Worth getting up for!

R.'s speciality is breakfast. True, he can cook other things, but he excels at making nice, elaborate and well decorated breakys! On his last visit to Germany, he mastered the art of poached eggs (something I have never been good at) and so, every now and then, I get treated to a delicious, runny poached egg for breakfast. Yesterday was such a day-yay! A beautiful table awaited me: poached egg on bread, with cheddar cheese and a slice of tomato, a half grapefruit, a flaky, buttery croissant, a glass of orange juice, my big cup of coffee, with foamed milk, and a selection of sweet and salty spreads. Add in great company and who would not get up for all that?!

That's Romanesco adorning the plate- my new favorite veggie!

Breakfast- the best meal of the day!

Pizza

I've already talked about home-made pizza on this blog, so I won't bore you with tons of words. I will just post this image.

Enough said.

Stencil art

Here are my favorite stencil art graffitis. I love stencil art- when I was in Berlin, I never left the house without my camera, as you never knew where you would find the next tag- although you were very certain that you would find at least two new ones each time you left the house. Berlin is a mecca for stencil art, and the movement there is in full bloom. Things are picking up in Montreal, but we (or should I say the artists!) still have a long way to go to reach Berlin's standards!

This one was taken in Krakow

Ragdoll Cats= cuteness galore!

One (or maybe two) more post about New-Hampshire-- what can I say? It was a very fruitful four days! Today, I'd like to talk about Ragdoll cats. Before my trip to the Alpaca farm, I have to admit I had never heard of Ragdoll cats. But, as it so happens, the couple who owns the Alpacas also raise pure breed Ragdoll cats. These cats get their name from the rag doll, as, when you pick them up, they usually go limp just like above-mentioned doll. They have striking blue eyes and the same colours as Siamese cats, except that their hair is long. They are simply adorable!

Beyoncé, the drama-queen of the house

C'mon! Tell me Delilah's not beautiful

This is the male and father of all offspring's!

Alpacas

While in New Hampshire, I visited an Alpaca farm. Alpacas are friendly, goofy looking animals raised for their wool. They are gentle and sweet animals that are very curious- if someone new comes around, they want to know all about it! We were lucky to see the latest addition to the group, who arrived last Monday.

The Alpacas, shaved in May

The new addition

The happy mother!

The views

Here are a few snapshots of my time in New Hampshire!

The beach, N-H style

Heirloom tomatoes from Earle Farm

Sunset

Ladie time!

Live free or Die!

I spent the last four days in New Hampshire with the ladies, for some fun in the sun, relaxing moments sipping wine and chatting and a last little trip before returning to work -that was today for me :(
We had two days of beautiful sunshine and two days of grey, which made for a nice balance between enjoying nature and staying at home in your PJ's all day long and not feeling guilty about it!

On the way to Eden, N-H, we stopped at the famous Parker Pie in Vermont, where they serve delicious pizzas. My friends had told me about this place and it came highly recommended, so the pressure was on to try it and to love it! I am happy to report that the pies at Parker did not disappoint- served on a very thin crust (which is crisp and delicious), the pies are topped with something for everyone and eaten in the sun with a glass of brew and great company, nothing much can be better!

Monster fun!

R. and I took my little cousins to the Festival des Montgolfières in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu yesterday. It was lots of fun! There were tons of activities for the kiddies and the hot air balloons were absolutely beautiful. It is one of my biggest dreams to ride in a hot air balloon. I hope one day I will get the privilege to see the world from way up high, sipping a class of champagne doing so! Until then, I will have to continue admiring the beautiful balloons from the ground.

Deco-paper-pretty!

As promised, here is a list of the deco/paper goods/pretty things blogs I like to have a look at. If I were rich, I would spend tons of money ordering from here and there, but as my financial situation is not the one of a millionaire, I simply browse around, wishing, hoping.

http://uponafold.com.au/blog

http://osezlacouleur.blogspot.com/

http://memitherainbow.blogspot.com/

http://www.papoutsi.com/

http://www.su-pyo.com/#

http://seesawdesigns.blogspot.com/

Do you know of any blogs that you think I might like?

Zwetschgendatschi!

August is the month for plums- nice, ripe, juicy Italian plums (in German Zwetschgen and in English also known as Damson plums). They have yellow flesh and a deep purple skin, that, once cooked or baked, gives out a wonderful deep fushia color. Plums are loved in Germany (and I am sure in many other countries) and everyone has his/her favorite plum cake recipe. I had never made a plum cake before, but as I was having a few people over for a traditional Kaffee und Kuchen afternoon, I decided to make this recipe. It was easy to make and turned out to be delicious! You should give it a try too! (PS: I replaced the fresh yeast, which I did not have, with instant dry yeast, and the result was the same, or at least no one complained about the dough!).

Yum! Plum!

Stuffed courgette!

R. and I are lucky to have friends who live in the country and tend a large and beautiful vegetable garden. On our last visit there, our friends gave us enough fresh produce for the rest of the month! Corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh herbs and of course zucchini, as well as their flowers! The flowers were eaten that same day, as they are fragile. I stuffed them with a ricotta-basil mix, battered them, and then fried them up- they were delicious!

Today we ate the zucchini. It was a large specimen, so I decided to stuff it. Filled with mushrooms, onions, fresh corn and goat feta, it made for a healthy and tasty meal!

Christmas lights- Japanese style

I love Christmas lights garlands. I use them year-round, not just for the holiday season, as I find they give a really nice romantic glow when they are the only light lit in the room. But recently I came across this post (http://leneken3000.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/43/) and decided to give it a try. The result is beautiful! The light shines through the paper and tames the intensity of the light. Plus, it makes for a really nice deco idea. You should give it a try!

Die Charlotte!

Gustav has a toy mouse called Charlotte. He loves her so very much. He would play with her night and day if we let him, but so that we can get a little sleep, we remove her at night. He loves her so much that every time he goes to eat, he brings her with him, sets her next to the food bowl, and, I am sure, tells her to "Have a bite". It is so cute!

Gustav eating with his Charlotte

Die Charlotte!

The food blogs I love!

I love having a look at food blogs! I like to see the pretty pictures of what people are making and eating, I like reading the stories that accompany the pictures, and I like to get new ideas for what to make for dinner! There are at least 50 food blogs bookmarked in my "Food blog" folder, but I have to admit, I don't like them each equally... I have favorites, is that wrong? I thought I would share my Top 5 favorite food blogs with you. Here they are, in no particular order. And just as a note, these  are my favorite food blogs because of their photography, their creators (the people behind these blogs all seem so so nice!), and the wonderful ideas they share with their readers- so, why don't you have a look at a few of them? You certainly will not regret it!

http://thestonesoup.com/

http://www.deliciousdays.com/

http://smittenkitchen.com/

http://sproutedkitchen.com/

http://midinettes.be/

Soon to come, my favorite deco/paper goods/pretty things blogs!

Practical- and good looking- idea

I had this when I was living in Berlin. My room, in the flat I was sharing with three other people, was nice, but a little bare. One day, I had the brilliant idea to hammer two nails in the walls, running the length of the wall, and to attach a string to them, on which I would hang all the wonderful cards and other knick-knacks I picked up around the city. It gave my room a wonderful look, and reminded me everyday of the things I liked.
Yesterday, I decided to do the same here, in my little buro, and it took no time at all for the strings to be filled with things!
It looks great!

Whimsy