Berlin Fashion Week Trends 2013/2014 part 2

I promised it, here are the other things I saw :). Camouflage is still a trend like last year:

Photo:efashiontrend

Photo: stylehunter

and the mix of different materials and fabrics:

Photo: thebestfashionblog

Hope you will find something you like for 2013 :)

Kram,

Isabell

How to organize a hallway

I'm very unhappy with our hallway. It's the first thing you see when coming into an apartment and we spent most of our time in furnishing the other rooms and our hallway was neglected. And since it's winter right now, it's filled with plenty of jackets and shoes, laundry boxes, cleaning agents.. some of them hidden behind a curtain. So what we did last week was to buy parts of the Ikea Stolmen System and some boxes:

Photo: stylebubble

And I will also buy this wallpaper for one wall, to make it look even better:

Photo: tapetenagentur

Photo: tapetenagentur

The pattern reminds me of the pattern that the bowls from Rörstrand that I have :)

Will show you everything as soon as we will start.


Kram,

Isabell

Jam doughnuts - Krapfen

One of my favorite pastries during January and February are jam doughnuts, which are called "Krapfen" here in Bavaria and "Berliner" in most of the other parts of Germany. Berlin residents call them "Pfannkuchen", which in the rest of Germany means "pancakes".

The bakeries use a sweet yeast dough and fry it in fat or oil and fill it with jam and put icing sugar or conventional sugar on top. That's the version you can get all- year round. But during carnival (which is right now until 12th of February) they use different other toppings and fillings like chocolate, custard, plum butter, advocaat, baileys, honey and cream cheese etc. I often stand there in front of the display window and it takes ages before I make my decision which one to buy. I simply like all of them :)

Kram,

Isabell

Let the sunshine in...

In the darkest winter days when Christmas is over and it's dark in the morning when you leave to go to work and dark when you come back from work... it's sometimes good to know that there is another season coming that is different. I like winter, it's cozy and nice too, but it sometimes feels much too long here in Munich and it feels like as if you only have half of a day compared to summer. So therefore I'm sending you some summer greetings to let you think about the bright side of the year! This is what I see in my mind when I think of summer...

Photo:skonahem

Photo:skonahem

Photo:inredarekarin

Fresh and juicy strawberries and woodland strawberries.... 

Photo: bellasvagtillbaka

Have a good and hopefully sunny day ! :)

Kram,

Isabell

Chocolate pudding recipe

We've just come back from Snowboarding in Austria. The snow was really bad today and very icy and I fell a lot so that I have bruises all over my body and don't know how to move or sit without pain. I've read an article saying that chocolate makes you happy, so that's what I'm trying right now to forget the pain. :)

This is the chocolate pudding I just made:

Here is what you need


50 gram chocolate (you can choose whole milk chocolate or dark chocolate)
500 ml whole milk
1 table spoon natural cocoa powder

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 table spoon (if you like it sweeter add 1-2 more table spoons sugar)
35 gram cornstarch

If you like:
250 millilitre cream

Chop the chocolate (not too fine). Put half of the milk in a nonreactive saucepan, bring to simmer and let the chopped chocolte melt in it. Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 1/2  of the milk, cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla extract and cornstarch in a bowl.

Add the mix to the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat whisking constantly, until the pudding comes to a full boil and gets a thicker consistency. Pour the pudding into 4-6 small bowls. Cover with plastic wrap and ideally refrigerate for at least 4 hours. ( I often eat it earlier, like today :))

I didn't have cream at home, but if you have it, it's delicious: Just before serving whip the cream with a mixer and add some vanilla sugar. Take care not to over-beat the cream or it will be grainy or in the last stadium butter :). Serve each pudding with whipped cream on top.

Kram,

Isabell

Berlin Fashion Week Trends 2013/2014 part 1

I've promised to show you the things I've seen on the Fashion Week in Berlin. There were many thing I would have liked to buy, but also styles I personally don't like. These are the trends for 2013/2014 and as I've seen a lot, there will be a part 2 :)

I've still seen a lot of Aztek patterns like last year:

Photo: blouinartinfo

and a mix of loud colours and subdued colours:

Photo: blouinartinfo

cheetah and animal prints for men:

Photo:artschoolvets

and women

Photo: thefashionsection.com

Personally I'm not a big fan of animal prints, but there were nice dresses like the one shown above or the combination below.

Photo: ellahoy

Nevertheless I guess you won't find a single piece of clothing with animal print in my wardrobe this year or next.  :)

Do you like animal prints?

Kram,

Isabell

Chicken Teriyaki recipe

Today I tried a new recipe, which I've got from the norecipes.com Blog. It's so delicious, but make sure to really leave the marinated chicken meat in the fridge for at least 1 hour, I would even say 5-6 hours, because then the meat gets soft.

This is the original Chicken Teriyaki recipe:

for teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons mild flavored honey (or maltose)
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons sake

Combine the water, soy sauce, brown sugar and mirin in large ziploc bag and add the chicken thighs. Press out as much air as you can and seal the bag. Let this sit in the fridge for at least an hour.

To make the teriyaki sauce, just add the honey, soy sauce, mirin and sake to a small sauce pan and boil over medium heat until the sauce is glossy and slightly viscous (it won’t get quite as thick as the jarred types). It should take on a caramelized taste but be careful not to burn it.

When you’re ready to grill the chicken, turn the broiler on and move the oven rack up to the upper position. Put a wire rack on a baking sheet (I use the rack out of my toaster oven), and put the chicken thighs skin side down onto the rack (the idea is to keep the meat elevated off the pan).

Grill until brown then flip so the skin side faces up. Baste the skin side with teriyaki sauce and continue to broil until the skin is golden brown with just a few charred spots. Give the chicken one final baste with the teriyaki sauce and serve.

If you don't want to make the Teriyaki sauce by yourself, you can of course also buy it in a grocery that sells Asian food.

We had rice and leaf salad as side-dishs, hope you will try it too!

Kram,

Isabell

Simple trick for washing-up liquids

I'm only a fan of nice packings as you know from my previous post :). But the ones for washing-up liquids aren't really beautiful, they are practical. And you never put it away as this is one of the things which you need everyday.

But there is a simple trick to make it look better : I bought a soap dispenser and filled it up with the washing-up liquid. I think it looks much better now, doesn't it?

Swedish design and German stickers

I admit it, I buy a Swedish apple juice instead of a German apple juice just because it says "äpple" (Swedish) instead of "Apfel" (German) on the bottle. But that's not all of it... I like the way the Swedish food is packed. It's often a very special design and that they care about how it looks like. But not the German importers... When buying crispbread today in the supermarket - of course I chose a Swedish brand ;) - I found this:

Didn't they find a bigger and uglier sticker to put on this packaging? :) 

Kram,

Isabell

Klippans Yllefabrik

On my trip in Berlin, I found a Swedish brand that is called Klippans Yllefabrik. We where in a shop that sold all kinds of things like books, toothbrushes from Pantone, letter paper etc. and also wool blankets. I liked the colours the wool blankets had and looked on the label, where it said "Klippan Yllefabrik". I didn't even know that it exists, even though that Klippan is a place in Southern Sweden and my great-grandfather lived there and it's not far away from my parents' house. It seems that I have a knack for finding Scandinavian things :)

These are some of the pictures that show their products, they also sell a lot of things for the kitchen:

Photo: svd

Photo: svd

These are the wool blankets I found in Berlin: 

Photo: klippanyllefabrik

Photo: klippanyllefabrik

I know where you can find me this summer in Sweden : For sure at the factory shop in Klippan ;)

Kram,

Isabell

Back home in Munich...

Coming home is always special, isn't it? Even if it has only been a few days in Berlin and we really had a good time, the moment you open the door to your home feels so good! I left the bag where I had put it when we came in, took a shower, brewed some tea and now I'm sitting here and enjoying our home and I'm thinking about the last few days. Berlin is a wonderful city, even during winter. We had good food, met very nice people and I've seen a lot of art and things that inspire me. I look forward to changing some furnitures and put new colours into our apartment. I'll of course keep you updated ;)

Kram,

Isabell

Transit Restaurant Berlin

I've talked so much about the Transit Restaurant in Berlin, that I want to show you some pictures from Friday's evening. It's different to anything I know from Munich, you can order small bowls with different dishes at 3 euro each and I've tried a lot of them and everything tastes really delicious.

These are the bowls with the different dishes:

No, it's not a mochito :), it's a lemon-ginger-honey tea as it was so cold in Berlin that I needed something hot to drink...

Kram,

Isabell

iittala Shop Berlin

You know I like porcelain and especially Scandinavian, so Tim went to the iittala shop together with me. iitala is a Finnish brand which was founded as a glassworks in 1881. They really have nice design objects, but I only had a look at the things and didn't buy anything. (Tim was happy about that :)) Even if it was nice to have something from iittala, I wouldn't want our cupboards to explode. And I would like to go to the outlet in Höganäs in Sweden this summer...

This is a picture from the main entrance, they've decorated all the walls with plates:

And one of the design objects, which made it very hard for me to leave ;)

iittala

Kram,

Isabell

Kaffeemitte in Berlin

Today we just spent the entire day in Berlin city center and started it with a very good breakfast in Kaffeemitte, with some coffee, fruit salad, scrambled eggs and fresh orange juice. I LOVE breakfast, for me that's the best part of the day. The café is situated in Berlin Mitte in the Eastern part of Berlin and perfect for starting a shopping/sightseeing tour in this area:

Berlin Fashion Week Tradeshows - Bright 2013

I promised to send you an update of my day. I've been on many different fashion shows today and met a lot of people. Tradeshows are very interesting and you meet a lot of new people, but at the same time you walk a thousand miles without knowing it and you forget about time and forget about food. That's why I will order all the dishes on the menu of the Transit restaurant today. :) These are some of the pictures I took at the Bright 2013 tradeshow:

As I work in an agency that does the marketing for many fashion brands, I was invited to come to this tradeshow. It's very interesting to see all the new collections and people are very friendly. I'll give you more details about the trends at a later time.

As Tim is with me on this trip we will go to the Transit restaurant now and meet some friends that live in Berlin. Looking forward to it!

Kram,

Isabell

Hotel 38 Berlin

I've just returned from the fashion tradeshows in Berlin and I'm very happy to be able to be in the hotel room right now. I think I walked a thousand miles today, but I want to see more of Berlin, so I returned to the hotel to relax a little bit before going to Berlin city center. This is the breakfast room of our Hotel ( Hotel 38) in Berlin, isn't it nice? In Summer you can have the breakfast outside in the little inner court:

I can warmly recommend this hotel it's very calm and perfectly situated to get to the Eastern part of Berlin. If you like Scandinavian Design, make sure to book a room that is closer to the elevator, as these are more modern than the ones that are far away from the elevator.

Will get back to you later with more pictures...

Kram,

Isabell

Absinth Bar Berlin

We've arrived in Berlin and I've just seen a very stylish Absinth Bar which reminds me of Upstairs Downstairs. Unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures of it but I found one on the internet:

Photo: Absinthdepot Berlin

It looks really like in the twenties and even better than on this picture. Berlin is such an incredible mix of different styles and you can explore new things everyday. We will go to the Transit restaurant now.
More pictures are to follow ;)

Kram,

Isabell

Design objects - Wood Casting series by Hilla Shamia

In a magazine I found this stool which is a design object made by Hilla Shamia, a designer from Israel. She is creating these objects (Wood Casting series) by using a whole tree trunk and combining it with molten aluminum, that is poured directly onto the wood. The molten aluminum burns the surface and darkens the wood. Then the wood is cut lengthwise and put into a mold to form the frame and legs. I like things that are a mix and that you can still see the natural material that is formed into another shape:

Hilla Shamia

Kram,

Isabell

Skånsk äggakaka recipe - Swedish "egg cake" recipe

One of the easiest dishes to prepare, which I know is "äggakaka", it's a Swedish dish that comes from the southern part of Sweden (Skåne). Historically it was served to workers who helped with the fall harvest. I was very practical as could easily be packed into a sack to be eaten in the field. You could translate it as "egg cake" but it's not really a cake, it's more like a thick pancake but fluffier and you eat it for lunch or dinner.

Here is what you need (please refer to my post about the Swedish measuring cups if you need help concerning the measuring):

• 4 dl milk
• 4 eggs
• 11/2 dl flour
• 1/2 tsk salt

• bacon 
• and of course lingonberries (That's important in Sweden :))

Mix the salt and the flour. Use a big bowl for the eggs and add the milk and whisk, add the salt/flour mix bit by bit and keep on whisking until all the flour is added.

Put a pan on the oven and fry the bacon the way you like it (Soft or crispy), take them out of the pan and keep warm.

Use the same pan and maybe add some oil or butter and then add the äggakaka mix, use a wooden spoon to always lift the ground of the mix a little bit in the entire pan, so that the mix doesn't get burned and so that all of the liquid gets cooked bit by bit. Lower the heat of the oven.

As soon as the liquid has gone and you have checked that the colour on the side of the äggakaka that is frying in the pan is brown, take a huge plate that is bigger than the pan and put it on the pan like a lock and press against the pan.

Now turn it upside down, so that the uppside of the äggakaka (which has not been fried) in the pan is now downside on the plate.

Remove anything that is left in the pan from the äggakaka, add some butter or oil and let the äggakaka glide back into the pan slowly from the plate. Now the other side of the äggakaka gets fried, keep the temperature of the oven low, so that the other side doesn't get burned and don't use the wooden spoon for this side, just leave it and only check if the underside is ready and brown.

Serve the äggakaka directly from the pan, topped with the fried bacon, eat it together with the lingonberries.

Bon apetit!

Isabell

Peter Pan Collar Pullover from H&M

After Christmas, H&M had a big sale on their website and of course I found something: A pullover with a Peter Pan Collar. Always wanted to have one, because I think they look so nice and you look nice in it. As soon as it will get warmer here in Munich, I'm going to wear it together with my jeansjacket. I like to mix different styles and it's also perfect for work. I bought it in black and white:

But this wasn't all of it. I don't know why, but each time I buy something from H&M, I also add a pjyamas trouser to the chart. I have all of them: check, pink, striped, dotted, multicoloured and unicoloured...  I'm guess, I'm a pyjamaniac :)


Have a good day,

Kram,

Isabell

Musselmalet Mega - DIY

My best friend in Copenhagen has some items from this porcelain from Royal Copenhagen, which is called "Musselmalet Mega". She loves it, but it is very expensive :

royaldesign

I also think that it looks very nice and I like the design of the sauce boat :

royaldesign

As she will turn 30 this year I would like to give her a present that she likes, but that is also personal in a way. While going for a walk in the snowy Munich city center today, I've found a shop where you can decorate ceramics. They have different ceramic forms and you can decorate them with colours and a glaze. Then they burn it for you and you can pick it up one week later. I'll use the Musselmalet Mega pattern and I guess I'll have to exercise a little bit ;), but that would be something she definitely likes.

golocal

I'll show you my result as soon as it is ready!

Kram,

Isabell