tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54452884133959150512024-03-06T01:53:02.339+00:00Blue cups and peppermintA kitchen, a terrace, and everything in between.Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-43702274160584225922015-06-25T14:46:00.000+01:002015-06-25T14:50:40.743+01:00ELDERFLOWER LEMONADE - OR, SUMMERThere are little things
that sometimes surprise you as if they were oh so big.
Because they're tiny, delicate, and yet so powerful and unexpected.
Such as picking the ingredients for your next recipe at the park.
Now, imagine the usual routine that comes before your fragrant cake or crunchy salad. Unless you're lucky enough to have a grandma that will give the above-mentioned cake ready to Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-71480863364090261602015-06-11T06:40:00.002+01:002015-06-11T06:40:33.675+01:00SUMMER SALADSummer has arrived!
Here in Belgium, people are sitting on any possible surface to catch till the last second of sunshine and everybody's smiling. To you passing, to dogs passing, to planes passing, to anything really, just smiling. It must be the sun. Or drinking beers, in the sun. But hey, we've been waiting for it 345 days, so now we're gonna enjoy it!
We've had peaks of 29°(say whaaaaat?) soSilviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-85119538372083818062015-04-02T20:18:00.000+01:002015-04-02T20:22:08.678+01:00PROJECT365 - WEEK#2Here we go, with the second episode of Project 365!
These are the little moments that I've captured along this second week.
7/365
The sun keeps on hiding, I keep on eating soup.
8/365
I want to believe.
Sooner or later, spring will arrive.
Meanwhile, I'm getting ready with some pastel nail polish.
9/365
Flowers after the storm.
They really, really hope Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-59382453822021012522015-03-29T06:30:00.000+01:002015-03-29T06:30:00.981+01:00SUNDAY 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.
Awesome DIY project for the week-end.
And the pattern for the purse you MUST have this summer.
You still have some time to check the photo exhibition of Steve McCurry. Amazing pictures.
Very funny Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-6125863996233096882015-03-27T07:30:00.000+00:002015-03-27T13:43:30.603+00:00SPRING: THE PERFECT TIME FOR SOUPYes, 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 Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-37900739253506299422015-03-26T06:53:00.001+00:002015-03-27T10:28:23.293+00:00PROJECT365Today 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, Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-85986871161476715232015-03-24T08:56:00.000+00:002015-03-24T13:19:02.308+00:00THE WEEKLY WISHES COMMUNITYPeople, 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 Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-47702279102254297912015-03-22T07:30:00.000+00:002015-03-22T16:15:02.711+00:00SUNDAY READINGSSunday!
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 Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-88019232831474009362015-03-17T10:44:00.000+00:002015-03-17T10:44:42.756+00:00MNIMAL SURVIVAL KIT: ADIEU, WISDOM TOOTHSo, 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 Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-39523027945709961042015-02-08T17:09:00.000+00:002015-02-08T17:09:21.151+00:00MINDFUL EATINGHas it ever happened to you that you're so hungry that you just start chomping on things and gulp them down, without even tasting them? Or, at least, not for the first half of whatever you're eating?
Or has it ever happened that you were so focused on the movie you were watching that, when someone asked you "How is it? Salty enough?" you suddenly realised that you didn't know?
Well, to me it's Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-13959573109950224922015-02-04T07:15:00.001+00:002015-02-04T07:15:33.980+00:00HOW (NOT) TO: lemony belgian endive with brown sugar and coriander
So, more or less a week ago I posted this recipe about filled Portobello without using any Portobello, fact that I classified as my very original twist to the recipe.
However, the self-contempt about my creativity lasted quite short; more precisely, until when my friend Pepe told me about his twist to the recipe: "Roasted portobello with kale" became "Roasted portobello (real Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-80940001807787669992015-01-22T16:45:00.000+00:002015-01-22T16:48:27.887+00:00AN INCONVENIENT TRUTHI'm totally shocked.
Yesterday night I was home alone, so i was cosy-ing up, ready to enjoy my evening: glorious leftover-dinner, blanket and DVD.
Sounds idyllic, doesn't it?
And it would have been, if this wasn't the DVD:
Of all the causes we want to support, i believe that this is one of the most important and pressing.
And the awesome thing is that we can do SO MUCH just thinking about Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-48952286474777967742015-01-21T14:44:00.001+00:002015-01-21T14:44:14.177+00:00THE JOYS OF UNEMPLOYMENTI'm right in the middle of a glorious day.
If i hadn't already spoilt it all with the title, I could have tried to let you guess what the rainbow-coloured source of all this time and serenity was but, there you go: it's my newly-refound-unemployment.
I'm usually a supporter of the refrain "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone" but, in this case, damn, Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-50200831868545961492014-10-30T20:15:00.000+00:002014-10-30T20:28:27.949+00:00PRE-HALLOWEEN - A last minute all round impromptu party guide
People, it's almost Halloween!
In a very few hours, actually.
So I'm sorry to say that, if you didn't start planning or decorating yet, well, you're quite late.
However, if you really wanted to celebrate and get all spooked-up, but really didn't have the time to plan disgusting dinners and splash blood in every corner (hallo, here I am) stay cheerful (well, moderatly, it's still Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-1531190382195827672014-09-01T20:45:00.000+01:002014-09-01T20:45:52.235+01:00ENCOUNTERSGet ready to meet your new best friend.
Today at work a miracle has happened.
I was having a crazy sugar crave. Well, maybe when you're on the border of having a panik attak it's more of a need, but still. Important thing is that I was desperate, begging only for some sugar while drawning in a sea of invoices and boring office stuff.
And then, the miracle.
A random, desperate day, just Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-17573340324973703312014-04-17T17:47:00.000+01:002014-09-01T19:47:30.823+01:00SpringSpring is blooming with all her colourfulness.
I'm grateful for flowers, because they're beautiful and they smell nice.
I'm grateful for my herbs that, with the first warmth, grew of 10 centimetres in two weeks.
I'm grateful that our cat is not allergic to flees because, if he was, he would get bold in random, inconvenient places.
I'm grateful for Spring because it brings Ester, and holidays, andSilviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-76473379527733619522014-03-05T21:17:00.000+00:002014-03-05T21:17:32.612+00:00THE COOKING CURESpring is finally coming!
I've just had a lovely terraske (word that deisgnates the act of having a beer in the sun), and I wanted to share that with you today.
The warmth of the sun, the freshness of the beer, the loveliness of my garden.
I only thought that, as much as I'm totally fine in having my terraske in between my garbage bags, maybe that's something someone might want to Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-77551063203975407582014-01-06T21:54:00.000+00:002014-01-06T21:54:41.337+00:00IT'S ALL ABOUT CHOPPING
So, sometimes it happens that you get out of your office with a terrible headache because, thanks to your new frugal way of life, you're not used to heating anymore. So you're actually really happy at the thought of your 8 kilometers by bike, even though you arrived at that office that it was still night, and you're leaving and it's actually night again. Still, you're happy. You need some Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-4156079185793036352013-12-28T17:35:00.001+00:002013-12-28T17:35:18.987+00:00TRADITIONSSo, it's the 28th of December, and we don't have any Christmas decoration in the house.
I love Christmas, to check all the lovely decorations, the delicious recipes, the handmade gifts, the gigantic dinners. I check it all for months, and I always, invariably, inexplicably, do nothing.
No decorations.
No special dishes.
No handmade gifts.
No dinners.
I'm no Grinch. I'm just purely, genuinely, Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-27687811457648060292013-12-19T16:00:00.002+00:002013-12-19T16:01:35.102+00:00CLOSED FOR MOVING. BIG RE-OPENINGS AND FAIRY TALES.And, yes, we are still living a sort of camping experience, getting our clothes out of boxes in the cellar and finding the baking paper in the toilette but, finally, we moved!
It all sounds like a Disney story, a good mix of magic and drama and, in our case, I would say a mix between Cinderella and SnowWhite.
So, once upon a time, there were two girls forced to endlessly clean a house (that Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-89466236222510178612013-11-25T14:31:00.000+00:002013-11-25T14:47:29.315+00:00WEEKLY PLANNING - WHEN PASTA IS NOT ENOUGH
Do you remember all the times you said "Oh, I could so live on pasta alone! All my life!"
You were wrong. So wrong.
And I can say it because I've tried it. And I did it for just a week. So enough.
Appearently something went wrong with my grocery shopping last week, which led to an alimentation based entirely on pasta and carrots. Taking a walk on the bright side, this has been really Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-40412480711844885802013-11-22T12:17:00.000+00:002013-11-22T16:24:45.897+00:00 A HANDMADE CHRISTMAS
Well well, it feels like yesterday that I was complaining about my missed "welcome autumn" post,
and it's already almost Christmas!
Well, yes, I'm aware that an "almost" can be pretty relative and, in this specific case, almost inappropriate, since Christmas is actually more than a month away. But if you're a follower of the self-sufficiency religion, and have decided that "all your Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-73312660822943329152013-11-20T16:19:00.002+00:002013-11-20T16:19:53.295+00:00STROLLING DOWN MEMORY LANE 20/11/2012I've always wanted to write something that started like that.
So, since today happens to be the first time I have a "a year ago" post, I couldn't miss the chance.
So, one year ago it was...
CHICKPEAS, ONION AND MINT SALAD, CHINESE CABBAGE AND OLIVES –YES, IT’S ANOTHER SALAD, WE JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH- AND SMOKED CHEESE SANDWICH.
And the one of today was, oh boy, another salad.
Uhm, maybeSilviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-70168448032649814092013-11-20T13:50:00.002+00:002013-11-20T13:50:57.280+00:00SURVIVAL TIMES AND WINTER SALADI don't know how it's going there, but here in Belgium it really feels like, after some two, whole weeks of autumn, winter has come. It's time for creamy soups, gratens, casseroles, pies, pures... All these warm, thik, consistent meals that make winter almost a joy, a good reason to cuddle up in your blanket with your mug of thick hot choccolate.
So, my recipe of today, is a salad.
Because, Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445288413395915051.post-72880712880867185112013-11-04T11:52:00.000+00:002013-11-20T16:03:46.478+00:00THE PERFECT STORM AND HOME-MADE POPCORN
We didn't settle for a Sunday afternoon; we didn't settle for a rainy day.
It had to be a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Then it came, and it was perfect.
We had pizza and a beer with it, which kind of makes it THE perfect movie night.
Well, Sunday afternoon; rainy, Sunday afternoon.
Of course, if there's anything that might keep the competition up, that's popcorn.
And when I say Silviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740461778268757464noreply@blogger.com2