Healthy Breakfast: Sweet Millet with fruit

Hi folks,

if you are looking for a healthy and sweet breakfast alternative, I've got the right recipe for you. Sweet millet is not only extremely tasty, but also filling and healthy as it doesn't contain any sugar.

What you'll need (for one person):

• half a cup of golden millet
• a handful of dried dates
• fruit of your choice (I used peaches this time, but it really works with everything and it's fun to experiment with different kind of fruit)

How it works:

First, cut the dates and the peaches into small pieces.

Then prepare the millet according to the packaging instruction (there are different kinds of millet and cooking time can vary significantly).

After about half of the cooking time add the dates and the fruit and continue boiling until the millet is soft (and all the water is gone).

Put the sweet millet into a bowl and enjoy! :)

From Old To New: Laptop Sleeve

Hello everybody,

recently I found this old pink bag in my wardrobe. The edges were battered and the zipper was broken and I haven't worn it in a long time but I really like the pattern, so I couldn't get myself to through it out. Instead I decided to make a new laptop sleeve out of it... :)

What you'll need: 

• old bag or thick fabric of your choice
• paper
• pen
• scissors
• pins
• sewing thread
• sewing machine

How it works:

Take a sheet of paper and draw the outline of your laptop on it. As my laptop is about 2 cm thick I added 1,5 cm on every side. Then cut it out - this will be your paper pattern for the laptop sleeve.

Now unravel all seams of your old bag to get a "new" piece of fabric.

Afterwards put your paper pattern on the fabric and fix it with some pins. Draw the outlines of the pattern on your fabric and add 1 cm to each of the longer sides and to one of the shorter sides as seam allowances. To the other short side add 2 cm so can sew a nice hem afterwards. Repeat this process another time, so you get two pieces of the same size.

Lay the two pieces on each other, right sides facing. Pin the pieces so that the bottom and outside edges are aligned, and sew a straight stitch along the lines, leaving the top (the short side where you added 2 cm before) open. At this side now make a double-fold hem.

Done! Finished is your new laptop sleeve! :)

Shanti, Shanti - Get ready for yoga!

Hi folks,

yesterday i went to a new yoga class for the first time since a long break.

There are many different types of Yoga and my personal favorite is called Vinyasa-Style Yoga or Yoga Flow. This is where breath is linked to movement. Each posture is connected through an inhale or exhale.

Are you a beginner yogi? Before you go to your first yoga class, make sure you are prepared with all of the essentials. I’ve listed some of my favorite products that I use and love.

 

1. Roxy cotton T-shirt | 2. even&odd cozy jumper | 3. Karmasupply kork brick

4. yoga belt | 5. Karmasupply yoga mat | 6. naketano training pants with a comfortable fi

Confetti Wall Photo Backdrop Birthday Fun

Hi folks,

I celebrated my birthday last Saturday and to add some extra fun to my party I decided to get some nice photo props and my own personal confetti wall photo backdrop. :)

In case you wanna follow my lead, this is how it works:

What you'll need:

• drawing paper in different colors
• glass
• pencil
• scissors
• patafix (glue pads)
• photo props (for fellow Viennese: I got mine at MQ Point) 

How it works:

 And here some (among many, many others) of the outcomes. I hope you like it! :)

 

Travel Map

For this project I got inspired by Chelsea Costa from lovely Lovely Indeed, who got this incredible Valentine's Day present last year. I picked up her idea to make a large version of the map (with a slightly different approach) to mark all the places where my boyfriend and I have been.

What you'll need

• world map
• yarn in in two different colors (I used crochet thread)
• needle

How it works

To make this map is actually quite simple, although it can be a real piece of work depending on how many cities you've already visited. I started by making a list of where we've been so far and then simply stitched the yarn on the map. I usually used Vienna as starting point except when we moved right from one city to another. This way we can also follow the routes of our travels. :)
I did all my cities first (red) and then the ones of my sweetheart (blue). 

Have a great day!

Yours,

Steffi

Mustard Pickles

Hi folks,

currently I'm totally in the mood for preparing for the winter (probably because it got really cold in Vienna lately and it rains most of the time... ;) ). I started buying winter clothes, gave my first thoughts to Christmas presents and I want to make my kitchen winter fit which means that I want to grab the last local vegetables and fruit and winterize them in form of pickles, chutneys or similar.

Some time ago I made mustard pickles and as these are really tasty I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

What you'll need:

• 1,5 kg cucumbers
• 400 g onions
• 750 ml white vine vinegar
• 1/4 l water
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 table spoons of mustard seeds
• a little bit of dill
• a little bit of horseradish
• salt

How it works:

1) Peel the cucumbers and cut them into slices of about 3 cm and quarter the onions. 

2) Boil up the vinegar with the water, the spices and the horseraddisch and add salt to taste. Put the cucumbers and the onions into the boiling mixture and cook for about 5 minutes.

3) Put the boiling hot cucumbers into jars (make sure, that they are really, really clean) and fill them up with the stock. Seal the jars immediately and leave them until they cooled of. Then leave the mustard pickles in a dark and cool place for four weeks to infuse.

Enjoy!

Birks are back!

Hi folks!

I know it's not the latest news, but yes - Birkenstocks are back! Even in Austria ;-)

I love to wear them at work, because they are incredibly comfy - and look great with a pair of black (leather-)pants.

Shoes: Birkenstock Arizona | jumper & pants: Primark | bracelet: Mango

Crunchy sesame salt

At my last visit at my bf's family in Styria I tasted sesame salt for the first time and immediately fell in love with it. It's crunchy and tastes great with salad or other vegetable dishes plus it is super easy to make. You'll only need two ingrediants (sesame and salt), a pan and an immersion blender.

This is how it works:

1) Put the sesame into a hot, dry pan and roast it under constant stirring for 2 to 3 minutes (when the sesame seeds start to jump you'll know that the pan is hot enough). Then the sesame will be crunchy and have a smoky aroma.

2) Put the roasted sesame into a bowl and add salt as you wish (do not add too much salt at once!).

3) Now mix the sesame and the salt with the immersion blender (personally I prefer the sesame salt not to be too fine, so that you can still taste the sesame seeds).

4) Ready!

By the way: With a small piece of fabric and nice gift ribbon the sesame salt glasses also make for a good small present.

Vintage heaven: Vintage Salon Vienna

For all lovers of vintage stuff, Vienna offers the greatest event this weekend. For the second time Fräulein Kleidsam organised the lovely Vintage Salon Vienna, where you can find almost everything (clothes, hats, music, furniture...) as long as it's older than 20 years or at least appears to be. Labels like Lena Hoschek, Wellenkind or Vintagerie offer their products in a charming atmosphere (this year at Palais Eschenbach) and if you are a friend of swing music you can dance to bands like "Tanz, Baby", "Kiss me, yesterday" or "die Herr'n von der Tankstelle" as well as to the DJ sets of DJane Swingin Swanee in the evenings.

I've already been there today and took some pictures for you! :)

 hats: Wellenkind

 furniture: Catrinette

 records: vintage vinyl vienna 

glasses: Punti di Vista 

 

 clothes and accessories: Vintage in Vienna

And of course I couldn't resist to buy some things for myself... :)

Soundtrack while I'm writing this post: Frank Sinatra (currently "A Fine Romance")

Tartan & Stripes

This is one of my favourite outfits lately. It works for almost every occasion (to the movies with the bf, lunch with the ladies, office work day) and I absolutely love the pattern mix.

blazer: ZARA | T-shirt: H&M | skirt: American Apparel | tights: H&M | shoes: Lazzarini

Lately loving black and white

Hi folks,
lately I'm obsessed with black & white outfits. I can't think of the last time I went shopping and didn't end up with something black and/or white.

 

 Blouse: H&M (old) | pants & flats: Primark | bracelet & rings: vintage |
shark-tooth necklace: etsy

|| Black & White Instagram-Inspiration ||
tribal-cardigan: ebay | zig-zag-shirt: Billabong | skirt: bench | leather jacket: Pimkie | belt: Maison Scotch