PSYNOPSIS

Life | Überlin

2013-09-04T07:01:00.001+01:00

Ever the student of life I'm taking a little blog break to search for new dreams to share with you… (which you can also read as 'I'm currently doing 50 shifts a week in my favourite ice-cream parlour').
Because y'know a/ Girl gotta feed herself, b/ Follow her dreams c/ Dance the streets of wherever...

But I'm leaving you Aaron, so no bad feelings... ♥ ♥ ♥

♥ | Last Days of the Mini

2013-08-30T07:50:00.000+01:00

The mornings are feeling so much fresher already… ♥

Video | Dries. Dazed.

2013-08-29T20:10:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I thought I couldn't care less about fashion, then I saw this… Oh, the thrill! ♥

Ice-Cream of the Week | White Chocolate Ice-Cream

2013-08-29T07:38:00.001+01:00

This one is still in its experimentation phase – because while all 'test eaters' said they liked it I feel it could do with some tweaking.* Perhaps it just needs really top quality white chocolate... But if you want to give it a go, the recipe does not disappoint in giving you a creamy, cold, white chocolate kick. You’ll need...

Ingredients:
300ml (1½ cups) cream**
300ml (1½ cups) full-fat milk**
60g (½ cup) sugar
150g (5 ounces) good quality white chocolate
¼ teaspoon salt
5 egg yolks (from medium or large eggs)
½ teaspoon pure, natural vanilla extract***

Optional: Fruit syrup (self-made or bought) or/and 30-50g (1-2 ounces) white chocolate cut into small pieces

1. Chop chocolate into smallish pieces and put into a heatproof bowl. Set aside.

2. Put cream, milk, half of the sugar and salt into a heavy pot. Heat up over medium heat until mixture starts simmering (bubbles form around the edges).

2. Whisk the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar (just a bit, they don't need to get foamy).

3. While whisking constantly slowly! (1/2 a cup at the time) pour the milk-cream-sugar mixture to your egg yolk mix.

4. Pour the whole mixture back into the pot and heat up over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Let the mixture thicken, but do not let it come to a boil. It's fine when you coat the back of your spoon and run a finger through it and it holds a clear path***.

5. Strain the custard through a sieve into the bowl with the white chocolate and whisk to combine the ingredients. If you are using it, add the vanilla essence. Place the bowl into an ice-water bath. When it has cooled down to room temperature put it into the refrigerator. Let it cool for at least 2 hours or overnight.

6. Start your ice-cream machine, pour in the cold mixture, add the vanilla extract and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

The Options, aka Glutton It Up:
If you (like I) find a smooth, one-flavoured ice-cream just not enough you can – in the last minutes of the churning process – throw in a handful of white chocolate chips. Or (and?!? There is no end to gluttony, is there…) when you fill the ice-cream into your (pre-frozen) storage container drizzle in some fruit syrup (e.g. Ribena) and 'cut' through the ice-cream with a butter knife to create swirls.

*Yep, I did write twerking. It's that bad these days…
**I use whipping cream and full-fat milk. If you use double cream you can go for half-fat (1-2%) milk.
***Or your home-made vanilla sugar.
**If you have a thermometer this should be between 75-85°C/ 165-185°F.

Ice-Cream of the Week | Salted Caramel Ice-Cream & Almond Toffee

2013-08-22T06:45:00.000+01:00

Burnt sugar + salt… This is one of my absolute favourites, and these days no self-respecting ice-cream parlour can not offer their own version of salted caramel. The recipe here is based on the wonderful and inspiring San Franciscan Bi-Rite Creamery. The ice-cream is absolutely delicious on its own, but personally I like to add pieces of Almond Toffee because...
a) I love chunky bits in my ice-cream, b) I'm a total glutton, and c) It makes it even more delightful.

So let's get going. For the ice-cream you'll need:

Ingredients:
400ml (1¾ cups) cream*
200ml (¾ cup) milk*
120g (½ cup) or 180g (¾ cup) sugar (if you add almond toffee go for lower amount)
1 teaspoon salt
5 egg yolks (medium or large eggs)

1. Sprinke the egg yolks with 3 tbsps of sugar. Put the rest of the sugar in a heatproof pot over medium heat and let melt. Stir gently while the sugar is melting.

2. When the sugar starts to smell 'caramelly' and develops a dark colour take off the heat and carefully! (it will bubble up and can sputter) pour the cream into the caramel. It doesn't matter if some of the caramel hardens in the process as it will melt later on.

3. Add milk and salt to the caramel-cream mix. Put on medium heat and while stirring constantly heat up until mixture starts simmering (bubbles form around the edges).

3. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar to break them up. Then, little by little (1/2 a cup at the time), and while whisking constantly add caramel-cream mixture to the egg yolks.

4. Pour the whole mixture back into the pot and slowly heat up, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Let the mixture thicken, but don't let it come to a boil. It's fine when you coat the back of your spoon and run a finger through it, and it holds a clear path.**

5. Strain the mixture through a sieve and place the container into an ice-water bath. When it has cooled down to room temperature put the container into the fridge. Let it cool for at least 2 hours or overnight.

6. Start your ice-cream machine, pour in the cold mixture and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. If you want to your ice-cream with almond toffee bits add the pieces in the last minutes of churning.

7. Eat right away or fill into a pre-chilled container and put in the freezer for the ice-cream to harden more.

Glutton like me? Okay, let’s proceed to the…

Almond Toffee

Ingredients:
150g (1 cup) roasted, cut (halfed, quartered and slivered) almonds
150g (2/3 cup) sugar
60ml (¼ cup) agave, tapioca or corn syrup
3 tablespoons water
240g (1 cup) butter
½ teaspoon salt (not needed if you use salted butter)

1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment or a nonsticking baking mat.

2. Put butter, sugar, syrup, water and salt into a heavy, heatproof pot and cook – stirring constantly – until mixture turns light brown. This will take about 10-15 minutes.

3. Stir in the almonds and cook a few more minutes (stirring constantly), watching carefully that (while it's okay for the mixture to turn a bit darker and smell more of caramel) it does not burn.

4. Pour – careful! extremely hot! – mixture onto the baking sheet and spread with a wooden or heatproof spatula to 1cm/ 1/3 inch thickness.

5. Let cool for an hour or so, then chop up. (Into slivers or small chunks if you want to add the toffee to ice-cream, or into bigger pieces if you want to eat the toffee directly).

6. Stored in an airtight container in the fridge it will keep for weeks (though it has never survived more than a week in mine).

*I use whipping cream and full-fat milk. If you use double cream you can go for half-fat (1-2%) milk.
**If you have a thermometer this should be between 75-85°C/ 165-185°F.

Summer in the City XVI

2013-08-21T07:59:00.003+01:00

Rainy day. ♥

Summer in the City XV

2013-08-20T07:19:00.001+01:00

Coke on the bridge. ♥

Berlin | Lamuri

2013-08-16T07:09:00.000+01:00

Salumeria Lamuri. New favourite for lunch and coffee. ♥

Ice-Cream of the Week | Green Tea Ice-Cream

2013-08-15T07:39:00.002+01:00

Ok, so we covered the basics: Vanilla and Chocolate - It's time to get experimental. Like tea flavoured ice-cream… One of my favourites is Earl Gray but every time I make it it nearly leads to divorce – Green Tea on the other hand we both love. Plus, it's health ice-cream actually, isn't it?! Sarah doesn't agree though… 'Too strong, too weird, too little sugar'*. You tell me…

Ingredients:
400ml (1¾ cups) cream**
200ml (¾ cup) milk**
120g (½ cup) sugar + 1 tablespoon agave syrup***
¼ teaspoon salt
5 egg yolks (medium or large eggs)
1 tablespoon matcha (green tea) powder

1. In a heatproof bowl whisk the egg yolks with ½ of the sugar and the green tea powder to an even mixture (= no clumps left). Set aside.

2. In a heavy, heatproof pot mix the cream, milk, rest of the sugar, syrup and salt. Stirring constantly heat up over medium heat until mixture starts simmering (bubbles form around the edges).

3. Little by little (1/2 a cup at the time) add cream-milk-sugar mixture to the egg-matcha mixture while whisking constantly.

4. Pour the mixture back into the pot and slowly heat up, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Let the mixture thicken, but don't let it come to a boil. It's fine when you coat the back of your spoon and run a finger through it and it holds a clear path.****

5. Strain the mixture through a sieve and place the container into an ice-water bath. When it has cooled down to room temperature put the container into the fridge. Let it cool for at least 2 hours or overnight.

6. Start your ice-cream machine, pour in the cold mixture and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

7. Eat right away or fill into a pre-chilled container and put in the freezer for the ice-cream to harden more.

*If you also find the ice-cream not sweet enough increase the sugar to 180g/3/4 cup.
**I use whipping cream and full-fat milk. If you use double cream you can go for half-fat (1-2%) milk.
**Adding syrup (agave, tapioca or light corn are good choices) makes the ice-cream creamier. If you don’t have syrup just add another 1-2 tbsp (20-30g) sugar.
***If you have a thermometer this should be between 75-85°C/ 165-185°F.

Video | This Must Be the Only Phantasy

2013-08-14T18:07:00.002+01:00

Oohh, a dark, trippy Rodarte fairytale. ♥

Style | Return of the Coat

2013-08-14T07:32:00.000+01:00

First steps into autumn dressing - though I'm not quite ready to let summer go... ♥

Summer in the City XIV

2013-08-12T18:42:00.002+01:00

Lines. ♥

Berlin | Beauty & The Ignorant

2013-08-11T19:12:00.001+01:00

When you marry breathtaking architecture with beautiful furniture and interesting art the outcome is: A very special space – which is what Gisbert Pöppler und Erik Hofstetter have created with their showroom 'Between Time'. A place where you can just wander about and marvel at the beauty of the compositions or – if you feel so inclined and your wallet allows it – you can acquire the pieces.

After weeks of spending the days trying on my bikini collection I loved it there. So sophisticated! And my usual method of stumbling around, from time to time throwing myself onto the floor to get the best shot of a chair led to a chat with an extremely nice guy – ending with me asking: "And who are you?" "I'm Gisbert…" Oh well, shoot me now. Time to go back to the vegetables. ♥

Art | Cracks & Holes

2013-08-10T19:37:00.001+01:00

A beautiful piece by Imre Schrammel from the 1970s. ♥

Video | Lady in Black

2013-08-10T10:27:00.001+01:00

Ready for a dance off? The coolest horse + one of my favourite songs = This video makes me happy every time I watch it. It's about nail varnish? Oh well. ♥

Life | In Between Time

2013-08-09T16:43:00.002+01:00

Got nothing done but been hanging out in the most beautiful space this morning. More soon… ♥

Summer in the City XIII

2013-08-09T07:56:00.000+01:00

Ohne Worte. ♥

Ice-Cream of the Week | Super-Chocolaty Chocolate Ice-Cream

2013-08-08T14:25:00.000+01:00

Time for the 2nd installment of the Ice-Cream Series… And, bien sûr, after Vanilla it has to be Chocolate. I never was a big a fan of chocolate ice-cream - but then I started making my own, and this one is totally addictive. Even more so with the addition of chocolate chips (I think)...

Ingredients:
360ml (1½ cups) cream*
300ml (1¼ cup) full-fat milk
120g (½ cup) sugar or 100g sugar + 1 generous tablespoon agave syrup**
¼ teaspoon salt
5 egg yolks (medium or large eggs)
40g (1/4 cup) natural, unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted)
1 teaspoon pure, natural vanilla extract
Optional: 40g (2 ounces) bitter(sweet) chocolate (50-70% cocoa), chopped into small pieces

1. In a heavy, heatproof pot mix the cocoa powder with half of the sugar and some of milk and whisk it to a smooth paste. Add the remaining milk, cream, salt and, if you have, syrup. Heat up over medium heat until mixture starts simmering (bubbles form around the edges).

2. Whisk the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar (just a bit, they don't need to get foamy).

3. Little by little! (1/2 a cup at the time) add cocoa-milk-cream mixture to the egg yolk mix while whisking constantly.

4. Pour the whole mixture back into the pot and slowly heat up, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Let the mixture thicken, but don't let it come to a boil. It's fine when you coat the back of your spoon and run a finger through it and it holds a clear path.***

5. Strain the mixture through a sieve and place the container into an ice-water bath. When it has cooled down to room temperature put the container into the fridge. Let it cool for at least 2 hours or overnight.

6. Start your ice-cream machine, pour in the cold mixture, add the vanilla extract and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

7. If you want to add the chocolate chips add them in the last minutes of the churning process.

8. Eat right away or fill into a pre-chilled container and put in the freezer for the ice-cream to harden more.

*I use whipping cream because in Germany there's no heavy cream – both is fine. The more fat the ice-cream contains the smoother and creamier it will be, but fat tends to suppress the flavours.
**Adding syrup (agave, tapioca or light corn are good choices), adds creaminess to the ice-cream. But if you cannot get it, don’t worry, sugar alone works fine, too.
***If you have a thermometer this should be between 75-85°C/ 165-185°F.

Video | The Abramovic Method

2013-08-08T14:23:00.001+01:00

The weird and wonderful Lady G.

Summer in the City XII

2013-08-07T07:31:00.001+01:00

Best view. ♥

Summer in the City XI

2013-08-06T09:09:00.000+01:00

"Don't you know there ain't no Devil - That's just God when he's drunk." ♥

Beauty | Huile d’Argane

2013-08-05T15:45:00.002+01:00

Just working on a highly confessional post which involves talking about my beauty products… making me realise that I managed to simplify my beauty regime to pretty much one item: organic argan oil. I’ve even come to like the weird smell. ♥

Video | Wild Roses

2013-08-04T10:53:00.000+01:00

Sunday morning beauty from Inez & Vinoodh. ♥

Style | Swim Beauty

2013-08-02T15:07:00.000+01:00

When you have as beautiful shoulders as Marie I think strapless is a perfect option… ♥

Ice-Cream of the Week | Perfect, Traditional Vanilla Ice-Cream

2013-08-01T13:07:00.002+01:00

I totally and utterly blame Tiffany for this new project – but I'm actually really glad she nudged my into it… because – without ever planning to – I've become somewhat of an ice-cream expert, thinking, living and eating! ice-cream 24/7…

It all started in May when I decided to upgrade from my old 20 quid churner to a 'professional' ice-cream machine with a compressor. From then it was ice-cream experimentation every day. How not?! It's so frickin delicious and there are absolutely no limits to your imagination. But no matter how much stuff you decide to throw into the mix you need to get a grip on the basics. And the most basic (and still most popular of all) ice-creams is…

Vanilla Ice-Cream
Now, the perfect vanilla ice-cream should be creamy, rich, full of real vanilla bean flavour and the shade of Pantone Smart 12-0722. After we've eaten ourselves through many variations and I think this recipe gives you the real deal:

Ingredients:
400ml (1½ cups) cream*
200ml (1 cup) full-fat milk**
120g (½ cup) sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
5 egg yolks (from medium or large eggs)
1 teaspoon pure, natural vanilla extract

1. Put cream, milk, half of the sugar and salt into a heavy pot. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean and add seeds and pod to mix. Heat up over medium heat until mixture starts simmering (bubbles form around the edges). Cover and let infuse for 30-60 minutes.

2. Whisk the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar (just a bit, they don't need to get foamy).

3. Reheat your cream-milk-sugar mixture to just below cooking point (as in point 1), take off the heat and little by little! (1/2 a cup at the time) add to your egg yolk mix while whisking the eggs constantly.

4. Pour the whole mixture back into the pot and slowly heat up, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Let the mixture thicken, but don't let it come to a boil! (Your're actually making a custard here.) It's fine when you coat the back of your spoon and run a finger through it and it holds a clear path.

5. Strain the custard through a sieve*** and place the container into an ice-water bath. When it's cooled to room temperature you can put the container into the fridge. Let it cool for at least 2 hours or overnight.

6. Start your ice-cream machine****, pour in the cold mixture, add the vanilla extract and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

Extra tip: Pre-freeze your ice-cream container in the freezer so the ice-cream doesn't melt so quickly.

That's for starters because… based on this recipe anything is possible! ♥

*I use whipping cream because in Germany there's no heavy cream – both is fine. The more fat the ice-cream contains the smoother and creamier it will be, but fat tends to suppress the flavours.
**Yes, I'm aware that the millilitre to cups measurements do not correspond 100%, but it would get too awkward otherwise; also things change anyway depending what kind of cream, milk etc. you use. It's all up for experimentation.
***Don't throw away the vanilla pods. You can wash and dry them and add them to sugar to make vanilla sugar.
****Yes, I know… a machine! But you can get a basic ice-cream machine these days for under 20 quid. It's really worth the investment.