♥ last news from London: WHITE CHAPEL GALLERY

My last exploring took this straordinaty gallery: WHITE CHAPEL GALLERY (E1 7QX).

It is a public art gallery on the north side of Whitechapel High Street. Internationally acclaimed for its exhibitions of modern and contemporary art and its pioneering education and public events programmes, the Gallery has premiered international artists such as Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Nan Goldin, and provided a showcase for Britain’s most significant artists from Gilbert & George to Lucian Freud, Peter Doig to Mark Wallinger. Actually all of their exhibitions are quite odd and weird but you can miss it!

♥ secret london

Do you believe this place is in London??! Promise!! I was really surprise when I bumped into this amazing and marine area!! I was walking and looking for a pub to have a beer after work and I found this stunning place (incredible!!!) and also a gorgeous pub. I couldn't stop myself to pop in just a moment and share this only photo I took early, actually my camera battery was empty. Stay tuned I gonna go there tomorrow to take lots of snaps!!

♥ lovely cups

I love thislittle set of coffee cups! Aren't they so cute? I'm becoming crazy here in London , there are too many shops! These cups are from marks&spencer, there is whatever you want in his shops, the desing is so cool and the price pretty cheap. I love spending my time inside the supermarket and this is one of my favorite because of his focus on desing and mainly on packaging of all his goods.

Which the next supermarket to exploring? the biggest Tesco!!! I'm very confident in it!!

♥ still london

Hi all,
Last week I was really busy looking for e new flat in London. I had lots of viewings after work but also on last Saturday and i took the opportunity to explore some new areas . Moreover, trust me, I saw lots of rubbish and odd properties. I can’t believe there is lots of guys they don’t care about their properties. Some flats are totally dismissed and dirty, in one of them there isn’t the washing machine, in another it misses the couch and on the advertising they say: totally furnished! Honestly I expected to find some s**tty flats. Eventually I found one and it’s amazing! This flat is just renewed and TRULY TOTALLY FURNISHED!

Anyway I was talking about this because all this looking for gave me possibility to discover new areas in London and I was quite surprised because I bumped into 2 really pretty zones: Dalston (E8) and Wapping (E1W).
Dalson is at north-east of Angel and north of Shoreditch, it is an urban area with definite touches of Shoreditch chic - before Shoreditch went the commercial route, that is. I think it a new area for eclectic and stylish people. Anothere amazing area but more residential is Wapping: is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets which forms part of the Docklands to the east of the City of London. It is situated between the north bank of the River Thames, it's so nice! Full of docks and boats!! Wapping's proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses and steps, such as the Prospect of Whitby and Wapping Stairs. Many of the original buildings were demolished during the construction of the London Docks and Wapping was further seriously damaged during the Blitz. As the London Docklands declined after the Second World War, the area became run down, with the great warehouses left empty. The area's fortunes were transformed during the 1980s by the London Docklands Development Corporation when the warehouses started to be converted into luxury flats. Fantstic!

I wanna show you some great little places I bumped into during my flat viewings:
Dolston Superstore
on Kingsland High Street, the main artery dissecting Dalston. Suited to its surroundings, it’s a confidently cool and slightly camp New York-style dive bar split between two floors, clad in cement, brick and steel vents. It’s enlivened with fluoro flashes, tables for two, graffiti, art installations and in-the-know aural offerings. The long, wooden bar is top and tailed by a DJ booth and an open-plan kitchen. Downstairs, the intimate and dark basement is decorated with graphic illustrations and there are retro televisions on the bar and a corner DJ box. This is a very fashion-conscious, arty place, and the people that come here are in keeping with that. There are lots of gay (and straight) young couples enjoying drinks and larger groups of people gearing up for a night out. I had just a beer and was ok, in terms of food, as well as substantially sized, modestly priced sandwiches, burgers and salads, there’s a daily selection of own-made cakes. Entertainment-wise, I know there are plenty of ants in these pants with regular DJ showcases, exhibitions, launch parties, barn dances and music nights. And of course there’s also free wi-fi.
Opened only last year and has become swiftly known for its eclectic line ups and awesome theme nights.
Location: E8 2PB

Wapping Project
The Wapping Project is a centre for the arts in East London located in the historic Wapping Hydraulic Power Station. A multipurpose exhibition and performance space, the Wapping project features newly commissioned works by visual artists, choreographers, composers, writers, poets, designers and film makers. They have a restaurant and bar. The music policy and atmosphere are surprisingly unpretentious and it has a live, fun, upbeat vibe. However, quirky East End glamorous style is the norm here, so dress to impress. A word of warning: the upstairs bar is heaving by 10.30pm so it’s best to arrive earlier if you want a seat.

Enjoy your weekend!!

♥ thailand & vietnam

Hi darling! I' m back from my long and amazing holiday ready to post more and more again. I wanna also talk you about the states I explored, they are stunning but also totally different than Europe. I found also inspirations for thinking about important things like life, friendships, family and so. I'll be back soon with some stories about these wonderfull and far away places.

On the left some photos about Vietnam lifestyle, Tample, Mekong River and Thailand food.

♥ city guide: California Bakery in Milan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.zza Sant’Eustorgio, 4
20121 Milano
Tel. 02.398.11.538
Orario: 8.30-24.00, 7 giorni su 7

V.le Premuda, 44
20129 Milano
Tel. 02.760.11.492
Orario: 8.30-24.00, 7 giorni su 7
tranne Lunedì fino alle 20.30

L.go Augusto
Via Verziere ang. Via Merlo, 1
20121 Milano
Tel. 02.760.06.026
Orario: 8.30-20.00, 6 giorni su 7
chiuso Domenica

♥ holiday time

♥ see you soon ♥

♥ last italian post

Hi all,
I'm moving to London in a couple of days and as you surely can imagine I'm really excited!! Actually I've slept very badly for days!! i'll post from there and maybe something more interesting!
So I pop in just to leave here a little taste of my next months. I bumted into this gorgoeus shop in Regent Street when I was in London last time and I immediatly felt in love with that.

I can't stand to have a walk through London's streets.

I already wrote about Anthropologie but now ... I've just spot some fantastic necklaces on their website and I have to share their beauty with you.

See you from London!

♥ give away

I've just bumped into this amazing and divine website and I was really shocked cause its beauty! What's it? It's an terrific website about lovely handmade bags.

In 2004 Laura Nelli started Nelle, a handbag company focused on creating luxurious handbags and clutches. By combining quality fabrics with her keen attention to detail Nelle handbags and clutches illustrate Laura’s deep appreciation of vivid colors and textures. actually I'm a bit jealous because I also used to sew when i was at the university but after the degree I focused on my job and left almost totally my passion and hobby: vigutto. It's the first time I talk about my secret but we i discover these awesome and gorgeous bags I immediatly thought about one of my last creation, a clutch pretty similar to this on the right. Anyway, I promise I'll post a special vigutto note just to explain better what it was and what it still is! In the meantime have fun and shopping on Nelle's website, it's worth it, trust me!

♥ come on spring, come on!!!

♥ lately

"The sunshine atop of my curly head, crispy clean sheets on a double bed,
Honey spread on morning toast, fizzy ice cold water to my thirsty throat,
Bright colour after black and white nights, a warm hug and kiss after midnight flights,
A purr in my ear under a fluffy cover, a sparkling dream of an exquisite love,
These things you are and the things we’ll be, something special glitters inside y&m"

♥ shoes: ballets

I was surfing as usual through my favorite blogs and websites and I found these shoes!! They are so lovely don't you think?

As practical as they are adorable, these flats will have you doing a rain dance. PVC upper, lining and sole with a grosgrain bow. Made in Italy.

Price: $ 55

♥ hobby

During my last trip in London I got this whole series of colors for food and other things to enrich the top of desserts or cake. Why is it so easy to find everything in London!!!?? I love that city.

Then now I have to use them and I was thinking to bake some macarons, they are so lovely and seems really yummy too. I found the recipe into "Il libro del cavolo", apparently they are not so easy to make but I wanna try through! I will let you know how they'll come up. In the maintime I'm wonder to know ask you which is your best recipe to make pancake?

♥ gloomy day's needs

It' happended again! This morning I brought rollings up and it was raining again! I can't believe it... immediatly i thought "please rain goes away!!" It was strange because I was surfing on my favotite blogs and I found this snap on right, right after tht thinking, it was really appropriate at that moment! I wanna share it with you, isn't it cute and cool??!
Anyway it was so gloomy day I decided to set my new wardrobe up but the incredible thing is that i decided to trow away the oldest clothes I don't use anymore!!! (I use to not trow away anything).

I split them in :

♥ to keep over

♥now size 40 clothes to keep hoping to lose weigth (fingers crossed)
♥ small, quite old and never used clothes to swap with girl friends of mine (I'll arranging a swap party @ my home on next sunday). I think it's a really good idea, we'll see it's true or not.

I did a massive cleaning in my wardrobe through, I'm very pride of myself, well done!! (I use to keep everything).

I also re-cover some boxes to storage some clothes with my favorite design, I picked it up in Milan 2 year ago during the "fuori salone". Definitely this task was really funny!

Now everything is in the right place.

♥ have a lovely weekend

Just found it and I fell in love with it immediatly!! I have some hopes and dreams in the years to come!

♥ cooking school: chicche della nonna

♥ Ingredients
1 kg. potatoes
300 gr. ricotta
300 gr. flour

200 gr. spinach
150 gr. parmesan

1 egg

a bit of salt

♥ To dress: butter, a little onion, cream, salt and tomatos. On the top a dusting of parmesan.

♥ Instruction:
Boil the potatos and remove the peel. Boil the spinach and mince thinly them. Take a bowl and put into ricotta, egg, spinach tritati and parmesan and mix them together properly. Add salt in case it needs. Add the crumble potatos and flour too. You should get a pretty tough dough. Take a piece od dough and roll it till getting a long cylinder wide like a finger then you can cut it in a little pieces, pass them into the flour and put them on a tray.

Chicche are now ready to be cooked!! Now it's time to prepare the souce and it's pretty easy: fried the onion with butter, add the tomato souce and let it cooks for 10 minutes. Turn away from the stove and add the cream mixing.

Boil water (add some salt but not add oil!!) and drop the chicche into. When they'll lift on the top of the water they are ready to be dried, it takes quite short time.

Dry and put in a bowl the chicche, now add the souce and stir softly. Dress them with a dusting of parmesan on the top. Yummy!!!

Enjoy your chicche, they will be delicious for sure"

♥ Lonely Planet's best in travel 2010

Lonely Planet, my favorite travel guide, released its latest issue of Best In Travel 2010 guide and various top 10’s of different categories were published. Among them are:
Top 10 Best Value Destination to Visit In Year 2010,
Top 10 Countries To Visit in 2010,
Top 10 Cities and Top 10 Regions of the world to visit in year 2010.

Why am I speaking of this? Off course I was really excited to find out what the most unexpected: my favorite italian city Lecce is in! Lecce is selected by Lonely Planet as one of the Top 10 Cities ... WOW!
Anyway I wanna tell you something more about the stunning LECCE.

It is in the South of Italy and very close to the sea, the region is called Puglia but the area is also known as Salento. The atmophere is always cool, every time I go there I feel better maybe because the tenants are sociable and friendly and Lecce actaully is always crowded and it seems every day is party time! The shops, bars and reastaurants are cool, you can find the collest bar next to the cheapest one but both of them are great!!

It'a a baroque city, you can still see and visit a lot of of palaces, monuments and churches (the most important are Duomo and S. Chiara) in this style with amazing and particular decorations. "Pietra leccese" is a white and calcareous stone, actually it is pretty crumbly, this material was used to build houses, palaces and churches or just to to embelish them but also it's used nowadays to make several handmade objects such as vases, lamps, statues and more. You can find lots of shops that sell them in the centre of the city.
You can miss to have a look at Roman Anphitheatre from II sec. in piazza Sant'Oronzo and the Castello Carlo V.

Of course the food is delicious and the wine as well! Puglia is the most producer of wine in Italy, you can taste different type of them. About food? All plates with vegetables are yummy and tasty, the best is fave&cicorie. They make lots of kind of pasta like in every city in Italy but the most popolar is "orecchiette alle cimederape" (I decided to not explain to you these recipes, it's a sort of "go&taste"). Where is the best place to go for supper? Actually at their houses!!! The Lecce's women are down right the best cookers!

Restaurants:

- Le zie: the best one!! 100% tipical

- Carlo V: pizzeria

- La torre di Merlino: cool and good

After dinner:

I suggest you to walk through Via Ferrante d'Aragona, you'll bump into lots of bars or you can go to another area near S. Chiara Church and tehre there is a really cool place to have a drink: Al civico N°1.

I'll add some more information about Lecce in a next post, promise!

Here I've reported 2 lists of Lonely Planet’s Best In Travel 2010 Guide:

Top 10 Best Value Destination (Alphabetic ordered)

1.Bulgaria;
2.Kenya;
3.Iceland;
4.India;
5.Las Vegas;
6.London;
7.Malaysia;
8.Mexico;
9.South Africa, and
10.Thailand

Top 10 Cities To Visit in 2010

1.Abu Dhabi,
2.Charleston (South Carolina),
3.Cork (Ireland),
4.Cuenca (Ecuador),
5.Istanbul,
6.Kyoto (Japan),
7.Lecce (Italy),
8.Sarajevo,
9.Singapore, and
10.Vancouver (Canada).

♥ I issue my personal list of next travels,here you go:

Thailandia, Morocco, Greece, Kroazia, Sicily, Barcellona, Ireland ... probably too much!!! But i love dreaming...and what about your one?

♥ my nowadays need

♥ I need to think it's spring ♥

♥ greeting cards

Yestarday I surfed a lot on the net and I had benefite, I found lots of information & steers about my next holiday but also some weird stuff. Here a sample but useful idea: most situations really only require one of the following phrases: "thank you", "sorry" or "fuck you". Well now you won't even need to speak. All one need do is administer the appropriate hand letter-pressed card, and it's stated in style, way cooler than what your mouth could do. Thirty-three of each card in a foil stamped box that reads ALL OCCASIONS CARDS.

they are by You and Me, The Royal We is a product line conceived of and created by 3 studio mates in Brooklyn, New York: Oliver Jeffers, Mac Premo and Aaron Ruff.

Have fun!

♥ design: packaging

I've just found these divine packagings on the net. Don't you think they are so sweet and cute?? I think it's the best way to convert a sample meal in a cool and appealing bite! They aren't posh, the ideal snack for a party or to serve in their branded corners. Last year I went to the ice rink at Somersethouse in London, actually one of the most impressive skating backdrops in town, and it was sponsored by TIFFANY ... I let to you the comments!!! It was stunning, amazing ... make me wow!!
The atmosphire was already great because of the setting, you know the Somerset House is a massive and imposing building on the Themes and then the Tiffany green was in every nooks so try to imagine the splendour... If you'd like to skate there next year don't forget to book in advance the tickets, it's pretty popular this place so it's quite hard to find tickets.

Actually skating is not my cup of tea but it's worth to go there just to have a look and have a cup of coffee at the temporary Tiffany bar.

♥ I love you

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

♥ City guide: still London

Hi guys, sorry for my absence but I was off and i took all those days to relax myself and try to guess...where ddi i spend the most of them? Exactly, in London! I had really wonderful time!
Here the best things I'd like to share with you:

♥ COCKTAILS SCHOOL @ 69 colebrooke row . We had a classroom on 5 amazing cocktails in this supe cool bar. It's in angel in a nook just off Upper Street.
If you fancy trying some of these unique cocktails then do book one f their Cocktail Masterclasses. Tony Conigliaro and Nick Strangeway are truly the greatest bartenders in the world. Thank you guys, it was great!!!
♥ GORDON'S WINE BAR is the oldest wine bar in London. The atmophire made me wow!!! It buried deep beneath the street where you only can see a suble sign and a really small door. Downstairs is all bare brickwork arches and candlelit tables. Ideal, if you're looking for somwhere to take your first date. It was crowed of drinkers of all ages. You can breathe the love of this unique venue and of good wine.
♥ SUPPER CLUB is a place in Notting Hill just off Portobello Rd, it's quite cool. You can eat, drink and dance there. Honestly it's not my cup of tea, too cool and apparence but it was nice because we spent much time talking randomly on our bed/table, it was pretty relaxeing.
♥ GREENWICH is so cute. I went there on Sunday and i bumped into a sweet market, so nice! G. is crowded of restaurants, caffee, bars and pub and we had a down right English fish&chips. you have to go on the hill and watching the skyline...awesome! Also you can get G through the foot tunnel under the Thames. FYI: It is 1,217 feet in length and approx 50 feet deep. Its original purpose was to allow south London residents to work in the docks on the Isle of Dogs. It was designed by Sir Alexander Binnie and was opened on 4 August 1902 at a cost of £127,000. The tunnel is lined with 200,000 glazed white tiles. It is open 24 hours a day, although the lifts do not always run the full time.
♥ CANARY WHALF is a large office and shopping development in East London really close to Greenwich, actually is a new business district. It's built on the site of the West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs so there are lots of little docks and the atmosphire in the night is quite stunning because there are lots of restaurents on the rivers and the view is great, if you like the skycraper. ok it's not the best place in London of course but if you are around it's worth to have a walk there.

♥ it's

I silently root for us while you are scrunching your past life up and this makes you younger of 10 years in a bunch of minutes
I love to create our special phrases and only we can get them. This language says we can try for ever to dance together trusting each other. In the meantime I wear my pringles socks having a milkshake, I can savour your flavour
I fall in love with coffee every morning but time blows off quickly and I’m again at the airport with my luggage through the checking desk waiting for my flight listening my favorite playlist losing myself. In a couple of days I’ll be again at the airport but this time I already feel a squeeze in my stomach

I wanna toast to every time I would have shouted but nothing went out from my mouth

Something is happening, it has happened, it’ll happen ...

♥ quote of the week

♥ People lose health to make money and then lose money to recover health ♥

♥ cooking school: hummus

I'm going on holiday next days so I wanna leave to you a special recipe I love: Hummus.

It is quite popular throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa but also in Europe especially in London (where I tasted it first). Usually I eat it with pita but it's also great with raw carrots, celery, and cauliflower. My version is spicier than most (I love chilli pepper, you know!!) and uses more lemon juice than most. This recipe is from an elderly Lebanese woman so I'm sure enought it's good.

As you can notice it's really easy to make: preparetion time takes around 10 minutes and trust me it's a delicacy.

Ingredients:
♥ 1 16 oz. can chick peas; drained and well-rinsed
♥ 1/4 c tahini (sesame paste)
♥ 2 lg. cloves garlic; chopped
♥ 5 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (about two lemons)
♥ 1/5 cup olive oil
♥ 1 tsp. coarse salt
♥ 1 tsp. ground cumin
♥ 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
♥ 1/5 cup warm water

Preparation:

1. Place all ingredients except water in a food processor and process for about 2 minutes.

2. Remove lid and scrape down sides. Add water and process briefly again. Scrape down sides. The mixture should be somewhat coarse and not quite runny. Add a bit more water if needed.

3. Refrigerate for four hours to allow flavors to meld. The consistency will thicken to a firm paste.

Enjoy your hummus.

♥ St. Valentine's day round 4 - freeprintable

Here you go if you are looking for nice freeprintables and of course about Valentine set. I found some divine creativities on the web such as wraping, scrapset, greeting card and some more ideas to decore your stuff.

Here a neutral set with a kick of red - vintage, modern, elegant - such as a fun little collection of digital scrapbook papers and elements.

Two peas in a bucket, one of my favorite site, offers us another really nice digikit regarding cupido (it includes 6 sparkly papers, 7 cute elements and a complete alpha that will leave you dazzled and lovestruck).

I also suggest you these cute blogs to get a cute greeting card as free pdf: cottage indistrialist e creaturecomforts . Here you go for adorable lovebird cards, perfect for your valentine (designed by Lee May Foster) but they are in sale.

♥ some words make me happy

"need you, deep in my arms,
tucked and curled into my body,
softly sleeping, lips open and purring,
kiss you whilst you sleep and when you rise,
morning brings brand new adventures,
my green eyed sunrise, so warm to touch"

♥ quote of the week

"Everybody knows a certain thing is unrealizable until somebody unaware of this comes and invents it"

Albert Einstein

♥ St. Valentine's day- round 3 - cooking school

This morning the suggestion I'd like to give you is about Valentine's dinner. I mean, we could take this occasion to stay close with our parter and have with him/her a special/cute dinner. One of my favorite recipe is flan, all types of flan usually look so small, tender and cute, basically they are delicacies of the food world. I choose this recipe as starter: Prawns and porcini flan. Prawns are quite

♥ INGREDIENTS
Flan:
6 prawns, peeled
100 gr Porcini Mushrooms
a bit of butter
1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
half glass of white wine
1 cloves of garlic (don't worry you don't smell of it and garlic is so aphrodisiac!!)
2 eggs
a bit of parsley
nutmeg, salt and pepper

Sauce:
bechamel
100 GR grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
salt and pepper

♥ PREPARATION
Bechamel Sauce: Heat up your pre made bechamel with a bit of milk , away from the heat add the grated Parmesan cheese stirring to amalgamate and also salt and pepper.

To prepare the flan: sauté the sliced mushrooms in oil and a nut of butter with a garlic clove, nugmet, salt and pepper. Remove the garlic clove when golden-brown. Mix together the 2 prawns, mushrooms, 3/4 of the sauce, the egg yolk, grated Parmesan cheese, a bunch of parsley and mix everything. Add the whipped white eggs to the mixture.
Put into the cupcake pans and bake in the oven for 10 minutes (180°) till they are cooked. Turn over the flan on the plate and cover with the left bechamel sauce. Embellish with the left praws and some teeny piece of parsey.

Enjoy your meal!!

♥ St. Valentine's day- round 2

I've just found this crunchy idea on a really cute and italian yummy blog. This could be a grat idea to start better your St.Valentine's day. Let me remind you... having coffee every morning with your partner is something special to me. Anyway you could make your Valentine' rise cuter following this easy cuddle.

Make shortcrust pastry and the trick is : to cut the rolled dough with the same shape of your heart coffee-cup (obiouvsly you need to buy it previously!).

♥ INGREDIENTS:

300 gr flour
150 gr butter
100 gr sugar
1 yolk
1 whole eggs
a bit of lemon peel
a bit of salt
half of teaspoon of baking powder

About direction you can see this past post: cookies.

Isn't it so cute??

♥ St. Valentine's day- round 1

Here the first tip on Valentine. Today I'm posting about videos and greeting cards.
Actually I use this website to make some funny videos about holidays or really nice evenings or events just to share with friends to keep laughing a bit. I just made this video to show you how this tool works: you can upload your favorite pics, choose music, post and write someting and then ... bang! you can get your video. I choose the Valentine's theme but honesly this layout is quite ... trash and teen spirit :-( but if you are on roll you can find out some really nice one. I'm embarassed about it...!!!

♥ And now create yours video slideshow

♥ St. Valentine's day

The most love day is approaching and I've decided to look for some nice, lovely and usefull things on the web to share/suggest you such as free printables, photos, unusual and oddball gifts and also aphrodisiac recipes (I already have a wonderful book about that).



I promise I'll post 5 posts about St. Valentine's day. Of course if you have some suggestion to give me please don't hesitate, they are really welcome! Where will I be on Love Day? In London!!! I LOVE London and "coffee in the morning" at all.

♥ The art of table setting - II

Basically, if you don’t still get it, I LOVE to guest my friends for supper at home and I’d like everything is fine and cool to make our meeting pleasant and bright. Actually housing friends is one of my faves. I LOVE table looks like elegant and easy in the same time, this is the start point then I’m sure your creativity will come out by itself. On the right a collage of some pics I took in my dining room during the dinner of last week with my parents and brother. I set up the table in this way: I bought a new roll of paper runner to set my table by mydrap.com (I chose the coffee color to get a cozier and warmer environment) and I put 2 runners across the square table, they are very useful and seems of real fabric, you can throw away them at the end of the evening and save time because avoid to wash up the tablecloth. Anyway I used my allday plates and embedded some red roses close (by seletti) to the glass just to enrich all places. I found 2 old bottles used to keep the fresh milk (when my grandmother was young) in a stall of a brick-e-brack market and I use to bring water on the table using them, I can’t stand the plastic bottles. I use also to enrich them with some sliced of lemon or a twig of rosemary inside. If you like this idea you should try and check out on this wonderful website: farmhouse. This trick makes the water seems fresher and looks so cute. At least that evening was really good laugh, we absolutely had a good time together, I guess that sweet table made us in a good mood. When I notice that friends of mine enjoy the evening I’m at cock-a-hoop because that mean I get my aim with little and creative tricks.
Ok I have to admit I’m such a buff of beauty!

♥ quote of the week

I decide to embed a weekly post on my blog. Every week I'll write an interesting quote from sages.
Here you go to pick the first up.

“Buy the best, and you only cry once.”


Yes, you have caught me, I bought a very posh coat!! ... this has made my day!!

♥ avatar's wave

Have you seen the newest blockbuster and so popular Avatar yet? Yes, I have done. Really cool movies but let me say I didn't find it as amazing as everyone say. Sure the special effects and 3d are really great and new in the cinema world but I think that also other movies can seem like it: the “Alice in wonderland” trailer looks fantastic. The plot of Cameron’s movie is a 3d tour the force but it’s also quite easy such as intergalactic war, the good team wins on the bad one, love story between 2 different species and more.


Anyway here you go to get an amazing and relly funny tool to avatar yourself sponsored by McDonald, I did it and was super!!

♥ cooking school: scones with raisin

I've just collected this recipe right a couple of days ago and I had to try and taste scones immediatly. I first tasted these rolls such as breakfast in London with jam and a cup of fresh tea in a stunning coffee in Angel and they are as yummy as I had them once a week (honestly i fatted a lot in these 4 months and I know perfectly why!!). Basically they remeber me a wonder period of my life so I definitely LOVE them. They are a mix of sweet cookies and sail bread, at least they aren't too sweet and this is a really good point to me. This recipe is brilliant, the taste of these scones is heavenly and so delicious, it's preventable to say. It's aslo very easy and fast to make them.

INGREDIENTS:

♥ 500 gr flour

♥ 2 tablespoons white sugar

♥ 2 tablespoons baking powder

♥ 110 gr butter

♥ 300 ml milk

♥ 160 gr raisin

♥ 1 whole egg

INSTRUCTION:

Mix together in a bowl flour, sugar, baking powder and crumble the little piece of butter embending with the tip of your fingers. Add the raisin too and mix. Then put milk in the middle and knead the mixture till dough is not more sticky.

Strech the dough on a plane with the rolling pin getting 3 cm height. Make circle shapes of 5cm width and put them very close among them (2mm) in a baking tin. Brush the rolls with shaked egg and bake them for 15-20 minute at 200° C till getting gilding top. Finally remove and separe them from the baking tin and make them cold on a grill. You just get your scones!

You can serve the scones hot and with several jams.

Click here to get the recipe

Enjoy your weekend baking scones!

♥ @ home day

I don't remember if I already said to you but I moved living in a cute and new flat by myself so I need of buying lots of fornitures, accessories and homewares. I found these stunning places wnere i can surely find something intereting and I'd like share them with you because of the weekend is approaching and you'll have time to spend on their website, it's worth to do this. I LOVE to personalize my home as more as possible, I really believe your home is the reflection of who you are and I LOVE keep attention to all details, I can't stand to go into an impersonal house.
Here my favorite websites of this week period:

♥ dwell - nice designers and modern fornitures
♥ lombok - it is a colonial shop but they also have wonderful things
♥ habitat - really a masterpiece

Have a look at those you surely can find something awesome for your home.

Have a lovely surfing.

♥ City guide: Harry's Bar in Venice

Hi guys, sorry for my delay with posting but I'm really busy at work and also at home so here just a short post to suggest you a lovely place where you might spend a cute and delicious evening in Venice. I thought about this because of St. Valentine is approaching...

I wanna show you this stunning place also because of I miss it a lot! I used to go there once per years at minumum but now I've not been there for a while, actually I don't get time to go there, nowaday we always are too busy to do all what we want. I'm pleased to introduce you the famousest and oldest (maybe) restaurant in Venice: HARRY'S BAR of Cipriani family.

When you get table you could taste their most popular drink at the beginning: is called Bellini, a mixture of white peach juice and sparkling prosecco, delicious. Bellini was born right here!

The atmosphere is great and cool and cozy, you can see Piazza San Marco from their windows right in front of you!
It is not overly smart, but it is stylish, it looks like a classic and old style restaurant, you can feel the antique atmosphere around you. Not to expect great culinary innovation, they use to cook just Italian classics and they do that greatly!
Harry's Bar is not cheap but I´m so satisfied with the portions and drinks and the service is so excellent. I LOVE how they change the tablecloth before serving the desserts (their meringa lemon cake is haevenly!

Have fun there

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Just to remember ... sometime we need to think about these horrible past events.

♥ just cool

Hi all,
today I'd like show you just this campaign, too brillian!

♥ Cooking School (a sort of): the last laugh

I was browsing a magazine such yestarday we I bumped into an article quite funny and amusing. It tells about this weird website: Fancy Fast Food. What is it?

On his website, designer and writer Erik Trinidad revamps fast-food and convenience meals to look like plates you’d see at a five-star restaurant, a really gourmet creation!
It takes the stuff you get from the drive-thru and turns it into haute cuisine, complete with step-by-step instructions and pictorial evidence. Delicious!

Fans of the site think the cheap but impressive-looking dishes are “timely in our economic downturn” or “a great resource for guys trying to impress girls without having to shell out for an expensive restaurant.”. On this website you can find lots of example of how presentation can change perception of quality and value.
It's definitaly the website that turns your Big Mac into a gourmet dinner.

The Trinidad's tagline: "Yeah, it's still bad for you - but see how good it can look!"

It hurts with my new year's resolution but it's a brilliant idea! It definitely isn't my cup of tea but it's worth to share with you, it's too genial!

♥ just sweet song - my mood of today

♥ Cooking School: food, photography and more

Just found this cute and yummy blog thanks to my closest friend Cecilia: cavoletto di bruxelles. It's a blog about food and delicious recipes but also about photos and trips! As you already know I'm a buff of cooking and I LOVE the style life photos so this blog has suddently become one of my favorite one!

The blogger, Sigrid, is addicted of food of course but also is a self-taught photographer and on her blog you can find thousands of recipes with stunning photos of that food. Unfortunately it's just in Italian but she has written some books in other languages as well!

I suggest to visit this blog, it is really amazing! I've baked her scones such yestarday.... bang! They are so exquisite!! If you need of translation, I could help you!

I wanna try all oriental recipes from this blog! I'll be back to you soon telling my feedbacks.

Actually I'm dying starvation now!!

♥ suggestion: cool city guide

Hi all, I've just bumped into this special edition of my favorite city guides on Wallpaper* City Guide website: 10 cities now available to download for iPhone and iPod touch on the iPhone App Store.

"Whether you are staying for 48 hours or five days, visiting for business or a vacation, we’ve done the hard work for you, from finding the best restaurants, bars and hotels (including which rooms to request) to the most extraordinary stores and sites, and the most enticing architecture and design. Wallpaper* City Guides enable you to come away from your trip, however brief, with a real taste of the city’s landscape and the satisfaction you’ve seen all that you should. In short, these guides act as a passport to the best the world has to offer."

Hurry up the first one is for free!!

♥ mine

just getting you in my arms and coffee in the morning...
flown t-shirts and launched watches....
here we go
always dancing and riding on tandem
..... just dreams
..... just us

♥ Lea Stein's pins

Yesteday I had a cup of tea with a really close girlfriend of mine, Giulia and she weared a terrific pin and she gave me lots of info about it. Actually I was feeling quite ignorant and it was confirmed when I searched LEA STEIN on google!! I found a post about her collection on Suze's blog, she is my friend!! Suze always is number 1!!!!

I've got that the collection of Lea Stein plastic jewels is one of the world's largest. They are recognizable and desirable for their extraordinary colors, textures and patterns, derived from a painstaking hands-on lamination process, invented by Lea Stein and still used in contemporary jewelry. Lea Stein started working with plastic around 1965 in Paris and she still produces her stunning products so these pins are vintage. No two pieces are exactly alike; each is collectible, signed and referenced in various books. And there's so many different animals, people, objects Lea Stein got inspiration from that you could get lost!

All Lea Stein pins are copied by many others but to recognize the original and authentic one you can loot at back and find back these signs "Lea Stein, Paris" on the "V" clasp.

Lea Stein brooches are not too expensive. If you want one you should try from vintage collectors fairs or antiques markets or you can find many sellers on the net.

Definitaly, I'd like get one of them next month.

I also bumed into this delicious collection by FRANCESCA VILLA. She is an italian designer who usesold casino chips, vintage ex-voto and quality old metal toy soldiers. Her pins and military star are all re-interpreted and incorporated in her gorgeous 18 carati gold jewallery items. She collects some souvenirs from her trips and then she uses and mix them getting special, posh and fantastic jewelleries. They are for sure limited edition. Take care, they are really expensive!!

FV says: DON'T THROW AWAY ANYTHING NECKLACE

MV says: all types of accessories such as jewels and also bags or belts are full of worth because you can hand them to your children! I've got lots of gorgeous vintage accessorises from my mum, my grandmother and my aunt and I LOVE them so much!!!

♥ the happy start here

Hi everyone!
At least I’m back and ready to enjoy properly this new year. I had really good time on the mountain with some friends of mine, skiing, eating, relaxing basically I enjoyed my life. Now it’s time to think about the next months and I’ve decided to achieve 2 goals in short time: the first one is to improve my English and the second is about health, I mean, getting fit curing my party-season hangovers (please don’t say the this is a waste of time, I need of many motivations from everyone!!). I wanna achieve my two goals by myself staying at home. To do this I got a special interactive and digital English course to upload on laptop, I’m going to watch one English movie per week, I’m going to read some English magazines or English books. I bought also lots of things to better motivate myself on the fitness side, yes I’m addicted of shopping. Anyway my get-fit essentials to motivate myself are: Erreà vogue tracksuit bottom (they’re a total fad in Italy in this season), white and soft socks, cool hood. I’m feeling more confident and motivated wearing them, I love this quote: dress to feel good!! I bought also weight-bearing, ankle-weights, bar weight and some special tones from Itunes too. Now after these investments in myself I’m ready to get fit with full body workout! As you can get I’m doing lots of lists about things to do, I’m not so sure I’ll do all of them but I’ll try it!

Some lists I did:
• New year’s resolutions
• Things to learn and improve
• Books to read
• Movies to see
• Trips
• Things to buy for home
• Things to not do
• Gigs, Concerts, Exibitions, Museums to get

Any other suggestions?

Here my new years' eve song:

♥ I'll be back in a couple of days