Monday, April 30, 2012

falafel adventures

Ever since my move I'm back in cooking mode. Not that I don't like being cooked for, but it is my way to relax and it makes my heart happy :)
I've thought about making falafels from scratch for a very long time now. I used to make them with a box mix when I was cooking for the Zekester years ago in London, but they were not the best. In Austria you can look everywhere for a pre-mix to no avail but to be honest I really like to know what goes into my food. One day while browsing the net I came across this recipe here.
If I would have known how simple it really is, I would have never used a pre-mix!!! Only thing I missed was a food processor, hooray for roomies who have awesome kitchen appliances :)
We feasted for two days!! So good, only thing I'd tweak next time to use a bit more salt and maybe put in a bit more parsley than I had on hand this time. You should definitely try it. It is so darn easy xx

Friday, April 27, 2012

Grein visit

Last weekend three girls piled into a car in Vienna and went to see their friend, who moved to a village next to the Danube river when she got married last year  :)
I hadn't seen Margit since her wedding last June and thought that it's about time that I get to see her. So on a very sunny day, accompanied by Karin and Tini, we made our way to Grein.
What followed was lots of good food, walks around town and along the Danube river, a concert, having drinks with the band afterwards, a tour of the theatre and much more but most of all catching up with everyone!
couldn't get enough of the river!!!!
this boat, a traditional Zille, was supposed to get back into the water after a long winter but something needed to be fixed... might have to go back for a little cruise
Greinburg - a bit of a mix between castle and palace
these boots were definitely not made for walking in such terrain :)
if you look close enough you can see snowcapped mountains in the back
Trio Lepschi
Margit and Lothar on the opposite side as we sat in the box!
Until the 18th century theatres used to be exclusively for royalty, at or close to court. This theatre is the oldest citizen theatre in the German-speaking world, founded in 1791 and is really worth a visit. 
standing in front of the first ever poster
Always good to see and catch up with friends, I had a great time and will definitely be back. Maybe one day I'll cycle there. Apparently Grein is the exact middle between Passau and Vienna, therefore a lot of bikers who cycle the Danube path, in either direction, stop there for a visit. 
Hope everyone starts into an amazing weekend x

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

natural fabric dying/eco printing continues

Last time I talked about the process of natural fabric dying and eco printing, the two cloths were still tightly wrapped up.  Unwrapping these is almost like Christmas for me.

Let's start with bundle number two... wrapped and sealed in a ziplock bag
unwrapped and drying
dried, rinsed and dried again, all the purple patches have turned to a more greenish colour :)

Bundle number one, the one that got soaked in mordant...
beautiful onion skin print
once this set the entire fabric changed to a yellow/orange tint

So far I've only tried cold bundling and have another two little scraps of fabric soaking on my windowsill but I'm itching to start with hot bundling once I go scavenging into the woods to find more material to use for printing and dying. Next thing on the list will be to stop dying cotton and start with dying silk and wool. 
Also looking for a copper vessel if anyone has one sitting around somewhere :)
Find part one here

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

look what my friends are up to

I haven't done a post bragging about what my friends do in a while but this is one I couldn't cheer on  more or get crazy excited about.
Drew, Lisa and Sven founded Spleen Culture, the boys create the most stylish bikes out of old frames and Lisa makes fun accessories out of recycled materials. Have a look at this video... 

Spleen Culture - Hand Made from Drew Jongeward on Vimeo.
... than head over to their facebook page and like them. They will love you for doing so and you will support a small local business supplying the world with bike goodness :)

Monday, April 23, 2012

Earth Day goodness


Isn't that amazing?! Composer Diego Stocco partnered with Burt's Bees on a special something for Earth Day. Enjoy x

current obsession

eco prints
I wrote about it two weeks ago and there is a post in the making. It is testing my patience but seeing the outcome is immensely gratifying. More later

doing my bit to save the planet
All this time off in between touring and crafting and theatre work, has me read up on everything from diy shampoo to sustainable clothing to plastic free living :) There is a whole lot to learn and put into action. So far the no shampoo experience is working!

The Hunger Games
I've finally jumped on that bandwagon, only years later haha but I finished the first book today and can't wait to get my hands on part two and three. How it is possible that this was written for a much younger audience is beyond me since it's all about murdering teenagers in a horribly dark world. (I cried 30 pages into it for the first time!!! and messaged my friend, who's read all of them, about it only to get that reply: "What I didn't even like it that early on. It will destroy you." - wonderful!)
Might need to read some Jane Austen to feel at peace again.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

a New Girl marathon

image found here
We've never talked New Girl before, have we?!
Maybe my friends, my brother and I are a teeny tiny bit obsessed with this show, but have you ever watched New Girl? If there is one thing I'd have to pick, what's so crazy about this show: the writing is out of this world! Not to forget the introduction of the douchebag jar - genius!! Honestly the things they come up with are hilarious and most of the lines are so catchy you have to be careful not to use them all the time haha.
After weeks of sending quotes back and forth and laughing our heads off, the three of us got together and watched pretty much every episode there is so far (we missed out on two or three, but having started in the afternoon we gave up at 1am haha).
Watching it together was just heaps more fun and for the next day we all were in a haze. Half way through we even dressed up Birgit became Jess, Chris put on a cardigan and instantly turned into Schmidt and I was sporting plaid just like Nick. Oh the fun that can be had!
Love those two for being as crazy and up for it, plus they made me a birthday cake - brownie points times a million.
I'll leave you with one of my all time favourite Schmidt moment...

and because Max Greenfield is a funny genius and released this yesterday

prepare to laugh!
Happy weekend, may it be filled with fun stuff and lots of belly laughs xx

Thursday, April 19, 2012

back in Vienna

It only took me close to 7 years but I'm back in the city I was born in.
Isn't it funny how life never goes the way you plan it? When people ask me where I see myself in 5 years time, usually my first reaction is to laugh. Not a particularly nice thing to do since most are really sincere when asking, but considering what has happened over the last 10 years, I don't even bother to make plans anymore. I end up being completely taken by surprise by the opportunities that come my way. Most of them are unexplainable and that's why we call them "JC hook ups" :)
Back to Vienna. It's a different city than the one I left behind all these years ago and visiting for a couple days or even weeks at a time, you never take it all in. Somehow I'm excited to get to know this city and discover all the great changes, new stores and restaurants and lots of art that this beautiful city houses.
Here's to a phenomenal spring, as I'll be gone again come summer. Yeah, no-one saw that coming right haha As much as I'm getting used to the idea of staying in one place for a while, it's not called the nomadic life for nothing.

Monday, April 16, 2012

a birthday in traditional attire

Who doesn't like to dress up? When Robi sent out an invite for his birthday he also told us that we are welcome to come in traditional clothing - Lederhosen and Dirndln. 
We made our way to this lovely little brewery and you'd think that everyone would arrive dressed up. Yes, unless your name is Simon and you get changed in the car park in front of the restaurant, because you live out of a car it seems haha!
The beer and food was out of this world and we didn't just celebrate Robi, but celebrated into Drew's birthday as well. Fun times, the world is a better place when you're wearing Lederhosen. Fact!
birthday boy
 three peacocks :)
other birthday boy!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Easter holiday

Not even sure how to start to describe Easter weekend...
lots of laughing - as in tears rolling down your cheeks because you're laughing so hard, after all we had Simon in our midst haha - lots of breakfast fun, a whole day at the spa, new games, best friends, lots of drinks, going for walks, unexpected snow, ...
Emma showing us how to play bowling :)
looks more like a fall picture but I promise it was last weekend!
More about celebrating two birthday boys later :)