Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful Happy New Year 2011 ;)

Cologne's Christmas Market Food!

Cologne's Christmas Markets are with out any doubt one of the best in Europe! But what is really amazing in the snacks/drinks you can find there :)

To start nothing better then a warm Gluewine (hot wine with spices)


with some amazing potato dumplings with herbs and cream!


being in Germany is mandatory to have this amazing snack in the pic below,

or,


another typical snack is fried potato with apple sauce,



other yummy snacks!


plenty of yummy sweets,



handmade candy,




gingerbread cookies :)


Is a true food feast!

What's for breakfast?

Breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day! It's also in the morning when you least want to spend time cooking since you are probably sleepy!

I normally have some super yummy Dorset Cereals with yogurt and some blueberries easy to make even under the influence of sleep! . The cereals I buy them at the amazing English shop, close to Brussels, called Stonemanor.

The cup on the above picture is from the amazing shop Fishs Eddie in NYC, damn those 20 kilos! if I could I would have brought much more dinnerware they have some super original pieces :)

Another yummy breakfast is scones with jam and some black tea! I've done a post some time ago and now to make them. I normally bake the scones on Sunday and freeze them for the rest of the week. You just pop one out of the freezer in to the microwave with the defrost program and is ready to eat!

For the ones wondering what is written in the tea cup is in Portuguese and is something like: "Life with out friends is like a garden with out flowers" :)

My last addition to breakfast food is some amazingly easy pancakes, recipe from Jamie Oliver. I came across a super cute video of Jamie doing some pancakes with his daughters over at {frolic!} and I had to try them out!

Here they are, some amazing banana pancakes with yogurt, honey and blueberries.
Unfortunately the light was not the best when I took the picture,

super yummyyyyyy!

This is yummy, where is it from?

Some teriyaki salmon and risotto,


in Prague, Czech republic.

Let's Sail away

In the end of August we did our first sailing trip the great Capitan Matthias! We departed from the Roompot Marina in the Netherlands,

our super nice ride, Pandora!


the sleeping chambers,


for dinner some amazing Zealand mussels, this was for two people btw :)


preparing the trip for the next day,


Rise and shine!!!


the boats impressive GPS,


Start rolling the sail and lets go in direction to Zierikzee!!


the view!

moving the sail every time we wanted to change direction was hard work, but manageable! Sailing is definitely a good workout!

the boats that get the mussels,


and some pretty ancient boats well recovered,


time to get some energy back!


we arrive to Zierikzee and there seems to be a celebration going on :)


some kind of mussels related celebration,


interesting new way of kayaking :)


time to rest for the next day!


a sample video of our next day sailing :)

This is yummy, where is it from?

A super yummy goat cheese and ham pancake,


and a classic American pancake with bacon!


from the Pancakes! Amsterdam

Anthropologie Stores

Their stores are pretty impressive in terms of decor. I while go I had the opportunity to visit the London store in which they have an impressive garden wall!

While in NYC and Washington DC a stop in an Antropologie store was mandatory!

the shop of Antropologie in George Town in DC. Some pictures from the Rockefeller center NYC Antropologie shop,

the decor details are impressive!

in my to get list! the amazing Penguin Classics with the covers made by Coralie Bickford-Smith

Now is also possible to order their clothes at http://www.anthropologie.eu/ and pay in euros which is handy :)

Super Easy Yummy Scones!

I've tried this recipe from Jamie Oliver's book Ministry of Food several times and the scones always came out excellent! Its also pretty straight forward recipe :)

*Makes 10 scones

-120g mixture of sour cherries and/or raisins
-orange juice, for soaking
-450g self-raising flour, plus a little extra for dusting
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-120g butter
-pinch of salt
-2 large eggs
-5 tablespoons milk, plus a little extra for brushing

*To make your dough

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Soak the cherries and raisins in a little bowl with just enough orange juice to cover them. While they're soaking, you can either pulse the flower, baking powder and butter in a food processor just until the mixture starts to look like breadcrumbs (don't be tempted to over-pulse) or you can rub them together by hand (that is what I do). Transfer to a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle. In another bowl, beat the eggs and milk with a good pinch of salt. Then pour your beaten eggs, milk, cherries and raised into the well in the flour mixture and stir well, adding a splash more milk if necessary, until you have a soft, dry dough.


After just roll out the dough with a rolling pin and cut 2cm thick or as you like it best :) . Dip the pastry brush into some milk and brush the top of each scone. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes until risen and brown.

result super yummy scones!!!!

what to put on them!?!!?!? what about homemade jam!!!! recipe from my second favorite cook Rachel Allen!, Summer fruit Jam recipe

nothing better then an afternoon tea with some homemade scones and jam!


yummy :)

Photo fun

While in Stockholm every time we went back to the place we were staying we passed this statue, I ended up taking some pics of it during different times of the day,

sunshineeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,


cloudy day,

By the way this is the Statue of Charles XIV John at Slussplan :)