with mud, so I gave them a quick wipe on my jeans. As I rubbed my fingers over the cracked glaze I was overcome with a strange sense of enchantment. Like I was in some kind of time warp.

Maybe, many years ago, before this place was a beautiful park, it was used as a rubbish tip for the very old houses nearby. But I looked around, but I couldn’t find any other bits of plate.

It was a dinner plate, with hand-painted, gold detail. The pattern seemed to be of Eastern origin. The glaze was cracked by age. How old was it?

broken-plate02

I held it in my hand and wondered how much this broken plate could tell me, if it could talk.

Who made it, and what were they thinking while they did the laborious work of painting the gold detail? What did they dream of?

Did children grow up eating from this plate? Did the family argue, or talk about school, or moving house, or worry about brothers and sons away at some war?

And when the plate was broken in anger or haste, did someone get in trouble?

I imagined it as a full plate. Sitting on a beautiful tablecloth. Next to plates which looked identical to it. Holding slices of bread and fruit. I imagined laughter, happiness and the sounds of clinking glasses.

I stuck it into my bag. And it now sits next to my monitor, in a dish full of treasured objects.

It reminds me of another lifetime, and of new life.

FREE Worldwide Shipping at ASOS

asos_beachwear

The only thing that tops a SALE… is a CLEARANCE SALE at
ASOS Online Fashion!

Not to mention, they now have FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE for a limited time only!!

Anyway, with the weather warming up in the land of OZ, I’ve been taking advantage of the summer clearances.

Clothes for warm weather – like shorts, dresses, skirts, tops and swimwear are all 30-50% off. Which is pretty damn sweet. Here are some bits and pieces I managed to get my hands on from ASOS. Photos above!

Swimsuit: Vintage style front-wrap
Slippers: Melissa Flip Flops with gorgeous little bows
Scarf: Floral scarf – which I use as a sarong
Shorts: Camel belted cotton shorts
Hat and sunglasses are my own.

Ah, if I had my way, I’d prefer to live in a tropical climate, where the whether is warm and balmy all year round. I could live in summery dresses, skirts and shorts ALL YEAR!

asos_swimwear

The swimwear on sale is pretty amazing too. You can get Ted Baker bikinis and French Connection swimsuits for US$20 – $50.

Have fun and enjoy your weekend!

Styling Carrie for the Oprah Winfrey Show – Part 5

Yay! I’m so excited! With 2 more weeks until Carrie steps on the plane with Oprah Winfrey to head down to Australia, I’ve been busy and anxiously waiting for the next stage of my styling project – for Carrie to try out the clothes!

Carrie has been busy dressing up and she asked her photographer-enthusiast friend, Tara, to take some portraits of her.

Here’s a first look at Carrie in some dresses that I picked out her, from Fashion Junkee.

Fashion Junkee is an online boutique based in the US (with international delivery!). Their best feature is the awesome collection of very wearable dresses – especially the dresses made from a kind of soft, slinky, stretchy material.

I have owned some FashionJunkee dresses for 2 years now and they haven’t faded, fallen apart, or stretched out of shape from washing, which is awesome considering how affordable they were.

carrie-outfits01

FashionJunkee were pretty generous, so this is Carrie wearing the same dress in different colours!  When I chose the dress from the site, I couldn’t decide which colour would look best with her complexion. Now that I’ve seen it, I think the purple and blue look stunning on her.

Carrie says she likes this dress style and that it’s very flattering! If she wears it, she will be sure to wear some body-shaping-wear underneath “because let’s face it, we all could use a little smoothing out of the bumps and lumps!”

Tara says the camera really loved the blue one.

The dress is a Cap Sleeve Side Ruffle Dress. It’s double lined, an elegant, timeless and versatile style, and not to mention it clings in all the right places. I have the same dress in black, but it also comes in white, purple, blue, red and magenta.

Carrie is a Size US 6 (Aus 10, UK 10, Eur 38), and she’s wearing this dress in a Fashion Junkee size Large (she felt the Medium was a tiny bit too snug).

carrie-outfits02

Carrie liked the Black Crossover Wrap Dress too (above, on the left), and enjoyed having a play with the wrapping options.

In the middle photo, Carrie is wearing a slightly different wrap-style dress – Teal Side Wrap Dress. I think the colour looks gorgeous on her. She says she rarely picks blue as an option, so it was a fun exercise to SEE herself in a variety of colors.

And lastly (on the right) we have a Smocked Maxi Dress in magenta, which would be perfect to wear at summer events for day and night.

With this opportunity to play with a variety of colours and styles, Carrie is discovering which she is drawn to and what she most feels confident in. But it also helps considerably, for a friend or stylist to say “given these choices, these look best”.

carrie-outfits03

Carrie is wearing shoes generously donated by Betts, from their online collection, and they also ship internationally. From the left, silver shoes, cut-out pattern shoes, and cream coloured shoes.

Bags (also from Betts) from the left, silver clutch and beige clutch.

When Carrie  received the package (and lets face it, who doesn’t love receiving packages) she sent me a snap from her Blackberry and a message – “Every pair fits amazingly! I’m a lucky girl!”

She is a US shoe size 9, which is the same as an AUS shoe size 9 (UK 7, Eur 40). I was quite nervous with the size conversion so I asked her to measure her feet too. Thankfully the shoes were a perfect fit!

Hopefully, we’ll get one more look at Carrie in some other outfits before she leaves for Australia.

I have to confess, I find it quite nerve racking!! Stay tuned :)

50 Dollars of STUPID!

The other day I was feeling a bit out of sorts… so I drove the kids to one of our favourite beaches by the river. We had ice-creams and I let them mess around in the sand.

Two wonderful hours passed, and I felt incredibly relaxed.

But when we returned to the car, I found this little piece of paper stuck under my windscreen wiper.

parking-fine

A parking fine.

I had been fined for parking in a non-parking zone. I couldn’t believe it!

I was stunned, because this doesn’t usually happen to me. In fact, it NEVER happens to me! I am careful and considerate! I am a good member of the community! I don’t *do* parking fines.

I looked around, and saw that my car was – not only – parked on top of big yellow letters saying “DON’T PARK HERE!!”, but there was also a huge sign in front of the car which basically said “KAREN! DON’T PARK HERE, OR YOU’LL GET A FINE!!!!”

I looked around in disbelief. I was sure that those signs were NOT THERE when I parked the car. In fact, I was absolutely confident they weren’t there.

So I was left with two possible explanations.

1. I parked my car in a proper parking bay, and while I was away, someone broke into my car, moved it to the illegal spot, and then carefully locked the car up again – without stealing anything, damaging the locks, or adjusting the driver’s seat. Probably, this would be done by the parking inspector, to make more money.

Or

2. Distracted by the bickering kids and frantic to get them to the river, I just didn’t notice all the warning signs – possibly because I was a bit stressed and anxious. So instead of parking my car in one of the dozens of free parking bays for cars, yes, I parked illegally.

When I got home, I told my husband my story of stupidity. And how I was stressed and upset about being stressed and upset.

He gave me a hug, and said “It’s okay honey, it’s just money. You didn’t crash the car, you just parked it in the wrong place.”

So now, I have accepted that I am a bit stressed, and I am carefully checking every thing I do, every where I go.

For example, now I don’t just COUNT how many kids I have with me in the car when I leave the shops…

I look at them carefully to see if I actually gave birth to them. Very important!

Carry-Alls and Clutches

Bags n Packs - Affordable Leather Handbags

I was very keen to feature Bags n Packs on my site again, because they have a lovely, new collection of leather handbags.

I would describe their bag styles as “grown-up-stylish”, “simple and timeless” and “affordable”… with high-quality materials and construction, and made from genuine leather.

Above, I am carrying my favourite design, a very cute and simple leather tote handbag, called Marnie, in pink. Versatile and very robust! It also comes in pastel blue, red, and purple.

Also pictured (above, bottom right) is Dawn, a gorgeous, casual, duffle-style, leather shoulder bag. It’s the kind you can throw everything into and just pick and go – and it looks fab with anything you’re wearing!

Bags n Packs - Affordable Leather Handbags

They also have genuine leather clutches. And I chose a leopard clutch called, Safari Chic. It’s a brown and black leopard-print ponyskin bag, with leather trim. Very cool, and looks fab with my camel maxi dress!

Pictured along side from the top…
Sasha, a chocolate brown leather box clutch.
Safari Chic leopard print with leather trim clutch, size comes in big or small.
Rene (which is also available in blue or red).

Bags n Packs - Affordable Leather Handbags

I also was looking for a weekend-style bag, or stylish travel bag… and fell in love with this patchwork leather bag called Carrie. It’s so cute, and apparently it has 7 compartments.

Another two patchwork style bags that caught my eye were the Boxer handbag (with little boxing gloves keyring!), and another carryall and travel style bag, Kirstin, in a brown lavender colour.

Hope you find something for Christmas, for yourself or for a gift!

( See all my Daily Outfits here )

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Check out more of my favourite online shops in my Women’s Online Fashion Shopping Guide.

My Grandma turns 90

Everyone, meet a very beautiful lady.

grandma2010_01

She is my Poh Poh (Cantonese for “maternal grandmother”).

She turned 90 a couple of weeks ago.

Just try saying that a few times. Niiiiinnntty. Nine-Zero. Only 10 less than 100.

She was born in China, ran away from the Japanese invasion before the Second World War, arrived in Singapore, lived through the Japanese occupation there, moved to Christmas Island, and raised 10 kids in a single room house with a dirt floor. Food was so scarce she had one chicken a week to feed the ten kids and two adults.

The whole world has changed while she has been alive!

When Christmas Island became part of Australia, many of the people living there on Asian labourer wages became Australian citizens. In the 1980s, the whole clan moved to Perth, when I was 10, but Poh Poh was already almost 70.

It must have seemed like she was moving to another universe! My Poh Poh didn’t, and still doesn’t, speak any English, and there were very few Asian people in Australia back then.

Her husband, my Gong Gong, died about 15 years ago, and now she lives with one of her daughters.

I guess she has lived a life I can’t even understand, most of it without the privileges I take for granted.

To celebrate Poh Poh’s 90 years, we had an entire restaurant full of her direct descendants, and family friends. There was no shortage of chicken, and it was a Chinese restaurant, one of many, many Asian restaurants in Perth’s “Asia Town” district on William Street.

10 children.

18 grand children.

And 10 great grand children, so far.. (of which I have contributed 3!)

grandma2010_02g

Here I am with my Poh Pop’s eldest child (my own Mum), and MY youngest son, Liam Kin-Keong, who is my Poh Poh’s 10th great grand child.

I hope I am surrounded by so much family when I am 90!

Pizza Making and The Streets of Bangkok

I was invited to attend a marketing event for a new pizza franchise – called Crust – which has recently opened in the Subiaco district of my home town of Perth.

It was a chance to see the Head Chef of the franchise make pizza.

I often cook pizza at home, and I was quite keen to see how it is done professionally. But of course, I was also expecting to pig out on a lot of free gourmet pizza. I couldn’t lose.

crust_ingredients

So I rocked up, and was pretty impressed with the pizza bar. Brand new, excellent interior design, a giant kitchen behind glass. Maybe 50 different ingredients all waiting to be made into gourmet pizza while you wait. There was a crew of highly trained pizza technicians in identical uniforms, ready to leap into action, like a Formula One pit crew. All good!

I met the marketing person, Carrie, and then met the other guests.

Which is when I had the first of several shocks.

First, I discovered that I was in the company of several other bloggers – but I was the only one who was NOT a food blogger.

I mention this because, while I enjoy experimenting with recipes at home, my audience is my kids and my husband, who don’t have the most demanding of culinary needs. But food bloggers are critics with the passion of religious extremists. I love food, but for these guys, food is their WHOLE life.

I was waaaaay out of my depth in this company. The foodies were Conor, Lori, Carven and Devan.

Second shock of the evening – I was ridiculously over dressed for the occasion. When I was getting ready to go out, I must have sub-consciously thought I was going to a fashion event. So, instead of looking street-chic smart-casual, I looked like I had gotten lost on the way to a cocktail party in an expensive bar. Damn!

So there I was, in a pizza bar – a really new, shiny one, but a pizza bar nonetheless, with hungry food bloggers who were wearing jeans and sneakers, and I was in high heels and too much make-up. So I had even less credibility now. Great.

The bloggers sat down, and Peter the Head Chef explained to us all the cool things about the way “Crust” do pizza.

crust_peter

As he made the pizzas, including the dough, he explained how they have to put the toppings on in an exact certain way to stop the pizzas messing up the ovens, how the topping (if there are more than three) have to go on in a certain pattern to stop them mushing up, how the cheese has to be tactically deployed for structural stability, how they have gluten free pizzas, and how they have several pizzas so healthy that they have the National Heart Foundation “tick of approval”. They even have square pizzas, and deep dish pizzas. Very interesting!

And then my third shock of the evening came.

Peter divided the bloggers into teams of two, and each team was going to have to invent a pizza (including naming it) and then one of the team members would actually make the pizza – in the fully operating pizza bar! Right here. Right NOW!

Bah. I just wanted to EAT pizza. I cook at home everyday. I go out so I can get SOMEONE ELSE TO COOK FOR ME!

I was paired with Devan. There were 3 other bloggers in the room, all of whom were experts in food and cooking, and none of whom were wearing high heels. So poor guy, just his luck, he got me as his buddy.

We got to work, with 10 minutes to brainstorm our concept for a unique pizza.

We both love Thai food – and Devan is half Thai – so we decide to capture the essence of Thai culinary culture on a single pizza. But we wanted to put a creative spin on it, and instead of going with stereotypical Thai foods (like tom yum and pad thai), we went more for street Thai flavours. And so we called the pizza “The Streets of Bangkok”. I loved the name!

crust_karendevan
Behold the amazing creative chemistry between Devan and I. Poor guy!

So despite the awesome pizza name, it all went down hill after that.

Devan “suggested” that I be the chef. And I agreed.

But inside I was thinking OMG what have I got myself into! I am SO NOT dressed to make pizza! I can’t cook with a TIME LIMIT, in an industrial kitchen, in full view of the PUBLIC!! CRAP!

I put on a brave face and off we went, assembling our competing pizzas as best we could.

crust_bloggersworking

As we worked, I kept looking over at the other blogger’s pizzas, and they looked great.

The foodies seemed completely un-intimidated by the hovering presence of Head Chef Peter. But I just kept thinking that my shoes alone contravened a million health and safety rules, and I kept flicking my big hair around my head to try and keep it out of the pizza. I could have taken out someone’s eye with it. Head Chef Peter must have thought I was such a ditz.

crust_babypoo
Do these gloves go with my outfit?

I did my best, but “The Streets of Bangkok” looked more like “Little Lumps of Dog Poo in the Streets of Bangkok, with Vegetable Scraps Thrown on Top”.

crust_allwrong
Apparently I was being too stingy with the cheese.

Peter tried to help me with some advice, but I still wasn’t getting it right, so then he just sort of (politely) pushed me out of the way, and did it himself. I don’t blame him. I was not worthy of his kitchen.

Fortunately, the time came for the three pizza creations to go into the oven.

crust_paelle

When they came out, this one was judged by the pizza bar staff to be the best.

A visual delight, with subtle hints of seafood, and named “Paella”. Just what you would expect food bloggers to come up with. To my great relief, nobody mentioned “The Streets of Bangkok” ever again, and Devan and I avoided eye contact for the rest of the evening. (Only kidding!)

With the winner chosen, we were finally treated to an orgy of pizzas made by the staff at Crust. And it was sooooooo goooooood! Happy Karen! (and I even had coffee with the food bloggers later, and they were all really nice people.)

crust_karenpig
I won’t need to eat again this month.

My review of the pizza? I liked it a lot. Good value for first rate gourmet pizza.

Crust is on 502 Hay Street in Subiaco, just down from the Regal theatre, towards the train station.

Matching Smiles

Liam 20 months

Remember that little lump of a baby I used to carry around in my sling?

Look at him now! He’s a fricking toddler!

He wears sandals! And carries around a bag of biscuits! He tells me when he has a poo in his pants!

Oh I am so in love with this photo of us.

It just oozes with happiness. And I really wanted to share some happiness this week.

I love my son’s cheeky little smile. I love the way he’s leaning into my arms and the way his legs dangle over my thigh.

I snapped the photo as we were getting ready to go to the fruit and vegetable market.

I wish I could bottle him up and keep him like this forever.