13May 2015

My love for Brinner

13 May 2015 4 Food Permalink

Brinner – aka Breakfast for Dinner – might just be my next favourite meal! I absolutely love breakfast as you already might have noticed, but I could seriously have it for every meal: for breakfast, lunch and dinner again (ok, and maybe some sushi here and there). So Brinner, being a word I recently discovered online, is just about perfect for me. Almost tailor-made! Who said that you can’t have your favourite meal for dinner, too? I say you can – or surely I can.

Now my pride just went a little up last week when I finally, finally managed to make my first poached eggs. It’s no trick really, it’s absolutely simple but it always looked so sophisticated, so modern, so .. hard to make? Well, trust me it really isn’t and it’s surely something that happens to be on my plate every other day since then. In combination with some fresh spinach, this meal becomes a booster for healthy fats, proteins, Vitamin C and lots of Vitamin A – now I don’t know why I wouldn’t want to spoil my body with such a delish meal in the evening.

Now this little perfect meal was inspired by my bestie, whom started her own blog, bitesfortwo, and shares with us her recipes. She might not have everything gluten and diary free (she can eat anything – I might just be jealous!), but she has the perfect portions for two and offers some great inspiration if in need for a quick, nice meal at home.

The perfect poached egg needs only two ingredients

1) egg
2) 1 tablespoon vinegar

How to make poached egg

1) open the egg and place the inside in a cup (I prefer one that is just a little larger in diameter than the yolk)
2) fill a pot with water and add the vinegar to it – now raise up that temperature 
3) just before the water is boiling, it should be sizzling, stir the water well with a spoon until you see a whirl form in the middle of it
4) now quickly, yet gently let your egg into the middle of that whirl
5) keep it in the sizzling water for 3-4 minutes and then fish it out 
6) quickly let the egg dry on a sheet of paper or cloth
7) voila – now you can devote yourself to your Brinner (or any other meal, of course!) 

Personally, I am quite boring with the spinach. I love having it more or less “natural” and steamed – with no added herbs at all. The salt and pepper for the egg is usually enough and, as nasty as it sounds – I love breaking the egg to have the yolk glide over the spinach to mix it all up – so good!

Now all this made me really get in the mood for a nice brinner (ha, my new favorite word!) at home tonight – what do you think of breakfasts for dinner? With that, I wish you a great continuing day! xo

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11May 2015

Bookspiration: Fashion

11 May 2015 0 Fashion, General Permalink

It’s Monday already – Good Morning! Yes, I agree – I would rather sleep in for another few hours today but work is calling, and it’s calling quite loud this week. Luckily it’s a public holiday on Thursday, so I do have that day free, but all other days are filled with projects, work, and meetings. In days like these, when everything seems to be spinning from all the workload, there is one place I can always calm down and seek more inpsiration. If I’m totally lost, out of inspiration or just want to free my head from all the surrounding things in life, I love going to the bookstore. Yep, bookstore! I love the large Orell Füssli in Zurich – it’s got books about everything: food, style, fashion, interior, lifestyle,.. you name it!

I went there last week to find some inspiration in regards to Fashion and Lifestyle – I might have told you, I’m working on re-decorating some of my rooms and fashion is one of those insprations that I just could never ignore. I wouldn’t necessarily say that my closet resembles my apartment – thankfully, I love black! Obviously not everything is black in my apartment, rather, I love white, white, white, and few earthy tones here and there (such as wood). Instead, I love having my clothes in a contrast to the rest – if I wear black, my surrounding looks best in white and natural, light colors.

I also looked into some of books in regards to interior design – and damn did I fall in love with some of the books there. With my luck, I always find the greatest, largest, heaviest and almost most expensive books, the ones I want need in my collection. So I will surely be going back to that bookstore a few more times in the near future – surely also to get some more inspiration! Do you guys have any tips on where you get inspiration? Yes, Pinterest and the such is surely on my list, but I’ve started looking into some offline inspirations. I feel that I can calm down more with books for example, and since I cannot google 1 million inspirational pictures in a bookstore, which will overwhelm and confuse me surely, I seem to place my concentration much more on details. Time is so valuable, and sometimes it’s just so important to take your time, breathe and enjoy!

With that, I am off to the office quickly and wishing you a wonderful monday! xo

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09May 2015

Beetroot inked Risotto with Apple

09 May 2015 0 Food Permalink

Happy Saturday! It’s finally weekend, which means I actually have time to cook dishes that take more than 15 minutes – or maybe I’m just too lazy during the week. I’ve been wanting risotto all this week for some reason, it just really caught me. Instead of doing the normal risotto as I know it from home, I wanted to be a little more creative. It turned out to be a beetroot inked risotto with apple pieces – and let me tell you, it was fabulous! Thankfully I documented most of the cooking on a little paper so that I can now share with you the recipe.

Today is one of those days were I am cooking for myself – yes, lonely me haha. I normally make risotto for two, or in general almost every recipe. I always have someone eating with me and if not, I usually keep it for the next day. A small prepartion meal so to speak. Now, risotto is one of those meals I do not eat the next day – don’t ask me why, I am sure you can! Somehow it’s one of these dishes though, that I do not eat the next day – maybe it’s the texture after having to re-heat it?

This recipe is there for one (rather large) portion, and you would need to double it accordingly to make two.

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What you need for one portion

¼ of a medium sized onion
80g Risotto
50ml red wine
150ml vegetable broth
50ml beetroot juice
1 medium sized beetroot (pre-cooked)
½ apple
1 ½ – 2 cm fresh ginger
salt & pepper
1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil

about 10-15 min. preparation time and around 20-30 cooking time

What you need for the topping / ie. the apple slice decoration

2 slices of apple (as seen on the pictures)
1 tablespoon agave syrup 

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What to do

1) cut the onion, beetroot and apple into small pieces (makes sure to keep some apple rings if you want to decorate your food)
2) place the olive oil into the pot, together with the onions and risotto
3) make sure to stir it well, so that the onions do not burn and turn dark brown
4) once the risotto is rather see-through in it’s color, add the red wine on top to deglaze it
5) mix the vegetable broth and beetroot juice together, and add about a 1/5 of the juice to the risotto
6) grate the ginger over the pot, add the apple and beetroot pieces and stir it well 
7) once most of the juice is soaked up from the risotto, add another 1/5 to it
8) you do not need to stir it all the time – let it sit and stir it once after adding more juice
9) repeat step 7 until the glass is empty
10) add some salt and pepper to your risotto and try a small spoonful – is it ready yet?

If you want

1) it more spicy
add some more ginger and pepper
2) it less spicy
add some more beetroot juice or 1-2 tablespoons of agave syrup

If you want to decorate your plate a little

1) heat up a small pan with the agave syrup
2) place the apple slices into the pan and let the agave syrup soak up for 2-3 minutes
3) flip the apple slices and repeat the soaking

 

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Voila, now you can

1) decorate your plate and enjoy, or
2) call your guests – bon appétit! 

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As always, I would love to hear your opinion if you’ve tried it out – or, if you have some other great suggestions to spice up the recipe a little more! Make sure to add #StylePhantomrecipes when reposting it on Instragram or linking up your version of it, so that I don’t miss out on your creation. :)

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07May 2015

All about that work

07 May 2015 2 Living in Style Permalink

Good morning lovelies! It’s Thursday and I couldn’t be happier – the week has been great so far but I am simultaneously looking forward for the weekend. With it being Thursday, the weekend is just around the corner! Geneva on Tuesday was an absolute success – or at least, I surely had some positive meetings. Hopefully some business will form from that and the right connections have definetely been established. Now here is to my workspace: it’s simple, its more or less clean and currently organized. I admit, it isn’t always that organized – I manage to throw papers all over the place within a couple of hours if I start working from home. However, I still do try and clean it up as often as possible – I get frustrated when the chaos takes over..! Now here is the problem – I believe the mess comes from not having the surrounding ideally managed (meaning nice boxes, trays, whatever it takes). And it’s so simple at the moment, so clean – too clean. My mission is, ideally, to keep it simple, clean and fresh (lot’s of white), but I do want it a little more inspiring for when I sit down and throw some words on here.

Do you have any ideas on stylish organizing the desk? Surely, I always see those perfect desks on Pinterest and other websites – but is it just me or does everyone else only have one cup of coffe, one pen and one notepad on their desk? Honestly, I have a little bit more! I was also thinking about hanging up some larger photos above the iMac – preferably in black & white, maybe with a nice inspirational quote? I will try working on it this weekend if I find the time and I’ll make sure to share it with you afterwards. Until then, I am happy for any inspiration you guys have, seriously! :-)

Now I’m off to work and tonight I shall be at some kind of BBQ Opening Party at Kaufleuten (club in Zurich) with a friend. Friday is hopefully calm and Saturday it’s all about party! I might sneak into one of my favorite bookstores today over lunch to drewl over some inspirational art, interior, cooking and design books – since no meeting is planned for today (for once).

Till then, I wish you a great start into the day! xo

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03May 2015

Simplistic Interior Inspiration

03 May 2015 2 Living in Style Permalink

Happy Sunday! Can you believe the week is almost over, again? I’ll be picking up my parents from the airport today and this afternoon I’ll start driving down to Zurich again to make it in time before I start working at the office again on Monday. Oh, and then I’m off to Geneva on Tuesday – the week starts of busy!

I’m currently all over the web (yes, at 8am on a Sunday because I can’t sleep at the moment) searching for inspiration and the right items to re-furnish my office at home – the one I like to call my ‘creative space’. The room bores me when only looking at it; yes, it has everything I need, yet it is the least inspiring room in the whole apartment. That can’t be! So I’ve decided to start my own little mission and re-decorate, re-furnish and spice up that room just enough so that my inspiration can spark again without dragging along the empty walls.

I am looking to get a more Scandinavian touch into the whole room – with lot’s of whites, grey, a few blacks and a hint of color here and there (can’t be avoided with all those magazines stocking up).

Now I’ve already gotten one of these beautiful items (well at least extremely similar) – can you guess? It’s been ordered but sadly will take another 1-2 weeks to arrive, so I will have to practice my patience :-).. !

I should probably get dressed now and take out the dog before making my way to the airport later – it’s going to be long day with lot’s of hours in the car so I am really looking forward to getting some fresh air and a few steps in my schedule now. Wishing you all a great Sunday! xo

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Find the candle here, the lamp here, the light bulb here, the rug here, the chair here, the cement bowl here, the table here, the picture here, and the geometric candle design here.

You can find the whole overview of the collage here on polyvore.