whites

I have an ever expanding collection of white dishware. A lot of pieces are typical, but then I love the quirky everyday things made ceramic.

These are a couple pieces I picked up recently:

pillow plates - made in Ohio for eleven madison park in New York City

berry punnets - for my love of blueberries

pâtisserie plates - like those in European cafés, for cakes, cookies, and confections.

I love having guests and giving them something a little unexpected in terms of servingware. 

It's the little things.

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?

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.

Hope 2011 is treating you just as well!

Lucky Dog

This is an incredible commercial for the New Zealand Lotto.

I need a trip to India's blue city - Jodhpur and a dog like Wilson!

Jeni's

A long while back I read a list of the 10 best ice cream shops in the US. I've since visited 2 of them... Ici (in Berkeley, CA) and Jeni's (here in Columbus, Ohio). They are both incredible.

I have to be honest- I'm kind of envious of both places. How cool would it be to have an ice cream shop? Sometimes I jot down lists of potential flavors that would be a lot of fun to make.

Ici is owned by the former pastry chef of Alice Water's Chez Panisse and Jeni's is in the charming Short North area of Columbus, which has great murals featuring Grand Wood's American Gothic and the ubiquitous Mona Lisa. I bet you didn't realize Ohio is so cool!

Whenever I'm home I love to make a stop at Jeni's for her unique flavors and adorable shops. There is a lot of seasonal variety and many locally sourced products, too. Last night I went for a short visit with my friends Cat + Beth.

I ordered the 'study', which is 4 small scoops. My chosen flavors were: Pistachio + Honey, Wildberry Lavender, Goat Cheese with Cherries, and Meyer Lemon Blueberry. Believe me, it's not easy to decide.

My parents are savvy to my love of ice cream, so they surprised me with a Zoku ice pop maker. I'm looking forward to testing it out once we get back to Germany.

99 luft balloons + a few more

The sun is shining again and we're making the most of having the biergartens all around the city to enjoy with friends.

We were thrilled to have some visitors who made their way here from London - complete with a side trip to Northern France and Paris. If that wasn't enough, they brought us some Pierre Hermé macarons + pastries. I definitely can't get enough of those. They are so thoughtful.

We had just seen Rob and Katie a couple weeks ago in London, but it's so much fun to get together. I took them to all of my favorite places around town and I ate as if I was on vacation as well. We checked out a few of the biergartens, ate some Bavarian foods, and had lazy afternoons.

Just yesterday there was a gorgeous display of red balloons in front of the Opera House. It was there early in the morning to bring attention to the cause of a children's charity, however it was quickly removed before the early evening.

The sight was impressive none the less. I love balloons. They are so whimsical and fun.

Through the past couple of weeks we visited the Bad Tölz Käsefest (cheese festival). There was a huge variety - including sliced cheeses, cheese pralines, raclette, horse cheese!? and the ever traditional rahmbrot. The little calf was especially sweet, too. The sun was blazing, so we were all worn out when we got back to Munich.

This coming weekend is one of the great city celebrations - Munich's founding birthday.

Unfortunately we won't be able to attend, because we'll actually be heading to a wedding, but if you're in town make your way to the city center for a fantastic afternoon.

life is wonderful

Did you see this John Lewis ad yet... it's so sweet. That little crawling baby is absolutely gorgeous.

Isn't life wonderful?

Congratulations...

Andi was the winner - lucky number 7!

Please contact me so I know where to send your gift card!

Unfortunately this giveaway was only open to German residents, however the next one will be open world wide.

The Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy

I read about the Secret Society at the San Francisco Chronicle and it just made me so happy.

It's great to hear about people doing good things, just because.

A few days ago I met with some friends and we were discussing how in Germany it's not typical to say excuse me, I'm sorry, or to hold the door for others.

If you do, it's typically met with a 'nichts (or in Bavaria nix) passiert' - "nothing happened". One person mentioned she thought this summed up the German culture, while someone else went as far as to tell me once I lost my manners I would be integrated into the German way of life.

3.5 years and counting and I refuse to let that happen, even if it gives me away as a foreigner.

It's really interesting how hesitant people become when you offer to do something nice. They instantly think there must be a catch.

German readers - don't forget today is the last day to enter for the Amazon.com 50€ gift certificate! Just leave a comment on this post about your favorite ways to save when you travel!

Thank You!

...so much for all of your kind comments, emails, and support.

Life has been keeping us very busy with this move, but I am doing my best to keep up with everything - in addition to reflecting on the past half year and how much our lives have changed.

I can't wait to share everything we saw, learned, and experienced.

handwritten letters

I saw this window at the Schreibwaren-Fachgeschäft Schreibmayr window, in Fünf Höfe, here in Munich. I love the nostalgic feeling with the beautiful handwriting and postmarks. This would be a perfect way to decorate for an anniversary party.

I'm definitely storing the idea away, especially because Stefan and I have boxes and boxes of letters from each other from our 2 years of long distance.

It reminds me of this image, from the now defunct Blueprint Magazine by Martha Stewart. It's a great way to display a special letter.

I've combed through some of the letters at the flea markets - such as the Auer / Jakobi Dults, but I think it's probably better if there's more personal meaning to it.

Maybe I'll get my hands on one from a grandparent or Stefan's Oma who was once quite the world traveler herself.

reunion

Being home I quickly realize how much I have changed. While it's fantastic to see friends and familiar faces, I see how different our worlds are. It's not always easy being between two cultures and not quite knowing my place in either one.

Sometimes I walk a fine line of not wanting to disappoint my parents in being too happy in Munich, despite the fact I know they want me to be happy. I like to think I have a knack for focusing on the positive and seeing the bright side of things and living in Munich is no different. The prospect that I could stay there for a longer amount of time or forever is daunting to them. At times it's daunting to me as well. I get the itch for something new and different, despite knowing the quality of life will be tough to match.

It's extremely difficult not to have the answers over something as seemingly simple as where we will live. Most people choose stability in their lives, since we're creatures of comfort and routine, however I find myself going the opposite direction and questioning if that's normal or what is wrong with me. Life abroad isn't easy or straightforward, and at times it can get lonely, but every day is a challenge. I sometimes think that's what makes me thrive and keeps me appreciative of the simple things.

This past weekend was the reunion from my University, which is really a spectacular place. Everyone wanted to talk about life and what they have been doing. They had plenty of questions for me, including where Stefan was. It would have been so much nicer if he was here - everyone missed him and every little detail reminded me of our time together on campus where we met.

These are the people that I shared some of the most wonderful years of my life with, yet things are different. Some are married, some have children, and it's reality that we'll never go back to what we had - living in a neighborhood with our closest friends or staying up all hours of the night to talk with few cares or problems. The lessons I learned are still profound. I still prefer experiences as opposed to things and think time spent with people is the most important gift to give.

I'd rather go to an intimate dinner and share a meaningful conversation than go to a house party and drink cheap beer out of plastic cups or eat cheap pizza late into the night, but for one weekend it's nice to play college again. I love to appreciate our experiences that helped to shape us into who we are.

While I'm home I have the quintessential questions about when I'd be moving back, how well I speak German, or how we can afford to travel to so much. Below the surface there's so much more. The experiences that I've been given, or chosen for that matter, have really shaped me.

Through my German classes I've had to interact with so many cultures and speak with so many people who are facing similar, yet entirely different struggles. That is something most of my American friends have never and will never encounter. I admit that I do find it difficult to talk about world issues with so many people who have no interest in traveling for whatever reason. It's difficult to explain that the world is much larger than their hometown or trying to tell people about my classmates who have come from Iraq or another asylum seeking country without sounding haughty. I love learning from others and I realize I'm often the first American some people have ever met.

It quickly makes me realize that life is full of choices and priorities. My choice has been to share my life with someone I love and to learn about the world by experiencing it first hand. I have an inner need to take life in until it makes me want to cry, but I really wouldn't want it any other way.

The emotional roller coaster of saying hello and goodbye to the people that I love the most will never get easier, but slowly I do consider the fact that's the price I have to pay to be between two cultures. While most of my friends do live in the US, they don't get the privilege to visit friends and family for weeks at a time. It's easier to take things for granted when it's never been any different. That's a luxury that I don't have, but another reason that makes me so sure of my choice in choosing the life that I do. My friends, on the other hand, get to appreciate never having to miss things or to feel slightly misplaced as if they are on the outside looking in.

Everything reiterates how incredibly happy I am and I still feel the same way as when I graduated from college. I'm excited to share my enthusiasm for life with the world and yearn to help others.

Salt Chocolate

One of my biggest guilty pleasures is salt chocolate. Slowly I can see that it's becoming more mainstream, because I am seeing more companies manufacture it - even the salt companies. That puts me in a bit of a conundrum, because of course I have to try them all.

Here are some of the latest:

in't veld (Berlin) - milk + dark 75%

chocolate orgánico (Spain) - dark 70%

sal de ibiza (Spain / Germany) - dark 70%

domori (Italy) - milk

solnce (Slovenia) - dark 62%

The other new thing I've noticed is in trends is beer and chocolate. That seems especially fitting here in Munich. I still think it's rather unfortunate that the breweries here don't offer tours like the champagne houses in Reims.

There is a combination of the two at a seminar here in Munich on 5 June, at Stolberg Schokoladen for 49€ / person. You can find more information at der biersommelier.

While in Salzburg I picked up a bar of the Bachhalm Schloss Eggenberg bierschokolade. Evidently they even bottle their own beer to go with it, but they didn't have any available.

Happy Mother's Day!

When Mother's Day rolls around I always think 'what would my Mom enjoy today?' Last year we went to the biergarten to enjoy the beautiful day in her honor and decided to do the same this year. She does love a good beer from time to time and once again it was a great day to enjoy outside.

We started the day with breakfast on our balcony. I defrosted my very last Naga cookie from Vosges. My mom and I share a love for these and unfortunately they are out of stock on their website, so I wasn't able to send any her way.

Another thing that I am immensely proud of, that always reminds me of my Mom, is my basil plant. I cannot believe I have my very own - and it's growing! Just last weekend I was talking to Stefan's Mom about it and she said, 'these aren't meant to last, you just throw it away when it's done.' My Mom grows the most insane bushels of organic basil.

I'll admit that I don't really have a green thumb, despite the fact my grandparents owned a green house, which is why I usually stick to fresh cut flowers. Stefan even surprised me with a beautiful bouquet for completing my 'Zertifikat Deutsch' (German language test). How sweet is he?

What's funny is virtually any time my mother in law comes to visit, she brings a plant. Stefan received an early birthday gift - a hanging plant for our balcony, yet I was the one given directions on how to care for it and this time - fertilizer. I don't take it as insult, but more of a personal challenge to actually keep it alive. So far, so good.

Our visit to the biergarten this afternoon was wonderful, except we had to celebrate with a sign instead of a real Mom like the neighboring tables. We packed our brotzeit and shared my favorite spätzel at Nockherberg, as the sun shined through the beautiful canopy.

Hope you have as beautiful of a day Mom!

Spotted by Locals

It's no secret that I love to travel and spend hours and hours of my life planning for trips... not only planning, but making them happen. 

I love to find obscure restaurants, beautiful quiet spaces, interesting street art, tiny details, and meticulously designed hotels. Every single aspect makes me feel alive and I wouldn't trade my life for anything. 

I'm obviously a very visual person and learning about things through my own eyes and experiences is for me what life is about. Thankfully Stefan understands my enthusiasm and is willing to go to most places that interest me.

Sometimes the best way to experience a city is to wander around and get a bit lost, but I can't deny I'm a planner. I want to visit the best pastry shops, restaurants, museums, and stores, to really soak in the culture. Through my travels I prepare by talking to my friends, who span the globe, and try to get their local perspective. I also read, read, read. 

It always warms my little heart when Stefan tells me he can't believe the hotel we're staying in or the restaurant we just got reservations at for dinner. He doesn't get loads of time off, so I really want to make sure he enjoys it as much as I do.

This week I stumbled upon Spotted by Locals and I am loving it. Suddenly the cities where I don't know someone feel like people are opening their secret resources to me, which is why I want to share it with you.

Right now only Europe is represented, but it's such a stellar idea.

I can't wait to share some of the wonderful places we'll be visiting this week in London. I already have a few surprises I'm looking forward to.

Happy Travels! 

Snow Day

While the US is getting pounded by snow storms evidently not everyone minds being stuck at home.

My sister sent me this adorable photo of Mieka. She looks as happy as all of the neighborhood children who had several days off from school this week and had nothing to do but play in the snow.

I love everything about this picture - from the little star snowflake on her nose, to the little bubbles on her tongue, and her breath frozen in the air. She exudes happiness. Thanks for sending that Meem!

It's no surprise that I want a dog. It's so difficult to be in such a dog friendly city, where I constantly see people on the subways and in the parks with their partners in crime. Having a dog isn't conducive to our small apartment or our on the go travel plans... and so I will have to wait.

Heirloom cookbook

While I was on the internet hiatus I was able to really work on a rather large project.

I decided to make an heirloom cookbook filled with our favorite recipes as well as family favorites from Stefan’s family and mine. I have had this in mind for some time and thankfully I had a large stock of photos that I have taken of various dishes over the years. At the last minute my Grandma gave me some of her recipes that I didn’t have photos for. I improvised by taking images of ingredients and her.

Once I was finished making the book, I decided to add photos of the people that gave me the recipe, as well as little quips about occasions when we eat the particular food or what it reminds me of. After that was completed I added a simplified family tree in the back. It’s rather amazing, but I can track some of my mother’s family back to the 1500’s!

Rather than tackling this again, because it was much more time consuming than I could have ever expected, I will continually make pages of new favorite recipes and combine them for a second book once I have enough.

My sister said the book has already arrived and she said it's absolutely beautiful. She sent me these pictures until I am able to pick it up next month. I'm so excited!

Dream kitchen

As of now, we're definitely making the most of the city life. We live small, we live simply, and we live well below our means. It's really quite nice. It also means we must be very particular about the things we decide to fill our small space with and I am always thinking ahead.

Slowly we've been working on updating our apartment to make it more of our own place. I absolutely love looking at inspirational images and wondering where life will take us. In the meantime I often gather things that are meaningful to me. Some we are able to incorporate now - like our new fridge that arrived this morning!, and other things we'll have to hold off on... like a subway tile back splash in the kitchen.

I also love the fact that Stefan continually is commenting how much he loves our refrigerator.

Not only do I want my dream kitchen to have a subway tile back splash, but I want the entire kitchen to have a very slight subway undertone. I have a cookie jar, à la my Grandma, that my sister gave me a few years ago. It is a London underground sign. She also recently showed me the beautiful Parisian subway dish cloth, which I have added to my wish list.

Isn't it lovely to surround yourself with things you enjoy and to look forward to?

Here are bits of the master plan...

The subway tile kitchen belongs to Genifer Goodman Sohr, who is a well known stylist. I saw these images on her equally talented friend, Sara Hicks Malone's blog Party Perfect, and I can't quit thinking about them. They also match our table and chairs that we recently purchased.


I promise I'm not on a French kick, but I also love the work of antoin + manuel, a French design duo. And continuing on the subway theme, they have a lot of beautiful pieces including one aptly titled RATP (Parisian Metro), Carte Intégrale, 2005. Their website is a real treasure trove for design lovers.

In other things French... I was overjoyed yesterday when I was in town shopping for a few things and found two things I have been dreaming about. Originally I had see them on uncommongoods and the Moma Store, but today I found them here in Munich.

I really love Revol French porcelaine - it's minimal, very resistant, and simply elegant. Some of their pieces are quite classic, while others - like the the things I bought today, are slightly comical. They keep things interesting.

They have an entire line called the Recycled collection. I love the curving ruffle lines of the 'pommes frites' dish - and the crumpled tumbler is just cute and fits so nicely in my hand.

The best design advice is to surround yourself with things that you love and I can really attest it adds to my happiness.

Parisian Munich

Yes, life has gone on since our trip. For some reason I am so seriously happy that I can't even contain myself. I have no good reason why, but I will take it.

The weather has cooled off substantially and autumn is really making it's presence felt. I love the brisk wind - and even the occasional rain.

Right before our trip, Stefan and I ran a lot of errands. We were in the Isarvorstadt neighborhood, which is traditionally the gay area of town, when we stumbled upon an adorable little French café called Rive Gauche.

It was as if we had been transplanted to Paris - complete with pain au chocolat and a yummy goat cheese salad. The owner's cute little son also set the tone as he was chatting with them in French.

It was so delightful.

Along with the French theme, this morning I made crêpes and Stefan went into work late. It was such a great start to the week, since he will be away, and a fun breakfast. I always love the little things.

Dyrhólahverfi

As we drove along we weaved around green hillsides filled with sheep grazing dangerously close the edges, large glacier covered mountains, and finally to our intended destination - the black sand beaches. We were also surprised how close the Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Isles) appeared from the coast.

When we arrived in Dyrhólahverfi (Vestur-Skaftafells), a bird watcher's paradise, we took our trusty little rental car on some extremely bumpy roads. I still have no idea how Stefan managed to get this thing to the top, but the views there are really striking.

We stood on top of the 120 m headland for quite a while. There is a beautiful arch, which is naturally made, and really demonstrates the strength and beauty of nature.

Also in view from the headland are Reynisdrangur Sea Stacks, which are basalt formations. If that wasn't enough, directly behind us we could see Mýrdalsjokull Glacier. Inside the Mýrdalsjokull Glacier is the Katla Volcano, which erupts on average every 40-60 years. The last eruption was in 1918.

Surrounding the shore line down below are the Mýrdalssandur Sands - the black sands that I was so excited to see. The contrasting colors in the landscape made me stand in awe.

We drove down to some of the beaches, and walked along the shore. It was very quiet except for the sound of the crashing waves. The shoreline had smooth pumice stones, fine black sand, and beautiful craggy caves and columnar basalt.

Stefan saved the day by finding my sunglasses in the tide. They must have fallen out of my pocket as I was running to join one of our self timed photos. Coincidentally, they were a replica of the sunglasses I lost in Barcelona. He asked if I always want to leave something behind in the places that I love. I am so happy he found them.

After taking all of the scenery in we drove to Vík í Mýrdal, which is so very tiny. I think Dyrhólahverfi takes most of the credit for beauty in this area.

Iceland had yet one more treasure in store insuring that it would leave us with something to remember - another stunning sunset for our last evening. The entire drive back to Reykjavik was draped in pinks and purples.

A common theme of this trip is probably complete bewilderment. I know that nature is extremely incredible, however I've not been somewhere that so much is packed into one small place.

If that's not reason enough to have fallen in love with Iceland in the book I was recently reading (Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner). His book has piqued my interest in Bhutan, but what he has to say about Iceland is very interesting as well. In his chapter title, 'Happiness is Failure', he suggests that Iceland has so many people involved with the arts because it doesn't see failure as a bad thing.

It goes along the lines of my ceramics teacher that I have written about before. You make a lot of junk before you really make impressive things. In Iceland, that's OK and even encouraged. I think it's a combination of the natural beauty and the 'live and let live' carefree attitude that easily makes this one of my favorite countries. It probably also helped that we visited on a cusp season - day light hours were still reasonable long, and there weren't tons of tourists, but even so, I think Iceland has a permanent calmness about it.

I also love that it has a blank slate feeling to it. The people don't seem to be in a major hurry to change that, which is so nice. They choose to live with nature and preserve what a beautiful country they have.

There are plenty of things we didn't do during this trip - see Puffins, visit Vestmannaeyjar, go to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, visit the Kerið crater, see the aurora borealis, and I am sure many of other things I don't even know about yet.

I will definitely make it back to Iceland. It has so much beauty it just moves me to tears. What an amazing world!