Interior Obsession Wire chairs

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I know they are not the most comfortable chairs in the world, but ... don’t they just look amazing. Lightweight. Airy. Stable. Stylish.

It all started with this one, which I found in my grannies basement...

Diamond Lounge found here

Then I bought four of these...

Side Chair found here

Now I am saving money for this one...

Asymmetric Chaise found here

... and this one:

Bird Lounge Chair and Ottoman found here

Signore Harry Bertoia, adoro il suo!

My TOP 5 Cook Books

It is the 15th again – so it is time for reading. And time for sharing my favourite books with you. This month it is all about cook books. Recently the second season of Masterchef  has started and to say that I am hooked is an absolute understatement. I literally watch every episode possible. Usually with a bowl of yummy food in my hand, because who can watch people cook amazing things with an empty stomach... but stop today is not about watching TV, today it is all about books. So here they are...

... my TOP 5 Cook Books:

Delicious Days – Nicole Stich

Based on Nicole’s wonderful food blog this book just bursts of yummy recipes. All have them have the potential to become classics in my repertoire. Or my signature as Masterchef’s George would say. You can really feel Nicole’s passion for food in each dish and each photo. And for more inspiration just visit her blog again and again and again ;-)
In German and English

Food Fast – Donna Hay

The chapters of this book are the amount of time it will take you to make the dishes. 5min, 10min, 20min and 30min. And the best thing is that it really won’t take you longer, all preparation and cooking times are included. Despite their quickness, the recipes are all delicious (at least the 70% of them which I tried so far) and the photos are mouth-watering. Eye-candy deluxe!
In German or English 

Relish : Great Food for a Great Cause

A great cook book supporting local restaurants and charities in St.Kilda and southern Melbourne. Well, I have to admit I am a bit biased about this book, because a) I love the area we live in and b) my lovely husband was taking photos for the 2009 version of this book. Nevertheless I think it is a great source of inspiration. It can also serve as a restaurant guide. I tend to go to restaurants I love again and again and would like to try out new restaurants more often. And what is a better business card for a restaurant than a beautiful photo of their signature dish (I know, George again)
In English only

Healthy Appetite – Gordon Ramsay

No matter what you think about his outbursts of swearing on TV, Gordon’s recipes are great. Traditional with a twist. Healthy but tasty. Delicious but achievable. With great tips on nutrition, healthy cooking methods and shopping but without lecturing.
In English only

Mums Cookbook

My favourite cook book ever. Because it contains all my favourite recipes. And that is no coincidence. My mum made and gave me this recipe book when I moved out of parents’ house. I was 19 and took on the world, uhm oh well Berlin to start with. Since then only a couple of recipes made it to this exquisite recipe selection. The standards are extremely high: the one and only Vitello Tonato recipe, the best “Butterplaetzchen” , Scampi al la Karen , the fool-proof baking-tray cake,...
Unique and not for sale ;-)

Now, please let me know: What is your favourite, mouth-watering food inspiration?

Countdown starts today...

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... no, surprisingly it is not about baby countdowns today ;-). It is the start of our moving countdown. Three months to go before we are moving back to Germany. For good.

We had a wonderful, absolutely amazing time here down under in the last 3 years...

... but now it is time for us to go back. To our families. To our friends who have know us for decades. To cold climate and grumpy bus drivers.

Before we are ready to move, however, there are tons of things to organise: find a shipping company, sell some of our things and pack the others, book a flight, give notice on all Australian contracts, find an apartment in Berlin, buy a car, get a landline and internet access...

I know we can do it. We have done it the other way around 3 years ago. We still have 3 months of preparation. And therefore the clock started ticking for me today, because I want to avoid that we become frantic in the last couple of days before the flight.

Happy Fathers Day!

1976: my dad and I in the mountains

Dear Papa,

thank you so much for showing me the beauty of the Alps, the contentment of being brave, the fascination of books, the adventures of Tusnelda the little snail and so much more. You are a great dad and you will be the best granddad for our little one!!!

Big kiss,

N.

12 on the 12th May

My favourite blog initiative ever. On the 12th of each month, bloggers around the globe take 12 photos of their daily life and post them. Not only great for getting to know other bloggers but also as a personal visual diary.
So please join the fun with Caro here

* * *

After a bowl of boring porridge early this morning, now there is time for a second brekkie for the preggie:
a wonderful crispy blueberry muffin and a grapefruit juice.

Maternity leave bliss – reading a magazine while sitting outside in the sun midmorning

What a fairy tale Wednesday: blue sky, the antique rollercoaster and castle at luna park...

... and palm trees full of parrots.

Quick stop at the post office on my way...

... then down Acland Street, so glad I was at the other side of the street – otherwise I surely wouldn’t have resisted all those sweet temptations.

The first pieces of clothing that my little one will wear in her life. Oh those hormones – make me all teary at the sight of this symphony in white and pink.

New slippers, my toilet bag, the inevitable nursing and maternity pads, money for the vending machines and a bit of Audrey for the delivery suite.

Lots of things crossed off the packing list for my hospital list...

... et voila. My hospital bag – fully packed and ready to grab if dottie decides that her time is now. The pink tag is a Japanese prayer sachet that my mum brought me from Japan: for a safe delivery of a healthy baby!

Preparation for dinner

A big bowl of hot potato soup with onion and bacon for dinner. There is nothing better on a cold autumn/ winter night !!!

More Movies

I finished No 8 on my mat-leave-to-do list today. Right on time because I had to give the movies back to the video rental today. But I managed to watch them all in the last couple of days...

... and I loved them all – more or less passionately.

‘Young Victoria’
What an amazing movie! In my opinion it would have deserved more academy awards than ‘just’ for best costume. The actors are all amazing, the story is gripping, sad, happy and just wonderful. I learned what a lonely life the queen that gave our state its name had before meeting the love of her life. And my current hometown was named after the prime minister of England Lord Melbourne.

‘Rabbit Proof Fence’
Maybe not the best movie to watch when you are pregnant. So sad. So real. And so focussed on the loss of children. The stolen generation in Australia to be precise. Up till the 1970 children of Aboriginal descent were taken away from their mothers to teach them the white way of life. Absolutely unimaginable! Highlights are the young actors and the powerful images of the Australian outback. Lots of crying involved on my end, but so worth watching. Incredibly touching!

‘Slumdog Millionaire’
I know it is hard to believe that I hadn’t seen this movie before. After all the hype when it won 8 academy awards. Well-deserved, I have to say. All the key ingredients of a bollywood drama minus the dancing. A hero from the slums. A beautiful girl. Some gangsters who do anything for money and power. A view in the backyards and slums of Mumbai. Wow!

‘Pricilla’
A very different kind of road movie. Two drag queens and a transsexual travel with their pink bus through the Australian desert to get on stage in the middle of nowhere (aka Alice Springs). Crazy, colourful, over-the top, lots of sequins and highheels. Very very lavender!

‘The September Issue’
A documentary offering an interesting view behind the scenes of the editorial department of the American Vogue. Anna Wintour is as unfriendly and stiff as you imagined her to be after watching ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. I am really surprise she approved this documentary, but maybe she wasn’t aware about how revealing it would be.

Popcorn & Canned Peaches

Every Monday I will post something related to babies: inspiration, craft projects, baby news, and discoveries I have made in this new and exciting world for me. I hope you come along on that rollercoaster ride with me.

* * *

Although I was quite relaxed with my pregnancy from the start, there are of course a couple of things I obsessed about. Things which are really not that important. Things which might be absolutely insignificant to others. Things other pregnant women might not think about at all. In my opinion, however, every pregnant lady should be allowed to obsess about 2 or 3 things (or maybe even 5). All these crazy hormones need an outlet and by limiting those to a couple of things, this should be really manageable for our lovely partners.

As you know my first pregnancy obsession is quite externally and beauty focussed. But there is more...

Pregnancy Obsession No 2: Popcorn & Canned Peaches

I always had a taste for rather weird food and food combinations. I love ‘Teewurst’ (a really strange German soft sausage, a bit like Liverwurst but even worse). A bar of chocolate followed by a salami sandwich was not out of the ordinary for me prior to my pregnancy (you need to balance the super-sweet taste, don’t you ;-)). Therefore I didn’t expect any pregnancy cravings which ‘top’ my usual eating behaviour and for the first 8 months of my pregnancy this seems to be true. But suddenly – I don’t know whether it is hormonal or just comfort food – I am addicted to

sweet popcorn

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& canned peaches

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I usually don’t have a very sweet tooth, but now it cannot be sugary enough. And fresh peaches don’t do the trick either, they need to be artificially soft and juicy and sweet.

Oh, little dottie, I hope you don’t get all hyper with all that sugar.