Theeuroblog.com – Health, Food and Travel

There are a lot of things to be renovated in our old stone house. Some areas are already done but some are not. Our next project after the terrace and garage will be our kitchen and dining room. These are only some of the most important areas in the house that need some makeover. Just like you, we always use our kitchen and dining room everyday. A cozy, clean and beautiful kitchen and dining room makes us feel comfortable. This is the reason why it needs to be renovated very soon.

We also need new kitchen and dining furniture. I can’t wait to sit on a new dining table. Hubby is complaining sometimes because our old one keeps on moving because it is not stable anymore. With a slight touch, his cup full of coffee already slips on the table.

One of the most important furniture that we need is a new I can’t wait till a new complete kitchen unit. Hubby said our kitchen unit is almost twenty years old now. Imagine how old it is already. No wonder, it is slowly breaking now. I hope we can replace it with hard wood like he one I saw in the internet.

a nice rattan coffee table set. We had a window shopping the other week.

Good to know that last year, we already changed our old windows in the kitchen with tilt and turn windows. This time it is very better because I don’t already feel the cold air coming inside the window especially during winter.

Slowly by slowly, we are making some renovation in our old stone house. It just feels good when you live in a more comfortable and nice environment inside your home. Agree with me guys?

Some may spelled calamares as calamaris but I guess it depends on what language it is. It is known in Greek as Kalamari, Calamares in Spanish, Calamaro in Italian and Calmar in French. It is commonly known as squid and a very popular food especially in the Mediterranean region.

I love how the Greek cooked the calamares. That is why I love dining in Greek restaurants and I always order fried calamares. Actually, it derives its name from Latin word calamarium which means “ink pot”. You notice that squid secretes inky fluid? I also love adobo squid, a Filipino recipe.

I just saw this calamares in my picture file. I love this food! I also love adobo squid, a Filipino recipe. I hope to find an image of this in my file.

What’s your favourite area of your house? If you have to ask me, I would say our kitchen. How I wish we have a big kitchen but we don’t. I always love an island kitchen but we don’t have a space to build it. If I win the lottery, probably we can build one. Somebody’s dreaming again! But believe me guys, I spend more time in our kitchen than our living room. I guess the answer is very simple, I love to cook. But since I am in a so-called little diet right now, I seldom cook the past weeks.

If you will see our small kitchen, you might be amazed what are the stuffs that I have in there. I have around 5 tea light holders, porcelain tea sets, capodimonte from Italy, crystals of different kinds, flower vases, true plants and flowers, beer mugs and many many more.

stuffs on our kitchen window. I can’t find at this moment any other images from our kitchen. This was taken last year.

Actually, our dining table is also located in our kitchen. It also needs to be replaced with a new one. I love the contemporary chairs that I found online last week. I haven’t showed it to hubby yet but I believed he will also like it. I guess I want a contemporary style once we will renovate our kitchen. If we only have a big kitchen, I also wanted to have an occasional table in it. I would love to put on it my collections like the capodimonte and some crystals.

Off to our kitchen now to prepare for dinner. See you later folks!

I always believed in the saying, “Food and travel go together”. How about you? I will not surely enjoy my vacation with a hungry stomach. That is the reason why I mentioned, food and travel are always partners.

Spain is a delightful dichotomy-a mixture of east and west. It is a country rich in culture and history. Don’t you know that it has the largest number of World Heritage Cities and second-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, after Italy? No wonder it became the third most famous tourist destination in the world in 2001.

Spain is also known for its relaxed lifestyle, world-famous folklore and festivities, friendly people, vibrant nightlife and its cuisine. How would you love to spend some exciting Spain holidays and taste the famous Spanish cuisine? This will be our main topic here.

I am not so new with regards to Spanish cuisine. My home country, Philippines was invaded and ruled by the Spaniards for almost three hundred years. Due to this, Philippines was influenced by mostly Spanish customs and tradition. I can even cook in my own ways some foods which we adapted from the Spaniards.

Here are few Spanish cuisine to try in your next holiday to Spain.

Paella

During our Christmas party last year, one of my friends prepared Paella. It is some sort of a saffron rice with different mixture of meat and seafood in it. There are kinds of Paellla. The common ones are the Valencian paella, seafood paella and the mixed paella. Now, I remember that my Aunt used to prepare the Valencian paella. We also call it Valenciana.

Escabeche

Escabeche of chicken, rabbit or pork is common in Spain. I love especially to cook a fish escabeche. It refers to both a dish of poached or fried fish that is marinated in an acidic mixture before serving, and to the marinade itself. I usually prepare it with onions, chayote, carrots and peppers.

a fish escabeche I prepared during a friend’s birthday last January 2011.

Chorizo

This is one of my favourite. The Spanish chorizo is made from coarsely chopped pork and pork fat, seasoned with smoked pimentón (paprika) and salt. It can be spicy or sweet depending upon the type on how it is prepared. It may contain garlic, herbs and other ingredients.

Cochinillo Asado (Roast Suckling Pig)

Cochinillo Asado is roast baby pig. Its fatty outside is crisp and perfect for those who like pork rind, while its meat is tender and juicy. This is so delicious that I can’t avoid eating it when I see it.

Cochinillo Asado (Roast Suckling Pig). I prepare this sometimes.

Tapas

This Spanish food is a bit like appetizers or starters. It is also like snacks for Spanish cuisine. The common Spanish tapas are Banderillas, Aceitunas, Bacalao, Boquerones, Calamares or rabas,Chopitos and so many more. It is considered as side orders to accompany your drinks in bars.

Jamon

It is a cured ham from Spain. There are two primary types of jamón, the Jamón serrano and Jamón ibérico. This is also considered to be Spain’s second religion. That is quite interesting.

Empanada

I know how to prepare this Spanish pastry but in my own style. An empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried. It is made by folding a dough around the stuffing. My stuffing are usually meat and vegetables. Others used fruits as stuffing.

There are still a lot of Spanish cuisine to try. Depending on the places or region you will visit in Spain, each has its own specialty. For sure we will enjoy our holiday in Spain.

Since the past weeks that I started a diet program, I always see to it that there are always bananas in our kitchen. Sometimes, I only eat a banana or apple during lunch time. Eating these fruits makes me feel good. Beside, it is disposed very easily from our body. It is maybe because they are rich in fiber. I miss eating fresh bananas that is only pick-up in our backyard before.

Banana belongs to herbaceous plants. Its belong to genus Musa. I can’t remember now how many kinds of bananas are grown around the world. In my home country, I always see and taste different kinds of this fruit. I believed I can also say, “A banana a day, keeps the sickness away”.

Potential health effects

Along with other fruits and vegetables, consumption of bananas may be associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer and in women, breast cancer and renal cell carcinoma.

Individuals with a latex allergy may experience a reaction to bananas.

Bananas contain moderate amounts of vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese and potassium,possibly contributing to electrolyte balance.

Bananas also help increase dopamine production due to the amino acid tyrosine which is present in the banana.

In India, juice is extracted from the corm and used as a home remedy for jaundice, sometimes with the addition of honey, and for kidney stones.

taken in a supermarket we visited last week.

source

I guess I have been talking a lot about food here. This time, I would love to share something about kitchen and dining furniture. You know why? We really need to renovate our kitchen at the soonest possible time. I hope anytime this year. That is also the reason why I am already starting to look for kitchen and dining ideas online and in every furniture shop we visit. There is a carpenter nearby who is making customized home furniture but it is just too expensive. Sometimes, it is good to shop online because you find a lot of designs and the prices are also cheaper.

I love this dining set from Worldfurnitue.co.uk

I bought new office furniture last Christmas and this year we need to slowly plan for the renovation of our kitchen. We need a new dining set, kitchen cabinets and appliances like oven, refrigerator and cooking plates. Sometimes I find it difficult what are really the best furniture that will fit in our small kitchen. Thanks to World Furniture and Turtle Mat for all the great ideas you shared in your sites. I also love your products especially the dining set I posted here.

If you are also looking for home and office furniture ideas and products, I suggest you better browse online. There are a lot of sites like the ones I mentioned above. It always feels good when we have beautiful furniture and decors inside the house.

I don’t usually eat cake everyday because I know that there is lot of sugar in it..I mean it is too sweet for me…but mind you, German cakes taste very good and I love it…I like better to eat German cake than American ones. American cakes are just so sweet that sometimes I got sore throat from it..it is good to eat sometimes but not all the time…

This coming Sunday, we will be going to a birthday party of my husband’s relative..I already expect lots of cake over there…Hmmm..I love it!! I know you’re hungry now so I better say goodbye!!! take care everyone!!

I took this photo during the 75th birthday of my husband’s auntie..taken last Nov. 25, 2008…

I had a conversation with a friend this early evening. We were talking about food and travel. These are always our favorite topics because we believed that both goes hand in hand. Besides, we love to cook, to eat and yes, traveling too. Sightseeing and walking all the time can be very tiresome and it makes you feel very hungry later on. That is the reason why food and travel always belong to each other.

My friend told me that they are planning to have a one week trip to many cities in Italy this coming spring break in April. In fact, her husband had found and already booked one of the cheap hotel deals in the internet. I forgot to ask which booking site he found it. I am also happy to know that somehow, despite of her hubby’s busy schedule, he still find time to spend holiday with his family. I am happy to hear about my friend’s plan this evening.

This is my homemade gyros. Its been a long time since I did not cook this Greek food. I might try it again next week.

I am also quite excited. Not only with the food that I might be tasting during my incoming trip in April but also the new places that I will be visiting in Europe. It will be a 6-day trip and I am very happy because it is a very cheap trip. I just booked it last week. Imagine a very cheap holiday which include everything from accommodation to transportation plus breakfast and dinner also.

Sad to say, hubby can’t go with me. I ended up inviting another friend to come with me. She was also very happy as I mentioned that trip to her last night. I am still waiting for her final decision tomorrow but I believed she is coming with me.

Lastly, I would like to ask you if you consider food and travel to go together?

It was one summer afternoon as we had the chance to make a road trip from the Bavarian Forest to the borders of Czech Republic, to Lahm, Passau and other towns and villages in Bavaria, Germany. It feels good to see the mountains around especially in the Bayerisher Wald or the Bavarian Forest.

Here are some snapshots we took during that trip last August 2010.

the Danube River (Donau) in Passau, Germany. You can see the Vestehaus on top of that hill

the mountains in Bavarian Forest. I believed this is the Great Arber mountain.

a lot of trees, hills and mountains around..such a wonder of nature.

These are my images for My World Tuesday, Watery, Wordful and Outdoor Wednesday. Thanks to the Authors of these memes.

I am trying to remember this flower I have here. If I am not mistaken this is a Begonia flower. I had this flower in our kitchen last year. I put near our window. Sad to say, it is gone now. I want to buy again this summer time.

This blog is joining these wonderful memes; Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Mellow yellow, and Ruby Tuesday. Special thanks to the Authors for sharing these interesting memes in the blogosphere. Have a lovely day! as lovely as these flowers!