Big secret... revealed :D

Can this summer get any better than this? I doubt it...

I am sooooooo happy I'm already flying :D

Perfect phone ;)

I finally discovered the perfect phone!
Although I wanted to ask Santa to bring me a Blackberry this year, the best phone ever is the Pomegranate Phone: it has absolutely everything, including coffee making and harmonica playing...
I know nobody believed it could be possible, but here it is http://www.pomegranatephone.com/
It should hit the shops soon, check the release date :D

Regal cu ciocolată

Penelopa se întoarce... cu spatele :P

Blat: 150 g zahăr pudră, 200 g unt, 250 g ciocolată, 4 ouă, 100 g făină, un praf de sare
Umplutură: 200 g frișcă, 250 cireșe fără sâmburi, 4 linguri zahăr pudră, 1 lingură vișinată
Glazură: 100 g ciocolată, 2 linguri unt, 1 lingură rom

Pentru blat se freacă zahărul cu gălbenușurile până devin cremoase, se adaugă făina, sarea, untul, ciocolata topită, iar la sfârșit se adaugă albușurile bătute spumă tare. Se pune compoziția într-o formă unsă și tapetată cu făină și se coace, la foc potrivit, aproximativ 30 de minute.
Se amestecă cireșele fără sâmburi și tăiate în jumătăți cu zahărul și vișinata și se fierb câteva minute până se înmoaie. Se scurg, iar cu sucul obținut se vor înmuia blaturile. Se bate frișca bine și se amestecă cu cireșele răcite.
Se taie blatul prăjiturii pe orizontală, se însiropează, apoi se pune frișca cu cireșe între cele două blaturi.
Pentru glazură se topește ciocolata împreună cu untul și romul și se toarnă peste prăjitură. Se lasă la rece până în momentul servirii.

Pui festiv auriu cu 5 condimente

În acest weekend am fost ocupată cu prelucratul pozelor, dar tot mi-am gasit 5 minute să gătesc ceva delicios... Penelopa mă numesc :)

8 pulpe de pui, partea superioară și cea inferioară, 3 cepe verzi tăiate fin pentru decor
Pentru marinadă: 4 linguri ulei de arahide, 6 căței de usturoi tăiați fin, o bucată de ghimbir proaspăt tăiată felii, 4 linguri vin de orez, 4 linguri sos de soia, 4 linguri miere, un praf de cinci condimente

Se amestecă într-un bol ingredientele de marinadă, se pune puiul într-un bol și se toarnă peste el marinada, amestecând pentru a-l glazura. Se acoperă și se lasă la rece 20 de minute sau chiar o zi dacă aveți timp. Se încălzește cuptorul la 160 grade, se scoate puiul din bolul cu marinadă și se pune într-o tavă cu pielea în jos. Se ține la cuptor 20 de minute, după care se întoarce și se toarnă restul de marinadă. Se mai pune 20-30 minute la cuptor, până ce se rumenește și devine lipicios. Se servește decorat cu ceapă verde.

RIP

It was the first ever video I saw in my life and I was sooooo impressed I watched it 10 times at least.
He was a gifted dancer and singer no matter what he did in his private life...
He charmed generations and he will forever remembered as the King of Pop.

Blast from the past

I met today a friend I haven't seen in 15 years...
It sounds so weird - 15 years!!! - and I discovered we have changed a bit, maybe a little older but none the wiser ;)
We are trying to organize a party to celebrate 20 years since we finished middle school. She had a list of names with all our colleagues, but to our shame we coundn't remember some of them (is this a sign of old age maybe?)
Of course we couldn't decide anything so we will meet again in a bigger formula to find the perfect solution.
Till then...



We were such big fans...

JCVD

I didn't have the opportunity to go to the movies today :( so I stayed home and... watched movies instead ;P
I watched JCVD http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1130988/ with... Jean Claude Van Damme!
I know, I haven't watched a movie with him since I was a teenager, but I heard only good things about this movie and I decided to give it a try...
and I didn't regret it!
It's an unbelievable good movie, with an incredible script, great direction and Jean Claude demonstrates that he can actually act, not like his counterpart Steven Segal :P
It's a dark comedy in which JCVD plays himself - a washed up actor who gets in trouble by accident, and how he copes with the situation he's in.
I think it's his best role so far, so who knows maybe from now on he will be known as the actor JCVD not as the Muscles from Brussels...
If you have time you should check it out, it gets my 2 thumbs up :)

Salată caldă de cartofi noi cu șuncă și brânză maturată

500 g cartofi noi, înjumătățiți, 2 linguri ulei de măsline, 2 cepe roșii, tăiate în 6 bucăți fiecare, 4 felii de șuncă afumată tăiată în bucăți mari (sau un piept de pui gata făcut, tăiat cuburi sau fâșii), 5 ciuperci feliate, o lingură muștar dulce bavarez, 2 linguri oțet balsamic, 1 lingură smântână, 2 linguri ulei, 100 g frunze de spanac, 85 g brânză cu mucegai

Se încinge cuptorul la 200 grade. Se așază cartofii îmtr-o tavă și se freacă cu 2 linguri de ulei și puțină sare. Se coc 20 de minute, apoi se adaugă bucățile de ceapă și se amestecă bine. Se mai lasă încă 20 de minute până ce cartofii capătă o culoare aurie, iar ceapa se înmoaie și se caramelizează. Se scot și se lasă să se răcorească.
Se încinge o tigaie și se sotează șunca până devine crocantă. Se adaugă feliile de ciuperci și se lasă aprox. 5 minute până se înmoaie.
Între timp se face dressingul din muștar, smântână, ulei și oțet balsamic.
Se pun într-un bol mare cartofii, ceapa, șunca și ciupercile împreună cu spanacul, se toarnă dressingul și se amestecă bine. Se presară deasupra bucățile de brânză și...
POFTĂ BUNĂ :)

The german revenge :)

I read today a very funny article in a german newspaper...
The story it's the perfect script for Guy Richie's next movie. It has everything: action, dark humour and maybe an unexpected ending...
What's the story?
Well, it's the story of 4 german pensioneers aged 60 to 74 who invested with a financial aviser more than 3 million euros...
And as the world crisis hit, they lost their money so they decided to kidnapp him and recover part of the money. They tied him up and tortured him in a cellar in a beautiful house on the shore of lake Chiemsee in Bavaria.
He tried to escape, they caught him (I can imagine the chase - he is tied up and they are crippled - with the perfect music it should be a great scene).
In the end they were caught but all in all someone should write a script for a dark comedy...
Anyone offering?

P.S. Here is the original story in english http://www.orato.com/world-affairs/financial-advisor-james-amburn-kidnapped

And The Stig is...

The most Googled question in the world after ‘am I pregnant?’ was finally answered tonight...
No, it's not 484-425 B.C. (http://www.goagal.ro/)
The identity of the man who
- never blinks, and roams around the woods at night foraging for wolves
- is wanted by the CIA, and sleeps upside down like a bat
- naturally faces magnetic north, and is confused by stairs
was revealed as...

Gina & George part 2

I went today to Alexandria (Romania, not Egypt) for the second part of Gina and George's wedding.
It was a lovely ceremony and then we went partying at the main hotel in the city.
The funniest part was when the bride was kidnapped and nobody knew where to take her, so they asked a taxi driver...
And he gave a very laborious explanation with loads of directions like take the first left and then another left and another left, so after driving through Alexandria for 15 minutes we finally arrived at the sole disco in the city... which was next to the hotel :)))
But we did have fun even though the disco was totally empty apart from a huuuuuge cloud of smoke!

Bookfest

I went today to the Bookfest at Romexpo...
I thought I died and gone to heaven, soooo many books and soo many special offers...
It was a pleasure to go for a stroll through the fair, to turn over the pages of some amazing art books. Unfortunately I didn't have enough money to buy what I wanted, but I still managed to buy few books ;)
Oh, yes... I also discovered that Carturesti has now an online-shop, so click away http://librarie.carturesti.ro/default.aspx

Lack of inspiration

I have absolutely nothing interesting to report, so I'm just listening to music... goooood music ;)


Green Day - Know Your Enemy


They are touring Europe this autumn, they will be in Vienna on November 6th...
Anyone interested?

Pui thailandez

S-ar părea că trec printr-o perioadă orientală :)

Pentru un gust mai deosebit se pot adăuga în ultimele 5 minute 2 banane tăiate felii.

1 hașme sau o ceapă mică, 1 fir de lemongrass, 1 lingură de ulei, 3-4 lingurițe pastă de curry thailandeză, 4 piepți de pui dezosați și curățați de pieliță, tăiați cubulețe, 1 lingură de sos de pește, 1 linguriță de zahăr, 4 frunze de lămâie kaffir uscate sau sucul și coaja de la o lămâie verde, 400 ml lapte de cocos, o legătură de coriandru proaspăt

Se curăță hașmele sau ceapa și se taie în jumătăți pe lung. Se așază bucățile cu partea tăiată pe tocător și se taie mărunt. Se toacă fin lemongrassul, începând de la capătul subțire până la cotor, care este mai tare. Se încinge uleiul într-un wok sau o tigaie largă pentru câteva minute. Se adaugă hașmele sau ceapa. Se călește 3-5 minute până se înmoaie și devine translucidă. Se adaugă pasta de curry și se lasă 1 minut, amestecând continuu. Se adaugă bucățile de pui și se amestecă până la omogenizarea compoziției. Se adaugă sosul de pește, zahărul, frunzele de lămâie și laptele de cocos. Se aduce la punctul de fierbere, se reduce focul la minim și se lasă, neacoperit, timp de 15 minute până este gata puiul. În acest timp se amestecă de câteva ori pentru a împiedica sosul să se prindă și pentru a menține puiul acoperit de sos. În timp ce puiul este pe foc, se curăță frunzele de pe tulpinile de coriandru, se fac mănunchi și se toacă grosier. Se gustă sosul și se mai adaugă curry sau sare, dacă considerați necesar. Se adaugă jumătate din cantitatea de coriandru în compoziția sosului, iar restul se presară deasupra. Se servește alături de orez basmati.
Orez pufos: se răstoarnă 300 g orez basmati într-o sită și se dă sub jet de apă până aceasta rămâne curată. Se scurge bine și se răstoarnă într-o cratiță cu 600ml apă caldă. Se aduce la punctul de fierbere, se amestecă o dată, se reduce focul și se lasă acoperit. Se fierbe pentru 10 minute la foc moale, după care se închide aragazul și se lasă să se odihnească 5 minute. Nu necesită scurgere - se servește ca atare.

Apparitions

I watched this past week a very interesting BBC Tv Series...

Of course it's only one season, 6 episodes only, but still... a very good show that will keep you in your seats ;)
It is called Apparitions http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1140939/ and it's a supernatural drama series about a priest, working to promote candidates for sainthood, who becomes drawn in to exorcism as he discovers a dark battle between good and evil.
Martin Shaw plays a credible Father Jacob, there are some special effects of course, all in all a very good show.

Big secret

I bought today something that will make my summer holiday perfect :D
But I can't tell you what it is till I receive it...
So stay tuned :))))

A-ha - Foot of the mountain

A-ha latest album was launched today.
It's called Foot fo the mountain and it's a typical A-ha album.
I hope I will be lucky enough to hear them live at one point...
Keep my fingers crossed :D

Busy day :)

I started the day with the beautiful civil ceremony of Gina & George, I wish them all the best and I will see them next Saturday for the religious ceremony. Afterwards I visited my father, because technically it was his birthday today :( and I finished the day with a birthday surprise party :))

We were worried that the birthday boy won't get surprised because the cars were parked outside the restaurant, but he really didn't noticed them soo... he was surprised :D
And the biggest surprise was the arrival of the 3 weird sisters who made wishes for him and reminded him of his childhood adventures...

P.S. And the pub where the party took place isn't bad either, great food and tasty cocktails ;)
It is called Trafalgar Pub and is located near the Turkish Embassy on Calea Dorobanti.

The Script - Before the worst

The new video from the Script has arrived ;)
With a little bit of luck I'll be seeing them live soon...

Graduation no. 2

Considering that I went to Anca's graduation, I couldn't miss Mihai's graduation.
So... on a hot Thursday evening I went to see if my nephew graduated IVth grade.
And he did it!
He actually received a diploma for the most nonconformist pupil of his class (this actually means he was the naughtiest one and that his teacher was happy to get rid of him ;).
P.S. Never mind the cast, he just considered it's time to become the best goalkeeper ever - and the result was predictable for a first time football player - a broken hand!

P.P.S. And of course the day didn't end here, but at my neighbours with a birthday party and an amazing cake with white chocolate and green nuts confiture... and where everybody was sooo relaxed as you can see ;)

Chicken stir-fry

3 linguri de ulei de măsline, un cubuleț de ghimbir tăiat felii, un fir de lemongrass, 1 cățel de usturoi tăiat felii, 1 legătură de ceapă verde tăiată rondele, un piept de pui tăiat cuburi, diverse legume (un morcov, un dovlecel cu coajă, un ardei roșu, toate tăiate julienne, o mână de fasole verde opărită în prealabil, o cană de mazăre), sos de soia, paste chinezești

Se încinge uleiul, se adaugă ghimbirul, lemongrassul și usturoiul și se prăjesc 2 minute. Se filtrează uleiul și se adaugă ceapa și după câteva minute se adaugă puiul tăiat cubulețe. Se prăjește puiul 5 minute și apoi se adaugă legumele și puțină apă și se călesc cca 20 minute. Se condimentează cu sosul de soia.
Se fierb separat pastele și se adaugă la sfârșit peste legume și se mai prăjesc 2 minute.
Se condimentează după gust cu... sos de soia :)

Graduation no. 1

I went at the first graduation in the family this week.

The second one is on Thursday.
My niece graduated highschool today :) and I'm very proud of her.
She will go to College this autumn... in London. I really think I should check on her very often while she's away, just to be sure everything is fine. Especially when the sales start...
It was a funny ceremony, every class had to do a little sketch and do a little dance, and they were hilarious. No matter how hard they trained (not that they really trained hard), they still looked like a Benny Hill video.
I wonder if any of the videos ended up on Youtube...

P.S. She looks like a London College Student... right?

Germany + Ireland = Czech Republic

You want to know how I got to this conclusion?
Well... my soul sister from Pilsen wrote me today telling me she's getting married!!!
And she rreally rrreally wants me at her wedding, and she wants me to take pictures.
Sooo, she rreally rrreally stressed me out!!!
I started with the small things, like going to Lufthansa and changing my flight so I'll be able to attend the wedding. Luckily it didn't cost much, otherwise I would have had to fly through Vienna, and it would have been sooo complicated...
And now my only stress is taking pictures at a wedding where not all the guests speak English or German, I have no idea what happens in church and I worry that the pictures will be crap and I'll disappoint Eva :((
But I think after a few Pilsen beers I will gather my courage and make beautiful pictures. Hopefully...

Supă cremă de dovlecei

Dupa ziua obositoare de ieri, o supică răcoroasă e ideala :D

2-3 linguri de unt sau margarină, 1 ceapă, 3 dovlecei sau zucchini, 1/2 l supă de legume, 1/4 l kefir, sare, piper, nucșoară, un praf de zahăr, 1 pahar de iaurt

Se încinge untul și se călește ceapa tăiată rondele. Dovleceii se taie cuburi (nu se curăță de coajă) și se călesc și ei 2-3 minute. Se adaugă supa de legume și se fierb 15 minute. În ultimele 5 minute se adaugă și kefirul și praful de zahăr. Se pasează supa cu blenderul și se condimentează după gust. Se servește supa călduță, cu crutoane și cu câte o lingură de iaurt.

TIBCO

What started as a normal day turned out to be quite a hectic one...
But no regrets! I really had fun, even though when I finally arrived home I could barely walk...
It all started when I had to cross the whole city to retrieve some photos and I ended up as the assistant's assistant at a wedding (actually I was a sort of gofer - go bring me water, rub my back, hold my camera... :P) and because there were so many couples to get married today, our couple had to wait for almost 2 hours for their turn.
The problem was that I was supposed to meet the girls for a little shopping spree at TIBCO (The international fair of Bucharest) at 14.00 o'clock and the ceremony wasn't starting on time. So I told them to come to the Town Hall and we would all leave together. So in the end the couple who hired a photographer and a cameraman ended up with 3 assistants as well :))
Finally we arrived at the fair and for almost two hours we enjoyed a little shopping therapy which included indian scarves (of course), coloured bone bracelets (which lose their colour if you sweat) and loads of earrings and rings.
It is so much fun to go shopping with girls... We had a boy but he got bored quickly and left us to roam around the fair undisturbed :P
Unfortunatelly it was the smalles fair so far, I remembered the previous editions where there was a sea of merchants and nice things to buy, but the world crisis struck again.

World Environment Day

This year's theme is 'Your Planet Needs You - UNite to Combat Climate Change'. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the climate convention meeting in Copenhagen later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.
Please take time to watch on Youtube till 14th of June the movie Home http://www.youtube.com/user/homeproject by Yann Arthus-Betrand. He is a famous photographer, who takes pictures from above, in a hot air balloon. All his albums are amazing, the landscape from above is mindblowing and not a thing you have the opportunity to see it everyday.
The movie is an ode to the planet's beauty and its delicate harmony. Through the landscapes of 54 countries captured from above, Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes us on an unique journey all around the planet, to contemplate it and to understand it.
Go watch it and you won't regret it...

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State of play

I went today to see State of Play http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0473705/.
Considering that nobody wanted to come with me, I decided to see it alone, because I heard great things about it.
And I have no regrets, it's a brilliant movie, with enough twists and turns, fast pacing action and great characters. I almost forgot how good an actor Russell Crowe can be...
The script is well written, Tony Gilroy is a great thriller writer (he also wrote Duplicity), although this time he was inspired by the BBC Tv Series with the same name.
Now I have to find the series to see if they are better than the movie or not ;)
A special mention deserves Helen Mirren who plays her character beautifully.
All in all a good movie, worth watching. It gets all my thumbs up :D

The Killers

Finally I was able to switch my Depeche Mode ticket for the Day 0 of B'est Fest!!!
Can't wait to see The Killers live :) and maybe some reggae by Patrice.
29 days and counting...

The Poppy

Summer set lip to earth's bosom bare.

And left the flushed print in a poppy there...
Francis Thompson (1859-1907)

Childhood books

Considering the fact that today it's International Children's Day I started surfing the web to see how other people are celebrating it...
And to my amazement I discovered a sort of club called Cartile Copilariei http://www.scribd.com/groups/view/17553-cartile-copilariei where you can find almost all the children's books from my childhood in electronic format.
A nice bunch of people decided to share their books with other melancholics and scanned the books and posted them as pdf.
I discovered loads of books that enchanted my childhood, especially the stories by the Countess of Segur and it really made me celebrate this day :)
Have a look and tell me which of these books you read when you were a child...