Solvang, CA

About a month ago, I took my in-laws to visit Solvang, here in California.

Solvang is a Danish town inside the United States. The houses, restaurants and food are all very typical.

We stayed at the Hotel Corque, a super charming boutique hotel!

Besides touring in the city, Solvang is located at the Santa Ynez Valley region, full of great wineries. We went to Firestone Vineyard and had a wonderful wine tasting! But I'll talk about it another time because I have some very cool pictures I want to show you.

American Denmark or Danish America?

Good ideas!

Searching for cool things, I found three good ideas that I'll share with you:

The first one is a garbage bag that mimics a goldfish bag. So cute and much more pleasant to look at than your ordinary trash bag, right?

You can buy this cork coaster, but if you have some corks left at home, a hot glue gun and some skill, you can make your own at home.

And, finally, honey spoons. Imagine using these cute spoons during some tea time with friends or with your daily hot milk or tea? That's a good idea!



Girl from Ipanema...

I went to Rio de Janeiro for a very quick visit. The reason of my trip was to stay with my youngest niece, but still we could go to a few places and I took some pictures that show you that yes, o Rio de Janeiro continua lindo! (Rio de Janeiro is still beautiful!)

We went to Market Ipanema, a restaurant that I posted here, and thanks to this suggestion I can say it's one of the best restaurants I've been to: delicious typical Brazilian food in such a pleasant place.
We ordered a pumpkin quinoa quiche with vegetables, potato salad and filet mignon with mashed potatoes.

To drink, natural pressed juices and, for dessert, banana ice cream with paçoca (typical Brazilian treat made with peanuts), dulce de leche ice cream and apple crumble.

We finished our meal with expresso and brigadeiro in a spoon! (brigadeiro is another typical Brazilian treat made with condensed milk and cocoa powder). Everything is so well made, organic and delicious!

After this wonderful lunch, we walked on the beach. What a day, right? 

Herb Gardens

I love the idea of ​​having my own fresh herbs, available in my yard or by my window. Until some years ago, if you wanted to grow your own herbs, you would need a house with a big yard or live in the countryside. However, nowadays there are nice herb gardens that you can keep indoors and with artificial light!
It's not difficult to find houses with these herb gardens by the windows in LA and, oddly enough, they look beautiful and kind of easy to use. If you are up to do this, and if you buy the right products (seeds, soil etc), I think it can work!
For those who might like this adventure, here are some cool options:

Officeoriginair

Bacsac's

AeroGarden

Sagaform

PS: I won't be able to post the next days, but I'll be back next week with more tips and news! A great week to all!

This week's DELIGHT: Bread Roll

This Week's DELIGHT is very handy: bread roll with pizza dough.
There is no recipe, but it is very simple and perfect for those days when we need to come up with something quick and tasty.

Here in LA it's very easy to find pizza dough in supermarkets. It's sold in bags and you just roll out the dough with a roller and it's ready. But instead of pizza, I make bread rolls. If you prefer - or don't find that kind of dough on the shelves - you can make it from scratch (soon, I will make a "legitimate" bread roll, my grandma's recipe, and I'll post here for you).



I rolled out the dough, filled with cooked spinach, dried tomatoes and grated mozzarella. Rolled like a roulade, brushed with eggs on top and placed in the oven. Fifteen minutes and it's ready! As side dish, I made a salad with avocado, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese (a Greek cheese). Yummy!

Southern California Flower Market

A great place to buy flowers is the Flower Market in Los Angeles, Downtown. It's located at the Flower District, and there you will find several shops selling flowers, plants, pots etc..

I bought a beautiful white orchid, some pots (very cheap) and one bouquet. It's a delight for flower lovers!

In love: Colorful Cuisinart

After disappearing for a while (the next couple of weeks I'm not posting every day, but everything will be back to normal very soon!), we will start this week talking about new electric products for your kitchen: a colorful line of mixers, processors, blenders, ice cream machines from Cuisinart!

The blenders and food processors are available mini-size and are perfect when you have to prepare a small portion and don't want to use those huge equipment!

Colorful electrics that will make your kitchen beautiful!