Kristen Stewart

FROM: theimproper.com

By TheImproper, November 8th, 2011

Twilight’s Kristen Stewart is ready to take a break after filming the last two “Twilight” films, a handful of indie flicks and her latest “Snow White and the Huntsman.” It’s time to recharge her batteries, she says in a new interview.

Kristen has been tied up shooting a dramatically new take on the classic fairy tale, and traveling in between to promote “Breaking Dawn, Part ” with her boyfriend Robert Pattinson.

“I have been around the world for work, often without realizing where I was. I like traveling but now I need to recharge my batteries,” she tells Vogue’s Italian edition in a new interview.

Check out Kristen’s photos click here

She says she has no definite films in the pipeline, although plenty of proposals. “I will take this occasion to go back home to my family to enjoy some time off. This is at the moment my ideal vacation,” she adds.

And how’s this for a vacation? If she could travel through time she would go back to 1948 or 1950 to listen to jazz, blues and the bebop of the beat generation.

Kristen shows off yet another side of her sultry sexuality in series of goth-inspired fashion with famed Italian photographer Michelangelo de Battista behind the lens.

She wears Francesco Sco­gnamiglio, Giles, Aquilano.Rimondi and Palace Co­stume jewelry.

She’s also photographed in Alexander McQueen, Roberto Cavalli and Blumarine, with Diego Dolcini shoes.

Her hair is raven black (not her natural color, she reveals) and much longer thanks to extensions.

“Since I started acting I have never had by natural color, which is light brown. But it’s fine, it’s funny seeing yourself look different,” she says.

Although she is known for her tomboyish demeanor, she says she is in touch with her feminine side.

“I would like to wear very feminine clothes,” she reveals. “But in my daily life, when I’m home in Los Angeles, I opt for comfy clothes.

“When I’m away, like in this case, I throw in my suitcase clothes of all kinds, also evening dresses, because I may have the chance to wear them,” she says.

Kristen raised eyebrows on the set of Snow White when she appeared drenched in water in a fetching dress pulled down around her shoulders.

“Oh yeah, that’s when I finally escape from the evil queen. I love that dress, it’s stunning! Wearing it helped me get into the part,” she says.

“Breaking Dawn, Part 1,” will open Nov 18. “Snow White and the Huntsman” opens next year.

http://www.theimproper.com/?page_id=29778&page=2

FROM: latino.foxnews.com

Written By Ruth Samuelson

TOLUCA, MEXICO –  Death and sugar naturally intertwine for Norma Lara Hernández.

Her mother made candy for the Day of the Dead, Mexico’s holiday for remembering deceased family members, and also adored sweets – eventually, too passionately.

“She began to get sick she loved them so much,” says Hernández about her mother’s diabetes and health issues. Nevertheless, her mother delighted in her work, which supported eight children. “She was exquisitely sweet, as a person and in what she ate.”

With that legacy in mind, Hernández carries on the family culinary tradition today at the Feria del Alfeñique, a nearly month-long event offering Day of the Dead specialties. She sells treats like tiny sandwiches and pastries made of pumpkin seed paste and of course, calaveras, skulls traditionally composed of hardened, molded sugar or amaranth.

The Feria takes place in Toluca, a medium-sized city near the capital. There are 84 stands, many of which offer figures of lambs, rabbits and fish made from the fair’s namesake product, “alfeñique,” a white mixture of sugar and almond oil.

In 1630, local man Francisco de la Rosa began preparing alfeñique treats in the city, and his influence has trickled down through the generations, according to fair coordinators. For the last 60 years, candy-makers have lined up their products in Los Portales, a historic yellow building in the heart of the city.

Julio Gomez Gúia, a vendor from Michoacán state, stands amongst the calavera sculptures he makes. His biggest one costs roughly $112.

Most vendors recall coming here as children, when their parents manned the stands.  But the array of treats has evolved since grandma and grandpa’s era, says Armando Ferreyra, a candy-maker.

“This is modernity,” he says, pointing to a panoply of chocolate items, “It’s how we keep selling.”

Although the fair didn’t begin until early October, Ferreyra says he finishes his earliest batches of treats in April or May normally. He first makes tamarind, coco and chocolate calaveras, then stores them in “a place that’s very dry” until fall.

Many sellers insist they personally produce everything in their stalls.

“I didn’t make the plastic tray,” says vendor Julio Gomez Gúia, pointing to what he gives to customers while they’re plucking their purchases. But another seller mentioned that merchants exchange goods to broaden their selections – which seems more likely.

Similar to many of Mexico’s culinary traditions, the Day of the Dead treats reflect a hybrid of Pre-Hispanic and Hispanic holidays and customs. Before the Spaniards arrived, indigenous people created figures using beans, amaranth and honey for their religious ceremonies.

Miriam Torres Martínez stands with her daughter at their stall at the Feria del Alfeñique in Toluca.

When the Catholic Church established itself in Mexico, it declared November 1 and 2, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day respectively, and those holidays blended with the pre-existing rituals honoring Mictecacihuatl, a goddess of death.

After selecting their calaveras, the customers often ask the vendors to write their deceased loved ones’ names on the heads. During Day of the Dead, people place these skulls and other favorite snacks and dishes on altars dedicated to these family members.

Many people eat the treats after the holiday is over. But in Hernández’s case, she packs up most of them. Her mother liked so many sweets, it seems wasteful to display all new items annually.

“We eat the fruit,” she says.

Ruth Samuelson is a freelance writer living in Mexico City. She can be reached at ruth.samuelson@gmail.com.
Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2011/11/01/day-dead-in-mexico-at-feria-del-alfenique/#ixzz1cSiEBo3d