Five Whats with Bloesem

Good morning and Five Whats is back at last! I am so happy to introduce today's guest whose blog is really one of my favorites- it's Irene Hoofs of Bloesem. I'm so fascinated by her life in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and her frequent getaways to the neighboring countries like Singapore and Thailand. I would love to meet her in person because I admire her impeccable taste in art and design, plus she is super nice, which is sort of a requirement for being my Five Whats guest!
What did you have for breakfast?
This is clearly not a regular breakfast for me...but my dear friend Jenny is moving to Singapore this week, so I gave her a little farewell breakfast (top picture), including my favorites: scrambles eggs with coriander, spring-onions and some salmon and a croissant with some raspberry jam...but normally it's just some freshly squeezed orange juice, a homemade cafe latte and some bread together with my son on our balcony... this is where we have our dining table (pic above).

What is an average day like living in Kuala Lumpur?
I guess the same as in any other place, taking my child to school, do some work, sometimes have lunch with a friend, do some more work...and then.. this makes the big difference from all the other cities i have lived in...the evening is always fun, because there are many nice restaurants everywhere, people love to go out also during weekdays, like having a drink at the hotel Trader's rooftop bar, overlooking the Twin Towers ... the climate and ambiance here makes you feel like being on a long vacation.

What are the things that inspire you the most?
Books, magazines and vintage items, I'm not a reader, but I love looking at beautiful pictures in books about art, architecture, mid-century designers, illustrators and Japanese books about crafting, they are simply the best. ... I'm not so much into books about interior design or decorating, I rather look at single object, just the design from something can really inspire me...and vintage items especially from the 50-60-70...like these dutch magazines I once bought at a flea market or this incredible book: How They Work.
http://bloesem.blogs.com/bloesem/2008/06/how-they-work.html

What are your all-time Bloesem favorite finds?
I really don't have favorites, sorry, I only write about something when I really like it, of course not everything would be a fit for my own home...but in my posts are only items that somehow got my attention, because of the way it was made, the colors, the pattern or the design itself. Of course it's very rewarding for a blogger if you can show a truly unique, new and fresh design...so I always try to search for those, and hopefully people recognize this at Bloesem. But to give you sort of favorite post I must say it was a weekend read I wrote about Vintage Ceramics, because I love ceramics and especially tableware.
http://bloesem.blogs.com/wr_vintageceramics/

What sort of work do you do other than blogging on Bloesem?
I used to free-lance in web- and graphic design, but nowadays I work full-time for my two blogs, Bloesem and BloesemKids...and once in a while I also write for magazines, like the last couple of months for a Dutch magazine called Hide&Chic, of course writing about interior design, the section is called Back Home.
http://www.hidechic.com/hidechic14/683_Wonen

(bonus what) What are your plans for the summer?
We will celebrate our summer at home...Malaysia is the perfect place to be, we have a swimming pool in our condo, there are so many great restaurants here in KL and the city just has so much to offer, but we have just spent some vacation time in the Netherlands with our families.

photos: Irene (thank you so much for taking us for a tour of your home and your life!)