ABOUT COFFEE

SOME FACTS AND MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE ABOUT COFFEE

Did you know, that coffee was discovered in the 9th century by an Ethiopian goat herder, who noticed that beans made his goats go crazy! :) Actually, I do not know why I called it beans, when coffee is actually a berry. Sometimes it is called a coffee cherry as the ripe fruit is red like cherry and has a pit (we call it coffee bean) inside. There are two kinds of beans - Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is much more common, but it does not mean that Robusta is most expensive. The most expensive coffee is actually made of poop.. Yesss... It is called Black Ivory Coffee. This coffee is made of elephant dung and it cost around US $1100 per kilogram. Anyways... I am still not sure I want to try it though... 

The coffee I always get in a coffee shop is Speciality Latte. Although I remember I caused confusion when I asked for Latte in Italy, as latte in Italy is only milk. I had to get cappuccino instead. But the coffee I cannot forget is Ginseng. OMG, what a heaven! It is an espresso with ginseng extract which actually makes the coffee white. It is definitely my most favourite coffee ever. Unfortunately I cannot find it anywhere but Italy, but I am pretty sure you can make it at home too.  

HOW I MAKE MY COFFEE AT HOME

  
I do not have my fave brand for my Black (Lungo) Coffee, but what I do to make my coffee more enjoyable, is I mix two different coffee blends together. I usually buy Tesco's ground coffees and at the moment I mix Colombian together with French. French is stronger than Colombian and Colombian is too sour for me. So to make my perfect cup of coffee, I mix two teaspoons of each blend and add one and a half sugars. Yes, I like it strong :) I put all ingredients into my coffee cup, add hot water, leave it to rest for up to 10 mins, stir it and drink it! Speaking about Americano, I never buy it, as for me it is just a mistreated espresso.



For Bialetti Moka and Mukka Express Coffee Makers I use only and only Lavazza Gusto e Crema. I think this duo is classics, therefore,  inseparable.

I always buy my coffees in smaller packages as I think the product tends to lose it's qualities quicker than I finish it. I keep them in their original packaging, tied with elastic band, and, hopefully, prolonging their lives :)

WHAT I CALL A GOOD PURSE

I really enjoy using my still new purse, as it is very easy to organise my clubcards, notes, coins and other stuff I carry in my purse. 

I bought it on NewLook website couple of months ago and it is not available in this colour anymore. But you can get the same style in the colours grey and black.  

This is how I organise my stuff in my purse:

 

OSLO

Last October I spent three nights in Oslo. I had never been to Oslo before so I was really looking forward to it. I travelled with Ryanair, although I prefer travelling with Star Alliance companies. The flight to Rygge took only 1hr 40mins and I had to take train to get to the Oslo centre. I stayed at Smart Hotel Oslo and was not disappointed as the hotel is new, tidy, and has a retro sense to it. The room was compact, but I did not have anything to complain about. Besides, I did not go there to spend my holidays in hotel room. 

Speaking about my impressions, I loved everything there, even if the weather was not very warm (I even had a chance to see the snow on my very last day!). On my first day I went to Norwegian Folk Museum, The Viking Ship Museum and Kon-Tiki Museum. They all are located on Bygdoy peninsula and you can get there by public transport. I liked Norwegian Folk Museum the best because they had the most amazing carvings exhibition. And I will not lie if I say that I could not stop smiling for some time after I left it. October is not a holiday season and all attractions are open really short hours, therefore, I had not done or seen anything else that day. Oh, I actually managed to find a local cuisine restaurant and had reindeer cakes. Yummy :) I strongly recommend going to Restaurant Schroder and trying them, together with a pint of Norwegian beer.   

The second day happened to be a little bit rainy, but I had devoted it for shopping, so straight away I went to Markveien street. There are some really cool vintage clothes and accessories shops that I wanted to go to and the first I visited was Robot. I managed to get there a Viking ship necklace and a woolen sweater I fell in love with. I also grabbed a black wallet, but I still have not decided what I am going to do with it. Whoops... :D So I visited quite a few similar shops, but my next score was at Fretex. If you have similar interests to mine, definitely check it out, as they have good stuff and low prices. I also could not pass UFF store which is a huge second-hand shop. You have no idea how big it is and how much stuff it has. And all the stuff is vintage! Prices are a bit on a dear side though, but I still managed to find a coat for myself. Despite souvenirs I bought, these are pretty much all my purchases. By the way, coffee in Oslo is gorgeous. This might be due to fantastic water quality - it is so good that people are encouraged to drink it right from taps! Those who are going to pay for their purchases with their debit cards should consider the fact that every debit card transaction is charged extra, approximately £1. 

FIGURES:

• 10 NOK = £1.
• Postcards cost from 7 Kr (the cheapest are at TIC).
• A stamp to Europe cost 13 Kr and 16 Kr Worldwide.
• One-way train ticket from Rygge Airport to Oslo Central Station cost 156 Kr.
• City Bus ticket cost 30 Kr.
• Medium Latte price starts from 26 Kr (Deli de Luca, not that it's impressive).
• Admission to museums cost from 50 Kr, but there are also free of charge museums.
• If you are wondering how much I paid for reindeer cakes, let me tell you that it cost me 129 Kr.
• And last but not least, do not forget that debit card transactions are charged extra £. 

  

FLOWERS IN MY STOMACH

The only way I can justify women's need for flowers is when flowers go into my stomach. I recently discovered Pukka tea and thought I will try more of their blends. Womankind sounded just the right for me as one of the things it said on the package was sweet vanilla. We like vanilla, do we not? :D But I was intrigued, why it was called Womankind and just look how many flowers I found on the list of ingredients: chamomile flower, hibiscus flower, marigold flower and rose flower! How many more flowers can you wish for in your tea? 

More about Pukka tea: it's caffeine-free, it's organic and it tastes like heaven (not that I know the taste of heaven)! Enjoy! :)

 

SH SPAGHETTI

Looks like sh.., but if sh... was that tasty, I swear I would eat it :D

I introduce you to courgette spaghetti!

Everything you need to make them, is:

A tomato

Sun dried tomatoes (about half glass)

Walnuts (about third glass)

Salt (pinch)

A courgette!

Chuck tomatoes and salt into the food processor, process for 15 secs. Then add nuts and process for another 8 secs.

Peel green courgette skin and then peel your courgette into long spaghetti. Add tomato sauce to the bowl of spaghetti. That's it! 5 mins and fast and healthy dinner is on your table!  

   

The recipe is by TheRawtarian.

POSTCARD HAUL FROM FAVORITE POSTCARD

Today I received a package from Lithuania. As I am a postcrosser, I collect and send quite a lot of postcards. It's not easy to find nice and interesting postcards even here in England, so I am very happy and proud to shop for them on Lithuanian e-shop FAVORITE POSTCARD. It's my second order with them and I am happy with both of them. Postcards are of really high quality, printed on sturdy paper, so there are no worries it might get bended or torn when travelling. The paper might slightly differ from card to card, but the quality is still same high. 

And both times I got several postcards as a gift! Yeaaaaaaah!!!! :)

PHOTOJOJO! THE BOOK

If you are bored on long winter days and have no ideas what you could do with your time, I strongly recommend you to get "Photojojo! The Book". This book is for photography enthusiasts who are interested in doing photo projects or are simply searching for ideas. In this book you can find very popular ideas (the book was published in 2009), like "Time machine" (same picture, same pose, twenty years in the future) or a simple wall of pictures (big deal to glue photos on your wall). It also provides you with some unexpected projects, e.g., photo Rubik's cube, chandelier, wallet or a simple idea like capturing a photo every day and uploading it on photoblogging site. There are 50 photo projects and around 20 photo ideas in this book. 

If you are accidentally having financial after-holiday-hang-over and cannot afford this book, you can hunt for some ideas on the Photojojo website. You can get the book and have a look inside here.