Sunday 29 March 2015

SUNDAY READINGS





Happy Sunday!

I really hope it's a beautiful sunny day wherever you are, and that you'll be able to enjoy the most of it outside.
However, if it isn't, you can always relax reading these.

Whatever you'll do, have a lovely day.

This beautiful picture is taken from "The wandering girl".

Friday 27 March 2015

SPRING: THE PERFECT TIME FOR SOUP

Yes, spring it's beautiful because of the blooming, and the birds, and the first warm days.
But that's not all. I'm sorry to be reminding of this, but spring can be aweful. As in: it rains con-stant-ly. I know you were all trying to ignore this fact, but there it is.
I guess I'm a little frustrated by the fact that it's the 10th day of rain in a row.
Well, that's actually not true, but it feels like it.
Belgium and spring are a very bed combination.

But let's go and take a walk on the bright side 'cause, when it's 7°C outside, you deserve to eat a worm, thick and comforting soup. And I love to be comforted by soup.
For this one, my inspiration was this recipe from The Kitchn, but it's been quite heavily readapted. This is just my favourite way of cooking: getting inspiration here and there, and then throwing in our pots whatever we have around that smells nice.
However, should any one of you try and make that soup, please let me know, cause it sounds real yummy.

So, for mine I used:

- A lot of onions. Say 4.
- Some carrots. Say 3.
- Bay leaf. 1. (I knew this one).
- Garlic cloves. Say 4.
- White beans. Quite some.
- Barley. A cup?
-Tomato sauce. Half a bottle.
- Olive oil. A lot.
- White wine. A splash.

Execution time: 2 days

This can be explaind in two ways, both absolutely true.


1- To speed the boiling up, you might want to soak the barley overnight. It's not essential, but it works a bit like beans so, if you don't soak it in advance, prepare for a loooong boiling time.
Same thing for the beans, if you don't use canned ones.

2- Most soups are just sooooo much better the day after. You might even consider preparing it on Tuesday to eat it specifically on Wednesday. Or just make a lot and eat it both days.

Instructions:

well, once your barley and beans are rinsed, you proceed pretty much as you would do for most soups.
1-You need to cook your chopped onions in quite some olive oil on a medium-low fire.
2-Meanwhile cut the carrots and throw them in, together with the bay leaf. When they start to fizzle, pour a splash of white wine and let it reduce.
3-Only afterwards add the roughly chopped garlic and let it cook for a couple of minutes.
4- Add the beans, the barley and the tomato sauce. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Cook for 5 minutes.
5- Cover everything with vegetable broth, bring to a boil and leave it on the fire until beans and barley are soft.
6-Serve with a last splash of olive oil.


Advice: you might want to add the vegetable broth a bit a time, so that you don't get to watery a soup.









Thursday 26 March 2015

PROJECT365

Today Project 365 officially begins!
Well, it started a week ago, actually, but I had to test if I was really going to follow through.
Even though Week #1 finished on Monday and this is published just now, I think I'm gonna be great.

The idea of the project is that there is something beautiful in everyday, just sometimes we are to lazy to look for it. Some other times, and that's the case here, we are very much aware of how special a moment is but, being it physically impossible to hold on to every single memory, after a while some are just gone.
I don't want any beautiful memory to be gone so, with good grace of my P, that is majorly annoyed by picture time, I've decided to give it a try.

Well, here we are, and this was week #1:



1/365
Ozzi engaged in sleeping activity.
I couldn't resist: two seconds after shooting the pic I grabbed him to cuddle.
I ended up scratched and he nowhere to be found.


   2/365
Spring decorating project.
Last week I've eventually removed our Christmas decorations.
Now I intend to fill our house with origami birds.












 3/365
On Thursday I've started a new novel: "Moon Palace" by Paul Auster.
I've been wanting to read something by him since I read the back cover of "Travels in the scriptorium" (still on the list).
With "Moon palace", so far so good.








4/365
On Friday I bought this basil plant.
It was so luxuriant, with those green, thick and plump leaves that I couldn't help taking some twenty pictures.








 5/365
On Saturday a dear friend of ours has come for a brunch at our place.
It's been absolutely lovely: a lazy Saturday brunch and then an exhibition about criminal anthropology and depression.
Lovely.







 6/365
That was an epic day: I've used my sewing machine for the very first time!
I made a few experiments on a nice fabric tissue of mine.
I'll never do that again.





 7/365
This picture is symbolic of Monday. It was a glorious sunny day, so we went to the kennel to walk with a doggy.
Somehow, even if it feels like it's raining since forever, the trees are blooming, and it's just so beautiful.




And this was week #1!
What about you? Have you ever tried Project365?
Would you feel like joining?
Join!

Tuesday 24 March 2015

THE WEEKLY WISHES COMMUNITY

People, it's time to make a wish list for this week!
Sorry, by "Wish list" i actually don't mean cute necklaces, lacy dresses and strawberry cakes.
It was meant more like a "tide up", "pack and store winter clothes" , "laundry" kind of thing.

Still, I hope you'll get a boost of positive attitude by the fact that it's called "Wish list", and not "To do list". "Doing the laundry" sounds so much better if it's on a wish list, rather than on a to do, doesn't it? *shiny smile

Seriously, try it.

In any case, turns out that making lists really helps getting things done. That's why I'm making one every day, and that's not freaky, but simply efficient. *shiny smile

So, Melyssa of The Nectar Collective made it a community thing, so that list makers from all over can get support and encouragement from each other. And God knows how much we need it when it comes to laundry.

So, take a pen and write down a few goals for this week. We'll meet again next Monday to see how good we've been. *blink

So, here goes mine:

1- Pick one of the thousands craft projects I've pinned on this board and actually make it. Like these awesome earrings.
These are actually pinned on this board.



2- Bake savoury muffins to have for breakfast. Like these Rosemary&Goat cheese muffins, for example.



Of curse, to do that,

it would be better if the the cake and cookies we baked this Sunday were finished, cause we absolutely don't want to waiste them.

So, I think it's fair to say: goal

3- Eat up the cake and cookies we baked on Sunday.

I think that's all for me.
What are your goals?


Sunday 22 March 2015

SUNDAY READINGS

Sunday!
I especially love Sunday mornings, maybe because here we've made it a little tradition of having a very cosy brunch every Sunday morning.
This is topped only by a SUNNY Sunday morning, when before brunch we might go and stroll around the flower market and, as soon as the weather gets warm enough, eat our brunch sitting in the sun.

You should make brunch a habit as well.

However, here the weather is not great these days, so today we might chill on the sofa with some interesting reading. Should you want to read something as well, you could take a look at these:

  • Sophie Isobel on conscious living.
  • Monica, with a recipe for olive oil croissants. I haven't tried making them yet, but her post is absolutely worth reading anyway. (ITA)
  • So good to be reminded of this.
  • Awesome restyling from Geneva.
  • Now try and say you don't identify with at least one of these.
  • A very interesting article (plus bibliography!) about "0km products", that could open a debate about a whole lot of different topics. (ITA)
  • A good kick from Melyssa.
  • A very interesting article on the damages created by intensive farming. Also very interesting to watch is the documentary "Unser täglich Brot" (Our daily bread). You can find the trailer here and the complete documentary here
 I hope you'll enjoy some of these articles, and maybe also a good book. 

Happy Sunday!




Tuesday 17 March 2015

MNIMAL SURVIVAL KIT: ADIEU, WISDOM TOOTH

So, after succesfully postponing it for 7 (OMG!) years (pat pat, so smart), it has finally happened: last week I went, and I had my wisdom tooth pulled out.

Beside the tragredy of a much too late realization that a huge, beautiful tooth was no longer mine and I didn't even see it, there was also the tragedy of the eating practicality.
The doctor said I could eat after one hour, but she didn't have a huge hole in her mouth so... sorry, nothing personal, but I really couldn't trust you.

Silver lining of all this was that, while I was behaving as if I had just undergone major surgery, my girlfriend treated me exactly as such. (Yey!)
So I spent my afternoon on the sofa, getting regular refillings to my ice supply and watching movies.
If you're in pain and need something to cheer you up, here you go.


The above mentioned "eating practicality" was successfully avoided for the whole day but, the morning after, it was clear that I couldn't just avoid eating until complete healing.
So, we had to find solutions, and that worked out pretty well.

Problem number 1: COFFEE
According to my doctor, I could eat and drink, but only cold things. So here comes the solutions to morning coffee: affogato. When it's really the healthiest option for you to eat ice-cream for breakfast.

Problem number 2: ANY OTHER KIND OF FOOD
If you can blend it, you can eat it.
For a whole week my diet consisted primarily of smoothies and soups.
It's true that the weather is getting springier and springier but, at least here, in the evening it's still quite chilly, so being wrapped up in a blanket watching movies and eating soups was just so oh-so-cozy.
If now you also feel like you deserve some soup and blanky time, you can find some inspiration on my Pinterest board "Soups". 


Even though now I'm already happily munching nuts again, coziness is never too much so, if you have any recommendation for movies or soups, let me know!




THE KIT:
Survival distraction: Big Fish.
Survival menu: affogato, banana smoothie, champignon soup.

That's really all you need. (And honestly, when you must eat ice-cream for breakfast, there's really not much else you need).


Credits: picture 1
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