new apartment = kitchen = recipe searching!

I’ve just moved to a new apartment in Beijing and am super excited to be out of the dorms and having my own kitchen! Perfect for the occasion are these 2 recipe sites: Yummly and Supercook, where you add ingredients or flavors you want (or have at hand) and the site will pull up recipes to fit […]

DWR: lighting

There’s something very interesting and modern about these partially handblown lights. I can’t pinpoint what it is that I like about them, perhaps it’s the organic shape or the interesting contrast of lamp flowing into itself…regardless, I want! Though the phallic-ness could get a bit disturbing after a while.. via DesignWithinReach

mittens

I know it’s the middle of summer and the last thing on our mind is cold hands, but these “ordinary mittens” are adorable and thoughtful! I’m not sure who makes them, but I love them! No worries about loosing your kids’ mittens and encourage them to hold your hand while crossing the street… simple and […]

an amazing view

Summer’s here and its family travel season! Spending time together is part of it, the other part is having and taking the time to see and explore a new place. How about a view from one of these places?? Looks incredible. Willis Tower Skydeck, Chicago, IL, USA Iguazu waterfall in Brazil Aurland, Norway See the […]

“a matter of taste”

Italian photographer Fulvio Bonavia has some amazing photographs compiled for his book “A Matter of Taste” combining fashion and food. Words won’t do it justice. Take a look at the photos, using food to create fashion accessories and products: via Toxel

street food feast for 2

Enough for 5…? or 6..?! My classmate and I were wandering for some street food and went a little overboard… hahaha, it was delicious! (And for RMB65: barbequed wings, peppers, lamb, and 2 vermicelli dishes, vegetable salad with mushrooms, and tripe). Our leftovers were given to a homeless man… 我和我的同学两个吃的晚饭在街上能给五, 六个吃!真的好玩儿也很好吃!

Shanghai Tang

If you don’t know about Shanghai Tang, (in addition to the Chinese translation of Shanghai’s Bund), it’s a high-end fashion brand that uses traditional Chinese design to influence it’s lifestyle and fashion products. Shanghai Tang is the first luxury brand emerging from China. Its design mission is to revitalise Chinese innovation and to interweave it with […]

Blow Sofa

A collapsable blow up sofa…cool concept, but a bit excessive with supports and accessories? The blow-up, minimalist concept is great! The reference to natural, recycled, packaging material is a bit of trend: The sofa is made from 100% recycled paper dunnage bags with a metal rack and rubber straps. It is easy to transport when flat and […]

trailer park hotel

Grand Daddy Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa rents out it’s penthouse as a trailer park. Teaming with Cape Town design studio Whatiftheworld, the hotel worked with local artists to decorate the 7 American Airstream trailers as two-person accommodations. The trailer park is situated around the hotel’s rooftop bar. In addition to the concepts from “The […]

Swiss Army BBQ utensil

Summer is BBQ season! This 3 in 1 fork, knife, spatula is a swiss-army knife for barbeques: It looks a bit clunky if you ask me with what looks like simply stamped Stainless Steel parts. I wonder how good it really works or if gunk will get stuck in the hinge from all the sauce […]

great logos have a message

This collection of logos at DevSnippets goes beyond typographic aesthetics; they successfully communicate a visual message about the company. Simply lovely designs! Check out some more via DevSnippets

IKEA as a family attraction

An LA Times article documents Beijingers’ visit to IKEA. Families drive hours to visit the famous IKEA store, but not because of the well designed, DIY assembly furniture. They’ve come to experience the lifestyle and enjoy themselves in an air-conditioned space, where purchasing something is not necessary and their kids can jump and play on the […]

melting LED lightbulbs

A subtle and poetic reminder of energy waste… (looks a bit like melting ice-cream too!.. maybe I’m just always thinking about food.) Each time you’d switch these melting LED bulb lamps on, you’d be reminded of the unnecessary energy being wasted, killing our fine world. Keita Ogawa’s concept isn’t available to buy yet, but is […]

material: gel-refrigerator

Wow! A cooling gel concept for Electrolux Design Lab 2010 that’s both visually and tactilely intriguing. The Bio Robot Refrigerator is four times smaller than a conventional refrigerator and cools biopolymer gel through luminescence. Rather than shelves, the non sticky, odourless gel morphs around products to create a separate pod that suspends items for easy access. Odorless, […]

Sushi Popper reinvents “sushi”

Sushi Popper, a mix between the Flinstone’s Push Up ice-cream and traditional Japanese rice snack, Onigiri. Onigiri, rice balls wrapped in seaweed with various (non-sushi) stuffings, are often sold in convenience stores for Japanese fast food eating. Looks like Sushi Popper has re-invented Japanese food for a mass market at $29.95 for a 6 pack. I […]

a trip to the hospital

Back in April, I was sick for a couple weeks and made myself go to the local hospital to get checked out. An interesting experience, with no one speaking English. Suffice to say, I still got prescriptions and have been happy and healthy since. A couple photos from my visit: The public hospital is incredibly […]

flickr uploads: Suzhou and Zhouzhuang (苏州和周庄)

Suzhou, known as the Venice of China is famous for its canals (many of which have now been filled in), but there are also many smaller towns around Suzhou also built on the canal system. Zhouzhuang is on of them. A true tourist destination, having to pay RMB$100 to even enter the town as a […]

flickr uploads: Hangzhou and West Lake (西湖, 杭州)

Definitely one of my favorite trips: Our trip to Hangzhou was oddly perfectly (un)planned… trying to save money on one nights lodging, we decided to take a slow train (7 hrs) and get sleepers on the train instead of taking the typical 3 hour ride from Nanjing to Hangzhou. We arrived Hangzhou at 4:30am… just […]