Autumn Favorites

I know it's kind of going to be winter soon – winter is coming :P – but I really wanted to do this post so I don't care! Haha So let's just get into it without a big intro!! Yaaay

Falling leaves

OK I know it's a cliché but just look at the colors!!! I love the scenery of the otherwise always dull city covered in yellow, orange and brown leaves. Some still at the trees and others all over the sidewalks. It's just a lovely sight that's all. I love going for walks, because you can enjoy the scenery without freezing to death hahaha

I went for a walk at Sisi's labyrinth garden here in Vienna the other day and took some lovely pictures..

Fashion-wise

Autumn colors on clothes in stores is heaven for me. They suit me so perfectly because I have really dark hair and eyes. Especially cozy sweaters in mustard or bordeaux color oh myyy I love them! The end.

Chestnuts

Of course I would include food in this post. Tell me one that I haven't haha!

Oh my Gaaawwd chestnuts. I have this crazy obsession over them with my aunt since I was a little kid. I don't know how. I don't know why. I just love them is all! Although I still don't really know if they are nuts or fruits. I tried to find it out but stumbled upon many opinions, so if you know anything pleaseee let me know!! I should be really ashamed of my actually since I'm studying nutrition and all :P

Christmas markets

Here we have these Christmas markets all around the city where you can buy christmas-y stuff or enjoy a good ol' cup of mulled wine mhhh

They are soo cute and filled with people. It really gets you into the Christmas spirit. I'm a really Christmas person so I enjoy them quite a lot!

Rainy days

Don't get me wrong...I absolutely hate rain! :P But I don't know there's just something about sitting inside with a hot chocolate – or tea :) - and a good book, hearing the rain lightly drizzle against your window...it is a good feeling, I won't lie.

Girl Online

Talking about good books I'm really looking forward to reading Zoe Sugg's first book ”Girl Online”. I'm gonna be buying that when it comes out next week to support her of course because she definitely put a lot of afford into it and to find out about her writing skills as to writing a fictional novel. But I'm pretty sure after reading her blog for so long that I won't be disappointed. Let's just be honest and say that it's gonna be just...perfect!

Pumpkins

And ther's food again hahaha! Pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins you name it, I love it! I came across this crazy good recipe by Jamie Oliver and tried it out myself. They where the most delicious butter squash muffins I've ever tasted. You have to try them out! And don't forget about the hot pumpkin soup in the afternoon to calm you down from all the stress you had before in the day is just the bestest!

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Yaaas finally it's coming. I'm so excited! I rushed to buy the book last minute and read it in like 2 or 3 days maybe so I could see the movie afterwards. I hope it's going to be just as good as the other two movies. There's really not much to say beside I'm so really freakin' excited!! Maybe a little too excited..

Hot Beverages

And I don't mean the starbucks seasonal Lattes :P I'm not really a fan of that. I'm mean teas and hot chocolates with lots and lots of marshmallows on them!! I love love love enjoying hot beverages when it's getting cold outside!! Finally I can drink tea all day without getting all sweaty and hot! It relaxes you so much...I just love it.- Man I'm using the word love a lot in this blog post -

That's it! 10 things I enjoy in Autumn aaand early Winter okay okaaay I know it's nearly December!! Enjoy the colorful sceneries as much as you can because soon enough it'll be cold and gray...well that took a negative turn! Haha yeah so what are some of your favorites at this time of the year? Let me know...

This is the link to Jamie's recipe if you want to try it out. It starts at minute 10:06           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I22emWko2hs

Have a great Autumn and keep smiling :)

Music Monday #2

 

My best friend showed me this not long ago! I needed my time but I finally fell in love with it. Thank you S :)

It's by Lilly Wood and the Prick, which is a French pop/folk duo. Robin Schulz (German producer & DJ) put his magical twist to this song and made it a summer-beachy-vibe jam! He has also remixed beautifully the songs "Waves" - Mr. Probz and "Willst Du" by Alligatoah. I really love his work and if anyone has the chance to see him live don't miss it. I think he's touring until Christmas in Europe! 

Enjoy :)

Summer Essentials

Tomorrow I leave for Greece for the summer. I'm going to stay until August, so I have to take a lot of stuff with me. I thought I talk a little bit about my top 5 essentials that I'll take with me this summer.

The first one is about skin care. I have very sensitive skin especially around my eyes, so a lot of make-up wipes cause me an allergic reaction. I found one though, not too long ago, that I use even daily and that hasn't irritated my skin until now. I'm talking about the Korres cleansing & make-up removing wipes. Korres is a Greek brand that uses natural ingredients. You can get their products online, but I think in Europe you can also find them in drugstores. These make-up wipes helped me a lot! I used to get puffy eyes all the time and I am pretty sure that the reason was the make-up wipes I used and not the eyeshadow.

The wipes are with Milk Proteins, Jojoba, Macadamia and Corn oil. They have no mineral oil and no silicone and they're dermatologically & ophthalmologically tested. I just wanted to put that in there for everyone who is interested!

For people with many skin allergies (like me) these wipes are a great solution.

Korres is a bit pricey, but personally if I see good results, I'm willing to spend my money on it.

A nice new nail polish with a summery colour is next on the list! I bought the Essie in the shade “Lapiz of Luxury“. It is a nice pastel blue colour which I never had before! I actually just painted my nails with it and now I'm typing with pastel blue nails :P

I really love Essie nail polishes. With 2 coats you are good to go for 3 days. The colour of this particular shade came out beautifully on my nails and I'm really happy that I bought it for the summer. I'm the kind of girl who always paints her nails black no matter what season. I just think it goes with everything!!

My friends always told me to paint them something different once in a while and as a result I painted them dark blue or dark green hahahaha

For them it was no difference of course! The last year I'm testing out different colours and I'm actually liking it. I even painted them red and I was amazed how good it looked!! So from now on I have to widen my collection :) Not another reason to buy beauty stuff pfff ;)

When I'm at the beach I like to read and of course listen to music, but at least one book is an essential for me! I also will be flying alone this time so a book keeps me from getting bored on a plane. I read “The fault in our stars“ by John Green not too long ago and I loved it. Not only the story but also the way it is written. So I thought I try another one of his books. I went into my local bookstore and saw that he actually has a few...I couldn't decide of course, but finally went with the “Looking for Alaska“. I read through the blurb and maybe the first 2 pages and this one was the one that stood out to me. I don't know why....or maybe I do know...I'm always reading through some pages when I'm about to buy a new book and if it sounds intriguing or I get the feeling that I want to read more or even if something from the little excerpt that I read, stands out, I will buy it. That's the little test I always make. I've learned to not judge the cover or even the blurb, because the author doesn't write it himself. That way I have more books in my shelves that I read till the end and not just the first 20 pages! :) Sooo “Looking for Alaska“ it'll be for this summer!

Talking about beaches...I hate it when my hair is everywhere when I'm trying to tan. In Greece it's so hot in the summer and when you're tanning you're also sweating and your hair gets stuck on your neck or your back ughh I have a lot of hair!!

Anyways I found this cute little headband at Primark the other day and thought it would be perfect for the beach. I love how the red is so dark that it goes perfectly with my dark brown hair!!

And last but not least a pair of these super comfy sweat-shorts (I don't know how else to call them)! I'm going to wear them when I'm running. I'm going to travel in them tomorrow. I'm going to put them on on a relaxing home-day. So many ways to use them....makes them automatically essential. I am a very comfy person. I never wear jeans or pants at home! I have more sweatpants than normal pants...I don't know what's wrong with me hahahaha but I can't!! Soo these are....let's just say I'm going nowhere without them XD

These were my top 5 essentials for this summer! I probably should have put on the list a bikini and sunscreen, but these are two things I still have to look for! :)

M

DIY Quotes Jar

Don't you hate those days when you wake up and you feel like doing nothing. Most of the time you need somebody to motivate you, to get you out of your bed, so you can do something productive and creative. Well sometimes there is no one to do that job so that's when you need a jar full of motivational quotes! That's what I thought! How cool is that...every time you feel down just pick one roll out of the jar and it definitely will make you smile and you'll have a better start into the day!

My best friend had her B-Day the other day and I tend to do 2-part gifts! The first part consists of something that I bought...in this case the new Jamie Oliver Cookbook, because she loves him! And the second part is always something I make myself. I love love love self-made presents! I think they are so thoughtful and sweet!!

This year I made her a jar filled with uplifting and funny quotes! I saw a picture somewhere with something similar and thought it would be a great present for someone you truly care for. So I thought I'd share the idea!
It is very simple! All you need is:

A jar
Colored paper
Tiny elastic bands
A nice colorful band of your choice
A tag sticker

Just type all of your favorite quotes and sayings or whatever you want to put in there on your laptop and print them with a lovely handwriting font on your colored paper. Cut them out into stripes, roll them and bind them with your elastic bands. Toss all of them into the jar, close it and decorate it with a nice bow. Finally write on your sticker the theme of your quotes and stick it on the jar. And you're ready! 

Easy peasy gift for a best friend especially for her birthday. I hope you liked my idea. Feel free to leave comments. And remember to keep smiling, because that's why I made my best friend this jar in the first place. A single smile can change everything! :)

M

Smoothie Time

Soooo.....I made a smoothie :P
Hahaha I don't know they are very popular right now!! Have you seen how many instagram accounts have been created only for smoothies?? But I love them...

They give you pretty good ideas ;)
As I started to put smoothies in my daily eating schedule (sounds so fancy) I started looking through some of those instagram accounts and other "smoothie blogs" and saw THE Green Smoothie!! Ahhhhhhhhh (angel voice) 
They promised me: Healthy and delicious! Soooooo I tried it and it was amazing! I didn't believe at first that something so tasty could have like spinach or lettuce in it :P
But never judge a book by it's cover right? Hahaha I had to put that in there!!
So this is my recipe that consists maybe out of 2 blogs and 4 insta accounts and my own little twist :P
Enjoy

What you need:

1 Banana
2 Peaches
2 handfuls of spinach
1 tbsp Chia seeds
1 tbsp Linseeds (Flaxseed)
Water (or milk)

How to make it: 
 
Put the spinach with some water in the blender first because it needs more blending than the other ingredients. Blend it until smooth and than add all the other ingredients. If you want your smoothie to be nice and cold because it's SUMMER...put in some ice cubes or freeze your fruits! 

And voilà!! 

That's it and basically you can leave the seeds out if you don't have any. They just make it more nutritious and long lasting so you don't get hungry that fast again.
Also instead of water you can use milk or coconut water, but if you use water it's also vegan and lower on calorie.
As you can see, there are some things that you can change here and there....Just don't use sugar or honey as the sweet part of your smoothie, because that makes the whole effect of "I'm drinking a nutritious, healthy and low calorie drink" go away! Duh..
Always use sweet ripe fruits, because fructose is also sugar and therefore sweet ;)

Since I'm making them almost every day now, I'll probably be posting more ideas for recipes in the future! Until then feel free to leave comments and suggestions! Maybe you have a cool recipe to share :)

M

May - Have a lovley new month!

Greece has been a hell of a ride. I was only 3 or 4 days in total in Athens. I went to 3 different places, had a lot to eat, had a lot of fun, so I thought I should share!

For Easter my family and I drove to my village to visit my grandparent. It's a nice little village in the very north of Greece. Only a few people live there in the winter...I think about 300! I love going there since I was I can't even remember. It is very relaxing if you want a break from life. It was so nice to see my grandparents again. I had a really good time.

After this short trip we took the plain to Crete, a bid Greek island in the south of Greece. We stayed nearby a city called Heraklion. I did a lot of sunbathing as you can see on my instagram account! ;) We had good weather and a nice location. I also visited a big aquarium in the area, which was a first to me! I'd never been in an aquarium like that. It was very interesting. Then we flew back to Athens, stayed for a day and started the next day for a new destination.

We drove to an island 2 hours from Athens...yes we drove! It is really cool because it is near to a coast, so you can drive there and then just take a ferry for 2 minutes that takes you directly to the island opposite the coast. My other grandparents live there, so I enjoy visiting them every year. But I think this island is a perfect destination for tourists, who want to go obviously on an Greek island, but also want to see a little bit of Athens. You can combine both in just few days. Imagine we stayed there for 24 hours. We went to eat...twice and had a lovely day at the beach :)

Now I'm back in Athens and tomorrow is my flight to Vienna. I had a really good time in Greece and I'll miss it as soon as I'm on the plain and flying over it. :)

If you want to know what I'm up to, go find me on instagram. All the photos are earlier there then on my blog :P

I hope you enjoyed my little travel entry.  Feel free to leave comments.

M

Music Monday

Hey there! I am totally in love with this song. It has such a great summer vibe. I'm so excited and I can't wait for summer to come, so I thought I'll share it with you! It is actually produced by to guys from Austria. - Just thought I put it out there. I'm also leaving for Athenstomorrow. Yeeey!! I'm so excited to see my family again and the city I love soo soo much! Tomorrow will be such a stressful day, because I haven't even fully packed yet and I have so much stuff to do, but I'm really excited, so it doesn't matter! I'll be blogging from Greece so stay tuned! :)

♥

A "Mini" Review

A few days ago I went to a restaurant here in Vienna and I really liked it. So I thought...why not make a review about it! I think reviews are really helpful! I always read through them on yelp before I go to a restaurant I've never been before.

The restaurant is called “Mini“ and it is in Vienna (Austria). It is actually also a winebar and it serves internationally inspired Hungarian gourmet cuisine.

I went there a few evenings ago with my best friend. She actually found it on yelp. We wanted to eat good quality food somewhere, so this was the place to be.

We ate a “Grilled goat cheese with garden salad, pears and walnut dressing“ (sounds fancy when you actually write it down haha) and the daily cream soup, which was a “Peas soup with mint and almonds“ for starters. They were really tasty, but the plating techniques took me away! All the plates were designed with so much detail! I've seen a lot of gourmet food plating, but in this restaurant I saw some I've never seen before....I liked that!

For my main dish I made a great decision choosing the “Braised beef cheeks with mushroom-potato puree, romanesco and red wine reduction“. (Wow it really sounds fancy!) The meat was high quality and nicely cooked, the puree with the mushrooms made a beautiful combination with the meat. And the sauce was of the charts! I don't even wanna start talking about the plating! Just magnificent! :)

And to top it off we decided to treat ourselves with a dessert, that we shared, because there was no way we could both eat one. We were sooo full! So for dessert we chose the Chili flavoured chocolate souffle with sour cherry sorbet. (Are you drooling yet?) I have kind of a thing for souffles, so evertime I go out and they're offering a souffle in the menu, I have to try it! :P It was delicious! Crusty outside and when you cut it in the middle the chocolate poured out like a waterfall of happiness!! As you can see I kinda liked it. :P

I accompanied my meal with a non-alcoholic raspberry-lime juice. They had A LOT of options. I just chose this one, because it combined my 2 faves...raspberries and lemon oh yeah! :P If I had to say one “bad“ thing...the juice was OK. I've tasted better ones, but it's not that important. They had a lot other options to choose from. Plus it's mostly known fot it's wines, so if I have the chance to go there again, I will definitely choose something from their wine list!

It is a bit pricey, but it's high quality! There is no way you'll find something like that cheaper! Plus it is not the place you'll eat every day. But it is very suited for when your parents come to visit you hahahah! I always use that, because it's obvious that they are going to pay! :P But it is also suited for a nice romantic dinner!...It calls for special occasions!

I can only highly recommend it! The food was delicious, the service was fast and very friendly and the whole ambiance was really nice!

If you live here there is no excuse to not eat here at least once! And for everyone who wants to visit this lovley capital city, I can only recommend it!

Hope you liked my review. Feel free to leave comments.

M

Healthy Salad With Mushrooms

We all get lazy, when we have to decide which healthy meal to cook. I totally hate it. Especially when you have to boil everything separate and make something out of it. It just takes so much time. Fun fact: Vegetables are healthier in their raw form. 
This salad is an easy and nutritious way to fill your dinner schedule any day. I enjoy it every time and the good thing about it, you can totally put your own twist on it. I'll give you just some basic ingredients and the dressing and everything else I will leave to your imagination! :)

Let's begin! 

First choose all the vegetables you want to put in your salad. I chose lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red peppers and a cucumber.

Cut them anyway you like and put them in a bowl.

After you're done with that, cut your mushrooms again anyway you like. I like to slice them first and then cut them again in the middle, but it's up to you. Whatever you prefer. And that is me making stupid faces with vegetables and taking pictures of them.

After doing that haha take a pan and heat some vegetable oil over medium heat. Afterwards add the mushrooms and leave them in for a couple of minutes.

Then turn up the heat and deglaze them with some balsamic vinegar. As soon as the vinegar disappears and they get a nice brown color, turn off the heat and put them in the bowl with the rest of the vegetables.

 

Choose a small jar to prepare your dressing. I always keep all the jars from marmalade or honey for this purpose. ;)

For the dressing you'll need: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and pepper.

The proportion of olive oil and vinegar in a dressing is always 3:1. That means if you put 3 tbsp of oil. You have to put 1 tbsp of vinegar. (For more dressing just do 6 oil and 2 vinegar, and so on...) This depends on how much dressing you want.

Then 1 tablespoon of each mustard and honey and some salt and pepper and that's really it.

Pour the dressing over the salad when you're ready to serve it , otherwise it's gonna get soggy.

Now to give you some variations....you can also put some chicken in or cheese cubes.

Croûtons are also a very nice addition you can make. Just mix it up. The only thing that really stays the same is the dressing. You can use a little bit more mustard, if you put chicken in your salad. Chicken and mustard are just a really tasty combination. Just make it your own and enjoy eating it.

I hope I could give you some ideas. It is actually a pretty easy recipe that everybody can enjoy.

So Bon Appetit!

M

Food Guide Pyramid

Today I thought I'll start with some basics. What do I have to eat everyday? Which food groups should I avoid? How many times a week should I consume meat and fish? These are the questions circling our mind when we start to engage with Nutrition. Or at least these where my questions!

So I think that every body has seen or heard of the Food Guide Pyramid at least once. If not don't worry...now is your time! Basically the Food Guide Pyramid shows us how often and how much to eat a specific food group like fruits, meat, eggs,...

As you can see at the base are all the liquids. Now every box equals a portion.

So 3 portions water, 2 portions tee and one portion juice per day. My advice...just drink as much as you can. What I always say is, if you are thirsty it's already too late. Your body is already dehydrated. I can't really say how much because every body has a different daily rhythm. The average is at least 1,5 l per day, but if you work out or it is a really hot day you should drink up to 3 l, because your body loses a lot of water by sweating.

Moving on to the second row we have the fruits and vegetables. For this category there is only one thing you shouldn't forget and just engrave it in to your mind! “5 A Day” Just remember that. It is very important for us to eat 5 different fruits & vegetables each and every day! If you want to get more specific, the picture tells us 2 fruits and 3 vegetables, of which one can be replaced with a liquid form, e.g. tomato juice.

And then there are the carbs! :) We all love them, because they are very easy to prepare. I will write a more specific entry on carbs, because there is a lot to say. For now just know 1 portion of each for the day is enough. And try to eat them as soon in the day as possible.

The 4th row from the bottom pictures the 3 dairy products (yogurt, milk & cheese), all oils and nuts. They have to be consumed 1 portion each per day again. Yogurt and milk can always be combined with oats and fruits for a great breakfast. Olive oil is better used uncooked in salads or for final seasoning while serving a dish. Otherwise it loses all of its nutritional benefits.

Now we are going to a different level. The next row tells us how much to eat per week! 2 times fish, 3 eggs and 1 time low-fat meat. - Here I want to include that even eggs in a cake or in other desserts count. - And yes I said one time meat. I know it's hard. I know you wanna eat your bacon for breakfast, but try to reduce it. As soon you'll do that, you'll notice the difference. It's OK to eat a good steak every once in a while, but sausages, beacon...it's just not necessary! I myself am not a vegetarian for the very simple reason: I freaking love meat. But it's just sooo disgusting to find ½ kg steak meat at the supermarket for 2-3€! It's just wrong...you don't even wanna know what's in there anymore. Believe me. Just save your money and go eat a good grilled steak! It even tastes better.

Enough said about meat. The last 2 rows depict all the fat, chocolate and candy. The three last boxes should be consumed rarely. It's OK to treat yourself, just not too often. Every time you feel the urge to eat something sweet just try eating an apple first. After that you can treat yourself, because this big urge will be stilled and you'll eat a reasonable portion of sweets.

Yup so that's it! I myself am still working on it, so don't worry if you are not perfectly intact with everything. Everything takes time and discipline and thank God you have me, because my next post will be a totally delicious and healthy recipe, that I enjoy eating a lot.

Hope you liked my little "interpretation" today. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions.

Keep Smiling

M

Intro

Hey there. So for my first blog entry I thought that it's best if I shortly introduce myself. My name is Melina but all my friends call me Mel or Meli, but I'm going with Mel. I'm 20 and I'm currently living in Vienna, Austria. As you will later notice from the pictures I'm about to upload, I definitely don't look Austrian. Haha.

I'm actually from Greece. Yes! And I know what you all think!! The typical: Ahh the land of sunshine, democracy and all those difficult words we use in biology, maths, physics,...

If I weren't Greek I would probably think that, too! Hahaha. But there's more to it and I'll prove it to you, because this summer y'all coming with me to Greece!

Many of you are probably wondering: “So what the hell are you doing in Vienna?”

Well well relax I was coming to that. I sometimes get carried away, talking about my home country.

So as I said I live in Vienna, because I'm studying here. I'm in this beautiful city now for 3 years and I study nutritional science.

I want this blog to be mainly about facts on healthy nutrition, yummy recipes that are easy to make and very healthy, BUT – and there is a big but- I also enjoy fashion, beauty, music and traveling very much. Sooo I'm going to combine my interests and make something beautiful for everyone who is interested.

That was my short intro. Feel free to leave comments. I'm really looking forward to your feedback.

Enjoy life. And keep smiling. ;) 

M