New! Lunch & Latte

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! How have you been? I would have loved to start this first post of 2015 on a positive note but as a lover of Paris I just had to start by saying that my thoughts have been with its people. In December we had the Sydney siege and then this tragedy in Paris last week. Like John Lennon, I'm a dreamer and the Paris peace rally gave me hope. As I write this, Lennon's 'Imagine' is playing in the background:

Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too,
Imagine all the people, Living life in peace…

~ · ~

In December I told you I was changing the blog and now it's time to welcome you to my "new" one, Lunch & Latte [update: in 2021 the name changed to Books & Latte]. Yes, I changed the name but saw no need for drastic layout changes. Before turning back to blogging I wanted to wait for my husband to finish building a farm table for me, to set the right mood from the start. I have been dreaming about this kind of table in the kitchen for some time and as it's custom-made it fits perfectly. It's rustic and has plenty of space for my laptop, notebooks and cookbooks - I'm grateful for having a man with carpentry skills. I will be using it to shoot still life and food photos, which leads me to the main change of the blog: from now on I will only post my own images, which means that I'm letting go of all the blog series. Posts will also be less frequent.

Edgar Degas, The Rehearsal, 1874, oil on canvas, p. 171 in
the book Masterworks by Iian Zaczek

Initially, my idea was to use only Pinterest for inspiring images from other sources, but I like scrolling down a page with larger images, and I knew part of me would miss the old way of blogging, so I recently launched a Tumblr page for Lunch & Latte. There you will find images I normally would have shared on the blog, but without a blog text; only a short description and photo credit.

I thought to myself that many of my loyal readers perhaps don't use Pinterest, and maybe some of you, like me, would miss scrolling down a page with larger images of beautifully designed and styled interiors and such things. Hopefully my Tumblr page will be a compensation for those who visited my blog for exactly that reason. I have already posted quite a batch of photos there, so it wouldn't feel empty when I shared it (see the archive page). How often and when I post images on Tumblr will just depend on my mood, it's just something to enjoy with my latte.

So, what will I be featuring on the blog? This "first post" is intended to set the mood and show you the table. Some blog posts will be about sharing what I'm up to in the kitchen, the things or the food on my table. Some days I might share something inspiring from the books I'm reading (hint: interiors, styling, art) or the magazines I'm leafing through (I'm about to subscribe to The World of Interiors, mainly for the stunning textiles). On other days I might share with you what I'm cooking or baking, the recipe I'm creating at that moment and what inspired it (a novel I read inspired one of the latest ones). To make things easier, I will no longer be updating the food blog (I only updated it twice last year!), I will just post the recipe here when I share one.

I have enrolled in an online architecture course that starts soon and maybe I will talk something about it (no, I'm not getting a degree, someone else is destined to become the future's Le Corbusier or Frank Lloyd Wright). When spring arrives I will be strolling or bicycling with my camera, capturing the gorgeous cherry trees and magnolias in bloom. This will be my first spring in South Yorkshire! Ahem, perhaps the only one given how frequently we seem to relocate! (Honey, let's just hang on to those boxes, shall we?). I'm probably forgetting something … oh yes, the Icelandic cookbook I edited for my friend will be published this year! In fact, I'm currently reading the final draft. We have already seen samples of the layout and the book will be beautiful. I cannot wait to hold it in my hands and share it with you.

In a way I don't really have any nailed down plans for the blog, I just want to embrace this new way of blogging and see where it takes me. Finally, thank you for your visits through the years. May the year 2015 bring you the blessing to spot and the courage to seize the opportunities that come your way! And remember, life is too short for anything but quality coffee!

PS. If some links don't work on the blog, just be patient, some things need to be updated. And for the Icelanders out there, I not only changed the name of the Icelandic blog version to Lestur & Latte, I also changed the link.

A road trip to Luxembourg City

Hello again, how have you been? During my blog break we took a spontaneous road trip to Luxembourg with a short stop in London. As soon as we drove into London, I realised how much I had missed it. By the Marble Arch my heart was beating faster and at Hyde Park Corner I felt a sense of thrill (the area is part of my London comfort zone). The London stop was way too short for my taste but in the evening, as I was standing on a deck of a ferry, breathing in the refreshing sea air and admiring the White Cliffs of Dover, I was feeling more than content.

Why the London-intro to a post on Luxembourg? Compared to my London excitement, arriving in Luxembourg after eight months away took me by surprise. As probably most of my blog readers know, Luxembourg was our home for more than a year and the move to the UK last November was done in a bit of haste. I didn't really have the time to say goodbye to the city. Without dwelling much on such thoughts I sometimes wondered if perhaps I wasn't quite done with Luxembourg, but as I walked its streets again - I could have done so blindfolded and still found my way - I realised that I was indeed done. I loved seeing the city again but there was nothing I was holding on to; if my destiny with Luxembourg was once entwined it had been disentangled.

I hope my tone of voice doesn't come off as negative. My old city, Luxembourg, is a place worth visiting and I would especially recommend it to those who enjoy city life but aren't fond of big and noisy cities. Luxembourg is small and quiet (probably boring for those seeking wild nightlife) and in the city centre, you not only have narrow cobblestone streets but also a beautiful landscape. You can walk down into the Pétrusse Valley and at certain points, you almost have to remind yourself that you are in a city.

My son and I went for a walk in the valley and ended our walk in the old quarter, Grund, where I took these photos before sitting down at a café. (See more photos of Luxembourg.) To me, this part always looks more like a set of a fairy tale than an actual place where people live. From what I have heard it is very expensive and mostly inhabited by foreigners, which I find rather sad. The fact is that Luxembourg has one of the most expensive housing markets in Europe. Even some of the foreigners working there, and some citizens, choose to live on the German, French, or Belgian side of the borders where housing is cheaper. We actually thought about doing that; we thought about moving from Antwerp, where we lived before, to a place in the south of Belgium. I'm glad we didn't and instead got to experience living in Luxembourg.

Textiles: The Whole Story by Beverly Gordon

The latest addition to my book selection is Textiles: The Whole Story: Uses, Meanings, Significance by Beverly Gordon (see bio), which came out in a paperback edition last summer (originally published 2011). It's 304 pages long, divided into six chapters with plenty of illustrations. When I opened my copy for the first time I found these words on page 4: 'For everyone everywhere who has fallen under the textile spell.' Loved that.

This post isn't a review, as I just got the book and haven't read it, yet, but after browsing through it to view the images I realised that I had a gem in my hands. I cannot wait to dive into it and get lost in the world of textiles.

This vibrantly illustrated book … is an original look at the myriad roles played by textiles in all aspects of human life, from ancient weavings to light-sensitive and other 'futuristic' fabrics of our own era. Beverly Gordon discusses how textiles are an integral part of the human life journey from cradle to grave in a multitude of practical, symbolic and spiritual ways … This book will captivate and inspire anyone who has a passion for textiles and textile arts, whether educational, creative or professional. (Book description on Book Depository)

images by me | credit: book cover and pages from Textiles: The Whole Story, published by Thames and Hudson via Amazon UK