Enjoying my gap year

Hey there!

Once again I remembered that I have a blog! I haven't done anything reasonable lately which is the reason why I haven't written anything these last few days.
At least I got to send my school papers on time to be translate in Spanish and Italian. I am still looking for schools where I could study graphic design or photography, but it is not as easy as I thought. Even if I find a school that I like will they ever accept me in?? The bad thing about me is that I am always so negative about these things...I always think that there are so many people who are more talented than I am (which is true), but thinking that way isn't going to help. I am sure that when you really want something you will succeed in it no matter what.

But enough of that! This school thing has been stressing me out a bit but I am "trying" not to think about it too much. Enjoying each day is important for me in order to be able to stay relaxed. Believe it or not dancing has helped me a lot! Even though I am going only once a week to these salsa dance happenings it has helped me to be more cheered up. Also I have met so many nice people from there which is a plus! :)

I know that I am talking about salsa and dancing and all that kind of stuff all the time, but I can't help it! If I could dance every day I would, trust me hehe

I must say that this gap year has been the best decision I have ever made! I needed this break more than anything and having the luxury to do whatever I want is sooooo nice. I don't think I would like to keep living like this for too long but a year is perfecto para mi!

Now I can wake up in the morning and just enjoy the warmth of the fireplace or my cup of coffee without being in a hurry all the time! Ahhh...life is good :)

 

Hasta pronto!

 

Karoliina

Birthday cake

Hola amigos!

Yesterday I decided to wake up early ( and people who know me know that I don't tend to wake up early...unless I have to) and make a birthday cake for my father! :)
In a way it was my gift for him as I didn't know what to give him.

Here is the recipe for those who like to bake! :) This is as simple as it gets...baking a cake isn't a piece of cake after all -_- I tried to explain it step by step...hopefully you get something out of it!

For the base of the cake you are going to need:

2 dl flour
1½ dl corn starch
1½ dl coco powder
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
150 g butter
3 dl sugar
3 eggs
3 dl milk

1. Grease the baking tin with butter and apply a thin layer of bread crumbs.
2. Mix the butter and the sugar and add the eggs one at a time.
3. Combine the dry ingredients.
4. Add the flour mixture and the milk at the egg-butter mixture in small batches.
5. Put the mixture in the baking tin and leave it in the oven for 50-60 min on 175 degrees.

While you are waiting for the cake to get ready you can start making the fillings! I made two different fillings, but if you want to make only one just double the ingredients of the one you prefer.

When you take the base out of the oven leave it for 15 min to cool down and then turn it over. Cut it in three slices.

 1. Start by putting one layer of cake. Wet it with milk so that it gets moist. (It has to be moist enough otherwise it will be dry and not so tasty) I can't say exactly the amount of milk you will need...probably about 3 dl.
2. Apply the chocolate filling.
3. Put another slice of cake on top and wet it again with milk.

 Keep doing the same thing by applying the cappuccino filling and the last cake layer by wetting it with milk again. Leave it in the fridge for a few hours.

 For the decoration you are going to need :
130 g milk chocolate
3/4 dl cream

Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Heat the cream so that is a bit hot and add the melted chocolate until the mixture is even. Apply it on the cake.

( You don't need to do this, but I thought it would look a bit nicer! )
Melt some white chocolate and do white stripes. Take a toothpick and pull the lines towards one direction.

Clean the edges and leave it in the fridge for 15-20 min.

 Whip 3 dl cream and apply it around the cake with a spatula. Make this flourishing design (hehe I don't how to say it in english...sorry!) on the edges and add some marzipan roses for decoration ( I bought them ready from the store).

You can also add some nonpareil pearls

 

It was fun to make this cake!

Hope this was helpful and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask! :) 

 

Karoliina

Diary/Photoalbum

Hello there!

Lately I have been into creating new things as you might have guessed already! This time I decided to make a diary/photoalbum. I always hate it when I have so many pictures in my computer and no pictures printed... which is why I decided to make this "diary" from my stay in Barcelona! I have so many nice stories from there and I am afraid that I am going to forget them if I don't write them down now. It is not finished yet though...I am still in October 2012. Now I start to realize the huge amount of pictures that I took while I was there! This is going to be much harder to finish than I thought!
Once it's done though It will be a nice book to read afterwards and remember all the things I did in my gap year.
From now on I think I am going to do one book of each trip I do in the future :)

¡Que tengas un buen día!

 

Karoliina

A bit of this and that

¡Hola!

As you might have seen already once again I have changed the name of my blog. I promise this is the last time I am doing it! When you have too much free time you stuck into small details and for a long time I didn't like the name of my blog, but on the other hand I couldn't find a name that suited. As I am not having a baking, fashion, traveling or any other kind of blog it's really hard to find a name. Well, I like this current name and it's going to stay here for a long time from now on! I might change the colours but no bigger changes than that....promise!

So the latest news from my life hm...! Why is that always so challenging? Well, I will start from my healthy lifestyle hehe. Since I wrote the post about wanting to change my eating habbits I have really made a lot of efford to make that come true. I eat a lot healthier and I go out for long walks (no more running for me as my knees can't handle that).

From one thing to another, this past month I have been looking for Universities and schools abroad. I wish I didn't need to think about that, but at some point I have to make the applications so I have no choice. So far I have found one school in Florence which is about photography studies and the others are in Spain about graphic design and media studies. To be honest I am between graphic design, media and photography...I have no idea which one I like more! This past year I was so sure that photography is the only thing that I want to do, but argh...then came along the other two and now I'm hitting my head on the wall. Maybe I should apply to all of them and then see where they accept me :) sounds like a plan!

Again jumping from one thing to another! A few weeks earlier as we were walking with my mom and sister in Volos we found a cute little coffee place where they play jazz music! And the best thing out of all is that they don't smoke inside! It's really hard to find a place in Greece where it's not allowed to smoke!
The first twenty minutes we were all just looking around and admiring the nice decoration ( yes, it's that nice!). The only bad thing was that the place was a bit small and it took some time to get your coffee, but there was only one person working so I understand. But once I got my coffee I was happyyy :D and their carrot cake was really good!

 Τ.Οικονομάκη 54 Β   for those who want a good cup of coffee!

Tonight I am going to dance salsa again :D Even though I am not in Spain anymore there is nothing that can stop me from dancing hehe. Next month I am going to start salsa lessons and I even bought propper dance shoes, so yeah I'm taking it more seriously now hehe.

Have a nice day!

¡Hasta luego!

Karoliina

 

La dolce vita in Italia



Ciao!

 

Little by little I am planning my trip to Italy! My father has been already freaking out because I am going alone. I would prefer to have company with me, but I haven't found anybody who would like to join me so I have decided to go on my own. Of course every trip has it's own risks and many things can happen while I am there, but on the other hand does that mean that I should sit home all the time in case of something bad happens? Besides I went to Barcelona on my own and it was fine...scary at first but I survived and in the end I had a great time!

Also the reason why I wanted to have a gap year was to see new places and forget about schools and Universities for a while!

I guess my parents (or actually my father ehm...) have the issue of not wanting me to go to Italy. But fortunately I have my own money and at this age I make my own decisions.

 

A few days ago my mom found her old diaries from 1980 where she has written all her stories from her trips in Europe. I must say that I am quite surprised because she did some stupid things at the time! But she met my dad on one of her trips so I guess it's not that bad...

Just  imagine how things were 30 years ago! At least now we have internet and mobile phones to communicate in case of something wrong happens...back then they had nothing! I have no idea how she had the guts to go on a trip like that on her own.

 

Maybe now I understand why my father is freaking out so much...he knows all my mom's crazy stories and now he is afraid that his little girl is going to do the same crazy things (which weren't that crazy to be honest). Oh well, parents just always want to be overprotective, but at some point you have to leave your children to live their own lives.

 

Today I bought I map and a guide book for Rome and I am so excited to start planning my trip! For now my plan is to start from Rome and stay there for a week or so. Afterwards I would like to go to Florence for another five days (probably visit Pisa if I have time) and then stay for the weekend in Bergamo or Milan! :D I think they are going to be two very fun weeks!

 

If you have ever visited Italy I would be glad to get any kind of information or recommendations of places to visit! :)

 

Arrivederci

 

Karoliina

Bag making part 2

Hello!

After all it took me longer than just one day to finish the bag...actually I was too lazy to finish it yesterday, hups! Better too late than never as we say in Greek hehe :D

So to be continued with the bag...I sewed the straps on by making a square first and then an x-shape in the middle.

 For the zipper I recommend to sew it first by hand to see how it fits and then with the sewing machine. It might be some extra work but I usually make mistakes when I don't sew it first by hand and it takes longer to fix it afterwards.

 And this is the final result! :D

 Usually I use bags like this for grocery shopping or when I borrow books from the library. It is quite useful and ecological at the same time ;) No need for plastic bags!

Karoliina

Bag making part 1

¡Hola!

As I said on my previous post lately I have been into sewing and today I am going to show you how I am making a bag from the same fabric that I made the apron.
I am going to post two posts about it because it's not finished yet so stay tuned because tomorrow you are going to see the final result!

First of all I started by cutting the fabric into five pieces. Two pieces of 44x34 cm, one piece of 12x126 cm and two pieces of 8x108 cm.

 I started by making the straps for the bag. I used the 8x108 cm pieces ( they turned out to be too long so I had to cut them and the final length was 80 cm, but it depends on how long you want them to be).
I folded them in half from the opposite side and I sewed them with the sewing machine like this.

And then came the hard part when I had to turn the right side. I took a safety pin inside the fabric tube and started to push it to the opposite direction till it came out from the other end.

 The second step was to make the actual bag. The easiest thing would have been to just sew the side parts together, but then nothing would fit in the bag. So I decided to sew the 12x126 cm around the 44x34 cm sides to make the bag more spacious. If you notice on the picture I left a small part from the 34x44 cm  because I am going to put a zipper. (note: if you don't want a zipper you can start sewing it from the beginning )

 And when you are done sewing both sides on the 12x126 cm you cut the end of it and sew it inside the bag

For the next post the only thing that is left is to put the zipper and sew the straps! 

More about it tomorrow :)

Karoliina

Apron

¡Hola!

This past week I have been into sewing as I have been fixing old clothes and making new things. It all started when I found an old fabric and that's how I got the idea to start sewing again. I used to sew when I was younger, but for some reason I stopped.
Now I decided to make an apron for my niece who is 20 months old! She is so cute and now that she is getting older she can help in the kitchen with her new apron ;) hopefully she will like it!

Now I am making a bag from the same fabric, but I will post more about it another day :)

Have you ever tried sewing? It's quite therapeutic I must say ;)

Karoliina

Make a change

Ciao!

Everytime that I have to think of something to write about I'm like hmmmmmmm...I don't want to give up blogging but on the other hand I don't want to write about stupid or boring things that nobody wants to read.
As every year I always make many new year's resolutions (or however you call them), but in the end they never come true or actually to be honest I never make the effort to make them true( naughty, naughty).
This year I thought that I am going start from basic little things that are more "approachable" let's say. The bad thing about me ( yes, there are bad things about me believe it or not!hehe :D ) is that I always dream big and it just doesn't  work out very well for me.
I thought to start a 365 project which basically means that you commit yourself to do something for a year, but I would get bored after a few days...so that idea is a no no! So I thought to myself...I have to start something that is going to help me in  life generally.
Now that I have had this blog for one year now ( how time flies! :O)  I thought to start the year by learning how to cook! I am good at baking, but I am a terrible cook. I want to start with the basic stuff and little by little learn more and more. I want to try more healthier recipes and exercise more and by writing this post I am committing myself that from now I am going to start a healthier way of life. If I say it in public it is more likely that I am going to do it!
Since I was in Spain I used to eat really bad, but now I want to change that! Unfortunately it is true when they say " you are what you eat!". 

I just want to be more energetic and I hope that this change is going to improve my well being...who knows, we will have to see that ;)

Muchos besos a todo el mundo!

Karoliina

Going back to 2012

Hello there!

This past year has been absolutely insane in a way. I had many ups and downs emotionaly and many things happened...good and bad. I wanted to write sooner but blogger hasn't been working very well lately and I haven't been able to upload any pictures. Hopefully it will work out better now!

January 2012:

I can't say that my year started very well. Lot's of stress for my final exams and a huge amount of books to study didn't help. Despite that there was also a positive twist as I met two amazing people with who we used to study together at the library every day. Also I became a work out freak as I used to spend most of my time at the gym than at home! The negative thing about January and the whole winter was that it was so damn cooooold -_-

February:

Oh February! I still remember the nightmare of reading 14 books for my maths exam. I was already so bored with studying that I didn't have any energy left. The good thing about February was that we had our last day of school and we could focus only on studying (yipiii!). After 14 years of torture that day finally came :D

March:

I must say that March was a good month, because at the end of the month we finished the exams! I still remember how relieved I felt! :D Four days later Greece was waiting for me and I got to spend three amazing weeks with my family and friends...I was happy :)

April:

Easter in Greece was amazing as excpected! The best thing about the whole thing was that I could sleeeeeep and sleeeeeep for hours :D Not to mention about the Greek food...ah, I could eat octopus every day!
But (there is always a but) as all good things end so did my trip in Greece. In the end of April I started working in Finland.

May:

One step at a time I got used to my new job. Within two weeks I learned everything that I needed to know! Also snow was slowly melting and spring finally ( !!! ) arrived to Finland! It is so strange to see how people suddenly become more energetic and happy :)

June:

Graduation fever hit! Even my parents from Greece came to celebrate the big day with me! We worked so hard to get everything ready and made huge amounts of food ( that in the end we had to give away ). The party was a success and June was a good month :)

July:

Hm...well, on July I bought my new camera which was something really exciting! I posted some new recipes on here, bought a new suitcase for my trip to Barcelona, got my ticket to Barcelona and went on a trip to IKEA hihi!

August:

In August I remember I started my driving lessons and thankfully I didn't kill anybody! Mostly I was quite lonely because all my friends moved to other cities...not a good month for me. I baked more and worked out less...double time not good!

September:

In September I used to read books like a maniac! I also sold all my school books and with that money I went to Helsinki to visit my brother and sister. In the last minute ( just three days before my trip to Spain) I past my driving test and I packed all my stuff in boxes. A very busy and nerve racking month, but it payed off ;) and how come...at the end of the month it was my time to leave Finland and start my adventure in Barcelona!

October:

The month that my dream came true! Everything was so amazing that it took me some time to realize that all that was true :) I visited lots of museums, met amazing people all over the world and ate some really good food! Despite of the fact that I had some problems with the apartment I tried not to  make that ruin my trip there :)

 November:

November continued to be as amazing as October! I had my sister and friends visiting me from Finland which made everything more special. I ate more (not good)  and visited even more museums(good)! I also got to dance even more salsa and spend my 19th birthday in Barcelona.
Estaba muy contenta con mi vida :)

December:

As all good things end, in December I said goodbye to Barcelona and came back to my hometown in Greece. I was a bit lost after my trip and geting used to my old life here took me some time. I got to see my friends and family again which made me happy. Christmas was nice and new year's eve even better!

That was a loooong post but many things happened in 2012 and I couldn't make it any shorter...hups!
I am looking forward to 2013 and what it holds for me! Also my adventure never ends as I am going to Italy for a couple of weeks in the end of February ;) Arrivederci!

Happy 2013!

 

Karoliina