Thursday - Loves

Thursday is the day of the week I hate the most. I don't hate Mondays.
I don't exceptionally love Sundays, I only dread Thursdays.
I remember one year in High School I had something like two hours of latin and two hours of philosophy and one of maths or so. Every week I thought I wouldn't have survived it.
This semester I have only three hours lesson on thurday, but I don't know, I still don't like it.

This is why I though to show people nice things I find around the Internet around the week.
Everytime I will post 5-10 pictures, songs, videos just to show you (and remember myself) how many cute things there are around.

(source)

These lights create such a great atmosphere.

(source)

Turine Tran's art (I couldn't choose which picture to show you)


A wonderful kitchen

(source)

A bit of romanticism

(source)

This video is so funny! Omnomnomnom!!
Hope you like it. Have a wonderful evening (or day).

=) Smile

Today was pretty much a positive day.
I am trying to see nice things in everything, it's being hard, but if I walk on the road and don't stay permanently with my face down, I have to possibility of catching the smallest wonderful things.
For example I love the woman who works at the "Pasticceria del Borgo" here in the street. She is a nice elderly woman who always wears a big smile. Today I caught her through the shop window picking a chocolate candy with the expression of a little rascal.
Her little shop is magical, the interiors are made of wood and she bakes everything with her husband.



Yesterday evening I was looking outside the window, it was raining and there were small drops on the window. You know when it's dark outside, and there's only one streetlamp shining, and the drops are illuminated by it. I love it. And I though why on earth I am worrying so much about everything. I must calm down, breathe and enjoy life. Period.

Hope you have a nice evening, I have to finish "The Power and the Glory" by G. Greene. And then I have another 8 books to read.

Juliette

Sinterklaas

He comes every year, and this year he will come too. On the 5th of December he will bring us gifts, but that's not the important part. The atmophere which my family has always created, the warmth, the love, everything is just perfect on that evening. And the month passed writing poems and wrapping gifts is totally worth it.


This year unfortunately my parents decided they didn't want to celebrate it anymore. I felt horrible, because it's the one day I love, the one da that I wait for for the whole year, the one day that I feel home and loved like nothing could ever go wrong.
You know when you keep one small thing as if you were a child, because it's comforting, nice, and makes you happy.
But they don't know what to give, what to do, and.. the other families have stopped celebrating it when the children were 12.
Sorry but I don't give a damn about what other families did, didn't you teach me not to give a damn?


Roberto and I decided that this would be our first year celebrating it together. He never celebrated it before and it so difficult to explain the traditions, the feelings to someone who hasn't felt it since he was a child. Fortunately he celebrated Christmas, and the two festivities obvioulsy have someting in common.

When I think of Sinterklaas I think of songs sung at evening before going to bed to put you shoe under the with a carrot for the horse in it.
The day after find sweets instead of the carrots.
Hearing Sinterklaas walking around the house and thinking that he's hearing you sing.
Waiting for that day more and more, being full of hope.
The happiness I felt when I woke up because I was sure I would find something in my shoe.
Unwrapping the gifts not before having read the poem which "he" had written (it seemed he actually did know what I did most time of my life!haha).
Eating Spekulaas from the Netherlands and the Letter of Chocolate.




I have so many memories. I think only good ones. This was the best day in my year, and now I will have to built it anew, recreate it, with someone else. I am pretty sad about it, even if a love celebrating it with Roberto. We are not in "our" home, we haven't got the time to see eachother and decorate the house, I won't put the shoe under the fireplace. But it's going to be special. I am sure.

I am sorry if the images are small, but the first ones are my favourite from a book of my childhood. For the sources click on the image.
Juliette

Ellie Goulding - Your Song (Elthon John cover)

When I saw this video on BlackEiffel I was speechless. I watched the video and listened to the song not moving, almost without breathing. I am listening to Ellie's song "Starry Eyed" a lot lately (this live version) and I love it.
I don't like covers, but this one was overwhelming. I cried. Just a little. ^^

Wish list

In less than a month it will be my birthday. I didn’t have many wishes until someone asked me what I wanted. I’ve been signing on my notebook cute things when I see them in shops and now.. I’ve a long wish list ^^

I’ll show you just some photos I found on the net not to make it all too boring.

1. "A Piece of Cake" by Leila Lindholm. It's called differently here, but I saw it at the bookstore, I looked at the recipes and the photographs and all I could so was smile and long to read and look at every detail of it.

2. Go to Leiden, live the Sinterklaas and/or Christmas atmosphere and feel at home.

3. Gingerman Cookie Cutter, I had this on the list until I met the supercute cookie cutter of Ikea. It's a gingerman with a hat, or better, I see that, I think it actually is a gnome.

4. Colorful or white headphones.

5. All stars, I miss them so much.

6. A big, warm, woolen scarf

7. All sorts of paint, canvases and pencils, and other crafty things

I going to read and et ready for Sinterklaas (our Christmas) which will be on December the 5th, and I will celebrate it for the first time with Roberto, whom I have taught the essentials. I really hope I will be able to get him into the Sinterklaas mood, he has never experienced this magical day before!

Have a great day!

Juliette

Sunday - Breakfast

Why Sunday breakfast?

Well, there only one day a week (or maybe two) when I really eat a proper breakfast, sitting down, enjoying the morning, getting ready for the day.. and that’s Sunday.

Every week I will try to take a picture of what has been devoured this time and maybe share some recipes.

I have a list of the sweetest things I want to bake and I know that if I don’t “have to” write a post about it, I should always find an excuse not to try them out.

And if I dream of opening a bakery, I have to bake on!

So, let’s start with..

Oat cinnamon cookies (they looked great, didn't they? Until..)

I love oats and I love cookies which are not too sugary and I adore cinnamon, so what better than these cookies. There were a semi-fail because the oven I have here is, I don't know why, I son't know how, hotter that the one I have home, at the same temperature. I rally don't understand those things. But. They "browned" a bit more on the edges and sticked together (I had to cut them). Shall we call it fail insted of semi-fail?
But they were yummy and I gave Roberto a huge box with the ones we left. So he has cookies for this week ^^.
I found the recipe here and used less sugar and no lemon zest because I didn't have. So here's my version:
Ingredients.
250 gr oats (8,8 oz)
50 gr almonds (chopped)
100 gr sugar (3,5 oz)
100 gr butter (3,5 oz), softened
2 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
8 gr baking powder



In a large bowl combine oats, almonds, sugar and softened butter.
Add the two eggs and the cinnamon and at last add baking powder.
Knead the dough with your hands until the ingredients will be well blended.
Make a lot of small dough balls (around 15 gr each, 0,5 oz) and place them on a baking tray covered with baking parchment at a huuuuge distance one from the other because I did it and they melted anyway until meeting eachother in a big mess.
Place in the oven for 20 minutes at 180 °C (360 F).

(insert saaad face here ) =(

That was not the best beginning for a new section in this blog, but I hope you'll enjoy my disadventures.
Have a great sunday!

Juliette

Dreaming of..a house.

It's a bit lame that yeasterday I told you I would make a sort of schedule for my blog and now I start with a "random" post. But. There's a reason. Today it's Saturday and it's the only day I can entirely spnd with Roberto, so I don't have much time on Saturdays.
Tomorrom, however, my first schedules post will be written. Promise.

So..

I am dreaming of buying a house one day. This dream is getting bigger and bigger even if “I’m only 20 years old”. And I live in Italy. I mean. I am sure you’ve heard about the “mammoni”.

Typical Italian children go to live on their own around their 30-35 birthday, and “on their own” means with the wife who cooks for you and does the laundry.

Ok. It’s not even that true. We cannot generalize and I met many people who are not like that at all, and we have to highlight the fact that in Italy salaries are low and costs are high, so it’s getting more and more difficult for young people to go and live on their own.

But I was saying. I now live in this small apartment with my roommate. I once dreamt of going to live with her, enjoy University, stay up until late, organise parties, get drunk. That never really happened, sometimes I go out, I enjoy my University time with my friends and we laugh as crazy, but I never did the typical thing students do (except for collecting the bottles of wine we drunk on the fridge).

Roberto and I have been together for 3 years and 3 months now and we are really planning to go to live together. It’s still a faraway dream, but we both like interior design and home decoration, so we love looking for things we would buy for our “home”. This is one of the things we do most often. I also follow many blogs which deal with these themes and when we see each other I always show him the “peeks of the week”. I think It’s one of the few things where we share the same taste.

(images from weheartit)

Probably we will try to live in the Netherlands, at least for a while, trying to see what’s different, if there are more possibilities and so on. And maybe then, when we’ll have experienced both sides of our cultures we can finally begin to make our dream come true. I am looking forward!

Juliette