Inspiration | February 2015

While I’m struggling with an awful cold I caught a few days ago and daydreaming about the day I get my taste back so I can eat my favorite fruits and cupcakes (that's what I'm craving these days), I realized it’s been a while since I shared with you some sources of inspiration. So, here they are. There’s a few of them so make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and sit comfortably.


Movies:
• Loved this movie.
• This one too.
• I look forward to watching this one.

Music:
• This.
• Listening to a lot of Fiona Apple lately. This is on repeat and can’t wait for this to be released.

TV:
• Loved the first season of this series. Now waiting for the second season.
• Also, Louie. Nuff said.

Illustrations:
• Salvador Dali’s illustrations of Alice in Wonderland and of the zodiac signs.
• These food illustrations.

Food photography:
• Here.
• Here.
• And here.
• I’m intrigued by cinemagraphs. Here.
• And here.

Food:
• “Fire and cooking meat is very fragile, tender and feminine”
• 2015 food trends? Will you be embracing them?
• How to eat sushi.
• I love a good bakery and pâtisserie and I want to visit each and every one of these. Well, a couple of them I already have. Any others you’d add to the list?
• Health food for foodies.
• What grandmothers cook around the world.

Girl stuff:
• Lisa Eldridge’s make-up tutorials are the best. I love this one in particular.
• DIY skincare.
• If you’re a fan of the cat-eye.

Words:
• I usually don’t like quotes, but this and this are good ones.

Dance:
• The A toZ of dance.
• This photograph.
• This documentary.

Various:
• Old loves.
• Dutch ingenuity.
• I love Paris as much as the next person but I wouldn’t live here. Would you?
• This room, full of light.


Have a happy weekend!

The cupcakes I made the other day.

Inspiration January 2014: Audiovisual

Today, I made this loaf.

I haven’t shared my sources of inspiration in a while, since March 2013 to be exact, so let’s kick it off for 2014.


• Minimizing food waste, Copenhagen-style. Impressive idea.

• This documentary.

• This movie. And this.

• This spoke so deeply to me you cannot imagine.

• A different kind of dance.

• A cappella.

• Buttermilk and cream scones.

• Little people tasting things for the first time.

• I don’t know if this works, but I want to try it.

• Cheese soufflé*, from the shepherd to the oven.

• Listening to this. And this.


*My own cheese soufflé recipe here, if you’re interested.



Have a good weekend!



Previously: Inspiration November 2011, March 2012, July 2012, October 2012, March 2013.

Inspiration: March 2013

Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water

Inspiration is something so abstract, intangible and elusive; it comes and goes in the blink of an eye; it surprises and excites. For me, inspiration can come from the most unexpected places and I never underestimate its source.

I’m a very visual person and these videos are truly inspiring to me. Music, video, storytelling, animation, food preparation, colors, sounds, motion, voices, textures.

I hope you find something in them that will inspire you as well. Do watch (and listen to) them if you have the time.


Scratch Massive – Paris: Music video.

Sigur Ros – Valtari: Music video, dance.

What if money was no object – Alan Watts: If only…

The known universe – American Museum of Natural History: Fascinating. Puts everything into perspective.

Oscar-nominated Fresh Guacamole, and Western Spaghetti – PES: Food, or something like it. Animation.

Cotton candy making in China: The next time I have cotton candy, I want it to be a flower.

Don’t swim after lunch - Jens Blank: Animation.

Diane Kochilas, Eat Greek, Live well - TEDxAthens Talk: I love Diane Kochilas, a chef and cookbook author. She is a great ambassador of Greek food abroad and truly inspirational.

Beet cake – Tiger in a jar: Food video. And in one word, yum.

Also, I have to share with you three movies I watched recently and really enjoyed: Adam, The Words, The Trip.


PS. To my fellow Greeks, have a good Tsiknopempti tomorrow, and try not to eat too much!


See you soon with a recipe!


Previously: Inspiration November 2011, March, July and October 2012.

Inspiration

The last few days have been calm, filled with sunlight, walks around the city, yellow and purple autumn leaves that get stuck under the heel of my shoes and good food at home and elsewhere.

Inspiration is all around me; autumn does that to me.

Close to home. Vredespaleis (Peace Palace) aka International Court of Justice, The Hague

I've been listening to this song non stop.

I discovered instagram a mere week ago. After several months, I decided to use my iphone, one handed down to me by S as he got a new and shiny one to play with. I have an addictive personality so I was reluctant to use it, I knew instagram was going to get the best of me and it did. I'm trying to restrain myself from sharing too many photos. I share one a day. No promises made here, the numbers can go up at any moment. It's a struggle, I tell you.

This photo series by Anna Williams, part of her personal project, The Voracity.

Paris versus New York. I love this site not only because I love the two cities (Paris I've been to several times, going to New York is a dream of mine) but because the concept is so incredibly clever.
Also, now in video.

This is so S and I, it's scary.

And this is the internet, which is also scary.

Loved reading this. Why start a food blog? an excerpt from Luisa Weiss' book, My Berlin Kitchen.

I'm a sucker for an exotic cake and when it comes with a tutorial on how to decorate it, it's even more special.

I'm currently watching Downton Abbey and I have to say, I'm kind of hooked. I still think this was better, though.

I'd love to buy this calendar for the new year. It's coming up rather fast.

Sky monsters.

I owe the discovery of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi to my Japanese friend M. If you like sushi, or even if you don't, you must see it. It's brilliant.

Sources of continuous inspiration has always been other bloggers. The food blogging community is an ever-expanding one and to keep up with it, there's nothing better than a link list (plus it's good karma). I will be adding more blogs to the list whenever I discover new and interesting ones that I believe you'll enjoy as well. So go on, have a look. Some blogs I'm sure you know, some you'll discover now, but what they all have in common is that they deserve a visit from you.
Oh, and if you're Greek, make sure to check the link list on my Greek page for blogs that are written in Greek.

See you soon!


Previously: Inspiration November 2011, March and July 2012.

Inspiration

• Pictured above are cape gooseberries. I found them at the market but didn't know what to do with them. I think I'll give this recipe a try. It looks amazing.

• Kinfolk videos always manage to inspire me. This is their latest.

• I want this kitchen. Antoni Gaudí was a genius.

• Speaking of Barcelona, I watched again this movie (of course).

• This video clip and the music by Icelandic band Sigur Rós. Also, I never thought I'd like Shia LaBeouf in anything. Well, miracles do happen.

• This is how they do it at NOMA.

• Beautiful cherries, beautiful blog.

• This and this painting.

• I spy Mikhael Paskalev. Whoever remembers Risky Business raise your hand.

• Current food photography styles and trends. Amazing case study.

• A creative dad takes photos.

• Currently watching season two of The Killing.

• I'll leave you with this song.


See you soon with a recipe.

Have a nice Sunday!


Previously: Inspiration November 2011 and March 2012.

Inspiration

I love the color green. It calms me, much like blue calms others.





It always catches my eye, everywhere. Especially in nature.






Holland is a very green country, filled with greens of every hue, especially during spring and summer.






Still, I managed to find the brightest green not during the most "green" months of the year but in late February, in the woods, in The Hague.






Greener than green.

A park filled with green-toed giants.






I will be sharing with you a soup featuring the color green, soon.






In the meantime, stay green, and I don't mean with envy.






Click

to see the beauty that is honey,

hear the sound of reindeer,

see the work of a Greek photographer,

and hear the song I've been listening to again and again and again lately.


Previously: Inspiration (November 2011)

Inspiration

Yes, this is a food blog, but there are so many things that inspire me, that I can't help but wanting to share them with you.

Who knows, perhaps this will be a regular thing around here.
Tell me what you think!


• I believe I have told you what a huge Woody Allen fan I am. This latest documentary on PBS about his life and work, left me even more impressed by this multitalented man and legendary filmmaker. I lurve Woody.

• This is what you get when a prima ballerina, wearing ethereal clothes by Chloé, dances to music by Philip Glass.

• Ashley Rodriguez's video on how to make a gradient cake with rolled fondant. She makes it look so easy. (Ashley writes the wonderful food blog Not Without Salt).

• Have you ever considered dining in the sky?

• I love creative couples, and iconic Dutch fashion photographer duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, are a fascinating one. The music video for Bjork's Moon, from her latest album Biophilia, is the perfect combination of their imaginative visual creativity and Bjork's evocative musical talent.

• I'm not at all good at DIY stuff but this I have to try; how to make your own distressed wood background for photographs.

• This and this are my favorite television series of late.

• Mikkel Adsbøl is a Danish food photographer. Check out his work. His photographs are stunning.


See you soon with a recipe!