Beautiful chaos.

Graanmarkt 13 is a boutique which houses stylish high-end fashion, curious design objects and collectibles. Items that inspire and feel like coming home, carefully selected by Graanmarkt 13, run by old mutual friends of mine, Tim and Ilse.

Graamarkt 13 also houses a restaurant run by Seppe Nobels who learned his trade in the kitchens of top chefs such as Gianni Brunelli (Osteria le Logge, Siena) and Wout Bru (Chez Bru, Eygalières). He takes the honest, regional cuisine to a higher level and was voted ‘best junior chef in Belgium’ in 2005.

In collaboration with Bart Belmans, Seppe turned all available space of Graanmarkt 13’s garden and rooftops into a genuine city garden. Turning it into a small-scale nursery-garden growing herbs, wild plants and forgotten vegetables.

Vegetables grow happily in the garden of Graanmarkt 13 while herbs stretch towards the light on the roof terrace. Their own bees provide heavenly honey and the optimal pollination of their kitchen garden. What they can’t grow themselves, they get from close by: fish from the North Sea, meat from carefully selected farmers in the local area. Their farmers raise their animals outdoors with a commitment for high quality and healthy foods.

In fact the city-garden barely qualifies for the term since its agricultural area encompasses as much as 40 m2. At first sight, this does not seem much, but it is sufficient to harvest part of the season’s herbs and vegetables for Seppe’s dishes.
In it you’ll even find several themes: a Mediterranean garden, a sea-garden, a vegetable- and fruit-garden, and onion-garden and a shadow-garden. Go for a three course lunch while shopping!

Hide and seek.

During one of my recurring work trips I happened to end up in Antwerp, Belgium for an overnight stay. Instead of rushing back to Amsterdam my boyfriend and I decided to stay for a romantic evening in Antwerp. And so I happend to end up spending a night in one of the most charming bed & breakfast’s of Antwerp Boulevard Leopold .

A beautiful house dating from the 19th century in the middle of the Jewish quarter of Antwerp. Owned by Bert Verschueren and Vincent Defontainers, Boulevard Leopold is located between the Albert Park and the City Park; the owners say their aim in the interiors was to create a sense of “forgotten glory.”

With three regular rooms for rent and two larger apartments available on longer terms, the B&B, built in 1890, features a mix of intact antique and contemporary design Hardware from that period throughout the entire B&B.

One fine line comes up while staying there “the eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” Henri Bergson (French Philosopher, 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1859-1941)

Some special things you should look out for when staying there:

A tabletop adorned with cloche-covered hydrangeas and black candles in crystal.

A black-stained cabinet of curiosities covered with a mix of old books, antique crucifixes, and animal specimen.

A bathroom with tiles from 1900 in one of the two apartments available for long-term lease.

And last but not least the jungle-like dining room where the B&B serves residents breakfast; for those not staying at Boulevard Leopold, breakfast is still available for €10. When staying there I would really recommend room number 01!

Preserving.

One of my favourite magazines Kinfolk and one of my favourite denim brands, Citizens of Humanity partner up for Kinfolk’s September event!

This month Kinfolk reader’s gather to celebrate the end-of-season harvest and to preserve summer’s bounty to be enjoyed for the rest of the year. Whether planning to fully explore traditional canning methods, or sticking to simpler pickling and fridge preserving methods, they encourage everyone to get their hands good and messy in the process.

This gathering invites you to leave behind the frenzy of daily life and to leave behind busyness and distraction, at least for a few hours. Join with other novice canners and picklers to fully embrace the joy of learning a new skill, and stocking your pantry for the season ahead. “For the first years of my life, there was a series, every summer, of short but violently active cannings. Crates and baskets and lug-boxes of fruits in their prime and at their cheapest would lie waiting with opulent fragrance on the screened porch, and a whole battery of enameled pots and ladles and wide-mouthed funnels would appear from some dark cupboard. ” –MFK Fisher

Photo by Trinette Reed & Chris Gramly

Venue: Worldwide locations

Babylon.

At Babylon Beachclub you can recline on sun beds, overlooking the Mediterranean or happily sit in the shade of the Chiringuito relishing a seasonal menu of fresh produce sourced from Babylon’s own organic farm. Enter through towering bronzed doors to the tented Restaurant. Children laugh with delight in the enclosed eco adventure playground, where they can play to their hearts content allowing everyone else to take in a deep breath and relax.

Serving a seasonal menu and daily specials sourced directly from Babylon’s own farm. Ca’n Pere Mussona is Ibiza’s first certified ecological livestock farm. Babylon Beach sources the majority of the menu’s fresh produce from this collaborative project. The farm is dedicated to animal welfare and provides a clean and healthy life for all the animals in its care. Ca’n Pere Mussona works closely with the University of Cordoba on a unique breeding program designed to regenerate endangered breeds native to the Balearic Islands. Its pristine farm kitchen and vegetable garden provides a tranquil and inspiring environment for Babylon’s chefs to create, invent and test their dishes.

At Babylon they are very happy to cook many items from their menu in a wonderful Inka oven. A combination of both grill and oven in one, which works with charcoal and wood, sealing, smoking, grilling and roasting at high temperature which allows their chef to grill and roast without baking the food. The result is a best described as delicious, with a unique texture and juiciness. Using 40% less charcoal consumption that a usual grill this eco friendly oven is enclosed therefore reducing the flames and prevents the food drying or burning. Love this place!

Goop.

One of my favourite sites (incl. app) is actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s goop

Gwyneth started goop in the fall of 2008 to share all of life’s positives. From creating a delicious recipe to finding a perfect dress for spring, Gwyneth began curating the best of lifestyle to help her readers save time, simplify and feel inspired. Determined to publish a genuine and resourceful issue each week, for many, goop has become their most trusted girlfriend on the web.

Goop has since grown into an eminent lifestyle publication, dedicated to informing and positively inspiring its audience. Goop gives readers exclusive access to recipes, travel guides, fashion, wellness tips, cultural notes and more. Incorporating the knowledge of expert contributors and tastemakers, along with our own editorial eye and uncompromising style, issues are delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday.

An indispensable resource for all like me who love to make, go, get, do, be and see.

Wild west.

I love Cowboy Boots and so does TONY MORA. For nearly 100 years they have been producing the famous TONY MORA cowboy boots.Through the years they have been developing new styles and fits and now are one of the world’s top cowboy boot manufacturer.

Their boots are made of high quality leather and natural materials such as python skin, alligator skin, ostrich skin or shark skin. Leather, linings, soles and heels: Each part of a TONY MORA cowboy boot is made out of top quality.

They employ the best Majorcan craftsmen shoemakers who carry out more than one hundred operations on each pair of TONY MORA boots to make them perfect. In addition they employ the Cowboy GoodYear System, which has made their boots so famous. That means the boots have double stitchings that guarantee maximum quality for a lifetime.

This small family business is committed to protect nature and the environment, thus the products are subject to rigorous control. Making sure, that all skins are from farmed animals so the wilderness is left intact. Every pair of boots carries a farm certificate.

I bought my pair at their fabric & outlet where you can hunt for special one off pieces as we did!

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My TUMBLR

Beer Chicken.

There’s quite a bit of lore surrounding beer-can chicken, and for good reason. Just look at that burnished mahogany bird. The steam from the brew flavors the meat and keeps it moist. The can props the chicken up, so it roasts evenly—no scorching, no flipping, no stressing.

Ingredients
1 can light lager
1 3 1/2–4-lb. chicken

Special equipment
A foil baking pan (for drip pan)

Preparation
Pour out (or drink) half of beer.
Prepare grill for high, indirect heat and fit with grill pan (for a charcoal grill, bank coals on 1 side of grill and put drip pan on empty side; for a gas grill, leave 1 burner turned off and place drip pan over unlit burner). Add water to pan to a depth of 1/2 inch. Place cavity of chicken, legs pointing down, onto open can so that it supports chicken upright. Place can, with chicken, on grill over indirect heat (and above drip pan). Grill chicken, covered, until cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of thigh registers 165°, 45–60 minutes. (If using charcoal, you may need to add more to maintain heat.) Let chicken rest 10 minutes before carving. Serve with pan drippings.

* Wing tip *
Use a can opener to remove the entire top of the beer can (pour out half). It’ll maximize the boozy vapors that make it to the chicken.

DECORATING WITH WASHI TAPE.

I found a really nice post on how to decorate your interior with washi tape

Here are some inspiring examples on how to DIY that I really liked!

Life is a beach.