Ana Ventura and Little O

Portuguese Ana Ventura makes beautiful paper dolls, quirky prints and jewellery all of which I adore. While in Lisbon Monsieur B and I took the opportunity to meet the lovely Ana (and her gorgeous tiny daughter) for coffee, which then became a mini tour of interesting local stores, and then lunch in a below-street-level restaurant with un-matching furniture and amazingly delicious chocolate cake. After saying thankyou many times over (Ana you are so generous and kind!), we parted to continue our tour of the city, with strict instructions from Ana to visit Pasteis de Belem for the best Natas in town.

Lisbon, Portugal Pt 3

All the hill climbing makes us hungry for Natas pasteis, the little Portuguese custard tarts that stole my heart in Australia, but now here in Portugal nothing compares. Deeee-vine! Also chatted with local a lady who makes tiles with lovely traditional designs, (well Monsieur B did the talking, the clever man speaks Portuguese). We will order some for our new house, but oh how to decide which ones, they are all so pretty.

Lisbon, Portugal Pt 2

My holidays are generally structured around eating and sleeping, my two favorite past-times. In Portugal we found this fitted in very nicely with the local culture, the food being delicious and fresh and served in rather generous quantities, plus the hotel bed was supremely comfortable. Seafood was a major part of every menu, even the smaller local cafes, and generally served with mountains of rice or home-made fries, or both. I didn't hold back, I was on holidays after all!

Lisbon Love

Recovering from a wonderful holiday in Lisbon Portugal. We have heads full of delightful memories and a maxed-out camera carrying hundreds of photographs. Today, back home in Switzerland, it is a grey old day, pouring rain and about 10 degrees celcius. Perfect for staying inside, catching up on email and sorting through images of our really great holiday. I will be back soon with more...

The Last Gold

It's snowing on the mountains outside my window, making for a pretty white-capped view. We only had about two weeks of Autumn and KABOOM Winter arrived. The last of the golden leaves are falling, the supermarket is choc-full of Christmas deccos, and the signs are going up for toboggan and ice-skate rental. Monsieur B's brother has been working nights busily installing the town Christmas lights. Has anyone started organising Christmas presents yet?

Super Soup

Lately it's not just about the falling Autumn leaves, but also about pots of steaming soup. Super. Return of an old favorite that had slipped my mind, Tom Kah soup. Nice and spicy, warms the throat and the soul. Must stock up on the essentials for making more when the urge arrives. Like now!

Hello November

I see multitudes of lovely Autumn leaf photos on my daily blog reads at the moment, inspiring me to grab my camera and capture the prettiness that is happening around me in Geneva. But I only seem to have my camera handy on the grey days! Autumn arrived very suddenly, and generally passes with light speed, and the sunny days are few and far between. I hope we get another bright day before the trees are bare.
I went out for hot chocolate with my French class, which was originally planned as a historical tour, but was cut short when our fingers and toes started to go numb with cold.

Australian Edge Interview

My interview with Australian Edge...

How long have you been working professionally?
I started my business in 2002, originally with clients needing graphics, illustration and web work. I was based in a fantastic renovated studio warehouse space above Chapel St Prahran with about 10 other independent creatives, ranging from graphic design, industrial design, interior design, photography, etc. It was an ideal environment for the beginnings of an independent career.

How long have you been living overseas?
I bought a ticket for France with the intention of traveling and studying French in mid 2007. At that point I didn't have a plan. By the end of 2007 I was officially a resident of of Switzerland.

The rest of the interview and images can be found here (click)

Busy busy Creative Space

Cassandra Allen has been busy busy. A bit overloaded with work, but continuing with side project(s) nonetheless. I feel guilty for letting so much time pass between posts on my bloggo. But here we go, back to it.
Finished my crotchet rug which I started mid May, and re-started several times over, lost interest for a while, then re-kindled the fire between us. It is rather heavy, but I like a bit of weight in my blankets. Overall, very content with the result. Lots of ideas ticking away for the next project. I've always wanted to make a sock monkey. Am keeping my eyes open for a special pair of socks to kick-start some monkey business. Stripes, of course! Hello Kirsty and the MCS-ers!

My Creative Space

Up up and away, things are moving with grande vitesse, light speed, got my runners on in order to to keep up! My Creative Space this week is in the same place as normal, my home studio, working on the illustrations for a book for young beans about imagination and dreams.