rosa, oh rosa

antique silver salt bins

Bohemian crystal carafes

Erzgebirgian "Reifentiere"

I had the pleasure of shooting these pictures at Rosa's pink castle. Pass by and dive into Rosa's signature colour!

Tomorrow is St. Valentine!

the Friday fish

turqouise teatime

The turquoise and gold cup is my little time machine to the era of French Baroque. Even if I can't enjoy my tea in the company of Marie Antoinette, I can at least feel as decadent. By the way I recommend you watch the film "Vatel". It's extremely well researched and historically authentic... the colours, the costumes, the spectacles.. need I say more? 

Rose Carrarini's Rhubarb and Orange

Obviously I should give up the idea of a whole Menu in Pink and go instead for  easier things like photographing pink walls and pink glasses or simply a pink dessert..

Rose Carrarini's Rhubarb and Orange is prepared in a moment,  looks beautiful and has been so delicious that tomorrow I'll go and buy more of those lovely sticks. Why not give it a try with lemon as well?

Rose Carrarini's  Rhubarb and Orange
5 sticks rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 7cm pieces
grated zest of 1 orange
about 150g sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F

Place the rhubarb in a baking dish and mix in the orange zest and sugar according to taste. You will need to add a fair amount of sugar as this will lift the flavour of the fruit and provide a little syrup.

Cover with foil and bake in the oven between 15 and 25 minutes, depending on the quality of the rhubarb. As soon as  a knife slips easily into the fruit it is ready.

Chill.

The longer the rhubarb reposes in the syrup, the nicer the colour.  Enjoy!

countryside decadence

Sautéed oyster mushrooms with fresh spring herbs and champagne
2 servings

oyster mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
a glass of champagne
a handful of fresh spring herbs
flour to slightly dust the mushrooms
3 tbs olive oil
sea salt
freshly grated black pepper

Place the olive oil in a large sauté pan. Stir-fry the garlic and the spring onions. Then raise the heat to high and add the mushrooms. Stir and turn until all mushrooms are browned. Dust them slightly with flour.

Remove from heat, add vinegar and champagne. Toss to incorporate. Return to heat and let the flavours  
blend. Now add the finely chopped herbs and let them warm for a moment.

Best with chunks of baguette and ice cold champagne !

#8 Menu in Pink, first try

I'm so sorry, I don't have a  Menu  for you today. No pink fried panther, no dessert, I even ruined Johan Odendaal's  extravagant beetroot paint.

• the pink herring salad I bought in the supermarket was fine
• the pink grapes and plums for dessert came out red in the photo
• the beetroot paint did not emulsify  (I realized too late that I should have added the olive oil in a thin stream while running the blender...)
• the beetroot purée I obtained instead had a burgundy colour
• the burgundy painted potatoes turned orange  
• eventually the whole arrangement looked neither artistic nor appetizing 
• the pomegranate flavoured drink couldn't save it
• too much creativity!

Cheers!

Love to you all and a Happy New Year!

May 2012 be pink and fascinating!

45 days until Christmas: time for the first rough planning

For now I'm collecting ideas, browsing cookbooks and blogs. I write to-do-lists and have a look into my chests filled with  Christmas decoration in the basement.  I call up my dearest relatives and friends to find out how many guests we will  have on Christmas. Hopefully last year's crazy snowfalls  won't keep them off from coming.
(I have to buy a new snow shovel!  FORGET NOT,  FORGET NOT,  FORGET NOT...)

Ah, and have you already thought about Christmas gifts? Everything planned and fine??

If you are looking for pretty and useful things made from extravagant fabrics I strongly recommend you browse the website of Juliane Jdanoff.  Luckily she lives and manufactures in Dresden. I promise, you couldn't resist if you saw all these beautiful pieces exhibited in a winter garden flooded with sunlight. I was tempted to buy a baby's napkin bag sewn from an eye-catching monkey/ jungle fabric to use it as a clutch!

Juliane is open to suggestions, be it special sized cutlery bags or your desired colours or designs. Just pass by, give her a call or send an email!

I wish you a lovely weekend!

kitchen

Tuesday morning

Tuesday morning

Have a sweet Sunday!

Rozalia and Henrik brought a choice of cakes from Dresden's famous pastry shop  Conditorei Kreutzkamm and we spent a wonderful afternoon tasting and talking. If you once have the possibility to visit Kreutzkamm, you must try Herrentorte, Tiramisu and chocolate cake!

on painting

In the end it's all about pigments. Their origin , their amount, their very special character...  As for wall painting I'm addicted to the colours of Farrow&Ball. They are so subtle, so elegant.... Yes, I know, I know: it's a personal and an emotional thing.

However I'm happy that we now have a stockist in Dresden. Time to think about a makeover for my guest room, west-oriented, with a big red-leaved tree in front. So  I imagine a very soft and bright pink for it.

This, for example, is the colour Rectory Red in my hallway.

Talking about colours, we have got a new attraction at Pirnaischer Platz in Dresden:  two traffic islands painted in ocean blue! The colour has been chosen to remind past times when this place has been a lake area.
It's impressing how these blue traffic islands inspire people's fantasy. In the biggest rush hour there has been a man relaxing on a sunbed, yesterday  a flashmob had brought plastic ducklings.