Merry Christmas everyone!

Finally, come the long-awaited Christmas. This year, I prepare Christmas Eve with my mother in our house. Usually, we celebrate Christmas at my grandparents home, but let's be honest ... They are getting older, and thus, sometimes pull stunts - forget something, don't season some dish or - how awful! -  season something too much! Certainly, it is safer to celebrate Christmas Eve at our home :).

As every year, according to Polish tradition, at our Christmas table will be served 12 dishes, e.g. fried carp, sauerkraut, mushroom sauce, herrings and makiełki. Interestingly, in  Poland are served various dishes depending on which part of country we come from. In the east are popular pierogies. In Great Poland, where we lived in, we rather serve potatoes. In my part of Poland we eat makiełki which aren’t known so well in the east. They are prepared in different ways. The main ingredient is black poppy seed which is added to fried, golden brown, cut into small cubes roll or to cooked pasta. In both versions, we combine the ingredients with honey. If you decide to the version with pasta, it great fits with almonds, raisins, walnuts and dates. If you have never had the opportunity to try this delicacy, you absolutely should do it next year. It’s yummy, I swear! For many years, it is said that the more makiełki you eat, the more money you will have. Convinced I ;)?

All Christmas dishes are unique. So much, that hardly I go away from the table, and after Christmas I look like a large ball :). I admit that I have made myself a big appetite! Therefore, I'm going to help my mother in the kitchen and tomorrow we get down to decorate the Christmas tree.

And how are you? Everything is already prepared and you have a rest or perhaps you still season the soups and other delicacies?

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

"Everest"

Hi!

This time I will write about a movie that saw lately – “Everest”. If you plan to watch this movie better skip this short review because you will find spoilers here and I don’t want to take away your fun!

The movie tells us about tragic expedition on Mount Everest in 1996 that have taken life of eight brave climbers. I used to avoid those type of survival movies because I get nervous pretty easily J But this particular one made a huge impression on me. The screenplay is written by life – it makes it even more dramatic. The actors selected to this movie are not the top Hollywood stars(maybe except Jake Gyllenhaal) but they are “familiar faces” seen in many family or TV series. They use many accents of English(Australian, South African) which make their play even more natural.

But, beside the tragic true-based story, this movie for me is also about a beautiful views of a majestic Mount Everest, Himalayas and Nepal(before earthquake). I know the movie is deeper than that and is more about the nature of a climbers, but the views in this film are really breathtaking. I watched it in cinema with full 3D technology and I was truly amazed. Probably I will never try to climb Mt. Everest, so it was the best opportunity for me to see “The Roof of the World” J .

How do I rate this film? In my scale I would say 7 out of 10. I really dislike those type of movies, but not this one – for me it’s totally worth a two hours of life!

Hello all!

This post will be dedicated to all the people who like to eat out from time to time and are searching for some new nice place.

Few weeks ago we had our anniversary with my fiance so we decided to celebrate it with some tasty (and, of course, romantic J) dinner. It was in the middle of the working week, we did not book anything in advance, so we had to find a place that could be available without booking. And we chose Momo – restaurant that specialises in seafood, near the Old Market square. We heard some good opinions about it and what was almost as important – they supposedly had a lot of tables for people who just walk in without booking.

First surprise – as we approached the place in the evening after a long day – it is exactly in the place of a club where we met for a first time with my boyfriend! You might imagine expressions on our faces when we realised it J So, after this good start we took a seat and made an order. And then waited. And waited. And waited. It took more than an hour to get our meal – did I mentioned earlier that we were really hungry? But, finally, when main course arrived it was as restaurant’s motto says “love at first bite”.

But what did we actually eat?  I took a gilt-head bream with fried potatoes, my boyfriend ordered shrimps with pasta and chorizo . Both dishes were delicious and I would love to eat them again.

What else can I say about the place? First and foremost, I totally recommend it, the food is delicious and the atmosphere is good.  You have to wait long but believe me, you will not be disappointed. When it comes to price it is not as good – dinner for two persons costs about 120 zł, so it is more expensive than cheap. Then again – from time to time – it is worth it.

Last thing, important to know: resturant has deliveries of fresh seafood each Wednesday, so we accidentally chose the best day to visit it. I advise you to do the same J Enjoy your meal!

Hi again!

It's been five months since I added my last post here. I cannot believe that time flies so fast. We had exceptionally hot summer and the beautiful, golden autumn this year. Latest weather does not spoil us - the first night frosts have came (as a result, scraping windows of our cars;). Days are gray, cold and rainy. Not to mention the short days and too long evenings! Probably, most of us are sitting comfortably on the couch accompanied by book or a loved one right now, wrapped up in a warm wool blanket. We are drinking a hot tea (gingerbread or spicy) and we are lighting candles of 'Christmas' scent. But I admit,  all of this little things have a certain charm ... I love this atmosphere and I'm glad now because of the upcoming Christmas :)!

To be honest, I have dreamed a little… I am getting married soon and this means that I have a lot of duties. Because of this I apologize you so much for my long absence on the blog. For me, the wedding is a unique question in my life, so I really try to make it perfectly :). Because I keep busy mainly this topic, I thought that from time to time I will add  some posts connected with wedding’s preparations theme on my blog… Of course, I will also try to include other topics. It will be a little bit of everything :)

That's it for today, until the next post :)!

For all of you sitting in your houses I wish a lazy and warm evening and for all active a champagne fun - this weekend we celebrate in Poland Saint Andrew’s Day!

Movie Chef (2009)

I am not the biggest fan of a cinema, nor a critic, but from time to time I like to watch something. What type of films I like? For sure many of Woody Allen's recent movies – I like the way he shows different cultures and beautiful cities while telling the interesting story to spectator. But as I said, I am not a regular cinemagoer, I don’t do a research before watching a film, so my every time I go to a cinema it is a bit of a gamble – sometimes it pays off, sometimes not.  So, when I went to watch Chef with my friend I really didn’t have any expectations.  Two hours later I was starvy as a wolf J

Chef(2014)it is a story of a – guess who  – a chef with enormous passion to cooking. One day, he lost his job and then his journey begins. The film is about cooking, travelling and about – as my blog title says – doing small things with great love. It is also a story about amazing relationship between father and son. The storyline is funny, not in the way you laugh all the time, but it keeps the viewer in the good mood. I would also add the music as a big advantage with something which has a special significance for me – Cuban rythms in the sun of Florida J But the best thing about the movie is the food and how preparing of it is shown – absolutely delicious!

To sum up, I will recommend this movie to everyone. It is not the masterpiece of cinema in any way but it gives a viewer a great entertainment and it stimulates many senses. But remember my warning: do not watch it hungry, cause you may not finish it! J

Skating

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about exercises with hula –hoop and its positive fitness effects – losing the waistline effectively, not to mention having fun and improving general mood. So I guess that my mind is set on sports right now, because my another blog will be dedicated to another activity –inline skating.

First of all, I have to explain the background of this topic. When I was a child (about 4 years old) I got a special gift from my parents – skates. And since that day I have been doing everything with them on my feet. I had a lot of fun then, I even started in many amateur competitions, but it came to an end in my high school. A few weeks ago I started to think about my old hobby and decided I have to rediscover it. I bought brand-new skates and now I know that I couldn’t made better decision.

As always I have to start with outlining the health benefits. First of all, if you want to lose weight, skating is a good way to do it – one hour of this activity burn about 700 kcal. What is more, it is not as damaging for joints like many other sports as the movement is smooth and easy. Do I have to mention that it improves your stamina and overall coordination? I guess not! Last but not least, this is a sport that you have to do on a fresh air which is another benefit for your body and mind.

Everytime I come back from skates, I feel so good, so happy, so relaxed.  I could write something more about the fun I have but this time I won’t do this – figure it out on your own!

Strawberries

June is coming and for me this means one important thing – strawberries approaching! I am in absolute love with this fruit and I only regret that in Poland it is available for only month or two.

Not only strawberries taste great but they are also very good for health. It is said that it is not a coincidence that they are heart shaped as they lower the level of bad cholesterol. At the same time they prevent rise of blood sugar and have very low glycaemic index (under 40). It is also proved that strawberries help to lose weight as they improve metabolism. As you see – it is hard to ask for more in that matter.

Interestingly, they  are not exactly created by nature – as a matter of a fact it is a hybrid of two species of wild strawberries in the middle of 17^th century.

All right, now we know something “scientific” about strawberries so it’s time to cut to the chase: how can we use it? There are many ways to serve the strawberries. The easiest and healthiest one is to eat the fruit without any additions (certainly without sugar and whipped cream if we care for our health). They are also popular ingredient of may desserts as well as dairy product such as ice creams, milkshakes and yogurts. But in modern kitchen you can use strawberries in traditional way.  Once I found a superb recipe for chicken in balsamic vinegar with rocket and strawberry salad. It may sound like a “strange marriage”, but when I prepared it…it was absolutely delicious! I have to make it one more time J

So much for my love of strawberries J Actually, writing this blog made me hungry… I better find some strawberries in my fridge J