Freitag, 30. Mai 2014

Pimp Up Your Espadrilles


Hello everybody,

okay, I'll have to admit that I'm really proud of these black and gold babies. :) I simply think that the triangles give the espadrilles a very cool, and because they are gold, also very chic look. Besides, I love black and I love gold, so for me that's the perfect match.

What you'll need
  • black espadrilles (I got mine from H&M)
  • gold paint pen for dark fabrics
  • triangle
  • pencil
  • transparent and normal paper 
  • box cutter
  • scissors
  • pin

How it works

I started by stuffing my shoes with old newsprint. This way the espadrilles will keep their form when you paint the triangles on them.


For a start cover the toecap of one of the espadrilles with transparent paper and trace the outlinings of the toecap. Then cut it out and transfer it to a normal white sheet of paper. Now draw the triangles onto the shoecap. Either freehand or (what I preferred) with the help of straight lines and a triangle (I wanted a regular pattern on both shoes :) ).


Now cut out the triangles using a box cutter.


Cut out the paper toecap adding an extra cm to the actual contoures and pin it onto one of your espadrilles. Then colour the triangles with your gold pen (I did two layers of paint). Repeat that process with your other shoe.


Done! :)


Have a wonderful (and maybe crafty) weekend!

Yours,
Tulip

PS: I also added this post to Karly's and Paige's link up party on Paige's lovely blog "a dose of paige". :)

Mittwoch, 28. Mai 2014

Introducing The Bird's New Nest

Hi folks,

today I want to introduce you to The bird's new nest, a very cool online magazine about sustainability and ecological lifestyle to which I've been contributing regularly for the last few months.
The topics covered in the magazine are really diverse and range from political and economic articles over the presentation of fair and sustainable fashion labels and books to vegetarian recipes and DIY projects. Founder and editor in chief of The bird's new nest is Austrian blogger Edda Pascher.
 http://thebirdsnewnest.com/
Concerning myself I write a weekly TV program called "Greenwatching" for The bird's new nest, where I recommend TV-broadcasts (in Austrian and German television) for the upcoming week that deal with sustainability, environmental protection or nature in any ways, mostly documentaries or reportages.



Recently I also contributed a recipe for almond milk. It tastes great and is really easy to make, so if you want to check it out you can find it here. Unfortunately it's only available in German but if you would like to have it in English post me a comment and I'll send it to you.

Have a nice day reading!

XOXO,
Tulip   

Sonntag, 25. Mai 2014

Pot-roasted apricots and peaches with basil mascarpone cream

Hey folks,

I hope all of you had a great Sunday so far! :)
If you're looking for an easy, warm and summerly dessert that tastes like heaven I might have the right recipe for you... ;) The basic idea is to pot-roast apricots, peaches and oranges and combine them with roasted coconut flakes, cashew nuts and a delicious marcarpone cream with fresh basil. Yes, you guessed right, this is no recipe for fans of calorie counting but in any case it's delicious!

What you'll need
  • 8 apricots (fresh or canned)
  • 4 peaches (fresh or canned)
  • 30g fresh ginger
  • 2 organic oranges (organic is important as we'll use the orange zest as well!)
  • 1 organic lemon
  • 20-30g maple syrup
  • ca. 30g cashew nuts
  • ca. 20g coconut flakes
  • 2 handful of fresh basil leaves
  • 250g mascarpone
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
How it works

For the basil mascarpone cream combine the basil leaves with the mascarpone and add one tablespoon of maple syrup. Blend everything with a hand-held blender.


Wash the peaches and the apricots, cut them into half and remove the stones. Peel the ginger and cut it into small pieces. Wash the orange and the lemon using hot water and peel them with a sharp knife. Cut the fruit into half and press out the juice.


Heat up the maple syrup in a pan and add the apricots, peaches and ginger. After a few minutes add the citrus fruit's zest and juice and boil slowly. Allow the juice to reduce, then turn around the fruit, add 50 ml water and continue boiling until the juice gets a syrup-like consistence.
Roast the coconut flakes in a dry pan for a few minutes. 


Serve the fruit together with the roasted coconut flakes and the basil mascarpone cream and enjoy! :)

Have a wonderful evening!

Yours,
Tulip

All images by Stefanie Reichl

Donnerstag, 22. Mai 2014

Weekend-trip to Graz

Hey folks,

I spent a rainy but super nice weekend with friends in Graz!
We went to the "assembly design festival" and saw a stunning mix of fashion, design, art and architecture.
Unfortunately it wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, but I have this nice composition of green and pink colours from the Joanneumsviertel in Graz, where the festival took place, for you ;)
Maybe you have heard of river surfing before? At the Mur river in Graz surfers find an awesome standing wave to show off their skills. Find out more about it on murbreak.at
After so much "sports" we got hungry and checked out "Le Schnurrbart", a nice little restaurant at the foot of the "Schlossberg" castle hill in Graz. They serve crêpes and galettes (the savoury modification of crêpes) only and it totally pleased me that their dough is vegan! I chose "EL BARTO" with a delicious baby spinach-mushrooms-cherry tomatoe filling and had a crêpe with chestnut cream as dessert :)
Right next to the restaurant we found a tiny art market and spontanously bought some art :)
If you wish a stunning few over Graz, I can recommend the skybar on the famous shopping heaven Kastner&Öhler, called "Freiblick".

Isn't this house front adorable?
I love my new pair of leopard sneakers ;)
Inside Kastner&Öhler you can buy everything a shopper's heart desires: cool fashion, expensive jewellery, home accessories, high fashion, handbags and even kitchen supplies.
I love the colourful, ornated house fronts in the city of Graz - everytime I'm there, I discover new ones!

Lots of love,
Lily

All images by Katja Borlein

Sonntag, 18. Mai 2014

Rose Passage

Hello everybody,

today we had a big family get-together in the countryside for the baptism of my youngest nephew Benjamin. In my opinion a very good reason to put together a nice "Sunday best" outfit including my favourite festive skirt by Austrian designer Lena Hoschek.
Near the church where the baptism ceremony took place David and I discovered this really nice passage with roses and decided to take a few pictures... :)








skirt: Lena Hoschek (similar) | 3/4 sleeves T-shirt: MANGO (similar) | cardigan: ZARA | 
necklace: DIY | tights: H&M | pumps: Lazzarini | bag: Hallhuber


Have a wonderful evening!

Yours,
Tulip

PS: With this look I take part in vreeni's "look of the month". Wish me luck! :)
http://www.freakinyou.blogspot.de/

All images by David Auer

Dienstag, 13. Mai 2014

Vegan Cauliflower Curry with Potato Crisps

Hello everybody,

yesterday a dear friend of mine, Romana (she also recommended these books for you some months ago), came to dinner. As we wanted to impress her a little bit David and I chose to cook a really good vegan cauliflower curry and a really nice dessert with oranges, peaches and apricots. The recipe for the curry is again out of "Von der Schale bis zum Kern" by Bernadette Wörndl - I know we keep coming back to this one but it's simply a wonderful cookbook! However, as I didn't have all the ingredients at home I had to change the recipe a little bit but it turned out really tasty nevertheless. Here comes my version... :)

What you'll need (for 4 persons)
  • 1 cauliflower plus leaves
  • 6-8 medium-sized potatoes
  • 2 spring onions
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tablespoons curcuma
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 2 tablespoons curry
  • vegetable oil 
  • ca. 50 g cashew nuts
  • ca. 2 cm fresh ginger
  • 400ml vegetable stock
  • 400ml coconut milk 
  • salt 
  • pepper and/or chili
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • curcuma of your choice
How it works

Cut the cauliflower in little florets and the leaves in small pieces. Peel the potatoes and quarter the potatoes. Don't throw away the peelings - you'll need them for the potato crisps! Cut the spring onions, the garlic and the ginger into small pieces and brown them together with the mustard seeds, the curcuma and the cashews  in vegetable oil for a few minutes.


Add the cauliflower, the potatoes and the curry and fill up with stock and coconut milk. Let the curry cook for about 20 to 25 minutes over a low heat. Add the cauliflower leaves and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper/chili to taste.
In the meantime put a sheet of baking paper into a baking dish and spread the potato peels over the paper. Add salt, pepper, curcuma, maple syrup and olive oil and mix everything well with your hands. Put the potatoes into the oven at 200°C and roast them for about 20 to 30 minutes until they are crisp.


Put the curry on a deep dish and spread the crips over it. Enjoy! :)


Have a nice day!

Yours,
Tulip

All images by Stefanie Reichl

Samstag, 10. Mai 2014

Free Your Mind! DANCE!

Hi folks,

sorry for the silence in the last few days, but Katja and me had quite a busy work week and were busy apart from that too as we participated in a very cool dance project this week. For his production "Tanzkaraoke" (Dance Karaoke), which he will show at Festspielhaus St. Pölten in November, the Austrian choreographer Willi Dorner was searching for volunteers who would like to participate. In detail he was looking for people who would be willing to be filmed while dancing to a song of their choice. In November, when the actual performance takes place, members of the audience can choose a "star" (for example Tulip & Lily ;) ) and then dance karoke to the video of their choice (wearing pink slippers and black gloves). As Katja and myself are always very fast to volunteer for this kind of things we were intrigued immediately. Therefore we created a little choreography and Willi Dorner filmed us on Thursday. Great, great fun! I'm so much looking forward to see the final video in November! :D

We chose Outkast's "Hey Ya!" to dance to...



and these were the outfits we wore at our performance... ;)



If you want to see more (and are somewhere near St. Pölten), you should definitely visit Festspielhaus St. Pölten on 1st November and choose our video to dance to... ;)

Have a great evening!

Yours,
Tulip

Montag, 5. Mai 2014

Mango Chocolate Cake

Hi folks,

today I wanna share a recipe for a simple and tasty mango chocolate cake with you. Furthermore the cake is kind of healthy as it's almost completely free of refined sugar. Instead I used maple syrup and that worked just fine. :)

What you'll need
  • 150g flour (I used spelt flour)
  • 3/4 tablespoon baking powder
  • ca. 40g maple syrup
  • 1 package vanilla sugar  
  • 15g cocoa powder
  • 100g ripe mango
  • 100ml buttermilk
  • 2 egg whites
  • coconut flakes

How it works

Preheat your oven to 170°C. Combine the flour, the baking powder, the sugar, the vanilla sugar and the cocoa.


Blend the mango using a hand-held blender. Mix the mango and the buttermilk with the dry ingredients and stir well.


Whisk the egg whites until stiff and gently fold in the cake batter.


Put the batter into a buttered and floured cake tin and let the cake bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. Leave the cake to cool for some minutes, than sprinkle coconut flakes over it. Cut the cake into pieces and enjoy!
For an extra kick of sweetness you can add some more maple syrup to the cake and whipped cream also goes perfectly with it.


Have fun baking!

Yours,
Tulip

All images by Stefanie Reichl

Freitag, 2. Mai 2014

One Sunny Day At Lobau...

Hi out there,

yesterday Katja and I spent the most lovely day at Lobau, a national park and local recreation area in Vienna. Although I've been living in Vienna for about ten years now I somehow never made it there and as Katja hadn't known the area either we thought it might be time to check it out. And let me tell you: We'll definitely go there again soon because it's incredibly beautiful!!


Lobau is one of the last wetlands in Europe with an impressive wood and a number of little lakes in between.
We decided to follow the nature-trail Obere Lobau until we reached Panozzalacke, a little lake with a great rustic snack-bar nearby where you can get such great Austrian classics as slices of bread with bacon ("A Speckbrot mit Garnitur") or cheese kransky ("Käsekrainer") or Frucade, an old-school orange limonade. Simpy loved it! :)


Look at this huge slice of bread with bacon! Isn't that awesome?


Panozzalacke itself is great as well. The water is not very deep, but deep enough for a nice swim (yeah, first swim of the season! ;) ) and there are not that many people around which is perfect if you want to relax peacefully in the sun.
Everything's so natural there that even a swan passed by our bathing place... :)


Katja and I spent the whole afternoon around the lake and also took some pictures of us and the nature around.




Make sure, you'll stop by Lobau the next time you're in Vienna! It's totally worth it!

Have a great weekend!
Tulip and Lily

All images by Katja Borlein/Stefanie Reichl
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