the.

I've been seeing 'the.' on design sites for a while now... because of their anti-theft lunch bags, however I absolutely love their new framed objects.

Since I don't know that cleaning the vase would be so simple, I think I'd go for the book shelf. It would be so nice in a kitchen for a cookbook or in a little reading area. It's definitely a subliminal conversation starter.

I also love their walls notebook, which can inspire your inner graffiti artist. (Note the typical German Stabilo pens that we all love).

They certainly have a lot of fun design items. If only my birthday was around the corner.

(images courtesy of the.)

Salmon Cakes

Tonight Stefan came home from work a bit early and we made dinner together. It's quite a feat considering we have the tiniest of tiny kitchens and there's not much counter space. But, as the old saying goes, if there's a will, there's a way.

I always love being able to make a proper meal rather than having the options of eating alone or at 10 o'clock at night.

While searching about for something that looked delicious on Food Gawker, my old go to resource on nights like this, I searched for salmon and found a great recipe for Salmon Cakes that are similar to Crab Cakes.

I was also able to incorporate Panko, which is a Japanese breading, that my mom raves about. I had to visit the specialty Asian grocery for that. Whenever I go to an ethnic grocery I get inspired and think that I should visit more often. 

Tonight was definitely proof of the delicious things that can come out of working together and enjoying the fruits of our labor. 

Gift guide: Art

I love art and being creative. These are a few things I've seen, that enable those who believe they aren't artistically inclined, to see the art in daily life and find some inspiration.


1. Speedball printing kits (screen printing + block printing) - A nice way to decorate or create printed textiles. (images urban outfitters)

2. Lomo- Unique cameras that automatically create interesting effects. (image lomo)

3. Ork Designs- Typography lovers, designers, or people with cities close to their hearts will appreciate these posters. (image ork designs)

4. Pup Casso Paint Kit for Dogs- Everyone can create art, so why not your dog too? (image art casso)

5. Kid's Art Project - Have artworks from one child or many combined to create a poster. This is a great idea of art teachers, but also for families who want to preserve children's art work. (image kid's art project)

6. Spoon Flower - custom made fabrics, based on whatever you can imagine. This is perfect for creating clothes, bags, and pillows of your dreams. (image spoonflower)

7. 20x200- upcoming artists sell their photos and prints starting at $20. There are 3 editions / sizes typically ranging from $20, $200, and $2,000. Popular prints sell out super quick. (image 20x200 Balloons by artist Juliane Eirich)

8. Olympus Stylus 790SW- This claims to be the most durable point and shoot digital camera. My mom has this model, which does not need a housing unit to go underwater (in both salt & fresh water). While I love my olympus stylus verve, I am really in love with this one. If only olympus wasn't so dependable... I'll be waiting for a long time for an excuse to buy this. (image olympus)

9. etsy - If you don't have a creative bone in your body (which is doubtful... everyone needs an artistic outlet!) you can admire and purchase other artists' creations. Search for your favorite city, color, or to find something made in a certain area of the world. Be cautious... this can become an addiction.

10. Memory Games Berlin - modernized matching games. One is using colors, while the other using all things that are round in shape. (image MoMA)

11. Table Topics - conversation starting questions for dinner parties or just to get people talking. This is also great as a hostess gift.

12. Paint tube door stop by by Tetsuya Shibuya - simple, functional, and colorful.

Rain

Lately we have had nonstop rain, so it's perfect weather for getting things done inside. Last year we had a bit of an external hard drive melt down that still pains me to think about.

We lost a lot.

Lesson learned - I try to keep on it and back things up- everyone's favorite thing to do right? The perfect rainy day activity.

It's also nice to see distant memories and beautiful things.

As I was going through our old photos and burning them to DVDs, I came across a few gems that I had forgotten about. One of them was this picture that I took in the car during a torrential storm... I just think it's so pretty with the lights glowing through.

I really love rain storms... unless it's my entire vacation. I hope tourists don't think Munich is always this gray and dreary.

Book Love

Imagine my surprise and happiness when I read about Good Stock custom books this morning on Oh Happy Day, one of my favorite blogs.

I've written about my obsession with books and making books, but this has been taken to an entirely new level. The website is beautiful and the limitless options are beyond comparison for a beautiful and personal heirloom. And the first year baby book? - It's stunning.

It makes me think about the boxes and boxes of letters that Stefan and I have written to each other, in addition to all of the family mementos, photos, and old letters that can be beautifully preserved.

As soon as family gets involved I get so nostalgic. What an excellent job it would be helping people preserve their memories.

Roger

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about interior design and redecorating as we consider moving. The most important part, being the apartment, hasn't been decided upon... but I still plan what I would like to do with the space when I have it.

Stefan gets annoyed with my collection of design magazines and I confess it is time to part with them. I tear out the things that I like and neatly organize them into transparent folios for future reference so the magazines don't take up space.

While looking through the pages, I came across an ad about there not being enough art in our schools and it said 'no wonder people think Caravaggio is a guy on the Sopranos'. The art enthusiast in me makes me read the entire ad, agree, and then think back to my own art education, which I absolutely loved.

My entire life I have been blessed with interesting characters as art teachers. They are usually an eccentric bunch with right brained mentalities. I even had a theory growing up that tempera paint had something to do with pregnancy, because my elementary school went through so many art teachers who became pregnant and moved on.

Something I miss about attending a university are the dynamic professors. Of course they are few and far between, but once you have class with them you never forget. My philosophy of art professor has had so many professions in his life including aerospace engineer, patent lawyer, and professor. He also had fascinating stories about growing up in an orphanage, having a best friend there that murdered his entire family, teaching himself to read, surviving a plane crash, nearly going blind 'so everything looks like a Monet painting' - it goes on and on.

His lectures were always filled with random comments, like 'if I were a homosexual I'd say Michelangelo's David was pretty well hung', or stating that in college 'you party and have fun, but then you search for something more to life, which is when you find art'. I would always write down his strange quotes along side my notes.

Needless to say I went on to double major in art education and art history. It was my art history teachers in college that I loved the most. They were personable, creative, articulate, and very observant. Even with their PhD's, they always insisted you call them by their first names.

One of the best teacher's I've ever had was Roger. He was studying to be a lawyer when he decided to take an art history course and then found his true calling. He always would remind us to stop and consider who the patrons were and how ideas and materials were transfered through trade routes. We would discuss the processes of making art and paint during the Renaissance versus today and there was never a dull moment.

So as I looked at this Caravaggio ad and think back to Roger, since his specialty is Italian art. Now it seems ironic to me to look at interior design magazines knowing I will most likely pick the majority of furnishings, upholstery, and decorations, while the paper trail leads back to my husband. Sometimes I have to laugh at how history repeats.

I love art history's ability to connect cultures and time periods, which unites humanity in the search for what life is about.

Interestingly there are many replicas of Michelangelo's David around the world, including the one above, which we were surprised to see in Copenhagen. I'm sure he never imagined his works would be replicated and made into kitschy tourist mementos.

Now I'll have to send that ad to Roger.

Le Bazar de Cuisine

There is a beautiful little cooking shop located in Haidhausen called Le Bazar de Cuisine. Every time I pass I feel as though I am in a magazine spread. The windows change frequently and there is always some kind of interesting table decor or cooking instrument that beckons for me to do some cooking and baking myself. Another thing I love is how personal it seems - they have old fashioned price tags, which are just adorable. It also reminds me of an old Grandma's house that is filled with treasures... even though these treasures are all new.

Today after a long day of spring cleaning I am trying to decide just what it is I want to bake. I am considering a Caipirinha torte with the recipe being entirely German. Caipirnha is a drink that is very popular here and it comes from Brazil. It combines muddled limes, brown sugar rocks, ice, and Cachaça - which is a sugar cane alcohol (typically the brand 'Pitu'), for a refreshing drink. I'd assume the torte (or in my case mini cupcake tortes) can't be too bad either.


US style Brown sugar is a hot commodity here in Germany. I have found a decent substitute called Mascobado, which is whole cane sugar that is unrefined, however, I am going to let you in on a secret. Often times obscure foods from America can be found at the Asian groceries here. They have sweetened condensed milk and just yesterday I happened to find some brown sugar from Thailand that looks quite promising. It has the same wet sand consistency as the brown sugar from the US and I'm quite excited to try it out.

Hopefully between my deciphering of a German recipe and this brown sugar, I will be able to create something like the one pictured in the recipe. If not I guess I will have the ingredients to create a 'caipi' for myself.

(Caipirinha Torte photo courtesy of Kraft foods)

M. Sasek

I am quite fortunate because my mother-in-law is a complete bibliophile. Granted, we don't really share books because it's easiest for us to read them in our native tongues. However, I appreciate the wealth of knowledge that she is and the fact that Stefan grew up with books surrounding him (this has made him more tolerant of my ever expanding book collection).

A couple years ago I started collecting the books of Miroslav Sasek. Some of the most beautiful illustrations and sweet city portraits can be found in these wonderful children's books.

Another reason I feel such a connection to M. Sasek is because he adopted Munich as his hometown, I love thinking about him walking these very streets. I'd be very curious to know more about his life here, although not much is known other than he died in 1980 and had one son. You can read a bit more about him here.

The great news is that his 18 'This is....' books are being reproduced. While the old copies from 1959-1974 can be acquired through old library sales and book shops handling antiquities, I enjoy being able to order them and have a replica of the original without the hunt.

The down side is while it looks as though the entire collection is being reproduced, I am still waiting to hear when 'This is Munich' will hit the shelves. I have to remind myself to patient. Thank you Rizzoli for republishing these phenomenal books.

There is also a slideshow of his illustrations that is worth checking out.

Simply stunning!

Life is too short

When you are a lady of leisure with idle time to burn, much like myself, you often consider things that you could or should be doing. I'm not talking about the household chores, but all of the possible career paths and life choices. The things that make life interesting. The difficulty is not knowing how long we will be living here to know how much of myself to invest in these endeavours... not to mention crossing the language barrier in a foreign country.

Being in an international marriage means that at least one of us, at all times, will be the foreigner. Right now Stefan has a different kind of battle, considering he's an international business man and speaks English and German fluently (on the down side he works crazy hours, but he is passionate about his job). I, on the other hand, have plenty of interests that I would consider sinking myself into, but have other obstacles to conquer along the way - namely the German language, social system, and the political and bureaucratic games that are unique to every country. Granted, these are the same things that make me appreciate the opportunity to live in a foreign country and really challenge myself.

The unfortunate thing is that even with so much time to ponder what I want to be when I grow up, the secret is I am still quite clueless. I've had a number of jobs in my life to know things I am not interested in doing, but I am excited for the time when I am able to do something great. Sure I love being a tour guide - it's probably the best job I've had to date, but I yearn to do more.

I was thinking about this today for a variety of reasons... Spring is a time of new beginnings, Stefan and I have major life changes in the next few years, and I finally entered Geobuch - the book store located at Rosental 6. The reason I list this travel book shop is because to me it contains a wealth of possibility and experiences. The glowing globes in the windows draw me in and the collection of books inspire me.

I love life and the possibility of it. I'd probably even come back for another one if I was able to. With as many interests as I have I think I would need several more lifetimes to accomplish everything. There is one common thread that I notice with my interests- they make people happy. And here is a sampling:

Art - I love art history, archeology, architecture, art education, and museum work, which are all visual communication that people from every walk of life are able to take in. I love the link to the past and understanding how old societies did things, as well as modern works that the people of today will be remembered for. Let's hope it's not another strip mall! All people are creative and I think it's really essential to have some form of a creative outlet. Hence my need to take zillions of photos and make arty things as shown to the left.

Travel bookshop owner / writer- While I'm nearly finished with my second self published children's book, I would like to write a real book. If I lived in a city long enough I also think it would be great to have a shop like Geobuch or Globe Corner Books. Did you notice the graffiti monkey?


Florist - my grandparents owned a massive greenhouse before I was born and I wish someone in the family would have taken over it. Being surrounded by color and beauty all day sounds like an alright life to me. Especially if I could make visually stunning arrangements.



Non-profit work - I'd love to do any kind of work that helps people for the greater good. Perhaps that is due to my benevolent side.






Letterpress stationer - sure it may be an archaic title and job, but for me it's deeper than that. I appreciate hand written correspondence and the personal nature of it, as well as the tactile quality. I never met someone that didn't love getting mail - so why not make it high quality mail? Having the space and finding a Vandercook press is another obstacle.

Pastry chef - while I don't want baker's hours, I love beautifully made desserts that are elegant and delicious. People always love cakes and cookies. I'm also a big fan of various interesting chocolates, like those at Vosges.




I definitely have an interesting adventure ahead of me and I'm enjoying life as it happens.

Bokeh

I have always loved the distorted effects of out of focus details that give the illusion of color. At the beginning of Lost in Translation (one of my favorite movies) it begins with 'Focus Features' production company logo and I can't get enough of the out of focus effects that they use, which resemble sequins. As I've said before, it's the simple things that grab my attention.

My latest interest is in Bokeh, the Japanese word meaning 'fuzzy or blur'. I don't have my 35mm camera in Germany, and I'm wishing for a digital one, but I want to try these effects myself. Maybe since Valentine's Day is right around the corner I'll do something sweet like these hearts.

Directions for creating your own can be found here. It looks like a lot of trail and error, but the results are bound to be interesting. The images above are taken by a Flickr member named rottielover. (How sweet is that dog?!)

Another photography idea I've had stashed away is working on some tilt shift photography, which I was reminded by looking at rottielover's images. The toy like results can be achieved using a tilted lens available at a site called Lens Babies. (image mcsixth via cheapshooter) The overhead views really resemble miniature models and look so fragile.