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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30 komentarzy

  1. Oh my gosh, this year is flying by! I never noticed it so much until I had children and don’t know how they are getting so old so quickly. But I love when foods bring back so many wonderful memories like this. I have a few recipes that I associate with my grandparents as well. They don’t make them often anymore, but when I do it makes me think of them.

  2. Bring your favorite sunblock with you! (In 100mL or less bottles if you plan NOT to check luggage – always good to put one container in your carryon, though, in case your checked bag gets delayed.) Yes you CAN buy sunblock in Cancun, but it will be very expensive, and if you have sensitive skin or other special needs where you need a particular kind, you will not have much luck finding it when you get there. (At least that has been my experience.)

  3. This year has flown for me I am still thinking how it happened. I still had so much to achieve. The mushroom soup looks delicious,reminds me of my childhood.

  4. Making gifts this unique makes the season more memorable. Great job. Merry Christmas! Thanks for letting me remember that this season is the season of giving.

  5. I feel so too, like I’m not in control sometimes. Then again, only the 1% are in control so we just gotta do the best we can with what we have. Lord help our Millennial generation. I live in America and you already know what we’re going through lol. Btw, I’ve never had mushroom soup and will try a recipe with the regular ones we get here.

  6. The economy today looks getting bad over here, some say a recession is coming in 2020. I hope it will not going to be too bad. I hope the US-China trade war get better and moves to a win-win path for everyone in this world.

  7. The soup looks delicious. Creamy mushroom soup is one of my own childhood memories – and I’m from Germany. The bookmarks are very cool. And it’s hard to believe that in a few weeks we will be in a new decade!!!

  8. The year has literally flown! It’s already ended and now we’re getting ready for 2020. I hope I get to the point where I don’t need a to-do list because right now, my list is so long, up-and-ready for 2020.

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