Yummy yummy, it´s cake time!
Here´s what you need:

Stuffing
175 gramm butter
250 gramm sugar
4 eggs, whisked
4 Tablespoon cocoa
150 gramm dark chocolate
300 gramm whip cream ( I used patisserie creme instead, less calories and tastes just as good)
1 Tablespoon chocolate syrup

Topping
425 gramm whip cream
chocolate sprinkles

And here´s how it goes:
For the dough put the flour, the cocoa and the butter into a bowl and mix. Add sugar and just as much water that you can easily knead the dough.
Heat the oven to about 190 C°, spread the dough in a floured baking pan. This will be the base of the cake, the filling will be very luscious, so make sure you put some dough up on the sides of the baking dish too. Bake dough for 10 minutes, then get it out of the oven again.
For the stuffing mix butter, sugar, eggs and cocoa in a bowl. Melt the chocolate using the double boiler method and add it to the mixture along with the whip cream and the syrup.

Reduce temperature to 160 C° and put the suffing into the baking pan. Bake for another 45 minutes.
Let the pie cool down after baking. Whip the cream, add food coloring if you want to (we went for pink) and put in on top of the cold pie.

Add chocolate sprinkles for decoration and you are finished.
Store it in the refigerator.

Most people’s minds and time in our age are filled with beer on weekend nights. We decided to use the last nice night to get out, packed with the tripod and two dslrs, to capture some light painting in Vienna city.

Want to know how it works? Just set your camera to a long exposure with closed aperture and use a bright LED flashlight for your ideas. Don’t forget to point to your camera, or else the lightbeam wouldn’t  find his path to the sensor.

“Honey, I feel like I´m gonna throw a tantrum. Get the medicine!”—”Oh God, honeybunch, what can I get you?”—-”Get me the chocolate!”

Now for some boyfriends out there it might not be that abnormal kind of situation. Calm your girlfriend, give her sugar and cocoa drugs.
Well first of all the brain tricks the body into thinking that consuming chocolate is actually a great and healthy thing to do.
The combination sugar, fat and happy serum just HAS TO BE good food. Or so.
Mostly it may calm us, but adds some density around there hips or elsewhere.

Not so with Margo Marrone´s “Glamour Food”. The Organic Pharmacy developed a chocolate with antioxidant properties.
It takes care of your skin, is sugar and dairy free and we hopefully get to try this out soon!

Going by train is awesome.
First of all I am very prone to get car-sick. Take me one time around a traffic circle while I read and I´ll be sick straight out of the window. Seriously.
Secondly I don´t have a license or a car and going by bus is even worse than going by car. I have the possibility to puke onto other people, which makes me feel uncomfortable in the first place, so I am already aroused when getting onto the bus and therefore my stomach is in a tightened mood right from the start. Not good.

So I get onto the train with a quite good feeling of  having around 90 calm minutes of travel.
Or so I thought. Because shortly before departure,  all stupid parents with their stupid kids surround me in no time.
Bragging little brats, who can´t even eat an apple without making this into a major issue. And the parents are to blame too.
“Mommy I wanna have the Nintendo DS.”—-”You have to be polite and say ´please´”—–”Please.”—-”Maybe in whole sentences?”—–”Mommy I wanna have the Nintendo DS PLEEEEEZZZZ” (through gritted teeth)—–”Eat your apple first!”——”But I don´t want the stupid apple.”—–*mother takes apple out of package, unwashed, where it would be better if the child would not eat it due to pesticides*—”Little man, you will it the apple FIRST!”—-”But you told me to say PLEASE anyway!”
And so on and so forth.
Of course I could go and sit somewhere else….with every second person listening to music with earphones, but at such high volume as if I was listening to the radio in a car.
Only that I hear seven programs simultaneously. Country, Hard Rock, DnB, Rap, Hip Hop and Folk all combined into one frantic sound.
It is maddening.
In such a situation I pull out my Nintendo DS with earphones and listen to it at high volume to drown out any other sound or distraction.
Maybe I should rent a handcar.

Hello everyone, it´s been some time!
Holidays have been fun. We went to Prague and did some shopping.

We had our tickets ready and went by train. The weather was beautiful, sunshine and some tender clouds.
Due to the fact that we were traveling quite early and during the week, we had only few company.
The slight rocking of the train made me weary as I listened to some calming music and watched the landscape rush by.
Shortly after crossing the Czech border an elderly lady hopped onto the train, taking her seat next to us.
She seemed friendly, though one of her eyes was twitching constantly and she looked as if she had to sneeze all the time, snuffeling.
I turned to gaze out of the window again, now seeing derelict houses, old trees and children waving at the train.

Suddenly some smell caught my attention. It was sweet and salty at the same time and made my stomach revolt.
It was only then that I realized that the right leg of the old lady was soaked with blood. Whatever kind of wound it was, it must have been very fresh for the stains on her beige trousers were still bright red.
I looked at her in terror, but she did not even seem to mind. She read her newspaper, ate some apples and hummed some tunes as I watched her closely.
The fear hit me that she might turn unconcious and we might have to get some medical help.
I prayed that she might get off the train soon, but she stayed with us alomst three more hours until Prague. The rest of the journey was everything but relaxed.
We would have liked to leave but we could not let her alone in case anything happened.

Our hostel was not far away from the train station. The latter was so huge and impressive that we took some minutes just to stare at it.

Until this trip I must say that I was very lucky when it comes down to boarding hostels.
All of them were very clean and somehow stylish. I cannot claim that the CRIB 51 did not at least try.
They tried hard ineed and we could see that. The whole hostel was a building site. Jackhammer and drill sounds making it kinda hard to communicate with the staff.
“What is your name?”——–”What?”—-”WHAT IS YOUR NAME?”——We said our name.——”I cannot find your name on my reservation list.”—-”WHAT???”—–”I SAID THAT I CANNOT FIND YOUR NAME ON THE RESERVATION LIST!”—–”Yes, we got that, but: WHAT??? Why not?”
It turned out that she simply had looked up the wrong date…still, somehow difficult.
I guess I don´t have to say that the sound of  Jack and Drill did not diminish from ground floor to first floor.

So we decided to watch the World Cup match of Spain vs. Germany in the biggest Irish Pub in town.
The place was highly crowded soon after we have taken our seats and had our dinner. Everybody but two men in front of us were pro-spain, so it was quite funny to hear them swear under their breath, not being able to show their true emotions.

As already expected the night was not very recreative, mostly to blame on four english guys occupying the room next to us. They obviously had no feeling of volume after Spain edged Germany out. (“REVENGE—-HARRRRRRRR!!!!!!”)

The next day we went throught the city, searching for certain shops, visiting galleries and having a look at historic places.

Best of all was the Ben&Jerry´s Store. I grew very jealous of Prague at that point.

We decided to leave on day earlier, afraid of another night without sleep.
It turned out that it was better for us….and for others.
Back on the train we shared our compartment with four very friendly and entertaining german interrail backpackers on their way through Europe.
The conversations and card games made the hours seem to fly by.
As the compartment door slid open, the conductor stepped in and asked us if we were going to Vienna or Bratislava.
She told us to go to the front part of the train for we would be sitting on the part that was going to the wrong direction.
As time came closer we made our way to the front section, not finding a compartment for the six of us and therefore having to split up.
After five minutes I heard agitated voices outside. Uh-oh, they have forgotten one of their tents.
We would be in Vienna by 11 p.m., quite late for a camping place to check in. Without much further ado we invited them to stay with us.
It was like a giant pyjama party, we had lots of fun and I made a stack of pancakes for breakfast.

After that we took them around the city a bit and showed them the way to the camping side.

I honestly would consider couch surfing, if only we had a couch!

I totally like the music of Popoyans.
Two kawaii girls singing child-like songs. I found them through a mori girl webiste.

You can also find them on myspace.

Wow, after weeks of monsoon we are finally hit by the sun. And literally hit too.
It seems like my body got used to all the air humidity and now refuses to accept any sunshine.
The heat gives me headache, makes me slow and tired.
Spring tiredness got me NOW. Just great.

But to be positive: Today I had the first meeting with my new class comrades to-be.
They all seemed very nice and easeful, but I haven´t talked to them much yet.
So I will finish my education at the master class of graphic design. Back to school. I look forward to it a lot.
I guess I can appreciate it much more now that I don´t have to rush to work at the theatre after school and can focus on my work only.
I plan to do all the print and web design for the tweemee label. Keep your fingers crossed that I will be allowed to do so.

Have a wonderful week.

Since April has taken up all the work for May and we are regularly hunted down by heavy rainfall, one has to be quick to get a glimpse of sunlight.
Recently I had a call from the wild, making me enjoy every breeze of wind and wanting to have more animals in my life again (which probably is one of the reasons I so dearly want a dog).

How can one be unhappy when being showered with presents by mother nature?
Just look at this.

We met Mr. Carp as he took a bath in the sunlight. He seemed to be somewhat interessted at what we were doing next to him for he followed us quite a bit before taking a nap at a particularly warm water spot. His dorsal fin made him very easy to spot and he looked like a little pet shark.

The two weeks of rain have made people grumpy.
No sunshine, everyday water pouring from the clouds.
I know, sunshine is essential, vitamins, hormons, a lalala.
Still: since when is our happiness determined by the weather?

Yesterday the water in our house was turned off because there were some pipe reparations.
No water for washing your hands, for drinking, for the toilet, for rinsing your eye as a  lash decides to take a walk around your eye.
One only realizes how much water we need when it is gone. Now this wisedom is surely not new,
but we have to keep this in mind:
We are those who have all the honey in life. We have water. We have electricity.
We have all sorts of machines to help us in our daily life.
We have democracy.
Funny how Vienna is the city with the highest standard of living and the most beautiful city to live in from the view of life quality.
Funny too, how everybody in the world seems to know this except for the inhabitants.
People are aweful here, naging their way through days and years.
I think we should establish a day every month where the water and the electricity are turned down.

We have so many reasons to be happy.
I am happy because in times like these I can have my favourite cereals for breakfast without being a farmer,
harvesting the crop and milking the cow before I can eat.
Plus my favourite cereals are from the States.
Eating Lucky Charms is one of my sacred moments.

And so is taking a shower, making art and washing the dishes. Every moment is what you make out of it.
I am surely not the first one to tell you. But have you incorporated this into your life already?

Things aren´t easy right now. I am stuck in the mid situation of “I want a dog” and “I do all the preperations that I can take, including so much reading on dog behaviour that I could easily start out being a therapist or dog trainer”.
It is simply not possible right now, as I still have to figure out my daily routine and then think about how a dog would fit into that situation.
Which actually is a very nice task to do.

I sit on the floor, cutting large pieces of fabric. The puppy grabs one end, edging all the patterns aside and escapes to the kitchen along with his new piece of blue cloth capture.
Fetching back my materials, pulling out threads from the puppies teeth. Ok, moving to the desk.
Taking all the fabric, the patterns, the scissors, needles and stuff with me.
Arranging everything new. In the corner of the eye I see the puppy do a little “mommy I gotta go wee wee” dance.
Catching the little fluffball and hurry to the potty place.
Puppy is distracted by all the other dogs arround and forgets about the piddle widdle.
Puppy tries to run to the other dogs and starts barking at them frantically. Puppy pees out of excitement.
Back in. Ah….where was I?
Right, the patterns….sitting down, rearranging. Puppy finds a hidden sock under the bed and tears it appart.
Having a little thought about just letting the doggy play,
but then reconsidering about angry boyfriend and swallowed parts of sock.
Not good.
Taking sock away. Trying to get the puppy interested on his OWN toys. Puppy plays with me.
Happy 20 minutes of joy and playfullness. Sunshine, stars, sparks and singing flowers.
Wait…I gotta work.
I get up. Puppy immediately is bored by his own toys.
I put the puppy into the crate with a yummy chew chew just to get it entertained for a few minutes.
Puppy starts to bark. Bark bark. Bark bark bark.
I look. Puppy puts on “I am so cute, how could you do this to me” face and has baby eyes.
I give in and take the dog to the park.

The end of the story? Forget work, get a puppy and be a happy girl in the park. Or so….

Here you can see the first dress I recently sewed.
It has elastic bands for a good fit and still needs to be printed with illustrations.
I especially like this kind of dress for hot summer days. It automatically looks sweet and lovely, hides little tummies loaded with ice cream and has a very female touch.

Plus one can be really artistic….
Maybe I put a fake moustache on the end of the bias binding next time

Tomorrow I will buy the colors for the print and do a little experimenting.

Hmm, I also think we have been quite lucky to catch a day full of sunshine. Seems like May isn´t what it used to be.
Rain rain rain.

Hello guys,

last weekend we enjoyed some public music at our neighbourhood and we especially looked forward to one of the bands on the last day called > “Garish”. While they played their melodios music with a teaspoon of melancholy, I took my cam to take a fast panorama shot of this public scenery and despite of the bad 8pm lightning I think it shows the mood of all the different assembled people

the event: popfest.at

I know it’s late, but finally here are some impressions of a small choosen group of fashion designers which are an inspiration for us.

First of all we have to say a big wow to the organizers and hosts of the event.
For the eighth time Cloed Priscilla Baumgartner and Jasmin Ladenhaufen put a lot of sweat and time into the show.

Here you can see exhibition architecture, a two-floor walk-in show palace with stages.
It has been conceived by  Andi Lackner and the crew of perfect props and  is simply amazing.

We thought the km/a collection was very extraordinary, but still wearable.
It is a nice mixture of punk and sailor and surely a lot of work.

Birgit Rampula from Amateur La Boutique joined the Modepalast for the third time
and said that it was simply great to be there.
You will be able to read a bit more about her soon.

We especially liked the idea of Junikind´s multi-purposed clothes.
As you can see there are several ways to wear this dress/skirt/top.
The fabrics are awesome, using restrained and pretty floral patterns.

And oh yeah, a Yellow Submarine skirt. The perfect wedding dress, I guess
Many more of these crazy clothes can be found at Piratin.

All in all one can see that there is a lot of organisation and work at the Modepalast.

Even though it was said that people should not recognize the difference between green and normal labels, we would have liked to see some kind of mark.
Thinking green is a better way for the future and it should be visible.
The thought of “green is different in a weird way” will not vanish through hiding it.
Still one has to say that focusing on green labels inside of the fashion territory is not a common thing and therefor good to do.

For any further information visit www.modepalast.com

Because I like this business-card photos on ffffound, behance etc here we are: photos taken on silver-reflecting paper with a little photoshop post processing.