Easter holiday

Back in milan after a lovely Easter week in Sweden, When we left we had just had a heatwave and walked around without coats, so It was quite a shock to come to the snowy north of Sweden. But it was great to have some proper snow, and to be able to go skiing. It has been a busy week since we came back, reopening and restocking my shop, and filling orders accumulated during easter. But now it is open and fully stocked :)

Today I got some black and white polkadot oilcloth to make place mats from. I was tired of washing and ironing my old linen ones, so I decided to make some I just have to wipe off when they get dirty. OK, the linen ones are nicer, but from now on, they will be for special occasions only. I really hate ironing. And they were really easy to make too :) They look nice don't they?

Deeply Royal

I just saw this gorgeous treasury, featuring Kato and the white hungry cat iPhone case. Curated by Sarah at Remedynz. 

Clickable version is here:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTMxOTMyNzB8MjQ4NTc2OTA3OQ/deeply-royal

Waiting for the bus like a Swede...

My son showed me this on Reddit. Hahaha. There is actually some truth to it, and then once the bus comes they probably sit as far from each other as possible. Here in Milan, people are to busy socializing to queue up, and when the tram comes, everybody is surprised and there is a mad scramble for the doors. I seem to always have the weirdest conversations on the tram. Yesterday I was late for a meeting, and the driver was really slow, missing every single green light. The lady next to me started explaining me that it was because Jesus stopped loving us. And the proof of that (apart from the tram getting stuck at every red light) was the cold snap we are having, the economic crisis and all earthquakes. Despite the late tram, I made it on time to the meeting, so maybe Jesus loves me a little bit after all :) Happy Friday everyone!

Happy Valentine's day!

Though I am not a big fan of valentine's day, or all heart's day (alla hjärtans dag) as it is called in Sweden, I felt I had to get into the spirit and send you a virtual cute little valentine's card. (In fact I am not a big fan of February at all, let's just get it over with and have some spring instead.) Anyway here it is, from me to you, with love.
XO XO
Helena

A very cold but beautiful weekend

I spent a few days in Venice, and it was beautiful. In a way it is much nicer in the winter, without the crowds. The carnevale started this weekend, so of course there were a few tourists, but not too many. We  toasted to the carnevale with mulled vine at the fontana di vino on Piazza san marco, had some really nice meals, and lots of stops for hot cocoa and tea. There were not that many people dressed up, maybe it was too cold, or they are waiting for next weekend.

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Already February

Please forgive me, for being such a useless blogger, it's already February, (where did January go?) and I have not written anything here since halloween. Anyway, here I am again.
Christmas was spent in Sweden, and new year in London, with friends, family, lots of good food and some sightseeing. In January I was busy with my shop, it is really going well :D And today, February 1st, we finally have some snow here in Milan. Not a lot, but it is still snowing, hopefully it will stay a few days.

Halloween

Being a Swede, I never celebrated halloween when I grew up, the only time we got to dress up was at easter when we dressed up as witches, and pretended to go to "Blåkulla" a tiny island on the west coast of Sweden, where the witches go on maundy thursday to have a party. It was a bit similar to halloween, since you went to the neighbors to beg for candy, but only witches could join in, and the dress-up was just borrowing an old skirt of you mother and paint red dots on your cheeks.

Then, when the kids were little, in Italy, in February, there was carnivale, that was much more fun. They could dress up as anything they wanted, and went to the village square to throw confetti and show off their costumes, with hordes of other little princesses and action heroes.  My kids now goes to an american school here in Milan, so I realize that halloween is a big deal. There will be a huge party, and everything is really spooky. I wanted to do something "halloweenish" in my Etsy shop, so I decided the hungry cats are going trick or treating. This year they are going as a ghosts. I even made special halloween spooky black cat packaging.

Hungry Cat, Halloween edition

Spooky Halloween packaging

Simba, not very impressed

My son, at Carnevale, many years ago

Sicilian Inspiration

I am back from a lovely few days in the south of Italy. I fell in love with Sicily, Catania must be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Amazing baroque architecture, wonderful food, and friendly people. There was even an angel looking down on us from the ceiling above our bed.

Goats cheese, pesto and cherry tomato lasagna

One of the great things about living in italy is the food, maybe because food is so important to Italians, the quality and selection of groceries is amazing, and so much cheaper than both Japan and Sweden. In my little street alone, I have three fruit and veg stores and two bakeries.

We had friends over today, and I made this lasagna, it was the best lasagna I ever made, so I just have to share it. Trust me, If you try this you will not be disappointed. I wish I had some leftovers but it was too good, all finished.

Ingredients for 4

• 150g fresh pasta lasagne sheets (If you can't find fresh pasta lasagne sheet, use the dry ones, check if it need precooking though)
• 200 g caprino, which is italian for fresh goats cheese. Maybe you can't find that outside Italy, but French fresh goats cheese would work as well.
• 5 dl of béchamel sauce. I use the ready made one they sell here, but you could use any recipe for béchamel sauce.
• A few table spoons of dry white wine. (If you happen to have a bottle open, if not it is good without the wine as well)
• 2 table spoons pesto. (If you are ambitious, make your own from basil pine nuts and olive oil, or just use the one you buy in a jar)
• 200g cherry tomatoes, In italy they have a kind called Datterino, little oval tomatoes which I love, but any cherry tomato would work.
• Salt
• Olive oil, one or two table spoons
• Grated parmesan cheese

Cut the cherry tomatoes in two and fry them for 10 minutes in the olive oil. Use a larger pot, since the rest of the ingredients will be added later. Add the béchamel sauce, the pesto, the wine and the caprino (goats cheese), stir until it is all mixed. Add salt to taste.

Smear some olive oil in a casserole, add a layer of lasagne sheets. Spread a layer of sauce on top. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese. Repeat you are out of sauce and lasagna sheet. The last layer should be sauce, sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese. Bake for half an hour or until it looks done in 200 degrees Celsius.

Biennale

As I promised, here are some photos from the Biennale di Venezia. It is so big, so we saw nowhere near all of it, I will go back and see more after the summer. This year 89 countries participated, so it takes more than a few days to see it all. Next to our house, was the Bangladesh exhibition, and they had an amazing bar in the courtyard, with live music at night and sand on the floor, that was fun too.

Kiss

The doorman is taking care of my hungry cats this weekend. I hope they behave :) I am going back to Milan tomorrow night, today I went to the Giardini part of the Venice art biennale, and tomorrow, I plan to go to the Arsenale. In Giardini, countries have their own pavillion, in Arsenale, there are artists from different countries. So far I have really enjoyed it, I will post some photos once I get back to Milan.

Friday night in Venice

I am spending the weekend in my favourite city, Venice. I took these when we walked home from dinner. So happy to be here!

Uh-Oh

Here is another fabulous collection, Thanks so much Zdrop for including one of my hungry cats!

Prada inspiration

I walked by Prada in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele the other day, and had to share this. Those quirky 60s style dresses with the dropped waist and graphic mondrian feel together with those adorable red shoes and the clutches, Amazing! Somehow Miuccia Prada always manages to renew the collection, and still keep the classic "Prada" feel. There is a Prada outlet in a small village outside Firenze, I will most definitely have to go there and see if I can find any bargains.

What do you think, do you like this 2011-2012 collection?

(photo taken with my iphone)

Another collection of cats

And I had to share this one as well, the last one in the the third row could be my Simba, love that print :)

Black and White

I love the treasuries on Etsy. Today my hungry cat pencil zip was in this nice black and white treasury. Thank you Huiyi!