Holy crepe!

18 Jun

The summer hit Vienna really fast. After having floodings in Austria in the beginning of the month it has now 32° C. No kidding. It’s hard to keep up. Yesterday it was the same and I wore long pants. Long pants! I’ve never been so hot in my life. But it’s not just me that seems to not keep up with the changing seasons but my flat as well. In summer I do like to add a little colour. It’s easily done with a few ingredients to change the look of your home.

For this purpose I created a short series of about 3 posts (maybe more, we’ll see how it goes…) on what you can do to bring a little colour into your home.

First (as a pilot if you want) I show you how to make paper balls (or pom poms) out of crepe paper. You probably have seen paper balls out of tissue. However I wanted to have some with more prominent colour and opted for crepe paper.

crepe_paper_ball

All you need for these paper balls:

- crepe paper (in every colour you like)
- scissors
- thread
- wire

crepe_paper_ball_supplies

The wire is optional as it does not end up in the finished ball but I found it a useful tool for making the pom poms.

1. Cut the paper into squares around 15 x 15 cm with also 15 layers.

crepe_paper_squares

2. Fold the staple of paper like a concertina. You’ll see what I mean in this image:

crepe_paper_ball_folding

3. Wrap the wire around the middle of the folded paper. It now looks like a funny bow tie.

crepe_paper_bow_tie

4. Cut where the folds are but not all the way through! Stop about 1 1/2 cm before the middle or it will fall apart. Wrap the thread around the middle and take the wire away. Fluff and ruffle up the strings of paper and now look what I made!

crepe_paper_ball_done

 

crepe_paper_ball_hanging

Now. Carry on!

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Elder refreshment.

13 Jun

I don’t drink enough. That’s a sentence that my boyfriends hears a lot lately. Evertime at night. In bed. When my thoughts start to wander and it’s too late to do anything about it. In winter I drink tea. A lot. Black, green, fruit and herbal tea. Everything. In summer it’s more tricky. Ice tea takes a lot of preparation and foresight. Not for me. I’m also not into lemonade. Too sweet. I rather like syrups that I can mix for my own taste. Well syrups are actually the only alternative to water in summer (when it comes to non-alcoholic drinks – alcohol is a total different story!). However I don’t want to buy them because you never now what preservatives, artificial flavours and/or colours are in there. (You could read the label but that would probably depress me.)

That’s why I got this recipe for elder syrup from my mother. It’s so easily made and only takes about 15 mins of your time in total – waiting time not included.

Elder_syrup_drink_outdoor

All you need for around 3 litres of elder syrup:

- 2 kg sugar
- 2 litres of water
- 3 Tbsp citric acid
- 15 blossoms of elder

Elder_blossoms_for_syrup

Heat the water in a big saucepan and add the sugar. Stir it until the sugar is completely dissolved. Put aside and let it cool down completely to room temperature. Add the elder blossoms and stir. Now the mixture should sit for 2 days, 3 days maximum. Stir in the citric acid. I used 3 heaping tablespoons but you can taste along as you mix it in. Don’t use to much acid though as it will become a little unhealthy. Then sieve the syrup into large bottles and voilá. You can drink it directly. Just add about 1 cm of syrup into a 250 ml glass and add cold water. With a little lemon and mint it makes the perfect summer drink to beat the heat.

Elder_syrup_drink

Look what refreshing syrup I made:

elder_syrup_glass

Some tipps on the side: Don’t use less sugar as it will start to ferment and blow off. Literally. A friend had this problem and it’s not nice to clean your whole storage room from this sticky stuff. Also don’t add to many more blossoms as it will become cloudy and bitter. This recipe has been tested over many years!

I probably don’t have to tell you that this makes also a good present for friends and family… Just in case you’re invited to a summer party/picnic/event: you can add the syrup also to prosecco.

elder_syrup_glass_above

Now. Carry on!

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Hitting the road.

11 Jun

As promised a few pictures from my vacation. I know, I know. It’s now over a week that I’ve been back but I took so many pictures! Sighting them took a while. Also because every time I go through them, I remember the day and experiences we had (yes, of course, my boyfriend was with me) and I have the urge to talk about it. “Remember this day, when I found the home of an hobbit?!”

May_vacation_hobbits

But first things first. As I already told you, we wanted to stay in Austria and venture around Nothern Italy. Unfortunately the weather forced us to leave Austria on the second day and kept us driving around from Lake Garda to Lake Como, from South of Tyrolia to Venezia. I saw so much that I have the feeling I was gone for a month instead of 2 weeks. One of the best vacations!

When friends ask about our vacation, I joke that we had holidays like retirees: Visiting cities, enjoying museums and hiking on mountains. Except my boyfriend did some mountainbiking. So maybe I’m just the senior. Well, who cares. I enjoyed myself. Very much. Also because we did not camp in a tent. We did that the years before and it’s fine for a week but after that I get the “camping blues”. That’s at least what I call it. I just tend to get grumpy and angry because I like a real bed and a clean bathroom.

So this castle would not be the perfect home for me. Although this could be the perfect reading nook.

May_vacation_Malcesine1

The view over Malcesine at Lake Garda. Because it was not the main season, there were not too many tourists. I have been told that at this castle there is a wedding every day in main season. If you haven’t noticed, the little white tent is where the groom is waiting for the bride. I watched her walking in from the tower of the castle.

May_vacation_Malcesine2

One late afternoon when we went to Lazise at Lake Garda where we went just for a walk before dinner, the light was so perfect that I had to take pictures.

May_vacation_Lazise1

May_vacation_Lazise

I’m actually not that into hiking. I blame my parents who dragged me on every mountain that was in driving distance from their home. I hate that it is so exhausting and boring on the way up. My boyfriend loves hiking and to trick me into joining him, he always looks for ways to keep my mind busy like a wild water experience trail or searching for mushrooms or a castle is the destination. Fine with me as long as I have the feeling it’s not only a drag…

All the following pictures are taking in Austria. I really took them myself. I have to admit though that they look like as they are from tourist ads. Really cheesy.

May_vacation_Gosau May_vacation_Abtenau May_vacation_Hallstatt May_vacation_loser

Me. Hiking. This is not my happy face.

May_vacation_Bellagio_hiking

See how happy I am that I reached the top?! Funny story: the mountain from which I took the following image with the view over Lake Garda is called Monte Baldo and because it was not wholly covered in snow during the Ice Ages, you can still find flowers that only exist here. They are extinct everywhere else.

May_vacation_Monte_Baldo

This is the view over Bellagio.

May_vacation_Bellagio

The photo below is from South Tyrol. It gives a good impression what the weather was like. I took 3 bikinis with me and I ended up wearing none. Since I get bored sunbathing it was ok with me. The best days were when we were at the botanical garden where I made the Daisy wreath and another day in Bellagio at Lake Como when we discovered the town center. The weather was very unstable and it rained at least once in 24 h. But with the car we were quite flexible and we just drove where the weather was good and asked around to get a room.

May_vacation_sun_over_Bozen

Did I already mention how beautiful it was?! I really loved Venezia. If you’ve never been to this city, you seriously have to go. It’s as incredible as everybody tells you.

May_vacation_Venezia1 May_vacation_Venezia4

May_vacation_Venezia3

Isn’t it crazy if you think about that the whole city is built on piles?! I can’t really wrapped my head around this fact.

May_vacation_Venezia2

This is really only a itzy bitzy teeny weeny selection. If you have time one day, maybe you should come by, drink some tea with me and see more. Just give me a heads up first, so I can prepare a cake.

Now. Carry on!

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Chocolate and rain.

3 Jun

We had horrible weather the last 2 weeks. Good thing I was on holiday (Did I mention that before? Not sure…). I’m still busy sorting the images but I’ll make sure to share a few with you. I’ve been to so many beautiful places and had such amazing experiences, the last 2 weeks felt like a whole month and I came back so inspired. Because – you know – holidays are for inspiration!

But every dark day (and with dark, I mean cold) has a bright side: you can still make cakes with a lot of cream and it will hold for your guest to admire it! Call me, Ms. Brightside!

This is another fantastic – easy and delicious – chocolate cake recipe from my dad. You know he’s the hero of this kind of cakes.

Herrentorte1_piece_of_cake

What you need:

For the cream:
- 750 ml cream
- 90 g dark chocolate (at least 50% cacao)
- 90 g white chocolate
- 2 Tsp Amaretto

Heat the cream in a pan and put it aside. Melt the chocolate in the cream and add the Amaretto. Put the cream in the fridge the day before (or in the freezer for 2 hours if you need the cake fast). It should be completely cooled down before beating.

For the sponge:
- 130 g dark chocolate
- 130 g butter (room temperature)
- 40 g powder sugar
- 1 Tsp Vanille sugar
- 6 eggs
- 180 g castor sugar
- 130 g flour

Melt the dark chocolate over a water bath. Meanwhile beat the egg whites with the castor sugar until stiff. Mix the butter with the melted chocolate, powder sugar and Vanille sugar. Combine the 2 mixtures and add the flour. Bake for 60 mins in the 180 ° C preheated oven (This recipe is for a baking dish of the size of 24 cm diameter).

Once the sponge is cool, cut the cake into 4 layers and add the beaten cream in between each layer. Leave enough cream to cover the whole cake.

For the decoration grate 50 g of dark chocolate and cover the sides and top of the cake. Lay a round paper on top of the cake and sieve powder sugar on top. This leaves you with a nice white circle on top of the cake and is done within minutes.

Herrentorte1

After eating a piece my boyfriend said: this brings you straight to the morgue! After that he ate 3 pieces. Not sure if he wants to escape from me or the cake was this delicious. I hope the latter. No, I know the latter. I ate a few pieces myself. So good!

Herrentorte_piece_of_cake

The flower in the background is actually wild garlic (or bear leek). A pretty decoration that you can use them for after they start to bloom and loose their fantastic flavour.

Now. Carry on!

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Feeling blue.

31 May

I’m not actually feeling blue. I hardly feel that way. My boyfriend and I always joke that my head is filled with butterfly, quokkas and baby foxes that play on a meadow in Spring. Unless my blood sugar drops. Then I get really hangry! Worst case. Luckely it can be cured with a cookie or some chocolate or an apple. Unfortuantely there’re not always around. After we took this photos in the botanical garden, we walked on and suddenly it happened. From one moment to the other I became grumpy. Really bad. My boyfriend took me straight to the car and the cookies. That’s how bad it was. Just so you know. I’m not joking. Do you get hangry as well?

Sorry, back to the topic of this post: What I do feel is the colour blue. I like it. Very much. I’m still waiting on the trend to go this way and then I’m all like “I told you so! Blue is the new black!”

I’m now waiting for this to happen since – let me think – 2 years. While there’s life, there’s hope. Or something like that.

Well back to what I wanted to show you. This whole complicated introduction only to tell you that two years ago I painted a sideboard blue and I finished it now. Do you have sometimes projects that you start and never finish until one day when you just do it and then you’re like: “That was easy. This looks great. Now. Let’s move on.” Well maybe that’s just me.

blue_sideboard_portrait

And 2 years ago – although that was so long before this blog, before I even thought about having this blog – I took pictures of the process. Which got lost. I thought I still have them somewhere. Anywhere. But nope.

In the end I can tell you what I did and show you pictures of the result. But it’s not the same. It’s always nicer with pictures. I’m a visual person when it comes to crafting.

I got the little sideboard from the mother of my boyfriend. She had it when she was young and I like that. It’s actually nothing special: made out of chipboard and lacquered.

However it’s quite tricky to paint lacquered furniture. I had to do some heavy research online and read a few instructions before I had a go.

First of all you have to rub the wood with (at least) 220 sandpaper until the surface appears dull. Then coat the whole thing with primer. Let it dry completely and then paint it with the colour you like.

I bought mine at a hardware store and luckily I asked a shop assistant for help. Apparently there are different colours for lacquered wood, for untouched wood, for outdoor and indoor – makes sense if you think about it but it is quite overwhelming when you stand in front of the shelf.

The legs of the sideboard are quite nice, so I left them as they were. I really like the distressed look.

blue_sideboard_leg

I also bought some nice fabric from the Stoffsalon and sewed it with blue yarn. You can’t really see it but I like the details.

blue_sideboard_fabric_detail

What was missing until recently was the handle for the door. I just couldn’t think of an option that I really liked. The other night I inspiration hit me. I just folded a piece of leather that I had still left from my leather bracelet folded it 3 times and nailed to the door. As easy as it is genious. You know, I’m humble like that.

blue_sideboard_handle

Now look at what I made out of this old and shabby (but not chic) sideboard:

blue_sideboard_square

Now. Carry on!

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Fresh as a daisy.

25 May

Did I tell you that I’m on holiday? Can’t seem to mention it enough. So much time on my hand, enough to create a blog post every day. But I use the time rather for inspiration and planning as you might have seen if you follow me on Instagram.

You’ve seen the result of today’s tutorial probably already on my post about my new jeans shorts. The thing is: I have a problem with boredom. When it comes to sitting still and doing one task at a time I’m really horrible. Even at work I do 2-3 tasks at a time. However when it comes to crafting, I’m much more focused and get into a flow that I can hardly describe to anybody who hasn’t experienced the same. This is probably what got this whole blogging thing started.

daisy_wreath1

But look what I made in the botanical garden (while my boyfriend was lying in the grass, enjoying the sun): a tiny wreath out of daisies. It’s quite easily made and you don’t need anything but some daisies and your hand.

daisy_meadow

Collect a few daisies. You need quite a lot and selected those with stronger stems.

daisy_bunch

Make a hole into the stem with your finger nail.

daisy_whole

And do this with many daisies more. The hole shouldn’t be bigger than the flower.

daisy_row

Now take two daisies and put the stem of one through the hole other. It should look like this:

daisy_braid

Now take the daisy that you just threaded through the hole and put another daisy through its hole. Keep on doing this unitl it is so long that it would sit nicely on your head. In the last daisy you need a bigger hole through which you can thread the flower of the first daisy. Voilá. That’s it.

daisy_wreath

You can cut the longer stems if you like. I like the special effect of them hanging done. When would you wear this daisy wreath?

daisy_wreath_detail

Now. Carry on!

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That’s how the cookie crumbles.

23 May

Lately I have the feeling that I do more guest posts than posts on this blog. It’s weird but nice to have so many people interested in what I do. It also keeps me immensely busy. Also because I’m on holiday since Friday. We stay around Austria and Northern Italy. I haven’t planned anything. My boyfriend does all the planning. I like serendipity and surprises (only the good ones, of course). As long as we have a car and some chocolate, I’m all good. I will tell some jokes and laugh the hardest. That’s how easy I’m entertained.

Sorry, I just lost focus again. What did I want to tell you again? Right. I did another guest blog post for Monika – a dear friend of mine – and her great project called minifeast.

Look what I made for her: gluten-free Rhubarb-Raspberry-Crumble – a very easy and fun Summer recipe.

Rhubarb_raspberry_crumble1

You can get the recipe on the minifeast blog.

Now. Carry on!

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