Goat cheese and candied kumquat sandwich

Morning rituals. 
Weekdays mornings are usually challenging - fifteen tasks for thirty minutes. Bathroom - kitchen - nursery - bedroom - kitchen - bedroom. Every step has its right time - if I omit or add one, I will break somebody else's ritual. So, sequence is important. Key word is discipline. I don't complain. Routine gives me the feeling of being safe, no surprises mean everything is OK. Habits give me the opportunity to enter stress less into the day. Coffee is the only luxury of my weekdays mornings. But fast, no time the smell its taste or aroma. Coffee as a wake up tool, nothing to do with joy. 
But I have my weekends. My weekend mornings are quiet and sunny. I love the silence of the house while my beloved ones are sleeping. This is my time. My kitchen has an eastern exposure and I enjoy the sun spots moving onto the walls and filling my eyes with light. Good morning, day. The steam of my coffee. A book from the shelf and so much time to get through its pages. The roofs of the neighbouring buildings, the blackbirds singing their lovesongs, the plants on my terrace. Time to read, to observe, to savor the day, to pamper myself. Long breakfast is part of the weekend morning rituals.

New Year's Resolutions 2012

I've been writing New Year's resolutions since years.
Frankly said, the lists look very similar to each other, which is not good, I know. Every time I write my new resolutions, I do not have a look at the old ones, but I know they are nearly the same. Well, there are some tasks accomplished in 2011, one of them more than 10 years old. I quit smoking in 2011. Twice. Second attempt more successful than the first one, I hope.
Now I am a confirmed non-smoker (three months and a half experience), which added a totally new resolution to my 2012 resolution list. To lose weight, which was gained as a side effect of feeling the real taste of food on one hand and beind a novice food-blogger on the other.  In fact, the high calory side of the food blogging caught me unprepared and now a have three kilos to get rid off.
So, first task for January - to wear again my favourite trousers, European size 38. 

In other words, I am announcing the official start of the fish and salads time in my kitchen. 

Sunny end of 2011

I spent the last few days of 2011 in Cyprus, laying in the sun, enjoying the non-typical for New Year 20°C. If I look back at the last year, I should admit, it was not very easy for me. But the most important thing which happened to me was the launching of my blog. I know, it will sound very surprising in today's digital world, but it was only a year ago when I saw the first food blogs. I immediately knew that it was what I wanted to do. After wasting some time being nervous about my delay, I jumped into this new world and it became a significant part of my everyday's life.  

Yesterday I took part in the first quiz- solving in my life and I won. The mojito above was the reward for the winner. But the most important thing - it was a quiz about exotic fruis, so food is and should be a huge part in my life. And I am on the right track. I knew it.

Happy New Year!