sunday

Civic Duties: DONE!

Yesterday we voted! I do not want to spend more time on the subject as I think that politics is just like religion: everyone is entitled to their own opinion. We did however, use that as an excuse to snap some more pics of the 34th week of pregnancy and fully took advantage of the 14 degrees C and the perfectly clear skies – yes, apparently the weather is a bit nuts these days in Bucharest. Since both of us have our ID dress at our parents’ this called for a full Bucharest tour to be able to vote. First it was D who voted and right after that it was my turn. When all our civic duties were done we decided to snap some pics near my parents house thus changing the usual scenery a bit.

As you can see, D is wearing a t-shirt and I am wearing a dress with no coat on as it was just that warm outside and needless to say lovely. The dress is yet another XS find from ZARA that currently fits nicely but I have a feeling that in about two-three weeks I will have to wear it as a tunic over jeans because my belly is growing at a very fast rate and this dress is on the short side. But I love it anyway because it has a very fun print, it needs no ironing and it works with a lot of things in my closet, plus the lovely black and yellow combo. I just can’t wait to try it on when I am back to my old shape again and see how it fits. To be honest I can’t wait to try all my newly bought dresses once I loose all the baby weight. Maybe I will do a series called ‘Double Take: during and after pregnancy dresses’. I strongly urge all future mothers to not give into the temptation of buying maternity clothes, just be careful with your diet and you’ll fit in most of your usual sized dresses – the cut is the only thing that really changes but at least you’ll be left wth clothes that you can actually wear post-pregnancy.

On me:

Dress – ZARA; Boots – Rachel Zoe; Bag – Christhelen B by Musette; Hat – ZARA; Sunglasses – Dior; Bling – Swarovski (bracelet and ring); Watch – Apple

Whenever I have a dress that is a bit on the short side of the spectrum I like to pair it with over the knee boots, as you might have noticed, especially since these boots are current obsessions of mine mainly because they tend to make legs seem longer and slimmer than they actually are – trust me on that one. Plus they are super-sexy and comfortable provided you do accept the fact that every once in a while (often!) you gave to re-position them on your thighs as they do tend to run down as you walk (some double tape might help with that). Aside from the mini-dress-over-the-knee boots combo, I must point out that I found another black bag! This is not new, I’ve actually had it for 3 years but only recently found it and therefore I decided to switch from my usual Chloe black bag. Plus I just love the golden details that go perfectly with my Rachel Zoe boots as well as my ZARA hat. You can find lots of similar options at Musette.

On D:

T-shirt – Replay; Jeans – Review; Vest – ZARA; Shoes – Replay; Sunglasses – Ray-Ban; Bling – Fossil and Constantin Nautics; Watch – Apple

D didn’t really feel like wearing black, so he opted for the softer version of grey and dark khaki. He proudly wore his newly acquired ZARA vest that he first spotted a few years ago (different colour, though) and I suspect he prayed a lot to the ZARA Gods to remake that model. He is the type of shopper that sees something that he likes but only wants desperately to have it at least a year later. Well, this is one of those few things that he actually found two years later in store and thus had to have it. He also wore his lovely Review jeans and a Replay t-shirt that he bought especially as he wanted something to match his Replay orange-soled sneaks. All in all, everything he wore matched wonderfully: the dark khaki of the vest with the khaki t-shirt, the orange sole of his sneaks with the orange print on his t-shirt that also sort of matched the orange-brown part of the vest. I just love it when everything goes well together and not necessarily matches perfectly!

Bling-wise, we did not really put too much thought into it as we were only going out to vote, but we did however manage to look decent. I wore my Swarovski bracelet and ring while D wore his usual Fossil bracelet alongside a Constantin Nautics bracelet. We both wore out Apple Watches, as usual and it turns out we are both fans of these smartwatches despite not really thinking that might happen. Since it was really sunny out, we both wore sunglasses, I, my Dior SoReal while D wore his Ray-Ban black sunnies.

December 12, 2016

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Into the woods…

It seems that every single time we decide to take photos on this forest road we are wearing some sort of yellow shade (see this post here as well). None the less, it seems more and more like I am slowly but surely turning into the ‘elephant-element’ of these photoshoots. Yes, I am aware by now that I will not be one of those pregnant-model-like types, but rather on the rhino-side of the issue. I will admit that I do have days when I do not feel as good about my pregnant body as I should, but then I think about all the posts about my recovery that will be featured here, on my online diary, and suddenly it doesn’t feel that bad.

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As stated in an earlier post, I do not plan on investing in new and expensive clothes during this period therefore I am yet again wearing a full H&M ensemble. I did succumb to my first maternity piece – the jeans. I realised that I needed a pair of pants for those errand-packed days and even though my old jeans fit me (with a bit of struggle) they are very uncomfortable over my growing bump, so a maternity pair was necessary. I decided to chose H&M simply because I loved the fabric – it feels a bit like the Hyperflex jeans from Replay and you know I love them so much! I have to say that 100 new outfit opportunities have risen once I realised that I can wear a pair of pants and not feel like crap during this pregnancy.

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On me:

Jeans – H&M; Sweater – H&M; Shoes – Puma; Bag – Michael Kors; Bling – Swarovski (bracelet and ring); Watch – Tissot T-Race

For yesterday’s errands I decided to pair the jeans with yet another H&M piece that D selected especially for me – this sweater – but I strongly suspect that he got it because it matches his shirt perfectly and he really wanted to snap some photos of it. The reality is that I love it (as I love all the stuff D choses for me) and I think that the shade of mustard-yellow is just to die for. Somehow I think this is one shade that goes well no matter what season it is. I wore my very comfortable and fun Puma sneakers and decided on completing the outfit with my navy Michael Kors bag. What was rather unusual about yesterday was the fact that we did not wear matching watches as I decided to wear my Tissot T-Race simply because I love the way it compliments my Jawbone and Swarovski bracelets.

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On D:

Jeans – G-Star Raw; T-shirt – Scotch and Soda; Shoes – Converse x John Varvatos; Bling – Fossil; Watch – Aviator

D was extremely happy when he saw the colour scheme I chose because, as I told you a bit earlier, he really wanted to wear this gorgeous t-shirt form Scoth and Soda that he got a week or so ago. I also got pretty excited when he decided on wearing his G-Star Raw pants because I think that this pair is among my top three favourites form his closet and they match my (only) jeans perfectly. For comfort reasons he wore his Converse x John Varvatos sneakers and decided to keep his accessorising to a minimum with his Fossil bracelet. He also made the decision to not match my watch choices and went for his Aviator watch that he hasn’t worn in a while now.

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Despite my growing baby bump and my obvious body issues, I am determined to keep on taking photos and be honest with you about everything as I find it liberating to talk (write) a bit about the down-days. I strongly believe everybody has them, but I am very thankful that mine are very rare and the nasty feelings just pass quickly. In the end, all that maters is that the lovely baby is growing healthily, I feel physically great and D supports me every single minute. So not much to complain!

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October 3, 2016

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Taking responsibility for one’s own actions!

As you all know, I overslept on Sunday, and my significant other decided to go grocery shopping without a list and on an empty stomach, therefore we were stuck with enough food to feed a small third world country. He did however take responsibility for his errors and ended up cooking all day. The end-result that was supposed to be our lunch mesmerised into our dinner (taking photos and cooking doubled the cooking time) and it was DELICIOUS! And this is coming from someone that doesn’t necessarily appreciate a meat-based dinner. Knowing this all too well about me, the sneaky bastard incorporated cheese into the meat roll and ended up with a lot of praising (on and offline) from yours truly.

I do have to mention this, before we start with the technicalities of this dish, that this time, D went all the way and apart from the main course he also made an amazing side dish, therefore, this recipe will have two distinctive parts. If you plan on recreating this recipe, take into consideration the amount of ingredients D bought and the fact that we ended up eating this meal all week long, so unless you plan on cooking for your neighbours as well, divide the quantities at least by 2.

What you’ll need for the main course:

625 gr flank steak (that’s two flank steaks, basically the moment I saw those two pieces I realised we were going to eat this all week long-not that I am complainig)
500 gr mushrooms
30 gr rucola (you can basically add whatever type of leaves you like – baby spinach, salad, etc)
15 gr of chives
5 gr of fresh thyme (rosemary works well with beef as well)
2 medium red onions
50 gr grated cheese
butter (beef tastes infinitely better when cooked with butter instead of oil)

Steps you’ll need to follow:

As per usual, arrange all the ingredients for that perfect photo.
Start by putting a little butter into a non-stick pan and let it melt over small flame.
Put the minced onions in the pan and stir well until it turns soft.
Add all the diced mushrooms and stir until they halved in volume.
Add the minced chives and stir until the mushrooms turn brown (see photo for reference).
Lay the meat flat and put some of the mushroom stew on it. Keep the rest for a little variety on the side.
Add the rucola on top of the mushroom stew.
Finish the combo with grated cheese and thyme.
Roll the meat, securing it with skewer-sticks and then cut it into 3 cm thick slices.
Heat some butter into a cast iron pan – if you’re going to fry meat, this is the best type of pan for the best taste (D already tried every other type of pan, save your money)
Put the slices into the pan and cook them 2-3 minutes on each side, or until you decide they’re good to eat (we’re normally having medium-rare beef)

Congratulations! The main course is done! Moving along to the side dish…

What you’re going to use:

500 gr new potatoes
500 gr sweet potatoes (1 large will suffice)
250 gr cherry tomatoes (use cherry tomatoes so you won’t need to chop them)
10 gr thyme
1 medium red onion
50 gr grated cheese
butter
1 tbsp pomace olive oil (do not use virgin olive oil for cooking)

The road from a bunch of ingredients to some of the best baked potatoes:

Butter the inside of the vessel you are going to use.
Pre-heat the oven at 185 degrees C.
Throughly wash the potatoes and dice the sweet potato.
Evenly spread the sweet potato on the vessel.
Top them with the cherry tomatoes and the sliced onion.
Cut the new potatoes into halves and put them over everything (they are last as the sweet potato needs more heat)
Sprinkle the thyme and pour the tablespoon of olive oil evenly.
Add salt and pepper and in the oven they go!

Depending on your oven, they should be done in 20-30 minutes. Right at the end, grate them with the cheese and you’re done. This whole post actually took me to write, a fraction of the time it took D to cook. Even though it took us 4 hours from start to finish, it was so worth it! The combo of beef, greens and cheese alongside new and sweet potatoes is amazing, and once again D won my heart with this dish!

As you’ve been accustomed by now, the nutritional information is from my UP app and it’s for the whole amount of food. You should divide it by 8 in order to get the info for one serving. All in all, this is actually a healthy meal, in spite of the frying part, but only because we used very little butter instead of oil.

I hope you’ll enjoy D‘s improv-meal because I know I did!!!

April 16, 2016

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Easy like Sunday morning…

D’s version of events:

I woke up on Sunday morning with the urge to try some extreme activities and because L was still sleeping I decided to cook her breakfast. To be completely honest, I was thinking about doing this ever since I found a nice pic on the internet with a forest fruit omelette a few days back. So I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, drank my usual 500 ml of room temperature still water, put on some Sunday morning clothes (aka some sweatpants and a t-shirt) and went to our local store to buy some ingredients. Usually, because we want to avoid buying unnecessary stuff we always prepare a grocery list, however this time I didn’t, so when I got to the register I realised I bought ingredients for lunch and dinner for a couple of days plus a very nice bottle of wine which we will review later on our blog. After I payed for everything I went home, put on my CHEF attitude and started cooking. Of course, right when I was pouring milk over the mixed eggs, L walked into the kitchen only to find that I was not photographing the exact thing I was doing (‘What if we manage to cook something blog worthy?’ she said with an accusatory tone), and right she was because we ended up with quite an interesting breakfast. So I got busted trying to surprise her with breakfast but she was definitely surprised when she saw what I was doing and of course when she saw what I had planned for lunch, which will be covered on the blog in the days to come.

My version (the true version) of events:

I woke un Sunday morning to all sorts of suspicious sounds coming from the kitchen. Half asleep I made my way towards the source of my awakening and found D cooking and (as I later found out) taking pictures of mostly everything he did, because he knows that we need photos as proof just in case whatever comes out of our kitchen is blog-worthy good.

I love Sundays, because when we’re at home, there’s nothing more comforting than spending the day together and doing all sorts of plain activities like cooking or going out to have lunch, that just recharges us for the week to come. This time, after he teased me all week long with food pics (I’m on a healthy strict diet during the week), he decided to cook me something that would surprise me. At first I thought that he only used whatever ingredients we already had in the house but later I found out that a) he walked the dog and b) went to the supermarket and bought stuff to feed 10 people for a whole week. I guess that’s what happens when you go shopping for food on an empty stomach and without a very clear grocery list. Let’s get back to the plate of deliciousness…

What you’ll need in order to make two servings of this heaven-tasting pancake/omelette:

3 eggs
250 ml of whole milk (whole milk makes the eggs creamier)
125 gr fresh raspberries
125 gr fresh blueberries (we try and steer clear of refrigerated fruits)
1 tsp of ground cinnamon (D knows that I would put cinnamon in everything, sometimes I even put it in my coffee)
10 gr of butter (divide it into half as you’ll need that for each pancake/omelette -panlette, let’s call it- for frying)

All those ingredients we normally have in our fridge, hence the confusion thinking that this was yet again a leftover breakfast. Honestly though, I think that you can use any type of fruit in the panlette, I’m even thinking of trying a combo with dark chocolate and bananas. Yes, this recipe contains absolutely no sugar nor flour and if you want to actually make it healthier you should use only the egg whites and toss the yolks aside.

The road from ingredients to a beautiful plate of panlette:

After you wash and arrange all the ingredients for that winner photo, you batter the eggs as good as you can until they become almost creamy.
Pour all the milk and batter some more.
Walk into the kitchen and startle the cook (D in thins case).
Add all the cinnamon to the mixture and when you realise that it doesn’t incorporate well, use the hand-blender to force all the cinnamon into the mix.
From this point on, you have to do everything you’d normally do for a pancake.
Put half of the butter into the pan, and then, using a ladle pour half of the composition, just like you would with any pancake mixture.
This is where it gets tricky (or at least for unexperienced cooks like us), you have to turn the thing over on the other side. D was a genius in this department as he used the cover of the pan, turned it over and the skilfully slid the panlette back into the pan.
You add half of the blueberries and half of the raspberries and keep the other half for the second panlette.
Basically that’s about it. You’ll also need to make a strawberry sauce but that’s easy, you just use the hand blender to turn them into a smoothie, but keep two strawberries to decorate the plate.

There you have it, a satisfying (very!) breakfast, that will keep you full until lunch. All the nutritional information is from my amazing UP app and it’s for two servings (you’ll have to divide it by two to find out the info for one serving).

In my opinion, this was the perfect Sunday breakfast and to be honest the best tasting ever, but I’m biased cos I love the cook. D, on the other hand, being the perfectionist that he can sometimes be, thinks that the panlette could use some improvement, but trust me, try it out like this at first!

As a side note, the whole house was left smelling like somebody had made forest fruit jam. I just love that smell so much… It reminds me of the time when I was a little girl and used to spend my summers at the countryside and my grandmother cooked all sorts of fruit-based goodies.