We all know that biking, instead of driving, standing instead of sitting et cetera is good for us.

We should be on the move a lot more than we are. But what about all the stuff we need to drag along? And it is not always beer, right?!

Hepp. It’s all taken care of.

Walnutstudiolo.com is designing and manufacturing the neatest bicycle attachments to make the ride of life a little smoother. Hear all about it in this video

Buy you bike attire here

Check out these cute coffee/tea cups from Imm Living, a design cooperative based in Toronto, Canada. Their inspiration comes from every-day objects from both the past and the present. This, paired with creativity, produces cute, thought-provoking items.

Like the cup above. And the cups below.

Some cups even have the animal’s tail as a handle. Like this

For a list of where you can find these visit www.imm-living.com
also available at www amazon.com

I am passionate about anything kitchen. As long as I can remember I have always come home from any of my trips with something for the kitchen. Be it something edible, drinkable, kitchen utensils or kitchen adornment. What can I say? I am a kitchenish nerd. I love to bake and cook too. And preferably something I’ve never done before, from a country far away from mine. So it is. I have long ago given up the idea of trying to blend in. I walk into any restaurant and just by reading the menu I change their menu with what I order. A little something from that dish, combined with that thing from that dish and sprinkle that with that if you have it in your kitchen. Ask your chef. Pretty please.

May I say not everyone is too happy about my way. Neither am I sometimes, but I just can’t help myself.

So; Big Happiness when I came across the Morris Kitchen’s Ginger Syrup!

I love ginger. I remember the time I was chasing around Beijing trying to find fresh ginger. The problem was I didn’t speak Chinese. The Chinese I met didn’t speak English and it was totally hopeless trying to explain with sign language that I was looking for ginger. To make a long story short, I found some powdered ginger in a 7-elevenish store with a picture of fresh ginger on the package. I brought that with me, showed it to people pointing at the pic and was directed to a place where I could finally lay my hands on my precious fresh ginger. Happiness.

When I don’t have a Morris Kitchen Ginger Syrup on hand, I grate, chop, mince fresh ginger. Ginger is something I use in a lot of dishes. My morning smoothies for instance.

But that’s another story.

Have a look at the bottles. Beautiful!

It all started with Jane Fonda years ago. Y e a r s  a g o.
I think I read a recipe on smoothies from her book and from there on smoothies have been a staple in my life. I started out doing it from a recipe. Nowadays I just do it with whatever I have at home and whatever I fancy. Yes, I did the workout outlined in the book too. Yes, I wore the tights (but the only thing I’ve stuck to is the smoothies!).

My second inspiration is the cayenne cooler that I discovered at Spa Samui in Koh Samui, Thailand. Lime, ginger and cayenne mixed with (water?). Delice!
Originally I used to take vitamins every morning (liquid) and it tasted awful so I mixed it in the smoothie. That gave the smoothie that slightly spicy taste that I missed once I stopped taking my multivitamins. Hence the swop to cayenne powder.

I don’t know where I got the idea of using soy milk instead of regular milk. Maybe because when travelling in Asia you hardly ever get in contact with milk and I found that my stomach thanks me for that. Mind you, while at home, I cannot resist milk products so when I vacation, so does my system. It’s a holiday-state-of-body.

My Slightly Spicy Smoothie (for 2 persons)

• 1 Banana, chop chop
• 1 Orange, peel it with a knife, chop chop
• 1/2 cup frozen (or fresh if available) berries of some kind (I like raspberries). You can use any kind of fruit, berry you name it. I use the frozen ones since it helps the smoothie to be cold – and I will not be dependent on season to have my smoothies.
• 1/2 – 1 tblsp grated Ginger (the more, the merrier), rish rash
• 4-6 ice cubes (or crushed ice if you have that handy)
• 1-2 tblsp Psyllium Seeds (will keep you full longer)
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Powder, or to taste
• 1 cup Soy Milk (or how much, or how little, you prefer)

Mix in a blender until…well, until you have a smoothie of the thickness you desire. Mind you, you can always add any other fruits as well. Just make sure to use banana as the basis of it all (and orange and berries). Then you can add a kiwi, a persimon, pineapple, mango, whatever suits your palate. Remember to adjust the liquid accordingly.

And if you’d like a sandwich to go with this you might want to have some Danish Rye Bread, toast it, and smear it with organic unsalted peanut butter. And then sprinkle som Maldoon Sea Salt over it. Yum!

OK it might not be the healthiest breakfast ever. But I’ve been known to have stranger combinations. But you know, there are the fruit/berries (vitamins), ginger (antioxidants) and peanut butter (protein). Pretty much what you need in a meal, no? OK, maybe not, but it ain’t that bad is it?

This little jar with its rubber band holding the lid in place is a small beauty. It comes with six different colors elastic bands so you can choose whichever you fancy.

It was designed in 2008 by Danish designer Louise Campbell and is manufactured by Kähler. The jars are made of bone china and come in three different sizes.
I love the feel of bone china!

Buy your Cammeo at Illum Bolighus or Magasin du Nord in Copenhagen, should you wish to buy it from a store.

Otherwise order it from
www.kahlerdesign.com
www-urban-butik.com

I am heading towards Copenhagen and will most definitely pick up the large one. Guess which elastic band I like most; Yup. Yellow it is. Happy color!

Nah, the idea might be OK (if we absolutely can’t wait for the nearest coffee shop to turn up around the corner) but the commercial; thumbs down.

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It is time to stop getting the caffeine kick from coffee and start getting the daily kick from tea [or at least combine the two]. And while we’re at it; why not do it in style?

Gone are the giant tea mugs (please let them be gone, once and for all) and enter the lovely teacup and saucer. There is something to be said about drinking tea from a cup and saucer. Specially if it is from delicate bone china. And since I have a tendency to like slightly more modern items, the Kilim teacup and saucer designed by Jasper Conran for Wedgwood is a definite match made in heaven.

My favorites here are the red and orange combination. You buy these in a set of two; either orange/red or green/violet. $125 per set from www.wedgwood.com

And while you’re at it; check out the teapot set!

www.wedgwood.com

Smitten Kitchen. Need I say any more? If you like food blogs and you log on to www.smittenkitchen.com, then that’s it. You’re hooked.

Deb, the wonder woman behind the blog, describes the blog like this:
“Fearless cooking from a tiny kitchen in New York City”.

Smitten Kitchen presents you with an array of great recipes.  Smitten Kitchen is my inspiration. Whenever I don’t know what to cook or bake, I head straight to my computer, type www.smittenkitchen.com and voilà I find something. I might alter it a bit, but that’s just the way I am (it might also be due to the fact what my cupboards/refrigerator present me with in terms of ingredients).
And it is always,  a l w a y s  lovely.

This is taken straight from the blog:

The Smitten Kitchen, in its latest physical incarnation is a 80 42 square foot (whimper) circa-1935 sort of half-galley kitchen with a 24 foot footprint, a single counter, tiny stove, checkered floor and a skylight on top a noisy window at the end to the avenue below.

What you’ll see here is: A lot of comfort foods stepped up a bit, things like bread and birthday cakes made entirely from scratch and tutorials on everything from how to poach an egg to how to make tart doughs that don’t shrink up on you, but also a favorite side dish (zucchini and almonds) that takes less than five minutes to make.

What I’m wary of is: Excessively fussy foods and/or pretentious ingredients. I don’t do truffle oil, Himalayan pink salt at $10 per quarter-ounce or single-origin chocolate that can only be found through Posh Nosh-approved purveyors. I think food should be accessible, and are certain that you don’t need any of these things to cook fantastically.

My friend Charlotte just came back from a visit to the Big Apple. Yup. You know it. The New. The York. The City. The city of cities.
And she brought with her a very NYC:ish cup don’t you think?

You may say what you want about Starbucks. But is is a phenomenon that is alive and kickin’. And spreading all over the world. But I have to say that I think the best Starbucks’ you usually find in the U.S. Not in Europe. Not in Asia. But back home.

I love the Starbucks ice cream. There is something to be said about coffee flavored ice cream (but then again I love Frappuccino too).

It is, in a way,  a nice idea that at your local Starbucks you can find something that suits your palate. I stumbled across Salty Latte at Starbucks in Kyoto, Japan. Loved it. Naturally I didn’t find it in Europe. Or the US. Until a visit to Chicago. Eureka! Salty Caramel Mocha (oh, well, for those of you that know me – you know that I have a tendency to change the menu a bit, just a tiny bit and I got my Salty Caramel Latte *happy*).

And you know what? They must have a mean graphic design department because when they do something, it always looks good.

Look at the design of the packaging, subtle and less-is-more. Like!

…and here’s a Starbucks card made especially for Newyorkers

maybe a trip to NYC would be in order…almost only to get your hand on a NYC Starbucks Coffee Card…almost (as if there aren’t many other reasons to go there…) and while I’m at it; need some New York Inspiration? Not to worry, it’s all at www.newyorkinspiration.