Mix Master

One man, one floor, one mood

Torii on the street

Kyoto, Japan

Fly in peace

Copenhagen Airport

Walking into an airport with a suitcase in my hands and passport in the pocket is a wonderful feeling. I know that I am on my way to somewhere for new impressions or maybe to meet people I haven't seen for some time. In combination with the sight of airline logos above the check-in counters and the sound of the cold female voice announcing the last call for a flight to Beijing it sets me in a certain mood. This is where the romantic part of the story stops. The next second I see the long queues for check-in which reminds me of yet another queue for security check waiting for me after check-in. Once those two procedures are finished I walk into a terminal surrounded by people rushing to their flights and shops filled with tax-free hunters. Whether I will go on holiday or coming back for work this stressful experience is the last thing I want. What I want is a peaceful journey from the point I enter airport A to the point I step out of airport B. Yes, having access to various airline lounges will lessen the experienced stress just described but there is no express queue for security checks and passport gates in the terminal for first/business class travellers as I know. That is why I have begun to appreciate smaller airports. Having seen enough of the buzz of the big hubs I now just want a journey in peace, knowing that it is something I won't have much of in the city.

Winter fun

Rice village

Batad, Philippines

Rock city

Cappadocia, Turkey

Still life photography

Jay-Z album cover by Dan Tobin Smith. Image: onsmash.com

A closer examination of the picture will reveal that the three bars are not artificially added but painted on the actual objects. 

Image: onsmash.com

Recycling from another perspective

Motorbike fuel in recycled bottles on the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Are monks happy?

Monks walking in Fort Canning Park, Singapore

The idea of a vase

d.lab at Design Incubation Center, National University of Singapore.

Red wall

Deichtorhallen, Hamburg

Dog in a bag

Pop Life

Warhol's "Good business is the best art" is a statement that with all rights summarizes the exhibition Pop Life featuring artists like Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Keith Haring and of course Warhol himself. Navigating through the exhibition felt like walking through a comic book with a mixture of commercialism, individualism and controversy. It triggered thoughts and affection. As a result I walked out of the building with materialized pieces of Keith Haring.

Keith Haring inspired room

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

Takashi Murakami collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton

Takashi Murakami

On the river

Container ship on Elbe

Chai Tea

Chai tea is a heavily spiced tea. It's flavoured to the degree that it's more about spices than tea in my opinion. Nevertheless it's nice to have a cold day with milk and honey. 

The mix I bought shown in the photo contains: black tea, cinnamon, aniseed, ginger pieces, black pepper grains, cloves, cardamom seeds and whole cardamom.

Monarchy - Phoenix Alive

(A)symmetry - Hamburg

Chilehaus

HafenCity

Hauptkirche Sankt Michaelis

Street graphics - Hamburg

Seen on the streets of Hamburg.

Clubmaster

 Eye-catching

Lack of windows

Japan's oldest tea caddy maker - Kaikado

Kaikado [開化堂] has been making quality Japanese tea caddies since 1875. The first tea caddies were made in tin and today they are offered in copper and brass as well. As they age the metal will change colour which makes them a nice item to keep. Combined with the timeless design the tea caddies will probably be one of the longest lasting items in the kitchen.

Image: kaikado.jp

Aging stages of the three materials. Image: kaikado.jp

Image: kaikado.jp

Image: kaikado.jp

Steamed egg with blue mussels

For this dinner we planned to serve blue mussels raw. They didn't look very appetizing after taking them out of the shells. What we came up with was to steam it with egg. I have once before steamed egg with dried shrimps which was a nice combination, so a different seafood ingredient like blue mussel couldn't be too wrong. Other than blue mussels, chives and dashi stock was added to the egg before putting it into the steamer. The result was far better than imagined. More water or stock could have been added for more tender texture though.

Finished, steamed egg with blue mussels