Afternoon Tea, Anyone?

Spring/Summer Collection 2011

Forget The Savoy, one of my favourite afternoon teas in London has to be Pret A Portea at The Berkeley. Here you can sip tea from Paul Smith bone china cups and indulge your sweet tooth with cakes and biscuits inspired by the season's catwalk trends.

To showcase this summer’s latest fashions, The Berkeley hotel has created an edible collection of designer treats such as Miu Miu ginger biscuit bikinis with vanilla bow icing, Victoria Beckham white chocolate summer bags and Tom Ford romantic pale pink vanilla biscuit dress with sparkly sleeves.

For some, this afternoon tea is purely reserved for special occasions (like our wedding anniversary last year!). I am still drooling thinking about the 3 tiered cake stand stacked full of designer pastries and cakes, miniature savoury skewers and delicately cut sandwiches.  And just as we’d eaten the lot, the cake stand was taken away and came back filled with even more goodies. And for those tea lovers, there’s a selection of over ten different teas such as White Peony, Organic Assam and African Amber. And champagne of course!

Spring/Summer 2010

If you don’t manage to finish everything (and I made sure I didn’t!) you can take the goodies home in a lovely mint green doggie bag.

So if you’ve looking for a treat and an afternoon to indulge in luxury, head to The Berkeley right now!

(First image courtesy of The Berkeley, all other images owned by Raja and Rani)

Indian Doors and Windows

How's your weekend going?

I've just put together my final instalment of photos highlighting doors and windows I found in Rajasthan. I just love the bright colours that some of them are painted in - it's provided me with some inspiration for my own home!

Nahagargh Fort, Jaipur

Nahagargh Fort, Jaipur

Nahagargh Fort, Jaipur

One of my favourite doors - at my grandparents house!

Knock Knock!

As promised from yesterday, here are some images of doors and windows that I snapped whilst in Rajasthan. I realised that I have lots of great pics so I'll put a few more together as a final instalment tomorrow.

Practically all of the doors appear to be very heavy duty – perhaps to protect the jewels that were adorning the walls inside the palaces or to protect against elephants attempting to barge in (which was common in the palace forts during an invasion!)

And many of the doors are green for some reason? Does anyone know why…..?

Amber Fort, Jaipur

Jaswant Thada, Jodhpur

Peering into a private doorway - Sanganer, Jaipur

City Palace, Udaipur

Saheliyon-ki-Bari Gardens, Udaipur

Doors and Archways

My home is currently in the deep midst of renovation and whilst I’ve been searching through magazines and the internet for décor ideas, my trips to India never fail to provide a mass of inspiration. 

I love unusual doors and archways and during my recent trip to India I saw some real jems.  Whether I was wandering through royal palaces, villages or markets, the humble door and archway took on a story of it’s own…….

A key feature is the scalloped archway, which normally act as a kind of portal or frame for the view which lies beyond.

An example of this is the entrance to the Taj Mahal from the Great Gate (darwaza –i-rauza) which leads into the decorative gardens and ultimately the mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal. It was designed in such a way that it would be impossible for the Taj Mahal to be seen from any angle until you reached the main archway.  The pointed arch frames the visitor’s first glimpse of the great white monument.

Great Gate, The Taj Mahal

City Palace, Jaipur

Other key decorate features of archways include swirling pietra dura patterns, marble inlay work, inscriptions and motifs. Normally most of them have some form of religious or fable connotations. Also, I noticed archways tended to be either in single or triple forms as odd numbers are frequently used in Indian architecture. 

Doors and windows coming tomorrow….Enjoy!

Nahagarh Fort, Jaipur

Amber Fort, Jaipur

City Palace, Jaipur

Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur

Red Fort, Agra

Jaswant Thada, Jodhpur

A Month in Marrakesh

After eating some fabulous falafel and other homemade goodies this weekend, I’ve been inspired to discover some more exotic recipes. Part cookbook and part travelogue, A Month in Marrakesh is definitely now on my shopping list.

Andy Harris, editor of Jamie Oliver’s Jamie Magazine, has been drawn to the magic and culture of Marrakesh for the last ten years and on his latest trip, he was joined by renowned photographer David Loftus. After spending a month scouring the souks and mingling with the locals, they have produced a wealth of exotic tasting and easy to follow recipes using fresh ingredients. 

 
Now you can impress your guests with dishes including Roast Lamb with Orange and Honey Syrup, Spicy Squid with Harissa Yoghurt and Orange Flower Doughnuts.

The book is bursting with stunning photography, both of recipes and colourful locations, taking you right to the heart of the spice filled souks and food havens of the vibrant Djemaa el Fna. A must buy book, even if it’s just for the pictures!

Buy the book from Amazon
Inside page photos taken from Interstate of Mind

Let Them Eat Cake!

There’s no escaping the wedding fever that’s hit London this week. Are you excited, fed up or just bored with it all?

The wedding has given me one excuse though, (not that I need one!) to check out one of my favourite bakeries in London – The Hummingbird Bakery.

Celebrate the Royal Wedding with a selection of their famous hand decorated vanilla cupcakes from one of their bakeries in Notting Hill, Soho or South Kensington, available between 26th April - 1st May, all decorated in limited edition vintage inspired pastel hues, crowns, union jacks and flowers.  Enjoy!

PS The Hummingbird Bakery has just released a follow up to their bestselling, hugely popular cookbook. With a wonderful new collection of easy and delicious cupcakes, layer cakes, pies and cookies, I know it will be on my shopping list just for the glorious photographs and fabulous new recipes. Red Velvet is still my favourite though…..what’s yours?

Images are from http://hummingbirdbakery.com/ and  http://www.waterstones.com/

India Inspiration Trip - Day 9

Udaipur to Mumbai

Today we fly to Mumbai to visit our respective families. From here on in it will be family visits, family meals and generally quite an emotional time as we’ll say a quick hello and goodbye to our loved ones.
Agra and Rajasthan have been awesome. This is the start of a new and exciting venture for me, so I can’t wait to fly back to the UK and start planning. Thanks for reading about my time in India and watch this space (or the website www.rajaandrani.co.uk) for the launch of my new and exciting products!