Oh,

soooooooooo nice:

Find the article in Freshome on this gorgeous Spanish island home.

ZoFA



ZoFA



It all started in 2009 when Elīna Dobele was on her maternity leave. Being an architect she decided to become a footwear designer. And it was a good decision. With a help of a shoemaker and her business partner later on - Andrejs Ivanovs and their support team they started making footwear which was marching under the strange name ZoFA (originally it was invented for a club which Elīna and her husband never established).

ZoFA's footwear is unique because of the possiblility to make an individual order choosing different fabrics on the bases of the models within the collection. Elīna is testing the materials used for the shoes herself exposing them to different extreme conditions.

Recently ZoFA has won the competition "International Young Design Entrepreneur Award 2011" organized by the British Council. ZoFA was recognized as the best young entrepreneur in Latvia in the field of fashion and design.

ZoFA

Check out ZoFA's website to see their lovely creations. Wishing all the success and a lot of inspiration coming their way!

Positivus

Well, boys and girls, I am off to Positivus music festival 2011 :) Don't wait up because it is taking place for two days. My favourites for tonight - Hurt and Editors will rock the big stage, tomorrow James (second time around in Positivus) and RÖYKSOPP, but I also hope to discover many more in the process.

This is the 5th year in a row for Positivus music festival which takes place in Salacgrīva, Latvia, by the seaside and has become a huge success not only among Baltic countries but also in the context of the European music world. It has hosted such names as Moby, Stereophonics, Badly Drawn Boy, Travis, Manic Street Preachers, Fatboy Slim, Pete Doherty and Muse over the years but this year's programme you can check out here: http://www.positivusfestival.com/en.  

Some insight of the music in 2011 festival:

Checklist:

flip flops

shorts

bikini

wellies

raincoat

warm cardigan

sunscreen

good mood



The song of the day

Chocolate muffins

My friend Anna got me hooked on baking muffins. As I am a chocolate fan of course I would stick to baking chocolate muffins mainly :) I have tried different recipes and different ways of one recipe. It is never the same but the aim is heading towards perfection. So here is the result and below also the recipe I try to follow adding or reducing the proportions of the ingredients each time as the trick about the batter is not to make it too wet nor too dry.

 Chocolate muffins' recipe
(for approx. 24 muffins)

• 200 g of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 200 ml of sour cream or Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons of cream or a pat of  butter
• 200 g of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar
• 150 g of Cote D'Or dark chocolate spreadable paste (I have tried it with Nutella as well, was not that good) or melt a dark chocolate bar yourself

Mix all the ingredients in this order, put the batter in the forms (I use the silicone ones), make them half full because the batter will rise, warm a stove at 180°C and bake the muffins for 20-25 min. Use a toothpick to see if they are ready - if it comes out clean muffins are ready. Then turn off the stove and let the muffins stay there for some more minutes.

This time I tried to make the icing - melted some butter, added the same Cote D'Or dark chocolate spreadable paste and sugar but as that was pure improvisation I don't know the proportions, sorry, you will have to try it out yourselves :) If you want to apply it in thicker layer wait while it cools a bit and then apply on the muffins, if you want a thin layer poor it on the top of the muffin while the icing is still very warm.

Well, that's it I guess. Labu apetīti! ;)