Winterly Salzburg

Hello everybody,

I hope all of you had wonderful Christmas, Santa Claus or Christkind brought you some nice presents and your bellies are still happily filled with Christmas delights and cookies... :)
Some weeks ago I went to Salzburg, probably Austria's second most known city (Mozart, Sound of Music, Salzburg Festival etc.), for an appointment, a little sighseeing and some shopping. Salzburg is actually a lovely city with an impressive old town although I probably wouldn't like to live there permanently as it's a little too posh for me. Nevertheless for a day trip (or two, or three ;) ) it's quite perfect and there are some really cool places within the town boudaries as well. 

I started the day with a relaxed and really tasty breakfast at Republic Café which is located in the building of the former Stadtkino ("city cinema") and is not only a café but also one of Salzburg's coolest concert and party locations.   

On my way to Republic Café I passed the beautiful Salzach, the river that passes through Salzburg. The castle you can see on the hill is Fortress Hohensalzburg which was built in 1077 and is the biggest complete extant castle in Middle Europe.

Just like on Paris' Pont Neuf you can also find locks on Salzburg's Markatsteg.

The Großes Festspielhaus is one of famous Salzburg's Festival most important venues. It was opened in 1960 with a performance of Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier" and holds seats for 2179 people (more details can be found here). 

Salzburg's most famous shopping street is Getreidegasse where you can find all stores of well known brands such as Louis Vuitton, Hallhuber, Mango etc. If you are looking for something more individual you should also check out Getreidegasse's side roads where you can find really nice small boutiques as well. One of them is Crai, a small and very colourful store where you can find dresses, shoes, handbags and accessories, also from green brands such as Armed Angels.  

What you definitely shouldn't miss is the Mirabellgarten, the famous garden of Mirabell Palace, which is even beautiful in winter. 

If you are gettin hungry after all this running around you can check out Café Fingerlos, a rather typical Austrian café where you can get very good soups and snacks, a (great) variety of breakfast variations (no worries, you can also breakfast in the afternoon there) and lots of very good pastries, such as this chestnut cupcake you see below. Yummy!!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Hello everybody,

Christmas is finally here!! All Christmas presents have been packed, the tree has been decorated, Christmas movies have been watched and mulled wine has been drunk - preparation time is officially over... ;)

For the upcoming festivities we wish you all the best! Have a wonderful time with your families and friends, enjoy tons of delicious food and sing Christmas songs that loud that your whole neighbourhood can hear it!
For all of you who may not celebrate Christmas: Happy, happy holidays! You too have a wonderful time with your families and friends, enjoy tons of delicious food and simply exchange the Christmas songs with the music of your choice! 

As Christmas is also the time for saying thank you: Thank you for reading this blog! We really appreciate it and value everyone of you (a lot!)! We hope we'll meet again after the holidays! :)

Be merry!

XOXO,
Tulip & Lily

Last Minute Book Presents

Hello everybody,

for those of you who are really last-minute-Christmas-presents-shoppers walking into the next bookshop may be a pleasant solution for getting gifts today. Personally I believe that books always serve as great gifts, at least if you have an idea which ones of the thousands of books you should buy. Therefore I asked my good friend Romana, who is responsible for the book selection at phil (a very cool café/bookshop/DVD shop/music store - actually I think you can even buy the vintage furniture) if she could give me some tips. Here come her books of choice:

Romi's favourite book is the "Atlas of Remote Islands" ("Atlas der abgelegenen Inseln") by Judith Schalansky. She says about it:  "Whenever you wanna dream yourself or your loved ones away from this strange planet, you can open up the "Atlas der abgelegenen Inseln" by Judith Schalansky. You can practically smell the ocean and hear the seagulls and the tides. A wonderful book, which turns us into Robinson Cruse for a moment."

"The Girl Who Saved The King Of Sweden" ("Die Analphabetin die rechnen konnte") is the new book by author Jonas Jonasson who also wrote the bestselling novel "The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared". It's the story about Nombeko Mayeki, a girl born in an South African township. Destiny and her unique talents lead her to Sweden where suddenly the fate of the whole world lies in her hands. 

In "Woolgathering" the great Patti Smith dips into the past. The book includes texts about her childhood, poems and thoughts about life, time and contemporaries plus numerous photos.

"Die Kunst ein kreatives Leben zu führen" is the new book by psychologist and philosopher Frank Berzbach. The book deals with the work and life realities of people working in the creative sector and the (often) missing balance between these two. It's an "invitation to a cup of tea and a silent dialogue"... 

New years morning brunch

Hey,

I can't believe it is allready day 22 of our blog christmas calendar!
Today I want to share some ideas for a nice new years morning brunch with you. I have just moved into a new flat and I'm going to invite my family on 1st on January. I found all images on Pinterest and you can find the original sources plus the recipes here.

I really love this simple table decor idea: just use some packing paper as a table runner (you could also paint some golden dots on it) and spread some confetti over it. For new years eve and morning everything should be sparkling.

          

I think I will serve my family some nice rostbeef sandwiches, freshly pressed orange juice and a warm lentil soup. 2014, bring it on! :)

                   

Last Minute Christmas Decoration

Hello everybody,

if you haven't had time time until now to decorate your apartment Christmas style I've got a very simple and fast DIY-idea for you that will rock your walls. ;)

What you'll need

• cardboard
• pencil or white crayon
• scissors
• glue pads

How it works

Write "Merry Christmas" or another Christmassy saying in big letters on your cardboard. 

Cut out the letters.

Put glue pads onto the backside of your letters and put the letters on your wall.

All images by Stefanie Reichl

Delicious Christmas Dishes (Vegetarian Style)

Hi folks,

I already mentioned that this year my boyfriend and I will host our first Christmas dinner for my mum and his family at Christmas Eve. What I didn't mention is that everybody in David's family is vegetarian. As in my family it's rather tradition to eat goose or turkey or fish or other meaty stuff at Christmas I scoured the internet yesterday to get some inspiration for vegetarian alternatives. Here are my favourite 5 recipes I came up with.

Portobello mushroom and chestnut baked custards recipe

Savory Pumpkin Galette

Citrus and pomegranate brussels sprouts

Christmas Honeycomb Cannelloni

 

Fresh Savoy, red onion & egg pie

All these recipes and more can also be found on my "Festive Dishes" Pinterest board.
Enjoy your meal! :)

Hot Punch: Warms you from inside

Hi folks,

what could you make feel warm in winter faster than a cup of tasty hot punch? Therefore my boyfriend and I cooked a pot for our friends yesterday and here comes the recipe.

What you'll need

• 750ml water
• 1 organic orange
• 1 organic lemon
• fresh ginger
• rum
• sugar

How it works

Boil up the water.
 


Cut the oranges and lemons into small pieces and the ginger into thin slices.

Put the fruit into the boiling water and let simmer for about 15 minutes. 

Squash the fruit with a cooking spoon or similar and sieve the fruit into a bowl or jug.

Continue squashing and put the fruit pulp (without the fruit skins) back into the pot.

Add glühwein spices (we used two teabags) and sugar as you like. If you don't get the spices ready-made you can mix the spice blend yourself out of cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.

Finally add rum as you prefer and enjoy! :)

All images by Stefanie Reichl

Favourite Christmas Movie Outfits

Hey folks,

we allready showed you our favourite christmas movies in this post. Today I want to share my favourite christmas movie outfits with you :) Allthough fashion of the 80ies is not so much my thing, I really love the crazy christmas sweaters they were wearing in the movies at that time.

When I saw "Bridget Jones" for the first time I instantly felt in love with that cute reindeer-sweater from Marc. Here's a nice collage I found to bring it back into your mind.

And here is my Bridget Jones movie outfit inspiration for you. You can find all details on my Polyvore profile.