What's in your Garden? Wood Panel Decor

One of the things we love about our house is the garden ;)

Few months ago we had to install 2 wood panels on our fence:

Do you wonder why? Well.. Canito, our dog, decided it was very funny to bite and destroy the plastic cover of the fence.

Wanna see a proof? there:

Thank you Canito..

Anyway, I didn't like those panels so much so I decided to make a Garden decoration out of them ;)

I painted both of them in green:

A tip for you: do not make any painting, crafting, etc under the sun.. I was boiling so much I didn't think I could make it till the end!!

Once the paint was dry I started decorating the panel with a golden phrase ;) 

Now, if anybody tells you that this is very easy although it's the first time you do it.. don't believe them! ;)

At first, it was easy..until this happened:

meh :/

Not nice!!! Luckily I still had some colour left and managed to correct the mistakes :)

This is how my fence looks like now:

My three boys enjoying the sun and the garden ;)

Do you like the outcome? The sentence I wrote is my homage to our nice garden that Stefano defines "our piece of paradise" : "If you would have a mind at peace, a heart that can-not harden, go find a door that opens wide upon a lovely garden".

I hope I have inspired you a little!

Until next time,

Daniela

Food to Crave for: Mini Aubergine Pizzas ;)

My favourite vegetable is Aubergine and I like to cook them in several different ways!

Since I was starving and I didn't want to lose much time cooking, I decided to make some aubergines baked like Pizzas ;)

Slurp!

What you need:

Aubergines;
Tomato sauce;
Mozzarella cheese;
Oregan, Olive oil and salt.

You simply cut the aubergines in rounds, place them in a tray with olive oil. Then add the tomato sauce and oregan as you would do it on a Pizza.

Finish everything with mozzarella cheese and salt (I didn't have Mozzarella so I used  Scamorza - a yummy Italian cheese).

I've baked everything for 25/30 minutes at 180C/356F.

They were delicious!!!! This can be a nice idea for a dinner with friends and you don't have to spend hours in the kitchen ;)

I like these fast and delicious supper ideas!! What about you? What's your ace in the hole?;)

Until next time,
Daniela

Breakfast Nook Inspiration

Something I simply love in a house is the breakfast nook.

A place where the family meets every morning and shares the first hours of the day together :)

The following are my favourite breakfast nooks so far:

Pinteret via Daniela on to For The Home

I like the white/yellow/blue combination. It makes me feel quite and peaceful: an excellent start for the new day! The flip flop wall arts give a touch of summer time: perfect for those houses near the coast (erhm.. mine for example).

http://somethingsimplesomethingme.blogspot.com/2013/01/breakfast-nook.html

White and Blue combination! This breakfast nook is small but looks very intimate and comfy. I like that the table is surronded by windows: imagine having brekfast while looking at a nice and sunny day.

http://fabuloushomeblog.com/2013/01/05/love-this-breakfast-nook/

You might have understood I like white breakfast nooks :) This one in particular makes me feel like I would have breakfast in a typical american cafe every morning :)

Pinterest via Daniela on to For The Home

Wouldn't you like to have breakfast here? I like the green walls and white table, the bench under the windows and the fact that the pillows match perfectly.

http://www.mom4real.com/2013/04/decorating-ideas-aqua-love.html

I would perfectly see this breakfast nook in a countryside house :) I like the way the colors have been mixed together and all the details that makes it rural and delicate.


This is were we currently have breakfast:

It doesn´t have any white but I like it as well :) 

I have many orange stuff in my kitchen and I am trying to combine them with teal/aqua colors. My kitchen has windows as well so I can enjoy my coffee while the sun is shining inside (the curtain is usually up ;)!!)

As you can see in the back, we are fanatics for coffee and have our Nespresso machine ready for use (although Stefano uses it more..i am classic and keep using my old fashion mocha) ;)

Do you like my breakfast nook and the ones I get inspired from?

Until next time,
Daniela

Food to crave for: Low Calories Fried Rice with Veggies

What do you do when you have a last minute lunch to prepare for a friend coming over + you are just back from holidays so you are really supposed to eat super healthy food? Simple: You sharpen your wit!!

The day after we came back from Teramo, we have invited our friend Antonio for lunch, also to thank him for taking care of my precious Mozzichino while we were away.

Mozzichino

I wanted to prepare something nice and tasty but I didn't have much time and I still had to empty the luggage (!!).

Since it was a very nice sunny day I have set up the table in my terrace, I decided to get inspiration from oriental food and prepared a low calories fried rice! It's very easy and you can use all the vegetables you want - just open your fridge and take them all!

This is the outcome:

1 portion contains about 300 calories (more or less..)

I have used: 

- Veggies: carrots, peas, onion, zucchini, pumpkin and small maize.

- EVO oil, peanut butter, soya light and oyster sauce + water

Preparation:

Boil the rice (I used Basmati Indian Rice) in a small pot.

Pour 2 spoons of olive oil in a Wok and fry the veggies you have chosen. Add two spoons of water. When it dries a bit, add a teaspoon of peanut butter, 2 teaspoons of light soya and 1 tea spoon of Oyster sauce (if you have any).

Add the rice and mix everything together :) ta - chaan!


We brought some speck and salamis from Italy..they couldn't not be served as appetizers ;)

And there it goes my "eat healthy" resolution.........

See the sun dried tomatoes on the left? My friend Paola has given them to me and I prepared two jars of  tomatoes in EVO oil :)

Tips:use capers instead of basil and let the sun dried tomatoes stay in olive oil for at least 1 month! I read on the internet some recipes that suggested to let them stay only for 6/8 days: WRONG! We always let veggies in olive oil for 1 month before eating them. Trust me, the flavour is much much much better.

Stefano and Antonio's faces look happy, what do you think?

And I can say I am proud of the outcome :)

What about you? Do you have any quick and easy recipe you want to share? ;)

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 

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