Teddy Bear

I went to the budapest zoo today, saw a really cute bear that reminded me of my boyfriend ;). What a coincidence someone called 'Joost de Beer' sent me a comment yesterday, but I bet he isn't quite as sweet and cuddly as my teddy bear Joost ;P.

Apart from that it was a nice day, finally some clouds (i think thats the first time I've ever said that). The bears were cute but the baby monkey was my favourite, he had so much fun swinging around in the ropes and making a treehouse with a carton box!

Roses from Budapest

I consider myself quite an ice-cream connaisseur, especially in summer when it is too hot to bake something myself ice-cream is a nice sweet treat and I only want the best. Well now I've found it! This is definitely the best ice-cream I've ever had! Its a little shop in Budapest with artisanal ice-cream right next to the Basilica. You get to pick two flavors and then they shape it into a little rose, I had panacotta with salted caramel and strawberry with elderberry, yummmm!! So good!!! My only complaint would be the cone, I prefer the real cookie type ones, but for €1,50 who am I to complain?!

B-b-b-blogging in B-b-b-budapest

 

On a b-b-b-budget

Drinkinf b-b-b-beer

Everything got even b-b-b-better

B-b-b-bye b-b-b-bye

*enter funny title*

I'm too tired after traveling a whole day to think of an interesting story for you to read... I left at 1 in the afternoon and arrived at 9 in Budapest. After dropping off our luggage, Manouk and I went on a hunt for some food. We succeeded, even though we got made fun of by the waiter because we ordered 'small beers'. Summary: beer, food, back at the hostel, sleep, bye.

Social drinking

They say that you shouldnt be drinking alone, thats why I'm also having a little snack with my glass of wine and I'm watching a crappy movie ;).

Drinking beer all by yourself for some reason feels so much more sad than drinking a glass of wine by yourself. Unless you drink red wine by yourself at nine in the morning... That would be sad too...

I segment oranges for fun

I had a very challenging day today and the one thing that really helps me to calm down is cooking a nice meal, as you can see on the picture. I made spaghetti with meatballs, and honestly: those were the best little meatballs in the world. You'll find the recipe below.

I can almost hear you thinking: why that title? Well, I made my store bought tiramisu look a bit fancier by putting it on a plate with some segmented oranges. It looked really nice, so nice I finished it before I had time to take a picture haha. But it was fun to try that technique :).

And now the recipe:

250g of pork mince

250g of beef mince

1 egg

1 handful of parmesan

A few sprigs of fresh rosemary

1 handful of breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons of mustard

Pepper and salt

I mixed everything together and made A LOT of little meatballs with wet hands, using wet hands makes it easier to roll them. I then put them in the fridge while I made a tomato sauce (2 onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 red chilli, 2 cans of chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp of tomato paste, half a chicken stok cube and let it bubble away for half an hour). Then I got the meatballs out of the fridge and I put them in the oven until they are nice and brown (I play around with the settings, I started with a regular oven on 200 degrees Celcius and then I switched to a fan combined with the grill, doesn't matter how, as long as they get nice and golden brown). When that is done I dunk them in the sauce and I cook the pasta. 

Done! Give it a try, I'd love to hear what your recipe for perfect meatballs is :).

Holiday preparation

I arrived at my parents place around 18:30 after a two hour train ride. After discovering the cupboards were close to empty I went to the supermarket and now here I am: a nice Belgian beer, a store bought salad and a week old newspaper. With a bit of sunshine everyhing is fine :).

A good outlook

Just a short message today, because I'm going out to dinner (yay!).

I put up a fun poster that gives me the illusion of being on an island when I'm in my bed, I'm planning to surround it with nice postcards and pictures to make some sort of a window frame ^_^. I also did a lot of laundry today, and that makes me very happy but I thought that would make a very boring photo haha.

Tour d'Utrecht

This really was one of my better ideas... 

I've been trying to make a habit of going for a 10k (okay... To be honest a 9k) run every week, but my knee has been hurting a bit so I decided that going for a long bike ride would be equally intensive and less stressful for my knee. I got on my bike at 12:30 this afternoon, headed for the direction 'Laren'. After getting lost at least 3 times (which is an achievement on itself because it is one straight road) I arrived after 1,5 hrs. 23k done. And then I still had to get home again. I feel like a reheated corpse, but had a great time. The scenery was quite beautiful and I guess feeling tired is a good feeling as well :).

Leftovers in a new way

Cooking something from scratch is one of my favourite things to do, but cooking something in bulk and finding a new way to eat it the day afterwards might even be more rewarding. It not only saves you time, you're still eating a home cooked meal and you have to be creative in another way. 

Yesterday I made quinoa with ratatouille and falafel for my boyfriend, and since there is no way of cooking ratatouille in small portions I reheated 2 portions for me and my friend to go with couscous and pan-fried chicken parmesan. I have to admit, sharing it with Anne also made it so much better :).

And for now: a cup of tea, home made scone and 'You've got Mail' on tv.

Number 1

Gone are the summers that school ended and I was overjoyed that I didn't have to do anything for the following 2 months. Sitting at home in the garden with a book, watching morning television with my brothers, going to the swimming pool... I can't think of anything else I did when I was younger.

Now there are days that I almost overwhelmed with freedom. That sounds like a blessing but it can feel so restricting at times. So a need a plan to actually get out of the house and enjoy myself before summer is over.

I have no trouble enjoying myself, I love to go for a run, cooking, doing yoga, going out for ice cream or going to the cinema, bike rides and going to specialty supermarkets. Documenting one fun activity or something else I enjoyed per day will help me realize how lucky I am to have so much time on my hands this summer and that is why I will post a picture of something I have seen, done or made every day, from now on. Hopefully it will inspire me and you to find more fun things to do in our own neighborhoods :).