a little room tour

Last year (or actually before that in December 2013) when I came back from my exchange in Australia I had been looking forward to  being reunited with my own room. Spending 10 months away from your own little nook is quite a long time. In 10 months you can easily forget about the things you have in your room (also half of the contents of my wardrobe felt brand new, 'oh I have a shirt like this, I had no clue.') and the way it feels, so when the time came and I entered my room for the first time in 306 days, I was shocked with how unfamiliar it felt. Not like me at all.

As a situation it was pretty bizarre. Me getting a bit anxious and starting to explore what's in all my little boxes and drawers. For 10 months I had been living with quite a minimum amount of stuff, so I really got a need to just throw out all the things that I hadn't even remembered existed. The next day I did a massive clean up (still jet lagged and all) and made the decision that in 2014 I'd make sure I get my room to look a bit more like me.

I painted walls, moved the furniture around and adopted some of the lovely pieces of furniture that I think deserve a way better spot than the cold garage. I hung pictures on the walls and put plants here and there. Yes one lesson I've learned during last year: you can never own too many plants! (especially if they sadly tend to die in your care, even though your giving them lots of love, light and water.) Now my room feels like home again. finally.

-Emma

Morning Vibes: The budget version of an acai bowl

Because breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, I thought it would deserve it's own series on this blog. From now on I'll be sharing some breakfast recipes every now and then with the title morning vibes. Hope there are other brekkie lovers here!

Today I'm introducing you to my newest area of exploring. The acai bowl. I've come across acai bowls all over the internet. After reading a few articles on them I really wanted to try it myself as well. I went to the groceries to look for acai powder, but left empty handed as I found a little bag that cost 20 euros... that's a bit much I think. I did a little research on the health benefits of acai and soon found out they are pretty similar to those of bilberries (the blueberries that grow in scandinavian woods). By replacing the acai with frozen bilberries I got this recipe. It's delicious... just say'n.

This breakfast is like a bowl of sorbet ice cream... Ice cream for breakfast, this is just too good!

You get variation by changing the toppings. Anything from granola, to nuts, to seeds, to fruit, to berries will do. Just try it all :)!

I know that bilberries don't grow everywhere in the world. But no worries, if you'd like to try them you can order them in powder version online. It works basically in the same way as acai powder does. Here's a link to one version.

NEED:

- a frozen banana (1 will do fine)

- a generous handful of frozen bilberries (or blueberries, or a tsp of berry powder)

- a tiny bit of water, to loosen things up

- For toppings let your imagination run wild, anything from your cupboard that you think would taste good is alright (I used shredded coconut and some almonds)

HOW:

oh my, these recipes that I share aren't that difficult at all. For this you just put the banana, berries and  a tsp or two of water in your blender (or use a mixer), and blend it together. Easy peasy I'd say.

This was the second time, that I made this within 2 days... I'll definitely be making it again! I love discovering new recipes and sharing them. I'll do my best to have new morning vibes for you soon!

my first analog pictures

When Gemma came to visit me here in July she had like three analog cameras with her. I hadn't really thought about analog photography as a possibility before I saw how nice the pictures were that Gem had taken. As she can talk for hours and hours about photography and as I don't mind to hear about these subjects at all I learned quite a lot and wanted to try analog shooting myself as well. With a bit of luck and a little search in our house I actually found my dad's old camera, straight from the 70s. Gem donated me a roll of film and off I went.

Last week I was on a little autumn getaway in Holland (I'll tell you more about that later), and I finally brought my film roll to the shop to get it processed. Some of my photos (I had 36 in total), had suffered from some lighting issues and turned out all green, but there were also some pictures that turned out pretty well and I really like these pictures shown above.

I already bought a new roll for my camera. I'll practice some more and maybe next time there'll be less of the green ones and more gems.

Recipe: Oven dried spiced apples

Early autumn is apple time here in Finland. Apple trees are full of fruit and people who have apple trees in their gardens (lucky them) have an issue of what to do with all those apples they get, before they go off. My family has two young apple trees, but we don't get any apples from them. Luckily people that do have apples have way too much of them and it's not hard to find someone who's really happy for you to come and pick some apples from their trees. Me and my mum as two harvest crazy people picked quite a lot and in the end we also faced the issue of what to do with all these apples. We made jam, compote, crumbles, pies, cake and ofc. ate them just as they are.

We also ended up drying some in the oven along with some nice autumn spice. The result was delicious and I really recommend you to try this out! It's easy, cheap and ofc. super healthy. I've been putting some of this in my morning yoghurt and oh boy it tastes good! Also perfect for those rainy days when you spend your day in company of that good book, a blanket and a nice cup of tea. 

Dots on my wall

My walls went from grey to white and dotted the other day. I'm re decorating my room and this was what I begun with. I'm really pleased with how it turned out it's so light and fresh but yet, not boring at all and really happy.

I got my inspiration for this from a picture I came across on Pinterest. The re painting of my wall only took a day and the stickers were really quick to apply! All in all it was really easy to do :)

Chia pudding with banana-peach sorbet

 I first tried Chia seed last year in Australia.  My host sister would sprinkle these little black dots on her cereal every morning and I wondered what it was about. Soon I learned that those black dots go by the name chia and that they were packed with health benefits andactually categorized as 'superfood'. 

Chia seed are packed with omega-3 (the fat that's also found in fish and which is supposed to be really good for you brain and heart). It's been used for ages in Mexico and nowadays it's common food everywhere in the world. I bought my pack from the local super market and if you after this feel like trying this amazing recipe I'm about to come to, I'm pretty sure you can easily buy the seed in your city.

So then finally let's talk about the recipe I really want to share. When soaked in milk (or juice, or water) Chia seed magically turn into pudding.  In this recipe I layered some vanilla chia pudding with some homemade banana and peach sorbet and topped it with some berries and coconut. Oh my it was delicious and I'll soon be making it again!

Chia pudding with peach and nana sorbet

for the chia pudding:

- 2tbsp Chia seed

- a little bit of vanilla

- 2,5ml soy milk (or any other milk)

Mix everything in a bowl or plastic container and put the mixture in the fridge.

Stir after half an hour of soaking, and put it back letting it rest over night (or about 5 hours).

for the banana and peach sorbet:

- half a frozen banana

- one frozen peach (cut into chunks before freezing)

- a few tbsp soy milk (or any other milk)

Put everything in a blender or food processor.... blend it until it's smooth and yummy!

If it remains a bit too thick and chunky, just add some more milk. This is ready to use right after preparing

to garnish:

- shredded coconut

- berries

Layer the pudding with the sorbet in a nice glass or bowl. If you fancy you can decorate the dessert with for example some shredded coconut and some berries. Have fun trying this out! 

- Emma

Thoughts and tea in the rain

Sipping tea on the couch, after a long walk in the rain, listening to good music and the sound of the rain drops falling down outside. That's my past few days in one sentence. Well of course I've been doing other things as well, but this is what I've particularly been enjoying.

I don't mind the autumn. I love summer, but I'm someone who loves change and the begin of a new season feels always really refreshing to me.

I took a few detail pictures from my room. I'll be redecorating it a bit soon, so hopefully we'll get some nice room posts here soon.

Have a nice day!
-Emma