Kati | black.white.vivid.

A QUICK TRAVEL GUIDE TO DUBAI

12/16/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. Leave a Comment

There is a desert I long to be walking, a wide emptiness, peace beyond any understanding of it.

I’ve come to understand that Dubai is a place that people either love or hate. Maybe hate is too strong of a word but I’ve never met anybody who said that they thought Dubai was okay. It’s either ecstatic excitement or disapproval. But, and that’s a big but, I yet need to meet someone who lives in Dubai and can’t stand it. The contrary is the case. Most people come to Dubai with the plan to stay for a year and then end up living here for 5 or 7 or even more than 15 years….

A QUICK TRAVEL GUIDE TO MALMÖ

10/29/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. Leave a Comment

While some people dread the moody, cold and rainy autumn weather, I personally love the days when the end of summer approaches and fresh air fills the streets. Living in a country where it’s hot all year long and seasons basically don’t exist, I miss European autumns. Like a lot. So when I got the chance to visit southern Sweden beginning of October, I wasn’t only excited about exploring beautiful Malmö but I was hoping for some autumn-like days too….

VEGAN BLUEBERRY TART INSPIRED BY MY SUMMER IN EUROPE

08/16/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 4 Comments

Slowly but surely, she can see things change, like inside of a kaleidoscope, she is now amazed at the explosion of color her eyes can now see: A new look at life is now more than a dream. – Morgan Harper Nichols

The last time I said hello on this blog feels like an eternity ago. It was the beginning of May. I had just returned from a vacation in Mauritius and La Reunion and was preparing my thoughts and things for a monthlong summer trip to Europe. Just days before my dad had called to tell me that my grandpa had passed away. I felt lonely, sad and aimless. The funeral was heart-breaking and my mind started to wander and wonder. It’s always those devastating moments in life that one realizes that our time is limited, it’s precious and it’s too short to waste….

HOW I EDIT INSTAGRAM PHOTOS

05/08/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 4 Comments

Despite the new algorithm and people’s frustration about it, Instagram is still an important platform for most users and creatives. I personally love to use Instagram to connect with like-minded people and I also use it as a marketing channel to promote my work, products and event announcements. As a photographer I want my Instagram feed to look aesthetically pleasing and visually cohesive but also authentic, unique and personal.

Unlike my blog, I try to only post photos on my Instagram feed that stand out. On my blog, I usually publish a series of photos which makes it easier to tell a story. Some photos are bolder and louder and others are quieter and more reserved. I love both types of photos equally and both are needed to bring across a story or mood in a blog post. However, on Instagram, I prefer to post bolder photos. It’s a personal choice and I follow accounts that do the exact opposite and those are some of my favorites on Instagram….

EMIRATI SWEET DUMPLINGS WITH COFFEE SYRUP (Luqaimat)

04/20/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 14 Comments

You spread out beneath my eyes,
A land of dunes ━ ocher, bright.
The wind in search of water stopped,
A land of heartbeats and fountains.
Vast as the night you fit
In the hollow of my hand. – Octavio Paz

When this post goes live I’ll be sitting on the beach under palm trees and drinking fresh coconut water. It’s only T-11 hrs before our plane takes off to Mauritius. I only booked our hotel yesterday, I still haven’t started packing and I don’t know anything about this beautiful island. Long story short, I’m not the best when it comes to early planning. It’s not that I’m bad at it, I just don’t care enough. I still have 6 hours on the flight to go through our travel guide to pick some highlights. I also prefer to ask local people what they recommend once I arrive. Sometimes I do make a list on my Google Maps app with places to eat….

FRENCH PEAR & APPLE GALETTE WITH ROSEMARY SYRUP

04/15/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. Leave a Comment

Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that.
You forget some things, dont you?
Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget. – Cormac McCarthy

I’ve never been much of a dreamer. I was raised to be a do-er. In the past, I’ve terribly failed at finishing to-do lists, at setting goals, at achieving milestones, at dreaming big. I got things done. Without a plan, without a to-do list, without a strategy. In my late teens and throughout my 20s I was determined. To simply move forward. I never took a break, I never stopped, I never paused and thought about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. It still feels like it was yesterday, having that crystal clear vision of your life, of how it’s supposed to look and feel like. Back then I didn’t know I was lost. I didn’t know that life wasn’t about moving forward as fast as you can. But that it was about taking detours, even moving backward and then again deciding to take a new direction.
…

LEBANESE ZA’ATAR MAN’OUSHE BUNS

04/04/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. Leave a Comment

“But then Oma tells me of bread, of the six hundred kinds made throughout her homeland, white and gray and black in color. Loaves heavy with pumpkin seeds. Pumpernickel. Rye. All with long, dense names like ‘Sonnenblumenkernbrot’ and ‘Roggenmischbrot’. Each word is music to her. She has never eaten a tinned bread bagged in plastic with a little twist tie, a pride she wears all over. ‘It matters,’ she tells me. ‘Wes Brot ich ess, des Lied ich sing.’
Whose bread I eat, his song I sing.” – Christa Parrish, Stones of Bread

Blame it on my German heritage but I love bread rolls. And bread in general. I grew up eating bread for breakfast, dinner and sometimes lunch. In the morning I would go to our neighbourhood bakery and pick up a bag of freshly baked rolls. At home, my mum would slice each roll in two half and I would start eating the soft middle part first before spreading butter and plum jam on it. In the evening we would eat sliced sourdough bread or leftover rolls from the morning topped with cold cuts and cheeses. I don’t remember that we had much else for breakfast and dinner. No salads, no warm meal (because these were reserved for lunch), no Mexican or Indian or Thai or Italian food. Just good old German bread and rolls….

FILO GALETTE WITH TRUFFLE CASHEW CREAM AND CHEEZY KALE CHIPS

03/27/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 6 Comments

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. We had our pea-coats with us, and I took a bag. Of all my worldly possessions I took no more than the few necessaries that filled the bag. Where I might go, what I might do, or when I might return, were questions utterly unknown to me; nor did I vex my mind with them, for it was wholly set on Provis’s safety. I only wondered for the passing moment, as I stopped at the door and looked back, under what altered circumstances I should next see those rooms, if ever. – Charles Dickens

Just the other day someone was mentioning that it was time to set some goals for the second quarter of the year. And even though I wish I was that organised, what confused me the most was not the fact that some people are much better at structuring their days but that it was already the end of March. A month I never really liked. Neither it’s name nor it’s season. Though I have to say, I finally feel like I’m on track again with my life and projects. January basically went by in a day and there wasn’t enough time in February to catch up. March on the other side gave me time to breathe and get some work done. I have updated my Lightroom Preset Shop and added some new products. I set up a mailing list for anyone interested in purchasing Food Photography and Styling Shops. And I intensely started working on a secret project which I hope to share very soon….

EMIRATI SAFFRON CARDAMOM PANCAKES (Chebab)

03/13/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 9 Comments

Deepest of all in her personality was the golden radiance that she diffused around her. As an open fire in a dark room throws romance and pathos into the quiet faces at its edge, so she cast her lights and shadows around the rooms that held her.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

It’s been weeks, maybe even months by now. The beginning of this year seems like it happened yesterday and yet it’s already March. My latest post about a trip to wintery Melgaarden seems like a lifetime ago. Between now and then, there are just three months but the glaring desert sun. My life has changed. We moved to Dubai. Away from the European winter and right into the Emirati spring. The weather is perfect. It reminds me of Italian summers. Dry air, a warm wind and sunshine all day long. I’ve been warned to enjoy this time of the year because the heat and with it the humidity is coming sooner than later. I don’t like to think about it much, I just like to explore a city that seems to be misunderstood and misrepresented….

TURKISH POACHED QUINCE WITH CLOVE SYRUP & A SNOWY STAY AT MELGARDEN

01/04/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 3 Comments

Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness. – Mary Oliver

There are times in life when you feel like everything goes wrong. When you think that everybody is against you and your dreams. And then again, there are times when you have to pinch yourself to realize that you are not in a dream. When you can’t believe how fortunate you are because so many good things are happening to you….