Sunday, September 26, 2010

morbid rose maniac

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Since I discovered these roses I'm searching for the species! Ha...I didn't know that so many different roses are existing. It's already difficult to concretley name the colour.
But after long internet search I found some:

lavender pinocchio
blue moon
blue boy
tarde gris
indigoletta
silverstar
grey dawn
lilac dawn
allure
angel face
florence delattre
winter magic
la rose du petit prince
mamy blue
intermezzo

but most of them have big flowers and I would better like them small.

bought some in the flower shop and the more open they get, the more I like them-not bad.
The other pictures are from an interior magazin from Japan: ku:nel Nr. . Look at the old japanese couple who takes care of the roses!

kitchentowel


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Mid-century kitchentowel and my interpretation with the Jura toaster and Arzberg service.
Have a nice Sunday brunch.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

rain in and out the greenhouse



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Had to hide from the rain in the botanical garden in Antwerp. An old greenhouse in the middle of the city. I like the walls and the windows.
I try to transform my bath into a greenhouse! Later more pictures of my project.

New plants:

tradescantia pallida "purple heart" or wandering jew
kalanchoe daigre montana
kalanchoe beauverdii

autumne food



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I like autumne for the mushrooms and the blueberries. Such nice colour combinations and such a good taste and smell: wet soil. comme des garcons should create a perfume with this smell!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

chilli, mushroom & veiled lady




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I have the idea from my friend A. Easy and nice looking.
First her's, then mine. The wonderful drawing is from her son R. (13 years), the print on my wall are Pilzblumen.
Nice to be a veiled lady and to have as a second name long net stinkhorn!

Monday, September 20, 2010

homesick souvenirs




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My heart makes a double beat when I spot something from Switzerland on a fleamarket. It's like to have immediately a closer connection to the piece.
Recently, bags out of old swiss postsacks were for sale in this nice shop. The manufacturer are germans and I have 10 sacks like that at home, but I never did something out of it! Globalisation!
I got this foulard in silk from the Lago Maggiore. Light colours and nicely drawings-beginning of the fifties or maybe even earlier. It's a very fine twill.
The real rayon Hawaii shirt is as well from the fifties. The colour faded out a lot, soft fluffy touch and a small size. In Kauai I couldn't afford it, in Berlin I did. All vintage in the US is so expensive!
To wash silk I recommend this product: tenestar speziell für reine Seide. It's very good and even oil spots go out in handwash.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

flapper dress


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I thrifted this flapper dress from the 20ies on the fleamarket. Very delicate piece and it's a wonder, that it survived all these years. Finest silk net, embroidered with blackmetal and mosterd thread, glass beads and matt sequins. It's a small size-perfect for me. And the details-gorgeous! The cut is very simple, straight rectangular, small gussets in the the armpit and drappery on the sides to give it some shape.

light bulbs






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Jeff Wall After Ralph Elison, invisible Man, the preface 2002 one of my favourite photographs ever.
And this ia a good article about the invisible man and the messi. In Zurich I had a neighbourg who collected computers. He started in the 70ies, first atari then apple, and didn't stop till he had to go to the rest home. When he couldn't walk anymore, he ordered the newest model by internet and that in 2000! Very interesting person.
The bar Longstreet in Zurich.
Philips 300W from the flea market, next to it a normal ones.
The movie The Prestige (2006)

Friday, September 17, 2010

combs




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Since I have finally long hair again I thrifted all these combs. Most of them are french. Not that easy to use them but nice looking.

pouder


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With pouder it's the same like with my soaps.
As a deo: Talborina cipria igienica assorbente from Santa Maria Novella, also good for swetty feet. I use a down powder puff from Penhaligon's - not for the feet!
For the face: Polvere di riso also from Santa Maria. The rice pouder gives a little bit a pale skin, but you don't look like a geisha, just a shimmer, and if you look in this nearly blind mirror you don't see it at all!

shampoo


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My hair likes shampoos from Switzerland and from England. Rausch since 125 years and Dr. Harris since 200 years in business. Heidi and Charles like them as well!

trout and plantain-fritters




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Always when I start to cook a fish I feel pity for this wonderful creation. The blue fishspice and the moon salt from Japan on his green, blue, black, grey back.
Plantain-fritters with cooking banana and red paprika.
BBQ sauce, hot pepper sauce and mango chutney.
Cider.
All in all a good combination.

african roots




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I learned to cook Yam and Co. from P.
Yam, cooking bananas and african ginger. This ginger is not to compare with the stuff from China. It's much more spicy and you really have to wash it good. Real african soil is still hanging on it!!!!
For vegetarian very nourishing, easy to cook and tasty. The sweetness of the Yam and the spicyness of the hot pepper sauce together with mangochutney= hmmm

And this is my favourite tea at the moment:

fresh peppermint
fresh cutted ginger
sugar or honey
lime juice

tastes warm and cold

Thursday, September 16, 2010

soaps


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I dislike cosmetic products from normal brands. I like products which are simple and don't have a too strong smell. Actually I went yesterday to the Ann Demeulemeester shop in Antwerp and I couldn't stand the smell-some very strange incense sticks. I had to go out immediately, felt really bad!
So since years I wash my skin only with soap: Sapone fior d'iris from Santa Maria Novella. Really the best for oily skin. To shower: Exfoliating soap from nuxe. And then some others like the fine rose toilet soap from Valobra, which was a present from A., or the pot-pourri soap also from Santa Maria. It's actually a men's soap but I like the smell of herbs and wood.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

jewish neighbourhood





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For my new work I have to check out the jewish shops. In Antwerp this area is a city in the city. I feel like a stranger there, to enter a shop is like a step in another world-out of time. You really don't belong to this society at all.
In between the kosher bakerys and fabric shops you find a contemporary gallery. On the Lange Kievitstraat you even have two quit new gallerys.
And the automne air and light is fantastic-my favourite time of the year-if it doesn't rain of course!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

clouds, cats & wooden spoons




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Got the recipe from this blog. Nikole has a very nice shop. Made the cloudform by myself and had to ground the pistachio with my wonder machine. I'm curious if they have unsalted pistachio in the US, have to ask J.
They don't look that nice, have to practice more with the icing-but nevertheless they taste good!
The old plate with the butterflies is from Faiencerie Nimy Belgium end of the 19th century.




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These are my big wooden spoons-not as nice as nikoles father carve them but also less expensiv. I think they are all teak-different shades.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

antique fencing costume


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Thrifted yesterday this antique fencing costume. The mask you find quite often not the costume and it fits me perfectly. Buttons are out of bone, the fabric is heavy cotton. It was used and has some holes from the fights. The right arm of the jacket has a double lining, for better protection, as well is the heart area doubled. The waist band and the collar is very thick. The back seams are with baleine.
The costume I would date around 1900.
Want to go to a costume party with this and highheels!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

japan dream


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Found this blog and it let me dream about going back to Japan. My gardening obsession started there I think. The green in the rainy season is just amazing.
I drink my tea out of the thrifted japanese pot.

berlin papergoods, plantgoods, books


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I found this incredible material shop and was amazed. Everything you get there to be creative.


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Went again to a Botanical Garden and bought also some herbtea from two different monasteries. The vase is a glaced one from this serie. You find them a lot on the fleamarket in Berlin because they are from the DDR.




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4 magazines: 2 interior and architecture, 1 fashion and 1 art

berlin buildings


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If you have a shop with a black board and you can enter only by appointment then you are really exclusif. But I don't know if it is like that because I had no appointment. But I'm very curious what is behind.



I had a Rotkäppchen Sekt with T. under this tree and spotted the blue wash at Auguststrasse.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

before night and rain falls down


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I like Antwerp for its light. I like the never ending sky with no mountain in between. I like the colours just before rain falls down. Here the Singel yesterday evening.

carpet treasures


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I was looking for some time now for a nice kilim carpet since I spotted this one in the internet. Of course it's a unique piece and you never find things when you are searching specifically. And old kilims are mostly very expensive. Yesterday I spotted in the last corner of a thrift store this two unique rugs. They cost me 4 Euros and I went out with a big smile on my face.

garden after rain and holidays




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It's always a suprise to come back after 6 weeks and see your garden again. Some plants did it well and some really not. The biggest problem here is, that they don't get enough sun. And I think to plant a tree in a pot is really not the best idea: the Japanese maple and the Maackia amurensis lost all their leaves! Then one of my shade plants just desapeared but the other one is flowering very pretty: Tricyrtis hirta! And my japanese travel plant is still alive with 5 new leaves. The last days I couldn' t even take photos because it was raining the whole time.
The plants who did it best are the once I picked on street or in some gardens. Like the Grünlilie. She is flowering as well. The worst plants are my tomatos from seeds from Brico. I have just one and she is still very green! All seeds from Brico are actually just bullshit, seeds from Migros and all the botanical gardens are very good. It's worse to spend a little bit more for good seeds or just steal it when you walk along some nice plants.
The succulents and cactus are easy and they grow without looking for them.