Tea love

What to do with ricotta?

 You know how I made spinach ricotta lasagne around Christmas ? Well, my mom sent me the recipe in her own words, calling for equal quantities of spinach and ricotta. And asking for 2 kg. of spinach. So there we go for 2 kg of ricotta, which is a lot. I omitted to take into account the fact that the spinach would be cooked and that plants are 80 % water if not more. So now, we still have some ricotta left and I do not know what to do with it anymore. We used some over pasta and vegetables to make a creamy kind of concoction, and I made this zucchini cheesecake (which was delicious for me, but to lemony for the boy, so if you  are not a fan of citrus, use a bit less zest). But I am out of ideas now. And I am sure you all have tricks under your sleeves. Do you have any recipes with ricotta ? We have to use it soon...

* Photo via 101 cookbooks . I had made my own photos but our external hardrive just fell to the floor and it is broken. I have tears in my eyes stupid technological gadgets, and I am fighting against myself not to yell at someone sitting by me because he is obsessed with keeping things clean and thus erased the pictures from the camera and the other computer in which we had them.

Happy dragon year

to all of you. It is said that it will be an auspicious year, because dragons are the only mythical creature of the chinese horoscope. I hope it brings us all joy and surprises. There are some oranges in our table, and we will light candles. There are also fresh tulips by the window.
By the way the picture above is an axolotl, do you know them? They are very special animals. Special in that they only live in Xochimilco and Chalco, the lake system around Mexico city and in that they are neotenic salamanders. Which means they are Peter Pan. Literally, they never grow old. Or in scientific terms they never undergo the full metamorphosis that would normally transform them in a salamander. Impressive huh?

The redish ball on the left are Tubifex, real live worms, yuck.

So, wedding planning...

 It can get so crazy. We are almost there, with my sister's wedding, less than 1 month left actually. And I think we are currently in Stage 5 (see Shiny Pretty bits for the full process, via Pieces of Anna)

"5. Rebellion – “EFF it”
Faced with the need to simplify and regain a sense of control, the individual may find themselves ruthlessly slashing things from the wedding. Marked by feelings of apathy and exhaustion. Persons may find themselves telling over zealous friends and family where to stick their “helpful suggestions”. Rebellion can give the individual a false sense of Zen, resulting in a regression to stage 4. It is not uncommon to mock The Knot during this phase."

If you take a look at the pinterest board I made for lil´sis at the beginning of it all you will realize how many things have changed. Once upon a time, it was supposed to be a day-mexican-kermesse-like party, in an outdoor location, with lots of typical things.

Then, because of logistical reasons, it turned to the classic dinner and dancing affair, and the mexican decorations we originally had imagined did not really stick. So now that will be more of a lilac and turquoise effortless chic affair.

 We still kind of want lots of glass jars, but I do not know how that fits in an indoor location at night.
At this moment, not all people have RSVP-ed and even I, the sister, have to harass some of them. The deadline was the 10th of January, and we still haven´t heard about some 40 people. I think I´ll turn to Alyssa and her advice... 

  You know when it all started I had so many projects in mind. I am still going to organize and set a dessert table, and there is a surprise coming too (that I will tell you about later) but one of the main things I wanted to organize was a flashmob, and now I have no idea how you coordinate 150 people to all dance at the same time. Sure I found some videos and we have candidate songs that I could send to them (or should I say to some of them, because I do not even have everyone´s email, and I do not want to ask my sister or her fiancé, because it is supposed to be a secret thing), but other than that I am stuck in the mental process. Oh oh oh... any ideas ?

Images via here, here, here, here and here.

Another side of Amsterdam

The other day we went for a walk, when we were looking for candy, and I am glad we did. We ended up discovering new little streets. It is funny though, Amsterdam is quite a small city and it has still so many hidden treasures for us to discover. I love that we can still get lost amongst the canals and find new places, parks, shops. Here is a glimpse of what we saw. Do you still get lost in your city? Or do you know it like the palm of your hands?

Made me think of Berlin, this is right before Westerpark

Graffiti love

Pretty bikes and trees and doll houses

Philosophy of life

If you need an authentic mexican pinata and other folkloric paraphernalia

The place to go is Kitsch kitchen

I have something with green buildings

Oh Art deco building, how pretty you are.

Candy made art at Papabubble

It is no secret to you guys that both the boy and I have sweet tooth right? Well, today I'm bringing you to a magic place that I discovered in Barcelona some 7 years ago while randomly walking in the Barri Gotic, the medieval city center. And yes, I am talking about Papabubble. This place was founded in 2004 by two Australian friends that came to the city and decided to open a business. They grew so much that aside from the original shop in Carrer Ample, they are now in Amsterdam, New York, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong, Lisbon,  and Moscow.

They make hard candy right in front of your eyes out of sugar, water, glucose and natural colors and flavors.  First they boil the sugar with water and glucose, next they knead the candy paste, roll it, sculpt it, cut it and there you go: magic out of the simplest ingredients. Every little candy is unique, in color and flavour. Delicious fruitiness melting in your mouth, really. It is something out of a child's dream.

And so, even if we knew this place from Barcelona, as it was one of  those usual places where we would go for a treat, we went to the one in Amsterdam last Saturday. And we came back with quite a few bags of happiness. (To be honest, we were actually looking for lilac and turquoise caramels for my sister's wedding dessert table. And we found them yeah. Do you know how hard it is to find lilac candy? Sounds easy, but we found none at your regular candy shops).

 If you are curious, you can see how the candy is made in this video. Or if you happen to be in one of those cities you should definitely go and have a look.

 In Barcelona their address is Carrer Ample 28, in Amsterdam they are in Harlemmerdijk 70, a short walk from the main train station.