Growing your own veggies and fruits is something I have grown up with. My mom loves gardening, my dad enjoys picking and drying edible wild herbs. My grandparents spent years working in a vegetable greenhouse in Austria producing varieties of crops. Despite the fact that my family lives in a big city, we have never missed the opportunity of heading to a local farm and picking our own fruits and veggies. 

It is strawberry season here in Ontario, starting mid-June and extending into mid-July. And even though our son is traveling right now, my husband and I couldn't skip the tradition of picking berries. To us, the simple pleasure of picking-your-own has always been a perfect way of reconnecting to the food we eat and most importantly, of raising a kid with an awareness of the benefits of healthy eating and buying locally. 

I have to say, nothing beats fresh, flavourful, local strawberries that have been gathered from the field with your own hands. Nothing beats homemade jam that my mom makes every summer for us and now I am making it for our son... Nothing beats fresh salad with strawberry, spinach, and herbs that you grow yourself...

I don't know what exactly made the author conclude "happiness is homemade", but if it was homemade berry jam on a slice of warm freshly baked walnut bread... I totally understand...

Easy Homemade Strawberry Jam (my mom's recipe)

Ingredients: 

2 kg (4.4 lbs) strawberries, washed
1 kg (2.2 lbs) sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice

Directions:

Wash freshly picked strawberries changing the water several times, so no sand or soil is left. Cut the stems and spread strawberries in a baking dish. Add sugar on it. Cover the dish and leave it for about 10-12 hours. Strawberries should absorb the sugar and release their juice.
Preheat oven to 350°C. Bake until bubbles appear and strawberry texture gets denser ( about an hour and a half, depends on how watery the fruits are). Add a tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice and bake for a few more minutes.
Pour the jam in sterilized glass jars. If you want to keep them in the pantry, you will need to seal the jars by placing in boiling water for 5-10 minutes.
Make about four  jars (250 ml)

Strawberry Spinach Salad 

Ingredients:

1/2 package of baby spinach, washed
1 cup strawberries, sliced
goat cheese
pecan halves or walnuts
basil

Directions:

Assemble baby spinach, strawberries and basil. Add crumbled goat cheese and pecan halves. Drizzle with strawberry vinaigrette.

Thank you! 

Sharing with Pink Saturday/ Our Sunday Best

• July 05, 2013
• food

Strawberry Happiness

Growing your own veggies and fruits is something I have grown up with. My mom loves gardening, my dad enjoys picking and drying edible wild herbs. My grandparents spent years working in a vegetable greenhouse in Austria producing varieties of crops. Despite the fact that my family lives in a big city, we have never missed the opportunity of heading to a local farm and picking our own fruits and veggies. 

It is strawberry season here in Ontario, starting mid-June and extending into mid-July. And even though our son is traveling right now, my husband and I couldn't skip the tradition of picking berries. To us, the simple pleasure of picking-your-own has always been a perfect way of reconnecting to the food we eat and most importantly, of raising a kid with an awareness of the benefits of healthy eating and buying locally. 

I have to say, nothing beats fresh, flavourful, local strawberries that have been gathered from the field with your own hands. Nothing beats homemade jam that my mom makes every summer for us and now I am making it for our son... Nothing beats fresh salad with strawberry, spinach, and herbs that you grow yourself...

I don't know what exactly made the author conclude "happiness is homemade", but if it was homemade berry jam on a slice of warm freshly baked walnut bread... I totally understand...

Easy Homemade Strawberry Jam (my mom's recipe)

Ingredients: 

2 kg (4.4 lbs) strawberries, washed
1 kg (2.2 lbs) sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice

Directions:

Wash freshly picked strawberries changing the water several times, so no sand or soil is left. Cut the stems and spread strawberries in a baking dish. Add sugar on it. Cover the dish and leave it for about 10-12 hours. Strawberries should absorb the sugar and release their juice.
Preheat oven to 350°C. Bake until bubbles appear and strawberry texture gets denser ( about an hour and a half, depends on how watery the fruits are). Add a tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice and bake for a few more minutes.
Pour the jam in sterilized glass jars. If you want to keep them in the pantry, you will need to seal the jars by placing in boiling water for 5-10 minutes.
Make about four  jars (250 ml)

Strawberry Spinach Salad 

Ingredients:

1/2 package of baby spinach, washed
1 cup strawberries, sliced
goat cheese
pecan halves or walnuts
basil

Directions:

Assemble baby spinach, strawberries and basil. Add crumbled goat cheese and pecan halves. Drizzle with strawberry vinaigrette.

Thank you! 

Sharing with Pink Saturday/ Our Sunday Best

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You remember these moments of your childhood when laying in your cozy bed, the summer night envelops the world and throughout the open window your eyes are gazing deep into the sky filled with stars and dreams... 

Windows are those connectors of our small safe world to another more broaden, bright and amusing place of our imagination whether we watch the incredible geometry of ephemeral snowflakes, catch the rhythm of magnificent falling raindrops, or simply wander throughout the moving clouds and flying birds... Perhaps that's why the word "window" is a vivid metaphor related to the old word "vindauga", a compound composed of two separate words "vindr" meaning wind and "auga"- eye.
Windows, big and small, modern and old, on the roof or the wall, are the ultimate givers of the essential daylight and fresh air to our indoor living spaces. We need natural light and there is no doubt that it affects our bodies, mood, sleep and well-being in general. Perhaps, that's why I was stunned and saddened when years back I first went to register my son in kindergarten only to find out that the daycare was in the basement of the building with entirely artificial light. I couldn't comprehend how these children will spend day after day of their lives in a space that doesn't provide sunlight, missing the chance to see the sky... I am also always concerned about people who work in buildings and offices where there is no source of natural light available. Light is something that most of us take for granted. When I choose whether a living or working space, yoga studio or esthetics salon, I look ... for windows... I look for light...
In fact, nowadays, more than ever we live in an urgent need to make environmentally protective choices, to use energy efficiently, to create more green and healthy homes and to use more "green" power sources.
Have you ever thought that by bringing more daylight in our homes, we not only create more inviting, livable, brighter space, but we also contribute to making our home more energy efficient?
Did you know that skylight, for example, can bring in twice as much light as a vertical window and as a result, reduces the electrical lighting needs? Neither did I. Until last week, after my friend and I visited a showroom of one of the most experienced companies for skylights and roof windows VELUX® Since my friend is in the middle of transforming her attic into a bedroom, she was looking for a way to incorporate more light and ventilation in the room. She didn't need to look further because as it has appeared, the VELUX group ("ve" for ventilation and "lux", latin for light) offers windows with a wide variety of style and unique features as well as beautiful blinds and sun tunnel skylights. In addition, one has to be sure that by buying their products, he or she spends her money responsibly since the company demonstrates an understanding of the importance of green sustainable buildings and manufacturing with little or no impact on the environment.
Now, I may include a  roof window as a necessary feature for some future home, where I can lie in my bed and immerse in the relaxing view of silky blue sky and playful sun rays... on the ceiling...
I may also meet again Karlsson who lives on the roof... almost like in my childhood...

This article is written especially for VELUX.
The views and opinions expressed on this post are purely my own.
Illustrations  from "How to Catch a Star" by Oliver Jeffers and "Zen Short" by Jon J Muth

       Thank you!

• July 04, 2013

Windows - Bringing the Light of Childhood to Life

You remember these moments of your childhood when laying in your cozy bed, the summer night envelops the world and throughout the open window your eyes are gazing deep into the sky filled with stars and dreams... 

Windows are those connectors of our small safe world to another more broaden, bright and amusing place of our imagination whether we watch the incredible geometry of ephemeral snowflakes, catch the rhythm of magnificent falling raindrops, or simply wander throughout the moving clouds and flying birds... Perhaps that's why the word "window" is a vivid metaphor related to the old word "vindauga", a compound composed of two separate words "vindr" meaning wind and "auga"- eye.
Windows, big and small, modern and old, on the roof or the wall, are the ultimate givers of the essential daylight and fresh air to our indoor living spaces. We need natural light and there is no doubt that it affects our bodies, mood, sleep and well-being in general. Perhaps, that's why I was stunned and saddened when years back I first went to register my son in kindergarten only to find out that the daycare was in the basement of the building with entirely artificial light. I couldn't comprehend how these children will spend day after day of their lives in a space that doesn't provide sunlight, missing the chance to see the sky... I am also always concerned about people who work in buildings and offices where there is no source of natural light available. Light is something that most of us take for granted. When I choose whether a living or working space, yoga studio or esthetics salon, I look ... for windows... I look for light...
In fact, nowadays, more than ever we live in an urgent need to make environmentally protective choices, to use energy efficiently, to create more green and healthy homes and to use more "green" power sources.
Have you ever thought that by bringing more daylight in our homes, we not only create more inviting, livable, brighter space, but we also contribute to making our home more energy efficient?
Did you know that skylight, for example, can bring in twice as much light as a vertical window and as a result, reduces the electrical lighting needs? Neither did I. Until last week, after my friend and I visited a showroom of one of the most experienced companies for skylights and roof windows VELUX® Since my friend is in the middle of transforming her attic into a bedroom, she was looking for a way to incorporate more light and ventilation in the room. She didn't need to look further because as it has appeared, the VELUX group ("ve" for ventilation and "lux", latin for light) offers windows with a wide variety of style and unique features as well as beautiful blinds and sun tunnel skylights. In addition, one has to be sure that by buying their products, he or she spends her money responsibly since the company demonstrates an understanding of the importance of green sustainable buildings and manufacturing with little or no impact on the environment.
Now, I may include a  roof window as a necessary feature for some future home, where I can lie in my bed and immerse in the relaxing view of silky blue sky and playful sun rays... on the ceiling...
I may also meet again Karlsson who lives on the roof... almost like in my childhood...

This article is written especially for VELUX.
The views and opinions expressed on this post are purely my own.
Illustrations  from "How to Catch a Star" by Oliver Jeffers and "Zen Short" by Jon J Muth

       Thank you!

Read more »

A breezy summer morning... 

Sitting on the lake shore, my eyes gaze deep into the horizon. The water is calm, the sun is warm, the blue is bluer and the green is greener... Looking at each and every blade of grass, each and every craftily rounded stone, each and every little wave, slow-moving clouds – every thing is so amazing, so perfectly made...

I am finally still, a listener of what my heart has to say.
It is a rich beginning of a new day, a bathed in light and glorious abundance new day. How it is going to unfold and how I decide to use it is wholly up to me. Am I going to make this day a perfect part of my summer story – depends entirely on me... Because every summer has a story and now I am creating one...

Sometimes, I think, it is enough for a story... to just "be"... to just feel... to just let the precious moment become me... I am a kite, taking flight over the water... The peacefulness of the early morning is the lift, the upward force that pushes me into the air... I am going to take "these broken wings and learn to fly again, learn to live so free..." The wind is helping... 

This day is a gift.

And I am grateful. 

This day is the most amazing day to just "be".

Today is going to be a good summer day.

        

Enough

Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.

This opening to the life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now

David Whyte, Where Many Rivers Meet

Thank you!

Sharing with Be Inspired

• June 25, 2013
• being YOU

A Summer Day

A breezy summer morning... 

Sitting on the lake shore, my eyes gaze deep into the horizon. The water is calm, the sun is warm, the blue is bluer and the green is greener... Looking at each and every blade of grass, each and every craftily rounded stone, each and every little wave, slow-moving clouds – every thing is so amazing, so perfectly made...

I am finally still, a listener of what my heart has to say.
It is a rich beginning of a new day, a bathed in light and glorious abundance new day. How it is going to unfold and how I decide to use it is wholly up to me. Am I going to make this day a perfect part of my summer story – depends entirely on me... Because every summer has a story and now I am creating one...

Sometimes, I think, it is enough for a story... to just "be"... to just feel... to just let the precious moment become me... I am a kite, taking flight over the water... The peacefulness of the early morning is the lift, the upward force that pushes me into the air... I am going to take "these broken wings and learn to fly again, learn to live so free..." The wind is helping... 

This day is a gift.

And I am grateful. 

This day is the most amazing day to just "be".

Today is going to be a good summer day.

        

Enough

Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.

This opening to the life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now

David Whyte, Where Many Rivers Meet

Thank you!

Sharing with Be Inspired

Read more »

Wherever  I go, I see peonies... 

Peony prettiness everywhere...

Perhaps, lately, my mind is set on noticing only these sweetly fragrant flowers. Every second house in our neighbourhood is adorned with peonies – vanilla white, soft orchid pink, rich carmine red – all of them filled with lushness, dropped laden with flowers.

As showy as peonies appear, they have a genuine gift of making the surrounding extraordinary beautiful. The sight of blooming peonies provides a sense of serenity, evokes a feeling of beauty, grace and delicate sensuality. 

Peony flower has a floral meaning of shame, but can also signify a happy marriage and a happy life.

I couldn't stop photographing them and I think my camera loves peonies as much as I do.

Peonies

By Mary Oliver 

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready

to break my heart

as the sun rises,

as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open -

pools of lace,

white and pink -

and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes

into the curls,

craving the sweet sap,

taking it away

to their dark, underground cities -

and all day

under the shifty wind, as in a dance to the great wedding, 

the flowers bend their bright bodies,

and tip their fragrance to the air,

and rise, 

their red stems holding 

all that dampness and recklessness

gladly and lightly,

and there it is again -

beauty the brave, the exemplary,

blazing open.

Do you love the world?

Do you cherish your humble and silky life?

Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,

and softly,

and exclaiming of their dearness,

fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,

their eagerness

to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are 

nothing, forever?

Thank you! 

Sharing at Be Inspired/ Pink Saturday/ Seasonal Sundays/ Our Sunday Best

• June 14, 2013
• colors

Peony Prettiness

Wherever  I go, I see peonies... 

Peony prettiness everywhere...

Perhaps, lately, my mind is set on noticing only these sweetly fragrant flowers. Every second house in our neighbourhood is adorned with peonies – vanilla white, soft orchid pink, rich carmine red – all of them filled with lushness, dropped laden with flowers.

As showy as peonies appear, they have a genuine gift of making the surrounding extraordinary beautiful. The sight of blooming peonies provides a sense of serenity, evokes a feeling of beauty, grace and delicate sensuality. 

Peony flower has a floral meaning of shame, but can also signify a happy marriage and a happy life.

I couldn't stop photographing them and I think my camera loves peonies as much as I do.

Peonies

By Mary Oliver 

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready

to break my heart

as the sun rises,

as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open -

pools of lace,

white and pink -

and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes

into the curls,

craving the sweet sap,

taking it away

to their dark, underground cities -

and all day

under the shifty wind, as in a dance to the great wedding, 

the flowers bend their bright bodies,

and tip their fragrance to the air,

and rise, 

their red stems holding 

all that dampness and recklessness

gladly and lightly,

and there it is again -

beauty the brave, the exemplary,

blazing open.

Do you love the world?

Do you cherish your humble and silky life?

Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,

and softly,

and exclaiming of their dearness,

fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,

their eagerness

to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are 

nothing, forever?

Thank you! 

Sharing at Be Inspired/ Pink Saturday/ Seasonal Sundays/ Our Sunday Best

Read more »

• June 08, 2013
• food

A Safe Harbor

Read more »