MILAN 2013 LUNCH-INSPIRATION

Besides the traditional wonderful osteria's and trattoria's in Milan, you can find some very nice international orientated concepts for lunch. The first one is CALIFORNIA BAKERY for it serves the best bagels, sandwiches, tea's and cakes! And see that interior!, is packed with fun little details..

The second one i'd like to share with you guys is MAMA BURGER.

They cleverly upgraded the regular burger place to a nice concept with worthy burger dishes. One does not feel guilty after eating these....

CHALKBOARD EGGS

photo 1 & 2: eggs from Cynthia Shaffer

photo 3 & 4: eggs from Lisa Tilse

HAPPY EASTER WITH DINARA MIRTALIPOVA !

These fine illustrations are made by DINARA MIRTALIPOVA

CHAPEAU!

Food design nowadays knows many forms and has been an inspiration for lots of brilliant new books, but two of the pure and authentic leading ladies on visual multi-disciplinary design to me are Dietlind Wolf from Germany and Emilie (Griottes) from France. Chapeau!

from Dietlind Wolf blog

from Griottes blog

CLICK, FOLD AND FLATTEN..

As a concept designer i do a lot of research in the market. I roam about in many cities and visit lots of design fairs. During my research for funky and fresh new hardware i came across a great number of interesting kitchen utensils. I feel i must share a few with you. If you go out there this summer renting a vintage camper, a bedouin tent or one of these new 'camouflage' printed tents, you definitely must bring along some of these cool foldable items for your kitchen and outdoor cooking! They will easily fit in the smallest kitchen space imaginable.

HAPPY START OF 2013!

Hello everyone, best wishes to you of course and a happy start of the new year! I'm back after a (working) xmas holiday where i caught up with a long list of things to do! Before all that, i cleared my studio from piles of stuff i gathered throughout the year. I am starting off with a shiny clean desk!!. A terrific feeling i must say :)So....i can't wait, let's get blogging 2013! x x x

picture from pinterest

RAINARAI

This weekend i had dinner at Rainarai. A great place with a warm atmosphere! Rainarai is owned by Laurent Med Khellout, who has written several great cookbooks about the Algerian nomadic kitchen. He showed me one of the books and i learned that for making a good couscous we must take a little time as it should actually be made by hand! (see the front of the cookbook below) He really cooks from the heart and his concept of eating traditional food while listening to the sounds of beautiful Algerian lounge music i can truly recommend..

VINTAGE VERSUS MODERN

The below COCORICO cardboard cooker is a clever modern variation to my childhood kitchen set, designed by Dutch designer couple Romy Boesveldt en Ilya Yashkin =KIDSONROOF.(see model as shown above, ooohps! am i that old?)

Since 2005 they have been creating the most beautiful kids products with an ecological approach to the act of playing in mind. Check out more of the KIDSONROOF products here! 

PET KITCHEN AID

Serenah is a Brisbane-Australia based photographer. Now just watch these quirky pet pictures.. Of course! i was taken personally by these fine looking shots because of my love for cooking, food and dachshunds. Only yesterday my first born had his own 'Mini backseat picnic experience'. Stealing my grilled chicken wings, that i had just bought for the evening, from the shopping bag!It all happened while i hopped out of the car for no longer than 1 second. As a result of this incident, my car has now chicken BBQ flavour!

HANDS IN SOIL

After cycling & shopping through Paris for a few days the vegetable garden needed full attention. Weeds DO grow up to your knee if you're not careful! (i am not showing you the weeds, as they were too many and they need a chapter of their own :-)

So the weekend and the early evening hours were well spent and just see the beautiful result of the late summer harvest..! 

I'm already planning for next spring to start planting again.

bobje & rubber chicken

PARIS

I'll be off to Paris for a few days!

BACK SOON!

SUPERMARKET(ING)

With two simple cuts these eggplants change into well known north pole residents! Very clever!

used in advert by Esselunga supermarket, Italy

SHINE ON

Broad beans are well cared for by mother nature. Just look at how these pastel colored babies are cleverly situated in their soft & cosy beds. Each bean being plugged on to the outershell for nutrition. A nice piece of work! and a real pity to destroy the whole thing (and many more) for tonight's dinner but i picked a beautiful green salad for them to shine on.

SWEETOPIA

Is it not amazing what one can do with sugar? these dashing dachshund cookies are a real piece of art. Marian of Sweetopia shows you how to make them!