Paris

La Sultane de Saba – Hammam Rituals Kit

Here at The Amazing Blog, we try to make time for relaxation - this is one of your top priorities; and recently we've been taking this routine to the next level, thanks to the luxurious spa brand La Sultane de Saba. This natural artisan French spa brand has established itself as spa and wellness experts, bringing unique globally inspired treatments to their 4 Parisian flagship spas and also to over 2,500 international spas. They pride themselves on developing products from the proven beauty traditions of past generations. Their products and treatments work on a holistic level and they understand how important it is for us all to find time for relaxation and downtime in our busy modern schedules. This amazing Moroccan inspired Hammam Rituals Kit is a home spa treatment and it's certainly helped us to let our stresses and strains fade away...

The Hammam Ritual Kit comes in an elegantly designed rich brown zippered pouch, it contains natural Rassoul Lava Clay, Black Soap, Shea Butter, a Kessa Glove and a spatula. The three products provide your hair, body and face with a variety of benefits that we'll go into more detail about below. You can use the included Kessa Glove with any of these three products to give skin a deep scrub that gets rid of dead skin cells. The included spatula allows you to use every last bit of these products.

First, we have the Rassoul Lava Clay which can be used on hair, body and face.  When applied to the hair this formula works to add volume and reduce oil. When used on the skin this spread is highly cleansing and works wonders for those with back acne. The star ingredients in this treatment are lava clay, rose and salicylic acid. The lava clay comes from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and works to purify. The rose works to calm, sooth and tone. The Salicylic Acid helps to improve cellular growth, create a more even skin texture, and is highly cleansing.

Next, we have the Black Soap which is a face and body cleanser for all skin types. The soap cleanser contains organic black and green olives, eucalyptus and olive fruit oil.  The organic black and green olives work together to hydrate skin, leaving a refreshed feeling. The eucalyptus provides an anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and decongesting effect.  And lastly, the olive fruit oil helps to regenerate and replenish skin. This Black Soap has made a great addition to our shower routine.  

Last but certainly not least, we have the Shea Butter. This body butter contains Shea which is nourishing, balancing, and healing. Shea naturally contains vitamins A, E & F providing skin with a variety of health benefits. The added orange blossom provides skin with a calm, soothing effect. In addition to being a body butter (which is our favourite use for the product), this product can be used to prevent/reduce stretch marks, fix chapped lips, as a moisturiser, massage balm or even as a hair mask.  You can purchase the Hammam Rituals Kit here for £52.95. We would also like to mention that The Spa at Dolphin Square in London uses La Sultane de Saba products, so if you are looking for an authentic full-on Hammam experience, we recommend booking in here.

The Art of Cooking With Vegetables - Alain Passard

If I wanted I could be a vegetarian without missing the meat. Since my uni days, which unfortunately ended a while ago, and those first experiences of cooking on my own and for myself; I have hardly ever cooked meat. After my student years I finally ended up realising what I suspected since I was a teenager: I enjoy eating vegetables much more than eating meat. That doesn't mean that once in a while I don't treat myself to a fantastic steak, I still like meat, especially if it's cooked with seasalt and accompanied by a bunch of fries. However, the one thing that worries me about eating vegetables and hardly any meat, is that I find vegetables incredibly hard to work with. I find them complex and even though I imagine there are a ton of ways of cooking them and combining them, I always end up cooking them the same 3 ways that I know best. While doing a bit a of research on cookbooks for The Amazing Blog, I came across Alain Passard's "The Art of Cooking With Vegetables". If you're a vegetable lover, I'm sure you'll find the book as inspiring as I did.

It all began when the chef Alain Passard removed from his successful 3-Michelin-stared Parisian restaurant L'Arpège 11 years ago. The result? A restaurant that only serves fruits and vegetables grown on Passard's own farm. The layout of the book is simple and it's nicely designed, in less than a 100 pages and organised in seasons, each recipe Passard includes a commentary on how he brings the ingredients together. Each recipe also comes with a recommended wine (for a wine lover like me, this is a huge plus!) and an illustration of the final dish. The recipes are innovative, full of unexpected combinations and flavours. My favourite recipes (for which I still have to perfect my amateur technique...) are the Avocado Souffle with Dark Chocolate and Baked Apples and the Beetroot with Leek, Green Apple and Green Tea.

"The Art of Cooking Vegetables" by Alain Passard is perfect for those of you who find cooking vegetables a real mission due to the lack of creativity or knowledge of the different cooking techniques. You can buy Alain Passard's book from Amazon for only £12.80.

 

 

 

 

Miss Patisserie's French Delicacies!

With the early April sunshine now just a distant memory and next month set to be the coldest May in over a hundred years it feels like winter all over again here at The Amazing Blog. And when the skies are this dismal and grey, there's nothing I like better at the end of a long day at work than a nice, long soak in a hot bath with an accompanying glass of wine. And as I'm always on the lookout for new bathtime treats, I was thrilled to come across the French-themed Miss Patisserie. Designed to cater for your every need - whether you want to relax, de-stress or refresh, Miss Patisserie offers a range off luxurious products that put the fun back into bath time! The fragrance and essential oils are designed to evoke the senses and have been created with past times and fond memories in mind and they use natural ingredients including both epsom and dead sea salts all of which have amazing benefits on the body. I tried the pastel coloured French Macaroons, which look just like the real thing and are named after the most glamorous French cities including Paris and Cannes. Bursting with fragrance and fizzy salts, these bath accesorries are a real French delicacy! Available online from the Miss Patisserie website.