Voila

Wellbeing 

I always look forward to receiving Lucinda's emails in my inbox. I definitely feel inspired when reading her articles so thank you xx

I agree with the fat and acid synopsis of dressing. I would say that has been my number one trick for dressing that has helped my create my style and would probably define my style, mixing smart and casual. I love an old battered pair of jeans with a silk shirt or a smart leather skirt and a relaxed t.shirt. Perfect !!

Gx   

   Get Inspired 

Well hello there lovely people! How are you enjoying the sunshine?

 It’s been sweltering here in Bath and, as a true sun-worshipper, I have loved every minute of it. I find that the longer days and cloudless skies really energise me in a way that I forget is possible during the dark winter months. I feel happier and more inspired by the warmth and the light and the colours of Spring and Summer, and find that I have less need to follow recipes and more desire to create my own out of what’s available at the market. Which gets me on to this month’s topic: inspiration.

Inspiration can come from every corner of the world in every form known and unknown to man. Sometimes it is obvious – we look at something someone else has put together and find it attractive or meaningful to us and so we try to recreate it in our own way. Other times we may feel a more ‘divine’ type of inspiration, where an idea comes to us as if from out of nowhere, as if it is ours and only ours. But more often than not, if we examine those ideas really carefully we can find a thread of inspiration that does lead outside of ourselves and to more tangible things in our day to day life. This is not to say that we are not original and creative, only that we are human and that almost all ideas have their own narrative thread that tells of their formation. Rather than finding this a depressing thought, I think it adds a depth, complexity and sophistication to our creations that honours all the work others have done in the same pursuit.

Today we are bombarded with material from which to gain inspiration. The internet is full of images of everything imaginable, and we can find information on almost anything we want to by just the click of a button. Indeed, Instagram and especially Pintrest are huge social media sites who run entirely on our desire to be inspired by what others do. I absolutely love to see the outfits and styles that Gaby so perfectly puts together herself on Voila, but I also love that she posts images of where she gets her inspiration – its not only acknowledging the source of her own creativity, but showing how the process works (if you haven’t already, check out Voila’s swoon-worthy Pinterest page). Of course, if we see an outfit in Vogue that we love, we do not go out and buy every single thing the 6’ size 6 model is wearing and expect to look just like her (although advertising works on the premise we do!). We may think how we can incorporate one of the pieces into our current wardrobe, or what we have already that could look similar, or how we could alter the colour or cut of some of the things to better suit our own personal style or shape. And of course, for most of us, we will look for cheaper versions of the same thing. As we grow older, we learn (with the help of blogs like Voila), to know ourselves inside and out and to refine our style according to that. The more we feel ourselves in the clothes we wear, the happier and more authentic we feel.

I feel the same is true about cooking. Other than when I am baking (which is more of a science than most cooking), I very rarely follow a recipe to the letter. I tend to see something I like, have a look at what I have in my fridge, and then work from there. I like to add things or processes that I have learned from other recipes and add them in where I think they might enhance the finished result. One of the best cooking philosophies I’ve heard comes from Nigel Slater, which is colour = flavour. Whether it is adding a little charred edge to roasted vegetables, getting a really burnished gold crust on your pastry, or using the deepest yellow organic butter, I find that in most food related issues this is true. Of course, you also need a contrasting blandness to really strong flavour which is why the whitest of fluffy rice is the perfect accompaniment to a spicy curry and why gently steamed vegetables are a light and cleansing alternative to honey-roasted everything. Balance, as with everything in life, is always key. This links to another great piece of advice that I take into the kitchen which actually came as fashion advice from the ever-stylish Lauren Laverne: always dress with fat and acid, that is something hard with something soft, something bright with something neutral etc… I find this is equally necessary in the kitchen, the contrast of sharp and sweet in desserts, of hot chilli with cooling sour cream, lemon with olive oil in the simplest of salad dressings, avocado with chilli and lime….the list goes on and on!

I have few favourite cooking blogs that I love to look at too, and find incredibly inspiring. Aside from the big guns such as Nigel, Jamie and Yotam Ottolenghi, whose books I can while over for hours, my two absolute favourite blogs are www.mynewroots.com and www.greenkitchenstories.com  If you haven’t heard of these two yet, head over to them right away from some photographic, Scandinavian, vegetarian food heaven! I recently made the beetroot tart from Green Kitchen Stories which proved very popular in the home and on the web, but this month I thought I would share with you a recipe of theirs that I tweaked and played with according to what I had on hand. Of course sometimes this can go wrong ( I once made the most disastrous curry by altering the amounts and types of spices in the recipe – it tasted very, very strange). But that’s OK too, in fact going wrong is one of the ways we learn best. So here it is, my version of Green Kitchen Stories Asparagus, Fennel and Spinach Soup. You can find the original recipe here: http://www.greenkitchenstories.com/asparagus-fennel-spinach-soup-topping/

Click on the recipe to print out and read 

You can make any variety of flavour combinations with soup, and if you are not used to experimenting in the kitchen, it’s the perfect place to start as its hard to go wrong – just sauté or roast any combination of vegetables with onion and garlic and maybe some herbs or spices, then add stock and blend (if you want a creamy soup that is). I really love David and Luise’s addition of toppings to soups. It makes them so much more exciting and filling, so try different versions of the toppings too: crumbled feta and walnuts with a little honey perhaps to bring sharpness, crunch and sweetness on top of a creamy celeriac soup, or spicy roasted chickpeas with parsley and lemon to bring a Moroccan edge to your standard roasted vegetable soup. Whatever you do this summer, use those extra hours of light to get inspired, get creative, and get happy

Sending lots of summer love from,

Lucinda x