Tomi the clever cat...

... she climbs onto the roof and starts "knocking" on the window...

 

... she makes some miserable noises, because...

 ... she cannot find the courage to jump down!

This cat, who is extremely spoilt, has decided that she has every right in the world to disturb my brother at any moment of the day (including in the middle of the night) so that he will let her in. Using the front door would obviously be too much of an effort.

Not bad at all [even if I say so myself]

My father was willing to try my cooking skills, and after an inventory of the kitchen shelves and the fridge, this is what I managed to throw together. The sauce contains (and serves 4-5 people):

• 400 g minced meat (10% fat)
• a bit of butter
• 1 red pepper
• 1 onion
• 4 large mushrooms
• 200 g cherry tomatoes
• 1 dl cooking cream (15% fat): is that what it's called?
• 2 dl water
• Lots of pepper, paprika and oregano

Mixing it all together is easy:  first the meat and the onion, then the rest of the veggies, paprika and pepper, water and cream, and last but not least the oregano. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve with whole-wheat tagliatelle.

Wonderful, now I know that I can make some further experiments on my family, as they are still alive after trying this.

Yes... that's right... my detox is going baaaadly!!

Trying new foods

I'm so tempted to try making new and exotic foods, but I need a guinea pig, nobody is willing to try my masterpieces and where's the fun in cooking for only yourself?

There are so many delicious dishes out there to try (unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to put here): at the moment I'm especially interested in Persian, Georgian, Armenian and Japanese food. 

So, are there any guinea pigs out there?

Moroccan Tea Ceremony

 It seems like the Moroccans take their tea drinking very seriously. Traditionally tea is served three times during the famous Moroccan tea ceremony. The tea is green gunpowder tea with sugar and mint. Sounds like something well worth a try. The following proverb describes tea drinking quite well, I think.

Le premier verre est aussi amer que la vie,le deuxième est aussi fort que l'amour, le troisième est aussi doux que la mort.

The first glass is as bitter as life, the second glass is as strong as love, the third glass is as gentle as death.

Oh what fun it is to live on an island...

... especially when ALL ferries get stuck in the ice and cannot move.This is supposed to be the coldest and snowiest winter in 25 years and we are all experiencing complete chaos.

Don't forget to smile :)

Photo from here

At the moment...

... I'm in love with lace, silk, navy blue, cream and nude, high heels and red lipstick.

Fooling myself into happiness

It would be a great exaggeration to say that I'm feeling happy at the moment. In fact, a lot of negative feelings except boredom can be found in that mess also known as my mind at the moment. There is confusion, wearines, melancholy, sorrow, sadness... you name it, it's there.

However, the point of this post is not to complain about my gloominess: that would not improve anything. Instead, I'm going to write a list of things that make me happy and that are available right here and now.

1) My family: they are already driving me crazy, but they are quite loveable after all.
2) Friends: they are all wonderful, and besides, one of my best friends is coming here from Poland tomorrow. We always have lots of fun drinking tea and discussing life, so that's something to look forward to.
3) Travels: I have two beautiful European capitals within (fairly) easy reach, so I should take advantage of that. Besides, once I have enough money, I could visit friends in a lot of cool places (Athens, Warsaw, the US)
4) Spring is almost here!
5) Opportunities: no matter how dull life might seem at the moment, I can't deny that I have a lot of opportunities to shape my life the way I want it to be.

Sometimes all you need to do is trick yourself into believing you're happy!

Dandelion Tea

 

I'm not a great fan of herbal infusions: in my humble opinion they usually taste like grass and lack the strong flavour of tea. Because of my attempt to do a detox, however, I decided to try a dandelion infusion, as it is famous for its numerous health benefits. A borrowed list of benefits can be found below.

To be quite honest, I didn't like the flavour of the tea (from Clipper), but a big slice of lemon made it drinkable.

List of dandelion tea benefits

• Dandelion Tea is an agent for keeping optimum liver, kidney and gallbladder functions.
• Dandelion Tea enhances detoxification by stimulating urination, as well as replacing the potassium lost to the increased volume of urine.
  
• Dandelion Tea is used to help in the health maintenance of those suffering from Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes.
• Dandelion Tea can be used for treatment of such liver disorders as hepatitis and jaundice.
• Dandelion Tea can be used for purifying the blood and cleansing the system.
• Dandelion Tea can help in relieving digestive disorders such as constipation and diarrhea.
• Dandelion Tea has properties that can help cleanse and improve the skin.

Money, money, money...

... if I had some extra cash I would apply to one of those MA:s that are attracting me like a flower attracts a bee. The programmes (there are a few of them in the UK and in Central Europe) are just so interesting. But we are talking about tuition fees that surpass 4,000 €/year + living costs and my pockets are empty.