Every Thursday

God doesn’t want me to blog. or sleep. or stop catching colds on airplanes, there’s no other explanation for all that been going on lately.

But, in general, I’m good, going home for a visit in a few days, haven’t been there in a few months and I can’t wait to catch up with some great friends…

I’ve uploaded, finally, all the pics from my card, it’s funny to look at it together and to see where I’ve been and all the things I did.

So, here is a photo (or 2) from each thursday, just a small taste of my summer.

Emma (who is going to actually reply to comments one of this days).

20.7.12 – Road trip in Romania

27.7.12 – Nice

3.8.12 – Had a small get-together with friends on the seine and got photographed by many tourists on cruises.

10.8.12 – Stumbled across this sign in the street, took it as a sign, literally: planning a long trip to AU

17.8.12 – Talked on the phone for 2 hours about work, got bored and started taking pictures and abusing filters…

24.8.12 – My friend got dumped, we gained 5 pounds each.

31.8.12 – Had the best Italian food I had ever eaten.

7.9.12 – Went to Italy, again, maybe I should just move there?

14.9.12 – Watched “Cleopatra” with my neighbours outside on the street.

18.9.12 – (today) It got colder here in paris during the last 2 weeks, wore a coat for the first time this season and bought amazing sweaters and boots – ready for winter.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Urban

I love taking photos of cities,  people on the street, street art, just life as you pass through the street..

Here are a few pics of one of my favorite cities in the world, NY.

For more entries click here.

Emma

French Onion Quiche

It’s hot in paris. I know it’s summer in a lot places, but paris isn’t really equipped to deal with this hot wave (with no beach and no air conditioning) and days are going by in a blur right now – cooking is just too much these days.
Still, had a small lunch meeting at work, and surprisingly, they wanted me to bring food…
This quiche is my specialty, it has a few steps to it, but basically it’s an easy and great way to impress people with your cooking.
You can put it all together in 30 min and than another 30-35 in the oven, just make sure to let it cool for at least half an hour before you try and cut it.

Ingredients:
For the cheese mixture –
140 grams of grated hard cheese (emmental/comte or whatever you like, usually I choose gruyère)
250 grams skinny cream cheese
250 ml sweet cream
2 onions
1 leek, just the stem (the green part)
3 cloves of garlic
2 spoons of flour
2 eggs
salt and pepper

For the crust –
125 grams of butter
1.5 spoons of vegetable oil
5 spoons of water
¾ spoon of salt
1.5 tea spoons of sugar
1 and a half cups of flour

For decoration – chives

Making:

1. Pre heat the oven to 200°c.
2. Mix all the crust ingredients in a  medium pot and mix to a yellowish batter.
3. Add all the flour at once and mix to get a soft dough
4. Transfer the dough to an 28 inch pan, and with a wooden spoon flatten it to pan, with a little bit of margins to the sides (it’s doesn’t need to be even)
5. Pop it in the oven for 10-12 minuets (leave the oven working when you take the pan out).

Meanwhile lets start with the cheese mixture –

1. Fry the vegetables: first the onions (until they go brown, about 7 minutes), than add the leek and in the last 3 minutes add the garlic.
2. Mix the vegetables and all the rest of of the materials in a bowl (the eggs go last).
3. Pour the mixture on the crust, scatter some chopped chives on top (I use scissors) and put in the oven for 35-40 minutes.
   

Took it to work and it was gone in 3 seconds I think.. Oh well..
Emma.

Nice, France

Summer time in Paris

Hi all

Haven’t been posting lately, been depressed, jobless, happy, and full of work in the same month, mood swings are a bitch, now all is good but I’m just super busy.

Paris is gorgeous in the summer time, boiling hot (35 degrees) but amazing.

Here are some pics to show you what I mean.

Emma

 

random street art somewhere at the marais

paris plage

watching the olympic games at hotel de ville

having a picnic at parc de bercy with great homemade tiramisu

picture me HAPPY

Not just happy,
More like super-freakin’-fuckin-ecstatic.

My luggage has been found after a month, and my camera is untouched and unharmed.

I have a really stupid smile on my face, and no, I can seem to be able to stop.

Called everyone I can think of that I canceled work with over the last month, and landed a job for tomorrow at nice, I’m not jobless and I’m going to hit the beach:

Life is GOOD!

Travel theme: Signs

The “Tongariro Crossing” is one of the more famous and hardest day walks in NZ.
It’s the most commonly walked part of a largest Trek named the “Tongariro Northern Circuit”, which takes about 3-4 days.

I did the whole circuit and it was breathtaking (literally, it’s quite steep at some points). After 3 days, and the beautiful lakes, all of a sudden, the scenery changed and was a bit boring for me, so when I saw this sign at the parking lot (which meant that it was over) –  I was a tad relieved.

Oh DOC signs… I miss you so much.

For more entries click here.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth

My Love.

He grow up, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate nap time.

For more entries click here.

Baked Sweet-Potato Latkes

Woke up hungry today, so I decided not to fight it and just make something yummy for lunch (got up at 12:00 so it’s legitimate in my eyes to skip breakfast).

Making latkes always gets me thinking about me grandma. In her last years she lived with us, and we never quite got used to waking up at 7:00 to go to school and smelling the chicken soup she was making for lunch, but that’s just how old polish woman are, waking up at 4:00 and starting cooking for the family.

One small comment: Why do I bake and not fry? The year is 2012 people, is there someone alive that doesn’t know frying isn’t good for you?

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes
1 potato
1 large onion, chopped and fried
30 grams of butter
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs
Chopped parsley
Ground black pepper and salt

Cream dip:
Sour cream
Crushed garlic
Chopped chives
Salt and pepper

Making:
Once in the pan, give the latkes a small squash

1. Boil the potato and the sweet potatoes until they are soft.
   Mash them with the butter.
2. Mix the mash and the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and season it.
   Let it chill for a bit.
3. Make latkes with semi-wet hands, put in pan covered with a greased baking sheet.
4. Put in the oven (200°c) for about 30 min (depends on your oven), flip sides after 15 min.

In my opinion, you should really serve the dish with the dip, it upgrades the whole thing.

Try not to eat it all at once, I know it’s hard.
Any volunteers for doing the dishes?

Emma

Soap Bubbles

It’s been a crazy time for me, the trip I took to Romania was wonderful (should really post about it already come to think about it), but ever since I got back I can’t seem to be able to find my rhythm back. The loss of my camera has been devastating, I’m doing my best to cope, but basically I’m jobless until I sort it out.

So, in order to shake things up and start a new optimistic time for me, here are a couple of shots that made me smile today.

Emma