Officially...

 Kalėdos!!!! Mano mintyse, mano širdyje, mano namuose. Kadangi šiandien gruodžio 1-oji, tai pagaliau galiu oficialiai paskelbti Kalėdų sezoną atidarytą!!! Iš tiesų, gal pasirodysiu keistoka, bet pradedu galvoti apie Kalėdas jau nuo rugsėjo mėnesio, hehe :) žinoma, ant langų nekabinėju mirksinčių lempučių, kalėdinės eglutes nekertu, ant mašinos atlošo nededu raudonos kepurės (jei ką pastarųjų ir šiaip nedarau :)) ir viešai neskelbiu "Monika laukia Kalėdų", nes kad ir kokie mano draugai supratingi ir žino mano begalinį džiaugsmą dėl švenčių, vis vien pagalvotų, kad man susimaišė mėnesiai, o kartu ir protelis :) Tačiau yra vienas žmogutis, kuris lygiai taip pat pakvaišęs dėl Kalėdų, tai mano sesė. Drįsčiau teigti, kad ji dar anksčiau pradeda sukti mintis apie žiemos šventes. Taip taip, tikra tiesa. Tokios jau mes :) Svarbiausia geros emocijos, kažko laukimas, galvojimas apie tau svarbiausius žmones, žinojimas, kad jie bus nustebinti ir laimingi. Tad šiandien nusprendžiau pasidalinti dainomis, kurios mane nuteikia labai maloniai. Tikiuosi, kad Jūs taip esat pakilios nuotaikos, kupini šiltų jausmų mąstant apie gražiausias metų šventes!!! Nebijokit pasidalinti ir savo dainomis! ;))

Su meile,

M...

Sufjan Stevens, "Lumberjack Christmas / No One Can Save You From Christmases Past

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlNw9V22z8A

Michael Buble "White Christmas" (rekomenduoju visą jo albumą "Christmas")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgAJiRuVvYE&feature=relmfu

Ricky Martin "Ay ay ay it's Christmas" (woohoo let's party :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRoaPZCpFFQ 

Hank Williams "Baby we're really in love"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4_3S5GOmiY 

 Roy Orbison "Only the lonely"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjq4wYuwgxs 

Danny Leggett "Walking in a winter wonderland"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi8HN3svpfA

Katie Melua "A happy place"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCdRA0lQq38 

Romeo Santos feat Usher "Promise"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TrCbDtRxbU 

 Karma "Kitaip"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfaD0aYwh0c 

Lord Huron "Tiny desk concert' (in loooove so much with this!!!) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9eiq-ctKDY

***  

Christmas!!! In my mind, heart and home. Today is the 1st of December, so I officialy announce Christmas season open!!! Indeed, I might look abit weird, because I start thinking about Christmas since September, hehe :) Of course I don't put blinking lights everywhere, don't cut Christmas tree and don't put the red hat on the car seat (indeed I don't do any of these ever :)) and I don't declare out loud "Monika is waiting for Christmas", because no matter how understanding my friends are and know my huge happiness about this celebration,  they would still think that I got abit insane :)) But there is one person, who I could say gets overwhelmed very early by Christmas, is my sister. Yep, so true. Crazy we :) The most important things are good emotions, thinking about beloved people, knowing that they will be surprised and happy. Today I decided to share some songs that put me in a very good mood. I hope you are all full of warm feelings, kindness while waiting for the most beautiful holidays of the year!!! Feel free to share your songs!! ;))

With love,
M...

Chocolate - caramel - vanilla cheesecake

Turiu nemažą silpnybę sūrio pyragams. Nesunkiai gaminami, o be proto skanūs, deja, kartu ir labai nuodėmingi. Mano nuomone, pasilepinti yra tik į naudą, gal ne kūnui, bet sielai tai tikrai :) Trumpa akimirka su gabaliuku namie kepto pyrago, šilta mėtų arbata ir nuoširdžiu pokalbiu - vienas iš gyvenimo malonumų. Šį margą sūrio pyragą kepiau mamos jubiliejaus proga. Galiu drąsiai pasakyti, kad skonio atžvilgiu pavyko labai gerai. Mano didieji kritikai puikiai įvertino ir davė leidimą kepti antrą kartą. Ir sakė kuo greičiau :)

Recepčiuką aptikau viename bloge Citrinos žievelė Deja, nepavyko atkartoti tokio gražaus sluoksniavimo, nes nusprendžiau, kad neturiu kantrybės terliotis čia. Poto prisiekiau sau, kad kitą kartą kepant trūks plyš pasistengsiu ir padarysiu taip, kaip turi būti - gražiai :)

I have a little weakness when it comes to cheesecakes. Easily done, perfect taste, unfortunately abit sinful. In my opinion, treating yourself is always a good idea, well not for the body, but for the soul for sure :) Short moment with the piece of homemade cake, warm mint tea and honest chat is one of the life's pleasures. I baked this cake for my mother's anniversary. I can proudly say that the taste of it was just perfect. My biggest critics evaluated very well and I got a permision to bake for second time. And as soon as possible :)

I found this recipe in one lithuanian blog Citrinos žievelė  Unfortunately, I didn't succeed in making all the layers, because I didn't have enough patience to do that. But later I promised myself the next time I bake, I will do everything just the way it has to be done - perfectly :)

With love,

M...

Birthday card

Last Saturday I celebrated my very good friend's 25th birthday. Woohoo!! For me the 25th birthday brought a lot of happiness and a lot of things changed. Now I really know that when one door closes, another opens and especially unexpected :) So I made a birthday card for my dear friend. I really like to gift my made cards to friends and family members. The idea, that I am doing something nice to people who I care a lot, makes me happy. And if I can see that they like it, oooooh twice happier :) It's all about the happiness, right?!!

M...

This weekend..

Winter came to Vilnius.

Now it feels like Christmas, which I love love love! Oh Santa Claus, I was very good this year!! :)

Ran some errands.

Baked the cake, which turned out just perfectly. After last week's  failure this cake was like a rehabilitation.

Met a friend and had a good time with great discussions.

And today I'm resting with tea, book and good music. Love lazy cozy Sundays.

As last week I didn't succeed in baking, so this weekend I was eager to make something great. I chose quiet easy recipe from Marry Berry's book "Complete cookbook". It is iced lime traybake. Easy to do, tasty and nice looking, just perfect. I am happy with the way it turned out. Let's try?

• 175g soft butter or margarine, plus extra for greasing
• 175g caster sugar
• 250g self raising flour (I used regular flour)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons milk
• finely grated zest of 2 limes

Icing

• 250g icing sugar
• juice of 2 limes
• as here where I live we don't have icing sugar, I used caster sugar + the white of the egg

Let's bake

Lightly grease the tin and line the bottom with baking parchment.

Combine all the cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat well for about 2 minutes, until smooth.

Turn into the prepared tin and level the surface. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 35- 40 minutes until the cake is well risen, springy to the touch and beginning to shrink away from the sides of the cake tin.

Leave to cool slightly in the tin, then turn out the wire rack, peel off the lining paper and cool.

Make the icing: mix sugar, the white and the lime juice well.

Pour over the cooled cake and leave to set, then cut into squares and serve.

 Bon Appetit!!!

Sushi Saturday

 

Uramaki -inside out roll with spawns, leaf of salad, cucumber, philadelphia cheese

So this Saturday I was asked begged by my sister to do sushi, because it's been a long time since I did it the last time. I thought why not. Once I was in the lesson of sushi making, which I really enjoyed and since then I love making them and I'm the master of sushi..in my family. Big statement :) So I made three types of them, with salmon, fish spawns and mixed salad. The result: everybody was happy, full and their taste was satisfied!

Makizushi - regular with salmon, cucumber, avocado, salad leaf, philadelphia cheese and a little bit of sesame

Actually I don't remember the name of this, but it goes with salmon, avocado, ginger, leek and mayo salad on tof of rises

Et Voila!