party

My Party

I’m going to Bergen for four days and I can’t wait. Actually I wish I could stay home in my pjs and make the same amount of money, but since that doesn’t happen to us, mortals, I can’t wait. 😉

On Saturday I hosted a lovely party and I had such a good time I will now be able to work without recess until Easter. 😉 haha! I did wear a cute dress and high heels, but somehow I completely forgot to take pictures and the ones we took in the beginning made me look like a witch, so no go. 😉_MG_0017(older picture) Continue reading →

Great Party

Last week was very intense and, as it usually happens with me when things pile up, it left me half dead. So this week I’ve been napping 2-3 hours a day on the days I could and otherwise gone through the motions with either a headache or a yawn. But hey, freelance life, getting on top of my finances and weekend studies, who said it was going to be easy?

Anyways, here I am, all the sashimi stash waiting in the kitchen, beer in the fridge and the man on his way home, how could I complain? Besides it’s Friday and tomorrow I’m hosting a party, God knows we all need a party from time to time, if not for the drinks, at least for the heels! 😉figmascarponetartsqdrizzle Continue reading →

Guinness cake à la Nigella

After feeling down for a couple of days on account of turning 36, I got myself together, baked a cake and some pies and brought out the booze. That only left getting into a bare back dress, putting on some heels and I was ready to “rumble”. _MG_9504.JPGAnd it was quite a party! There was lots of Prosecco, the world´s bestest friends, gifts to be unwrapped, food to be eaten and, last, but not least- THE killer cake. 14434923_10153896187001711_1278282121612359538_oOne of the things I´m really good at is putting together cool people with great parties as a result. Since I´m such a rare thing as a sociable people-hater, I tend to choose my friends very carefully, resulting in a fantastic bunch of folks. _mg_9523There was no music- I completely forgot about it- but there was a jolly atmosphere with lots of laughter and a touch of kinky conversation. 😉 haha!_mg_9525_MG_9543.jpg_mg_9580

INGREDIENTS

Makes: about 12 slices

FOR THE CAKE

  • 250 millilitres guinness
  • 250 grams unsalted butter
  • 75 grams cocoa powder
  • 400 grams caster sugar
  • 142 millilitres sour cream
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 275 grams plain flour
  • 2½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

FOR THE TOPPING

  • 300 grams cream cheese
  • 100 grams icing sugar
  • lemon zest
  • lemon juice from half a lemon

METHOD

  1. Preheat the oven at 180°C, and butter and line a 23cm / 9 inch springform tin.
  2. Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter – in spoons or slices – and heat until the butter’s melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.
  3. Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.
  4. When the cake’s cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the icing. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsieved icing sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.
  5. Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

It was fantastic! Absolutely yummy and not hard to make at all. I hope you feel like trying!

xxx, Alina

May

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May is here already, time sure flies fast, next Tuesday I´ll be going home for a whole week! Yippee! Meanwhile I´ve been doing some work related traveling, attended a couple of parties, congratulated a friend of mine with her newborn baby and went to see her, walked Sammy in the woods and now I´m thinking of starting on a diet or joining the gym. I hate both of them, but the gym appeals to me even less than food restrictions!:-( Continue reading →

Blooming

How are you all? I´ve been busy paying bills and making amends with my reckless living for the past five months. Y-ha!

On the other hand I haven´t been this good in ages. I work (although that chapter´s been a bit skimpy), I take my Sammy out for walks in the sun- the weather was amazing yesterday and we enjoyed it in the Botanical garden, I go to coffee dates with my other freelance friends, to the cinema- saw El Club yesterday (wouldn´t recommend it, though), I cook real meals, read books, watch House of Cards and socialize. 😉 And otherwise float on a big pinkish cloud. 😉13006474_10153531554086711_7301353363825007439_nSakura in Oslo. 😉 How beautiful is this? I feel alive again every time spring awakens mother nature. 😉12986794_1286494971365538_1898986082_oParty version of me. 😉12990944_10153530124921711_2152984765004156160_n12987022_10153531553906711_3023768362033731865_nMe and my bud, squinting in the sun. BLISS!

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Coffee never tasted better than on this stone, in the woods, after walking for an hour or so. 😉12991076_10153530124936711_8869047509845669190_nFound me a toy!12974420_10153529430611711_8663800883899868255_nPicked some flowers.12931130_10153525389876711_8617417898715736190_nMet an Eurasier. So cute! ❤

Stay tuned!

xxx, Alina

Halloween and Flea Market Saturday

IMG_7791We had a great day yesterday serving waffles and coffee to friends and their children, playing spooky with Sam and his little disciples, as well as looking for Beo (the cat), who´d gone into hiding from all that clamour. We sold quite a few things and are holding our breath hoping that more people will knock on our day today, too. 😉
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Pizzie turns 50

This whole trip to Copenhagen was a spontaneous thing to attend Pizzie´s 50th birthday party yesterday. It was a genuine experience, like few others in my life. I have to start by stating I´m no party person, I seldom dance, I´m a bit shy when it comes to conversation with new people, I don´t drink that much and I don´t smoke, either. I enjoy sitting on a couch and find a couple of persons to chit chat with, while drinking bubbles. 😉 IMG_7486

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Crappy weather and lots of baking

Summertime. Except we´re in Norway. We´ve had a couple of nice days lately, but I´ve either been working or agonising on my cheek muscles problem. (I can barely open my mouth, which makes eating very unsatisfying. And no, it´s not my wisdom tooth, I´ve had it checked.) So I´ve been baking. It´s soothing and it feeds the people. And it makes me feel useful. 😉

My brother and his wife are coming over for a week and I can´t wait to show them around and let them be a part of our regular schedule, with Sammy walks and all. Also a dear childhood friend is visiting for a couple of days from France and since we haven´t seen each other in 15-16 years, it won’t be a day too soon! 😉 Next Saturday it´s V´s birthday and we´re throwing him a party! I´ve already thought about the food, making a couple of pies, a couple of salads and a couple of cakes. Booze and bubbles are nr. 1 on the list! Take a look at those pictures here and tell me what you think! 😉

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Let me tell you about my weekend

Long time, no see. Hope you´ve missed me. 😉 This weekend was exhausting, I swear!

On Friday we went to a party in town and I was confronted with my lack of social skills- I don´t dance, I´m not good at mingling (unless I´m drunk or I know everybody there), I don´t hear very well when the music is loud and I´m terrible with strangers. Hahaha! So after trying to look cool and glam and a citizen of the world for an hour and a half, I suddenly felt the urge to go home to my couch and Twin Peaks. 😉 Bahaha! And that would have been fine, had I not forgotten my keys and spoilt V´s party, too. 😉 Tough luck.

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New Year´s Eve party

Happy New Year! We started ours with a terrible head-ache and nausea, so we slept most of it away.  Today, however, was more productive. 😉 I started working and came home with fresh flowers and eucalyptus branches whereas Vuong had a day off and spent it on tidying up. We threw out the Christmas tree and packed away the decorations, prepared the left-over lobster and the duck breast and now we´re snuggling on the couch ready for “The Suits”.

But let me tell you more about our New Year´s Eve party, which was awesome, loud and long, as a real party should be. Melissa, our friend who organized it, gathered 15 cool people under her roof, made enough food to feed an army and was simply the coolest and most glamorous host I´ve ever seen! And I mean it, since I´m pretty good at hosting, myself, so I don´t go around boasting about other people. 😉 haha!

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