Weekending

I found myself completely in need of dropping everything and head to a trip for a far place, somewhere that we could stay the three of us together enjoying this beautiful winter season that doesn´t feel so cold. Days are warm and nights are chilly and the sky of this place called Minas is amazingly blue... The town´s called São Lourenço and its water is sold in the whole country.

After 5 hours driving we arrived to the hotel and in the morning , all sort of bread, cake and juice on the breakfast table waiting for us was simply a delight! Plus, the typical jellies, cheese bread and Minas cheese were so very yummy!

Say Hi!

And now, heading to the old Steam Locomotive small trip! This is what I really love, TRAINS!

This one goes to a small village called Soledade de Minas taking tourist passengers for an interesting trip, some musicians sing in the train cars and they sell beverage and there are lots of fun with every kind of people!

At Soledade : farmer´s market , lots of fruits, vegetables...

And back to São Lourenço , you can see this bottle of water written on it, the famous water that we drank a lot at restaurants, at the Parque das Águas to refresh ourselves...

Contemporâneo : a very good restaurant where you can taste many kind of food, from Japanese food, Italian or this typical local trout that sounded very tasty , Edu ate it.

And for dessert: Petit Gateau, very yummy and ... sweet!




I do so love trains and the history behind them, the magic of the whistle that we can hear from very far and its particular smell of the smoke...

And I´m glad we could share this moment with our little one ...

Good, good times!!

Have a wonderful week full of joy and inspiration!!!

Comments

Pic Nic Day

Looking outside the window, the sky was clear and blue inviting us for a delightful day spent in the garden that meant no TV and no chores for a while, today! Okay , before anything I had started my day using the washing machine, cooking breakfast, making this and that ...


She started playing on the ground with her cooking set , making lots of food to her stuffed animals and then we had this idea of having lunch with Pic Nic food, very simple but a Pic Nic is fun, easy, entertaining and feeling the warmth of the sun on the skin , looking at the leaves falling on the water and the touch of the breeze on our faces sounded irresistible!

:: what was served:

some organic fruit , "onigiri" ( which is a Japanese traditional food ) that we made ourselves and chicken nugets, just because we love them!!


This pic nic blanket was the first thing I made to this house when we were still moving into it and finally today we could use it properly and we bought this Homemade Apple Cake at the local organic farmer´s market that is also very yummy, with iced tea, it was delicious!

We ended up the Pic Nic moment laughing and talking and eating a lot!!! After that, some football and frisbee playing to keep our bodies working out!!

Wishing you a lovely day , we´ll be back in a few days after a small trip to Minas , love to you all!


Comments

Is there a perfect day?

We had a wonderful time at a little farm near our house , Camila loved riding the horse, breathing some fresh air and visiting a typical old country house which was very interesting.

Here she is, standing in front of the house that was located right after the entrance and then an employee takes us , visitors to know all the animals, activities and things to do .


... milking a cow was an exciting experience for an urban raised kid! Look her happiness...


Me and Camila , a picture taken by a friend we´ve met there.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The days have been warm and the nights very cold ...
I´ve been spending some time sewing, organizing my studio stuff but I can´t show you my little corner because it´s still messy!


Meanwhile...

among fabrics, mess, yarn, ribbons and buttons, oh, yes, buttons that you already know that I treasure, I took some time making these button rings to myself, oh, by the way, I love rings, too!

and click! Can you see the ring?

Here they are, my new collection, what do you think?

I really love the ceramic button one, I think it´s very original!


And these are adorable and I have already used them!

All these little moments with my kid and making these button rings made my day perfect.

Now you tell me, what´s the "perfect day" for you?

Wishing you all a very sweet and perfect weekend!!

Comments

The comfort & the blessing of food

:: outside :: winter season , blue sky, orchids are the beautiful ornament in the garden...

and ...

:: inside ::

This is my new toy that Edu brought to me some weeks ago and finally last weekend I had the chance to use it and here I´ll show you the result of this simple but handful "toy" that makes...

CHURROS !!! Would you like to try some?

She is testing my sample!!! And she approves and eats some more. Inside I put "doce de leite" , it´s common here in Brazil, it tastes like a condensed milk but very creamy and yummy!!

And then I had to try this Jamie Oliver´s Apple Pie recipe that was my little girl´s delight ( mostly before eating it) , I think kids love THIS part of making the dough, don´t they? Especially when you add lots of butter...


As we measure each ingredient and we mix them I feel the magic of cooking together, talking about everything, silly things, laughing , the way it involves ourselves into a nice talk and cleaning ( by the way, lots of cleaning ), it makes me feel the comfort of being there and lots of more good times to come ahead.

And then the green apples, yummy!!! Of course she tried these , too!!!


And, tada ,it baked exactly how I imagined , so perfect and that makes me feel so good!

Our kitchen and the living room had this delicious scent in the air, apple pie smells so good! This is a true blessing, to have food on the table, beyond that, with a helping hand that turned this food so sweet.

And my little helper , my particular "Oompa Loompa" painting my new table-to -be that will be used in the studio. This old wooden board was under our tatami at our former house and now we don´t use it anymore because I wanted a sofa to sit on! I guess I´m getting old...


Later on I´ll post some pictures of this table in the studio but for now, I leave to you this beautiful orchid , real treasure of the nature that grew right on our palm tree, so exuberant ...

Well, I am grateful for all of these blessings: the food, the life in family , what nature offers to us, friends,

Wishing you a very peaceful weekend with your loved ones and thank you for coming here!

Comments

pottery, food, kitchen

I have a good friend in a far place called Salvador (Bahia state) and she is a lovely and kind person that I will always cherish . The first time we met I still owned a pottery studio and she came to learn about glazes and the first thing I offered her was a cup of tea! She was absolutely polite and she drank the tea but then , later on she told me she hated any kind of tea, see? What we do when we try to be gentle? We drink things we hate, we try to be polite!!!And since then we always laugh about this episode !

And this beautiful hanging doll ( traditional Bahia women dress long white dress with lots of lace , necklaces and a turban on their head) was made by my dear friend Carmen , isn´t it so darling?

She owns a pottery studio in Salvador and if you would like to know the beautiful spot where she is located , please take a look at Atelier Terra e Cor ( she has an English version) and also the wonderful creative and inspiring objects she makes.

Thank you Carmen, for this wonderful gift and the warm message you´ve sent me!

This funny, pretty elephant made by clay is a long time friend . I bought when I visited Milan in Italy many years ago.

These wooden fruits were made by local artisans of Minas Gerais , when I traveled last month with my parents.
I love the brilliant colors and the handmade touch , very simple and creative!

Now, I have to tell you something about Jamie Oliver. I´ve just got the new book ( in Portuguese) from this amazing chef that cooks in a simple way and that´s what I like, simple, basic but still delicious food! And as you know, I am a big big huge fan of the United States and he went to America and wrote about the interesting , classic american food and I have plans, lists of the recipes I´ve found here!

The photo was taken yesterday and it was rainy, dark afternoon and the light was terrible, i am so sorry for this but I HAD to post this! It´s in the kitchen table where I started having lots of inspiration reading this book.

Apple pie: I do love apple pies and when I watch those american cartoons I can almost smell and feel the taste of this amazing dessert!!! The original apple pie is English but the American people transformed it to the one of the symbols of the country.

Beautiful pictures are in this book, too and this little girl´s photograph , isn´t she so cute?
And look what´s she´s about to eat!!! yummy... Chocolate pie!

Unfortunately I don´t know what´s the name in English of most of the food included in this book so I am seriously thinking about buying an English version .

Eggs, I LOVE EGGS and this omelet sounds very yummy and so easy to make. I think this is gonna be my lunch!

Corners of my home: Kitchen

Well, a "part" of it because the rest is so very messy, a big shame I can´t post it here!!

I have some flower pots and I like to cook looking at them and here, I don´t forget to water them! Fruits are always welcome and we love bananas and apples .

Strawberry and tangerine gelatine for my husband , these are zero carbs , for his diet... I like the colors but not the taste of them...

I do prefer Apple Pie!

Wishing you a wonderful Thursday full of joy and peace! Thank you for taking this little trip with me around my house!

Comments

handmade bunting

It´s World Cup season and to celebrate this exciting moment I made this green + yellow + blue ( Brazilian flag ) to decorate our living room and for those who want to make one of this, take a look at this tutorial , it´s written in Portuguese but it´s quite easy because there are great photos to follow. Try it, enjoy it!!!


Before hanging it inside our house I took this picture outside, much better with the natural light!

Well, I guess we are all set to watch the next match!

Comments

Weekend pics

Visiting unique shops around neighborhood is sometimes very interesting like these material that are so different from what I am used to work with.


Long time ago I used to work with metal, pretending I was Jennifer Beals on" Flashdance "!!!! Welding machine, mask, electrodes, smoke, this used to be my father´s work but then suddenly there was I making art with metal and I enjoyed a lot that time. I made delicate bromelias, banana trees and orchids but that was a really heavy and dirty work and after I found out fabrics and the sewing machine , well, my life became complete!

This kind of shop was a delight for my eyes , old materials that could be recycled and turned into art, I just had to be creative and lots of project would pop up on my sketchbook...

But nowadays sewing became really my passion and these things are now my husband´s hobby! And that´s why I went to this shop this morning. Good luck , my dear !!!

The day was so warm, we had a birthday party to go and on our way to the party we saw this beautiful monument at Ibirapuera Park, it´s called Bandeiras Monument (artist: Victor Brecheret)

I could write and show you a post only about São Paulo´s beautiful spots , maybe someday I will take some interesting photographs around town ... You know, Brazil is an immense country and i would love to let you know a little bit about the culture , interesting stories , parks and animals and artists that live here...

It´s still Saturday so I´ll leave you now wishing you a beautiful sunny Sunday for everyone that visited me today , here. Thank you for coming!!! Love to you all!!!

Comments