LONDON!

Thank you Monica!


London is great! We've just arrived this evening and we will stay here until saturday. 
Only for what we have seen today I think these holidays will be exciting! 
For the moment I can't send photos but I hope it will be possible tomorrow...


I can send you only this one made by phone...

Marina

BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

 

Illustration by Pascal Campion

It's been a week since we saw the sun for the last time here in Lleida. A week of foggy days and gray skies, and it's very cold!!! It seems that winter has come at once. So I started to unpack scarves, hats and coats and Christmas ornaments, of course   ;-P

Today Marina left Barcelona's sunny weather  to escape to London with Albert (her husband). I suppose we shall soon have some pictures... Meanwhile, I want to share with you this video, it goes for you Marina!

Bon voyage and keep warm!!

Mònica

POTATOE GRATIN

Hi everybody!


As Mònica says we are busy these days, but here you have the recipe of this week:

Marina

MONDAY NEEDS MUSIC

Hey, it's Monday! Sorry if we are a little bit missing these days, the truth is we are both very busy. Anyway, is Monday, and we need some music.

They are Pomplamoose and in their youtube channel  you can find a lot songs and versions of very  different singers  as Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson or Edith Piaf. 

Enjoy and have very good week!

Mònica

COOKIES!

As Mònica said, last Saturday evening we met with the purpose to bake some cookies!
Yes, we did the cookies you can see in the photos below. We have to confess that was the first time... but it was funny!  And the result was good enough and sweet! ;)

We used our chocolate and walnuts recipe for the mass, but we added lemon grated to give a different flavor.

If you decide to do these cookies, be careful  the mass is not  too much thick because it grows in the oven.

My nephew Pol helped us too! He enjoyed so much!

You can see me  and Mònica in action, painting cookies!

 Cu!

Marina, Mònica & Pol ;)

WINTER MOOD

Winter is coming, and I'm so happy!  Yes, I like winter, Christmas and foggy days... but in small doses. I love to live in a place where we have real four seasons.

I found Ruche's winter lookbook video the other day and I love i! Truth to be told, I didn't know this brand and I don't know if we can find it in our country, so it was not my idea to write a promotional post.

Anyway,  the video is so sweet!  The light, the colours, the clothes, of course, they're perfect! But to me the best part is the music...

 Music:  "stone to stone" by Emily Moldy.

Love,

Monica

GIFTS FOR OUR WEDDINGS GUESTS

When we were planning our wedding we thought a lot about what to gift to our guests. We wanted something different; something that people had never seen before at any wedding.

Looking for the ideal gift, we were lucky to find Papabubble.

We thought that it would be great to give this personalized sweets with our names inside, to our guests... We thought this was a different and useful present, because people would eat the sweets someday.

Albert and I visited Papabubble’s shop in Barcelona. They have shops all over the world. Curiously, we found Papabubble’s shop when we stayed in New York during our honeymoon! We were walking in the street and suddenly found the shop. We were very surprised that the shop’s name  was in català (our language). We decided to ask the reason why the name was in català in  a New York City shop. Kindly, the girl who was working there told us that the person who opened the shop had been working in Papabubble Barcelona.

So, we liked the shop in Ciutat Vella neighborhood, in Barcelona.  It’s a little place, but big enough to see how they work  and big part of their products. They do different kind of colors and flavours, and they don’t have to be related. For example, we chose pink color and apple taste. The  flavours are the typical ones, but you can find others not so typical...: mojito, lavender, kiwi, passion fruit, aniseed...

They work in the shop so you can see how they prepare the sweets. We chose our product, and they packed them and told us how to conserve them before the wedding. They keep them until you need.

We designed the stickers you see in the photos, we gave them to Papabubble people and they pasted them to the sweet packaging.

They treat us very well and listened to any of our  ideas. So... We did another order!!  I  will explain it to you another day, I hope you like it...

Be sweet!

Marina

MONDAY NEEDS MUSIC

A few days ago, one of  our favourite music bands announced their decision to disband after 31 years together. We're talking about R.E.M. 

Some of their songs were the soundtrack of important moments in our lives.  It's a little sad they have decided to go separate ways, but they say they've made this decision together, amicably.
I think that soon we will hear Michael Stipe in a solo project.  Anyway, we all know,  that sometimes an End is just a Pause...

It's very difficult to choose just one song, but this one is great, at least it's one of our favourites.

Have a nice week!

Mònica

FRIENDS, FRIENDS, FRIENDS

Today's post goes to Albert and Francesc, our two close friends. When they found out  we had a blog, they take a very special photo shoot...

Aren't they handsome? Even if you do not believe it,  they're single! So if any of you girls is interested, please leave a comment  ;-)

By the way guys, we will consider your ideas about new posts such as: type of nougat and its hardness, how to knit a scarf and  Christmas accessories. If there is any other idea that I can't remember, please, please, let us know...

Jau!  

Mònica i Marina

SATURDAY

Good morning! 

Here in Lleida we have a sunny Saturday morning  and after many weekends I have no trip  or plan established to do. Being able to enjoy a quiet morning at home, get up and breakfast with no alarm time is priceless! One benefit of growing up I guess;-P

Well, this afternoon we meet again with Marina,  you will have more news soon on the blog... A clue? A very sweet recipe with a little touch of Christmas...

Have a good weekend!

 Mònica

BARCELONA'S CHOCOLATE TILES

Today I want to show you what can be done with chocolate. This is not a spectacular construction but it’s the result of combining originality and simplicity. I'm glad to show you one of the Barcelona city symbols: the tiles of the city streets.


Enric Rovira, baker and chocolate artist delights us with this chocolate reality.


He does the same mini-tiles with chocolate, perfect to eat with coffee. I think it’s a fabulous present to bring when you go to visit  friends or family.
Here you have the web: www.enricrovira.com

If you live away from Barcelona, it doesn’t matter; it can be an idea for you or your baker! ;)

Marina

CUSTOM PORTRAIT STAMP

If you are  looking for an original gift, or maybe a way to give a special touch to your greetings, letters and invitations, THIS is your post!


You only have to choose your favourite picture and send it to Lilimandrill.  This  is  the Etsy shop of a french artist that designs personal stamps. Yes, you'll get your face on a stamp!


On his web you can see a lot of examples of his work, like this one.

Original picture of a loving couple...

Custom couple portrait

Love it!

Mònica

DELICIOUS BREAKFAST!

Sweet day today, though it’s rainy! It’s Anna’s birthday, a work mate. She is 35 years. She has brought this delicious breakfast…mmmmm! Thank you Anna!

Marina

WALNUT AND CHOCOLATE COOKIES

This weekend I did these delicious cookies. I can’t stop eating these cookies! They have walnuts and chocolate, mmmm, great!

I show you the ingredients that way:

1.  Walnuts and chocolate had to be cut in little pieces.

     2.  Put two eggs in a bowl.

3.  Put in butter, flour, sugar and yeast. Mix it carefully with your hands because the mass is very thick. Must ensure the butter is dissolved completely with the other ingredients.

4.  The result is the mass you can see here:

5.  We add walnuts and chocolate, mix it all again with our hands until you see this:

Once the mass is done you have two options. The way you do the shape of the cookies to put them in the oven, will set their look.

You can do it with two spoons (or one spoon and a hand) in order to not make a perfect ball. The result is (see the cookies in the bottom).

Or you can do the balls rolling little portions of the mass in your hands until they look like in the picture. They look more equal.

In my opinion, I like the first kind.

Put them in the oven, upon a tray covered with foil or oven paper, at 338F.

Get them out of the tray before they get completely cool.

Bon profit!

Marina



A PRESENT FOR ONA

Last week Ona was born! Their parents, Cris and Oriol, are close friends to us. We were very excited to meet her,  so yesterday  we went to the hospital . The whole family is very happy.

Ona is  a beautiful baby; like a little doll, so fragile... She was sleeping when we arrived to the hospital,  but her parents told us that she had been crying all night long! They didn’t know what to do and the nurse didn’t too! Luckily,  she finally calmed.

Ona means wave in català (our language) ;p

We bring a little gift to Ona and her parents, and i wanted it  to look special. 
Today I’ll explain you what I did to wrap the gift. 


This is the result of the process,  very professional!

I used brown wrapping paper, the kind of paper that is used to wrap packaging boxes, and fuchsia tempera. The tempera colour has to be intense or it’s possible that doesn’t cover the brown color of the packaging paper. With a thin brush i wrote the name of the baby: Ona Ona Ona Ona...It’s an original way to make a gift wrapping paper, very personalized, don’t you think? Then you have to wait until the tempera is dry.

Next, you can start to wrap the gift. 

With another piece of paper I did a little bag to wrap the little pink bear that you can see in the picture. This bear makes a funny sound when you push it, it’s soft and so sweet...

And finally, I did a loop with a fuchsia string. The string was consistent and not elastic.

And that’s all folks! I think the result is cool, and Ona seemed very happy!

You can mix different colours, be creative!!

See you soon!

Marina

MONDAY NEEDS MUSIC

 Happy Monday!!

Dreams Come  True  Girl

You’re not my dream girl.
You’re not my reality girl.
You’re my dreams come true girl.

All the troubles in my past
That’s just what they are.
And all the delusions that took host and passed
Have only made my immunity strong.

I’ve been blessed.
Your eyes are two moons.
I hope this voyage will not be ending very soon.
Just crying in orbit with these mirrors of perfection.
To die in the arms of your affection.

What land is this?
May I never wake.

(No no no no no no no your dream.)
(Take me dancing tonight.)
(Take me out, it’s Saturday)

 

Mònica

MY PRESENT TO ALBERT

Today I want to talk about the present I gave to Albert, my husband, on our wedding day.
He gave me an engagement ring a few months earlier. It's a precious ring to me!

I thought for a long time what would be the perfect gift for him. I must say that I am very meticulous in this kind of topics, and I like to make surprise gifts to my people, especially with Albert. I didn’t want to give him the typical watch, so I squeezed my brains until the inspiration came. When you bring a gift to someone, the object is important, but the way to bring it, is important too!



When our relationship started, Albert went to Norway a few months to finish his degree. I went there by surprise. You should have seen his face when he saw me on the street alone, waiting for him... It was so romantic.... So we love that country, because we remember what happened there. We always say that we want to return there someday, and I thought this would be the perfect gift. And yes, I gave him a trip to Norway!

Well, I had the gift, but I was missing the way to bring it. Giving a travel is complicated, because it is not  a material present. So first of all, I bought a suitcase, a very special suitcase. The French site http://www.mydotdrops.com/ has suitcases that can be customized. I designed one with the flag of Norway. These suitcases are very original and there are in different sizes. I put it into a cardboard box, wrapped in gold wrapping paper, with a red and black ribbon.

Inside the suitcase, wrapped in the same gold gift paper, there was an illustration made by Juanjo, our friend and Mònica’s boyfriend. I asked Juanjo secretly if he could do an illustration to explain our history and our trip to Norway. I think  I would never be able to thank him and Mònica enough for what they did, to help me with that, because the illustration was the soul of the gift! It is lovely...!

Joint to all this, there was an envelope with a letter inside, written by me. The letter said that my gift was a trip to Norway for us, to live again all those moments that we lived there, because There is where we knew that we would be always together.  

And that's all...

By the way, my goal was fulfilled: make Albert cry! Of happiness of course! I have photos and witnesses who can corroborate! 

Oh, and if you've to marry you should know that it’s a nice idea that someone give to your fiancee a letter written by you, while he is waiting on the altar. I did it and it was great!






Marina

SWEET SANGRIA

Today I’ll show you how to make sangria. If you want to do good sangria it depends on the quality of the ingredients.

There are many types of sangria: dry sangria, semi-dry sangria, sweet sangria... We chose the sweet one. It is always good idea to drink sangria, whether it is summer or any other season.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

(Plus resting time)

For 4 people

Ingredients:

1 liter of red wine • 1 / 2 cup of brandy • 1 / 2 cup

of orange liqueur (Cointreau) • 7 tablespoons of sugar •

 • 1 cup of lemonade soda • 1 cup of orange soda

• 1 lemon (the skin) • 1 orange (the skin) • 1 cinnamon stick

1.    We need a glass jar or pottery jar. Put in all ingredients, starting with the wine, liqueurs, lemonade soda, orange soda and the sugar. Mix well all this with a wooden spoon.

 2. Also add the lemon skin, the orange skin and the cinnamon stick.

 3. Mix it all a few minutes, and let it rest 30 minutes before serving it.

Salut!




Marina

ORNITORRINCOS

Ornitorrinco is the spanish word for Platypus but today we're not talking about animals.
Ornitorrincos.es  is a music website where different bands play together to promote  themselves but they do it in a very original way. They mix their songs and the result is amazing!


Here you have some Ornitorrincos:

More songs here. 


Enjoy!!


Mònica