"Hot" weathers & Cod fish with tomato sauce and black olives

It's September!

Seriously, where have the months gone? I will soon need to swap all my clothes and shoes...and that is going to take a whole day! I am really NOT looking forward to it, but I'll do it and I'll make sure I write about it here :)

In the meantime, the weather here is still scorching hot and we have experienced some restless nights last week - my dog and cat slept on the balcony getting all the fresh air {lucky them}! If I wasn't so scared of mosquitos (and people watching me), I would have slept in the garden...

Taking advantage of the good weather, I started cycling to work which is way quicker and healthier - if cycling 18 km per day doesn't help me lose few pounds I will give up!(and Stefano, don't you dare say I only cycled 2 times because that's not true and you know it!! :P)

Healthy benefits apart, cycling in the morning suits me pretty well - the air is chill and fresh {except when I cross the fishing port -meh!-}, everything is quite and calm, the scenary is gorgeous!

I have taken the below pictures with my mobile:

Playa de Sobrevela

Playa de Levante - Atunara

Eating healthy instead, is proving to be hard when Stefano doesn't stop buying Nutella and I don't stop eating it, but I am trying to focus my energy in healthy lunch and dinner plates.

Yesterday I have prepared Cod fish with tomato sauce and olives - it's very easy to make and a delicious plate that will make you forget you're on a diet.

:: Recipe and Proceeding::

4 Cod fish fillets
300 gr tomato sauce (passata)
1 garlic clove
Capers
Black olives
Oregano
EVO oil
Salt

Add some olive oil in a pan let the garlic clove golden for a minute. Add the tomato sauce, salt, the capers and the black olives previously cut in half. Stir for a few minutes.

While the sauce is cooking, cover the cod fillets in flour and place them in the pan with the tomato sauce. Make sure to turn the cod fillet so it is well cooked on both sides.

When is ready, add the oregano and serve :)

Enjoy!

Until next time,
Daniela

5 Pretty Elements: Trip to Teramo

As I said on my facebook page, I have been on holidays for 9 days: Stefano and I went visiting his family to Teramo, his hometown in Italy.

On the road to...Teramo

The city is located in Abruzzo, Central Italy (about 2 hours from Rome..). I absolutely love Abruzzo and Teramo. The landscape is so different from my own home town! Abruzzo has mountains and hills, while Puglia is plain and surronded by lovely beaches, so I don't get tired of looking around and simply relax.

I really enjoy going back to Teramo but, as it happens every year, the time flies by too quickly :(

Below my list of 5 things I love about Italy, Teramo and our holidays there.

1. The place

www.abruzzocitta.it

Beautiful! Look at the mountain behind the city, it is the "Gran Sasso". Doesn't it look like a big giant? :) that's how local people name the mountain: the sleeping giant.

2. The food

Well...I haven't met a person so far who said that they didn't love italian food :) I'm not going too much into details about all the gorgeous plates I had last week, but I want to mention the speciality above: Le Virtù! This plate is original from Teramo and it is cooked only on the 1st of May! 

The recipe has very old origins: Local farmers used to collect all vegetables left from the old season and mix it together with meat and pasta. Basically this plate contains all sorts of vegetables and legumes, several meats (including small meatballs),spices and different types of pasta. It takes minimum 3 days in order to prepare everything (!!) and the mixture must be perfect..that's probably why they only do it once a year ;)

It was the first time I ate "Le Virtú" and I have to say it is superb!

3. The joy of Family

Living abroad means you don't get to see your family so often :(  

It is no surprise that when Camilla and Francesco get the chance to see their uncle...this is what happens! Hair is transformed into crests, hide and seek is played for hours (because Stefano can't find them..) and the house is filled with screams and laughs :)

4. Supermarkets

I miss italian supermarkets. 
They always smell of clean, the shelves are organised perfectly, the products they sell are amazing (look at those biscuits mmmh).

Many of those products are not available here in Spain or they do not really taste the same :(

5. Coffee

Mmmh! A nice and sweet cappuccino! 

Breakfast was always a pleasure :) Cappuccino and Cornetto or Espresso and Saccottino...whatever you choose the success is guaranteed!

Not only coffee is delicious, but also the pastries and cakes are exquisite! If you plan to go to Italy, don't miss the breakfast and enjoy all those cakes! 

You will gain few pounds, but you won't regret it ;)

I'm looking forward to my next trip to Italy, this will be in July and we will be visiting Puglia :)

Until next time,
Daniela 

******************************************************
I have linked this post to: