OLDIES: LIMONCELLO & SCENTED OLIVE OIL

od: http://middlepath.com.au/

Since here are some pretty popular posts on Croatian, I've decided to translate them on my broken English, haha..
I am amazed with Limoncello, traditional Italian liqueur, mostly made in southern parts of Italy from their sorts of lemon. Most of my days spent in Italy were Limoncello flavoured. Before meal, after meal, in between,.... Oh, and I didn't mention that lemon and I have a big crush. It is a lifelong one.

Croatia is Mediterranean country, just like Italy, and we share some history, ideas, mentality and tastes, so Limoncello isn't uncommon here. And I'm happy that it is becoming more and more popular all around the world.
After holidays in Rome and many Limoncellos I've searched through Internet to find a decent recipe but it wasn't so easy. There are many of them with more lemon, less lemon, huge amount of sugar, strange choices of alcohol...so, I took a chance and made a risk with my own amount of ingredients. 

It wasn't a mistake, it couldn't be any better.Here's the recipe:

LIMONCELLO

•  7.5 dcl of vodka or pure grain alcohol (1 bottle)

•  8 bigger lemons, organic

•  2,5 dcl water (little bit over 1 cup, 0.52 pt )

•  250 - 350 g sugar (I don't like too sweet so I took 300 grams) (8.8 - 12.4 oz)

• Stir the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Not more than 5 minutes. Cool completely.

• Use a vegetable peeler to remove the peel from lemons but be carefull not to peel white layer. You're supposed to use only yellow layer. White one is very bitter and will ruin the whole taste.

• You should take one big or two smaller bottles (better jars) with not too small opening. Count on 1.5 liter or 3.17 pt. Pour in vodka, sugar syrup and lemon peel. Put a lid on and shake well.   

• Leave it for two weeks on dark place at the room temperature. Shake every day. 10 days are minimum. I have left mine for a 2 months and it got a beautiful yellow color.

• Strain through mesh strainer and discard the peels. Transfer the liqueur  to glass bottles an refrigerate. It can stand there for a months (but it won't, hehe). Limoncello is traditionally served chilled as after dinner digestive. You can serve it in frozen glasses also.

• If you want, you don't need to toss those lemon peels. They can be dried, pulverized and kept for further use.

I love lemon, and fortunatelly P (son) and D (husband) love it too. We love olive oil also. We don't cook on it but use it as spice. On the other hand, we use many spices in every meal. So, why not to put some spices in olive oil and have a prepared mixture?

It is handy, practical, and so aromatic and full of flavours...Here are few recipes:

FLAVOURED OLIVE OIL

 - with herbes de Provence

for 1 small bottle (0.5 liter)

1-2 garlic cloves

1 small twig of dried rosemary

3 bay leaves

2 spoons of herbes de Provence*

1 tea spoon of white pepper (not grounded)

1 tea spoon of black pepper (not grounded)

2 small chilli peppers (fresh) - when I say small sort I mean on these peppers only 1 inch long.

0.4 liter olive oil

*These mixtures typically contain savory, fennel, basil, thyme, oregano, majoram.

- with garlic

8 garlic cloves

0.5 liter olive oil

- with chilli

6 small chilli peppers (fresh) - when I say small sort I mean on these peppers only 1 inch long.

0.3 liter olive oil

This one will be HOT!!

Bon appetit!<Marta>

THE NEW BEGINNING

To my dear readers! 

After long thinking and rethinking on to keep writing or stoping it, I have decided to keep it going further. But I didn't wanted to continue it on the same level and with same subjects and themes.
Things around me are different these days...I have changed, my life has changed. I'm not doing the same things I've been doing last year. So this blog had to be changed also, in order to follow my own footsteps. 

First big decision was to start writing in English. Most of my online friends aren't Croatian, and I want to share my blog with them also...So, to all my Croatian readers, I hope you won't mind and you'll stay with me on this site.

Second (and last decision....don't laugh on me, these two were hard enough :-) since I'm not good decision maker) was slight change in blog theme. I'm still an architect, interior designer and craft person, interested in all I can see, touch, get or try. But, there is question of time. With my daily job, small child, all the jobs around house,... I can't find, and I don't want to find anymore, enough time to accomplish everything I used to before.
So, everything will be more related to the things I'm doing now: designing and rearrangement of my apartment, designing for my occasional clients, DIY and crafting only things connected to my interior design job, reviewing interior design I like, writing some articles or reviews of products I use, like, or I just want to buy one day.

That's it....sorry for my occasional English mistakes...you're welcome to point them out, I want to learn! And, I hope you'll like this renewed version of my site and enjoy it as much as I do!


Thanks i hvala svima,
Marta.

Some sites and blogs for inspiration:
1. House of Philia
2. Do or Die
3. Better Homes and Gardens
4. Madame Herve
5. Hi Sugar Plum

Želim vam predstaviti....

...jedan krasan blog na koji sam naletila u potrazi za pristojnim receptom za domaći sapun....

Blog se zove Đolić livada bb i opisuje iskustva, saznanja, daje recepte,... jedne obitelji koja se odlučila na samoodrživi off grid život, u nadi da će ostvariti život potpuno separiran od sistema, na ekološkom imanju blizu sela Pepelana južno od Virovitice.

Jedan drukčiji pogled i neka nova iskustva iz 'pera' mame Kate....uživajte kao što sam i ja nakon ovog otkrića :))))

Giveaway na Unique Hrebina!!!!

Pogledajte novi dizajn stranice Unique Hrebina, nekadašnja do-vina u čiju čast idu dvam slatka poklončića ti najava još jednog povodom skorog 100-tog bloga.

Svi brzo tamo ;)))

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Uvijek mi kažu da ne započinjem stvari koje nisam u stanju završiti kada bi i kako bi trebalo....eh, dakle krenuh mijenjati dizajn stranice i ne mogu ga u jednom cugu odraditi pa će stvari ostati malo ovako....zbrda-zdola :)))

Da li ste znale?

Pred nekoliko tjedana javila mi se Andrea, cura koja uskoro pokreće stranicu, tipa Etsy-ja za sve kreativne dušice koje ne znaju kako bi prodale svoje stvarčice...

Stranica bi se uskoro trebala pokrenuti, očekujemo je svakog dana, pa eto - neka svi zainteresirani prate malo i otvore svoje profile kad stvar krene :))

adresa je http://www.woohoo.hr/

a ovo je Andrein mail:

"Pozdrav,

stranica je pri kraju izrade (www.woohoo.hr) i trebala bi krenuti oko 10.05. Bazirat će se na tri modela oglašavanja. Jedan besplatan, drugi za 69 kn i treći malo ozbiljniji za 169 kn. Detalji, obilježja, uvjeti će biti na stranici detaljno objašnjeni. Što se tiče provizije, nema je, sam koncept je oglašavanje gdje ćete otvoriti svoj profil, staviti fotke sa proizvodima, cijenu... i kada kupac jednim klikom naruči, vama dolazi poruka i ostalo je na vama. Nešto slično poput Etsy, Zibbet, Nuškalo i Facebook- kombinacija. Za sada ne ćemo uvoditi sustav Pay Way-a, ali razmišljamo o tome. Prvo treba vidjeti kako će ovo funkcionirati.
Stranica će biti totalno kul i jednostavna za korištenje. Eto, nadam se da ćemo uspješno surađivati.
Uskoro javim sve detalje.
Slobodno mi se javi ukoliko imaš pitanja.
I proširi dalje....:)

LP, Andrea
:)"

Imam pauzu od rada ali to nije razlog...

...da ne objavim i ne zahvalim Dijani iz Spa u vašem domu na meni prvoj nagradici...

...trebala bih napisati nešto o sebi....dakle:

1. ne podnosim nerad, neorganiziranost i ljenčarenje...iako sam i sama ponekad takva, pa onda malo mrzim sebe :D

2. volim proljeće

3. pretjerano sam kreativna i to me spriječava da se onda uhvatim jedne stvari i napravim je pošteno

4. BB i sve tome slično čine me

5. obožavam svog sina i muža

6. slušam samo hard rock i heavy metal, i obožavam GNR i Metallicu

7. ne mogu preživjeti bez barem jedne pročitane knjige tjedno

8. želim nam jednog dana, stan na vrhu zgrade, s velikom terasom i dodatnom sobom za hobi

9. stalno bih preuređivala cijeli stan, kako svoj tako i tuđe

10. kada se obogatim kupit ću si Ford Mustang....tamno crveni....s bijelim crtama ;))

S obzirom da sam nova i da još ne poznam previše marljivih blogerica, proslijediti ću ovu nagradu onima koje sam sama s vremenom otkrila i koje su me inspirirale da i sama pokrenem svoj...

1. ognjište [the hearth]

2. Šestinčanka

3. Mice Torbice

4. Škrinja kreativnosti

5. Cipelice Skitalice



Krpa.hr

Pred neko, kraće vrijeme nastao je novi portal nazvan Krpa.hr - online modna+revija koja okuplja modne dizajnere, vizažiste/frizere i modele u zemlji i regiji. Posjetiteljima pruža pregled njihovih profila i kolekcija, novosti o trendovima, tutorijale o šivanju odjeće i veliki hrvatski streetstyle blog...

Potražite me i tamo.... WhatAMess By DiMuK :))

http://www.krpa.hr/Marta-Valasek/

Proljeće...

...će valjda u nekom trenutku stići, pa se polako prebacujem na neke vedrije boje i materijale...

Slijedi još nekoliko ovako 'tmurnijih' rješenja a nakon njih kreće i proljetna kolekcija :)
Obilazak dućana je počeo!

Za početak...

Nakon što sam podijelila gomile svojih uradaka prijateljicama, rodbini, roditeljima, uređivala i oblačila svoje dijete, za sve prilike, rođendane, Božiće, svadbe, maturalne, i sve tome slično...to je rezultiralo da su mi se počeli javljati prijatelji prijatelja i naručivati ovo ili ono (ok, uglavnom prijateljice prijateljica)....taj dio je dobar :) ali u velikoj količini svaštarenja postala sam zagušena neprekidnim šaltanjem s jedne stvari na drugu, s jedne tehnike na neku potpuno ne srodnu....
Konačno je pala odluka da počnem raditi samo ono što mi najviše leži i najbolje me ispunjava - šivanje torbica i cekera za svaku priliku i prigodu, oslikavanje tekstila (najčešće majica ili torbi), te povremeno osmišljavanje personaliziranih home-made poklona....

Mislim da je to, uz moju osnovnu djelatnost uređenja inteijera sasvim dovoljno ;))