HOW I MAKE GUACAMOLE

Guacamole is one of my recent obsessions. I only tried it for the first time about a year ago and recently I have become hooked.  I love any sort of Mexican food and guacamole seems to just taste great with everything. So there are a lot of health benefits associated with avocados, I don't know what they are that's just something I've heard! :D It's one of those foods crappy magazines would call a 'superfood'.

It's really easy to make, it tastes great and it's healthy.

This is how I make it but you can put anything in it that you think would be nice.

You will need:

2 RIPE avocados

Just over half a white onion

6 cherry tomatoes or any kind of tomato

Half a pepper of any colour, I use yellow

Garlic, I use 3 cloves

1 lime

Salt & Peppaa

Most recipes also suggest using coriander, I haven't tried this yet. 

Cut open the avocados and take out the seed. Scoop out all of the inside of the avocado and place it in a large bowl or container. I use a fork to mash up the avocado. Mash it up as much as you like. I like it quite chunky. You can even use a food processor if you would like it really smooth. 

Now cut up your pepper, onion and tomatoes. Cut them up to any size you like. Then crush your garlic or chop it up. Now mix all these things up with the avocado. 

Cut a lime in half and squeeze all the juice into the mixture. You can use more lime juice if you like. This adds flavour and also slows down the guacamole from going off if you want to keep it for the next day as well.

Now add salt and pepper for flavour and any other flavourings you might like. Mix it all up and there you have it; guacamole! NOM NOM NOM.

You can store it in the fridge in an air tight container. Although be aware that it doesn't last very long so don't make loaaaaaaads of it thinking you can store it. It will last for up to 3 days absolute max.

Serving suggestions:

I like to even it even just on it's own. It is also nice just on bread. It's nice to add to a sandwich or in a burger and especially nice in any sort of Mexican wrap such as fajitas. 

It's nice to dip crisps or tortilla chips into, anything like that.

I like to have for breakfast on bread with scrambled eggs, this is probably my favourite way to eat it.

I haven't tried this yet but I reckon it would be nice in some sort of salad with feta cheese. I'm also obsessed with feta cheese.

So give it a go if you haven't already!

Oscars Style 2013

So here is the mandatory blogger post about my thoughts on what people wore to the Oscars.

For me, I felt like collectively the style on the red carpet was worse than other years. I didn't bother making a best dressed list as I felt the there were no obvious stand outs anyway. My favourites were probably Charlize Theron and Zoe Salanda. I also don't make worst dressed lists as that's so negative, I prefer to discuss particular looks. It's all subjective anyway!

I loved Samantha Barks in this Valentino dress. The plunging neckline prevents such a simple dress from being dull. Her choice of jewelry, hairstyle and make-up are spot on. Her posing however is a little odd, but whatever! Work on it guuurl.

I must, of course, mention Jennifer Lawrence seeing as she went home with the best actress award. She is wearing Dior Couture. This one is a little too bridal for me. The bottom of the gown also reminds me of an onion. Her hair and accessories did work though so all in all this one is a bit of a 'meh' for me. On a side note, Ms. Lawrence fell on the way up to collect her Oscar, I must check that out!

Olivia Munn in Marchesa. Stunning! Love it. The colour is so nice with her skin tone and hair colour. I also love that she chose to go with out a necklace because the gold detailing on the dress is definitely enough.

Nicole Kidman in L'Wren Scott. I like this dress but the batman symbol  in the midriff area is slightly confusing. ?
Anyway, I love how it fades from gold to black and then gold again. The celtic designs on the bottom are divine. However, I'm not liking this hair colour on Nicole, it's washing her out.

Sandra Bullock in Elie Saab. This is an interesting one and I really like it. I like the fact that she picked a black dress from Elie Saab, otherwise it could have got real boring real quick. The slick hairstyle works really well. Thumbs up!

Jennifer Aniston in Valentino Couture. I love Jenny A but this just does not work for me. Firstly, I'm not sure but it appears that the material was changed from the runway design, for the worse. This taffeta type material is nasty, and in red, could she BE ANY MORE PROM? It could just be the way it shows up in the pictures though, I'm not sure. Her hair is so lazy and boring. It's the same as always. C'mon Jen, you're at the Oscars for God's sake.

Zoe Salanda in Alexis Mabille. This gets a massive thumbs up for me! The dress is fabulous, she looks great in it, her hair is lovely. The cherry on top is those black shoes with the little bows peeping out, genius!

Some more looks I liked:

Some that disappointed me:

I usually love Kerry Washington's style but this dress just seemed like an odd choice to me. Very boring. The colour and style is also verging on tacky but of course Ms. Washington could wear the tackiest tack and not look tacky.

Thoughts?

Rihanna For River Island

When I heard Rihanna was designing(?) a capsule collection for River Island my initial thought was 'oh there's a match made in heaven'. Not that it would necessarily be my cup of tea but it seemed like an idea that could work and collaboration based on mutual interests. If I had to describe Rihanna's tastes and style using one high street clothing store it would be River Island.

The collection was revealed on February 16th at London fashion week. I'm not sure why River Island felt they should show this as London fashion week. Surely they knew that it would be slated or at least met with mixed reactions by fashion critics. Possibly their idea was 'there is no such thing as bad publicity'. Although RiRi herself was quoted as saying 'I can't wait to see the reaction from my fans and the fashion press'. So maybe she is just delusional in regards to her abilities as a designer.

Rihanna has always come across as a little bit narcissistic to me, especially from looking at her instagram account. So it was a pleasant surprise when I saw she did not appear in the campaign images. The campaign uses models such as Jourdan Dunn, who I am a very big fan of, and super trendy models such as Charlotte Free and Bambi Northwood Blyth, very predictable from Rihanna. It is quite a good campaign, so here it is!

So what do I actually make of the clothing? I am definitely a Rihanna fan; a fan of some of her music and her personal style. I can see why some people would dislike the collection. Rihanna has a very distinctive style and it definitely has Rihanna all over it. But isn't that the point of the collection? I feel like the clothes are very River Island and also very Rihanna. I appreciate that River Island has an image and generally sticks to it, unlike other high street stores doing collaborations which a lot of the time just don't make sense to me.
Here are the looks.

A lot of the clothing is very 90s inspired with tough boots and 90s style heels completing the looks. I like the fact that a lot the clothing is very plain although I would have enjoyed some crazy pieces as well seeing as it is Rihanna and also because I feel the copies of the American Apparel aesthetic by other high street stores is definitely over done. The only thing I find a little passé is the 'hi-lo' hemline on some of the dresses and skirts. I love the tie dyed pattern clothes and the colours used on them. I also find the knots in some of the skirts or tops a little silly and also the skirt with the shirt detail on it. I hate that kind of clothing, just tie your own shirt in a knot or tie your own shirt around your skirt. I don't find the clothing to be any better or any worse to what River Island would normally sell. The jersey material of some of the dresses and skirts looks very flimsy and possibly unflattering, although I would have to see them in person to know for sure. The prices are quite reasonable. Although they will probably be considerably more expensive in Ireland. Some of the pieces look worth the price and as I said before about the look of the material others do not. The varsity jackets retail at £120 and I find them to be very dull and definitely overpriced.

Of the items that are to be available first, these are my picks, things I like and feel I would wear, and possibly purchase!

 

Thigh split maxi skirt, £45.

Cropped tee. £20.

Cropped sweatshirt, £30. 

Dungaree top, £30.

Stripe bra top, £30. 

Slim leg wash jeans, £50. 

Stripe shorts, £35.

Thigh split maxi skirt, £40.

I can see why the collection hasn't be rated. I think people are also forgetting that it is just a high street collab with a pop star, I'm not really sure what more they expected from it! Showcasing the collection at London fashion week did try to make it out to be something it isn't. I don't understand people describing the collection as not being wearable. I can definitely see girls here in Dublin loving it. Although I don't think it is suited to all body types. All in all the collection works for me and I think it is a great collaboration! I think it well sell well. This is coming from your average young high street customer which matters more than what the fashion critics have to say.

Thoughts?

On My Radar: Miroslava Mikheeva-Duma

Miroslava is from Russia and has worked as a special event correspondent for the Russian version of Harper's Bazaar and supposedly eventually went on to work as an editor. She is the daughter of the Russian senator Vasilay Duma. She is also founder of Buro 24/7, a fashion news website, written in Russian may I add for anybody thinking about reading it. However what gave her international interest is most certainly related to her personal style having being photographed for the Sartorialist among others. She is now working freelance for numerous publications and it's not hard to see why. I would describe her style as being elegant and playful although sometimes I feel like it is her youthful and almost mischievous natural features which adds this dimension to her fashion choices. She is thought to be about 26 years old and married with a child.

It is impressive that she is small in stature and manages to pull off so many different styles. It has been reported that she is around the 5'2 mark. I always welcome petite fashionistas as there are not enough of them in the industry and they prove time and time again that clothing doesn't just look great on tall women. Some may see her style as tacky and typical of a ‘nouveau riche’ socialite but for me, while she obviously spends a lot of money on clothing and accessories, I find her styling to be very playful and she obviously does not take herself too seriously unlike many of the other Russian ‘nouveau riche’. If you are rich, why not? I know I’d kit myself out in designer gear if I was rich. Russian fashion and style is also quite different to what we are used to seeing in the western world. It can be summarised as ‘over the top’. I'm also always a fan of an element of ‘tackiness’, understated style can quite often for me be a bit, well understated and can quickly get boring and too generic. She makes 'over the top' outfits appealing and seem natural, this is a very interesting quality that I have not really seen before. Miroslava stays true to her Russian roots and her own personal style while blending it with many other influences. She is a poster child for the on-going style evolution in Russia and stated in an interview with the British Telegraph that she believes Moscow could become a fashion capital. I personally admire people who experiment with fashion even if that means getting it wrong sometimes or even more often than not. This is how I believe some of the best outfits and looks and created. This is what makes her an interesting player for me in the world of fashion. I do not buy for a minute the idea that Miroslava is rich and not much else. She will often manage to go from designer-heavy Russian socialite to American girl next door.

It’s always nice to remember that money can’t buy style and I do believe this statement.

Of course, this post would not be complete without an overload of images.