July 10, 2016
I&ve created a kind of a routine for myself. Once a week I eat out. Not in a restaurant, but in a nature. There&s a magic in eating in nature and I mean it. Each time I prepare breakfast in the evening and I know that I&ll have to get up at 4-4:30 am , it makes me excited. I know that there will be a colourful sky involved, that I&ll drive outside of Berlin and there will be hardly any cars and that I&ll eat in a beautiful location.
Whenever I am planning another breakfast outside, I have hundreds of pictures in my head. I imagine having it in a forest, in between fields, on a beach& I think it&s a summer thing. This time I&ve found
a perfect location next to a field. It was one of these accidental discoveries, I saw it and it made me stop my car. But it was a week ago. It took me about an hour to find it again, bummer. I usually take a table and chairs, I actually carry them in a truck of my car constantly lately. This time there was no use for them. Just a blanket, pillows and what
was already there. The only thing I didn&t predict were 12*C, which didn&t go well with a cold brew. Who would think that in July, when there&s 25*C during a day,
it will be so cold in a morning.
It was wonderful anyway, so refreshing, helps to clear a head. There&s no computer, no music, just nature around. Kind of back to basics. We all need it from time to time, don&t we.
This time I made something really easy - breakfast in a jar. I mixed millet with red pesto (homemade one is amazing!), added baby salad, feta, tomatoes, boiled egg and wow! The magic happened!
You will need (for 2):
1/5 cup millet
4-5 tbsp pesto
1 tbsp olive oil
baby salad or spinach
1 egg, boiled
salt and pepper
Cook millet as you usually do. When it cools down, mix with pesto and divide between two jars. Topp with salad or spinach, feta, tomatoes, pour a bit of oil over and finish with a boiled egg. Season with salt and pepper for taste.
Enjoy, Marta
July 02, 2016
I got up at 4 am, it&s summer, so at 4:50 the sky was already colourful. There were storms in a forecast, but I didn&t really care. Rain won&t harm me, it may only make pictures more interesting. At 5 am, I picked up
and we started our drive. I had a perfect spot in my mind, but we never got there, it is reserved for the next time. We were passing a beautiful field and we stopped to see the sun rising. That was it. In between the fields there was a dirt road and this is where I parked my car. Few meters further I set up a table. The weather was changing all the time, the sun switched with a light rain. We set up under a tree and waited for the sun to decide if it stays or go. It was so relaxing and beautiful, I wouldn&t mind waiting for hours.
I was always kind of unconventional. I wanted to eat in nature, cook simple meals, enjoy eating with a view. I used to travel with Tomasz quite a lot. We spent some time in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, South America. I remember cooking inside or in front of our van, I loved it. When we came back Europe I kind of settled down in my kitchen with an occasional trips like to . I love the city and I can honestly say that I&m a city girl, but I also love nature. I love quiet sounds, wind, morning light. It gives me energy. When I tell my friends that we should have breakfast somewhere over a lake everyone is super excited. Then I mention that we have to get up really early to get to a place I&ve found, set everything up and eat (especially during the weekend) when there&s not many people around. This is the moment when excitement usually disappears, hahahah. I do not have a house in a countryside (hopefully one day), but I do have lakes, fields and forests around Berlin. I&ve decided to do it by myself. Prepare breakfast the night before, pack a table and everything I need to my car and have a breakfast by myself. And then I mentioned it to a couple of friends and it turned out that I&m not the only one who would like to do it.
It may sound like a lot of effort, all the preparations. Well, it&s not. I usually make easy recipes, which don&t necessarily need to be eaten straight away. I take a balcony table and folded chairs. A wooden case with plates, cutlery, table cloth and food. And that&s it. Nature makes the rest. What is amazing is the energy you get. The recipe for
I found on Just a taste blog. It tasted great, I&m telling you. You&ll be surprised how delicious this mix is. Yet again, easy and fast to prepare.
I am already planning the next breakfast. Let&s go outside!
You will need for tortillas (for 2):
300g cream cheese
2 tbsp cream
1 tbsp sugar
¼ tsp vanilla seeds
½ tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp coconut flakes
coconat oil for frying
7 tortillas
cinnamon sugar
For a chocolate shake (for 2):
1 tbsp almond paste
½ tsp vanilla seeds
1 tbsp agave syrup
1 tbsp cacao
2 cups almond milk
¼ avocado
In a bowl, place cream cheese, cream, sugar, vanilla seeds, lemon zest, coconut flakes and mix well, so it&s creamy. When ready, add berries. Take one tortilla after another, place a tablespoon of creamy mix inside and fold. Close with toothpicks. Heat a coconut oil over a high heat and fry tortillas, so they get golden around. When ready place each one in a cinnamon sugar. Remove the toothpicks!
Place all the ingredients for shake and blend it well :)
Enjoy, Marta
June 30, 2016
You may say I like waffles. I had my small obsessions already, like waffle parties or waffles for breakfast for a month. So much fun! You may think that waffles are waffles, but you&re wrong. You can mix anything with them. It may be chocolate, lemon, strawberry, you can use different flours or you can place whatever you want on top of it. So many options.
This time I chose to use millet flakes and the effect was brilliant. It makes waffles delicate and crispy. I added blue cheese and served it with avocado, bacon, asparagus and cranberry sauce. So good!
You will need (for 4):
½ cup flour
½ cup millet flakes
1 cup buttermilk
pinch of salt
pinch of cayane pepper
pinch of sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
30g melted butter
2 tbsp blue cheese
For serving:
cranberry sauce or jam
Waffles are so easy to prepare. Mix all the ingredients except for blue cheese in a bowl and then add blue cheese in tiny pieces. Mix a bit and start to bake your waffles. That&s it.
Then you will get 4 delicious and fresh waffles. I served mine with fried bacon, avocado, asparagus and cranberry sauce. I love this combination.
Enjoy, Marta
June 20, 2016
I am on a mission to make Mia eat healthy and yummy. I am not an original mom, am I . Mia loves to eat and I have no idea how, as we didn&t teach her this, but when she sees something chocolaty looking, she wants it. So I tricked her a bit. I cooked quinoa, blended fruits, spinach and cacao and combined everything together. She was so happy to eat it. Mission accomplished.
It&s not only for small kids, big kids will like it as well. So grab the ingredients and enjoy!
You will need:
½ cup quinoa
1 cup water
pinch of salt
1 cup frozen strawberries
½ banana
handfull spinach, may be frozen
½ cup plant milk (almont, rice, coconut, whatever you fancy)
1 tbsp agave syrup
1 tbsp cacao
For serving:
pumpkin seeds
coconut flakes
Cook quinoa first. If you have no idea how to do it, here it goes. It&s good to soak it in a water for about 15 minutes. Then move it to the pot and add one cup of water. Cook on a big heat till it start to boil, and then reduce the heat to low. It should be cooked until all the water evaporates. Put it on a side and let it cool down completely.
Place fruits, spinach, milka, agave syrup and cacao in blender and blend well.
Combine blended fruits with quinoa and serve with nuts, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes, bit of granola and sesam on top.
Enjoy, Marta
June 17, 2016
Berlin is a unique city and
as I call it, a city of many options. I used to love it for cafes, restaurants, open air festivals, food projects and open minded people. Lately I&ve discovered new reasons to love it for. We have a beautiful nature inside and outside of the city - many lakes, forests, fields, hidden magical places. All the things we have a tendency to ignore on everyday basis. I got extremely inspired lately and I have a feeling that I see more beauty in the world than ever.
How? I went to the Paul McCartney concert a few days ago and it blew my mind. I&ll mention that I am a big fan of The Beatles. I used to know each album, each song on each one of them. I read everything I got about them, a whole band and separately. I also used to think that they started the electronic music thing, but Tomasz told me that I&m totally wrong, hahaha. Seeing Paul McCartney was on my Bucket List for this year. And it was a purely beautiful experience. I left so inspired, that I started to write down ideas.
A few day later I got up at 5:30, packed my car, grabbed focaccia, which I baked at night and went over a lake. Together with
we set up a table and had a magical morning. The light was amazing, a lake so calm and quiet, birds singing. There were thousands of mosquitos, but not even one bite me (coincidence? I don&t think so). It gave me even more energy to create. Nature itself is so inspiring.
It&s all so easy, you just need to be willing to get up early. We&re spoiled in Berlin, we have beautiful spots within minutes of the drive. I must add that I take things too far from time to time, so you don&t have to necessarily get up at 5:30 am. I wanted to have a beautiful early morning summer light, but the word at 9am is still crazy gorgeous.
You will need for focaccia (for 2):
¾ cup warm water
1 tsp instant yeast
big pinch of sugar
2 cups flour wholewheat
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
zest of 1 orange
1 tsp vanilla seeds
2 tbsp or more agave syrup
For serving:
more fruits
icing sugar
agave syrup
In a cup mix water, yeast and sugar, cover and leave for a few minutes on a side. Meantime, in a bowl, mix flour, salt, orange zest, vanilla seeds and olive oil. Pour the yeast with water on it and knead for about 10 minutes, until dough is elastic. Place it in a bowl brushed with a bit of oil, cover and keep in a warm place for about an hour.
When your dough doubled it&s size, place it on a baking tray covered with a paper and form an oval shape. Press fingers in few spots and pour agave syrup over. Press berries and cherries into the dough, then cover it with a towel and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
Bake in 200*C (400*F) for about 25 minutes.
Serve with extra fruits on top, agave syrup (if needed) and icing sugar. Prefer)
Enjoy, Marta
June 14, 2016
As some of you know, I&m a different person since 1,5 year. I am not Marta anymore, I&m Marta/Mom of Mia. There were many changes in my life, I won&t bore you with them, but believe me, sometimes I want to say &F&k! When and how did it happen!&, but then my kid hides in a box to surprise me and I&m like &OMG can she be more funny&. So in the end, I have no idea what I want to say. Too many emotions, feelings, ideas, conclusions. Wow, life as a mom is not easy. But going back to the subject, my life is different and I do different things. I love my blog, it&s Mia&s older sibling, so I want to keep sharing things. As we want our little girl to explore our beautiful world, I&ll share some kids friendly options with you and I called it &Play Berlin&. Maybe you&re in the area and you&ll feel like one of them as well. It&s not only for kids, I think that it&s so much fun to do it without them as well. To start with - strawberry and cherry picking! It&s not in Berlin, but it&s Potsdam, so close enough to make a day trip.
I remember strawberry picking from when I was a child. My family had a strawberry plantation in a countryside and we went there with my parents to help them collect it one year. I ate more than I collected, but I was about 8 years old, so I don&t think that anyone counted on me. I totally forgot about it till this weekend. It&s all because I&ve decided to take Mia on a strawberry field (just like The Beatles song) and to show her some magic. She showed it to me instead. I was shocked my 1,5 year old actually collecting strawberries. She did collect some hay and stones as well, but hey,
there were few strawberries. She&s a busy bee, she helped to carry baskets, she tried to move few bushes (literally) and she ate a LOT of strawberries. It is amazing how you want to share with your children, how you want to show them that nature is beautiful and you don&t necessarily have to get everything from a store. I&m lucky that I have this option in the Berlin&s area. In Potsdam for instance, there&s an amazing farm
where you can come with friends or family and collect berries, apples, cherries, plums, whatever is in the season. They have a very good price for a kilogram (definitely much better than in a store) and it&s so much fun! I always keep saying
that I&ll never go back, as I won&t be able to look at strawberries for years, yet again, one week later I&m there. You should check out my freezer, margaritas will be made out of this delicious fruit!
The beautiful part is, that I had fun and my kid did as well. I could have taken her to another cafe (I did a few hours later) and buy her babycino (she did drink it few hours later) but I did something slightly different. Potsdam is a beautiful place, there are amazing lakes and you can have a picnic, go for a walk through this unique little town, just relax. But you can also work a bit and it&s so cool!
Hand picked fruit taste better, maybe because we had to work a bit to have them. I came back home and did something super easy. I prepared couscous, blended strawberries with yogurt and a bit of honey and mixed it. It will make a perfect breakfast. You can add few additional fruits and yogurt for topping. Enjoy this summer vibe!
May 29, 2016
I&ve been thinking what to write about in this post. So much is happening and the time passes so fast that sometimes I just wish to sit down and do nothing. This year has been so fast. I remember sitting with friends on New Year Eve, making plans for this one. I was supposed to improve my German, this time for sure - failure. I was supposed to make two private projects - nothing yet. But what I did was traveling a lot and experiencing. Obviously working a lot on the way. But going back to experiencing, I have
a feeling that I forgot how amazing it is to get to know new things. Last weekend I flew to London for a screening of a
. It was kind of my reward for a workshop in Portugal (I rewarded myself) and I didn&t really have much of expectations. I ended up getting to know amazing people and having the most untypical dinner experience - Imagine eating beautiful meal with the lights down, the sounds of a forest and mist on your table. Magic. And it happened in London baby!
Then this weekend was a cleaning the apartment horror on Saturday (I mean spring cleaning and I went room by room). My apartment looks like a mess right now, but I rewarded myself again. I took Mia and Tomasz on a trip. We&ve visited places which are behind a corner and I had no idea that they exist, like a bee keeper&s garden, where I tried a freshly produced by bees honey (OMG it&s so amazing)! Again, I had no expectations. I think that this is when the magic happens, when you have no expectations and you&re open for whatever will come. I had so much fun and I even had a chance to wear a hat that protects you against angry bees, just like in movies :D. It&s so beautiful to discover new things. I&m going to check out what else is happening in the Berlin&s area and not only this spring/summer. I want Mia to see, feel, taste and enjoy. And I want to do it as well. I made around 40km on a bike today, first time since Mia was born (she&s 1,5 year old) and my back hates me but my heart sings. I got so inspired, that I&m sitting in front of my computer and writing down ideas. So& if you have a chance to visit a beekeeper or a tea maker or a public garden where you can go and talk to people, do it.
The weekend is a busy time of the week. Especially when spring starts to behave like a spring and it&s warm and sunny outside. This is when it&s great to prepare a nice breakfast in advance. Something like this delicious balls. In the morning I baked fruits, which takes about 15-10 minutes (just right for a shower) and then& you&re full, happy and ready for the day. I saw the recipe for baked plums in The Bondi Harvest book and it looked too good not to try it, so here it goes.
You will need for bircher balls(for 2):
1 cup millet flakes
1 cup soy yogurt
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp rice syrup
1 tbsp acai powder
For baked fruits:
6-8 cherries
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp rice syrup
½ tsp vanilla beans
zest of 1 lemon
4 springs of rosemary
Prepare bircher muesli the night before. Place everything in a bowl and mix. Leave in a fridge overnight. In the morning just form balls using a spoon.
Heat your oven to 175*C. In a bowl, mix coconut oil (melted), rice syrup, vanilla beans and lemon zest. Cut plums in half, take the seeds out, then place it together with the cherries in the rice syrup mix and cover well with it. Place rosemary in the baking dish and put fruits on top. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.
Serve bircher balls together with still hot fruits and sprinkle with coconut flakes.
Enjoy, Marta
May 22, 2016
Few weeks ago (yes weeks! time passes like crazy!) I was sitting on
stairs in front of an old primary school in Portugal, drinking wine and thinking about the next day. Because the next day was when all the participants arrived and we were starting our workshop. I am quite often excited and when it comes close to &zero hour& I can hardly wait. It was my first 5 days workshop, so I thought that it will last forever. Guess what, it didn&t. The time has passed as it was 5 minutes. And it was done.
Everything about this workshop was unexpected. We were supposed to have an amazing sunny weather and we even had a storm with thunders. It was a crazy experience to make a bbq with tone of rain falling from the sky and wind blowing like crazy (we did it! Or super talented scout Fillip made it). Everything turned out great, most probably because I had an amazing
organising it with me. She was the one who found our location, which could not be in a better place and gave us many interesting options for shooting. Coast of Portugal is magical indeed.
Our group was the best though. So many interesting, talented and inspiring people. Each one had a story to tell. Few of them were so funny, that they made me cry out of laughter. , , , , , , , ,
thank you so much for coming and being awesome. Hope to see you very soon.
We were picnicking together, talking about food, photography, life, bothering fishermen, visiting a local artist who loves his work, eating, drinking and creating a special marshmallow sandwich. It was awesome. I want to go back!
Big thank you to our partners, who helped to make this workshop awesome:
May 11, 2016
I&ve just came back prom Portugal, where I&ve been away from my kid for 10 days! From my sweet little girl, who giggles all the time and makes jokes, so we laugh like crazy. It was such a strange, intensive feeling, that I can&t even
describe it. It was like missing a piece of myself. Tomasz sent me her pictures and videos on an everyday basis, we even did FaceTime each morning (thank you internet), but it made me miss her even more.
I have two conclusions:
1. I needed it, this separation, so I&ll understand my love to this small creature. Don&t understand me wrong, I did know that I love her like crazy, but now I know how strong this feeling is. And she loves me back just as much. Apparently, even though she had heaps of fun with her daddy and grandparents, she kept looking for me and calling me. It looks like I&m her star!
2. I&ll always miss her and think of her. Maybe it will fade with time, but whenever I&m away and having an amazing time, I&m still thinking of her and wanting her to be there with me. She&s literally the most important and my goal is to make her the happiest little girl. Even if it takes 2h to put her on a top of a slight and to catch her, because she wants more and more.
Being a parent is not a piece of cake. All the nights without a sleep, frustrations, worrying about our kids, thinking too much, trying to find ourselves in this new crazy situation. Well, there&s one thing you need to know - it won&t change. At lease this is what my parents said. Apparently they still worry.
But you can make a fast good breakfast, because mornings count. Add a good cup of coffee and sleepless nights will be forgotten.
You will need (for 2):
250g quark cheese
1 small shallot, shredded
1 tbsp chives,shredded
pinch of salt and pepper
pinch of chilli flakes
6 little cherry tomatoes
greens like salat
little capsicum
fried pumpkin seeds
This is one of the easiest breakfast ideas ever. In a bowl, mix quark, shallot, chives, salt, pepper and chilli. That&s it. Divide it between two bowls, add tomatoes, greens, sprouts, cucumber, capsicum and fried pumpkin seeds.
Serve with toasts.
Enjoy, Marta
April 27, 2016
When I was flying back from Australia I met a lovely girl at the airport in Sydney and she told me that I&m a very brave mom, because she would never fly by herself for such a long time (Sydney - Berlin about 21h plus a transfer time) with her child. It made me think about it and I came to one conclusion - it is awesome to travel with 15 month old child. It&s not super easy, like it used to be, no drinks on a plane and chats with stewardesses, wait, there were drinks and chats. Well, it&s pretty much the same, I just had an extra bag of sugar with me.
Lets start at the beginning, which means packing for a plane trip.
- I took a lot of food that Mia likes - snacks, jars, but also artificial milk. Mia loves it and I always give it to her in a bottle when we take off and land. She&s excited, focuses on sucking and she swallows, so a change of a pressure is not such a big deal. When she sleeps during take off or landing, I just let her be.
- toys, I took far too many. Mia has a favourite soft dog toy (called Haw-Haw) and she kept sleeping with it. It also helped to secure her while she was asleep. The rest of the toys - she wasn&t really interested in. To be honest, she slept around 20h of the flights.
You can also check online if airlines you&ll be flying with, have a small &play bags& for children. Mia got few and she loved it.
- I took a blanket for Mia, extra pillow and so on - unnecessary.
A good thing to do is to book a place with a bassinet. It turned out that Mia is to heavy to be in one, but these places have more space for legs and there&s a chance that there will be an extra seat next to you. It happened with us. Mia, who was supposed to share seat with me, had her own. She flew like in a first class, as I transformed her seat into a bed. It was so comfortable. Mia was sleeping and I had some adult time. Thankfully, she didn&t wake up during a meal time, it saved a lot of cleaning I assume.
What I find super helpful while flying with a kid:
- a carrier, which gives an option to face the world. When we were moving from plane to plane it was a salvation. Everything was interesting, Mia kept asking &toto?&, as she was interested in everything around. It also gave her a possibility to flirt with people (she likes it a lot).
- bag for a stroller. We have a Bugaboo Bee stroller which I find perfect for travelling and I got a travel bag for it. It&s amazing how much easier it is with this bag. I used to travel without a bag and it was tricky - stroller got scratched a lot, was dirty, wet. With a bag, it&s easy to drop it and pick it up. Plus, I didn&t worry about my stroller, as I usually do as a &strange mom&. I always have a vision that it will end up totally damaged and I will stay by myself in a foreign country with a heavy kid
(this is not a paid post and I write it because I simply love this bag).
What is not necessarily helpful:
- I took a car seat. It was totally unnecessary, as there&s a lot of taxis that have it. Also, you can rent it in a car rental and it saves a lot of effort.
- panicking, as it will be fun. If your kid cries, don&t worry about the other passengers, half of them most probably have kids and they feel you. The rest will have it one day so they will understand you later.
- worrying - I didn&t worry at all, quite opposite, I was super excited about this trip. And I think it made Mia excited as well.
- caring about strange comments. When you travel with a small kid and it get&s occupied with something, it is so cool. The child will make a mess and on the end of a flight be a sweetheart and clean as much as you can. I did it. Mia ate crackers and it kept her occupied for quite some time. But half of them ended up in tiny pieces on a floor. Happens. I did not vacuum, but I cleaned the area as well as I could. And that&s it. If you hear a strange comment about it, just ignore it.
Jet lag. It is a totally different story when you change a time zone with your kid. Personally, I love having a jet lag. It means that I wake up very early and I am rested. I can go for a sunrise, catch up with a book or a movie and all of this is guilt free, as the rest of my time zone is asleep. But jet lag with 15 month old is a bi&.ch. Mia had it for around a week and at the end of this period I wanted to shoot myself. Till the first night she slept through and woke up in the morning (proper morning). Then I was happy like a kid. But most probably it was all my fault. Why? Because I refused to sleep during the day. Mia kept waking up at midnight with a big smile and face expression
&Good morning day, let&s have fun!&. It means that I&m included in this fun. I got up, took her to a stroller and at 2 am went on a beach. It was so beautiful. Mia fell asleep, so I went back home (we were living 7 minutes away from a beach by walk). Obviously Mia woke up the second we entered home. Again with &lets have fun expression&. So we did. At 4 am, I went for another walk, then at 6 am. During a day Mia got tired, so she kept sleeping in a stroller. I didn&t. I wanted to experience Sydney and take as much as possible out of it. In conclusion - I was tired, Mia not, but after one week time we were all happy again.
Differences - No more late dinners in the city, no more drinks. Sitting in cafe is a totally different experience. Mia is in love with babycino, so this is what she gets straight away. It gives me time, about 10 seconds to drink my coffee. When I order food, I hardly ever have time to take a picture of it, because there&s a flying spoon on the end of a tiny hand, which will not stop until it meets the food. There&s no more just staying in one place because I like it so much, unless Mia is interested. It is different.
What I love - my kid motivated me to discover even more (and I do a lot in general). I wanted to show her everything, I kept explaining things, even though she didn&t care. She made me look at views for longer, because she couldn&t stop sharing. Her excitement made me more excited. Whenever she&s tired, she hugs me and I don&t think that there&s anything better. I love traveling with her. And I&ll do it again and again.
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