Blossom's Daytime Drinkies

As the weather becomes sweeter and warmer, it is a wonderful time to take Cocktail Hour forward a little (any time from
4 pm, really), and make the most of the sun while it shines. Perhaps we can even start taking our tipple outdoors, with the trees and the birds ... and the neighbours!

There is always that sense of celebration about Spring, and the toddies and Martinis and Manhattans of Winter just don't seem to cut it when we are standing outside for the first time without gloves and scarves, blinking in the light and inhaling great lungfuls of non-freezing air.

Even I, with my Martini habit, like to celebrate afternoon drinkies in Spring with something a little less serious ... a little lighter ... a little frothier. Something even slightly ... tackier?

So saying, here are my top three picks for your Spring Afternoon Tipple. You will need some crayzee garnishes for these classics. Slice up some orange and lemon wheels, dig out some colourful straws and small plastic donkeys. Fling on a pair of OTT sunnies, rustle up some fresh fruit and cheese, stick some swing on that stereo there, and celebrate cautiously — no more frostbite for a while!

XXOO
Blossom

Bellini

This pretty peachy number, popular in the Fifties, is exquisite with fresh white peaches in season. However, right now they are not — in Canberra at least. Don't let that worry you, as we are lucky to live in a world with supermarkets! I simply use peach nectar ... but if you have a penchant for canning, you can whizz up some of last year's preserved peaches in a blender.

Be warned that fruit pulp causes sparkling wine to fizz up in a radioactive manner. Add the champers carefully to avoid spillage.

Finally, a word on glassware. Anybody who knows the fizz will tell you to serve it in proper flutes, to preserve the sparkle and chill. But hey — it's Spring. If you have champagne saucers, baby, this is the time to use them. Especially nice little vintage ones.

Do you know how to stop champagne from going warm and flat when you serve it in a saucer? Drink it quickly!

• 3 parts chilled sparkling white wine
• 1 part chilled peach nectar or fresh or canned peach pulp
• Peach slices to garnish

First, pop your champagne saucers in the freezer for a while to chill. When they are nice and frosty, pour in the peach nectar or pulp, then carefully top with sparkling wine. Stir lightly with a glass swizzle, and garnish with a peach slice.

Moscow Mule

Another Fifties classic, lending itself perfectly to some completely insane garnishing. This is perhaps not the most tasteful drink — the blatant Cold War reference is hard to ignore — but it's very tasty!

This one definitely works best with ginger beer, not ginger ale. Use a properly brewed variety (such as our own Bundaberg) and you will find it even more refreshing. Also, go ahead and use a decent vodka, and real limes (remember, we're still in citrus season!)

Glassware: use a highball.

• 45 ml vodka
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• Chilled ginger beer
• Lime slices, swizzle sticks, fluoro straws, small plastic donkeys to garnish

Fling a few ice cubes into the highball. Add vodka and lime juice, then fill with ginger beer. Stir, garnish like MAD and serve.

Harvey Wallbanger

Now read carefully, my dears, you won't see these words typed by Blossom too often. She only gets this way for a few weeks at the beginning of each Spring, so enjoy it while it lasts ...

Let's do Seventies!

There is something about this number that screams 'let's forget about dignity and drink some cocktails, already!' Sure, it is basically a Screwdriver, but has been totally irresponsibly spiked with Galliano. Consequently you will need both highball glasses and an irresponsible attitude — but not too irresponsible, because I have it on good authority that a Galliano hangover is not for the best!

• 4 parts chilled orange juice
• 2 parts vodka (yes, this is strong)
• A dash of Galliano
• Orange slices and straws to garnish

Fill highball with cracked ice, and build vodka and orange into glass and stir. Float Galliano on top, garnish with orange slices. Drink with a straw.

Darla’s Fashion Tips: to dress … or not to dress

It really is the height of bad manners to ignore the dress code on an invitation. I remember hearing a story from one poor bride who specified ‘formal attire’ on her invitation and ended up with people (of the male persuasion) turning up to the wedding in trainers and t-shirts … aaargh! Suffice to say her pictures were a little spoiled — personally I would have had them evicted from the ceremony.

Australia is a very casual country and indeed it is one of the things I most love about the place, but it is also my greatest frustration. Canberra especially suffers from a terror of ‘dressing up’ to such an extent that when you do make an effort with attire you are left feeling overdressed and sticking out like a sore thumb. I did put up with this state of affairs for a number of years until my love of beautiful clothes reasserted itself, and instead of just playing dress up at home I started to let my beloved wardrobe run wild and free.

So, what do you do when you receive an invitation with a dress code? Simple, if you are not sure what the dress code means just Google it! It is the work of moments to confirm the correct attire for any situation. If you are still in doubt feel free to ring your host or hostess to confirm that your choice of attire is suitable —they won’t mind, honestly. In the meantime please see my cheat’s guide to the dress code below.

Cocktails anyone?

Love, Darla

Darla cracks the dress code ... photo by ShutterBug Baby.

LOUNGE SUIT

Another way of describing a business suit or a day suit. It's usually the dress code for a function early in the evening for people to attend straight from work. But don't wear a suit that you've had on all day if it's a glamorous function. Usually a dark suit is required and the jacket must be worn, but a tie is optional. Girls can wear business attire or a smart dress and heels — not jeans.

SEMI-FORMAL

This is similar to ‘lounge suit’ and ‘cocktail’. Men can wear trousers, a shirt and a tie, rather than a tuxedo, and women can opt for a cocktail dress or a pants suit.

COCKTAIL

This is champagne and nibbles — dressy but not dinner and dancing. For women, it traditionally means a short to knee-length dress. Usually it's a shoe-string strap dress with a bit of bling either on the dress or accessories. Definitely no flat shoes, unless it’s ‘cocktails by the sea or pool’. Men should wear a dark suit and tie with a dressy shirt — usually one with a French cuff — and worn with the top button undone.

BLACK TIE/FORMAL

This is where men have to wear a dinner suit, a stiff fabric, French cuffed shirt and cufflinks, and a bow tie (black please!)

For women, a full length evening dress. If the invitation says ‘black tie optional’, it gives men the option of wearing a tuxedo or a suit and women a cocktail dress or evening dress.

WHITE TIE

This is for a really glittering, special occasion and is sometimes referred to as ‘ultra-formal’. Women must wear a long evening gown.

Men must wear a traditional black coat (or white if you're game) with tails, a white winged, collared shirt, a vest is optional, a white bow tie and, preferably, black patent shoes.

This type of gala dressing also applies to the ‘red carpet’ dress code.

MORNING SUIT

This is usually restricted to weddings or race-wear on Melbourne Cup Day.

Men have to wear tails, their jacket should be single-breasted, the front fastened with one button. If the jacket is black, trousers are usually striped. It is worn with a waistcoat, usually grey, formal trousers, a stiff-collared white shirt, black shoes and sometimes a top-hat.

For women, hats with large brims (if daytime and only if they suit you!), gloves and a feminine dress will do the trick. If it is a wedding please take note of cultural etiquette e.g. black, white and red are often considered inappropriate colours.

CASUAL

This doesn't mean ‘anything goes’. It means wearing something relaxed, such as a sundress or jeans with flat shoes for women and shorts and a t-shirt for men.

It doesn't necessarily mean you can wear thongs (unless it's at the beach or in a back yard). Check with the host to be sure.

SMART CASUAL

Still relaxed, but make an effort beyond what you would throw on for casual wear. Definitely no thongs! Men should wear dressier shorts — not board shorts — with a collared shirt such as a polo.

Meet some Sophisticates: Koop Kooper and Leah Austin

In this issue, we would like to introduce two people who really inspire the Darling Sisters with their style, personalities and talent.

 Koop Kooper is the charismatic man behind Cocktail Nation, our favourite podcast.

Cocktail Nation is all about lounge, jazz, retro and exotic music and news from the World of Swank. The Darling Sisters simply can't do housewiffery without it.

More to the point, Koop is a truly charming, stylish man with a voice that makes us both go a bit wobbly at the knees! He also has a penthouse apartment with a Tiki Bar, and a collection of vintage hats. Swoon ...

Koop Kooper - image by Jack St Cyr

Leah Austin, and her lovely partner Roy (a champion sweetie), are the creators of Custom Vintage, our favourite primate-friendly place for cosmetics, not to mention a huge range of clothing, accessories and gifts.

Leah is an incredibly energetic woman who loves all things retro and beautiful, and has created for us our very own body butters and soy candles! Leah and Roy have created their family-owned business from scratch and are moving from strength to strength.

The gorgeous Leah and Roy ... lovely!

Read on and learn more about these two wonderful friends!

Some events for your diary

Parlour Wine Room Truffle Season Degustation
18 August 2009

It is coming up to the end of Canberra’s truffle season, when the fabulous comestibles are at their best. The wonderful folks at our favourite Parlour Wine Room believe this is the best time to allow their chefs to shine, and produce a stunning seven course menu (yes, of course you can manage it, just don’t eat much beforehand) featuring local truffles and Dalwhinnie wines.

 At $125 per head — a reasonable cost given the treats in store — this is certain to be an utter feast. Book quickly! Seats are limited: www.parlour.net.au or call 02 6162 3656.

Barry Barry Barry exhibition
29 August 2009

Harriet, Zoe and Emily Barry are definitely Sophisticated women. Canberra-based Harriet, who we adore, is a creator of the most exquisite jewellery. London-based Emily makes bespoke shoes, accessories and jewellery, and Melbourne-based Zoe is a talented musician and performer. Together, Harriet and her fabulous daughters are putting on a marvelous exhibition at Pialligo Estate (14 Kallaroo Road Pialligo), opening on 29 August. This is part of the cosy Fireside Festival (www.firesidefestival.com.au).

Because the Barry ladies are charm impersonated, there is of course even more to this than an exhibition. There will be special events on the evening of Saturday 29, and high tea on the afternoon of Sunday 30, giving us an opportunity to meet the ladies over refreshments, and share their great love of the beautiful and exotic.

You can find out more information here: www.firesidefestival.com.au/event/69.html. We believe this will be a beautiful Sophisticated weekend.

The Tweed Ride
12 September 2009

It is on again! A wonderful day of tweedy goodness, healthy exercise, hardy endeavour and family-friendly fun.

Starting at 11 am at Remembrance Nature Park, Treloar Crescent, Ainslie (behind the Australian War Memorial) for a spot of tea, and then out to Floriade to enjoy flowers galore, a picnic lunch, and — something special! Finally retiring to the Parlour Wine Bar to reminisce about the day.

We adore Canberra’s Tweed Riders and believe us when we say this will be a happy day. You can find more at http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=104342867736&topic=9315#/event.php?eid=103241290616

The Inaugural Rockabilly Ball!
19 September 2009

The Darling Sisters will be attending this fantastic showcase of Rockabilly Culture on Saturday 19 September from 7pm at The Italo-Australian Club in Canberra.

What is Rockabilly? We turn to our friend Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org) for advice:

Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, and emerged in the early 1950s.

The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock (from rock 'n' roll) and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music (often called hillbilly music in the 1940s and 1950s) that contributed strongly to the style's development. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing, boogie woogie, and rhythm and blues. Although there are notable exceptions, its origins lie primarily in the southern United States.

The influence and popularity of the style waned in the 1960s, but during the late 1970s and early 1980s, rockabilly enjoyed a major revival of popularity that has endured to the present, often within a rockabilly subculture. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockabilly)

Thanks, Wikipedia! So what you’re implying is that the Rockabilly Ball in Canberra will be a festival of fab music (Queen Juanita and Rockabilly Big Band, outstanding), vintage-inspired culture (vintage guitars, oh yes) and fifties fashion (wait until you see what the Darlings will be wearing)! Rock and roll meets ‘frock and roll’. Lovely — we’ll see you there!

For more information see www.rockabillyball.com We would really love to see you there! And for those fiscally-inclined Sophisticates, the Darlings will have a wee stall set up with special prices for attendees ... and a brand spanking new range of rockabilly-inspired treats!

Sophisticated Travel - the Darling Challenge

We all know that the warmer months are perfect for travel, and the Darlings certainly have plans to pack our suitcases and get out and about shortly!
 
Travel is like everything else in life: you can do it thoughtlessly, you can do it thoughtfully, and you can do it in a Sophisticated way. How does a Sophisticate travel? You might have seen people who have the knack: they are the well-dressed folks who breeze through airports and terminals, effortlessly pulling a well-packed suitcase, their demeanour calm and cheerful. Queues do not worry these people, security guards and bus drivers alike smile at them, they are never harrassed or disheveled.
 
Yes, it does seem rather marvellous, but we swear it can be done. Of course things go wrong for everybody, everybody gets tired and a bit grumpy and a bit hot and bothered. There will always be the unexpected (especially when travelling with kiddies).

For the Sophisticated Traveller, however, it doesn't really show. The Sophisticated Traveller is ready for every eventuality (within reason), and they are charming and organised and consequently things are always that little bit easier than they might have been.
 
The Darlings do a fair bit of travel together and we have discovered that a combination of charm, attitude and preparation does indeed lead to a more Sophisticated travel experience. However, when we both travel independently of each other but with friends later in the year, we intend to put this theory to the test publicly, by setting ourselves the Darling Travel Challenge, and keeping a diary of every bit of it.

And yes, that includes anything that doesn’t go right as well as those travel successes! There is only one way to get things right, and that’s to give them a try then learn from the mistakes. Hopefully they will be of the amusing variety …

At the same time, of course, we will be bringing you some more traditional travellers’ tales in the form of the best (and if we are not so lucky, worst) of the shopping, tourism, fashion, food and beverage we encounter.

Now, before we go, we’re dying to get the benefit of your experiences! If you have any exciting travel tales, tips to share on packing, transport, things to do or avoid — please send them to us at thedarlingsisters@live.com. Let’s share our wisdom in the name of all being fantastic Sophisticated travelers.

Safe journeys,
Darla and Blossom