Miss'Opo Guest House

Miss'Opo is a guest house, with a very shabby-chic atmosphere, located in Porto, Portugal...the city where I lived for 12 years before moving to Denmark. It's concept is one that has become very popular in Porto for the last 10 years or so. Creative, imaginative, strong willed people working against a difficult economic conjuncture, decided to start using their diverse talents to revitalize areas of the historic city that were being left to a certain level of abandonment. I was lucky enough to have witnessed how the creation of several guest houses, small shops, cafés, art galleries and multi-functional buildings, like Miss'Opo, originated a whole new dynamic of cultural interactivity in parts of Porto that had been "asleep" for too long. 

I wanted to share these great photos because they are simply perfect to illustrate some fundamental aspects of Porto. Contemporaneity and tradition mixed together as a style and an attitude. And an example of one of the many surprising, idiosyncratic, quirky, little havens you can discover when exploring that city that I love and miss so much.

photos: Shanna Jones Photography

via: Yatzer

Lady Golden Glow Cake - Recipe

After posting the recipe for my quick and easy cocoa cupcakes,  I decided to venture into something more complicated (but not to much! By now, my readers must have noticed that my recipes tend to be very "user friendly"). But first, please, allow me to explain why I wanted to share this specific recipe with you.

I remember being little and my grandmother making this cake that completely fascinated me. I wouldn't exactly eat it, the combination of orange and dark chocolate is something that I enjoy a lot now, but back then it sounded just weird. Instead, I would sit  in front of the cake, staring at it for minutes unending, while often poking it gently to make sure it was real. It's a memory I wasn't even absolutely sure it had really happened. So, even after my mother's confirmation that the cake existed and gave me the recipe, I had to google it to make sure other people knew about it, and that the image I had of it wasn't just a product of my imagination. The Lady Golden Glow cake... really, who names cakes like that any more?... is now referred to as a Retro Cake! Isn't that just adorable? 

The original recipe is English so my grandmother had to convert it to grams, which made for really strange measures. To make it easier, I tried to convert it all back to cups.

for the cake:

1/2 cup butter (melted)

1 and 2/3 cups white sugar

1/2 orange zest

2 egg yolks

1 egg white

3 cups plain flour

3 tea spoons baking powder
1 cup milk

a pinch of salt

1/3 of a cooking chocolate tablet (melted)

Pre-heat the oven.

Cream butter and sugar. Add the orange zest and the 2 egg yolks. 

On the side, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt and add it to the batter, alternating with the milk. 

Fold in the stiffened egg white. 

Divide batter into two parts in separate bowls. To one part add the melted chocolate. 

Alternate big table spoons of dark and light batter into the greased and floured cake pan. (I think a cake pan with a hole in the middle might work better but I had to use the plain one I have at home). 

Bakes at 180.C ( 350F.) for about 50 min. or until tester comes out clean.

for the glazing:

3 table spoons butter (melted) 

3 cups powdered sugar 

1/2 orange zest

1/2 orange juice + the pulp of that orange

1 egg white

the rest of the cooking chocolate (grate a bit for the top of the cake and melt the rest)

Mix and beat well the butter, sugar and the orange, zest, juice and pulp (no need to worry to much about these measures, I added the zest and then just squished out the juice and pulp with my hands).

Add the stiffened egg white.

Cover the top part of the cake with this mixture. While it's still soft add the grated chocolate. 

To the rest of the batter, add the melted chocolate, and spread it on the sides of the cake.

Having tasted it now, after so many years, I have to say I really like it. And for my big surprise, Emil absolutely loved it! ...and he can be really picky at times.

all photos by me

My parents scanned this page, with the Lady Golden Glow recipe, from my grandmother's old cooking book and I wanted to share it with you because I think it is a wonderful relic.

If you know this cake, or decide to try it, I would love to hear about it!

Neugebauer Apartment

An amazing home, in Hamburg, with a masculine feeling. 

A constant presence of wood, white and grey all through the apartment - perfectly balanced. 

Art and books. 

And a general sense of tranquillity.

And how perfect if this first photo? I just keep staring at it.

sources:

photography: Janne Peters

styling: Wolfram Neugebauer

Moorbi - Sustainable Design

If you like the idea of re-cycle, up-cycle, and re-purpose. If you are looking for one of a kind, unconventional, piece of design. You may find Moorbi an interesting concept. 

Moorbi is an on-line platform that gathers and sells the work of professional designers around the world, whose common concern is design sustainability. Creating, thus, a community whose main goal is to reduce waste and  the negative environmental impact of design, while providing remarkable décor and fashion available for all.

When exploring Moorbi's shop you can find different styles (from a contemporary look to a vintage expression) and a lot of quirky -sometimes just plain freakish - pieces. And you are also provided with a brief history of the product and an explanation about what makes it sustainable.

I'm sharing a few favourite images but there's much more, and it's worth a visit. Hope you like it!

all images via Moorbi

Soft Bohemian and Mint Smeg

Today I'm sharing this apartment in Sweden because it has such a fresh atmosphere, perfect for Spring.

Love the mint Smeg !

all images via Fantastic Frank

Kitchen Crush - Le Creuset

A few quick shots of my latest kitchen crush. 3 small bowls from Le Creuset.

Wishing a sunny weekend to everyone!

all photos by me

Bohemian Chic apartment in Denmark

A beautiful apartment in Denmark with an eclectic style. Design pieces, flee market findings and lots of art in a neutral background makes for a bright atmosphere full of personality. 

I think it's gorgeous!

photography: Kristian Septimius Krogh

all images via Bo Bedre

Varming House by Eva and Nils Koppel

I first saw the Varming House on a Danish TV program about "Unique Nordic Houses" (that's the name of the program  in Danish - "Enestående Nordiske Huse") and felt drawn to it immediately. Maybe because it reminded me so much of the best architecture that was also being done in Portugal in the mid-century (the name Fernando Távora and his house in Ofir came to my mind). I then decided to go on the internet and try to find some more information about this house.

The Varming house was designed by the Danish architects Eva and Nils Koppel in 1952. I see it as one of those "little pearls" of architecture that came after the most radical phase of the Modern Movement, when, in a period of doubt, reflection and critic about a "universal model", architects all over Europe began searching for a harmonious coexistence of the most fundamental values of modernism and vernacular, while simultaneously, considering the new notions of family and dwelling. Innovation and tradition, global and local, machine and human, function and emotion, were all tools to be balanced and used while designing. 

The fluidity of the spaces (especially in the common areas), the 3 different levels that organize the living area, and the big amount of storage in the corridor that leads to the bedrooms, help make the best of the 143 m2 of interior space. You can see the plan of the house at the end of this post, but unfortunately it doesn't show the blind exterior walls that help integrating the house in the surrounding, slightly inclined, terrain. 

all images via