Logo Love: Bonnie Tsang Photography

Can you fall in love with business cards? Yes, you can! At least I can! I love the new business cards of Los Angeles based photographer Bonnie Tsang so much I actually want to frame them and hang them on my wall!
Please check out this gorgeous brandnew logo for Bonnie Tsang Photography by Anna Bond from RIFLE. Btw. if you are not familiar with Bonnie's and Anna's work please visit Bonnie's blog at bonnietsang.bigfolioblog.com and Anna's blog at riflemade.squarespace.com

I love the Bonnie's photography. She has a wonderful way of capturing things. And the sweetest daughter, little Miss V. But see for yourself:

© Bonnie Tsang Photography, All images from bonnietsang.bigfolioblog.com

Canada 2008:Halifax - Woodstock - Rivière-du-Loup

May 14th: Nuremberg - Halifax

After we arrived in our Motel in Halifax and after we had to change the room several times, we headed to the supermarket for a take-out dinner and had a low-key evening in our room...

May 15th: Halifax - Woodstock

Old school traveling with a map - no navigation system.


On our first day in Canada we discovered Tim Hortons. This was my favorite breakfast for the next 4 weeks, a plain grilled bagel with cream cheese...we miss our Timmy terribly!


Next stop: Woodstock

May 16th: Woodstock - Rivière-du-Loup

Time for a little break and a nap in the car. People stopped with their car and asked if everything was alright or if we needed help...we were overwhelmed by the Canadian friendliness...



I can't remember where these were taken but I just loved the signs.




We had the most amazing picnic by the Saint Lawrence River. Posted about this already a year ago.


And discovered this lovely motel in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, which I had also already posted about last year. The images I took there are some of my favorite images from the whole vacation.

Easter lunch

Some snaps I have taken of the roasted leg of lamb we had for lunch at Easter sunday this year...

Happy (belated) Easter

Inspirational Homes: Tobias & Hanne

Today while doing some research on photographer Tia Borgsmidt I stumbled over the images she has taken of one of the most awesome apartments I've seen in a long time. The home of Copenhagen based graphic designer Tobias Mikkelsen and architecture student Hanne Scheel Andersen. Together they run the blog What We Do where they write about personal projects and share inspirational links. Recently they posted some images - taken by Tia Borgsmidt and styled by Sidsel Zachariassen - of their apartment for an upcoming editorial in Boligmagasinet.

In the kitchen they mixed low-budget IKEA drawers and cupboards with custom-(family)-built shelves and great sea-green glass tiles...The apartment is lovely by itself already: bright, wooden floors, nice trims, old doors (Is there such an thing as not-pretty apartments in Denmark at all?) but they turned it into a perfect home. I'd move in right away...

Images from Tia Borgsmidt, Image on the lower left from Tobias & Hanne

I truly love their mix of new and old, of colorful accents and classic black-and white throughout the partment. In the livingroom the white TV on the wall almost completely disappears and the cupboards mounted on the walls give the whole room and light an airy feeling. I've seen this idea last year - of course in a Danish Interior magazine - and wanted to do the same in our living room. But, well, without those beautiful white trims and such a lovely wooden floor it looks nothing like that...

Images from Tia Borgsmidt

In the bedroom of their 85m² apartment they share with their little daughter Silke they installed a modern, custom-built work space in a black glossy look for the both of them. You should most definitely check out the original blog entry from What We Do for all the links to the manufacturers they provide and some details about those great black cupboards they used as base for their desk...

Images from Tia Borgsmidt, Image of flowers from Tobias & hanne

I think what attracts me so much about their home it that they seem to have a very similar approach to Interior design than I do. And we seem fall for the same things. There is not one single piece in these shots that I do not like. But there are even several things we both own or love and that I have already written about here. Chalkbarod - check, dishwasher - check, Kramfors sofa - check, Trollsta series - check...

Lemon Cupcakes

Or the cupcakes that never had a chance to get a frosting...Of course I was planning to make a delicious creamcheese frosting for these cupcakes but somehow they all disappeared before I got the chance to. This was a new recipe (although altered because I just can't stick to a recipe) I tried and I was quite happy with the taste (lemony and very moist) but they did not rise as expected. I have to do some testing with replacing the regular baking powder you get here in Germany with baking soda (Natron) or with mixing up both.

Recipe
125 g Flour
125 g Butter
125 g Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Baking powder
1 Tbsp Lemon zest
2 Tbsp Lemon juice
2 Tbsp Cream or Buttermilk

Store all ingredients at room temperature.
Mix butter, sugar and cream and whisk until sugar has dissolved and the mixture turns light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time while continuing beating. Add lemon juice and zest. Add sieved flour and baking powder and mix until everything is well combined. Scoop into cupcake cups and bake at 190°C (375°F) for about 15 to 20 minutes.
(As mentioned above this cupcakes did not rise using baking powder so you might wanna replace the baking powder with baking soda (Natron)...

Raspberries & Magazines

Honestly I'm not feeling very inspired lately and my thoughts are spinning in circles since we've come back from Canada...I think I have to sort some things out...and there's a lot of frustation coming up that has piled up over the last months or even years and needs to be dealt with finally...

That's one of the reasons I stayed quiet lately although I promised to myself to post more often. Another reason is that I feel like getting tired of the ever same content I see getting re-blogged and re-blogged on various websites. I can't even name any specific blogs that I'm getting bored of or don't want to blame anyone - I have re-blogged things I love myself. But when I open a magazine and every other article and image feels familiar because I've seen it several times on the web it somehow starts to bug me. Because it takes away the fun of reading a magazine. Of finding some new inspiration. Of discovering something all by myself. It also feels like an inspiration overflow over time...Awesome, inspirational stuff everywhere...Or is it just me, my bad mood and the fact that I'm frustrated anyway?

But I don't want to get you down so I leave you for the weekend with some of my favorite things that make me happy: Delicious, fresh raspberries on my Martha Stewart cake stand that I broght home all the way from Macy's NYC and two of my favorite magazines I bought for an elusive amount of money at the International newsdealer at the Central Station to soothe my "Fernweh"...

Fortune Cookie Haiku

Gananoque Provincial Inn

I most definitely have a preference for Motels with nice chairs. We decided on impulse to extend our stay at the Gananoque Provincial Inn for one more night and spend the day relaxing and doing basically nothing at the small town of Gananoque...the cosy room and the lovely chairs sure did push making this decision. It was an awesome slow day. I only can recommend staying there on your route from Montréal to Toronto. Or whenever you pass this area and are looking for a nice place to stay...

Impressions from the Montréal Botanical Garden

Motel Au Vieux Fanal, Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec

I fell in love with the exterior of this Motel in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec. I'm pretty sure you all can see why. I wish I could take some of these chairs home... Does anyone know where they are from?
The Motel's website is www.motelauvieuxfanal.com but it doesn't do the beauty of the Motel justice at all. Well, at least from the outside. I haven't seen any of the rooms from the inside. But who needs a room anyway if you can sit on one of those awesome chairs, sip a cold beer or cola and watch the sunset over the beautiful St. Lawrence River?

Picnic by the Saint Lawrence River

Happy (belated) Mother's Day

Taken with my new camera and lens ♥

An evening in Münster

Whenever you happen to be in Münster make sure to visit Stefan Krursel's Schuhsalon - unfortunately it was closed when we have been there but they had the most lovely stuff in the shop windows. And I bet they have great shoes, too...

We only spend an envening in Münster but if you're interested you can check out all the images I have taken while strolling through the city at night at my Flickr account.


(To be true we also spend the night in Münster but our hotel room was rather lousy so it better remains unmentioned...but I spotted a really nice hotel where I'd love to stay next time. Check out their website at mauritzhof.de.

Images from www.mauritzhof.de

Lemon-Ricotta Cake: One recipe - three cakes

On top is the original Lemon-Ricotta Cake in the middle I added some rum soaked raisins and the bottom one is a Diet-Banana-Cake, all based on the same recipe.
I will add the recipe(s) later.

Happy Holidays

...to all of you. Wishing you a merry Christmas filled with love, joy, food, presents and of course lots of pictures :)

Happy first advent

Hope you all have a wonderful first advent. I'm busy working these days because there are a few important deadlines within the next weeks that I have to meet but I hope to find some time to write soon. I still have another lovely shopping recommendation for Hamburg that has to be posted.

Mini cheesecakes

Two weeks ago I made some mini cheesecakes...recipe is going to follow but has to be tested once again first - hopefully I find time to do so on Saturday or Sunday - as I'm not 100% sure about the measurements...

Lovely details of our vacation home

"Almost a cheesecake" or the "moistest sponge cake ever"

Last weekend I was craving for cheesecake but didn't have enough cream cheese or curd at home to make a 'real' cheesecake. While the typical German cheesecake is made with curd I prefer the American cheesecake with a graham cracker crust and a cream cheese filling.
All I had left in the fridge was one cup of curd and one cup of creme fraiche. I looked in all of my cook books to find a cake recipe that comes close but does not require lots of cream cheese or curd. But I could not find a recipe I liked. Well, I could not find anything that requried the ingedients I had. So I decided to start experimenting and coming up with my own recipe. I've done some baking experiments before but I never came up with a whole recipe on my own. It was always more like modifying recipes and replacing ingredients I didn't like. And I have to admit there have already been some big mishps. Baking is always a little bit like gambling...you never know if you win or loose - if it turns out great or catastrophically. And even after years of avid baking I'm never totally sure if a batter is going to be good or not.
But this one turned out perfectly - to my own surprise. You could totally taste the cheese in the cake and it was super moist and delicious. So it's "almost a cheesecake" or the "moistest sponge cake ever". Or anything inbetween...

Recipe
4 eggs
250g curd
250g creme fraiche
180g butter
180g sugar
200g flour
2 tbsp raisins, soaked in rum
1 tsp baking powder (not baking soda)
1 pinch of vanilla flavor
2 cl (or 1,5 fl) advocaat

1. Beat egg whites until stiff and put aside.
2. Batter egg yolks and sugar until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture becomes think and creamy.
3. Add curd and cream fraiche.
4. Melt the butter in a small pan and let it cool down for a few minutes.
5. Meanwhile sift the flour over the mixture and stir it in.
5. Add the melted butter and the advocaat while slowly mixing.
6. Fold in carefully the beaten egg whites.
7. Add the raisins.
8. Pour everything into a prepared cake pan and bake for 45 minutes at 160° C (325° F).
I always butter the cake pan first and then put in a mixture of flour, sugar and breadcrumbs to make sure that the cake comes off of the cake pan easily. In most recipes they recommend to dust the buttered cake pan with flour but for me this never worked very well. The flour gets soaked very quickly and then it still sticks to the pan. So I did try some different things some years ago until I figured out that the flour/sugar/breadcrumb mixture works best. It does not only work very well for almost every kind of cake but it also tastes delicious.