From Bruges...with love!

Have you ever been in Belgium?

Stefano and I had wanted to visit Belgium, specifically Bruges, after we saw the movie "In Bruges":

taken from Pinterest

We fell in love with the city while watching the movie (which has no romance, by the way) but haven't managed to actually plan a trip there till now.

We spent a long weekend there, back in June and we confirmed our love for this small city.

The city of Bruges is located in the Flemish side of Belgium, so the main language spoken by locals is Dutch - which means you won't understand one single word during your entire stay.

Bruges is very beautiful...as soon as you exit the train station you feel transported in a magic environment. You will be surrounded by the small river that runs through the city, the green trees and vegetation around it, the typical and colorful houses, the big tower with its bells and finally....the hundreds chocolate shops!

Temperature in June weren't as warm as the ones we are used to, but it was a nice break from the summer heat we are experiencing this year!

Few pictures of our small trip below:

Let's start from the center of this beautiful city...The Markt!

You can visit the tower (Burg) and climb all the stairs until you reach the bells room. The interesting part is that every day there is a man who plays a piano that is connected to the bells, the music can be heard in the whole historic center.... make sure you bring ear plugs with you!

Another view of the Markt:



and a view of what you can eat in the Markt:

:::Best waffle I have ever eaten!!:::

If you visit Belgium, there's something you must taste: Belgian beer!

This bar (2be) has thousands of different beers and, unless you spend a month there, you won't be able to taste them all. However, they offer some sort of samples depending on your preference (mix, strong, light) and I highly recommend this (cherry trappist beer is my favourite!).

:::The holiday selfie :D:::

[[ If you like my hat, you can find a similar one here and here ]]

I spent around 65 euros in this shop:

Bruges is full of chocolate shops, but only few of them make their own chocolate! The Chocolate Line is one of the few, and you can find chocolate for any taste and extravagance! They can box the chocolate so you can store it safely in your luggage {or in my case, they can give you a thermal bag since we bought so much chocolate that it didn't fit...}

Something you can't miss is the boat tour! It takes more or less 30 minutes and there are different starting point in the city.

For our last night in Bruges, we decided to go for some tapas and live music :) In Bruges and Brussels you can find many small restaurant and bistro that offer live music -- don't miss out!

Last but not least...something happened in Bruges!

Stefano and I got engaged ;)

Until next time,
Daniela

Farfalle pasta with Taleggio cheese and mushrooms

I hope you all spent a happy Easter day with your loved ones!

We had a BBQ at home with friends and we have officially opened the garden for Spring/Summer season!

We had originally planned to have a BBQ by the beach, but weather forecast was not optmistic so we moved the location to our home -- turns out the forecast was wrong and the weather was amazing on Easter Sunday....but at least we had an excuse to finally clean the garden  which looked like a jungle after Stefano refused forgot to mow the grass during winter time.

On a more positive note, Mozzichino-the Cat thought he really was a tiger and that was the perfect exploring & hunting environment for him {poor snails}.

We had tons of food which basically consisted in BBQ meat, aubergines, ham and artichokes pie and my attempt to make some goat cheese& ham samosas... {I managed to get a samosa shape with the last 4 pieces only...better luck next time I guess}

Dessert mainly consisted of chocolate eggs and italian "colomba" - this is a traditional easter cake shaped as a dove (if you haven't guessed it yet, colomba means dove in Italian). Didn't take a proper picture I'm afraid, I barely managed to take this snap before we devoured it :: it was white chocolate and pistacho flavoured - we couldn't resist it ::

Did I mention we also had pistacho cream to spread on the cake slices? mmmmhh

Since I didn't bake/cook anything special that day, I will share with you a dish I prepared few weeks ago..and have to repeat soon, because it was delicious and I can't resist melted Taleggio cheese!

"Farfalle with Taleggio and Mushrooms"

::ingredients::

Farfalle pasta (400gr for 4 pax)
250 gr mushrooms (sliced)
75 gr taleggio cheese
Milk or cooking cream
Parsley
Olive oil
Onion
Black Pepper

Boil some water and let the pasta cook according to timing you find on the box (I like pasta to be "al dente").
Melt the Taleggio cheese in a pan with some milk/cooking cream on low heat. In the meantime, brown the sliced onion in olive oil and add the mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms for 15/20 minutes and add parsley for flavouring.

Drain the pasta and pour it in the same pan where you have been cooking the mushrooms. Add the melted Taleggio and stir for 4 minutes.

Plate you dish and sprinkle some black pepper on it :)

Buon Appetito!

Until next time,
Daniela

Me, My Shoes and Cross Fit

I am on a new adventure in the Sport department..I have joined a Cross Fit gym - it's been a month already and you know what? I still like it {WOOOOOOOOOW}

Friends and family know that my favourite hobby is actually lying on the sofa reading a book or two (ok, not always..I also play volleyball once a week), so my eagerness for Cross Fit is leaving people wondering if I have:

a) been abducted and brainwashed by aliens;
b) gone through a mid-life crisis before hitting the 30s;
c) ate way too much Nutella that somehow affected my brain.

I am aware that all above options might be realistic if applied to my case, but Cross Fit is exciting and the fact that someone follows me and tells me exactly what to do is good for my lazy mind!

There are so many different exercises, I rarely repeat them during the same week.

Some of the exercises involve this:

Taken from Pinterest

Don't think that's easy!! That tyre is my nightmare and after the 20th time I have flipped it over I can't feel my arms. When I finish the exercise I feel strong like Ivan Drago in "Rocky IV" with his famous sentence: "Ti Spiezzo in due"  or as he originally says "I must break you"...but I prefer the Italian translation of "I will break you in half".... we Italians are so romantic.

The other day I was so lucky that the trainer made me do this:

Taken from Pinterest

If my memory serves me right, my tyre was slightly bigger and I wasn't carrying any weight with my hands. You basically have to walk fast or run, dragging the tire behind you..

::I hated this exercise with all my heart. ::
When I finally reached the seventh line, my face was completely red and my butt wanted to leave my body and go home alone.

Now, one of my favourite exercises is this one - I suggest it to everybody as form of stress release:

Taken from Pinterest

Oh yes... I thought Kick Boxing was stress releasing, but this exercise is actually better. When the exercise is over you will surely have trembling arms, but it is worth it.

Since I spend a lot of time sweating and with a red face, I decided that I deserve to wear lots of nice things :)

That's why I ended up with 5 pairs of trainers (let's not talk about the several shirts and pants that I have added to my collection so I could combine them with the shoes):

I'm afraid I am partial to Nike shoes....they fit me extremely well!

I use my black trainers, mainly for volleyball matches (sooner or later I will post something about my volleyball team):

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Reebok Strenght PW3R - found them here for $69.99 

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Then we have the good "oldie" trainers:

This is the "oldest" pair I've got and they still hug my ankles perfectly!



We also have the newbie, I bought them last week:

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NIKE DUAL FUSION 3 MSL W - € 84,94 -  you can find them here

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They already got a taste of Cross Fit  and survived the experience successfully.

I really don't know why I bought the following ones, but I ended up liking them as well (I swear):

Nike FREE for boys (erhm..they fit me anyway) - I found them here for $89.99 

Last ones are kind of my favourite and I bought them in New York:

I've ruined them a little :( but Stefano said that they looked better now {I don't think he is a big fan of orangy shoes}.

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Nike FREE Balanza - $100,00 - I only found them here

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Even Canito likes my trainers, although I am pretty sure he just wanted to appear in my pictures:

Finally guys, the morale of the story is: If I have to get all sweaty and red faced, at least I do it with style and colour coordinated!

Until next time,
Daniela

Pretty Elements goes abroad: USA here I come!

After some weeks I spent getting busy and travelling here and there, I finally found the time to write something in the blog.

Today,  I talk about one of my dreams that finally came true: visiting the USA!!{***insert belly dance here***}

It was absolutely cold fantastic!

As many of my friends and colleagues know, I am very organised and precise....so they were not surprised when they saw I was planning the trip 10/11 months in advance!

Flying to the States from Europe is not cheap (not the most expensive either, but still not the cheapest) and I wanted to stick to a budget or at least save as much money I could without having to give up on activities or tours I wanted to make.

Tha fact is, if you book in advance you have a wider choice in hotels and you are not subject to last minute inflated prices that will make your wallet cry!

I had time to make a plan and decide where I wanted to go and how long. As soon as I had this sorted out, I started browsing for hotels, picking the ones I felt were a good combination of quality&price. By keeping an eye on a realistic budget and reserving hotels in advance I have saved money and got nice hotels near metro stations and nice neighbourhoods.

Planning has its disadvantages....for example, I didn't expect to find the worst snowstorm of the last decade in the region of New York {how could I not!}. Worst area was around Buffalo city...and do you know where I was supposed to land in order to join the tour for the Niagara falls? Yes, Buffalo.

taken from Pinterest

Fortunately, we were able to go to Niagara Falls as the airport and the roads we needed were not blocked by the snow - and I'm glad we did because we really enjoyed it.

Washington DC jumped off the plan, as also a rainstorm decided to join the vagon! Boston was amazing and we didn't have any problem there, except we couldn't see Interpol in concert as they were blocked in the snow..where? Buffalo!

Nevertheless, I enjoyed every aspect of it! I was too happy to be in USA to let the weather bother me! :)

When you make those holidays, people tend to ask you what is the thing you liked the most....but I sincerely don't know how to answer it, because there were several things I loved!

NYC is on a completely different world compared to Europe: we went to the Cinema and we watched a movie on armchairs!! I was so comfy I fell asleep....until the person sitting next to time started screaming because the actors in the movie were being attacked!

Boston is absolutely beautiful - including Cambridge and Harvard university. We spent only 3 days here, but will absolutely come back in the feature! I want to watch a baseball game at Fenway Park!

Niagara Falls are so powerful and pretty - I had fun here and met looooots of squirrels ;)

Below some of my favourite pictures....

NYC streets are busy and colourful

A dream come true! A walk in Central Park

Central Park colours are beautiful in Fall - I have taken so many pictures here

I finally got to see what Times Square looks like in real life :)

Grand Central Station 

Views from the Brooklyn Bridge are breathtaking

I almost froze my nose to take this picture from Staten Island ferry

Coney Island! Stefano is a big fan of the Warriors movie, so we couldn't not visit this place

Boston is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen!

...and they also sell unique Xmas ornaments!

Harvard Football stadium before the Harvard-Yale game!

You cannot leave Boston if you haven't eaten this (with that sauce - yummy)

You find interesting models in Niagara Falls  - this is the view from Canada

American Niagara Falls are also gorgeous

This item is the most fashionable thing you can buy here ;)

Back in NYC - one of my favourite view from the Empire State Building

Thanksgiving parade was so much fun! this is a glimpse of it

..and another one here ;)

The Empire State Building lights on Thanksgiving

The Statue of Liberty in all its beauty

Hope you've enjoyed the pictures!

Until next time,

Daniela

Fall is coming...let's welcome it with Aubergine meatballs

Sigh...Fall is quickly coming in southern Spain as well!

We can already feel chill mornings and evenings, although we are still blessed by warm days!

Did you start decorating your house with fall themes? I might use the same table decoration I used last year :) it's been a success on Pinterest!! {do you use Pinterest? Why don't you follow me there? I also opened a twitter account! make sure you follow me :) }

Last week my company organised a treasure hunt around Gibraltar! We had so much fun - my company is quite big and this was a nice opportunity to know people from other depts in a friendly environment!

People in Gib also had lots of fun when they saw all these people walking around with GPS tablets and taking weird pictures...

I got the best team number......

The trolley-dollyes! This is how we went around in Main Street :)

my blonde self at the company afternoon BBQ --I look good right?--

my office team :) I'm glad they didn't make weird faces at me

and the winner is......Not us! but we are happy with our wooden spoon prize!

These pictures are courtesy of FotoPedroCano - Pedro is a good friend of mine; check out his website, he is a very good photographer :) {you can also find him on Facebook!}

..I also won a bottle of Prosecco!


As some of you may know, I absolutely love aubergines - they are my favourite vegetable!

After all the activities of the treasure hunt, I felt I could find an excuse indulge myself in some tasty aubergine meatballs and I am very proud of the outcome:

Very easy to make!

::Ingredients and Proceedings::

350gr of minced meat
1 medium aubergine
2 eggs
2cups of bread crumbs
2 spoons of parmesan cheese
marjoram
salt
sunflower oil (for cooking purposes only)

Slice the aubergine and cook it on each side in a pan with a teaspoon of oil. Once all the slices are cooked, mince them in a small kitchen robot (or cut them in tiny pieces).

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together (except for the oil!) until you get a soft mixture that can easily be manipulated into a ball. If the mixture is too liquid, just add a bit of bread crumbs.

Heat the sunflower oil in a pan and gently place the meatballs in the pan. Let them cook on all sides for a few minutes: the meatballs are ready when they are golden/brownish.

NOM NOM

Enjoy!

Until next time,

Daniela