happening over here

Finally! We have a mirror on the hallway wall. We bought it second hand and it's a bit to high the way we hanged it, but it's Ok. We used the holes that were already there because we don't have a drill. We took down the wood-board with that 'amazing' flower drawing on it and I'm not going to miss it.
R thought we didn't really needed it at first but now agrees we do. We thought for a second to hang it in our room, so it would catch and reflect a bit of sunset light, but it would have looked weird, being so slim on our large empty wall.

 {pizza dough}

 {chopping chocolate}

 {loads of it}

 {cookie on my thrift ed plate}

Cookies. Chocolate chip.
It's a recipe I found scattered all over the web, well, blogger. But also Huffigton post, New York Times...
It's developed by this guy, after interviewing several cooks, pastry chefs in New York. He came up with this recipe, which is simple, but needs time and following the exact tips stated for the final promised product: the best chocolate chip cookie ever.
I'm linking this episode of Spilled Milk, with all the info on it.
I let some of my dough rest in the fridge for up to one week and they turned out really good.

Oh yeah, Here's the recipe.

Concerning other things...
R sold his bike and is now working on his pegas. He cleaned it up, spray painted it and needs a little bit more work and it'll be good to go. We will be able to bike together pretty soon.
I kind of lost my job. They finally figured out I wasn't as good a tailor as they thought. But it's Ok.
I'll probably be job hunting after I'll be back from our trip to the seaside. But until then, I'll enjoy summer. I've been reading, cooking, cleaning around the house.
Our bathroom is a mess. We have a problem with a pipe and it's been like that for a week or so now. Hopefully this week we'll get it fixed. Plus, our light-bulb fixture in the bathroom is kind of off and needs looked at. So we've been showering and stuff with a lamp on. It's just great...
The weather is way too hot, I'm sick of it and really looking forward to autumn. Like really, really.

Lazy hazy summer days

I had the most wonderful two days in the kitchen. I'm a freak, I know. Part of it is because we moved a bit around here, in the area near the window and it's somehow more pleasant, plus I got, FINALLY, I got my shelve up on the wall and I have my pretty kitchen ware to watch now.
I've also been listening to Spilled Milk Podcast while washing endless amounts of dishes, waiting for something to bake/cook. It's just basically Molly from Orangette and this other guy I don't know and they talk for roughly 20 minutes about food and taste and give thoughts and recall childhood memories. It's OK, for listening while cooking/baking.
Plus listening to this

I bought the loveliest coffee/tea cup I want to share with you all. Again, all about kitchenware.

We have nothing to eat in the fridge besides pickles, milk, coffee, beer and yogurt and some stuff in the freezer, but we now have THE sour cherry slab pie I just baked a couple of hours ago. It's this recipe and I haven't been so excited about a recipe in such a long time, and this made me very excited. The fact that mine looks (always the case) less prettier than her's, is less important. What matters is the taste.
I went full on with the sugar, at 1 and 1/4 cup and I didn't use any confectioner's glaze and it turned out tart and sweet and the dough, oh the dough/crust!; if you follow her instructions on the flaky buttery dough she points to, you will have perfection. I simply love it and would advise anyone to give it a go, although it may sound a bit daunting because of the dough making process. But still, even if you go wrong, you can still eat it in the end. I would.

 {veggies - prepared}

 {pickled veggies}

 {most delicious combination - garlic/ginger/onion}

 {lidl eats in the house - again}

 {pan fried}

 {cranberry oatmeal muffins - adapted from here}

 {THE sour cherry slab pie mentioned way above - *right now it's gone/finished}

Sunday afternoon I persuaded R to come with me to see this lake I had heard of but never seen. It was nice, we were on our bikes and the wind made the trip bearable. There were several people and as we headed towards Ciric there were lots more. Overcrowded really. People are sunbathing there and hanging around the pool and they made me dream of our trip this year at the seaside. It's in a month and I can't wait to get on that train.

dealt with this week

We finally moved our little beginnings of herbs in larger  pots. R has created a separator between the mint and the basil because supposedly mint is going to take over the pot and we don't want is smouldering the basil. I am so proud of my little basil - because I've grown it and it wasn't brought from Italy or Bz and just planted there. It took so long and it's only the beginning, but it's promising. I wanna kiss those little tiny leaves that have appeared.

{who's a pretty fella'?}

There's not much to see on the left of the windowsill, as the ranunculus pot is just soil. I had 12 bulbs of ranunculus and potted just 4 of them because we had to let them breath and I figure I'll soon plant the rest of them in separate pots and then transfer them again. I just don't have space for them. I already feel motoc and the birds that used to come and eat on our window sill are kind of annoyed by the total lack of space outside the window. Motoc especially really loved to get out and sit in the sun.

I can't wait to see my ranunculus popping out form the soil,even just a tiny green smudge of a thing.

We'll keep watering them in the morning and in the evening.

Elsewhere around the house...

{red rubies}

 {traces}

 {quartered}

 {very messy}

 {and oozing}

 {but worth it}

I made these...

{and this mess}

They were just as good as they sounded. I had to choose from two recipes, Molly's and Deb's.

Molly's won. They look far better, far more rustic and although mine look like Deb's - barely golden on top- they we're amazing. The mess is so worth it and one should follow the instructions carefully for the mess to work out.

 {saying Hi or maybe just Goodbye}

 {these took me half a day - for Hasegan}

I finally did this diy. First and foremost - DON'T do it in your room, especially one that's as tiny as ours. Second - use newly bought polish and not old one like I did, or you'll end up like I did - with just red stained paper like there has been a murder, and I used them to wipe off the evidence. Use good hard paper and have nail polish remover at hand. Have where to place them after you dipped the paper! Use gloves for both hands, not like I did. If you think it's going to be easy and not messy, you are wrong. That blogger just made it seem so easy and fun, and it aint.

bits of gardening (wanna be)

 {starting with}

Finally, here we are. It took me great strength to  go through this post. It seemed daunting.
You'll need:
seeds - see when(in what period/ month) the seeds need to be seeded. Its March so I chose basil, cat nip and mint, because supposedly now it's their time...whatever. Just look on the back.
soil - a 5 kg bag was just perfect for what I did
used paper, preferably black and white because supposedly when you water the soil in the paper pots, color leaks into the soil and it may affect the well being and growth of the plant. That is if you get to that stage.
string
scissors
a tray or a couple depending on how many pots you have/ end up with
not pictured - a larger glass, pot, bowl - but a cylindrical one

Start making the paper pots by folding your newspaper twice.

Take your cylindrical object, in my case our coffee/tea pot and wrap the paper around and try and secure it's shape with string. After that fold the remaining bits/edges over in whatever style and tape them down. You can understand, I'm sure. Can you?

It's very easy. Then just flip it and get the soil in there.

Make as many as you think you'll need.  I first thought I would just make six of these. But the seeds are so many and small, so I made more thinking I would use them all but didn't.
You can now water them slightly and then plant 4-5 seeds in each and cover them also slightly. Just cover, don't push the soil or anything. They'll be fine. I hope.
I made 5 pots with basil, 5 with mint and just 2 with cat nip.

{behold!}

 {basil - Ocimum basilicum }

 {mint - Mentha  piperita --so tiny and little}

 {cat nip - nepeta cataria}

{finished}

{wrapped}

You needto water them daily and try and keep them in semi-sunny places. It's a problem with our room and the light we get, but we'll see.

There you have it, Good night!