Archive for 2018

reading time: 5 min

Where to start?

While I moved away at the beginning of the year to start a new job, my boyfriend was supposed to follow me so we would move into a flat together. However, things turned out differently.

I realized quickly that I didn't enjoy my new job, even though it was a prestigious workplace and I had the loveliest colleagues, and so I ended up quitting after six months. In the meantime my boyfriend – who had stayed home due to the change of plans – found a house. Well, half of a house. The other half belongs to his sister.

And so we moved into our own house (half) two months ago. Yup.

To be honest, it's not (yet) my dream house, but it's huge! And having lived in different shared flats for the past six years, it's soooo nice to finally have our own space to furnish and decorate the way we want. My boyfriend and I are still in the process of arranging everything in a way that suits us and our visions, but that's what I enjoy most about this "house project" – taking the time to create our comfort zone, and even building some of the things ourselves, like a boho-style coffee table and a bookshelf for our living room. This will take a while, but there I've got some home DIYs planned for the future :)

But now, let's take a first look at our new home!

Like I said, we only own half of the house, and that's the top floor as well as the fitted out attic. And part of the garden of course.

Welcome to the most important room in our home: the kitchen! I love that it's white with a dark wooden countertop, and that it's sort of a farmhouse style. Don't fancy those tiny tiles though.

You can't tell from this picture, but this is now my "home office" / the guest room.

The former house owners used this as their dining room, but a) we don't need a dining room for the two of us (we have the big table in our living room now) and b) I definitely needed a home office for my writing and freelance work, and we decided to combine this with our spare bed because when I have guests, I won't work anyway.

By now this is definitely my favourite room, and the second important after the kitchen. I love that it's so bright and spacious, and I can't wait to show you a little room tour once it's fully furnished!

This is our living room. It's pretty huge (the dining table is in the corner of the room from which the photo was taken). This room has changed a lot in the meantime too, but there's still a lot to be done, like lampshades, a bookshelf, a coffee table, a meditation/yoga corner (yup, we're hippies), and a new sofa to replace the one you see in the picture that was left by the former owners. I'm thrilled to see it all come together!

The living room is also connected to a long, narrow balcony that we only use to set up our laundry drying rack and as a smoking area for friends. However, I want to make this a cosy stargazing space too! With lanterns, chairs, maybe a hammock, and a little table. And plants of course!

That's how my boyfriend and I actually spent our first ever night in the house: camping in our living room! We set up our little indoor camp with sleeping mats and sleeping bags, made ourselves vegan frozen pizza that we ate on their cardboard packaging (we didn't have any dishes, cutlery or pots and pans to cook with), and lit a candle. Romantic, eh? :)

(Unfortunately, we both had a pretty restless night because of the unfamiliar surrounding, and we hardly slept at all. Yeah, that's the truth behind those romantic fantasies...)

Now let's go upstairs to the attic!

There's sooo much storage space up here! All our camping stuff, suitcases, backpacks, tools, my DIY supplies, my boyfriend's tech stuff, our sewing machine, ironing board, and other random stuff like the empty packaging of various devices. (I was honestly shocked by the amount of "useful clutter" we have!! so much for minimalism...)

Apart from that, the space at the back of this attic (or "hallway") will be my boyfriend's home office in the future. Basically, the attic is his realm :)

I call this our "Harry Potter room". It's a small room at the other end of the attic that we use for storing our seasonal clothes, seasonal decor, my sled, and mostly empty moving boxes. It has also served as an additional guest room when we had seven people sleeping over!

One of the first things we set up before the big move was our closet. This was already built in, and while the colour of the curtains (and other fabric pieces in the house) doesn't really suit my taste, but at least it's a lot of space!

This is our bedroom by the way, and it is connected to a large terrace. I forgot to take a photo of that, oops.

Hi there! I do love this huge mirrored wall :)

This is our bathroom, obviously. And again, not really my colours (any shade of blue, turquoise, aqua or plain white would have been nicer), but it's very spacious and we might paint it. And we have loads of storage space (more than we have stuff to fill it with!).

Lastly, the garden. Which we share with my boyfriend's sister and her partner. You can't really tell by this photo, but it's a pretty big area with several trees (a big willow, a magnolia, a little apple tree, a plum tree, two seabuckthorn bushes, and several rhododendrons). So far we've also had two hedgehogs, at least one squirrel, apparently also a pheasant, a couple of jays, and two or three deer in our garden :)

We are planning to grown our own vegetables and herbs there (definitely lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, zucchinis, and maybe strawberries), but we'll have to wait for spring to tackle that home gardening project!

So that's it for this first house tour. I'm excited to update you once we've done more decorating and furnishing – so keep your eyes peeled for some home DIYs! :)

♥

Maisy

reading time: 3 min

One of my favourite childhood memories is: Bienenstich aka bee sting cake! Creamy, fluffy, sticky yeast cake with a vanilla custard filling and caramelized almonds on top. A German classic.

Last weekend I gave in to my boyfriend's pleas to bake a vegan bee sting cake, and so this scrumptious creation was born! After sharing this with my boyfriend's family and my parents, my dad wrote me an e-mail asking me what I did to make the cake taste as "original". In other words: It was a hit!

It does take quite a while to bake this cake, but it's definitely worth it! Perfect for any occasion such as birthdays, anniversaries, or any rainy autumn Sunday :)

GERMAN BEE STING CAKE

Preparation time: 3 h 30 min

Main ingredients: spelt flour, vegan butter, almond slices, plant-based milk, yeast
difficulty level: moderate
makes: one 9-inch spring form
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, wheat-free

Ingredients

Dough:
1/8 cup packed (25g) fresh yeast
1 tbsp lukewarm water
1 tsp organic brown sugar
2 heaped tbsp (30g) vegan butter (I use the German brand Alsan bio)
1/2 cup (120ml) plant-based milk (I use almond milk)
2 cups (250g) spelt flour
pinch of salt
1/8 cup + 1 tsp (30g) organic brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
1 package (40g) vanilla custard powder
1 cup + 5 tbsp (250ml + 5 tbsp) plant-based milk (I use almond milk)
2 tbsp brown organic sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (250 ml) vegan whipping cream, chilled
1/2 cup (100g) vegan butter, room temperature (I use the German brand Alsan bio)

Topping:
1 1/3 cup (125g) almond slices
1/3 cup (80g) vegan butter (I use the German brand Alsan bio)
4 tbsp agave syrup
4 tbsp plant-based milk (I use almond milk)
pinch of salt

powdered sugar to garnish

Instructions

For the dough:

Dissolve fresh yeast in 1 tbsp lukewarm water and 1 tsp sugar in a small bowl. Let prove for 15-20 minutes until foamy. Gently heat up vegan butter and plant-based milk until the butter has melted. In a large mixing bowl combine spelt flour, brown sugar and salt. Add the yeast as well as the warm butter/milk mixture and the vanilla extract. Knead using an electric whisk.

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.

Transfer the dough into a greased spring-form and allow to prove for another 30 minutes. (yep, a lot of proving here!)

For the topping:

Melt vegan butter in a pan. Add plant-based milk, agave syrup and salt. Allow to boil up briefly, then stir in almond slices until well covered, and remove from heat.

Allow to cool slightly before spreading over the dough.

Bake in the non-preheated oven for 25-30 minutes at 180° C / 350° F until golden brown (I did 25 minutes fan-assisted). Make sure the almond topping doesn't burn.

In the meantime, prepare the filling (see below).

Take the cake out of the oven and allow to cool completely.

For the filling:

While the cake is cooling, bring the plant-based milk to a boil, add the custard powder and stir. Switch off heat, fold in vegan butter, soy cream, sugar and vanilla extract. Allow to cool completely. (To speed up the process, refrigerate once it's chilled enough.)

To assemble, cut the cake in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Spread filling on bottom layer, leaving a 1-inch boarder. Place the remaining cake half (almond side up) on top and press gently to push the filling out to the edges.

Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes. Slice with a serrated knife, and serve with powdered sugar dusted on top.

Store in the refrigerator. You can also freeze individual pieces to thaw and eat later!