I found a great recipe for bouillabaisse on Pia’s blog to try out this weekend. Doesn’t this classic French dish look delicious? Have a wonderful weekend!
(recipe from from Yvette van Boven, photo from Saskia van Osnabrugge, styling by Annemieke Paarlberg, via Pia Jane Bijkerk)
Posted in food
Restaurant Home Made opened its doors in March 2008 and is located near the main street of the “Fuori Salone del Mobile” in Milan, Italy. 
Owner Monica Bangari, together with architects Riccardo Salvi and Luca Rossire, envisioned a real home. This concept was used for designing the interior.
The food at Home Made is known to be healthy and fresh. Italian food at its best!
The restaurant also has a little garden, designed by landscape architect Carlo Callari of Milan’s ARePA studios. The chairs are from Patricia Urquiola.
Posted in food, inspiration, travel
These ornaments are inspired by the idea of the Ancient Romans that birds are the messengers of the Gods. Etsy seller Paloma’s Nest has put her own spin this tradition- giving these little doves the responsibility of carrying these meaningful words and names on their backs for the holidays. The hand cut ceramic dove, made of white clay, is adorned with a small wooden tag, which is hand stamped with the word or name of your choice. Isn’t this cute?!
Posted in dutch design, food, kids
Unfortunately these beautiful disposable products are currently only available in Japan. Wasara has created an elegant line of disposable paper products. By replacing wood pulp with non-wood materials such as bagasse and reeds, resources can be used efficiently.
About Wasara: “Underlying the concept of Wasara is the legacy of the Japanese aesthetic and value sense. Japan has a tradition of good manufacturing backed by excellent skills and techniques, one of the most refined food cultures in the world, and a spirit of hospitality and courtesy. These are essential for days of spiritual fulfillment.”
Posted in eco-design, food, home accessories
Maria is a new Dutch magazine which is out on the shelves now. I have seen the launch campaign but did not know that my friend, and talented stylist, Pia Bijkerk was involved in one of the stories.
These gorgeous photos are styled by Pia and photographed by Jeroen Van Der Spek. The story is produced by Dutch food stylist & restaurateur Yvette Van Boven. Yvette also runs a breakfast & lunch restaurant in Amsterdam called Aan de Amstel. Well done guys, the story looks gorgeous! If I wasn’t still ill I would have run to the bookstore to get this magazine.
Posted in food, inspiration
After initial success, restaurant Praq has opened up a second, larger and more beautiful location in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Dutch designer team Tjep (Frank Tjepkema + Janneke Hooymans) was asked to design the interior. Tjep was asked to come up with a concept for a restaurant that would welcome parents and their children without looking like a playground. The result is a restaurant that is inspiring and fun for children, while being comfortable and enjoyable for their parents.
The beautiful space is characterized by a monumental farm style roof composed of huge massive wooden beams. Within this space the designer tried to create a playful world by placing furniture and elements that form crossovers between objects and furniture or furniture that refers to the space itself. For example a table becomes a window, a bus or a kitchen. The six meter high construction in the center looks like an abstract cloud evoking something of a colorful game while contrasting nicely with the handcrafted architecture. One space is reserved for children and their parents while the other is reserved for adults. The adult space clearly fits the same world only here the accent is more geared towards cosiness and style. By the way Praq means mashed food for children in Dutch, however, the plates served at Praq are very refined and tasty.
Posted in dutch design, food, interiors
A while back I posted about Fragile, a pepper & salt shaker is designed by Mey Kahn and Boaz Kahn from Israel. This great design was a winner of Dining in 2015, a contest that challenged designers to design a food-related product that would be useful in 2015. I was happy to hear that Fragile is now available from Designboom ($89).
Posted in design, food, home accessories
These lovely little raspberry upside down tea-cakes are from Donna Hay’s book Off The Shelf: Cooking From the Pantry. A great recipe to try out this weekend! (found on Cook & Eat)
Have great weekend! The weather forecast is promising for the coming days: Spring has finally arrived in The Netherlands! I am back from Istanbul where we had a fabulous time. I will upload some photos in the next days.
Posted in food, inspiration
I always like to try out some new recipes in the weekend (when I have more time). This weekend I will try: Endive Boats filled with tuna and hummus (top left), Burmese Chicken Curry (top right), frittata (below left), vanilla, honey and saffron pears with mascarpone cream (below right). Bon appetit!
(found on tastespotting)
Posted in food, inspiration
These chocolate pencils are the result of a collaboration between Japanese architect and designer Oki Sato and patissier Tsujiguchi Hironobu. The last one is the man behind Tokyo’s boutique dessert shops Mont St. Claire and Le Chocolat de H. Subtle tableware effectively displays the gourmet chocolate. The “pencils” come in a number of cocoa blends that vary in intensity, and chocophiles can use the special pencil sharpener that comes with the plate to grate chocolate onto their dessert.
From the same designer come these soy sauce, salt, and pepper containers. The three containers are differentiated through a combination of sight and sound, or words as sound. Instead of relying on symbols and letters, the mouth of each container is the shape that a human mouth would make when saying the name of each product: “yu” for “shoyu”, which means “soy sauce” in?Japanese, “shi” for “shio”, which means salt, and “ko” for “kosho”, which means “pepper”. The designer: “In an age when we rely increasingly on e-mail for communication, and conversation fades from the dinner table, “talking” subtly links people and things through the power of the texture and sound of spoken Japanese”.
(via Cool Hunting)
Posted in design, food, home accessories
