Happy New Year

We hope you will have an amazing New Year's Eve!

A big THANK YOU to all our readers and followers!

All the best for 2011!

Clean slate

“My soul is impatient with itself, as with a bothersome child; its restlessness keeps growing and is forever the same. Everything interests me, but nothing holds me. I attend to everything, dreaming all the while.”

Fernando Pessoa

... contemplating all the great, life-changing things that happened to me in the past 12 months (because when something comes to an end, I tend to overlook the bad stuff) and getting ready for the new year ahead...

UNEARTHEN jewelry

People who love unusual jewelry and accessories like me need to see Gia Bahm's accessory line UNEARTHEN. It has some pretty cool stuff I'd like to share with you.

The crystal and bullet necklaces are the most popular items of her line but as a ring addict myself I wouldn't mind owning the first piece below. Who am I kidding, I'd love to have every single thing from her line and then maybe I'll become a convert and believe in the healing and mystic powers of the gemstones... ^^

Large rose gold prism ring with clear quartz

Gold top natural cord with sand

Large silver watch

Large amethyst necklace

Thursday's Inspiration

Source: song of style, fyndigt, jak&jil, boafft

Cuddle up hoodie

Zurich 22.47: snow snow snow

hoodie - new yorker

Have a good start into the week!

Les Amours Imaginaires

A love triangle with all its ups and downs is the core of Xavier Dolan's second Movie Les Amours Imaginaires: Francis and Marie are best friends but they fall in love with the same guy named Nico, who enjoys his life to the full. Francis - played by Xavier Dolan - and Marie start to court Nico, which slowly tears a hole in their friendship.

Les Amours Imaginaires bares the human feeling of love in all its aspects. It shows with ease the dramatic art of love but still remains wistful.

Xavier Dolan plays masterful with slow motion, close up and light settings - all accentuated with matching background music.

Have a look at the trailer here!

Les Amours Imaginaires is a fun, emotional and thrilling movie, which shows human weaknesses in an elegant manner and banks on a gentle hope.

Xavier Dolan also gratifies fashion-forward spectators : )

Premiere: 6th of January 2011

German-speaking Switzerland

Director: Xavier Dolan

Country of Production: Canada

Marie: Monia Chokri

Nico: Niels Schneider

Francis: Xavier Dolan

♥

Crispy chewy chocolate chip cookies

After baking several christmas cookies I craved something more chocolately so I baked an alltime favorite of mine: chocolate chip cookies. Being aware of my recent baking craziness a class mate made the remark that I'll be gaining weight until the end of this stressful semester but I swear, those were so worth it! I wanted my cookies to be crispy on the outside but chewy on the inside and this recipe delivered exactly what it promised.

I found the recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen. If I were to use the same recipe again I'd make some adjustments. The cookies were a tad to sweet for my taste so I'm definitely going to reduce the amount of sugar and use a little less vanilla essence the next time. Other than that, this will be my go-to recipe whenever I want to enjoy a chocolate chip cookie with my cup of coffee.

Pamela Love

To me this doesn't look creepy at all and I'd love to have the talon cuff clinging to my wrist. That is, if I had 1000 dollars to spend on an accessory... Have a look at Pamela Love's site if you want to see more of her tough-luxe accessories.

Source:
1: Pamela Love, 2: Jak&Jil

I’d woken up early and I took a long time getting ready to exist

Mixed fruit yogurt parfait: a concoction of raspberry purree, yogurt and oranges topped with crunchy granola and liquid honey

Have a lovely Sunday everyone! I won't be going anywhere I've never been today but really wish I was. At least I made myself a nice little breakfast, which doesn't only look but also taste good plus you get some vitamins, which is never a bad thing.


Photo: private, Quote: Seensucht

If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time

This hair essence from paul mitchell smells incredibly fruity and I'm so far more than content with it. It helps to protect my hair from the heat of blow driers. I have to dry my hair after washing it since it's so winterly here in Zurich.

Ladurée macarons: rose, caramel, pistachio, vanilla, mixed berries, chocolate

shirt and scarf - h&m

I'm still addicted to black tea with coffee cream. Here I'm having a cup of tea at the Fotomuseum in Winterthur, Zurich.

both rings - six, nail polish - catrice 070 caught on the red carpet

private photos + quote

♥

Cranberry and Pistachio cookies

You might not know this about me but I love baking. Standing in the kitchen, trying out new recipes and surprising my loved ones with little delights is my favorite way to unwind. Every now and then I’m planning on sharing some treats with you filed under the category “Kitchen Heals Soul”.

As for these cookies, I was looking for a recipe for sablés (French cookies) and stumbled upon a fantastic blog called Le Pétrin. Here you can find the recipe for these delicious cookies. (Let me know if you want me to translate it).

I made some with pistachio and some with almond crust, the flavor of the dried cranberries adds a fantastic tang to the cookies. Needless to say these sablés will make my whole apartment smell delightfully cozy again some other time…

UPDATE: translated recipe

170g softened butter
125g white sugar
2 egg yolks
2cc lemon juice
190gr all purpose flour
110g almond powder
110g dried cranberries
a handful minced pistachios or almonds for the crust

Cut the softened butter into pieces and beat it with a wooden spoon in a large bowl until creamy.
Pour in the sugar and beat energetically until it’s well incorporated with the softened butter.

Add the egg yolks and the lemon juice and beat until it’s mixed well with the other ingredients.
Add the sifted flour and the almond powder, mix only until incorporated with the wet ingredients but avoid overworking the dough (it would make the cookies harder during the baking process).
Add the dried cranberries by hand and mix them to share out equally.

Divide the dough in two pieces and form a roll.
Put the minced almonds/pistachios onto an aluminium paper and roll the cookie dough, elongating it to a lenght of 20-22cm. Repeat likewise with the second roll. (I used pistachios for one roll and almonds for the other.)

Wrap the dough rolls into aluminium paper, making sure the ends are closed tight. Put the rolls into the fridge, leaving it there for several hours, preferably over night (that’s what I did). You’ll see that the dough will be really firm and ready to be cut the next day.

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Put parchement paper onto two baking trays.
Unpack one roll from the aluminium paper (keep the second one still in the fridge) and cut it into 5-6mm thick slices. Put the slices onto the parchment paper, making sure there is enough space between the cookies (they spread a little).

Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes depending on their size and the temperature of your oven, until the edges are lightly toasted. Leave them on the tray for a couple minutes before transferring them onto wire racks to cool completely.

H&M Spring 2011 women's collection

The spring women’s collection of H&M has on the one side a re-interpreted 60’s and 70’s vibe with clear cut short pieces in bold colors and on the other side also long and flowy dresses that make the romantic gal’s heart flutter. Contemporary outfits can be created adding on trend garments with innovative shapes and proportions or accessories.

Below are some pictures we took at the showroom earlier this week. We were especially fond of the foggy colored pieces we look forward to adding to our wardrobe come spring!

SC Bags

Source: stylerumor

I'm in love with these bags ever since I saw the collaboration line of Sofia Coppola and Louis Vuitton. Past October they extended the collection: smaller sizes of the original SC bag, calf leather in two new colors, suede calf leather in a new hue.

Personally, I prefer the ones in suede since they look very smooth and less stiff than the classic monogram canvas bags. Nevertheless I think that Sofia Coppola and LV created timelss models with a decent beauty!