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Some more things to come. Last year was so packed...

Moleskine Passion Journal: Food

Okay... so Moleskine decided some years ago that people like me who adore Moleskine journals should spend even more money and created a new line: The passion journals.
These things kill me!
It's not like I am getting grabby hands with every special edition but I regulary use a Moleskine for notes, sketches and meeting doodles (and pretty much everything else) and "burn up" 1 per year. These look odd since my journals don't tend to be super artsy but.... actually only there for keeping my notes neatly in 1 place.

Anyways, the food journal definitely made my heart flutter. I hate the normal looking recipe DIY books and most layouts are either not detailled enough or too cluttered. Moleskine created a tiny thing of awesomeness. And I'm happy I got mine last week.

 That's how it looks on the outside- the usual fake leather is embossed and gives at least a hint about the pretty things inside. I mulled over the decision of customizing it but in the end it will stay like that. Or get a foil cover... still undecided.

 And that's how it looks inside... at least in my journal.

  I tend to switch between languages (why translate if you know what it means?) and doodling vs photos I made beforehand. I guess nobody will be able to read it properly except me. I decided to include only recipes I already made and approved. You know these recipe books where you find on 100 pages only 2 recipes you really love? Yes, pure frustration (I have a lot of these books...argh). So my book will stay frustration free.

 At the moment I'm still trying to gather everything I made over the last couples of years. Cooking on a daily base means: lots of recipes. The good thing is: I tracked every bloody day. So it's easy to "reconstruct" mostly everything. We still have to check a lot of photos I made since usually my hubby is my guinea pig and can hopefully remember the ones he liked.

 The only downside of the journal: The pages are soo thin. I really wanted to use color but marker will 100%ly bleed through and my pencils might be too hard for the surface. At the moment I stick to my Slicci pen but the ink is pretty much a disaster because it tends to fade and even the thin gel liner creeps through the page.

One of the ups: You have a double pouch in the back. If you have any recipes you simply want to store or stickers, labels, notes: That's your place. And there's plenty of it!

The food journal comes with different stickers and labels I might or might not use. I think an unhappy face won't make it into the book but some things might come in handy.

You can check all the different Passion variants on the official Moleskine page. Enjoy!

Christmas impressions...

I know I should post more art but the last days week was loaded with preparations for Christmas and driving around a lot since neither my in-laws nor my parents happen to live in Berlin.

 Morning at the border to Poland. Seriously I can't remember having seen such a wonderful dawn on Christmas morning. It was pretty amazing.

Preparations for the dinner are in my parents' household always... kinda nightmarish. If you ever had the chance (or bad luck) to grate fresh horseradish -and I mean garden fresh- you know how bad I want to avoid having horseradish duty. These stinkers are literally deadly. The smell and essence clog your lungs, sting in your eyes and make breathing so hard you just want to throw it out the window.

 The culprit.... I hate the horseradish a lot but dang, freshly prepared it tastes thousand times better than anything from the supermarket.

 Nature at it's best. Quail's eggs- nearly too beautiful to eat.We did it anyway... ._.

 

Oh it sparkles! My dad didn't like my glitter decoration that much but hey, if you leave tree decoration to a girl you have to prepare for glitter. At least this year no pink... :D

And here comes something we got this morning...

 

 A little package from the Czech Republic. :3 A big thanks to Danilo for the cookies and the little figurine. :D The figurine got tucked away into the side board and spooks all the Kulla figurines I got over the years.

We also got a cute christmas card from Marina. I feel bad I didn't manage to get my card printed but next year.... hopefully... meh! I should start earlier- the last minute jobs always kill the time frame for getting things done on time.

 

 And last but not least... a culinary adventure. I started preparing vanilla essence.

 

 After 24 hours it's so dark I had no idea how to get a proper shot. It will darken even more over the next days and hopefully in two weeks I have 1.3 litres vanilla essence which... might even last a year. 

If you wonder how it's done:

Vanilla essence instructions

The recipe is in German- if you still want to try it and the automatic translation confuses you let me know. The preparation is really simple.:D

I already wish you a Happy New Year and hope you'll have an amazing 2014.

Oh December...

... and I still haven't managed to get all presents for Christmas. I guess we'll do last minute packing with awfulsome help of the cats who tend to be more or less pretty unhelpful.

I had some strange weeks. A lot of stuff's going on at work and though I thought the end of the year would be totally relaxing... it's not. Dang. I always wonder why this year was/is so strange.


But... things to look forward: January will be a month I like. I already know... since the Nürnberg board game fair is coming up and I busted my booty for it and I hope people will love the games. Ha!

Winter does something strange to me: I turn into a soup monster. I think I cooked 7 different soups in the last 7 days and I'm still not fed up with... soup. Gods, I love these. So many options. Having somebody at home who mostly eats everything (except the really wonky tests- Azuki beans... we both hate you) helps a lot.

Don't think I can post something without the cats. Today's weird cat picture....

Why do cats like freshly used sport clothes so much? Tretel's love for sweaty clothes is simply disgusting but since Hantje turns into a purring jellyblob when she finds a stinkin' shirt I can't point fingers at him. It's weird. Seriously. Our dog loved to roll around in cow patties and the cats crawl into the sports bag stinking like rotten eggs (thermal water- it smells strongly like sulfur). Sometimes I have no idea if I should be offended or laughing.

 Aaaand a new mug motive with Kulla. Didn't forget my little bunny girl. Especially since she'll turn 10 next year. Already. Oh noes.

You can find the illustration here on Deviantart if you want to have a closer look. I'm a bit depressed I still haven't done the fourth book but at least one children's book will be out next year... even if it's not for Tokyopop. And not even in Germany. Well, not really depressed about that part but I promise more bunny illustrations next year.

Just 1 1/2 pages left....

I'm tired and happy.... just one and a half illustrations left of the huge mountain I did in the last couple of weeks (over 85 illustrations alltogether in the last months...). What you see is a little details of one page. Signature clouds. No book without curly fluff on the heaven. :D It looks better when you have the complete page though...
I'm so looking forward to finish the last bunch and cross the last batch from my to-do list. The last X is always the most satisfying one.

I still have two interesting projects in December but one is more or less huge fun (Wendy... if you read this... yes, it's your stuff)  and the rest of the free time will spend with the things I love most: my hubby, family, lotsa reading, cooking galore for friends and sports (which I actually miss like hell... ). Oh December, I so am looking forward to seeing you on the calendar. :D

How do you know it's getting cold?

Hantje's favourite place in winter: The heater. It means less warmth for us but I think she pretty much couldn't care less if the fellows are freezing or not. I still have the usual problem with the room: In summer too hot, in winter too cold. Meaing I'm sitting with one of my hubby's cardigans, wool socks, a scarf and tea and still freezing fingers here while typing. Whereas Hantje is toasted on the heater. Sometimes I wish I could curl up on the heater as well. Duh.

 And that's how I know where Hantje is.... the omnious blob. She uses the curtain as a hammock. Clever girl. I'd be really happy if she also understood the room has two doors and you don't have to mew on the closed one and scratch for hours if the other one is open. Cat's logic, I guess.

Tretel is occupying the cat's bed next to my screens- still a pretty boy and still bat shit lazy. I took away his Slim Ball and he started pouting instantly. I love his love for the ball but seriously... if he kicks it constantly against my computer as if that'd make Dreamies apaer inside out of nowhere it's annoying. He doesn't understand the problem.
If you have a cat who tends to inhale food: Try the ball.
I only use the SlimCat for Tretel's Dreamies since he has a pretty unhealthy obsession with these but if your cat's crazy about kibbles and won't stop eating till it comes backwards: Try the ball. Really! It costs less than having to deal with the medical problems of a totally overweight cat and is easy to clean.
I tried different systems and boards but the ball's still the best and he's entertained for around 30 minutes and keeps moving around if I set the ball to the hardest level (lot of rolling around).

Leggy

While cursing over stones and sandy landscapes and finally getting pretty sick of orange tones I'd like to show you these:

It's leggins with "Cloudy"- an old illustration of mine but still.... beautiful on legs. I hope I get mine in December and it's not too cold to wear these. :D

You can find all current products I offer on ArtOfWhere here: Click Me!
Let me know if you miss anything. I'll take care of it as soon as I can.

I will add some snuggly scarf designs in December when I have some more time. Currently I'm still working on one children's book (deadline next week... orz) and a manual for a board game we finished yesterday (deadline 29th.... double orz).