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

Hello Mushroom Season: King Oyster Mushrooms with Polenta Sticks

Hi folks,

I love this time of the year - I love the mushroom season. Besides chanterelles my absolute favourites are king oyster mushrooms. Some days ago I bought some for dinner and David and I made the most delicious and really simple mushroom dish with polenta sticks and green salad. Here comes the recipe. :)

What you'll need (for 2 persons)

• 250g polenta
• 1 l vegetable stock
• salt
• nutmeg
• pepper
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 20 g butter
• olive oil
• 200g king oyster mushrooms
• 3 garlic gloves
• 2 spring onions
• (tamari) soy sauce 
• green salad
• salad dressing of your choice

How it works

We start out with the polenta. Pour the vegetable stock into a pot, add the salt, some grated nutmeg, pepper and the butter and bring everything to boil. Stir in the polenta with an eggbeater and cook it up. Then add the Parmesan, turn down the heat, and let the polenta expand for about 10 minutes. Stir regularly to prevent the polenta from scorching.

Put the polenta into a rectangular pan (we used our baking dish) and let it cool down completely. This will take about an hour. Now you can go and watch an episode of your favourite TV show or something or bake a cake like I did (more on this soon)... ;)

Cut the mushrooms and the garlic gloves into thin slices and chop the spring onions. Heat up some olive oil in a pan and gently roast the mushrooms for a few minutes. Add the garlic gloves and spring onions for two more minutes and deglaze everything with soy sauce. Salt and pepper to taste and put the pan aside.

Turn the baking dish upside down and cut the now cold and stiff polenta into sticks. Heat up some olive oil in a pan and roast the polenta sticks for a few minutes until they are warm and a little crispy on the outside.

Conclusively dress the green salad with a dressing of your choice (we made a simple dressing with cider vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil) and you are ready to serve.

Bon appétit!
Tulip

All images by Steffi Reichl

A pencilskirt goes sporty

Hey folks,

two years ago I decided to invest in a classical piece for my wardrobe: a black leather pencilskirt by Burberry. But as you probably guess I'm not really that classy girl who wears pearls ;) So I tried to find some new ways to wear the skirt.

Here's the result :)

 Pencil skirt: Burberry Brit | Baseball jacket: H&M | Shoes: Nike Air Max

 Backpack: Primark

Weird pic, I know... But I think it has something "arty" ;)

All images by Steffi Reichl

Delicious and Healthy: Minestrone

Hi there,

my mother's vegetable garden is exploding right now. Green beans, tomatoes, celery... everythings ready to be harvested. Good for me, as I'm therefore currently getting the best organically grown vegetables directly from the garden. I decided to use them to make a really tasty and substantial vegetable soup: Italian minestrone. 

What you'll need (for 4 persons)

• 3 garlic gloves
• 2 spring onions
• 1/2 handful celery leaves
• 2 big carrots
• 2 potatoes
• 1 handful green beans
• 1/2 zucchini
• 60g butter
• olive oil
• 1 1/2 l vegetable stock
• 100g tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 handful fresh basil 
• grated parmesan
• salt and pepper
• 85g spaghetti (broken into small pieces)

How it works

Chop the garlic, spring onions, celery leaves, carrotts, potatoes, green beans and zucchinis. Heat the butter and the olive oil in a big pot and brown the garlic and the onions for two minutes. Add the celery leaves, the carrots and potatoes and continue roasting for another two minutes. Add the green beans and the zucchini and...what do you think?... brown for two minutes.

Cover the pot and cook the vegetables stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes. Then add the vegetable stock, the tomatoes, the tomato paste and the basil and add salt and peeper to taste.

Cook the soup on a low heat for about an hour. Then add the spaghetti pieces and cook for another 10 minutes.
Put the soup into bowls, sprinkle grated parmesan over it and enjoy! :)

Have a great weekend!

Yours,
Tulip

All images by Stefanie Reichl

Strasbourg in Pictures

Hello everybody,

last week I spent some lovely days in Strasbourg, France together with my mum for a little mother-daughter-vacation. :) Here are some impressions from our trip to the beautiful Alsation capital.

We took the train to Strasbourg and arrived at its very cool train station, which in my opinion is a great combination of old and new architectural elements.

Strasbourg's major sight is its famous cathedral - the Münster - which is really an impressive building from the outside as well as from the inside.

I don't know if you have seen Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris". It's one of my favourite movies and there is this wonderful scene when Adriana (Marion Cotillard) shows Gil (Owen Wilson) this beautiful carrousel from the Belle Epoque. Well, you can imagine my joy when we found a very similar one in the middle of Strasbourg... :)

La Petite France is a small and lovely Strasbourg district, where the Ill river splits up into a number of canals and you can watch the boats come by.

If you prefer the modern to the medieval architecture you should check out the Museum of Modern Art, a very cool and colourful building next to the river.

 The European Parliament is also worth a visit.

To relax a bit after our sightseeing tour to the "European district" we went to L'Orangerie. This is Strasbourg's biggest park, where you cannot only find the most beautiful flowers, buts also two small lakes and a stork breeding station. Beautiful!

  
But the Orangerie is not the only green spot in the city. Opposite the Palais du Rhin at the Place de la Republique you can also find a lovely small park with beautiful flowerbeds.

  
A fire flower for the "Fire Street".

Strasbourg is the perfect place for food lovers and fans of meat in particular. One national dish is choucrote, which is basically a plate full of sourcrout combined with differents sorts of bacon, sausages and potatoes. It's actually really tasty, altough I wouldn't recommend it on a daily basis (unless you want to get a heart attack at a young age)... ;) A great alternative to  choucrote is the tarte flambeé, a kind of very thin pizza with sour cream, onions, bacon and/or vegetables. Yummy!

If you have a sweet tooth, Strasbourg will serve you too.

Have a wonderful day!

Yours,
Tulip

All images by Stefanie Reichl/Veronika Reichl

The Cats on Sea

Hey there,

this year I made it to the Biorama Fair Fair in Vienna for the first time. This is a trade fair where you can buy all sorts of products (clothes, food, cosmetics etc.) from sustainable producers. It always takes place on a weekend in the middle of July and in the last years I've always been abroad. Luckily this year David and I went on vacation two days later and therefore I got finally the chance to check it out.  :)
One of the exhibitors was Green Ground, a very nice shop in Vienna, where you can only buy organic and/or fairly produced clothes from different labels. As a big cat lover I fell immediately in love with these lovely trousers from People Tree you see below and of course they had to come with me to Italy.

Top: H&M(similar) | trousers: People Tree | necklace: from Brighton | 

ballerinas: Marc by Marc Jacobs (vintage)

Have a beautiful day!

Yours,
Tulip

All images by David Auer

La Torta Caprese a la Isabella

Hello everybody,

after talking so much about the good Italian food and the amazing Italian pastries I thought it might be fair to offer an actual recipe.
As I mentioned in my last post our host Isabella was my personal Queen of Cakes. She baked different cakes (all very good) during our stay, but I fell mostly for the torta caprese, an extremely delicious chocolate-almond-cake. Luckily, Isabella was kind enough to share her recipe with me, which I am now going to share with you. :)

What you'll need

• 170g butter
• 170g dark chocolate
• 5 eggs
• 150g sugar
• 400g almonds
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 20g baking powder
• 1 espresso cup Amaretto

How it works

Start by melting the the butter and the chocolate over a pot of boiling water.

Beat the eggs and the sugar until frothy.

Add the melted chocolate-butter-mixture and then one by one all the other ingredients using a mixer.


Cover a springform pan with wetted baking paper. Fill it with the batter and put into the pre-heated oven (170°C). After 45 minutes lower the heat and continue baking for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Done! :) 

Have a beautiful evening!

Yours,
Tulip

PS: This post was also added to Karly's Create & Share DIY and Recipe Party on her lovely blog three in three.

All images by Stefanie Reichl