Since I've been cooking up a storm recently I wanted to reorganize my spices so they weren't taking up so much space and so they would be more uniform. 
I first saw this idea on delicious days, however I modified it to suit our needs - changing up the colors of the labels so I could categorize differently and typing up each spice's name in both German and English. 
These are the spice tins. They are perfect, because they are light safe, air tight, have screw on lids, and you can put expiration dates on the bottom. Now I can just grab the ones I need for my recipes and get cooking.
I ordered 60, so I can always create my own mixes or have a home for the new things I pick up in far away cities. We bought loads of Moroccan spices while we were in Marrakech, and now they are perfectly nestled in my drawer with my kitchen scale and the rest of my collection.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Spices
Friday, February 4, 2011
Persian Love Cake
We have had so much going on recently, but I've still managed to make time to make home cooked meals each night, which I really love.
Lately I've been making a lot of Indian inspired foods including this beautiful Persian Love Cake in honor of the pending Valentine holiday.
The flavors are very interesting: cardamom, rose water, lemon, saffron, and pistachio. I added some heart healthy pomegranates, too.
It's such a luxury to have good food, made from scratch, and to try new recipes that remind me of places we've been.
This is definitely a good recipe to surprise your sweetie with or to make yourself as a sweet and exotic treat.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Live the Language
EF - Live The Language - Paris from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.
Have you seen these incredible and gorgeous little videos from Gustav Johansson, Niklas Johansson, and Albin Holmqvist?They warm my heart and make me squeal with delight. These are the simple pleasures of travel... seeing, learning, and doing - and so beautifully presented. Really spectacular!!
So far cities include: Beijing, Barcelona, London and Paris.
Each video brings me back to my time in each of these cities.
I can't wait for the German version. They remind me of my own language school experiences.
Don't they make you want to jump into language school as soon as possible?
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
creative outlet
Nearly every time I feel as if I am finished going through travel photos I see something else and feel inspired. 
I love paint, watercolor, and the juxtaposition when combined with photography. Without delving too deep into art and art history (which is my background) it's the dichotomy between photographers using light to 'paint' their images and with painters creating with nature that really fascinates me. They are such different mediums, but can be united in striking ways.
There are quite a few creative projects going on for me and many more brewing... these are a small sample of some of the things I've been working on.
Art is just so therapeutic. My Mom always said people need a creative outlet and I whole heartedly agree - especially when I can combine it with my loves: art, travel, and Stefan.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Flight to Marrakech
Our flight to Marrakech was through perfect weather, which enabled us to see much of what was down below including:
Thursday, January 20, 2011
As-Salāmu`Alaykum*
In addition to Marrakech we also visited the beach in sleepy sea side Essaouira. They were wonderfully different from one another, but both incredible in their own rights. 
I'm really trying my best to get through editing these photos, especially because we have quite a few more trips lined up before the summer sun rolls back around. I can't wait to share the great things we saw, ate, and experienced. We even tried our hand at price negotiating... Stefan is clearly more seasoned than me. * Peace be upon you, in Arabic.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Photo Booth
...always worth a visit - even if there was too much developer, which made me look like I had a 5 o'clock shadow comparable to Stefan's.
This is a great site to find them near where you live or if you're heading out on a trip.
Monday, January 3, 2011
New Year's 2011
Once again we were reminded of Paris' beauty and why we've fallen in love with the place.
We had a two day celebration for New Years Eve and New Years Day on the roof top of the Palais de Tokyo.
Best of all was talking to some of the museum workers, especially about the art heist next door, which happened a week after we visited last May. It's such an audacious theft. We were looking at the window where the person got away and imagining where the works are now being stored and by whom. It's absolutely fascinating.
Hopefully the photos will pick up where the words fail me. It's an incredible city that never gets old.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Parisian New Year
It is going to take me days to pour over the photos we've taken in Paris. To say we had an amazing time bringing in the New Year would be a massive understatement.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Saalbach-Hinterglemm
Right after Christmas we headed to Austria for a fun getaway with friends.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
`Tis the Season
Our advent calendar is winding down, which I am actually going to miss. It's been fun to surprise Stefan each morning before he heads off to work. My aunt sent me the Elf on the Shelf a couple years ago and he's been making surprise appearances all around the apartment as well. 
This past week we visited the Tollwood, had a candle light cheese fondue, bought and decorated our tree, watched a Christmas movie, and had a delicious breakfast to name a few of the advent calendar surprises. 
Since I haven't seen many of our ornaments for the past two years there were some great treasures to rediscover. Somehow I forgot my angel that always makes me smile. I picked her up my very first Christmas in Germany at the Weltladen while my sister was visiting.
I also forget how so many trees here resemble bushes and for some reason the lights come as a lasso. I can't quite figure out why this is a good idea. Untangling Christmas lights is never fun, but when there isn't even a single end to work from things get interesting rather quickly.
Whenever we travel we like to pick up an ornament or something small that can be hung from the tree, which has lead to a really fun collection. Each year I love to unpack our Christmas decorations and reminisce over the exciting things we've done together. 
I've wrapped Stefan's gifts and they are nestled so nicely under the tree. I'm very excited for him to open them, but I might make him wait until American Christmas on December 25th.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Olympic Sites + Temple of Heaven - Beijing
(This post is a follow up from our trip around the world. I will be writing a recap for each place we visited during our 4 month trip. Prior to Beijing we also visited India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Macau).
A trip to Beijing wouldn't be complete without visiting the site of the 2008 Olympics and the futuristic Bird's Nest + Water Cube. 
- Inside the Bird's Nest each support creates the most interesting shapes and shadows. Even the minimalist signage and paintings to denote bathrooms are beautifully done. We sat in the seats for a little while and could see that watching the events live must have been a fun time. 
- The Water Cube is closed for visits, which is not a big deal as the outside is what is fascinating. It looks like a giant wall of big bubble wrap, which can be illuminated at night. Unfortunately we did not get to see it lit up at night this time around. 
-The entire park area is very large and seems to go on and on. They again have a lot of pride and loads of souvenirs available ranging from gold medals to jewelry and tea sets inspired by the Water Cube. 
- Elsewhere in the city there was some neat Olympic inspired street art for Adidas. 
- After the Olympic sites we stopped at the Temple of Heaven (or Tiantan), a vast temple park surrounded by an even larger area.
- It was here that the emperors came to pray for for good harvest and weather, which is a little tragic considering the thick smog in the air. It continually felt like dusk at midday.
Next up... The Great Wall + The Forbidden City.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Beijing
(This post is a follow up from our trip around the world. I will be writing a recap for each place we visited during our 4 month trip. Prior to Beijing we also visited India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Macau).
- With just a few short months to plan this monstrous trip we had decided to follow good weather, which made packing relatively simple - or so we thought. Our flight to Beijing was delayed due to snow, which meant leaving sun and sweltering Hong Kong (90 ˚F / 32C) and arriving in dark and snowy (30˚F/ -1C) Beijing.
- That wasn't the only part of the bumpy start to China. No taxi wanted to take us to our hotel. We lucked out by waving a business man over to take the cab that rejected us and he instead talked to the driver and helped us on our way. The problem was our directions to the hotel weren't very helpful, and although he knew of the neighborhood he wasn't sure on the exact street. At one point he got out of the car to smoke a cigarette, because he was clearly frustrated. Thankfully we had a phone and were able to call the hotel. Twenty minutes later it was clear to us why he did not find it, because it was down a tiny alley way. As for the cost of the city tour - a mere 3€.
- We all laughed and he was so incredibly nice - speaking Mandarin to us while we had no idea what he said. It was probably along the lines of this being the last time he picks up Westerners at the station. So if you come to Beijing and encounter cab man 233355, he’s great.
- During our stay in Beijing we split the time two different hotels, one is a traditional courtyard style and a super modern design hotel near the Forbidden City. While changing hotels probably doesn’t sound like too much fun to most, we like that it gave us a base is different neighborhoods. They were very interestingly different.
- The first neighborhood was really cute with a lot of character and provided to be a great place to discover an authentic area of Beijing. Our hotel even have a tiny rabbit in a bird cage and fish near the water for good feng shui. The area seemed to be serious China and I was more than happy I packed a point-to-it-style icon dictionary. Everyone was so helpful and even somewhat excited to practice their basic English.
- Beijing is super easy to get around and navigate, even if your Mandarin isn't so hot. Incredibly the subway only costs about 20¢, so it's also very affordable.
- ‘The Chairman’ Mao dominates the skyline and red flags are flying everywhere. It was difficult not to get distracted from the little Chinese children with their slit pants - even in the freezing weather. There were a few children whose parents wanted them to have their photos with us, however the children were afraid even with us getting them with a 'Ni hao' and smiles.
- The area is really impressive as it is huge and very regal feeling, despite it's not always pleasant history, where hundreds of people were killed. We walked the entire square and passed various monuments included the mausoleum of chairmen Mao. A funny thing was that the entire time they played a 60th anniversary of new China movie on big screens in the middle of the square; we could definitely see that they take their country seriously. There were not a lot of people around which added to us feeling we were in a massive place. 
- The oldest gate of Beijing is towards the South side and has a quite touristy, but beautiful street called Qianmen Street. It was interesting to see the old side streets coupled with the new modern area that was built to look older. It really felt like a movie set.
- One of the most famous places to have Peking duck is also on this street. That was one of the things Stefan constantly talked about before we came. He had to have duck in Beijing. I almost lost all hope as I looked at the menu and saw duck tongue, duck gizzards, and an endless array of other duck and animal bits. I settled on some shrimp. Stefan was very excited to receive a certificate from his duck that was raised on wheat and spring water.
- Even with the cold temperatures I couldn't turn down a tea ice cream. We ordered both a jasmine and a matcha cone and they were great. I will probably be dreaming about them for a while.
I will write separately about the Olympic sites, the Great Wall, and the Forbidden City.
