Dreams can come true...

And they will...

                       Set a goal
                           and keep on track,
                       don't let life's misfortunes make
                            you doubt your course....
                       press on, diligence and hard
                            work never go unrewarded, and dreams
                        really do come true.

                                                          Lynne Gerard

                              I BELIEVE ....  Vanilla xx

Would you like to join me for dinner ?

Vanilla's Friday

It was nice to find a thicker envelope to come trough my letter box :) today.
What's in it?
My friend recently emailed me , to let me know, she posted a book.
So today, it arrived. It is a book about how to make healthy juice.
Home made. And what healthy properties are in each vegetable and fruit.
I really like to find out about healthy things, I always like to read books that I can learn
what is good for me. I am excited to get to read this book in the evenings and then
put it into a practice...Will let you know more about the book....and how am I
getting on with it.

On the menu for today is a FLU FIGHTING SOUP
I found the recipe in the book called Medicinal cookery.
It is amazing and I will surely try some more recipes from it..Looks good and
healthy, so why not ?


You will need : 1 red onion
             2 green chilies (I only used one)
                  4 cloves of garlic
          5cm (2inch) piece of ginger
               1 small butternut squash
         1 punnet of shiitake mushrooms
                  Vegetable stock

 1.
Finely chop the onion, chilies, garlic and ginger. Add to a pan with little olive oil, and a pinch of crystal salt. Saute on a mid ho high heat until the onion softens.

2
Dice the butternut squash, discarding the seeds. Slice the shiitake mushrooms. Add these two ingredients to the prepared base  1
Stir well, then ed enough vegetable stock to cover all the ingredients. Simmer well, until she squash is soft,

3
 Add the soup to a blender , and blend into a vivid orange, spicy soup.

My blender broke half way trough...Hmm, so , you can see peaces in my soup. But it doesn't matter.
Am sure, we can still call it Flu fighting soup ;D

You must try this soup,  It is easy to make, it is tasty and it is soooo goood for you :)
Enjoy your meal.
Vanilla xx

Time to relax

Hi everyone!

This is my another crochet project that I started a year ago. I didn't expect it's gonna take me so long. It's a table cloth for my sister as a wedding gift but the funny thing is she got married 8 months ago so I'm a bit late. I was quite busy before my little ONE was born to organize everything for her and now is even busier to take care of her. Last weekend I had a chance to do one piece (flower). The whole project content 600 hundreds of them, I have done 310 so half way through. Wish me luck ;-)

Ginger xxx

Back home

Cinnamon's Wednesday

Time flies when you're having fun. That is so true. Our holiday with family and friends in Germany was lovely but it went far too quick. And before you know it you're back home. I always need a few days to adapt again. We arrived back home very early on Monday morning. We always travel by car as you can take all the stuff that you want and you're flexible abroad. I really like the long drive and the ferry crossing. But this time crossing the English Channel was close to horrible. The Sea was rough, the wind strong, the temperature on the vessel too high and I don't even want to start talking about the cleanliness on board. In the end we arrived in Dover and when we got home we only got all our luggage out of the car and went straight to bed. Even our little one didn't complain but fell asleep very quickly. All Monday I spent washing our cloths, cleaning, tidying up and doing food shopping. Yesterday went by rather quickly too as I had a few appointments already. And today after playgroup and cooking (just something quick and easy: gammon steaks with pots, sugar snap peas and spicy curry ketchup) I spent my afternoon sorting out our next holiday in Majorca ;-). I booked the flights and the finca and tomorrow I'll sort out the car. Already looking forward to that time!

But for now I'm back home, back to normality (although none of my days really seems ordinary, lol) with lovely memories and some pictures of our time away...

We went to visit my friend in Muenster. She only moved there a few weeks ago so of course we had a look around again (it's been nearly 10 years since I've last been to Muenster). The weather wasn't great but it didn't really matter. The town is really nice, it reminds me a bit of Oxford. There are more bikes than cars ;-), good shops and lots of cafes and bars and restaurants.

 This trendy cafe is called Pension Schmidt. You feel like sitting on your grandma's couch with homemade cake (delicious! I even forgot to take a picture...) and a hot drink. Really a must ;-)!

After an exciting day in Muenster (we also enjoyed my friend's new place of course, lots of talking, eating, drinking a glass of wine and laughing about our little princess who was trying to make friends with the cat. He was very clever and very fast though so Toblerone, my mini flavour, has to try again next time ;-) ) we decided to spent the next day without our little one. 

We went to Cologne, had lunch in a nice Greek restaurant - Limani - close to the river Rhine and afterwards we watched a football match: FC Cologne vs Hannover 96. This is my second time and I really liked it. But when hubby is watching football at home I have like a million other things to do than sitting down and watching 11 men chasing a ball (unless it's the worldcup or euorpean cup). I don't know why I can't enjoy it at home as it would make my life a lot easier. Hubby's team (or shall I say teams??) seems to play all the time. Maybe I try again this weekend...

Unfortunately Cologne didn't win, they drew. But it was good fun and hubby and I enjoyed a "Koelsch" (Cologne beer) to keep us warm, lol. 

As it is now nearly midnight again I have to make a cut here otherwise I won't be able to get up early tomorrow morning... But before I go to bed I always find something to look forward to the next day and tomorrow I'm going to meet my girls for coffee and catch up ;-). Can't wait...

Cinnamon x

holiday time

Hello All,
Because I'm away my post tonight will be to short like a holiday.
I'm hoping you all enjoying your favorite day, monday:).
When I go on holiday I always look for souvenirs, and today I found this :)

I'm wondering if that clue will help you guess where am I now :) 

I promise now I'll be back soon with my new ideas..at the moment I'm spending time with my family and wish you all the same :)

Xxx

Pepper

Vanilla's Valentines weekend continued...

Sunday !
We weren't in a hurry, we had our hot drinks at the hotel...
Got ready and decided to get some breakfast. We were passing Zack's and thought,  prices on the board outside were inviting and looked really busy inside, so that was a good sign.

  We went in and enjoyed our breakfast at Zack's very much. Fresh orange juice came complimentary with the cooked breakfasts.

I ordered Black bean Vanilla tea to go with my breakfast also.

After rather a big breakfast, we were hoping to go to a Russian festival,at Trafalgar square.To our disappointment, we found out it  wasn't on but there was some kind of protest instead...

We came across some street art at Trafalgar square.

Time in London flies .It takes so long to get from place to place, when you get distracted by so many different things.
Still  it's not far  from Trafalgar square to Soho, so we walked there.
Look where we went for window teasing ;) But it wasn't enough just to look at this beautiful cakes...

 Valerie patisserie at Soho was wonderful afternoon break...after long walks through London streets.

 Oxford street. How can you not have look around shops?
Well that is what I think...
My Valentine finds shopping terribly boring...
Can you imagine !?
I do like bit of everything when I go to visit new places...Balance, that is the right word for it.
Bit of visiting places, views,  food tasting at different restaurants , shopping, anything really place can offer...
O.k. back to Oxford street, Never ending Oxford street ;)
The only bargain I got, even though I only decided on Window shopping was a coat, which was 16 pounds originally but was reduced to 7 pound when I approached the till , That was super surprise !
Do you agree? I was so happy !
So bright / orange coat ! Positive colour :) Will show you one day.
I think it's perfect colour for Spring and Easter. Can already imagine my Bright orange coat with a black belt and short black boots...

And this is our simple, healthy- protein  but expensive dinner.The  restaurant is called
LOVE LOBSTER at the bottom of the Oxford Street. I always wanted to try a lobster.
It is an expensive meal at the restaurant, so this was MC-Donald's like ...Simple in the pot, with some lemon and Lemon mayo, We had some Zucchini fries to go with it.
34 pounds for that! Well we tried it, liked it, but will not have it that often, just because of how pricey it is to have a Crab on your plate , or only a simple pot ;)?
This is something, that would taste even better at the sea side and it would be probably cheaper too.

In the evening , we went to a church concert...It was nice and relaxing end to the weekend. Little bit of peace, after days spent in a world of things, beautiful things, lovely food and busy streets full of people and traffic. It can get a bit too much sometimes...
We all need some relaxing time, when we can slow down, and recharge our batteries...

                I LOVED WEEKEND AWAY change of scenery always does me good. :D
and I think My Valentine knows it ;)

Vanilla's Friday - Valentines weekend in London

I enjoyed being a Londoner for Valentines

 It was a great surprise ! I didn't expect to be going away...
Really, I didn't expect such ROMANTICA ;)
 I was trying to post something from London last weekend,but it is not the same from the phone,so I gave up.
Honestly....February could be a lot colder, especially for me Ladonka which means Iced girl- nick name from my Dad. I am usually frozen even inside. That is why I need that fireplace ! ;D
  Well. Our London trip started on Saturday the 14th. We arrived in London around 10am. We went to cafe Nero for our morning drinks and pastries.

We weren't far from the Science museum,so we visited and educated ourselves on Space & Stars

  Yuri Gagarin was a first man going into space...What a handsome guy he was,he died when he was only 34,  He died so young,

The first dog going up to the space was Laika :)

Watt's first experiment of steam

Science of eating  exhibition.

 It was very interesting to find out a bit more about food and how we get hungry for different things.

 What do you think?

We thought it made us a bit hungry ;) that "Science of food " exhibition

It was time to find the hotel. It was not far from Zack's .

No it really was not far if you knew, where the hotel was... Ha ha we went around the same block about 3 times. I wasn't laughing. So we went for lunch at Nando's as it was raining a bit and we were hungry and it was the closest restaurant around. While waiting for our meal we had a closer look at the map.  My meal arrived first ,we wanted to eat together as you would...But the other meal wasn't coming :( So I started eating slowly. I was more than half way trough before my Valentines meal appeared. We were promised pudding for free, as they realized it wasn't on. So not a great start..
But that promised  pudding really fixed the long wait for the main. ;)

Even forgot to take a picture of it....had to try it first. It was a really good peace of cake.
3 chocolate cheesecake.
When we found the hotel, we were relived and happy. It was a great location. Just across from the Natural History Museum.
We rested for a bit and got ready to go out for the evening.

Drinking Champagne :D

We went to China town. It is our favorite place to go to eat. We always try a different restaurant. This time it was this one

I chose the soup as I needed hidrate myself a bit. It was very tasty ,but eating with chopsticks..fuu ...I do find it just a bit time consuming ;) I think I spent more calories, just to get to eat this meal ..quite a triathlone of soup, meat and long pasta. It was very filling and we didn't need to order anything else.

 For the first time I tried Chinese plum drink. It was a bit sweet for me, but am glad I tried it. I like to experience different drink and food. My Valentine and me had a great laugh eating the same meal and agreed on, that this restaurant is probably offering an authentic Chinese meals. The menu was different from every other Chinese restaurant we went to. Also my Valentine's shirt was looking far from white after that meal !
I still love him :D

The China town is beautifully decorated for  Chinese New Year.
So let's get some NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS :
 Eat with chopsticks , am sure we can loose bit of wait doing that ;)

After the meal we walked around China Town , visited few shops and made our way back to Chelsea , where we were staying.
Was already looking forward to another exciting and adventurous day with my Valentine.

Anniversary card to 4flavours - Girls, lets celebrate :)

It is 19th of February....Does this tell you something???

We are Bloggers  :D

Today is our first month  Anniversary !

I wish to us all, many more ....
We are enjoying sharing our thoughts ,recipes, travels and  our adventures.
we are so fortunate to be friends.
4 flavours we ROCK !

Lots of love ,VANILLA xx

The apple pie recipe

Hi everyone!

This is a recipe for the apple pie that I baked few days ago and posted on Tuesday. I found it at the website called MOJEWYPIEKI.COM, it's actually a blog, very good one, so many delicious recipes. As I mentioned earlier I like making shortcrust dough because is so simple and easy to do but that day I thought my little ONE will sleep longer then half an hour. It took me nearly all day to finish it. Now when she's asleep I've got some time to give you the recipe and put more pictures.

Ingredients for the dough:

• 500 g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 125 g icing  sugar
• 200 g butter
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 tbsp sour cream

Flour, icing sugar and baking powder sift into the bowl. Butter, cut into small cubes, add to the flour, stir in the egg yolks, sour cream and knead the dough. Divide the dough in half and place in the fridge for at least an hour.

Ingredients for the filling:

• 4 sour apples, peeled, cut into half-slices
• 1/8 cup water
• 125 g icing sugar (you can give less if the apples are sweeter)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

In addition:

• a few tbsp of bread crumbs
• icing sugar for sprinkle

Place sliced ​​apples in a saucepan, add water and simmer covered for about 15 minutes, without stirring. Add the sugar and cinnamon, stir lightly. The weight of the stir cornstarch, lemon juice and simmer for another 2 minutes.The mixture should be thick, but not mushy.

Preheat the oven to 180 ° C. Grease the form of fat or parchment paper for baking. In the bottom put one part of the dough and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with breadcrumbs (absorb excess moisture from the apples), put apples and grate on a second part of the dough. Bake for about an hour until nicely browned the top. Cool slightly and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Ginger xxx

A family evening

It's still Cinnamon's Wednesday

We enjoyed a lovely family dinner tonight - German/ African style :-). We had sadza (the white stuff on the plate), greens (well, you can't get spring greens in Germany so I had to use savoy cabbage instead) and a nice beef stew accompanied by a glass of red wine (an amazing one, by the way; and to be honest I enjoyed two glasses today cause hubby was driving back). For desert we had "Berliner", we call them donuts in England. It's a common sweet for this time of year. Unfortunately we were too quick to finish them, I couldn't even take a picture ;-).

The meal doesn't look pretty on the plate but it really tastes nice. I have to cook it for your girls ;-).

Our little one was really tired after playing with her cousin and auntie and uncle all afternoon. She fell asleep in the car and I thought she might want to stay up once we are back. But no, she drank her milk and was asleep within a few minutes, cuddling her rabbit and sheep :-). As we are one hour ahead it's time for me to sleep as well. 

Goodnight from Cinnamon x

Carnival in Germany

Cinnamon's Wednesday

Every year in January/ February some of the Germans get crazy celebrating their "Karneval". Especially in Cologne and Duesseldorf. The highlight is "Rosenmontag" with lots of parades. We went to see a smaller parade in the outskirts of Duesseldorf. The weather was great although it was quite cold. You usually dress up especially for the parades but unfortunately I didn't this year. It was a bit stressful in the morning so we decided to just go instead of us missing the whole thing. And also people like to drink beer and other alcoholic drinks. But we were fine with water and juice ;-). The parade is about catching sweets and little flower bouquets. We got a bag full of naughty sweets.

Here are just some impressions:

Today the fifth season, as the people here call it, is over. Now the fasting period starts as it is 40 days to Easter from today. So for the next nearly seven weeks I want to give up something I really like too. I think it's going to be coffee. I know it will be very difficult as I love meeting my friends, having coffee and cake. But I also like the challenge :-). We'll see how it goes...

Cinnamon x