For auld lang syne

Well, it’s New Year tomorrow. Already! My hopes for 2009 are kindness, peace, and environtmental awarness.

On a more frivoulous touch, my tips for New Years Eve are classics with a twist, both from my old employer BBC Good Food.

If you want something more Scandinavian try the Absolut Wilderness, a jewel like drink which consists of raspberry vodka, lingonberry juice and apple sour. Serve cold!

Champagne Cocktail with passion fruit
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4150/champagne-cocktail


Oysters with ginger and soy on a bed of salt
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5173/oysters

The Absolut Wilderness, above, as served at the Ice Bar in Stockholm

http://www.nordicseahotel.se/sv/Hotellet/Mat--Dryck/Absolut-Icebar-Stockholm/

Happy New Year to you all!

And if your loved ones are really hard to please...

.... you can always go with a pretty Danish prefab house. Eco-friendly, of course.

By Valbæk Brørup Arkitekter, www.vb-arkitekter.dk

It's the thought that counts

I like Christmas presents.

Both giving them and receiving them. And it’s always nice with a thoughtful gift. So here are a few suggestions that come with little extra thought, for the environment or for people around the world who are less fortunate than we are, or both.

Don’t worry, they will delight any one of your loved ones, too.

Designer candlestick by Kristin Karls for the Red Cross, www.redcross.se

Environmentally friendly sneakers by Veja in a great new blue-black shade, www.veja.fr

Shapely wine glasses from Rädda Barnen (Save The Children). Combine with a nice bottle of eco plonk and you're set! www.rb.se

Notebooks from Watabaran, fair trade in Nepal, www.watabaran.se

And a hard waring and compact tote to put all your gifts in -and to save the environment from drowning in plastic bags www.baggu.se

Cosy Christmas

And some cosy Christmas inpiration from Mimou. I feel very inspired to go out a buy a traditional Swedish straw ram after seeing these pics.

Can you get cosier than Le Rouge?

What this Stockholm restaurant lacks in window it makes up in yards and yards of fabric. Does wonders for the accoustics too.

Trend 2009

According to the latest Elle Interiör "cosy" is the new black. I knew it!

And remember...

Christmas doesn't have to be green and red. It can be anything you want. I like these pics from Taverne Agency http://www.taverne-agency.com/ because the remind of the intense dark blue of the winter sky in dusk.

Christmas -Scandistyle

Christmans is appraoching fast and i certainly haven't had time to do all my shopping let alone any christmas decorating but this wonderful picture from Sköna Hem http://www.skonahem.se/ really inspires me.

Lotta Jansdotter

Lotta is a NYC-based Swedish designer who does screen printed fabrics and more with a fresh Scandinavian vibe to them. Maybe a christmas gift tip? www.jansdotter.com

Fungi fun

I am currently working on a wonderfully exciting project in the States which i will reveal more about very soon. In the meantime i want to share this wonderful (fairly) new range from Royal Copenhagen. It's called the Flora Danica Fungi and is a wonderful mix of the aristocratic -gilding and fine bone china - and the bookish, dryly scientific mushroom motif in greys and browns. I particularly like the slightly bizarre little mushrooms around the rim. www.royalcopenhagen.com