The curse of not having model measurements

As winter lasts now since about 5 months my winter fat amount has grown to an unbearable extent. Although I am visiting a fitness-studio three times a week my belly is growing and growing; probably because I eat even more after training and I am not always very consistent. My biggest problem is that I love nothing more than food, I could eat the whole day and my favourite food is not always low in calories. It’s not that I don’t fit into my clothes (although some of my jeans are recently a bit too tight), I just do not feel comfortable in my body, I can’t stand the spare tyre and the padding between my thighs. Sadly these are the parts, which are hardest to train.

I don’t want to have a perfect body or look like one of those underwear models with abs and huge boobs. It would be enough if there is only one midriff bulge instead of three.

Next month my dad is going to buy me a bike, since my last one was stolen from our cellar.  My plan is to continue my training on the bicycle and to cycle 3-4 times per week. Of course I will also have to change my eating habits and start eating less, and more healthy food but this I guess will be the hardest part for me.

My goal is to look considerable in my bikini but unfortunately there are only two months left until the summer season starts.

Keep your fingers crossed for me! J

Food blogs

There are so many food blogs on the internet and hardly any time to watch through all of them which is quite a pity if you are very much into food like me. I looked at about five or six of the most viewed food blogs and I came to the conclusion that those with bright and professional pictures are the ones I like most and often their recipes are best to handle although they are sometimes not very well structured.

I chose two of them to be my favorites and to write about:

http://lovesfoodlovestoeat.blogspot.co.at/

http://iamafoodblog.com/

http://www.sprinklebakes.com/

The first two are very similar to each other. Both have beautifully arranged and deliciously looking pictures and I guess that there is at least one recipe for everybody who actually likes to eat. There are not so many recipes on the “loves food loves to eat” blog, so mostly I have a look at the “I am a food blog” blog when I am searching for some inspiration. Besides there are always little stories and tips connected to the recipes and instructions.

A few weeks ago I tried the recipe for “Parsley Pesto Pasta with Broccoli and Salmon”. So I first went to the supermarket where I bought those not too expensive and few ingredients like parsley, pine nuts, broccoli and salmon, and then I started to cook it – it took me about 20 minutes and then the pasta with fish was ready. I had no problems, needed no help and there was almost no washing up. My mother and I ate like there was no tomorrow because it tasted incredibly divine. I already tried three or four recipes from this very site and all of them tasted good, weren’t too expensive and could be cooked easily. 

Only yesterday I found this blog about deserts and sweets in general “sprinkle bakes” and immediately I liked it a lot because of the lovely colors and awesome looking pictures. I did not yet have the time to look through all baking instructions but I already found one that I am definitely going to try out. 

I can’t stop looking at it and every time I do so my mouth starts watering. I guess it will be difficult and take a long time to make this but if it tastes as it looks it will be worth every second.

Thanks to the instruction to write a blog about food blogs, I found all these recipes and mouth watering pictures and many new ideas for my favorite hobby cooking. 

An attitude towards life called “core”

About four years ago I bought my first Metal-CD – that was the moment I decided metal to be my favorite musical genre. I wandered back and forth between the different subgenres that Metal features until I came to the so called “core-scene”.

It did not take a long time until I was fascinated by the coherence, the fun in life and the style, which are main parts of that lifestyle.

I started going to concerts, where I met more and more people who shared that attitude and I found more and more friends in that scene.

Two years later my three best friends and my boyfriend founded a metalcore- band and so I got increasingly more to do with it.

I started writing lyrics for their songs and since about one year I have had the privilege to join every concert they play and sell their shirts. That gave me the chance to get to know some very famous bands and even talk to them. Although first I was only impressed by the music I started to become part of that scene.

 

“Core” is the colloquial and short form for hardcore, which is basically a musical genre but moreover it is a lifestyle. Young people tend to live that attitude towards life.

The musical genre is based on the heavy beats of metal mixed with aggressive vocals and the rapidness of punk.

“Core” is separated in different subgenres: deathcore, metalcore, hardcore and beatdown, which is seen as a subgenre although it has no “-core” in its name.

The origins of all forms of “core” are punk and hardcore.

A very important part of this scene are the concerts where you can meet old and new friends, you can get the real feeling and have fun.

The followers, fans and frequent concert visitors invented their own dance style called “mosh”, which is another interesting part of that culture.

This lifestyle is very unconventional – a lot of tattoos and piercings are used to be different and to shine out from all others and to express one’s own attitude.

Of course nobody is getting tattooed just for these few reasons, in most of the cases every tattoo has its own story.

Why I love Alpacas and Donkeys

I think this picture perfectly describes why I love alpacas. They are one of the cutest animals that exist on planet earth and they are one of the most trustful animals. I fell in love with these lovely creatures when I first saw one at the zoo in Preding. It was something like a pets corner and you could pet it an cuddle it… and I can tell they are so incredibly fluffy that you don’t even think it is possible! What I like most about alpacas is that they always look like they would be smiling.

Alpacas are very useful animals – not only for their fur that can be used like sheepskin but also because they are used as therapy animals for mentally and physically disabled and traumatized people, especially kids.There is a huge alpaca farm in Carinthia where my dad is taking me to for my birthday – I am sooo much looking forward to it. :)

The reasons why I love donkeys are probably the same like why I love alpacas. They are always relaxed and their ears are big and extremely fuzzy.
I don’t know exactly why I feel so “attracted” to those perissodactyls especially because I don’t really like horses since one pitched me off when I was about 10 years old but I think it’s the simplicity and calm they radiate.

Meeting welsh people

Just like about any other weekend we were going to a concert – this time in a small pub my hometown. Already when we arrived we recognized that this wouldn’t be exactly brilliant. The bands probably were quite good but the sound was so bad that you hardly heard anything. One of the bands, Continents, was from Wales and they were touring with no money so some of my friends offered them to sleep in their flats. But that wasn’t yet the end of the day – we went out into a cocktail-bar. They were able to afford each a few beer but after those they were as drunk as lords because they were not used to the high alcohol concentration in Austrian beer. It got funnier and funnier – one of the boys, Ben even proposed marriage to a friend of mine – of course only for fun and funnily they still have contact every day. and later on into our local disco.
Obviously those welsh people had never seen a disco before because they danced and laughed like there would be no tomorrow. We had so much fun and fortunately they will come back to Austria in a few months. :)

The best dish on planet earth

When I ate it for the first time it was like my taste buds eventually unfolded. It was like heaven in my mouth and I wanted it to never stop. I ate and ate until my stomach nearly popped out of my mouth. At this very moment I had the pleasure to dine aunt Anneliese’s Risotto with mushrooms.

Before, I have heard of it a few times in television cookery shows and it always seemed a little bit gross to me because the chefs told it had to be oozy and that word deterred me not only a little bit although the Risottos constantly  looked appetizing.

However, my aunt had cooked so much that she gave me two big boxes of this culinary delight to take home. I was able to nourish myself 3 days. After I had eaten up everything I was very sad and already one day after I missed the Risotto a lot so I tried to cook it myself – very bad idea!

I made rice for a whole starving ship’s crew and I put too much onions and wine into it.  The only one who tried hard to eat all up was my dad but to be honest he eats everything that is eatable.

So now I am dependent on my aunt to cook me some Risotto or my other choice is to go to a restaurant in my hometown and pay 14€ and I have to say it is worth it!!!

So if you are hungry now here is the recipe for a Risotto with mushrooms, maybe you can do better than me.

                                

Ingredients

·                                 1.5 litres organic chicken stock, hot

·                                 1 handful dried porcini mushrooms

·                                 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped

·                                 400 g risotto rice

·                                 75 ml vermouth or white wine

·                                 sea salt

·                                 freshly ground black pepper

·                                 4 large handfuls wild mushrooms (try shiitake, girolle, chestnut or oyster)

cleaned and sliced

·                                 1 teaspoon butter

·                                 1 small handful Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus extra fro serving

·                                 extra virgin olive oil

Heat your stock in a saucepan and keep it on a low simmer. Place the porcini mushrooms in a bowl and pour in just enough hot stock to cover. Leave for a couple of minutes until they've softened. Fish them out of the stock and chop them, reserving the soaking liquid.

In a large pan, heat a lug of olive oil and add the onion. Slowly fry without colouring them for at least 10 minutes, then turn the heat up and add the rice. Give it a stir. Stir in the vermouth or wine. Keep stirring until the liquid has cooked into the rice. Now pour the porcini soaking liquid through a sieve into the pan and add the chopped porcini, a good pinch of salt and your first ladle of hot stock. Turn the heat down to a simmer and keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and massaging the starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next.

Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. This will take about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, get a dry griddle pan hot and grill the wild mushrooms until soft. If your pan isn't big enough, do this in batches. Put them into a bowl add a pinch of salt and the lemon juice.

Take the risotto off the heat and check the seasoning carefully. Stir in the butter and the Parmesan. You want it to be creamy and oozy in texture, so add a bit more stock if you think it needs it. Put a lid on and leave the risotto to relax for about 3 minutes.

Take your risotto and add a little more seasoning or Parmesan if you like. Serve a good dollop of risotto topped with some grilled dressed mushrooms, a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page…

This quote by Saint Augustine perfectly describes my attitude towards travelling around the world. By staying in your own four walls you won’t ever be able to broaden your horizon and you will probably think you have missed something while taking your last breath. I am afraid that I might end up like this too but I will definitely do anything to see most parts of the world – in case this is possible.

By now I have never had the opinion to leave the European continent but I have been to different parts of Spain like Ibiza, Majorca, Tenerife and Grand Canary and to parts of Greece like Karpathos actually every year from 2006 to 2011. But that is far from being enough for me! I want to go to the USA, to Australia, to Russia, to China and so on and so on… the list is nearly endless.
Of course there are some conditions to pull these travels off:
At first I don’t want to travel alone so I have to find someone to accompany me. Secondly I will need loads of money and since I haven’t yet won the lottery I’m going to have to work hard to pay these trips. I still have to figure out how to manage these terms.

Travelling Around the World

I've not been to many different countries yet but I would definitely love to see all of the world or at least more than I've seen up to the present.
At first I would definitely want to visit the USA, it's because I've heard so much awesome things about it and now I want to find out if they are true.
Then I would go to Peru because since I was very little I wanted to go there to see the Machu Picchu and the breathtaking landscapes of Peru.
Of course I would love to go to England, just to hear the nice accent they are speaking.
In the summer holidays, my dad and I always flew to Greece and I would always return there because the people are the most friendliest ones I've ever met and the food is just amazing.
Then of course I would visit Russia to see the beautiful Kreml, the Red Place and many other monuments.
Summarized I would love to travel all around the world to meet new people, get to know new cultures and learn new languages.