Same, same but different: Breakfasts

Happy Wednesday dear readers - Saturday and Sunday are not that far away now! I don't know about you but one of the things I like most about the weekend is indulging in a nice relaxed (and plentiful) breakfast. It's one of my favourite meals of the day and I love how different it can be from one country to the next.

I'm in Zurich just now and will be for the next month or so, giving me ample time to sample the delights of this country. The breakfasts where I'm staying are amazing and so filling. The cheese platter takes centre stage, (as it has done for most of my stay here so far):

Aside from the wonderful chocolate, the selection of cheese available in this country is astounding!

For a sweeter breakfast, you can't beat some pancakes with blueberries a la americain...

This Homemade Life (click here for recipe)

or some croissants and a coffee a la francais...

Suit up or die

I do like a nice bowl of porridge too, it's the Scottish in me.

 Veggie num.num (click here for recipe)

And I also found this which looks interesting and is something I've never tried before:

Lifehacker (click here for recipe)

I found a few of the above images (except for the top one which is my own) over at this lovely tumblr page dedicated to photos of delicious breakfasts.

What is your favourite kind of breakfast? Please let us know if you have any good recipes or combinations...or even any insider tips on Zurich!

Carla

Beauty on the walls

In one of our very first posts, we told you about a project that involved filling several different cities around the world with colour and when I discovered what we're going to show you today, it reminded me of that.

This is a lovely collaborative street art project by a creative collective from Madrid called Boa Mistura. The project was completed in Vila Brâsilandia - a favela on the outskirts of São Paulo.

Walls served as the canvas on which to print a series of words charged with emotions that were painted in perspective meaning that the messages only become clear from the exact point where all the lines join up.

Via: Juxtapoz

The result is fantastic but the meaning of the project holds even greater value. Art and design have made their way into the lives of a lot of people who are normally distanced from artisitic manifestations. 

It makes me happy to know that every time someone passes through these streets, they will give a hint of a smile.

Have a good week!

Olga

Siren Lauvdal

We thought we would delight you with some lovely images by photographer Siren Lauvdal today. The settings offer a pallete of colours that transmit calm and serenity, gently framed by touches of neon pink.

After a busy week who wouldn't want to spend some time in such a beautiful space? 

Via: Desire to inspire

Grab a good book and go from your bed to the sofa and from the sofa to bed...what more could you ask for?

Have a great weekend!

Feeling the love

We were recently awarded not 1, not 2 but...4 Liebster Blog awards. A little overwhelming but a very nice surprise indeed. Thanks to Hello Olive, It's all so Scarlett, Sarah-Rose Goes and Strebergarten for picking us. And while we're on the subject of awards, we also got a couple more for being an original blog and for being a creative blog from No me manches el suelo and Lo que ven mis ojos. Thank you!

'Liebster' loosely translates as 'favourite' or 'beloved' and the Liebster Blog award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers, making it a great way to find out about blogs you might not otherwise find.

The idea is that you comment on the blog of the person who awarded you by thanking them and also linking their blog, then select five of your favourite bloggers who have less than 200 followers and then notify them by commenting on their blog.

So without further ado our awards go to...

Kitty Litter

 Little Tree Designs

Taffeta Ramblings

   

Strebergarten

 La chef A

 Just white 

 

No me manches el suelo

Lo que ven mis ojos

We went over the five blog limit but never mind, we had a lot of love to spread!

Carla and Olga

You've won!

Oh the suspense, are you ready? We now have our giveaway winner!



Drumroll please...the prize goes to...

 ...which corresponds to the comment made by Mer of Windmill deco!

[Translation: Firstly, many congratulations on this year! And secondly, sign me up to your giveaway! I love everything! I like the DIYs and everything you post! A big kiss! Mer]


Congratulations Mer! We'll be in touch with you soon so you can let us know your address.

We hope you like the gift and that you make lovely things with the fabric transfers (and having seen your eye for these things, we're sure you will). It would be great too if you could share your creations with us here later :)

We hope this is just the first of many blogiversaries and lovely giveaways.

Thanks everyone for taking part!

Carla and Olga

Happy Monday!

How about we start the week off full of energy and enjoy the next seven days ahead of us as much as possible? There's certainly going to be a lot going on here on the blog ;) For now we'll publish the list of participants and tomorrow... the winner!

If your Monday has been a bit tough, have a look at these excellent messages full of strength and impeccable design to get you off to a running start:

Via: workisnotajob

And here's a list of the giveaway participants. Thanks for all your comments and enthusiasm, we are very pleased you liked the prize that we prepared so lovingly :-) We'll publish the name of the lucky winner tomorrow morning. Until then, if you notice any mistakes (we aren't sure all the Facebook messages reached us), please let us know so we can correct it!

Good luck to one and all!

Scandinavian shopping in Scotland (and London)

It would seem my love for all things Scandinavian goes beyond Sara Lund and her jumpers. While I was in Scotland recently, I was pleasantly surprised to find that COS had opened a store in Glasgow’s Princes Square. The even better news was that the sale was on.

Local Data Search

I managed to snap up a few bargains and will be going back there on my next trip home. It’s a Swedish brand that is part of the H&M group and is like a more grown-up/higher-end version of H&M with a lot of classic yet modern pieces. 

The Pink Saint

Monki is another Swedish store that is part of the H&M group. Its clothes are a little different and a bit more fun which makes it more similar to H&M than COS. As for prices it seemed a bit more expensive than H&M. I went to the store in London’s Selfridges and although I didn’t buy anything that time, I’m keen to go back again soon to see what I can find.

Lastly, another Scandinavian shop (although this time nothing to do with H&M) is Spektakulär in Edinburgh between Morningside and Bruntsfield which sells Swedish, Danish and Norwegian pieces. I had been in a few times before and was looking forward to visiting while I was at home. It’s a lovely shop full of practical yet beautiful things for the home including textiles, candles, crockery and more, so if you’re in Edinburgh I recommend you pop in. I bought these nice felt apple coasters (I should have made myself the apple coasters that Olga made so beautifully but in this instance, I’ll stick to the excuse that I like to support small independent businesses!).

Spektakulär

I love the simplicity of Scandinavian design and the way things are practical but made to look beautiful at the same time. What do you think of it? Do you have a COS and a Monki where you live?

Carla

Lights, camera, love!

Today we wanted to share with you the work of a very special couple and their amazing videos. Matt and Julie are the two artists behind the creative studio Tiger in a jar, which I discovered some days ago via the blog Mi low cost (thanks, Carmen :)). 

All their work is wonderful, with great attention to detail and excellent taste. And on this special day we couldn't help but share with you this particular video that we hope will make you smile. Who knows, it might fill you with inspiration for a last minute surprise ;).

diy valentine's cakes

♥ Have a lovely day ♥

DIY: You make my heart jump

Do you remember our garland of origami hearts from last week? Today, we wanted to show you another great idea using the same ingredients - paper and hearts (in this case, pixelated!).

Minieco

It is a pop-up card that is very easy to make, very eye-catching and ideal for people who love design and minimalism, don't you think?

You can find more photos on the Minieco site and download the template here so that later all you need to do is cut around the right lines and ta-da!

Who says that everything to do with the 14th of February has to be tacky?

Olga

Cranberry and white chocolate cookies

To kick off the year with good intentions of completing my to-do list, I signed up to a photography course so I could learn to use my digital SLR better. In one of the classes, we built mini studios to take photos of different objects. I wanted to try out food photography so I took in some biscuits I made and snapped the photo below. I'm learning a lot more about my camera and am definitely looking forward to using it more and to building mini-studios at home in particular. I could get quite addicted to them in fact!

Biscuits are another addiction of mine so let me tell you how I made these (yet another Bill Granger recipe - always the best!):

Makes approx 30
150g unsalted butter, softened
165g firmly packed-brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
200g rolled oats
140g white-chocolate chunks
85g dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4 and line three baking trays with baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the oats, chocolate and cranberries and stir together. Add to the creamed mixture and stir together well.

Roll small tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place on the baking trays. Flatten the balls with a fork dipped in flour.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until pale golden. Leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Will you be giving these a go? They are pretty, pretty tasty :)

Carla

Love in motion

Valentine's day is just around the corner and little hearts are popping up everywhere...love is in the air!

Personally, I'm not really into the commercial aspect of Valentine's Day and I don't tend to buy any gifts. Having said that, and taking into account my fondness for origami that I told you about around this time last year, after seeing this idea on How about orange, I couldn't stop myself folding and folding :) 

These hearts are very easy to make. You can string them into a garland, or even add them to a small bunch of flowers, use them to decorate mirrors...let your imagination (and love) flow!

A gift made with a bit of love and care is always more special, don't you agree?

I was going to try to explain how to make the hearts using photos and I realised this would become an endless post so I decided to make this video (Vimeo) and take my first steps into the stop motion technique. I hope you like it!

What about you? Do you tend to do anything around this time of year in honour of Cupid?

Olga