The Cheesecake factory

One of my biggest discoveries here has been The Cheesecake Factory. This restaurant chain offers more than just Cheesecake, but if you decide to stick with just Cheesecake that's fine. One slice of red velvet cheesecake counts 1540 calories, not bad right? Or what did you think of a piece of peanut butter cup cheesecake (1326 calories). But it is really delicious for sweetteeth like me.

F.L.W.

A bit later than promised, but here is the last part of our Chicago story. The architect Frank Lloyd Wright stood at the beginning of modern architecture. He is mostly famous for his Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Fallingwater House. His career started in Chicago, where he worked for the famous architecture firm Adler and Sullivan. In Oakpark Chicago, he built his own house, including his studio and some of his most famous early works including the Unity Temple and the Robie House.

Unity Temple, FLW's jewel box

FLW's Home and Studio

FLW designed houses in Oak Park, Chicago

The Robie House

 Special thanks to Patrick and Frederick for sharing their pictures.

More Mies

Waw! Yesterday I had the most visitors in one day since the start of my blog in march! Thank you for following me. Today in The Chicago Sequel it's all about Mies again.
Here's some more pictures of Mies in and around Chicago.

IBM Plaza

Crown Hall - Illinois Institute of Technology

Not Mies Van der Rohe but Rem Koolhaas (OMA) - McCormickTribune Campus of IIT

I was surprised by the inside, I expected something worse, but it's a pretty sweet building. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures.

Tomorrow we'll go over Frank Lloyd Wrights houses around Chicago.

See you tomorrow!

Farnsworth House

In 1945 world renowned architect Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe was asked to design a weekend retreat for dr. Edith Farnsworth. It became one of the world's most famous houses and it is still an iconic example of late modernism, the so called international style. It has an intriguing story attached to it. Edith Farnsworth fell in love with Mies but pretty soon the love was over because of the fast increasing costs. The house, located next to the Fox river flooded three times in its existence and almost disappeared from its site. To know something more about the house I included this beautiful documentary shown in Farnsworth's visitor center followed by some pictures.

Oh yeah, you wouldn't expect it but when we entered the house it was so nice and warm compared to the outside temperature. When we took off our shoes (mandatory for visitors) and walked around in our socks, we noticed that this was because of the house's floor heating.

Enjoy! And don't forget to check out the last picture!

Pictures:

Dr. Farnsworth's garage, not designed by Mies I suppose.

Tomorrow, more Mies.

Bis Morgen! 

Tschuuus!

Chicago

Fall has started and we are noticing it. Temperatures are dropping fast and we are starting to see Halloween decoration on the streets.

Last weekend we traveled to Chicago, and had a wonderful time. They call it the windy city and that was not a lie, there was a cold breeze and it must have been awful for the participants to the 35th annual marathon. So what did we do? We checked out some of downtown Chicago's major attractions like Anish Kapoor's Gloud Gate and Frank Gehrys Jay Pritzker Pavillion and BP pedestrian Bridge.

The next couple of days I'm going to give you some updates about our trip (Expect more about famous architects Mies Van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright) but today I'll just start with some pictures of Downtown Chicago.

Lake Michigan

Jay Pritzker Pavillion - F. Gehry

Cloudgate - Anish Kapoor

Buckingham Fountain

Willis Tower - SOM

Tallest building in the United States

Hell it was cold!

Sesame bars

Last week i came up with this delicious recipe for healthy sesamebars. I didn't know they were so easy to make! Just give this recipe a try and I'm sure you will love it!

Ingredients for six to eight bars:

• 140g sesameseeds 
• 1 tblsp honey/ 2 tblsp agavenectar

Here's how you do it:

1. Put the honey (or the agavenectar) in a small pan en let it melt on a low heat.
2. Add the sesameseeds en stir untill entirly covered with the honey. 
3. Let the mixure 'roast' for 5 minutes while you stir constantly. 
4. Pour onto a large piece of aluminium foil and fold over the edges towards the middle. Press untill the desired thickness is reached.
5.  Let it stand for ten minutes and then cut into bars.
6. Let it cool further untill crunchy

Let me know how it worked out and if you liked this recipe.

Bye!

Already a year ago today

A year ago my graduate education started. Until now it has been a wonderful and instructive time. I've been a member of Sint-Lucas' fragile,s team and had the opportunity to study abroad in Germany and the United States. And it all started on september 26th of 2011 with this video.