Calling the Shots!

It's not difficult to understand why Spring is our favourite season: nature wakes up, temperatures warm up, daylight stretches up and, wahey, Summer's the next best thing around! So what better way to celebrate such an upbeat time of year than with our selection of colourful aromatic drinks and appetisers that make up a wonderful excuse for impromptu alfresco entertaining!

Sources: Forget those savoury herby appetisers, and pop garden herbs in your drinks instead! Wow your friends and get the party started! (1) The 'Blackberry Sage Cooler' from Scaling Back Blog is cool, refreshing, alcohol-free and child-friendly although you could always add a splosh of sloe gin within reason to make it an adult's drink, should the occasion lend itself to it. (2) You've heard of (and maybe even sampled) the standard Mojito: fresh mint added to Cuban rhum, cane sugar, lime juice and soda. Now how about the 'Basil Raspberry Mojito' from A Spicy Perspective? This is a case, ladies, of bringing sexy back to your glasses with the perfect colour combination of passionate pinks and deep greens, tchin tchin! (3) Meanwhile thyme kicks off a winner in this 'Iced Tea with Plums and Thyme' by Real Simple. Peaches are not in season right now but when they are, remember us! (4) Meanwhile anything more refreshing than this 'Lemon Verbena and Orange Blossom Fizz' by The Kitchn will be hard to come by! (5) If you are fortunate enough to live in Mediterranean climates, elderflowers are now right for the picking! 'Elderflower Cordial' is with Pimm's Cocktails what British Summers are meant to taste like: sweet, light and floral, almost like orange blossoms. The cordial is so easy to make, there is no need to bother with the shop-bought varieties. Just follow the foolproof recipe from Delicooks, surprise your friends in the process and get ready for the encores! (6) If the herbs in your drink are not enough, munch your way through a plate of those appetising Swiss Chard Tarlets with Aniseed ('Tartelettes de Blettes à l'Anis, en Croûte de Millet') from (French) Marie Claire.

Plants, Illustrated

Mirabelle has always been fascinated by the botanical plates, prints and illustrations produced by those unsung artists and acute observers with an eye for detail and a propensity for translating the object of their desire realistically in photograph-like accuracy. More often than not, those illustrators happened to be biologists. This post is a tribute to their art and an opportunity for us to rediscover their often-overlooked talents.

Sources: (1) 'Citrus' print (1770-77) by artist John Miller (1715-1794), part of the Victoria & Albert Museum Collection, in London. According to the V&A: 'Miller's book, An Illustration to the Sexual System of Linnaeus (1770-7), was an attempt to explain and promote the system of classification devised by the famous botanist Carl Linnaeus. This was based on the number and relation of the reproductive parts of flowers. The book was published in various combinations of plates, coloured and uncoloured. This is one of several proof plates, printed before the lettering was added. Miller's publication gives in a single plate a complete account of the plant's habit, structure and life cycle. Linnaeus himself praised the illustrations extravagantly as 'the most beautiful and accurate . . . since the beginning of the world'. (2) 'Plumeria' (Germany, 1744) by Georg Dionysus Ehret (1708-70), watercolour and bodycolour, available to purchase from V&A Prints. (3) 'Papaya, Carica Papaya' (1726), hand-coloured engraving by Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717), 'a respected scientist, artist and explorer in what was very much a man’s world'. © Natural History Museum (London). (4) 'Orchid, Dipladenia Crassinoda' (1837), by Samuel Holden (active 1830-50), watercolour, available to purchase from V&A Prints.

Poolside

If like Mirabelle you are blessed with Mediterranean living conditions, Summer's now just a stone's throw away and already you are able to enjoy what the sun has to offer. However if you live much further north, odds might be against you, so we thought you are due a little visual heart-warmer. Enjoy, this is just for you!

Sources: (1) Michael McLaughlin, 'Beach, Rio' (2002), via 1stdibs (Robin Rice Gallery Fine Photography). This is an open invitation to blue yonder! (2) Via Fancy: 'Naka Island Resort at Phuket'. (3) Emily Summers's California Desert Retreat, via Architectural Digest. Mid-century and Californian desert can only mean Palm Springs! (4) Fancy (via) and (5) Touzet Studio Design & Architecture. You can only feel 'vacational' once you picture this residential jewel on the waterfront. One of Miami Beach's latest additions, La Gorce Estate was designed with clean lines in mind. Le Corbusier springs to mind, but the brief couldn't be more eloquent: "There was a threshold restriction that the layout of the residence and its placement on the site were to follow those of a residence the client had once owned. That property was a 1926, Mediterranean-style estate built for Carl Fisher." (6) 'Moving with the Music' (2009) by Brian Auer, via Fine Art Photoblog: 'A shot straight into the sun capturing people dancing at a drum circle in Venice Beach, California.' (7) Sunkissed, but neither shaken nor stirred by the evening breeze: 'The Escape' by Rickard Sund via Agent Molly. (8) 'Another Day Ends...' (2008) by Brian Auer: Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego, CA. (9) Via Tumblr, although the exact picture source remains unknown. The Boho Chic look complements admirably a poolside cocktail.