Sweets, vacation & partytime!

Yesterday I made vegan cookie monster cupcakes (from the sesame street) for a friend's birthday.

I think he really liked them, and my mom, her boyfriend and Flo ate their cupcakes in slowmotion so they wouldn't be done too fast because they were so yummy =D (I kept one cupcake for each of them and gave the other ones to my friend)

This is how the production looked like:

(click to enlarge!)

1st step: mix the dough and fill it into the cupcake forms.

(as always, I'm not posting the detailed recipe without request, but if you want it, just tell me and I'll add it =))

2nd step: BAKE!

3rd step: give them a juicy vanilla pudding frosting

4th step: 

•          prepare the monster eyes (made from coffee beans and marzipan formed into small balls )
•          prepare cookie monster's "coat", made from coconut flakes and blue food colouring

5th step: add the coat!

6th & final step: add the eyes and some vegan cookies =)

Isn't it cute? ^^

Yesterday's lunch. Rosemary oven potatoes with spinach =)

Yum!

This was Yesterday's dessert after lunch (selfmade, of course):

Vegan coconut panna cotta!

Damn was that tasty.

This is one more of the pictures Flo and I made in that wonderful park last week.

I know I look kinda creepy, but somehow I like it...

And, last but not least, something completely different: A picture from the 2-months journey thorugh Sardegna my mum and I did in 2010.

I found that pictue today and just HAD to post it! It's not at all edited and still looks so great.

And if you're asking yourself now if that's really a candle underneath that glass, and if I may have tortured that little lizard when I took the photo: Of course I didn't!

My mum is just as much of a nature and animal lover as I am, and we would both never hurt any living thing. I held it over the candle for about two seconds, just in order to take the photo, and then we set it free.  Our little friend wasn't harmed at all =)

Maybe I'll show you some more of the great pictures we took during that vacation someday.

Today (as it's already 2:50 in the morning) is my mum's 53rd birthday and also Flo's and my 3rd anniversary! We actually got together on my mum's 50th birthday party ^^

Today we're having a little vegan lunchparty at my mum's boyfriend's and in the evening we'll go to a thermal spa. On Saturday, we'll have a big party in the club that I work at.

There'll be quite a lot of bands playing, and even Rainer von Vielen (the leader of the Band "Orange", *click* for some great music) will be there!

I'm sooo excited =)

Oh well, and next week, on Wednesday, Flo and I are flying to Berlin to visit my dad (he has been living there for 10 years now, so I'm going to Berlin at least three times a year).

As always, I'm really looking forward to it, but the bad thing is that I won't be able to post anything for the next two weeks.

But as soon as I'm back, I'll surely show you a lot of stuff! We'll also visit the vegan supermarket "Veganz" there for the first time, so there'll be quite a lot of stuff to tell you when I get back =)

I'll try to do a last post on Tuesday before I leave, but I can't promise.

Now I have to hurry finishing Flo's anniversary present and then go to sleep.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Love, PL

Yum

First of all, I have to say sorry (AGAIN) for my lack of uppdates during the last week.

I really am very, very busy and just can't manage to do a new post daily.

Today's post is mainly about food, everything else will follow.

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On Friday, I made vegan wraps for my mum and my best friend.

They are filled with "Arrabitom" spread from the ecostore- a paste with a spicy tomato taste, potato puree, broccoli, onions, herbs and spices.

If anyone wants the recipe, just tell me. 

(I won't post longer recipes without request)

 

These are whole grain ginger cookies that I made for some friends on thursday.

They also have apple and chocolate bits inside.

  

A button I made today, as a little gift for a girl who bought some of my old clothes.

Hope she'll like it =)

 

Our newest vegan achievements (most of them are from "Vantastic foods"): 

• Vlavorize Smoke Salt type "hickory", which gives your meals a nice smokey taste
• "no egg" egg replacement powder, one teaspoon replaces one whole egg
• An ayurvedic pancake baking mixture, which I already tried today- pictures & review tomorrow!
• Seitan fix, a premade mixture for making your own Seitan
• Vlavorize Kala Namak ("black salt"), which can be used for sweet foods such as smoothies or desserts as well as for savoury foods. It's also famous for giving a certain "egg-taste" to your meals, so you can use it for vegan scrambled eggs, for example.
• Soy medaillons and Soy cubes (e.g. for meat replacement)

This was today's dessert, made from banana, peanut mush, lemon, tofu, maple syrup and a tiny bit of cayenne pepper. It's topped with lemon zest, coconut flakes and goji berries.

Flo, my mum and her boyfriend really loved it. It's very addictive!

Again, if anyone wants the detailed recipe, just tell me =)

This is a gret idea I came across: Finally a way to prevent your recipe books from getting dirty! I wish I had thought about that earlier...

The cookbook is "La Veganista",  a quite good one with cute paintings. 

What I really like about it, apart from the nice pictures, is that it has many sites with basic vegan recipes on how to make Seitan and stuff.

Only thing to critisize is that the recipes are way too high in calories if you ask me =/

                                                  

                                        

This is what happened to my avocado kernel meanwhile- tomorrow I'll finally put it in a flower pot.

I already did five more.

I hope this post leaves you a bit satisfied!

My boyfriend Flo is here and I totally have to cuddle with him a bit, although he's already sleeping- So I'm off now =)

Have a cozy evening eceryone!

Love, PL

Impressions

Today I'll just show you some pictures I made during the last days.

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These two were shot today, mostly in order to show you that hairstyle =)

I usually never do up my hair, as I think it doesn't look good on me and I just love long, open hair- but this one is great!

Nothing to say here. Mirrors kinda scared me as long as I can remember...

Generations 

(Mum, Grandma & me)

This is my lovely grandma. As I told you quite a lot of stuff about her already, I thought it would be nice to show you what she looks like =)

My granddad isn't doing very well at the moment (he has diabetes and a sick heart, and has gotten quite weak lately), that's why she looks so worried especially in the second picture...

Grandma is the one with the ginger-genes in my family. And she's the only person I know that even has freckles on the insides of her hands!

Oh, I love her <3

And this is a picture of my boyfriend that was shot last weekend when we had a little Shooting in a wonderful park (the place where our love-lock is placed). I'll show you some more of the pictures we took in tomorrow's post!

That's all I have for you today, I'm pretty tired and I have a nasty eye inflammation, so it isn't easy to keep looking at the screen for too long. My eyes are all red and glassy, that's why they're closed on the first pictures. If it doesn't get better tomorrow, I'll go see a doctor.

Love, PL

Finally.

                           First of all, I want to show you what I look like with my new dress, as promised =)
                                                              It's also my new look on lookbook!
                                                                            (click for bigger)

This is how my second time of making energy balls turned out!

I tried to be a little more creative and formed some of them into small hearts =)

This time, I chose almonds and figs and tossed the balls in a mixture of carob- and gingerpowder. 

This is a purse my mom gave me as a present. She was so in love with it, that she actually bought it two times, one for her and one for me!

I aboslutely adore the cheesy design it has =)

This is what it looks like on the inside. I use it for pictures of my loved ones, so I can always take them with me. The pictures on the right side are my mom and my "brother" (obviously, he's not really my brother! He's my best friend, but the way I feel about him feels quite much like he's the brother I never had), and the pictures on the left side both show my boyfriend. (Isn't he just super- handsome? ^^)

This is my non-finished project on making my own jewellery stand. In the next step, I'll paint it cream white and then add some vintage-look flowers to it! I'll show you the result as soon as I'm done.

And this is what I had for lunch today, as I was way too lazy to cook something (yep, unbelievable).

It's a salad from beetroot, Champignons, sauerkraut, alfalfa germlings, half of an avocado and some linseed oil, salt and yeast flakes. Yum!

I can't post the pictures of my ship collection today, because it was already too dark outside when I tried to photograph them- and I really hate using the flash! So I'll try to take some proper photos of it tomorrow.

Since yesterday, animal testing for cosmetical products is finally forbidden in Europe!

I had absinthe with my boyfriend to celebrate that =)

Also, Flo took me to a very beautiful bridge yesterday, after he told me that he has a little surprise for me. When we stood on that bridge, he first told me that he chose that bridge because it was so beautiful and you could see a weeping willow standing next to it (weeping willows are my very favourite trees! They're so melancholically beautiful...). Then he took out a little red lock with an engraved heart and our names on it, and I almost cried over how romantic he can be! We locket it at the bridge's railing and threw the key into the water. I'll never forget that moment, as it felt like we were throwing away the possibility of ever leaving each other =)

Tomorrow evening, he'll take me to a sushi restaurant and then we'll have a cuddly evening watching an ARTE documentary about aluminium that was on TV yesterday.

If I find the time for it, I'll do a small post tomorrow before I leave for the weekend!

My yogi tea says:

Don't just love because, but despite.

PL

Death

(click for bigger)

She's made of hair and bone and little teeth

and things that cannot speak

she comes on like a crippled plaything

her spine is just a string

(I'm sorry I didn't manage to post the promised stuff today. I got everything prepared, the photos are shot and I have quite a lot to tell you, but I had a day full of work and when it came to decide whether I want to meditate with my mum or do that post before I go to bed, I chose the meditation. And now I'm just too tired to do a proper post, so you just get that dead mouse I found in our frontyard yesterday. I photographed and edited it a little bit and then thought that those few lines from Marilyn Manson's "Tourniquet" are fitting quite well. Tomorrow I'm at my boyfriend's, so you'll have to wait until Thursday for a new post to come. But then, I promise, it will be long and with a lot of pictures!)

∞ PL

Yoho, yoho, a pirate's life for me!

I'm really sorry I didn't post anything during the last days, but here's why:

I had the weekend of doom! I don't think it would be interesting for you what happened, but I felt quite fucked up until Sunday.

The outfit post with my new dress will follow tomorrow.

There will also be a first giveaway as soon as I have enough readers for it to make any sense =)

On friday, I made vegan energy balls, and this is how they turned out:

(click for bigger)

They're made from coarsely ground cashew kernels and mashed dried dates, both mixed together and formed into small balls. You can also choose other nuts and dried fruits, of course! In the end, you can toss the balls in something like coconut flakes or cocoa- I chose carobpowder, that's a powder similar to cocoa, but naturally a little bit sweeter and with a soft taste of caramel.

I think they turned out great, everyone who has tried them yet couldn't get enough of it =)

Tomorrow I'll make new ones, this time with dried figs and almonds and tossed in gingerpowder.

This is vegan ice cream made from lupine protein. It's something completely new on the market, a small company in germany found out how to extract the protein from the lupine plants and had the great idea to make an ice cream out of it. And DAMN, it's so good!

The best thing is that it's available in the regular supermarket, so you don't have to go to the ecostore and pay tons of money!

I already tried "Walnut Dream", "Vanilla Cherry" and "Strawberry Mousse". It's unbelievably creamy, sweet and tasty and surprisingly low in calories and fat! You totally have to try it if you're an ice cream lover!

This is what we had for lunch today- breaded cauliflower with soft boiled buckwheat and a sweet-sour and delightfully spicy mango-onion sauce. It's very tasty and filling!

I can give you the detailed recipe if anyone wants it- just tell me!

And thisssss.... Is my newest pirate ship! Or at least, it's on the best way to become one ^^

It has been a trading ship for all his life, but now it got captured by a filthy pirate (me) and is slowly turning into a pirate ship!

Perhaps I should tell you that I do have a collector's passion: I have been collecting all sorts of ships in bottles and model ships for the past years (also a lot of other things that are connected to pirates and the sea). Of course I'll show you a picture of my collection soon, now that I told you about it!

This ship was a present from a friend. It's the biggest one I have yet, and I promised my friend to restore it, as it has been lying on her attic for years and thus is quite dusty and destroyed.

I will also keep you informed about it's state of restoration!

Yesterday, my mum told me that she is planning on emigrating to Sardegna (the place where my heart is, I guess that's what people use to call "home") in a few years, and that makes me the happiest person in the world!

I kinda grew up there and have always wished for going back and staying there someday. My boyfriend wants to come with me and leave the average life behind that we have here, but I could never imagine to do it without my mum. Now that she told me she has the same plans for the future, nothing is keeping me from doing it anymore. I could hug the whole world for that! =)

As it's already half past two in the morning, this has to be enough for today. 

Now I will go to bed and read "the tales of beedle the bard" until I fall asleep.

Have a peaceful night everyone!

Love, PL

Grandma's magic powers

My beloved grandma is here, and she finally brought the dress that she made for me! Once again, I'm amazed how fast she is... She has to be a witch or something! of course I have to show it to you, so here it is:

(click for bigger)

Isn't it lovely? Quite innocent and not sexy or anything, but that's exactly how I wanted it to be =)

Grandma also made two lace collars for it, so that I can switch them. They are easily attached with snap buttons. Which one should I pick for the birthday party I'm going to tomorrow? You tell me =)

This was yesterday's breakfast.

Two days ago, my mom and me went to the ecostore to buy Seitan for the first time. This is what it looks like, the package contained 200g and costed 3,25 Euros. Seitan is a great Protein source for the vegan kitchen and tastes quite much like meat. Plus, it's very low in calories and fat and cholesterol-free. It's also possible to make Seitan yourself, so we'll try to do it and see what's cheaper.

Of course I'll post the receipt for it once we're done =)

This is what the Seitan meal looked like in the End. It was called "Szechuan Seitan" and contained lots of vegetables. If anyone want's the recipe, just tell me and you'll get it!

                                      
                         This is yesterday's dessert, selfmade raspberry-banana-coconut Ice cream.
 It's made from nothing but frozen raspberrys (which my grandma collected in the woods last summer!),
   frozen bananas and coconut milk. No sugar added- and it's even sweeter and much more tasty than
     bought ice cream would be! Also mind the great color it has, I keep asking myself why synthetic
                                                            colouring does even exist.

These are Jojoba Oil (I use it on my whole face and actually it's the only thing I use for my facial skin, as it makes pimples as well as wrinkles go away overnight) and a hand cream and a foaming bath from Aldo Vandini, type "the spirit of india", which both have a overwhelmingly great spicy scent!

I highly recommend these products =)

...And this is what I looked like yesterday, the dress is secondhand and I absolutely love it!

It's also my new look on lookbook, a dedication to the first days of spring =)

Oh dear sun, I missed you <3

So that's for today, as I have quite a lot of work left to do. Tomorrow I'll post a look with my new dress!

Love, PL