Sunday, July 25, 2010

Interview: Elsa Billgren (Need help dressing?), the redish vintage queen.

I'm so happy today about sharing this interview to all of you, because Elsa is one of my muses. I love her not only for being the most beautiful redish girl around the net, but also because her love for vintage clothes, specially dresses.

Elsa is a gorgeous woman who works for Beyond Retro, writes for swedish Elle Magazine and has a progam in the swedish tv, where you can see her showing some amazing vintage shops.

She was recently married with a handsome man who makes her always smile, the wolf -as she likes to call him-; and I can assure you that her wedding was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.

As you can see, I don't have words for saying how amazing I think Elsa is... but...






Thank you so much for accepting doing this interview, Elsa! First of all, could you please tell us who you are and a brief description of you?
A: I'm a 24 year old married and vintageloving girl from Stockholm who can not live without high heeld shoes and strawberries.


Oh, I cannot live without them too...!What do you do? What do you like to dedicate?
A: I love to picnic in the park, mostly everything that you can do outside in the summer time. I love to cook and have friends over so we can play cards and drink wine.

Can you talk a little about your interests?
A: My main intrest is vintage fashion. I work as Press and PR officer for Beyond Retro Sweden and a dedicate all my time to beautiful things. I love to shop old stuff I don't need and then just take pictures of it.


That's a great hobby, haha! Ok, so, tell us a book, an album and a movie without which you could not live.
A: I read Tintin when I travel, maybe it's not a book, but close enough... I listen a lot to JJ's latest album and I think I watched Edward Scjssorhands about a hundered times.


Would you share with us a memory that makes you smile?
A: I will never forget my wedding day. It was a rainy saturday in May and now I will always think about how happy I was that day when the rain falls in May.

Any favorite quote?
A: "A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night." - Marilyn Monroe

So, talking a little bit about fashion, at what age did your get interested in the fashion world?
A: When I was about thirteen I think. But it wasn't pretty...


That's really difficult to imagine for me! Could you explain us a bit what has been the evolution of your image?
A: I was white trash when I was young. Horrible outfits that showed to much. But then I saw a movie with marilyn and I was hooked.

How would you describe your actual style?
A: Like a young girl trapped in a Disney movie from the sixties mixed with a german woman who bakes cinnamon buns.


What inspire you in choosing your clothes? Do you follow a pattern to match your clothes or just choose randomly?
A: I just buy stuff I think are beautiful. They are often in bright colors and in cotton.

Where do you usually get your clothes? Do you customize or sew any garment to you?
A: I buy almost all my clothes from Beyond Retro. I do put a bit more money on shoes and I just love Sonia Rykiel!


Sonia Rykiel is one of my favourites too, I adore her! Have you got any special obsession (like shoes, bows, skirts...)?
A: Dresses. I only have dresses. Not a single pair of jeans and that's the trouth!


I think that all the people who reads your blog already knew that! Ok, so now, about blogging... When and why did you decide to start writing a blog?
A: Swedish Elle magazine asked me in december 2008. They got in touch with me from my work with vintage fashion and said they needed someone just like me.

What do you want to express with your blog? Do you think it adds anything to the people who read it?
A: It should be an inspiration and an opposite to all the blogs out there who makes you feel worse about yourself. It shoul be beautiful, colorful and honest.


That's so honest, and makes me say "tahnk you" to you again!
As you may know, you're such a great inspiration for people all around the world -as me-; what do you feel when someone says you are his/her inspiration? What would you say to those people?
A: I get surprised and flattered every time! They are the reason I love blogging so much! It gives me strength to proceed and continue wanting to give people positive energy!

What do you think about the actual Bloggers' world? Do you think they've got some influence into the fashion world? In wich way do you think they make the fashion world evolve?
A: I don't read a lot of blogs accually. I just read my friends blogs. It's very easy to be judgemental towards all the young girls who write about fashion and their lifes. Internet is a harsh place. I'm not vety interested in trends and fashion. I like people more.


Have you had some experience with any fashion or beauty brand for being a bloggers, just to promote them? Wich ones? How it was?
A: A lot of companys send you stuff. I don't write about anything I don't just love. It would chabnge my blog into something else.

How did you started to colaborate with Elle Magazine? Do you think that promote bloggers between magazines is a good idea?
A: I worked with Elle before I starded to blog. I borrowed out a lot of clothes for photo shoots. Working wioth Elle has been pure joy!


About your recent entry of the desing of bowties, how was the collaboration with Flugorna? Have you done something like this before? Would you like to do this kind of things more often?
A: They asked me if I wanted to design bowties ages ago, in my early blogging days. I said yes because I didn't get a lot of proposals like that. Now a days a get a lot and I try to be careful with what I do. I do love the bowties though and really enjoy illustrating patterns!

And finally (but not less important), tell us a tip for your readers (a tip for their lifes, for the fashion bloggers' world or whatever you want to say to them.
A: Don't take life to serious. Enjoy yourself and spend time with only people you love. Surround yourself with beautiful things and never let anyone tell you you're not fab. You are. Abfab.


Thank you so much, Elsa!!

You cannot imagine how happy and inspired I was when I made this interview, it was really great for my final project and I learned a lot about this gorgeous woman!

So... did you know about Elsa?

PS: By the way, I'm thinking too seriously about moving into Sweden... so, if there is some swedish readers around here or people who lives there, could you please tell me a little bit about living there and working? I really would love moving into Stockholm, but I don't know if there's a job for a psychologist and coolhunter as me (with poor swedish but excellent english and a little bit of german!)
I would really appreciate any comment about it!!

rancangan sy utk belajar buat coklat berjaya!


assalamualaikum wbt ;)

selamat pagi!!! mengantuknye. baiklah! semlm pergi rumah kwn baik mama sejak mama muda mudi dulu. auntie dilah. punyelah jauh rumah die, area Batang Kali tak silap. tak sure, sbb all the way sy tdow je. HAHA. hujan lebat sedap woo.

sampai2, disajikan dgn 2 kuih terus. 2 kuih talam. SERIOUSLY sedap!
2 kuih talam - talam keladi & talam suji


kalau buat kuih yg jenis mcm nih, talam, or anything else yg same family,
TIPS: potong guna pisau cake mcm di atas.
jgn guna pisau biasa, sbb nnt melekat.

mari makan dulu!
abah dan mama mmg seboleh-bolehnye nak matching ;)

okay, utk buat coklat, kita perlukan cooking coklat.
1st time sy tgk cooking choc orange & strawberry.
tak lupe kte perlukan cooking choc perisa choc & white cooking choc.

mcm buat london almond, kita cairkan cooking coklat tu.
tahu kan, stim kan die.
TIPS: jgn sampai cair sgt, nnt ssh nak keras.

okay, kita perlukan sarang coklat.
then, masukkan ikut citarasa kita, nak buat warna warni ke ape.
mcm semlm, sy mskkan strawberry, then white choc & finally dark choc.
TIPS: blh bubuh kacang atau crispy rice, raisin dkt tgh2.


masukkan semua coklat ke dalam peti ais sampai keras!
sementara tu.

kemudian. buat tart choc. yuhuu. sedapnyeee. oh dang dang XD

ini rupe kulit tart. mcm biase kte tgk.
TIPS: kulit tart coklat adalah berbeza dgn kulit tart telur.

masukkan cooking coklat dkt tgh2!

letak white cooking choc as a decoration.

dan ambil pencungkil gigi tu, lidi die,
dan tarikkan ke bawah, jd corak mcm nih.

before, intermediate, final touch.

dah siap! keras, sekejap je. tgk, ada 3 warna!

ta-daa. comel. kan kan kan? dpt lah 3 rasa ;)
SENANG je buat. cuma kene pilih COOKING CHOC yg elok.


then tgh duduk salin resipi, terdengar lagu yg mcm kenal! sekali lagu Namin. HAHA. lagu barney & friends. tak start nyanyi lg, sy dah tahu taw!


Khalida & Atika :
nnt i kasi resipi muffin tu. sbb dlm buku resipi mama. tp ade kwn die pinjam. so act gune tepung segera buat muffin pun blh. rasa die lebih kurang, dan senang! tepung muffin tu blh dpt dkt kedai2 buat kuih -- plg famous BAGUS & Bake With Yen. tak sure dkt supermarket ade tak.

kalau guna tepung segera tu, just put in tepung, minyak jagung, telur. then SIAP! haha. XD


Must Read

I'm a big fan of Chelsea Handler, on her night-time show "Chelsea Lately". Last week I bought one of her books (she's a comedian) and it was amazing. I read it in one day and laughed all the way through. So refreshing. I just ordered two more of her books on Amazon and can't wait to get them!

Less is More


Here is a recipe for those days when all you have the energy for is to boil some pasta and have it with some canned sauce. This is almost as easy as opening a can of sauce, and tastes much better.

I've been meaning to try this sauce for a few months now. I guess the delay was largely attached to my wariness of just how unbelievably good this sauce with only four ingredients (and that's including salt!) was. I just didn't get it. Plus there's nothing else in it. Just sauce. I tend to like my pasta sauces
with lots of onion, veggies and ground beef. So I had to be in a particular type of mood to make this one.

I don't know if I'd say this was the best tomato sauce I've ever had. But I will say that this is probably the only tomato sauce I'd be tempted to eat straight up with a spoon. It's so simple, but feels quite luxurious and (to quote Laura) is weirdly addictive. If I didn't make it myself I'd say there was crack in it. The added butter and simmered onion makes the sauce really rich and smooth and for two ingredients, adds a great deal of flavour.

The one problem here is that I'm not sure exactly what the right pasta for this sauce is. We had it with some homemade tri-coloured pasta from the market, which was good but I felt a bit like the pasta and sauce were fighting for my attention. "Eat me, taste me! I'm delicious!" Well, yes it's true that both were delicious, but I think next time I might go for a simple white shell or fusilli noodle that is going to more or less act as a vehicle to get more sauce into my mouth. Yum.

Buttery Tomato Sauce

adapted from from Marcela Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking, via SmittenKitchen

28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes (San Marzano if you have them)
5 tbsp (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

1. Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (I used my dutch oven as I don't have a saucepan) over medium heat.

2. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes*. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon.

3. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

Serve with pasta, with or without grated parmesan for topping.

*Some of the comments I read on this recipe said that you needed to cook a little longer (maybe an additional 20 minutes) at a higher heat to really get some more flavour in the sauce. I thought it still tasted a little bland after 45 minutes, but I was going to play squash so I turned off the heat and let the sauce sit with the onions for about an hour. Then when I got back I reheated to a simmer and then removed the onions. It made a huge difference in the flavour. So...you might want to simmer for closer to an hour.

Fried Silver Pomfret with Tomato and Lime Sweet Sauce (Ikan Bawal Saus Asam Manis)

Fried Silver Pomfret with Tomato and Lime Sweet Sauce (Ikan Bawal Saus Asam Manis)

500 grams Silver Pomfret
5 shallots, sliced finely
1 tomato, quartered
2 red chilies, sliced thinly diagonally
5 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup water
2 cups cooking oil (for deep-frying fish and 1/4 cup cooking oil for soy sauce base)

Heat cooking oil in a wok or deep fry pan till slightly smokey over high heat. Fry pomfret for 10 minutes, until golden brown. Drain on paper towel and set aside

Heat the rest of the cooking oil in the same wok over medium heat for a minute. Add shallot, tomato and chili. Quickly stir for 30 seconds. Add soy sauce, sugar, lime juice and water, keep on stirring. Simmer and cover for 3 minutes.

Return fish to the soy based sauce. Mix well till fish covered evenly with sauce. Cook for another minute.

Remove from heat and serve with steamed rice.

Fried Silver Pomfret with Tomato and Lime Sweet Sauce (Ikan Bawal Saus Asam Manis)

Fried Silver Pomfret with Tomato and Lime Sweet Sauce (Ikan Bawal Saus Asam Manis)

500 grams Silver Pomfret
5 shallots, sliced finely
1 tomato, quartered
2 red chilies, sliced thinly diagonally
5 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup water
2 cups cooking oil (for deep-frying fish and 1/4 cup cooking oil for soy sauce base)

Heat cooking oil in a wok or deep fry pan till slightly smokey over high heat. Fry pomfret for 10 minutes, until golden brown. Drain on paper towel and set aside

Heat the rest of the cooking oil in the same wok over medium heat for a minute. Add shallot, tomato and chili. Quickly stir for 30 seconds. Add soy sauce, sugar, lime juice and water, keep on stirring. Simmer and cover for 3 minutes.

Return fish to the soy based sauce. Mix well till fish covered evenly with sauce. Cook for another minute.

Remove from heat and serve with steamed rice.