egg bread aka challah
- on: May 08, 2014
- By Gabi
- theme: from our kitchen
4
Egg bread has been a part of my life since I remember. In Czech it is a typical “sweet” bread and it’s available in every bakery. I’ve always loved it with honey or a jam spread on it. But nutella is a winner so far ;)
When we moved to Canada, I really missed it. Then we moved to British Columbia and how awesome it was to find out that a local bakery is making egg breads! I always go there to pick up a few loaves and put them into freezer. But too many times I came late on Saturday morning and all the egg breads were sold out. So last weekend I decided to make our own. Surprisingly it was easier than I thought. I used this recipe from allrecipes.ca
I was ready to braid it from four strands at first. I googled how to braid the loaf but got somehow lost in the making so I ended up with just three strands. The whole process of making egg bread is quite long though but it’s definitely worth the effort.
Yum! I sliced both loaves and put them into freezer. Now we can grab just a few slices for breakfast and it will always taste fresh. This recipe is definitely a keeper. Next time I will add raisins into the dough and maybe sprinkle a few sesame seeds on the top.
Leave a comment...DIY – wrap bracelet
- on: May 05, 2014
- By Gabi
- theme: creative living, handmade
- 6
I had my eyes on the wrap bracelets for quite some time. There are many types and kinds available in online stores. I’ve decided that I won’t buy it but will make my own (which will be not just cheaper, but I will make it exactly the way I want). So few weeks back I went to Michaels and bought few strings of beads, cotton cord, bead thread and some buttons. All beads were just 45% off that week and the pinkish ones were even marked for clearance (for less then $2), so it was a steal. And I could also use a coupon for the thread and cotton cord ( double win!).
It took me several weeks to actually get to the project. Yesterday was the day. I googled several tutorials and at the end went with this one. And to be honest, I don’t think I followed it precisely, I just went with my instinct while wrapping the bead weaving thread around my cords. The rest was just a matter of patience.
I’m really happy with the final result.
This one was the first “testing” one. I plan to make a multiple wrap, not just a single one and try different media.
I bought a leather light beige cord last week which will go perfectly with the pinkish beads.The only thing I need to get is a light (natural/beige) bead weaving thread which they didn’t have at Michaels. It seems a little bit of searching has to be done.
Both kids already asked me to make bracelets for them as well which makes me excited to experiment even more!
Leave a comment...weekend favorites
- on: May 03, 2014
- By Gabi
- theme: weekend favorites
- 2
:: this post from Ali – Goodbye Kids, Hello Holiday Helper
:: this song from a local band – Letterman
:: going to make these simple pizza buns by Rebecca
:: this is just happening in our kitchen, I hope it will turn out great
:: and I will be trying these as well.
:: these cards by Emma and Elsie
What have you discovered this week?
Leave a comment...once in a while …
- on: May 03, 2014
- By Gabi
- theme: inspiration, photography
- 1
I took this photo last night while the sun was setting down after a beautiful day. I’ve been searching for flowers around the house to get a shot for the daily theme at CY365 which was about bokeh/flowers/different angle. The golden light and the whole mood of the sun going down was just beautiful. It is funny how we often don’t notice the beauty of the little things which surround us. We have these flowers in front of our house for three years now but I never got on their level (I almost went on my tummy on the driveway) to look at them from below. This is another small reminder for me to slow down and notice the little things.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!
Leave a comment...healthy vision | welcome May
- on: May 01, 2014
- By Gabi
- theme: everyday photography - project 365
- 0
In a few weeks I’m going to participate in a long distance cycling event. I did the shorter distance (89km) last year and this year I’ve signed up for the longer one (160km) because I want to become more healthy and take better care of myself. My healthy vision is to get rid off all excuses and just push myself to a healthier me.
This photo is a part of May photo challenge over at capture your 365. Today’s theme is: healthy vision. I participated in the project 365 for 3 years in the past and lately I’ve been really missing taking everyday photos. Hopefully this time I will be able to participate more often and get back to taking everyday photos with a support of the great community over at CY365.
Leave a comment...to be real
- on: April 29, 2014
- By Gabi
- theme: inspiration, random thoughts, self care
- 2
This is so true!
I found this photo by Sarah from My Four Hens Photography on her facebook page the other day. It made me stop. And think. Think about how silly I am sometimes to stress about totally unimportant stuff. How I want to do a million things at once and then I end up with million things half done. Or not even half done.
Last Sunday I supposed to go to a book club. The truth is, I haven’t read a whole book since last September. And of course I didn’t read the book the other ladies read. I even didn’t have to read the book to attend but I somewhere deep knew that it is going to be another meeting which I “skip”. First I was stressing about it (a lot) but then I just let go. Weekends are the only time when the whole family gets together. We had only 2 dinners last week as a family together due to our crazy busy schedules and I so missed just being together with people I love. We spent the afternoon hiking in a local park and then instead of going to the meeting, I just hopped on my bike and biked for an hour and half. It was the longest and hardest workout I’ve done so far on the computrainer (it is a very real simulation of road biking). I felt guilty for not going but on the other hand so happy that I did something just for myself.
I’ve set up a little goal for myself for the next few weeks. I want to get back to things I like to do – to take more pictures, to try new dishes again and actually to do my weekly menu plan once again (this one is on a right path as I have this week already planned on ). To start and finish little projects around the house. To set a time just for myself and my (almost forgotten) hobbies.
Yesterday I read Andrea’s post on How to let go and commented on that post how I love the feeling when I realize that it is easy to let things go and just do it. To just drop it. Andrea replied to me through email with one single word: yes! That one single word just took all the heavy thoughts off from my shoulders and at that moment I knew that I did the right thing. I let go of the need to do what everyone else expects me to do and just did what I felt was right. I just dropped all the negative guilty thoughts. And it felt good.
I am far from being perfect but I’m getting more closer to be real.
Leave a comment...four people twelve times | 04.14
- on: April 27, 2014
- By Gabi
- theme: family life, four people twelve times
- 4
April.
I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact that April is almost gone! How this has happened? This month has been flying by for sure. The weather has been still quite cold for most of the time and we’ve got more rainy days in the last couple of days but it didn’t stop us from enjoying the outside .
April has been a month of allergies for all of us.
And haircuts.
And school field trips.
And a lot of driving to and from practices.
April also starts the tri-season. Patrik just raced his first triathlon of this year yesterday and did awesome!
Ivo is training so hard for his upcoming races and it makes me feel guilty because I don’t put as much into my training as I should; and my cycling race is getting closer.
Both kids will end up this month with cross-country races at school and Katrin with a swim meet.
I’ve been drinking green smoothies the whole month and really enjoying them. I’ve been experimenting with different flavors and started using almond milk.
Unfortunately I’ve strained my left shoulder muscles and I’m having a lot of pain in them so I’m starting some physio next week. Hopefully it will heal soon so I can enjoy yoga and every movement in general without pain once again.
In overall, April has been a very busy but a great month. My plan/goal for May is to get more on top of everyday things and get better in planning and organizing my schedule ahead.
I have to say that I’m loving this project, we have finally at least one photo of the whole family each and every month! You can see summaries of our previous months of this year here.
Leave a comment...the first one of the season | 2014
- on: April 26, 2014
- By Gabi
- theme: sport | triathlon
- 4
Today the triathlon season has been opened with its first race of 2014. Patrik was the only one racing, the rest of the family was his cheering squad. He was very excited for the last couple of weeks and couldn’t wait for the race day to come. He raced in the kids category: 8-11 years and this race was his first one riding a road bike. The distance for this category was:
- swim – 100 m
- bike – 3.75 km
- run – 1 km
It was quite cold in the morning even though the sun was shining.
Unfortunately I missed his swim because the athletes swam in a swimming pool and there was no way for me to run from there and still be able to catch him on the run out. The swimming pool is sort of disadvantage for taking photos during triathlons. Ivo was watching him and Katrin and I were waiting outside ready with my camera to catch him on his way from the swim to a transition for his bike ride.
Getting ready for this bike ride. He had a little bit of trouble to put his cycling shoes on because of his wet feet but at the end he was able to manage to put the gear on and to head off to the ride.
He was flying on the bike! We could see right away that his practices with the cycling club, he is in, are paying off big times.
And off to the last discipline.
Finishing strong with an amazing pace.
This kid will be well known one day, I can feel it! He definitely has it in his genes!
He finished 4th in his category: boys 8-11 years with a time of 17:42 (it’s a huge improvement from last year where his time was 22:00).
We are so very proud of him! GO, PATRIK, GO!!
