obika mozzarella bar

let me tell you about my passionate relationship with mozzarella. for years, i was sooo into it. i can vaguely remember the first time my parents served us the white cheese, probably with sliced tomatoes, a little basil and not much else. for a miserable cook like me, mozzarella has been a life saver on plenty occasions. there really isn't much that you can do wrong with it, so i got into the habit of putting it on top of everything - and i do mean everything - and then letting it melt a little bit in the oven.

obviously, after fifteen years or so, i got a little tired of mozzarella. as suddenly as it had appeared in my life, i banned it completely from my kitchen and my plate. i was tired of it, and had moved on to stinkier, greener cheeses. (for the record, nothing or no one will ever come between me and my love for cheese.)

then we moved to geneva, and lo and behold - the local supermarkets all carry this wonderful burrata version of mozzarella. it's gooeyer, and it has a slightly more sour taste, and it was love between me and mr mozzarella all over again. so when we were looking for a place to have dinner in milan and saw this obika mozzarella bar, we took place at its cozy bar table.

the food was amazing, obviously. and the atmosphere was warm and lively. there was a happy hour thing going on, but i was too distracted by the tanks filled with different mozzarellas to care. though i did take my eyes off them long enough to notice the interior wasn't too bad - i've come to expect a lot worse from milan, which on the whole hasn't too many hip places to eat. so, in short, though nothing about this rambly blog post is short, i'd definitely recommend this place.

p.s. - ugh, i just googled the place and it appears to be a chain of restaurants all over the world. i'm not usually into that, but hey, show me the mozzarella and i cave.

frentlife

i don't think we fit the typical description of expats - urban nomads sounds so much nicer anyway - but the fact of the matter is that we've up and moved our entire life to another country, choosing to live in an apartment about half the size of our previous home in antwerp. we've had to sell most of our furniture that we so painstakingly sought out and we had to store most of the rest.

and that is how we ended up with an entirely new interior that is 90% ikea. much love to the swedish furniture retailer, but we still need to meet the first person in geneva who does not have the exact same couch as we do. it's hard enough to find furniture that is small enough to fit the genevois interpretation of reasonable living space (imagine tiny, then go tinier), let alone furniture that is original or completely to your taste.

especially when you consider most of us in this city are 'in transit', effectively waiting for the moment to return home or trek to yet another country and city (we're hoping the latter will be our fate), it's hard to commit to your interior decorating. so when i learned about frentlife, i was intrigued.

the company leases furniture over a couple of years, after which the furniture either becomes yours or is donated to a good cause. so it's never second hand furniture - it's simply a way to spread out the cost of expensive purchases over a longer period in time. and it's really interesting if you're renting out an apartment (which we've had to do with our antwerp apartment) if you can rent it out with the furniture included.

last week we were invited to spend the night at the frentlife suite next to grand hotel reylof - a nice way to get familiar with the company. i was curious already and i never say no to an opportunity to spend some time in ghent. we had a really nice time and the apartment looked nice enough, though admittedly the furniture wasn't exactly my cup of tea. i loved the sofa though, and i discovered frentlife has different collections and styles to choose from, so not just the styles we saw in ghent.

it's an interesting idea and i love that apparently there's a market for such an innovative service in belgium. i really wish there'd have been something similar in geneva two years ago (it's been two years already!) but perhaps in a slightly younger or more scandinavian style. i mean, who wouldn't love to rent out an entire hay interior, right?

an eventful week

nope, still not getting any better at posing. not even when it's sien (of travel blog marilyn & josephine) or elisabeth ouni (of the supercool photography blog a polaroid story) who snap the shots. but i was happy they took the time to do so, because i really wanted to show off the prrrrretty clothes i borrowed for a week filled with events.

the first couple of pics were taken at the weekend blog awards, where i proudly watched 70percentpure take third place in the personal category. it was a fun night catching up with belgian friends over frozen yogurt and meeting lots of bloggers for the first time. you're a cool bunch y'all! sorry for blabbing to whomever was listening about the m missoni jacket i was wearing - i'm still not over how cool it is.

i was also invited to the launch of the surf shack collection by tommy hilfiger, which they celebrated by having ouni crawl into a surfer van, hang over the front seat and take polaroids of the guests. i could not pass up on an opportunity to finally get snapped by the queen of polaroids, and it was so fun to see people go wild over ouni's snapshots. rightfully so, if i may add. also, how rad is that msgm sweater i borrowed from verso? i'm so jealous of the girl who'll snap it up.

what else am i wearing? with the m missoni coat // dondup top // filippa k pants // converse all stars (the only shoes i had with me last week!) // vanessa bruno handbag and with the msgm sweater // madewell polkadot shirt // for all mankind jeans // yup, the all stars again // diamanti per tutti cuff (unfortunately not really visible on there, but it's this one)

datta

i luuuurve print. i make a living out of it and lord knows i invest a decent chunk of the money i earn back into the print industry. books, magazines, notepads, greeting cards - they're my favorite thing to buy in the world. so when i visit a city i haven't been to before, i always research whether they have cool book stores or magazine shops, perhaps even local publishers or artisan printers.

i also do this because they are usually the hotbeds for local pop culture, and that definitely is the case for lyon's datta shop and gallery. go there to discover local artists, to plunk down in their comfy leather chairs and leaf through beautiful photography tomes or to pick up your favorite international magazine.

aperos bordeaux

last week was a busy one. i left geneva for antwerp on monday a little distressed by the fact that i could only take carry-on luggage because of the swissport strike at brussels airport. i had three important meetings and four events to go to, and the only things i managed to pack were my all stars, a bunch of t-shirts and some underwear.

luckily i have the most amazing friends with the coolest jobs. sweet, sweet stephanie rosseel is pr officer at antwerp boutique verso and distributor fashion club 70, and she came to my rescue by borrowing me a bunch of cool clothes. i am in love with all of them and hated giving them back at the end of the week. i may or may not have started a hunt for the striped guess by marciano coat i wore to the first aperos bordeaux.

full disclosure - i am currently working with aperos bordeaux to represent the wines of the region to the belgian audience, by blogging for them and basically enjoying all of the cool events they are putting together. such as the aperos bordeaux - cool after work parties where you can taste some of bordeaux's best white wines. yes, i'm aware my job is the best.

the first aperos bordeaux took place in antwerp at bar soho, included a little wine-food pairing workshop which i attended with the beautiful, talented louise of thursday dinners (be sure to check out her totally awesome blog!) and a gig by belgium's favorite party band cookies & cream. the sun came out and it basically was the best time i've had on a wednesday in a long time. next one is on may 29 and i'll be there, so come and say hi!

at the aperos bordeaux i wore - guess by marciano striped coat // cheap monday skinny pants (they must be over a hundred years old and they're still good as new - they are amazing) // gap striped tee // converse all stars