Happy Holidays You Lovelies!

Hello you lovely people,

I'm already in the midst of getting ready for my sister's Christmas party tonight, but I couldn't have celebrated Christmas without leaving a small note for you guys! I wish you all the loveliest holidays together with your families and friends! May all your Christmas wishes come true tonight (or tomorrow, depending on in which country you celebrate)! :)

Thanks so much for reading this little blog!

Have a great day!

Yours,
Steffi

Happy Holidays Garland

Hello everybody,

on Saturday Silke's and mine annual Christmas tea party took place at my apartment and as always it was lovely. We served scones, cake and chilli, tea and hot punch and of course we also decorated the apartment. Apart from other things (like a Christmas tree for example ;) ) I made a lovely and easy-to-make "Happy Holidays"-garland, for which I used simple green colour paper and an old newspaper. If you don't have a Christmas decoration yet, this garland might be perfect.

Christmassy Cake Pops

Hello everyboy,

just a quick note from me today.
On Monday I shared a really tasty recipy (in German and English) for Christmassy cake pops on Diandra's advent calender over at Baking Avenue. They taste like fluffy chocolate gingerbread and are definitely worth a try! :)

Seven Sustainable Christmas Present Ideas

Hello you lovely people,

how are you? Do you already have all of your Christmas presents? In case you don't, listen up! :)
As you all know I started to study Environmental and Sustainability Management this fall. Reason enough for me to search for sustainable Christmas present ideas, which make the presentees and the planet happy at the same time. Here come seven ideas, I came up with.

The Blue Winter Dress

Hello everybody,

Punch and cookies, where are you? I am ready for you! :)
May I introduce you to my favourite new blue winter dress? It's by cos and I immediately fell in love with the color when I saw it hanging in the store. Combined with my beloved "Christmas fascinator" and sparkly socks I think it makes for a perfect Advent outfit... :)

Winterly Cabbage Stew

Hi folks,

originally Katja came up with the recipe I'm going to present today. Since the first time she's cooked it in the theater's office kitchen it became one of my favourite winter dishes: cabbage stew with potatoes, lentils and a hint of tomato. Yummy! :)

O(rigami) Christmas Tree!

Hello folks,

do you remember the newspaper Christmas tree balls I made last year? Well, as a huge paper lover I  decided to go with paper ornaments again this year. However, instead of cutting and stapling I chose folding this time. Yes, you guess right, we are talking origami ornaments for this Christmas. Among other things I folded classic Christmas tree ornaments and Santa boots and sticked to the classic Christmas colors red, white and green.

Christmas Chocolate Crunchies in a Bottle

Hello everybody,

Are you already looking forward to Christmas? I totally am! I already started to decorate my apartment and I listen to my Christmas playlist all day long, which turns David a bit nuts already, as he is sort of a little Grinch. :D

Do you already have all of your Christmas presents? I don't, but I already came up with some ideas for small presents, which could also serve perfectly as host(ess) gifts for eventual Christmas parties. Among other things I decided to make "cookies in a jar" this year. Those can currently be bought everywhere in Vienna (even in interior decoration shops), but I thought it would be much nicer to make them oneself, also because then you can be sure which ingredients have been used. Here comes the instruction. :)

Branch advent calendar

Hey folks,

it's me - Lily! Long time no see! ;) Today I will show you in a little guest posting my this year's branch advent calendar which was super easy to make.

Burek with Veggie Filling

Hello everybody,

Ten minutes away from my apartment you can buy the best burek in Vienna. That's at least what the Austrian daily Der Standard claims, and they may be right, because it's really, really good!
However, as I can't always walk over there to buy one I decided to try it myself and make two kinds of vegetarian burek (or pita): one with potato filling, the other one with soy "ground meat" filling. And it was totally worth the try! Both kinds turned out really good! Not exactly as good, as the greasy, supertasty burek at Thaliastraße, but almost that delicious. Here comes the recipe!

I got nominated...even twice

Hello folks,

thanks to lovely Lizzy from "La vie de Lizzy" and Jennifer from "Everythingthensome" I got nominated for the Liebster Award. That's a blogger award, where bloggers nominate little blogs they like. :) If you get nominated you have to answer eleven questions the other blogger asked you (cite the blogger), think of eleven new questions and nominate eleven (new) blogs, with less than 200 followers, you think deserve the award.
As I got nominated twice I decided to answer all 22 questions, but nominate only 11 new blogger for the next Liebster Award.

You received mail!

Hello you lovely people,

I got a new hobby!! :)
As some of you might already have noticed, I am kind of "retro-oriented" in some respects. For example I love the fashion of the 1920s to 1950s (oh so elegant!), I really like old movies and sometimes I even host colour-themed dinner parties where I oblige my friends to turn up in retro clothes. :D

Another (now old-fashioned) thing I really like is writing and receiving postcards. It's just a beloved tradition of mine, when I'm on vacation, to search for the perfect postcard for somebody and then to sit on the beach or on a nice square and take the time to write a few sentences. There is nothing I like less than receiving a stupid vacation SMS (although those are probably outdated already too?) from somebody, telling you how awesome the beach is and how great the food tastes, and you know that 10 other persons received the same message. Unfortunately fewer and fewer people seem to share my opinion on this topic, which made me fear to receive no postcards at all in the nearer future.

How To Make Super Sweet And Super Tasty Semolina Slices

Happy Monday everyone,

how did you spend your weekends? Hopefully good? I had a very lovely one including some cozy wine drinking at a friends' apartment, a trip to the Feschmarkt at Ottakringer Brauerei and a wonderful afternoon dinner with delicious tabbouleh and yummy cake. 
I also want to share a sweet delight today: semolina slices with apple sauce. Those are a perfect dessert as they are very tasty with their coat of breadcrumbs and coconut plus they are easy to make. :)

Black and White and Yellow

Hello,

on Monday, after a lovely breakfast date, David and I decided to celebrate the beautiful, sunny November weather. We chose to go for a little walk in the park right around the corner and were surprised to find the whole park covered in yellow autumn leaves! Extremely beautiful! We simply had to take the chance to snap a few photos... ;) 

DIY Embroidered Greeting Cards

Hello everybody,

today I wanna share one of my favourite DIY-projects I've been up to lately: embroidered greeting cards. Although it is no half an hour project to make one of those cards and it will take you some time, I think the result is definitely worth the effort. In addition there are no limits to creativity concerning the selection of your motive. :)

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

Hello everybody,

today I want to share a vegetarian recipe for stuffed peppers. Personally I think that the cold autumn weather virtually screams for more colour on the plate, which is why I went for red and orange bell peppers.

Baby it's Cold Outside

Hello everybody,

although it's not really winter yet, it's aready freezing cold here in Austria. Luckily, there are fireplaces one can cosy up to! My mum has one in her house and every time I visit her now, I sit in front of it, read a book, drink a cup of tea, or simply watch the flames like hypnotized. :) 

What do you do to warm up?

Origami Bats and Pumpkin Garland

Hello everybody,

Halloween is just around the corner, so if you want to decorate your home it might be time to get started... ;) Today I'm gonna share a fast and easy to make garland with origami bats and pumpkins which won't take you longer than an hour to make.

Glutenfree Almond Pistachio Cake

Hello you lovely people,

I hope you had a great weekend!
I certainly did and spent a lovely Sunday with my girlfriends. We made a clothes swapping party at my place where everybody brought along clothes which she didn't want anymore but might be interesting for somebody else. I love clothes swapping parties and can totally recommend them! It's the best way to get yourself new clothes FOR FREE, clean up your closet, have a lovely day with the ladies PLUS it's sustainable and good for the environment. To make the day perfect, of course their had to be cake too, which is why Karin (you already know her from this post) came over a little earlier and helped me make a delicious almond pistachio cake. I found the recipe originally on cook REPUBLIC and we remade it with a few small alterations.

"Poisoned" Chocolate Apples for Halloween

Hi folks,

although it has become kind of a thing during the last few years, Halloween is (still) not a national holiday in Austria. However, this year I've been invited to a Halloween party at Katja's and therefore I decided to come up with some ideas for this funny and spooky day, like these dangerous looking and green shimmering "poisoned" chocolate apples. :)

Green Salad Meets Figs And Camembert

Hello you lovely people,

I hope all of you enjoyed a wonderful weekend with your loved ones! I actually spent two beautiful days including a romantic dinner with my lovely boyfriend, a long overdue coffee chat with a good friend who finally moved back to Vienna (welcome back, my dear Kerstin!) and a really good ballet performance with choreographies by William Forsythe.
My Monday was very nice too! Among other things I prepared a really good green salad with figs and camembert, which I want to share with you today. :) Here comes the recipe!

Cats and Dogs

Hello everybody,

you may have already recognized my love for cats when I shared this post. As you can see below I added another cat-like piece to my wardrobe. :) In addition I started a little romance with dogs recently. I like them especially when they are on my clothes and even more when they are pugs. :D When I look at these leggings I always have to think about Frank the Pug from the movie "Men in Black" (Aaah, childhood memories!). Do you remember that funny pug? I certainly do and seeing one of his kind on my legs amuses me every time... ;)  

Easy Autumn DIY Gift Wrapper

Hello everybody,

about two weeks ago a very good friend of mine had her 28th birthday. On Monday we finally met, so I could give her her birthday present. Of course the present needed to be wrapped too and I LOVE gift wrapping! I think it's always great fun to come up with a creative idea to wrap up a present instead of simply wrapping it in bought wrapping paper. This time I decided for an autumnal gift wrapper, fitting to the current season. It's really easy to make and won't take you more than 5 minutes.

Beetroot Soup for Autumn Days

Hello everybody,

I am back! :) Last week I've been totally occupied with the intensive week at my new university. It was really great but unfortunately my time to blog was severely limited (not to say non-existent).
However, I spent my whole Sunday with cooking and crafting, so I will be back to my normal blogging routine shortly... ;)
Today I want to share a recipe for a really good and nourishing beetroot soup. I love the red beets and think they are the perfect vegetable for cold autumn and winter days.

And The Winners are...

Hello everybody,

do you remember my blog birthday giveaway-raffle from last month?
Well, today is the day to announce the winners of the three birthday packages! :) Each includes a handmade birthday card as well as recipes and decoration ideas for a colour-themed (green, red and yellow) birthday dinner! :)

Veggie Love Story: Tomato Avocado Salad

Hello you lovely people,

I apologize for making myself so scare for the last few days, but it's been season opening week at the theatre and my last work week there in general (I decided to go back to university! :) ). Therefore everything has been a little bit stressful...
In compensation I am going to share a really good, quick and easy recipe for a tomato-avocado salad. I served it last week at my birthday brunch and it was eaten up almost immediately. I figure that's a good sign. ;)

Every Month Birthday Present

Hello you darling people,

last Sunday it was time to celebrate another birthday - mine in this case... ;)
I invited some friend over for brunch (which lasted for about 12 hours ;) ) and really had a fabulous day. For those of my guests who read this: THANK YOU again for joining me! It was a blast!
Of course I got some presents too and although all of them were pretty cool one stuck out especially for me. My oldest (and one of my best) friend Karin gave me an "Every Month Birthday"-present and as I liked the idea so much and guessed you might find it inspiring too I decided to share it here on the blog.

Chocolate Peach Crumble Cake

Hello you darling people,

today I wanna share another recipe for a delicious cake: a late summer chocolate peach crumble cake. Yummy!

Italian Dress meets French Hat in Vienna

Hi folks,

last week we had two lovely visitors from Canada - Mark and Ashley. We met them two years ago in London, where we stayed in the same hostel room and this year they found time for another trip to Europe.
Luckily, summer made a small comeback last weekend (just a short one unfortunately) and so David and I were able to show them all the beautiful Viennese sights in sunshine weather. A good opportunity for me to finally put on my new white dress and my favourite new straw hat and make some nice pictures using the fountains in front of the Hofburg as backdrop. Just later on I realised that the whole outfit was actually a subconcious hommage to our guests. How so? Well, the pants are from Ralph Lauren, hence North American, the hat is from France and Mark and Ashley are actually French Canadians and the dress comes from Italy and guess what, both have Italian families. I am delighted! :)

Spinach Cake with Peanuts

Hello everybody,

today I wanna share a recipe with you which works as well for breakfast, lunch and dinner and is quite easy to make: spinach cake with peanuts. What may seem unusual at first is actually one of the greatest combinations I've recently tried!

What you'll need

• ca. 75g spinach
• 2 spring onions
• 100g flour
• 1,5 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• salt and pepper
• 50g peanuts

How it works

Roast the peanuts in a dry pan for a few minutes and preheat the oven to 160°C. Chop the spring onions and the spinach.

Mix the flour and the baking powder in a bowl. Stir in the eggs, the sour cream, the olive oil, the mustard as well as salt and pepper. Then slowly incorporate the spinach, the spring onions and the roasted peanuts into the mixture.

Pour the batter into a lightly greased loaf pan and bake the cake for about 40 minutes.

Take the spinach cake out of the oven and let it cool down for about 5 minutes before you carefully separate it from the pan.

Enjoy!

Have a great day!

Yours,
Steffi 

All images by Steffi Reichl

Wishlist: Go Green Into Fall

Hello everybody,

as summer is almost over I thought it was time to take a (online) look at the current fall fashion. :) For me this year it's going to be a special autumn as I will go back to university to start a new master program in "Environmental and Sustainability Management". I'm already really looking forward to it! Fitting to the study program I decided to challenge myself a bit for this wishlist and only checked out online stores that offered environmentally friendly or "ethical" clothing. I put together two outfits - one a little bit more girly and the other one a little bit more sporty and I'm actually pretty pleased with the results... :)

1, 2 and 4: People Tree | 3: hessnatur | 5: Beyond Skin | 

1 and 3: People Tree | 2: hessnatur | 4 and 5: Veja | 

6: Kuyichi (over Greenality) 

 

Have a great day!

 

Yours,

Steffi

 

PS: All these sets were made with Polyvore and can also be found here.

Happy Birthday Tulip and Lily (plus Giveaway!)

Hello everybody,

I almost can't believe it but today it's this little blog's first birthday! :)
What started out as a little "I wanna try that"-sort of thing in the meantime became one of my most favourite pastimes and most important outlet for little creative projects and culinary experiments. Katja aka Lily found out, that instead of writing, she prefers to work behind the camera and now makes most of the outfit pictures in which I try to pose... ;)

GIVEAWAY!! To celebrate the day we need cake of course, which is why I'm going to share a recipe for heavenly chocolate-espresso-muffins today! In addition - because what would be a birthday without presents - I decided to put together three little, birthday-themed surprise packages for you, lovely readers, each including three recipes and ideas for a colour-themed birthday dinner and a little DIY. If you want to win, just leave a comment under this post until October 3rd (open for EU-citizens only. Sorry everybody else!). Winners will then be announced October 4th. :) 

But first things first - let's start with the muffins!

What you'll need

• 1 egg
• 90g sugar
• 125g butter
• 150ml butter milk
• 130ml espresso (cold)
• 100g dark chocolate (chopped)
• 240g spelt flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 package chocolate blancmange powder
• 100g dark chocolate with pistachios 

How it works

Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare some muffin paper liners.

In a bowl cream together the egg and the sugar. Stir in the butter, the buttermilk and the espresso, then add the chopped chocolate. In another bowl whisk together the spelt flour, the baking powder and the chocolate blancmange powder. Then slowly incorporate the dry mixture into the creamy mixture.

Fill the paper liners, each 2/3 full with batter and bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes.

For the final touch melt the dark pistachios chocolate over a pot with boiling water and coat the muffins' top sides with it.

Blow the candle and enjoy! 

Have a great day!

Yours,
Steffi

All images by Steffi Reichl

First Glimpse of Autumn

Hello everybody,

this year we had a really short summer in Austria. The whole weather feels like autumn a little bit already and it could as well be the end of September instead of the end of August. However, although I would have loved the summer to last a little bit longer, the current weather gives me the perfect opportunity to get out my new coat and my new sweater I bought in Strasbourg and show them to the world... ;)

coat: Chattawak (Strasbourg) | sweater: Somewhere (Strasbourg) | jeans: American Apparel | 

socks: Happy Socks (old) | sneakers: New Yorker | bag: Hallhuber | bracelet: Bijou Brigitte |
flower brooch: H&M (old)

Have a great weekend!

Steffi

All images by Katja Borlein