Food & Design | My dear Urbanite, we give you fresh sprouts from your own Microgarden

So you live in an apartment? No balcony to speak of. Definitely no garden or a yard. No worries. INFARM, a multidisciplinary firm and a research lab from Germany, has partnered with Tomorrow Machine, a Swedish design group, to provide an answer made of recyclable polypropylene sheet folded like an origami into a “greenhouse” inside of which sprouts can germinate and grow on a bed of seaweed-based gel, and appear in just 3 days. They have been crowd-funding for a while and now you can get the kit delivered to your door (look, read and select your perk here). Then, “peppery rucola, crunchy mustard and spicy radish” are not far off for your nibbling pleasure. Images from INFARM.

Food & Fashion | Make it a meal. Chanel encased meal.

I am not sure if this is quite the nosh Mademoiselle Coco would've indulged in, but let’s not forget that the reigning Kaiser, Karl Lagerfeld, knows about indulging in food. His strict diet was survived potentially only by Diet Coke, so much so that he advertised the drink. I am also not sure if “Fashion is the healthiest motivation for losing weight”, but boy, it can be a fierce one. Still, a burger meal encased in Chanel insignia?! I’d eat that with styling gusto!

Travel & Music | Berlin doofs

A hub of decadence (think Weimar Republic), through the turbulence it never lost its edge.

Fashion | Veruschka gets pinned a lot

they roared vintage

Music | Female singer-songwriters №11: Nneka

“Nneka Lucia Egbuna is a Nigerian-German hip hop/soul singer and songwriter. She sings in both Igbo and English.” – Wikipedia 

Fashion | Alexa Chung sixties style

Red dress. Check.

Photo by fantabulous Ellen von Unwerth. Check.

‘It’ Girl. Alexa Chung this time. Check.

Daily Mail

Coded Candy | Big Buck Bunny

Alright, alright, I know, not that new. So?! … … … That’s why it’s slotted under “Coded Candy” – to serve as a reminder what can be done using free software. Blender in this case. “Big Buck Bunny” was released in 2008 and is a visual brain child of Dutch dudes “Sago” and Ton, with music by German Jan. 

Here it is just 3 seconds shy of 10 minutes. OK, glass half full glass half full glass half full… J

Fashion | Pissoir Etiquette à la House of Chanel, Courtesy of Karl Lagerfeld

Still from “Lagerfeld Confidential”

Food | Movies to make you salivate, crave, hungry and even full

In no particular order. For starters J

Like Water for Chocolate Como agua para chocolate Emotions transferred into food. Literally.	Eat Drink Man Woman 理性與感性 Getting dinner ready. Wow. Banquet. Wow. Another dinner. Wow. Lunch … you get the picture.	Tortilla Soup Los Angelino version of Eat Drink Man Woman. I want my pico de gallo! And some.	Frida Not exactly food heavy, but did someone mention mole poblano?
The Big Feast La Grande Bouffe Gluttony par excellence. Is all that really possible?! The deadly part of the sin is the aim.	Chocolat Didn’t you crave some even under the threat of diabetes? Armande Voizin did.	The Mistress of Spices The magic of seasoning.	Eat Pray Love Mangiare. Io mangio; tu mangi; lui/lei/Lei mangia; noi mangiamo; voi mangiate; loro/Loro mangiano. Ancora!
Big Night Take it from the chef - certain food combinations are just criminal.	The Ramen Girl Actor snobs, sue me! It’s cute; it has ramen; it has a cameo from Tsutomu Yamazaki, the truck driving mentor in “Tampopo”; it has ramen. Ramen gooood!	Mostly Martha Bella Martha I want to be her therapist J	Today’s Special The first 10:54 minutes makes you understand how this sous chef’s life friggin’ sucks – demands at work and from ‘proposed’, and being looked over ‘cuz the chef doesn’t get a … just see it. Taxi driver to the rescue!

Accidentally down the memory lane - circa 2003?

Absolutely irrelevant for the themes of this blog, but ... hey, didn't promise consistency J