Summers Macarons at Pierre Hermé

Recently, I discovered an incredible pastry-shop in Paris, Pierre Hermé, where you can try some interesting flavored macarons, such as caramel with fleur de sel , passion fruit with chocolate or even rose petal cream.

(Macarons are French, meringue-like cookies made with almond flour – sometimes called luxembourgers - while Macaroons are cookies made with coconut)

Pierre Hermé is an artist - an artist of pastry making - and he is known for his innovative recipes. He began his apprenticeship at Gaston Lenôtre at the age of 14, where he discovered his passion for pastry making. After many years of experience, he opened his 1st boutique in 1998 at the Otani Hotel in Tokyo and opened his Parisian storein 2002.

That place has the greatest Macarons ever though, and for the summer Pierre Hermé has created a number of unique Macarons. This summers Macarons are available in wasabi, olive oil and pistachio & sour cherry varieties.

The unique will only be available exclusively from Pierre Hermé untill the end of the summer so hurry up! The tiny store is located at No. 72 rue Bonaparte in Paris.

Hello Kitty’s luxurious Doghouse

This luxury doghouse was created in 2007 for a sales event at a department store in Tokyo and designed in collaboration with a maker of high-end pet goods. It's worth3.9 million yen (32,000 dollars).

The most expensive doghouse in the world, large enough for a Chihuahua or terrier, is decorated with 7,600 crystal beads and has a pillow in the shape of Hello Kitty's face.

"There's been a boom in luxury couches for larger dogs, so we thought there might be room for something new," said a Sanrio (the company behind Hello Kitty) spokesman.

Products created in previous years for the week-long sales event aimed at adult Kitty fans include a Kitty-themed "i" minicar from Mitsubishi Motors Co. and a Hello Kitty Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, which sold last year for $20,460, he said.

Most Expensive Cities in the World - 2008

Mercer has just released its top 50 most expensive cities in the world based on cost of living.

Mercer's Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2008 is used to help multinational companies and governments determine living costs for their expatriate employees, who usually demand a relatively high quality of life. Mercer’s survey covers 253 cities across six continents and measured the relative cost of over 200 items in each place, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

For the third consecutive year, Moscow is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates. Its position has been strengthened by the appreciation of the rouble against the US dollar and the continuous rising accommodation costs. 10 years ago Russia was in crisis ! Now, Moscow is home to 74 billionaires, the most of any city in the world.

Tokyo is in second position climbing two places since last year, whereas London drops one place to rank third. Oslo climbs six places to 4th place and is followed by Seoul in 5th.

"The decline in the ranking of all U.S. cities is due to the weakening value of the U.S. dollar against most major world currencies," : New York (as the base city scoring 100 points) fell from No. 15 to No. 22. whereas several European cities have experienced a significant rise in the rankings this year.

The gap between the world’s most and least expensive cities now seems to be widening though. Find out more on Forbes.com

A country retreat outside of Tokyo

Takei-Nabeshima-Architects (TNA) designed a country retreat in the town of Karuizawa outside Tokyo, Japan, wrapped in rings of glass and wood and has an uninterrupted 360 degree view of the forest.

TNA designed rings around the facade so that areas of private spaces and utilities could be met. The height of each ring was decided by the function concealed behind it.
The glass between the rings allow you to look straight into the forest, so the whole house appears to dissolve into the forest.

Built on Owners' Hill, a resort in the Karuizawa forest near Tokyo, Ring House occupies one of the hundred or so plots set aside for city dwellers to build weekend retreats.

Via worldarchitecturenews

$612,000 Bejeweled Elephant Shaped Liqueur Tantalus

Measuring 66cm tall and weighing 57kg, this elephant shaped liqueur tantalus is a striking creation by French luxury crystal maker Baccarat.
Exhibited at the Baccarat’s exhibition and Tokyo’s Mitsukoshi department store, this masterpice is up for sale demanding a hefty price of 63 million yen ($612,000).

They say original piece of crystal encrusted elephant bathed in pure gold carrying four decanters on its back, was especially designed and developed for the Paris exposition in 1920 and countee 17 models were replicated.

Via MSNBC / Lussorian

4 million yen cognac

Asahi Beer, which holds the rights to distribute French cognac Remy Martin in Japan, has announced that 30 bottles of Remy Martin’s premium champagne cognac Louis 13th Black Pearl Magnum will be released in Japan from this month. 358 bottles will be released globally.

The precious liquid, which comes in an original Baccarat crystal holder, will be available at select department stores for an astounding ¥4,000,000 (or about $38,000) for a 1,500ml bottle.

They expect the Louis 13th Black Pearl Magnum to be swallowed up in the high-end nightlife establishments in Tokyo’s Ginza and Kyoto’s Gion at an even more exorbitant 50% mark-up.

Via kilian-nakamura

The $1.63 Million Diamond and Platinum Handbag

This diamond studded platinum handbag was on display recently in Tokyo by jewelry maker GinzaTanaka. Valued at $1.63 million dollars, this bag is shaped out of pure platinum and boasts 2,182 diamonds totaling 208 carats.

Via lifeontop

New Swarovski Flagship Store in Tokyo

Highly visible, more than a thousand Swarovski boutiques and concessions are located in all major fashion capitals around the world. Now, Swarovski opened a new flagship store in Tokyo’s renowned Ginza district on Saturday, March 29, 2008.

It will showcase the entire Daniel Swarovski Couture Line and the jewellery and accessories from the Swarovski fashion collection.

Three exclusive Ginza limited edition pieces will be available at this particular flagship store: the Black Elvis Pendant, the Signature Necklace and the Signature Power Evening Bag.

Modelled on the flagship store, all of the other Swarovski boutiques will be refurbished from 2008 according to the new architectural concept. These new design concepts have resulted from the collaboration between Swarovski and the famous Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka.

Inside the Ginza boutique the “Crystal Forest” comes to life. All of the walls are textured with reflective white relief prisms of various lengths. These faceted, multi-layered elements create visual depth and exude an internal rhythm. For this one-of-a-kind boutique, named Swarovski Ginza, the conventions of design are challenged by bringing the “inside to the outside”. An experience to embrace when in Tokyo!

Via kostasvoyatzis

World’s Biggest Hello Kitty unveiled

Kittymania has been raging over this globe since more then three decades, but to bear out her supremacy, folks at Sanrio have created the world's biggest statue of Hello Kitty. Unveiled in Tokyo, this Hello Kitty stands tall at 2.5 meter and is 1.7 meter wide. Covered with tiles, she certainly looks much larger then her usual petite structure.

Via Luxurylaunches / Reuters JP

PC cases made from platinum, gold, diamonds

Tokyo-based Zeus Computer is reaching out to deep-pocketed celebrities and the nouveau riche with a line of luxury personal computers housed in bejeweled cases crafted from precious metals. The selection includes an 80 million yen ($760,000) pure platinum “Jupiter” model and a more modestly priced 60 million yen ($570,000) solid gold “Mars” model, both of which feature a blaze of inset diamonds patterned to look like the zodiac constellations and the Milky Way.

The cases contain a 3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6850-powered machine with a 256MB GeForce 7200GS VGA card, a 1000GB serial ATA hard drive, 2048MB of memory, a Blu-ray/HD-DVD optical drive and more, and Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate OEM comes pre-installed — but who’s going to look inside?

Via pinktentacle