Cyclone Tamara hits Serbia,  Bosnia and Herzegovina  and Croatia

Dear friends,

My comeback was not supposed to be like this. I was planning DIY,  paint projects, interesting photos, good recipes, but instead I start with this.

I cannot be carefree and talk about all these lovely things, when my country has been hit with such a disaster. Cyclone Tamara has done something that hasn't been seen or expected in Serbia.

Serbia is not the only country that has been affected. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia are also in critical condition.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Government announced state of emergency and both army and civilians are fighting against this disaster.

More than 7000 people have been evacuated.

  Almost 1000 objects have been flooded.

 

There have been five victims so far, and one of them was a brave firefighter who lost his life on duty.

Our prayers go to these people and their families, and men and women who are helping on the field. In face of disaster we stand united, and we thank everybody for help and support!

CHOCOLATE MUD CAKE

I've never made this cake before. I was going through some recipes on the internet and I ended up creating my version of chocolate mud cake.

Ingredients:

two cups of flour,

150 g of cocoa,

250g of butter,

a spoon of baking powder,

3 eggs,

200 g of dark chocolate,

100 g of milk chocolate,

one cup of milk,

one cup of sugar,

a cup of water

I mixed all the dry ingredients first (so, two cups of flower, 150 g of cocoa, one cup of sugar and a spoon of baking powder). In the separate bowl, I put half cup of milk, 250 g of butter, 150g of melted chocolate (I melted it on steam), 3 eggs and a half cup of water. I mixed it all well and than I added it to the dry ingredients. Then I mixed it all together. I greased a pan with a little butter and I poured in the prepared mass. Now, don't fill the pan because the mass will grow during the baking. I baked it on 200 degrees C for about 20 min. Now, all ovens are different, (also, many of you have Fahrenheits instead of Centigrades on your stoves, so I guess 350F is appropriate here, but check the mass every 5 minutes). 

When I think it's done, I check it with a toothpick.

When you take it out, you definitely have to put something creamy and chocolate over it. :-)

Now, I mixed 50g of dark chocolate,  100 g of milk chocolate, two spoons of cocoa, two spoons of milk, three spoons of sugar, and half a spoon of butter. I heated it all, mixed it all well, and covered the cake. Do it fast, because you don't want it to cool down before you spread it all over.

 

And that's it! Oh, yes, cool it down. If you can, leave it in the fridge during the night. Somehow it tastes better.

Bon appetit!
 
Hugs :-)

OUR SNOWDROPS

We were snowed in (again) last week, and I thought our snowdrops were dead. The weather has been more than crazy. It was hot-cold-hot-cold, on and off, for two months. Last week it was freezing, I wore my coat and snow was everywhere. Since yesterday, there's no snow, I've been outside since early morning, wearing only my jumper, with sleeves rolled up to my elbows. 

The best thing is - our snowdrops are more than alive. They're gorgeous. :-)

 

 I love snowdrops. They say spring, like nothing else.

I was taking these pictures when I saw this little bee. See, there are even bees around, enjoying in this early spring. Well, until Sunday, anyway. The weather forecast for Sunday is, guess again, snow!

Ahhh, the unpredictable nature. I'll try not to worry.

Hugs

Today I'll join:
                                 
Sherry at the Charm of Home

Home Sweet Home #104              

Courtney at the French Country Cottage

Feathered Nest Friday

and Cindy at My Romantic Home

A Candle Giveaway and Show and Tell Friday

ROMANCE AND LOVE

It's not February 14, I know. :-) However, It's never early for romance. Love should be celebrated every day. It sounds corny, but it's not less true because of it.

And the celebration of love shouldn't include only the romantic love between life partners. Our possibility to love, and the very experience of somebody else loving us, are completely and utterly amazing gifts. I guess we take that for granted.

 

As the great Morrie Schwartz said, quoting the great W.H.Auden: ''We most love each other or perish''.

 

I know this is the era of internet. I know that an E-mail is so easy to write, and it comes with the same easiness to the receiver (it takes an itsy, bitsy 'click'). However, writing a letter with your hand is very personal. It shows that you devoted a certain time to that act. Beloved person can cherish it. Literally.

The virtual world is amazing, but the charm of life cannot be replaced... Find it. Find it for you and your beloved ones. :-) 

What about sending a love letter like this one? Actually, it would be a letter of love. Because you can give it to anybody you love. 

I also like this one, with yellow roses. I don't agree that yellow flowers are a symbol of jealousy. It stands for love and friendship. I don't approve bad mouthing of flowers. :-)

How about including some poetry? I found this little book years ago. It's called ''For You, the Hundred Most Beautiful Love Poems of the World''.

This is from ''The Divine Comedy'' or Divina Commedia, by Dante Alighieri. You see here the version in Serbian language. I love poetry. 

 

You can surprise somebody with a gift. It doesn't have to be expensive. If you make a present, you can't go wrong . It can be the tiniest thing in the world, it doesn't matter. You are not giving a material present, really. You are giving something that will be a little reminder of you.

Or you can prepare a meal for you and your beloved ones. You can nourish them with both, some great food and your presence. :-)

Just love each other. No one can show your emotions instead of you. And no one can be a better version of yourself than you. :-)

Hugs!

RECIPE FOR SERBIAN PANCAKES :-)

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour,

2 eggs,

3 cups of milk,

two spoons of sugar,

a pinch of salt,

some cooking oil (one third of a cup for the mixture and the pan)

Grease the surface of the pan with oil, and then the rest of it mix in with all the other ingredients. Just put it all in a big bawl and stir with a spoon. 

When you finish with stirring, take a ladle, scoop the mass and add it to a preheated frying pan. Fry until it gets nice color as on the picture below.

Source: http://www.ana.rs/forum/index.php?topic=111575.540

 Aren't they lovely? :-) Now, put some marmalade, or some cream on top.

Source: http://www.ana.rs/forum/index.php?topic=111575.540

When you add the topping, you should roll them, like in the picture above. I know that in the picture from the pancakery, they look different. That's just specific for that pancakery. :-) Their pancakes are huge, so they do not roll them, but 'pack' them up in a specific way. Traditionally, they should be rolled either like this, or 'packed' in a triangle.

Source: http://www.jerry.rs/slika.php?slika=jela-27.jpg&naziv=Palac%CC%8Cinke&img-width=777&img-height=517

Bon appetit! :-)

Today I'll join:
                                 
Sherry at the Charm of Home

Home Sweet Home #103              

Courtney at the French Country Cottage

Feathered Nest Friday

and Cindy at My Romantic Home

Skiing is like riding a bike (and Show and Tell Friday)

 

ONE BEAUTIFUL DAY

I'M BACK :-)

Yes, I was absent for a long time. This was a period full of celebrations, slavas, birthdays... Christmas was wonderful. We celebrate ours on January 7 (Othodox Christmas), then there was the Orthodox New Year (we celebrate New Year twice :-), and, also, I was working on all sorts of things.

A few days ago, my Love and I had a day just for ourselves, and we decided to go for a walk. After some time, we started craving for something sweet and I knew just the place. 

In Kragujevac, there is this place called ''Peron''. It means ''Platform'' in English (I know,  it sounds more romantic in  Serbian). Anyway, it is a work of art. A very romantic place which possesses that  shabby charm we all love so much. It takes you on a wonderful voyage to the past. And you want to go, in this town's personal time machine.

The owner placed two wagons on several rails that he brought to the town's square. You see on this picture that he even put gravel on the rails. Isn't it great? :-) And the closed wagon is expanded on the left side, but unfortunately I didn't take photos of that part. Well, there's always next time, right? :-)

 

The sign says ''Pancakery". 

This wagon was added long after the first one, and since it's open, people sit here in the summer.

That's my sweetie, in his lumberjack style. :-) I love that smile. The atmosphere was wonderful. It was cozy and warm, and there were sweet aromas in the air. As you can all see, they decided to put a shabby suitcase above each desk, on this iron mesh... thingy... A brilliant idea, if you ask me. :-) The Christmas decorations are still there, and I love that. The whole town is still in the Christmas mood!

  

I barely sat down, when my man took a photo of me. It's a bit blurry. There are even more blurry pictures here, sorry about that. This hat is one of my favorites, and I made it. Well, I added the beads, to be more exact. It was plain red hat, and I made it more fun.

                           

  

And these are our pancakes. We call them palačinke (palachinkas) These are with cream and ground cookies called ''Plazma". When I prepare them at home, I sometimes add bananas, or put some marmalade. But mostly it's light chocolate and vanilla cream... My favorite cream is ''Eurocrem''! It's one of the best Serbian brands.

I'll add the recipe for the pancakes in my next post. :-)

This pretty wreath was next to us, and you can all see the look from the window. Sorry about the picture quality. I kinda like it smudged like this.

There are some pretty lights, and old photos on the wall. Outside, you can see the sign of the hotel ''Kragujevac".

 These are the empty seats next to us.

Now, this picture is like penicillin. A mistake that ended with: "Eureka"! These are two giant trees decorated with lights, and as I was trying to take a photo, I couldn't stop shaking because I was laughing so hard. I keep staring at it and admiring. Just like in real life, when you do something and you think: "Oh, God, that was totally wrong. A genuine stupidity." And it turns out perfectly. It shows us the side of life that turns out to be the beauty that was hidden and misjudged all along. That's one of the beautiful things about living. I think God has a wonderful sense of humor. Among other things... :-)


Hugs to you all! :-)

 

Master Bedroom During Christmas Holidays

Hello Everybody! :-)

I've just finished with decorating in our master bedroom. I didn't overdo it this year, I just added some bits and pieces here and there :-) 

These Santas are hanging from the nobs on our closet. They are very old. Mum bought them when I was about 2 years old.

This is my favorite dress ever from my childhood. I was in a school play, when I was at the elementary school, and I got the part of a New Year. My parents bought me this dress and a diadem. That was a wonderful experience. Throughout my whole childhood, I was a regular tomboy, but on this day I was a lady with magical powers. I pretended it was real and that I could make some magic happen.:-)

I hanged it on the side of the closet, and it is part of the Christmas decor. It keeps bringing the good memories from my childhood.

I placed our white Christmas Tree next to my Love's side of the bed. I put a mirror next to it, too, because it looks great at night. I just added some purple lights on  it ( and the lights actually look red for some reason). Probably because of the white color of the Tree.

 These are our cozy pillows. (Yes, they are pink, I admit officially, I like pink color, now).

I put a white and gold butterfly on my pillow. I love butterflies. Especially in the winter when there's no any.

And a white and blue one is on my Love's side. He likes it a lot. :-)

This is the diadem I mentioned. I placed it on our headboard.  Isn't it lovely? :-)

Next to my side of the bed, there is this green bottle with some Christmas lights in it. I painted this wicker bottle holder this summer.

And this basket, too. I showed it to you, and I couldn't decide what I'm gonna be using it for. Well, I decided to put some of my favorite magazines inside.

Uh, I have to show you this. You see the magazine GRAZIA? With the girl in white? This number is from February 2011. I love this jacket and I had to take a picture.

Source: Magazine GRAZIA, February, 2011

Look at this golden, chain like ornament around the hood and on the sleeves.  This is some awesome jacket.

Source: Magazine GRAZIA, February, 2011

I found this, too. I would buy this one only if it's fake fur. Animals should keep their skin.

Source: Magazine GRAZIA, February, 2011

Enough with winter clothing! :-)

This is the rest of ornaments. I pretty much 'localized' them! :-)

Another, very old Christmas ornament.

Cherubs are still in their old position, nothing changed. :-)

Our little wreath.

And some good old ornaments in a bowl and on a cake stand. 

 Hugs, hugs, hugs!!! :-)

Today I'll join:
                                 
Sherry at the Charm of Home

Home Sweet Home #97               

Courtney at the French Country Cottage

Feathered Nest Friday

and Cindy at My Romantic Home

Show and Tell Friday!