Hello from CANADA ♥

Good lord, I am stuck at the airport in Toronto and only a remaining shadow of myself. My flight overseas was ... well let me refer to it as the flight from HELL. It's already bad enough to have a single screaming kid near you, but 10? I almost lost it. Of course, there was also one in the seat behind me, continuously kicking me in the back. Awesome.

Once I get settled, I will be presenting you with a great recipe for this:

(and chocolate chip cookie dough balls muhahahaha)

Lotions IV

Due to popular demand (no kidding!), I am presenting you another 4 of my finished items, even though my physical condition worsened over the past 2 days. Now I have no doubt anymore that I am dealing with the flu aka summer minor illness (as my online dictionary just told me^^). I am really happy that the lotions part of my blog was so positively received muahhahaa (you know who you are ... YOU :-*)

In case you missed the other parts:

part 1

part 2

part 3

Okay, but for now let's get into the middle of things:

1. Dove Skin Tightening Beauty Body Lotion: I had this product for quite a long time standing unused in my bathroom cabinet. That's because I usually never use body lotion, because a) I'm too lazy b) I forget about it c) I don't have time d) you shouldn't use it all that often because it can really mess with your skin's pH value and in the end dry it out even more. However, this lotion is really nice smelling, easily applied, makes your skin super smooth but unfortunately leaves a little sticky feeling, which I was not too excited about. I can't tell you too much about the tightening effect of it, because there is not much to tighten on my youthful looking skin (of course^^) ... but I bought it anyway :) The price is okay I would say, depending on how you look at it, there will always be cheaper/pricier products but you knew that already :)

2. John Frieda Go Blonder Highlightening Spray: Oh boy, where do I even begin. Okay, so I purchased this highlightening spray to highlighten my hair a little bit (duuuh!), because it's summer and everything and I really love the beach blonde effect. There were three stages of my feelings toward this spray:

1) I bought it, tried it and loved it. My hair really got blonder. However, I didn't use it all that much because I didn't want to have ugly platinum blonde hair and I really only used it for highlights, not on my entire head.

2) I realized that it really dried out my hair and left it feeling like a bale of straw. So I quit using it pretty soon after I got it.

3) Last week, when I was at the salon (where I've actually never been before! I wanted to go somewhere else, bc I was really unsatisfied with the people working at Tony&Guy ...uuuh hopefully they will never read this lol), the so-called "color technician" took a look at my hair and those where the words that came out of his mouth:

"O M G ... what did you do???? WHAT DID YOU DO?"

First of all, it didn't look bad at all, okay? But he is a color technician that apparently knows his business, so he immediately figured it out. I explained my situation, then he cursed me for using the spray and said that I really messed with his work and then he went on mumbling something about chemical reactions and that pre-highlightened hair has to be highlightened a different way than natural hair. I felt so bad for ever using the spray, omfg. And I had to promise him to throw it out as soon as I got home. That's what I did.

My word of advice to you: Don't use this spray, ever!

3. Biotherm Biopur Non-stop Purifying Moisturizer: I had this for so long and now it is gone bohoooo. It smelled really good, was really smooth & easy to apply, no greasy feeling. Only downside was the price, and it may be drying out my skin a little bit too much at this point in my life. Because for the moment, my skin definitely needs more hydration. Once you hit your 20s, your skin already has different needs than it had when you were 18 and going through puberty^^ .. also the aging process of the skin starts at the age of 20, so you should really make sure, to use a lotion that has SPF and provides enough hydration.

4. Shiseido Anti-Perspirant Deodorant Roll-On: I got this from my mommy as a xmas or birthday present a couple of years ago. The reason it lasted that long was because it sucked. I didn't like it. It had alcohol in it and burned in my armpits when I applied it right after shaving. The smell was disgusting, it really smelled alcohol-y. I don't know why they sell stuff like that and even more I really don't know who buys that sh*t? Certainly not me.

That's it for today, I am still searching for the perfect handcream & still looking for advice. So feel free to leave a comment.

♥

still sick :(

Ohhh nooooooo, my worst anticipation actually occured!! I went from being a wee bit under the weather to being even worse. I have been having a headache/pain in the limbs etc. since Monday, and now last night I woke up and felt really sick so I took my temperature and right after that some pain meds. I wouldn't have been able to go back to sleep otherwise. J ♥ placed a cold wet washcloth on my forehead so I could snooze off again. Luckily, in the morning I was feeling better already, but my temperature was very low, which happens eventually when you take antipyretics^^ .. Boooooo I don't wanna be sick!! This week I wanted to kick my butt extra hard workout-wise, but that's not gonna happen. The last thing that I need is being sick when I am going on vacation next week. Can you imagine boarding a plane when you are feeling like shit? Pardon my language - but flying is already bad enough by itself.

I tried my best on fueling up with vitamins and nutrients today, I really did. My morning coffee gets me going everyday, of course I drink it with vanilla soy milk. Apart from breakfast, I had 0,5 l freshly squeezed orange juice, my favorite poppy seed crescent roll and then a huge salad with prawns, tomato soup, etc.

And for dessert, after watching two episodes of nip/tuck cuddled up in bed with my lovie, we had incredibly delicious cupcakes from Vienna's most famous cupcake bakery! Can you guess which one I am talking about??? J ♥ drove there and got them for us: Mango-curd cheese (idk the english word for "topfen") on carrot cake and a vegan chocolate cupcake with sweet chestnut cream and hazelnut/caramel brittle. OMG. We split each cupcake in half, so that we both could have them both muhahaha. And surprisingly J ♥ really liked the vegan cupcake, he actually said he would have never guessed it was vegan because it was so rich and tasty. And the sweet chestnut cream was beyond words... of course :)

I know what you must be thinking .. "Now.. she can't be that sick" .. Well truth be told, I am glad I haven't lost my appetite (yet), because that is never a good sign... It's 8 PM now and I am hopping into my bed right after that post.

Nighty night, folks!

♥

P.s.: If you want yummy cupcakes just like ours, then you should drop by here .. cutest little store ever. Can't wait until I am feeling well again so I can go there myself and snap pictures :)

Kunsthalle

Although I was feeling a little bit under the weather yesterday (and still am today -.-), we decided to head out for a quick bite to eat, since we didn't have anything edible at home and also kinda had to celebrate J ♥ homecoming. At first, we thought about going there, but I really wanted to expand my restaurant guide, so we decided on something where we have never been before for breakfast.

KUNSTHALLE CAFÉ @ KARLSPLATZ

We both ordered the same breakfast, it was called "Project Easy" or something and it came with two slices of bread, topped with scrambled eggs sprinkled with chives and cottage cheese with avocado. There was also a grilled tomato and homemade granola with honey and fruit. Our breakfast also included Kombucha.. Yay! I had Kombucha Quitte and J ♥ chose Kombucha Classic. Needless to say, we really loved it, we complemented the waitress on our way out, because this was one of the most delicious breakfasts we ever had. And there were so many other amazing dishes on the menu, we had a hard time choosing! But the avocado always wins us over :) Definitely coming back!!

Our rating: highly recommended food-wise (the atmosphere & furnishing could be more cosy though)

Also, I have to mention that my tea bag was so messy and the tea cup was way too small, my saucer was literally swimming in tea. A word of advice: Maybe investing in bigger cups wouldn't be such a bad idea ;)

oh man...

Since yesterday I am not feeling very well. In the morning I was battling a minor headache, that's why I didn't want to take any medication at first, instead I made myself a gigantic smoothie/protein shake. After I had leftover cake for breakfast, OF COURSE :)

It had tons of blueberries in it (hopefully without echinococcus, I washed them, but I really don't know how well they need to be washed in order to get the echinococcus off?? ^^), baby spinach, a large banana, kiwi, vanilla flavored protein powder, acai powder and a carrot. Unfortunately, my headache only got worse, my cervical and axillar lymphnodes started hurting and swelling up. I was having back pain, etc so I eventually took some paracetamol and ASS and slurped noodle/carrot soup J ♥'s sister made me.

Today I am feeling slightly better -or maybe not- my head still hurts and I barely even moved (just dragged myself to my nespresso machine on my breakfast table lol). I hope I am not incubating anything -.- waaaaaah

Any home remedies I should try? I would be really grateful for any advice I can get.

Lotions III

Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to report that the final spurt until my finally perfectly organized minimalistic beauty product collection has begun! I think only one more (or two at most) review will follow after that one. Yay for me ^^

In case you missed the first two parts:

part 1

part 2

1. Balea Young Shower Gel Turteltäubchen: Needless to say that I originally purchased this item because not only was it cheap - it also smelled delicious. I wonder if you can guess the smell? Here's a little hint: Think of the name of my blog minus the berry and you will eventually figure it out ;) .. But unfortunately the smell can only to that much. This so-called "shower gel" wasn't creamy at all, no foam whatsoever, in the end I just used it for washing my feet. I was so glad when I got done with it, which was sooner than I thought. Due to the lack of foam, you go through it real quick. So unfortunate, because I loved the smell.

2. Biotherm Pore Reducer Gentle Purifying Lotion: I had this product standing in my cabinet forever and I barely ever used it. It is basically a toner (1. cleanse 2. tone 3.moisturize!! The 3 crucial steps when it comes to skin care). My skin works perfectly well without a toner, that's why I can live perfectly well without it. It's quite pricey too, so I am not buying it again.

3. Sensodyne Pro Enamel Toothpaste: I have really sensitive teeth and gums so I have to use extra sensitive toothpaste, a lot of toothpastes out there are really aggressive and they tend to give me aphthous ulcers. Fun fact: In 70 % of patients with pemphigus vulgaris oral mucosa ulcerations are the primary site of manifestation. Sometimes I really wish I didn't know such things, because apparently there's a little hypochondriac inside of me surfacing every so often.

4. SUN & FUN Shimmering After Sun Cooling Lotion with antileukine 6: To start it off, please don't even begin asking me what antileukine 6 is, because I really have no idea. I had this lotion for a couple of years and just read it actually when I began using it up. Maybe antileukine is the same as interleukine 6, which regulates inflammatory cascades in the body and induces fever (together with IL-1) .. if I remember correctly. I just have no clue what that antileukine would do in a body lotion from a regular drugstore?? Weiiird. Oh well, the lotion itself was super smooth, very liquid and very shimmery. I liked the shimmery part but hated the smell. Smelled so weird. Maybe it was the antileukine 6 lol.

♥

By the way, I am still in desperate need of a hand lotion. What kind of hand lotion do you guys use? Please let me know if you come across a really nice hand lotion with the following three features:

*smell really nice

*easy to rub in

*no greasy feeling

I would really appreciate your help :) And if y'all excuse me now, I will proceed to watch the Real Housewives of New York City, season finale! It is a sad day, my dear blog readers :(

Marzipan Apple Cake

Seriously, wtf? It's pouring rain and freezing cold - in JULY.

And I thought they were kidding on the radio when they said that Tueday was the last really hot day of July. So what is there to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon except for cuddling up in bed, watching TV shows or going to the movies? After I got back to Vienna from a quick trip to my parents' house over the weekend, I threw on the oven and started working on yet another sweet little treat which I've been wanting to try for a couple of weeks now.

MARZIPAN APPLE CAKE

♥

Admittedly, the recipe was quite experimental to begin with, although it was originally inspired from Mirela. But since I bought soy flour last Friday to use as an egg substitute, I couldn't wait to give it a try :) For butter I used half-fat margarine (with vitamins, omega3 and folic acid) because as we (hopefully!) all know the human body needs fatty acids in order to function properly, like I mentioned before.

That's also why I usually don't like baking without any oil/butter at all. However, since I used up all my margarine today and won't be buying a new one before I leave next week for vacation, all my upcoming recipes this week will be without butter :)

I was so surprised how well this cake turned out without eggs!!! I was the happiest girl on the planet when I tried it (I think the big missing piece in the last pic is proof enough). This recipe can easily be adapted for a vegan diet. Just use a vegan butter and you're good to go!

Ingredients:

- 100 g margarine/butter (softened)

- 100 g marzipan (I bought a vegan kind, try cutting it into really small pieces)

- 3 egg substitutes (3 teaspoons of soy flour mixed with 6 tablespoons of water)

- 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of agave syrup

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 200 g flour (I exchanged two tablespoons of the flour with two tablespoons of corn starch to achieve a cupcake-like consistency)

- 2 teaspoons of baking powder

- about 1/4 cup of milk (or any milk substitute if you want it vegan)

- about 2 peeled & sliced apples

- sliced almonds

- confectioner's sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 170 °C (too lazy to convert)

2. Mix the margarine, egg, marzipan, agave and vanilla on high speed with an electric mixer. Or if you don't own an electric mixer like me, whisk them together with an eggbeater and get a nice arm workout :)

3. Now add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and milk. (Okay, so I added the milk beforehand so that the whisking got easier) and stir well.

4. I used a casserole dish which I coated with extra virgin olive oil before pouring in the dough.

5. Now put the peeled and sliced apples on top.

6. Bake for about 45 minutes.

Side note: I had to take the cake out of the oven a couple of times, because I sprinkled the sliced almonds on top before putting it in and so they burned a little. -.- Therefore I highly recommend not using the almonds before the cake is almost done, instead you should take it out beforehand, sprinkle the almonds on top and bake for another 5 minutes or so. Once it is done (toothpick trick!), take it out, let it set and once it cooled down, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. Tataaaaaa :D Serve with mascarpone cream.

(or enjoy a huge piece when it's still warm, like I did :D ... omg, it was really HUGE now that I look at it ... *please enter "that's-what-she-said" - joke here*)

Okay, the pics may not look that great, but the taste makes up for it, I swear. My first almost vegan cake, I am so proud. I LOVED it. It is amazing, you really need to try it if you are a big marzipan lover like me.

Fluffy Homemade Bread

I like my bread fluffy & soft in the middle, yet crunchy with loads of sunflower seeds, nuts, oats and teeny weeny carrot pieces. From my favorite bakery I usually get the "Aborigines Weckerl" because it meets all of the above criteria. A couple of week ago my friend Hanna gave me a recipe for "sparkling mineral water bread" which I tried immediately and I was surprised how well it worked out. Up to that point I had never baked bread before, well real bread that is. In high school we had this dough "Hermann" which was basically a bread and everyone kept adding flour and other stuff so it grew and could be shared with friends etc. Now that I think of it, it was probably one of the most disgusting things to do in like .... EVER. Oh well, that is all behind me and now I am baking the most delicious bread all by myself! Who would have thought I would ever do that. Well certainly not me. Apparently I also never fail to flabbergast J ♥ . His reaction, when he saw the freshly baked bread out of the oven: "Whaaat? You're even baking bread now??" *eyes popping out of his head* haha LOLOLOL ^^

So here is the list of ingredients you need:

(it makes a medium sized loaf, for today I only used half of the ingredients though)

- 1/2 kg whole wheat flour (I used spelt)

- 1 package of dry yeast

- 2 heaping teaspoons of salt (iodized, to prevent those ugly goiters)

- 2 teaspoons of spices (caraway, aniseed or already pre-packaged bread-spices)

- 1 tablespoon of agave syrup

- 1 splash of vinegar (I used balsamic)

- 1/2 liter of sparkling mineral water (that is the key!)

- 2 handful of sunflower seeds/oats/slivered almonds

- 2 shredded carrots

Mix everything together. How easy! Place in a loaf pan (buttered + flour coated!). I sprinkled sunflower seeds on top and also a little bit of flaxseed.

Back in the preheated oven at 200 °C (approx. 390 F) for about 75 minutes. YUMMYYYYYYYY

And there you have your amazing homemade bread ♥

Best Vanilla Cupcakes

Vanilla is my favorite flavor ever (just in case you couldn't tell by the name of my blog)... I just love it, always have & always will. So simple and classy, yet decadent. You can never go wrong with vanilla, everybody loves it! Even J ♥ came to love it, after we ordered it with every single ice cream cone we bought and now I guess he is hooked! I am so excited to present you the best and only vanilla cupcake recipe that you will EVER need. Those cupcakes always turn out heavenly with a perfectly moist texture and scrumptious vanilla flavor. They can be used on any occasion and everybody will enjoy these vanilla-y treats. Top them with chocolate/buttercream/creamcheese frosting or any other frosting you can think of. For this batch I used mascarpone cream and I put butterfly sprinkles on top, as you can see in the pictures below. I adapted this recipe from that one, and altered it a little bit. The last couple of days I was such a bad girl slacking on my workouts and not getting anything accomplished it seems. I slept in really late, and even though this might be okay for the weekend, it most certainly is not the typical me. I am not really feeling all that well, missing my better half a little too much :( .. So what's a girl to do when the boyfriend is out of town? Why, bake of course! What better way to cheer me up than my favorite cupcakes, right?

Ingredients (yields about 12 cupcakes):

- 1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour

- 3 heaping tablespoons of corn starch

- 1/2 cup of butter

- 1 cup of confectioner's sugar

- 1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder

- 2 eggs

- 1/4 cup of vanilla soy milk (regular milk will work too I guess)

- 1/4 cup of vanilla yoghurt

- 1 teaspoon of grinded bourbon vanilla extract (just mix it with one more drop of milk)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175°C). Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, corn starch, sugar, baking powder). Add butter. In a smaller bowl mix the wet ingredients (eggs, yoghurt, milk, vanilla extract), stir until well combined and then add to the dry mixture. Beat until well combined. I always use a hand whisker, just because I don't own an electric mixer. So even though you don't have a fancy electric mixer, this recipe will work for you!

Now fill the cupcake liners until about 3/4 full. Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, take them out and let them cool before you cover them in frosting.

I used mascarpone cream-frosting, because I made the experience that most people love it, even those who don't like chocolate can eat it, so it's a big winner :)

For the frosting I just used mascarpone cream and mixed it with confectioner's sugar to taste.

I then put it in my new supercool frosting device that looks like this:

courtesy of

I personally prefer this frosting device to regular icing bags, because in my opinion it's more hygienic and easier to clean (I just throw it in the dishwasher lol). Actually I just got it last week and couldn't wait to finally try it. No more messy frosting escapades! I ♥ it! This is going to be the beginning of a wonderful friendship :)

Lotions&Creams Part II

Yay, I used up 4 more products, my bathroom cabinet is getting less crowded as we speak and it is incredibly relieving!!

1. Gliss Kur Hair Repair Gold Shine Blonde Conditioner: Nothing bad to say about this conditioner! It left my hair supershiny, detangled and soft. Would buy it again anytime. Highly recommended to natural as well as highlighted blondes!

2. Pure Coconut Heat Protecting Leave-In Conditioner: Holy mofo, this was THE WORST stuff ever. I bought it really cheap on sale at the drugstore (BIPA). No wonder it was that cheap, honestly. Although it had a nice coconutty smell (mmmmmhh!), it left my golden locks oily and at the same time dried out my already way too dry ends. I didn't even finish the bottle, just poured it down the drain after a couple of times usage. It was really bad.

3. Olana Cream Bath Milk & Honey: I got this huge bottle at a local discounter (Hofer) and it did it's job. The bottle lasted basically forever, it was humungous to begin with, but now I'm really happy I'm done with it. I prefer more exquisite cream/bubble baths like tetesept or kneipp. In the end I used Olana as a shower gel for my feet hihi :)

4. Nivea Hand Cream Soft & Intensive: Everyone who knows me can confirm that I am a hand lotion lover! I hate the feeling of dry hands..yuck! The lotion itself was okay, the texture was very rich and left my hands greasy, so there might be better options for hand lotions out there. I just have to keep looking...

Does anyone know a really nice hand lotion he/she can recommend? I would appreciate it A LOT and it would save me time, money and most importantly: nerves!

♥

On today's agenda:

-major cleaning and getting rid of med school stuff!

-ooh .. and grocery shopping! I am making vanilla cup cakes for a picnic.. recipe will be up soon!

♥

Homemade Granola

Okay, so the date is really off for this post, I just went back to the rough draft of a really old one and deleted everything so I could finally tell you about this delicious homemade granola recipe that I made! Who wants to read about the dangers of aspartame anyways? ;)

So this recipe is adapted from Angi.

What you basically do is mix all the wet ingredients in a sauce pan on the stove and let them simmer on low heat. Then you add the wet mixture to all the dry ingredients and then add 2/3 of dried cranberries and a handful of pepita seeds. After that, you spread it on a cookie sheet and bake it in the oven at 300 F for 45 min, stirring every 15 minutes so that even baking is ensured. It's pretty easy. And DELICIOUS. I think Angela described it quite perfectly "This granola is crisp, flavourful, and addicting".

For wet ingredients I used:

*2 tablespoons maple syrup

*1 tablespoon agave

*1 tablespoon coconut/palm/extra virgin olive oil (it was a prepackaged mixture of those 3 oils from the local health food store)

*1 tablespoon applesauce

*1 tablespoon all natural peanut butter

*half of 1/3 cup (!) of brown sugar

dry ingredients:

*1 1/4 cup rolled oats (I always have the little tiny ones, kind of similiar to what would be known in the US as quick oats... they are really nice and little, probably easier to digest than rolled old-fashioned oats)

*1/2 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped

*1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

*1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

*1/4 cup peeled sesame seeds

*1 tablespoon ground flax

*1 tablespoon unsweetened coconut flakes

*1 tsp cinnamon

*pinch of nutmeg

*pinch of salt

don't forget the dried cranberries and pepita seeds for add-ins! :)

Foxy-froyo

I am happy to report that there is another amazing frozen yoghurt place in Vienna where one can stop for a cool treat these days. FOXY - Frozen Yoghurt, located near U1/U4/U2 Karlsplatz and only a 1 minute walk from the technical university of Vienna. I might be mistaken, but I think the serving size of the medium cup is bigger than that one, but this could also be just an optical illusion :) .. I personally prefer again that one, I think it tastes a little bit better mihihihihi.. and I think at Foxy's the overall atmosphere is improvable. Still nice for a quick stop, but definitely improvable.

Also, at FOXY you can only get pure frozen yoghurt, no other flavors :(

(..but I like the pure kind best anyways)

P.s.: Sorraaay for the blurry pics