Rescue mission aka Apothecary chest of drawers

After moving out from the huge villa into this tiny little cottage, we had to get rid of some furniture, especially the bigger pieces because, quite frankly, there was no space to put them in. But then I wouldn't be an old furniture junkie that I am if I didn't get this sad, eaten through and falling apart piece of trash.

That's usually how it goes - the worse condition they are in, the more I want them... It may have sth to do with confidence. I mean, if it's already garbage, I can't really spoil it - much less pressure on the renovation process.
I always admire people who attempt those "Ikea hacks" etc. on brand new stuff. Sure, it doesn't cost much, but if you completely ruin it, it's just wasteful. But with my odds and ends, I feel free to try all sorts of stuff and in the worst case scenario - no harm done.

We got this chest of drawers on a yard sale (Goa being very much season-driven has a lot of those pre-monsoon) and it turned out to be a termite nest. It's quite common actually, termites are quite a local plague! So, obviously, the first order of business was to move this party to the "better place". I had a similar problem with the trunk I did quite a while ago, so I used the same poison and let it do its magic.

It was pretty straight forward from there. I had to refill the bigger and most noticeable termite holes as well as remove weird resin piece someone used to repair the surface.

I decided on apothecary theme  - I don't really know what was it originally used for, but I like to imagine bunches of dried herbs, powdered roots and brown glass bottles and vials full of potions, elixirs and cordials. Plus I knew we will store our cosmetics and perfumes in there since my vanity was turned into a changing table...
While my wood refill was drying, I taped and painted all the drawers white.

I have to mention that I had very limited resources for this renovation. First of all, nearly all my crafty supplies are still in boxes and second - the shopping was done by my husband, so instead of sending him on a hell run through stationary and art shops, I just settled on good old hardware store - can of oil paint, turpentine and wood varnish.

I got some botanical prints  for my first furniture decoupage attempt (that's where the junk aspect of the furniture came in handy - I would never try it on a new piece). I imagine it works better if you use tissue paper and not a simple printout, but, on the plus side, I got the laser print so the color didn't bleed.

After sticking my herbs and flowers on, it became painfully obvious that the paper is whiter than the paint. I burrowed through some boxes, got to a few tubes of paints and played with the drawers a bit to make them less print looking. A dub on the leaf here and on the flower there, plus, I tried to hide the edge of the paper as well as the color difference. If you look closely, you can still see it - after all, the paper has its thickness, but otherwise it looks quite uniform.

The next step was the top of the chest. I used a stencil I found on Pinterest. Well... actually I just used it as a visual and sketched the whole thing.

Then - and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with common sense - I realized I don't have any oils paints and proceeded to paint the "apothicaire" sign with black acrylic paint on the surface painted with glossy oil paint. Don't get me wrong, it can be done, but it will cost you... few white hair and two years of your life most likely.

After this nightmare was over, I covered the whole thing with transparent art varnish (the one you use for oil paintings, not furniture). I finished the drawers the same way because, as it turns out, only "transparent" wood varnish you can get around here is actually amber color.
I ended up using a very thin coat of it on the top surface, but, for some reason, applying art varnish under it makes it less noticeable.

When everything was nice and dry, I screw on the knobs I bought about hundred years ago because, well... they were so pretty that I simply had to have them. I just knew they will come in handy and  boy, was I right!

The flat the meringue and the best lemon curd

I think, I already mentioned that we finally bought a flat (YAY!!). That just shows you can never predict how things are going to turn out.
All this time, we were planning to get a place here - in Goa. We even made a downpayment on a flat, but then change our mind about the location so often that the project we landed on will be ready in about hundred years.

And then we went to Poland - completely preoccupied with the whole baby-having affair. Of course, the topic of us coming down more often came up, and with it the question of a place for us to stay (other than my parent's). Honestly, we didn't make any declarations, just randomly mentioned that we will one day, maybe, who knows - buy a small flat. But the cogs in the machine started moving and before I knew it we were picking tiles and paint colors and... I still can't believe we did it!

It was the first time when we hired people to do the work, made inspiration boards followed by lots of shopping and generally speaking - spent some money on the renovation. Even though I have a soft spot for interior "before and after's", I could hardly believe what a change it made. I said it before and I will say it again - paint is a very powerful tool!

Anyway, we are back in Goa and finally managed to move to a darling little cottage. Now, I know that where I see charming, countryside and rustic, others may see a bit of a ruin, but it has so much potential and I love being back in my DIY shoes.

Plus, there is something about this place that makes me want to wake up at 5.30 in the morning, bake bread, make cottage cheese and attempt cooking things I usually just pick up in the store.
So, last night, I made lemon curd. It is absolutely delicious and not at all difficult to make. I don't think it took me more than 20  minutes - start to finish.

This recipe makes 1 jar full (plus few spoons to lick in extasy or proudly present to whoever is near you when you finish)
100g butter ( I used slightly salty)
1/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup lemon juice

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in egg yolks - one at the time, until well incorporated. Continue mixing, while adding lemon juice slowly until everything is well combined.
Now warm up the mixture over boiling water (boil water in a pot, place mixing bowl on top of it so that it touches the water but not the bottom of the pot) whisking energetically - you don't want scrambled eggs!
First, its gonna melt, but after about 5 minutes it will start coming together. Curd is ready when it reaches the consistency of a thick sauce. It will thicken after refrigerating.

It is recommended to strain the curd before putting it in the jar to remove all the lumps. Quite frankly, after all, the mixing and whisking I didn't get any lumps but I had quite a few lemon seeds! So. Strain you curd! Whatever the reason.

Now, for the egg whites... meringues, obviously! I don't make them too often because then I', left with all the egg yolks, so I wasn't about to pass the occasion!

Side note: on one of my fav blogs with recipes that always work, I saw curd made using whole eggs, so you can still make your own curd,even if you have no use for leftover egg whites!

4 eggwhites
pinch of salt
200g sugar
1 tsp potato starch (I used cornstarch)
juice from a small lemon

Mix egg whites until just foamy and add salt. Now turn your mixer to high speed and mix until stiff. Turn to medium speed and add sugar one spoon at the time, until well incorporated. Still mixing, add starch and juice.
Place cookie size blobs (with a spoon or confectionery sleeve) on parchment paper and bake in 120 degrees for 70-80 minutes. Meringues should be dried more than baked - that's why they stay white or white-ish.
You can eat them as they are or with lemon curd, or, better yet, with lemon curd mixed with some mascarpone. Yum!!

chocolate cravings and banana bread

For some reason, I had close to none pregnancy cravings. It was lucky, I guess, but I was always curious about it. I mean, let's be honest, I do get cravings on a daily basis, so having a legitimate reason for once would be nice.

Anyway, one day back in Europe I woke up and decided: today is the day when I make banana bread. And that was the extent of it.
Normally I don't like bananas in anything but banana shakes - no banana pancakes, banoffee pie, and no banana bread. So I chucked it to a pregnancy craving, picked a random recipe from Pinterest and got to work. Of course, it turned out delicious and, of course, I didn't keep the recipe...

And here we are, a couple of months into motherhood, not pregnant in the slightest but the cravings continue. My latest thing is chocolate - shocking, I know. The thing is, I was never too much into chocolate cakes. Not that I don't like them, but I usually go for sth with whipped cream or butter frosting or caramel...
Once again, I opened Pinterest and picked "the best ever, oh so delicious, ah-mazing brownie" recipe. Well... it wasn't. It was too sweet, too oily and too flat with crystalized sugar on the top. It was nicely chewy though so we still ate half of it, but it wasn't satisfying chocolate experience at all. And that's when I started to think about that banana bread...
I went through like 10 different recipes trying to find the one I used before. In the end, I kind of mixed and matched and it turned out even better!

It is chocolate all the way! You can't taste bananas in it at all - great for me, cause, as I mentioned, I don't like bananas in cakes. (If you do, I would recommend adding some banana chunks to the batter.)
It's dense, not very sweet with a very deep, intense chocolate flavour from dark cocoa and coffee. I think I'll try it with a dash of chili next time!

Normally I would add chocolate chips and nuts (as mentioned in the recipe), but this time, I decided to utilize the not-so-ah-mazing brownie. I smashed it with a generous dose of dark rum and folded the crumbs into the batter - you can actually see it on the picture - the darker, denser dots. It gave the banana bread a kind of truffle quality and I absolutely loved it! Maybe not the point of screwing up another brownie just to put it into this bread, but if I ever have any stale cake left - I know what I'll be doing with it!

1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup flour
2/3 cup unsweeten cocoa powder

3 -4 ripe bananas ( I used 6 Goan micro bananas)
60g melted butter
1/2 (or less) brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup super strong coffee

2/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 banana sliced (optional)

Sift flour, salt, soda and cocoa powder and set aside
Mix bananas, butter, and sugar with a blender. Add egg and coffee and whisk together. Add dry ingredients and stir until combine. Add chocolate chips or nuts or banana chunks (or all of the above) and fold it into a mixture.

Bake 40-50 min in 180. I like it more brownie-like, a little fudgy, so I start checking it with a toothpick around 30-35 min. It should have moist crumbs sticking to it - not a liquid batter. But if you prefer well-done bread - wait until it comes out clean.

Pregnant in Paris - aka travelling in 3rd trimester

so... Paris, once again...
As I mentioned before (about a billion times), our trip was an unconventional one, planned and yet full of question marks. We bought tickets waaay in advance - understandable, considering the situation, but we had no idea how thing are going to go pregnancy-wise. Most of the airlines and doctors will allow you to fly till the end of 7th month, to avoid complications, but then again, being allowed to do sth and actually doing it are two different things, aren't they?
Of course, I did my research, as I always do, to see if there are any other crazy mothers to be, planning romantic excursions just before the due-date. Most od the "Paris pregnancy" articles were about moving to France while pregnant etc or having your last holidays in the very beginning of your pregnancy. I also found a lot of "avoid flying and longer trips in your third trimester" advices. Well... we already had the tickets so I decided to just wait and see what happens.
After not-so-encouraging reading material, I was a bit sceptical, but, at the same time, determined as hell to make the most of it. And it wasn't bad at all! It was actually pretty great.

First of all, we booked air-BnB, making sure it is 1. - near the metro station; 2. - more or less in the centre; 3. - has an elevator(!!!).

After a day of galleries, gardens and cobbled streets, the last thing you want to do is climb 5 cases of steep stairs, no matter how romantic it may seem to stay in one of those old Parisian attics.
As my feet started to swell on the day of our departure, I've noticed every step we had to climb, and there was no end to it. Forget Monte Martre or arc the triumph (yes, I did climb both!), stairs are everywhere! Metro stations, museums, galleries, gardens, shops... it may not seem like much to those with normal size feet, but after few hours in the softest ballet flats I was dreaming of crocks - yes, the ugliest shoes in the world!
So, if you are planning late pregnancy holidays - get yourself a pair of flip-flops or Uggs (or sth alike), depending on the season.

Second of all, your pregnant belly will work like a VIP pass nearly everywhere! I had some misgivings about blatantly using my "condition" to skip queues, use special entries and such, but it was such a comfort and time saver, I decided to screw missgivings and use it while I could.

Then there was a food conundrum. There is the whole list of things you are not supposed to eat while pregnant: seafood, pineapples, papayas, soft-boiled eggs etc. and then there is soft cheese, foie gras and wine... Apparently, it's safer to skip salads and red meet too.

To cushion the blow of not trying some culinary staples, I concentrated on desserts and... snails. As far as I know they are safe to eat and oh-so-delicious! Plus a sip of red wine every now and then is supposed to be ok too. To be on a safer side, skip fresh fruits and veggies (unless you wash them yourself), shellfish, red meat and cheese and you are good to go. Honestly, with all the macarons, creme brulee, baba au rhum, you will barely notice that you are missing something!

when it comes to safety, we didn't face any difficulties. Only two things that come to mind are the metro crowd and pick-pockets. Metro can get super crowded at times, and even though people usually will give you a seat, there is a fair amount of pushing and shoving so whatch out for that. As for pick-pockets, it's a standard warning for every tourist around the globe. I would make extra sure that you are comfortable with your bag as guarding you documents and money can be more difficult with an XXL belly.

To sum it up, I think 3rd-trimester trip is a fab idea.
It takes your mind off the pregnancy/delivery stress, helps you refocus and gives you "a kick" of energy. It gives you a great opportunity to click your belly pics and document you pregnancy glow. Plus, who knows when will you have a chance for a "just the two of you" trip again? If you are tired or walking, there are cafes and parks everywhere, just sit and people watch with a macaron in hand!
If your doctor gives you a green light - go for it!

there and back again - blogging break

This was the longest break in blogging I've ever had, but I feel it was completely justified. I can honestly say it turned out to be the craziest and most intense time ever. The moving across the ocean and visiting places with insane speed was just an entrée, a delicious one, mind you! It wasn't made any easier by the fact that I was already half through the third trimester and my feet were swelling like not so festive balloons!

Baby-having experience was, of course, the main event of the trip, but  buying and renovating our first very own flat was and unexpected dessert. With a cherry on top!

I loved being back in Europe for so long. Goa has oh-so-many advantages, and living here is great, but Europe is just so much simpler. I really needed a break from all the little Indian difficulties and quirks.

Now, that we are back, I can't quite believe we actually went through allll this in a few short months. And, as if it wasn't enough, Air France decided to provide some more material for the stories, and on the way back left our luggage in Paris. Coming to Goa in my winter clothes, when all i wanted to do was to jump into shorts and flip-flops was rather unnerving. I know that lost luggage is like daily bread in the airlines world, which is why I don't understand why the staff didn't handle the situation better. It wouldn't be a big deal if we weren't travelling with our two months old. Oh well, shit happens, which btw should be the new Air France slogan.

On the happier note, I simply loved renovating our new flat, though I wish we had more time and opportunities to DIY it. First of all, it wasnt really planned. We suddenly found ourselves in a position to buy a place and decided to go for it. We barely started looking when we found this tiny little bit of a studio with a big semi-private garden in a lovely neighborhood. It wasnt in the worst condition but needed sprucing up. At first we just wanted to do floors and paint job but ended up turning the place up side down. We bought it around the time the baby decided to see the world so I had to limit my involvment to picking colors and patterns.

We were literary putting last layers of the paint the day before we left for India, so we didn't get to enjoy our new pad. On the other hand, there is a new project on the horizon. As we won't be moving back to our old house, we had to find a new place. It's a cute little house in desperate need of love. I already have a huge list of DIY projects, not to mention, a special Pinterest board!
For now, we are staying in a rented flat with all our stuff still locked in a storage. I have to say, it's rather refreshing to live with only a few clothes and cosmetics and it made me realise I could actually let go of many things... which doesn't mean that I don't miss some of them terribly! Luckily, I brought 2 full bags of arts and craft materials so I have a perfect outlet for my DIY disorder. On the other hand, the kitchen in this "fully equipped" flat is rather pitiful, not to mention missing an oven! And, even worse, the place is infested with ants of every color and size. We still have some India - hoping to do, and decided not to move till mid march so I guess I just have to grit my teeth and try to survive on biscuits and instant ramen till then!

“how to” - 4 days in Paris

Everyone has a different philosophy of travelling. I’m the aggressive type: see everything, try everything, plan everything – especially during “first-time” trips. This way I know what to expect (more or less) and I’m hardly ever disappointed with our voyages. I have to say, our Parisian trip may just be a crown jewel of my plan making abilities!

How did I achieve such a touristic mastery? Well… I spent close to two weeks planning every second of our stay – researching locations, metro connections, places to stay, to visit, to eat in; tickets, entrance fees and what not. It may seem excessive, but boy was I happy I did that!

First, I made completely unrealistic list of ALL the places we should visit. Then, map in hand, I made painful cuts. Unfortunately, with any kind of trip, you have to prioritize. For example, will you pick visiting one specific place that will take the whole day of your precious time, or will you skip it to see three other, equally interesting places?

In our case, Anant really wanted to go to Versailles and I had my heart set on Monet’s garden in Giverny, but they are both outside of Paris so we decided to leave them for the next trip.

Since we had very good experience with AirBnb, we decided to book our room with them. It actually makes a lot of sense. Paying more or less “hostel” price, you have your privacy and comfort, plus you can choose a convenient location. We decided to stay in Montmartre - just a few minutes from Sacre Coeur and between two metro lines.

I prepared our private map of all the places we finally decided to see. I also divided them into color-coded categories: museums, historical places, interesting places, places to eat in. This way, I could easily figure out how to group the attractions and start planning our daily routes.

With that done, I compared the list and order of visiting places with opening hours and metro map and it finally started to resemble somewhat organized plan.

This is what I came up with (minus the metro details):

Day 1

·         Breakfast/ breakfast picnic under Sacre Coeur

·         Sacre Coeur

·         walk through Montmartre and lunch 

·         Champs Elysees

·         Arc de Triomphe

·         Eiffel Tower & Champ de Mars

·         Dinner

Day 2

·         Sante Chapelle

·         Crepes for breakfast

·         Notre Dame

·         Notre Dame Crypt

·         Shakespeare & Co

·         latin quarter + Pantheon and lunch

·         bvd. Saint Germain towards d’Orsay 

·         stop in Laduree or Café de Flor

·         Musee d’Orsay

·         Dinner

Day 3

·         Chocolate at Angelina

·         Musee de l’Orangerie

·         Tuileries gardens – picnic lunch

·         Louvre

·         dinner

Day 4

·         Cafe @ Lafayette

·         Chartier

·         Cluny

·         Centre Pompidou

·         dinner

Of course, we didn’t manage to do everything on our list, which was predictable. Our walk through Montmartre wasn’t at all what I planned.
You know, how some people say that you stumble upon best things when you just get lost in the city? Well, we did get lost and ended up next to the metro stop from which we were supposed to go towards Champs Elysees, just after half an hour walk. But, since we actually flew from India that very morning, I figured it was good enough.

We also didn’t see the inside of Notre Dame, because the queue was, quite frankly, horrifying.
Angelina, where we were planning to sip the famous chocolate, was closed by the time we actually felt like having chocolate, and we also skipped the trip to Galeries Lafayette.  I read that the view is amazing, and, since I didn’t anticipate climbing Arc de Triomphe, it was supposed to be my chance to see Paris from up high.

Now the handful of practical information, which made our trip so much easier.

If you are a museum freak, buy Museum Pass. It will save you some money and a lot of time. In most places, you get the priority access with the pass, not to mention, you don’t have to stand in the ticket queues. The only place, where we had to wait was Sante Chapelle, where you have to go through security check. Even if you are not planning on buying the pass, visit the website. They have all the basic information about the museums, exhibition, location etc. I found out that some museums stay open as late as 9.45 on some days.

You could also invest in Paris Pass. It is a bit pricey and offers and bunch of things we didn’t need so we decided to stick to Museum Pass.

Also, in most places, pregnant or disabled people and whoever they are with, get special access. For example, you can see Mona Lisa up close!

Public transportation in Paris can be a bit confusing. I found the metro the most convenient. Depending on how much you plan to travel, you can choose from few different tickets options. 

There are tourist passes, weekly passes, daily passes, ticket packets or single tickets. They are priced depending on how many zones they are valid for. Most of the touristic spots are located in zone one, apart from Versailles and airports. 

I planned our trip in such a way, that we didn’t need more than 2-3 tickets a day, so we just got two of those ticket packets (it’s 10 tickets each and comes out to be cheaper than buying single tickets) on the airport. You can find ticket machines on every metro station.

If you are taking the train from the airport (as far as I know, it’s the cheapest option) you will need 10 euro ticket, which is also valid on the Paris metro.

Oh, and contrary to popular belief, people are quite friendly and do speak English! Before we got our online maps sorted, we had to ask directions couple of times and I was pleasantly surprised with how helpful everyone tried to be!

And the final thing to know about Paris – it’s a city of stairs! You feel like you are constantly climbing sth, so be ready for that and get comfy shoes!

through continents in 15 days

I can’t believe we actually made it!
To sum it up, we’ve been on the road for more than two weeks, before we reached our final destination. 30 hours train ride from Goa to Jaipur, then Jaipur to Delhi, then Paris, then Warsaw and finally Cracow. 

 
After shopping in Pink City, we did some suitcase stuffing in Paharganj – my absolutely fav shopping spot in Delhi.
After you rummage through all the crap, you can find some truly great and unique things. To be quite honest, I’m dying to get my hands on some home décor after we’re back in India (and have the home situation figured out, of course).

We stayed in Hari Piorko – hotel and shop in the heart of main bazaar. Hotels in Paharganj charge close to nothing, so for their prices, I expected slightly better service and food (!), but rooms are nice and clean, bathrooms spacious and, in the end, we stayed there only for one night. 

The shop is great for souvenirs and gifts. They have fixed (and more then reasonable) prices and a good selection of, well everything you may want to bring from India. Spices and teas in cute boxes, incenses, cosmetics, figurines and other decorative items, jewelry, clothes and more. Of course, if you are looking for something truly special, you gonna have to venture out into the market, but if you are short on time or don’t enjoy bazaars and haggling, this place is quite convenient.

Of course, Paris was the main event. I spent days planning every minute of these four days, making sure we do and see as much as humanly possible. Of course, we still have plenty left for some future trips, but we did manage to do nearly everything from my list. 

After the French interlude, we spent some family time in Warsaw, to finally land in my beautiful hometown. I decided that we should recuperate and deal with all the pending work, before enjoying all the city has to offer.