Beauty in motion

I am by no means a fan of BMW in any way, shape or form... Almost the opposite, in fact. But I can definitely appreciate a well-crafted design when I see one...

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the iconic BMW 328, which was released in 1936 and still holds the highest average speed on the famed Mille Miglia circuit. BMW have paid tribute to it by creating an impressive concept car, an updated version of the 328: the 328 Hommage.

I really dig the styling of it, especially those dead-eye headlights.

When life hands you lemons, make lemon bars...

My experience...
I came across this recipe while searching for this Chocolate Pudding recipe (which is also flipping amazing, btw). The first thing that caught my attention was the picture, because I could already see that it had the second thing that made me read more: the texture. I really love yummy textures that add to the whole delicious experience, and this looked amazing. The following descriptions completely sold me, I went and got some lemons the next day:

"I love how the shortbread crust is all crisp and crumbly and how the lemon filling separates as it bakes. The top has a thin cake-like crust and underneath the lemon filling is all soft and yummy. ...[t]he shortbread is crisp and the lemon filling is tart and tangy."

They were even better than I expected. It was like a sherbet party explosion in my mouth, for realz. I say sherbet because that's what it felt like, you know that tangy, sharp sort of feeling, like not quite fizzy, but almost? Yeah. Flip, I can't wait to make more. I want to try oranges next time :) Carry on reading if you're thinking of making these. Otherwise, you can stop now.

 

I don't think they'd be everyone's cup of tea, I think you definitely have to be into the whole fruity biscuit vibe to enjoy this. I mention this because I know some people that are very much not into lemony flavours and didn't enjoy it at all. But that was ok, coz there was more for me!
Click here for a larger printable version.

I'd also recommend that you stick to the specified pan size.
NB: Make sure you grease the pan really, really well! I think maybe using greaseproof paper might be a better option. I greased mine well, but then I guess it must have got messed up when I was setting the shortbread.

Here are what mine looked like (without icing sugar). Not much like the pic, but still yummy :)

Thanks to Joy of Baking for such awesome recipes!
The lovely pic in the header is from another recipe for the same thing that I found the other day.

Happy munching! Let me know if you try it :)

Fun and clever products! (that I really, really want!)

*Love* these products from multi award-winning German product design company, Ding3000. Really want all 3 of these, like for realz. The cake pan is such a freakin awesome idea! That really fat piece should have my initials imprinted on it.

"Everything under one roof. Lifestyle for the readers. Practical and ornamental. Magazin is a timeless and beautiful magazine stand in shape of a house. When disturbed while reading, just lay the open magazine on the roof of the house, and you can easily pick it up again to carry on reading, without loosing the page. Meanwhile your other favorite magazines can be stored under the roof."

"S-XL Cake is a baking dish with a new approach: The shape of the cake is inspired by the permanent issue "how to divide a cake?". S-XL Cake plays with our individual need for different sizes of cake-pieces in a decorative, provocative and ironic way by taking advantage of the new possibilities that flexible silicone baking dishes offer."

"Billy Wilder meets one's primary expectation of a shelf - to put everything in order. It is meant as a playful approach to the subject "our daily mess" and shall serve as an interim storage place for unsorted books, magazines and newspapers. The wildly growing rack makes Billy "wilder"."

Embroidered Clichés by Jilly Cooper, aka Lisa Bowen

"My work is kind of a celebration of failure: our faults, personal problems, and life's losers. I enjoy creating nostalgia around our funny quirks"
- via an interview with Lisa Bowen in The Spit Press, Issue 8

I love the quirky and crafty feel of this series by mixed media artist, Lisa Bowen...

"Once upon a time, I found a copy of The Penguin Book of Clichés and I got to thinking about these curious little collections of words and their origins.

I began to notice that I have a habit of dropping clichés into every single conversation. I began to “collect” these clichés as they appeared naturally in conversation, then I started preserving them - labouring over each letter as I stitched, then I framed each phrase. Every day more and more clichés pop up, and if I don’t write them down immediately, they’re gone. It’s like I’m catching cliché-butterflies, and stitching them down before they get lost!
We are so often told to “Avoid clichés like the plague”. Sometimes though, they are the only words that come to mind. For the verbally challenged of us, these words or phrases give us a voice and allow us to say - however clunkily - what we want to say."

Lisa was born in England, but recently moved to Australia. Check out more of her work on her site and her Etsy shop.

Designer and illustrator, Thomas de Beer

Thomas is a very talented designer and illustrator, and an all round interesting, fun guy. I always prefer handwritten/drawn stuff to digital stuff, so I was stoked that he actually wrote out his answers to my questions below :)

*click the image to view a larger version*

His work is for sale on his site
If you'd prefer to read the neatly typed up version, click the "read more" link below...