Fondue

This last weekend my husband and I went to visit my parents on the Sunshine Coast. Their look is very much inspired by the 1960's. Every time we visit, I find myself wanting to do a fondue. So that's exactly what we did. A hot oil and cheese fondue. We had beef and prawns, accompanied by four different dipping sauces, mashed potatoes and asparagus. It can become quite an event. Of course we dressed the part too. I wore a Rag and Bone 1960's ski slope inspired sweater. Perfect for being cozy beside the fireplace.

Some people shy away from fondue's because it can be quite intimidating working with hot oil and trying to figure out what dipping sauces go with what. There's only a couple tips you must know before going into it. They are the following:

1 - There are hot oil pots and cheese pots. You can not use them for anything else. If you put cheese in a hot oil pot, it will burn. If you put hot oil in a cheese pot you could crack the pot.
2 - Do not put the oil down the drain. Put the lid on that night until the next morning when it has cooled completely. Pour into a large ziploc and place in the garbage.
3 - For hot oil, only use oils that have a high smoking point. For example: peanut, vegetable, canola or grape seed oils. 

For more tips and recipes visit: www.bestfondue.com


Cheers,
Charysse

My Perfume Vanity

On our first wedding anniversary, my husband thought it would be fun if we went perfume shopping. I won't get into the details, but basically I had a huge headache at the end of it and was extremely disappointed with what was available. In time, I came across The Perfume Shoppe. Not only did the owner Naz educate me, but also makes you feel like a million dollars. She takes into account your colouring and personality. 


Over the last couple years, I have slowly started to add to my collection (below are some photos of my perfume vanity.) For myself, I don't believe in wearing one "signature" scent. Every perfume will smell different on each person, therefore making it unique. Depending on my mood, depends on the scent I want to wear. So, if you can't jump a plane to Paris to pick your new scent, I strongly recommend you drop into The Perfume Shoppe. 

Here are some facts that I've learnt over my visits at the Perfume Shoppe with Naz:

1 - When traveling with perfume, always store in the box it came in.
2 - Never store your perfumes in the bathroom. Try to store in a cool and dark place. A dresser drawer perhaps, in original box.
3 - Mainstream brands tend to load their perfumes with chemicals and higher quantity of alcohol, whereas the real parfumeurs' scents tend to carry higher quality essential oils and higher quality of alcohol to hold these oils. 
4 - Perfume does go bad. The ones that are synthetically created go bad much faster than the parfumeurs' scents. 

For more information

Website: www.theperfumeshoppe.com
Twitter: @Parfum_Guru

Located at the Sinclair Centre in Vancouver, BC

Cheers,
Charysse