At the moment I’m really into super- and powerfoods. I’m fascinated with food that gives my body energy and strength. Everything we eat influences our health and mood, so the powerfood list includes quite a few special ingredients.
My trip to Sri Lanka was almost 4 months ago and I’m still feeding off it! It’s the travel destination on everybody’s lips and I can warmly recommend it to everybody. While I was there, I took part in an amazing wellbeing week hosted by a group called Paper Tiger and held at Talalla Retreat.
Lukewarm evenings, funky music, nice people, great atmosphere, a sense of freedom: yes, it’s that time of the year again – the coolest time of the year. Festival season! Be it the Poolbar Festival, the Donauinselfest, the Urban Arts Form Festival, the See-Rock Festival, the FM4 Frequency Festival, the Lake Festival or the Two Days a Week Festival, all of them mean summer, friends and live music!
Was ich mit dem Arlberg verbinde? Endlose Tiefschneepisten, die wunderschönsten Winterurlaube und natürlich Heimat. Auch wenn St. Anton bereits zu Tirol gehört, verbinde ich mit diesem Ort Heimatsgefühl. Vergangenes Wochenende durfte ich den Arlberg einmal in seiner vollen Sommerpracht genießen. Das bedeutet grasgrüne Wiesen und stolze Berge!
It’s mostly the currently absolutely hellish temperatures that drive me from my beloved Vienna and into the countryside every weekend. I’ve already told you about my wonderful mini-break to Leogang – the multiple course menu, created by the Kirchenwirt chef and eaten in front of an absolutely stunning panorama of the Leoganger Steinberg mountains was an experience I won’t ever forget. No less impressive and relaxing: my stay at the Forsthofgut.
I used to have to make a daily trip to the health food store in order to stock up with foods I couldn’t get anywhere else – gluten-free products, more specifically. Now, supermarkets all over the place have started offering gluten-free and health foods (following several gluten- and other allergy hypes), but health food stores are still my very own food shopping paradise. Every time I’m there, I’m fascinated by the progress in the health food and organic sectors and specialty areas like veganism.
My new favourite activity is my own personal urban exodus, aka the “summer escape”. Particularly in these temperatures. This never used to be a big deal for me, as my home county of Vorarlberg offers myriad close connections to lakes, forests and mountains. Vienna, on the other hand, where the asphalt in the summer retains temperatures that are probably similar to the underworld itself, never gives your body an opportunity to breathe. Whenever this time of year comes around, I tend to sit myself down in an air-conditioned train carriage for 6 or so hours and go home, giddily excited about my trip to the Bregenzerwald forest and my mountain cabin.
Creativity requires time and motivation, which means you need to actually set aside time for relaxation. I’ve retreated to the mountains these past few days to recharge my batteries. I have a lot of time and space to think here and let my creativity run rampant. When I’m at home, I often relax by drawing and painting. As you may have noticed, I have posted fewer food illustrations than usual recently – but this will change soon, with a new personal project I want to introduce to you today.
You have probably heard of „Urban Gardening“ or of projects that let you rent or buy a piece of land or an allotment and grow your own vegetables. A very practical option if you don’t have your own garden and your balcony is too small – particularly for a tree. So I was delighted when last April, I received my very own cherry tree for my birthday – well, a tree sponsorship, rather.
Well, barbecue season actually began a while ago, but I finally took the current heat wave as an opportunity to invite a few lovely friends over for a solid afternoon of grilling. My enthusiasm for grilling stuff stems from my time in Australia, where BBQs are properly organised and celebrated, even though during the summer months, they happen pretty much daily, or at least every weekend. That was exactly the kind of spirit I wanted to infuse last weekend’s barbecue with – featuring my new gas grill and some very motivated guests.
I had only experienced matcha in matcha lattes before, but only drank them rarely. For the Suppito cookbook, I photographed wonderfully green matcha muffins and was allowed to eat them afterwards. I liked the slightly tangy and sweet taste. But it’s since my photo shoot with KISSA that I have almost entirely substituted my daily coffee with matcha, the green picker-upper.
What do I associate with Italy? Parmesan, buffalo mozzarella, really good olive oil, pasta, pizza and gelato – in a word: fantastic food. And of course spirited people, amazing holidays and great fashion. When Natalie of COOKING magazine came for a visit, I served my three favourite Italian dishes. As visits at the local Italian restaurant are usually a bit disappointing for me, since I’m not allowed to eat either pasta or pizza, I’ve collected my very own top gluten-free Italian recipes. They were mostly discovered on vacation but are a highlight all year round – like the Torta al Limone from Capri.
