SUN sun sun

... makes everything look better!

Treat of the day: Banana-pineapple mousse (a made up recipe for a Sunday evening)

Today I needed a treat so I made up this really easy, delicious and healthy desert:

Here's what you need:
3 ripe bananas
1/2 pineapple
Agar-agar
Cocoa powder
A few peanuts

How to do it:
Use a food processor to turn the fruit into a smooth cream. Transfer to a pan and add 1 heap tea spoon of agar-agar. Let the fruit simmer in médium heat for 20 minutes.
Transfer to individual bowls and sprinkle with the Cocoa powder and crushed peanuts.
Delicious!

Cardboard animals

A really nice and clever idea by a russian blogger. Found here.

These days I have been...

Reading "The silence" by Sarah Maitland and re-reading "Boomeritis" by Ken Wilber

Finishing these stripped socks

Working on this rag rug made with old tshirts (still need to find more old t-shirts!)

Trying to get my chair back, but Mia has a different view on the subject

Listening to Beirut & Sigur Rós ♥

"when i listen to varúð i feel this overlap and struggle between sadness and beauty, between darkness and light. an overwhelming feeling of being buried in darkness but being just barely able to escape into the light, if you try hard enough. this is the feeling i've tried to bring to the video"
Bjorn Flóki, director of this video.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Paper dolls

M. and M. came for a quick visit today and here is what we did:

Inspiration: the best thing I read today...

There will be dozens

Of people

Who will take your 

Breath away

But the one

Who reminds you

To breathe

 Is the one you 

Should keep.

(Author unknown)

Arrábida: the first glimpse of summer weather this year

Recently we went to Portinho da Arrábida - I had forgotten how beautiful that place is. Although it was a bit too crowded for my taste (because we haven't had sunny days in a while) it always feels like you are in an unspoiled place, away from citys, skyscappers, polution... The water is really cold (I think) but it is transparent and you often see little fishes swimming by...

Turquoise: things I saw recently

1 - A painting by Oliver Jeffers.
2 - My dream Bike!
3 - Traditional handmade slippers available at "Lobo Taste", in Oporto.
4 - "Velocité", a new coffeeshop, full of surprises - vintage stuff, bikes for sale and to rent, delicious food.
5 - Something I would love to try again: marbling paper.
6 - Flowery tea towel with a crochet edge.
7 - A strange photo of a painting I saw, in a gallery, in Barcelona
8 - Wisdom in a poster :-)

Sugar high: a pile of raspberry filed pancakes!

Today I came across this amazing looking pile of pancakes filed with raspberry cream. I was/still am hypnotized by it and will try baking in very soon (maybe by making it a bit healthier, replacing some ingredients as suggested bellow).

Here is the recipe:

FOR THE RASPBERRY CREAM

300 g raspberries, fresh or frozen

2 dl cream (or soy cream)

2 dl greek yogurt (or a plain soy yogurt)

Zest from 1 organic lemon

FOR THE PANCAKES (15 medium sized)

100 g normal flour

100 g buckwheat flour (you can also use just normal flour)

3 eggs

3 dl l milk (or rice milk)

1 dl beer (or apple juice)

1 tsp vanilla sugar

½ tsp cardamom

Coconut oil or Ghee to frie the pancakes

FOR TOPPING

Fresh raspberries

Icing sugar (or agave)

HOW TO

Boil the frozen raspberries for a couple of minutes until they become like a jam. Mash the berries with a fork, and let the berries cool completly down.

Whip the cream, it should be solid but not grainy. Fold in the whiped cream with the yogurt and add the lemon zest. When the berries are completly cooled down, add them as well, mixing the cream carefully together and store it in the fridge.

Now let's start to prepare the pancakes. Mix all the ingredients together wtih a handmixer until the dough is tender. Let it rest for 30 minutes and then whisk it with the handmixer one last time.

Heat up a little pan, these shouldn't have the size of a normal pancake. Fry them until there golden in either coconut oil or butter. You should make them a little thicker than you would normally make a pancake. I used about ½ dl dough per pancake. I madet 15 pancakes.

When all the pancakes are done, let them cool down in the fridge. When they are cold, place one pancake on the plate/cake stand you want to serve it on. Spread a layer of the raspberry cream and put on an other pancake on top, then a layer of the cream and so on. Top with a thicker layer of the rapsberrycream, some icing sugar and fresh raspberries.

Serve immediatly or place it somewhere cold, the fridge.

Recipe found here. 

Recently enjoyed things

1 - Playing with my niece, M, throwing the ball (more accuratly, the pink pompom!) for Mia-the-cat to catch.
2 - Hearing her news :-)
3 - Finding a painting/collage my other niece gave me a few years ago (great colour combination!)
4 - Finding a handmade rabbit bought by a japanese friend in a second hand sale.
5 - Watching Toffee enjoy his after-lunch nap in the sun.

Spring is in the air!

A wonderful sunday spent lingering on the grass in my favorite garden: Gulbenkian's, of course.

White all around