Olsen Olsen

LONG TIME NO SEE

It’s been a while since I posted and it’s because I’ve been extremely busy. This is my last year in school and the oral exams are right around the corner. My first written exam was yesterday. I can’t wait until the 25^th of June when my last exam is over! You’ll not hear that much from me until then, but afterwards – when I’m a free bird – some good shit is coming up!

To the point! Last week I baked some cupcakes. They’re called Black Bottom Cupcakes and they’re reeeeeally great. I found the recipe on this blog. The cupcakes have a rich chocolate bottom, a cheesecake mixed top and a cream cheese frosting. They’re made for chocolate lovers. After I had eaten one I couldn’t eat more, so they’re pretty heavy, but in a good way. I made the cupcakes because it was the last day in school – like, forever! So I did 24 cupcakes, but the recipe is for 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients for chocolate bottom:
190 gr. of flour. 120 gr. of sugar. 40 gr. cocoa powder (plus extra for garnish). ½ teaspoon baking soda. 40 ml. of sunflower oil. 1 ½ teaspoon white wine vinegar. ½ teaspoon vanilla essence. 125 ml. of water.

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.
2. Sieve the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and baking soda in a bowl and mix well together.
3. In another bowl, whip white wine vinegar, oil, vanilla essence and water together.
4. Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture while whipping with a hand mixer. Continue to whip until it’s all blended (the mixture is quite thick)
5. Spread the mixture into 12 cupcake forms and put aside.

Ingredients for cheesecake filling:
140 gr. of cream cheese (for example, Philadelphia). 60 gr. of sugar. 1 egg. ½ teaspoon vanilla essence. 1 pinch of salt. 100 gr. chocolate buttons.

Method:
1. Whip the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla essence and salt together on medium speed. Whip until the mixture is soft and fluffy.
2. Mix the chocolate buttons, so they are evenly divided.
3. Spread the mixture into 12 cupcake forms and let them bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheesecake top is light golden.
4. Let the cupcakes cool completely before you decorate them with the frosting.

Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting:
300 gr. icing sugar, sieved. 50 gr. unsalted butter, room temperature. 125 gr. cream cheese, cold. 

Method:
1. Mix the icing sugar and the butter with a hand mixer until the mixture is mixed well and sticks together.
2. Add the cream cheese and mix until it sticks completely together. Whip at medium-high speed and whip until the frosting is light and airy, at least 5 min. But beware, do not over do it, because the frosting can easily become liquefied.
3. Divide the frosting on the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with cocoa powder through a sieve. Tada!
- Enjoy ♥

All pictures taken by me.

- Sunnvá

TV-time: Girls

After a whole day of studying I find it nice and rewarding to treat myself with an episode of the new show Girls! I think it’s funny, has a well written dialogue and is a bit more realistic than the other shows out there.

Tonight I won’t be watching an episode of Girls, but the last episode of House MD. House is actually my favourite show, which now has come to an end. Well, it can’t go on forever.

There will be a lot of studying the next couple of weeks - both Sunnvá and I have exams coming up, and are working hard. Therefore also a decline in blog-posts.

- Solveig

Do It Yourself - Bracelet

I had a bit of nylon string lying around, and I’ve seen all these DIY’s lately, so I went ahead and put my Home Ed knowledge to use. The string is bought at a hardware store called Silvan and you can also get it in green and yellow. It took me no more than 10 minutes to make the whole thing.
For this kind of braiding you need string which is the length of your underarm 7 times (approx), and a lighter to melt the ends of the string.


When you’re finished braiding, cut the ends up, take one end and twirl it around the bracelet, melt it so it sticks to the bracelet. Cut all but one end off, and use it as the closing mechanism. Repeat on the other side.

Voilà, the finished result!

- Solveig

Paul Davies

Davies combines two of my favourite things: architecture and art. He’s an Australian architecture and landscape painter and sculptor. When I saw these images I felt the same way I did when I read Generation X - this feeling of being part of a passive generation where the days go by and you can’t tell them apart. It made even more sense when I read this quote by Davies:

By creating my paintings devoid of people, “emptying” the swimming pools and “burning” the forests, I am attempting to convey this dislocation to the viewer and raise environmental concerns that face us today. - Via here

It’s not exactly what I would want hanging over the couch, but I like how the layers, colours and textures compliment each other, and the motifs are inspiring.

See and read more about Davies here

- Solveig

Berlin - Who, What, Where, part 2

Places:
Mauerpark: Mauerpark is a public park in the Prenzlauer Berg district. There’s a flea market on Sundays and it is said to be the biggest and best in town. It’s a popular place; we went there on a Sunday, and there were a lot of people and stuff to look at from both ‘professional’ and private sellers. Knút got a lot of interesting records (amongst others Donna Summer’s Love to Love You) and I got a leather backpack and a sweater, all for favourable prices. It was nice walking around looking for treasures among all the booths.
Berghain: One of the reasons why we chose our hotel was because of it’s proximity to Berghain. The building is a former power plant, now turned into a nightclub. There are two main dance floors, the main floor Berghain (hard core techno!) and Panorama Bar (also techno, but more house-vibe). There are no mirrors whatsoever and taking pictures is banned. We went there Saturday night and left in time for breakfast Sunday morning (there was still a line outside when we left!). It was amazing being there; it was like a parallel universe of thumping beats.

Food; around and about:
Dunkin Donuts: Because we can! There was a bit of a ‘The Simpson’s’-vibe whilst sitting and eating the doughnuts. They have a wide selection, and it was goood and indulgent. Only allowed when on vacation!
Haagen Dazs: This was Heaven! It was the best ice cream I’ve ever had. It was our last day and we wanted to say goodbye in style and did it with 2 scoops of ice cream with sprinkles and chocolate sauce. Yum!
Le Crobag: We had breakfast here 4 out of 5 days; easy and simple and right next to the hotel. Not a wide selection or healthy options, but it was OK, and they had coffee. They have good blueberry muffins.
Döner Kebab: One of Germany’s most popular fast food dishes (partly because of the large Turkish minority in Germany). The ones we bought weren’t so good, but Mustaphas Gemüse by Mehringdamm U-bahn comes highly recommended. We have to go there next time we visit Berlin.
Bratwurst, currywurst, sauerkraut: Traditional German food is typically pork. Bratwurst is a grilled or pan-fried sausage, usually served with sauerkraut which is finely shredded cabbage which has been fermented. Currywurst is steamed pork sausage cut into slices and seasoned with warm curry and chilli ketchup. You can get this around town, and Knút enjoyed it (I don’t eat pork).

Food; cafés and restaurants:
Anna Blume: We went there for brunch, and ordered the Special Brunch which is a three storey plate for two. On the first storey are sausages, cheese, and eggs; on the second vegetables and the third fruit. It is a relaxed and cosy place. For dessert we shared a piece of New York cheese cake, and it was good. All in all a lovely relaxed morning before sightseeing in Prenzlauer Berg.
Babel: Lebanese food at Kastanienallee 33. The place is small and I thought it looked a bit grubby, and if we hadn’t gotten it recommended we would probably go elsewhere, but I’m glad we didn’t. We ordered a Babel Platte which was a huge plate with vegetables, sauces and meat for 2. It was crazy good and very cheap.
Hasir: A Turkish restaurant in Kreuzberg. We had lam and vegetables with cream-sauce; after a while we found it a bit too much/rich with the cream sauce. The place was cosy and authentic, and the food was reasonably priced.

Stuff:
Schallplatten: We found a couple of good record-stores in Berlin. Knút was particularly fond of Oye-records and digging for gold at Mauerpark. Records are cheaper than in Denmark and the stores we went to all had a wide selection of dance oriented music. Our carry on luggage was filled with 17 new records on our way home!
Vintage: We passed a lot of vintage stores on our walks. The ones I found most interesting were located around Eberswalder Str. I didn’t really find anything, and the prices were in the higher end for my liking.
Graffiti: Take a look around and enjoy. Funny, quirky and interesting decorations all over the city. See my post about Berlin around and about here.
Turen går til Berlin: This is a really good guide-book. At first I was a bit sceptic about what kind of information you could get out of a book like this, but my scepticism was put to shame. Handy and helpful; it has the basic information you need to visit Berlin and gives an overview over the different sights in the different areas. A lot of good recommendations for places to eat.

Here’s a little video we recorded at Mauerpark: Knút happy about being in Berlin, his vinyl-finds and good food.

This was it for now from Berlin. You can read the first part here
I recommend you to read my boyfriends blog about Berlin here

- Solveig

Platters

Platters - not just something you eat of. Or especially not these ones from Meyer-Lavigne. Meyer-Lavigne is a Danish design duo who in 2010 created 50 different platters for the wall in collaboration with Royal Copenhagen.

The duo has also created these platters below which are decorated on recycled porcelain with hand cut and hand drawn motifs. Go recycling!
I’m intrigued by their graphic universe, and like how they spice ceramics up which often can be a static enterprising venture. Though I have to say that the last couple of years have been good for imaginative ceramics.

Visit Meyer-Levigne here

- Solveig

Elisabeth & James LOVE

The Elisabeth & James Textile Fall 2012 collection is just my thing. This is what I want to wear. Basic, skinny, knit and black/white/indigo/grey. See more images of the collection here

- Solveig