Twinkling wonderland in Blenheim Palace

Twinkling lights, the forest shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow, lanterns floating on the lake, a cascade of fireworks above the water, mulled wine and festive music are what you can experience in the  Blenheim Palace park located in Woodstock. I tried to capture for you the great atmosphere in the pictures, but if you have the opportunity to see it live, don’t miss your chance. I highly recommend.

What are your plans for New Year?
If you could, would you like to spend the New Year in Blenheim? Let me know your thoughts.

Happy New Year!

Ewa.

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UK survival outfit for millennial budget

Hello my dear readers!

This post will be short as I wanted to show you something different, something new and exciting and … as you might have already guessed not exactly kitchen related. Today I wanted to show you … why the UK is a small lush island made out of green nature and  girls who wearing fashionable trench coats with big royal hats going all for that detective looking style. In fact I wanted to show you myself in one of these outfits although whether it is cute or not I leave that for you to decide :)… and yes I know, I realize my blog focuses mostly on the kitchen recipes and my personal life experiences and I think rightfully so as many of you keep coming back for more (which makes me so pleased and appreciated btw!), But this winter I just couldn’t stop myself to go outside and take a small private photo session in my regular outfit.

Let’s start with the basics. If you have never been to UK my dear reader then you must know that for most part of the year the weather in UK changes fast and I mean like really, really fast which is why one must always be prepared for unexpected rain, strong winds, occasional rainbows and foggy streets. Because of such atmospheric abnormalities you can sometimes find yourself walking alone on a high street surrounded by bricks and mortars and shady looking characters (your fellow citizens) in shady looking rain coats, their faces covered in polyester fabric with no eye contact being ever made.

In order to keep my head up high and my presence warm and welcoming I have developed this outfit preferences to match the ever growing demands of the British weather daily challenges. I realize actually that this is a historical moment for this blog as just like a magician I am about to reveal the true criminal mastermind behind this little blog. For my loyal readers as well as new ones …. behold as I am about to witness pictures myself!

I decided to wear this trench because in my opinion it is a great classic part of the wardrobe. I am a big fan of timeless clothes that I can wear for many years. Did you know that trench coats were originally used in the military for their durability? I bought this coat 4 years ago in Zara and I actually wear it all year round. It works great in the fall, as well as on cooler summer days and, in combination with a warm sweater, works for me also in the winter.

As for the rest of my wardrobe, I am wearing this year’s skinny jeans from Next, a black blouse also from Next, hat from Primark, five-year shoes from artificial leather which I can no longer read the brand and a 15- year-old belt with an equally mysterious origin

If you are wondering what I am wearing on these pictures, here are the details:
Zara trench (Price is around £100. My model is no longer available because I bought it 4 years ago, but I found several similar in Zara if you want to see here, here, and here ),
Skinny jeans from Next (£ 25 here)
Long Sleeve Top from Next (£ 22 here),
Hat from Primark (£ 10, but I couldn’t find anything similar on their site)

Let me know what you think about my outfit.
How winter looks like in your country?
What is your favourite outfit?
Do you want more of these types of posts?

Looking forward to your feedback!

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Chambord, forest mushroom soup and Japanese cards.

Chambord raspberry liqueur

I haven’t even noticed how it happened, but November has just ended, and soon the whole year will end too. Time is passing by so fast, the new week has just began and before you know it, it’s already Friday, then the weekend and you are back to Monday again. I feel like I have been recently running on a treadmill in a constant loop – my own Groundhog Day marathon.

I mean at the end we finally get to our long awaited weekend, which really doesn’t make a difference as you are either too tired to do anything or too busy trying to catch up on all the matters you didn’t finish during the week that you barely feel any relief at all.

The promise of the information age, the internet, the machines, the computers, the AI… it was all meant to give us more time…I guess the old saying is still valid…the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I had plans for this autumn, for this year… I wanted to take a walk in the park and see the autumn in its full glory with all its leaves and chestnuts, I wanted to make a pumpkin to show you my magnificent pumpkin recipe, I was also investing in precious metals mainly silver and stockpiling for the worst economic collapse in our millennial generation history but…but I guess I will have to postpone it for the next year suffering the losses now as markets are rigged by central banks of the world and their traders in white gloves and black suits.

Do you ever feel my dear reader like you are in control of your own life? I sure don’t. Like a leaf carried away by an autumn wind, I feel…so lost…powerless and pushed around trying to find my own tree to live on. Brexit didn’t happen although it was meant to happen. Recession was meant to happen although it did not happen yet… China trade deal is so great that in fact it doesn’t even exist…Thomas Cook went bankrupt and countless companies in UK fired thousands of people…and we all we saw the riots in London (due to Brexit and poor economy), Barcelona (separation from state), Chile (wealth inequality), Hong Kong (young Chinese people fighting for freedom and lack of economic opportunities), France (the yellow vests movement). The global wealth inequality (forget the income inequality) is so large our societies are beginning to collapse – clear for anyone to see. With the billions of worthless paper printed by the Fed for the repo markets…we are still suffering in this system to this day ”…like leaves carried away by the wind…and all we are is dust in the wind.”

Every day I find myself dreaming about living a simpler life without a never-ending to-do-list, having enough time to decorate a pumpkin at home and to enjoy little things that I have but as always the constant fear of not having enough money takes over…I guess that’s the main characteristic of my generation…never ever having enough money to do anything meaningful like settling down and buying a house or starting a family.

So as I am waiting for the system to change or the economy to restart I try to enrich my life with a simple treats that I am going to share with you. I recently had the pleasure to try the Raspberry Chambord and I am really positively surprised. It may sound strange but in this bottle I have identified the flavors of my childhood. I remember my grandmother processing whole baskets of raspberries into raspberry syrup. She used for this special strange pot, in this pot it was possible to filter raspberry seeds and reduce juice.

The quantity produced wasn’t as much as I have expected, but it was very thick, sweet and intensely raspberry. My grandmother’s syrup tasted like the 100% pure spiritus essence of raspberry and that was the taste I found in Chambord. I would recommend it to anyone who likes juicy sweet liqueurs especially for the upcoming cold winter nights.

Btw, just to clarify my grandmother’s syrup did not contain alcohol.

 

Chambord raspberry liqueur

 

Dried forest mushrooms, Ikea bag

 

Dried forest mushrooms soup

This month I was able to recreate one more taste from the past. It was the taste of an incredibly aromatic mushroom soup made from dried mushrooms. I also associate this taste with my grandmother, who always had a lot of dried mushrooms. My grandfather always brought mushrooms from the forest, and then it was our responsibility to dry them in the sun and during the winter grandma prepared delicious mushroom soups. Returning to the present, however, I was recently lucky enough to get a huge packet of dried mushrooms from the Polish forest. Thank you Beata, they were delicious. And there is something else that I would like to share with you. It’s hard for me to believe it because travel is not part of my life, but in a few days I am flying for one week holidays to Mexico.

It still sounds like a distant dream to me. For now, the universe is throwing logs at my feet in the form of a double shift flight schedule so I am not sure if I will manage to go on the journey after all 😉

If someone from Mexico reads me, or someone who has already visited the place, could you please let me know what I should take with me, what to buy on site and what to visit? My destination is the  Cancun.

Recently, I also started my adventure with buying Christmas cards and one of them delighted me so much. It was a card with a Japanese theme,
made of traditional Japanese paper by a lovely Japanese woman
Yuri McAlen.
I had the opportunity to exchange a few words with her on the Christmas market in Milton and I have no doubt that making these cards is her great passion.
If you want to support her talent and buy someone a unique card I will put her business card under the text.
I bought my card for a friend who is an enthusiast of Japanese culture, but I think everyone would enjoy it. If you want to support her talent and buy someone a unique card I will put her business card under the text.

 

Japanese Christmas and birthday cards

 

Japanese Christmas and birthday cards

I would like my blog to be more interactive with a two-way communication dialog. Kindly I welcome all of you to a discussion in the comments section below. Here are some helpful questions that I would like to know your opinion about:

 

What do you think about today’s economy and what are you trying to achieve in it?

How is your time going by?

What are your favourite childhood flavors that you would like to share?

What do you recommend to take to Mexico trip?

How do you like Yuri McAlen cards?

 

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