…and we gave it an outfit to get started on its way through Berlin’s nightlife.

Flyers and posters for the Grand Opening of the TGA party series have just arrived. The opening will take place on 2 of july, 2011:

19-22h Exclusive Barbecue Dinner on the Terrace of Bethanien
(rsvp: lamansarde@hotmail.de)
Pianoconcert by PETER LUDWIG BEIERLEIN, „All On Me“ Fashionperformance by KRIWO (Paris),
Magic Wood Visuals by MELLA OJEDA
Dancefloor: JUSTUS KÖHNKE, JULI HOLZ live, BONNIE, MS ELBE, BUGGY, TDAANCE

…and NO, we have not had enough of triangles yet!

It’s been a while since we designed this wine etiquette for our client Achteinhalb. So it was a nice surprise when the final product was delivered by a messenger today.
Achteinhalb has a great collaboration with German vinegrower Tesch and they get their own bottling once in a while. For this 2009 Riesling we finally adapted the new Achteinhalb Corporate Identity to the label. It integrates nicely with the black bottles and of course the honorable Mr. Tesch himself!

The Bonniers Cook Book from 1960 is the Swedish Holy Grail of cooking – everybody’s granny had it. It is a culinary and visual treasure and you can spend a lot of time learning how to modernize your kitchen (to a middle of the 20th century standard), interpreting diagrams about how to blend sauces and admiring table decorations. I even discovered a piece of Rörstrand chinaware I have at home! The cover art is by Bo Lassen, unfortunately I do not know other works by him.

You don’t always have to choose the sunny South to get a rewarding break from Berlin’s November rain. Last weekend I went to Helsinki and once more the city and its friendly inhabitants took me by storm. You get the Scandinavian feel but combined with an Eastern twist. The city’s architecture varies from cozy wooden suburbs to monumental soviet style buildings. Helsinki also offers great shopping with loads of design, both new and vintage (check out the Design District), unfortunately it was All Saints’ Day so we ended up with window shopping only. It is very convenient that most of Helsinki’s sights and places of interest are within walking distance, so we continued to the Kiasma museum to see an exhibition with the works of Damien Hirst and his British contemporaries. But to be honest, the thing I almost miss most when I leave Helsinki is the dark rye bread. You really should try this and other traditional Finnish food at Sea Horse, a snug restaurant with original wooden interior and wall paintings from the 1930s. Go for the real classics like crispy fried Baltic herrings or Scandinavian hash.
Hyvää ruokahalua/Enjoy your meal!

After this years holiday in Sweden I was obsessed with making my own crispbread. And to my surprise it is neither complicated nor do you need a special oven to get a nice and crunchy result. Try with different seasonings like anise, dill seeds, caraway, fennel seeds, sesame…

*****
You need:
25g fresh yeast
2,5 dl lukewarm water (37°C)
0,5 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
1,5 tsp dill seeds (or other seasoning)
2 dl graham flour
3,5 dl coarse rye flour
coarse salt
*****
Crumble the yeast into a bowl and add some of the water. Stir until the yeast is dissolved, then add the rest of the water, and all other ingredients (except the coarse salt). Mix by hand or with a machine until the dough starts to form. Add extra rye flour if it’s too sticky. You don’t have to knead it much, just enough to get a proper dough that holds together. Remove the dough to a clean bowl, cover and leave to rise for 40 minutes.
Put dough onto a floured surface and work in more rye flour in case it is too sticky. Divide dough into four equal portions. Roll out into rectangles using a lot of flour so it won’t stick. Roll it as thinly as you can (the crisper it will be!). Lightly sprinkle with dill seeds and coarse salt. Cut into pieces, approximately 15×3 cm. Place directly on a floured baking sheet and bake at 175°C for 10 minutes or until crisp and lightly browned. Enjoy with salted butter!

Browsing through footage on the internet can be a delightful way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. Especially when you find an ambitious, mono-themed blog like »Feasting never stops« by Naz Sahin. It is all about food, but it opens up a much wider view on the field of culinaria than most of the standard food blogs do. Smashing food photography from 1940’s Vogue, a post about the culinary delights of the Apollo crew members and reflections about the food industry result in a fascinating blend of visually appealing and sometimes thought-provoking food-related footage.