WAY TO HAPPINESS..

.. such was the title of a picture I've come upon at Flickr today and I immediately have fallen in love with this "so Spring" dreamy image, its emerald-greeny refreshening colors and soft light. Especially now, when the coldest winter I could ever imagine going wild outside, this amazing corner of nature is twice+ more welcoming.

Photo from Flickr ©2006 Kris Kros All rights reserved

Well, sure we all have our own unqiue ways to happiness. So for me being fully present at each moment as it comes, creating, discovering and enjoying(!) big and "small" pleasures of everyday life and being involved into inspiring and delightful occupations (the detailed list if I only start writing it down, may become really endless:) are the key to happiness.

A wonderful illustration of how to become genuinely happy at every given moment are some of my favorite quotations below.

"To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour." - William Bake

**

"A happy life must be to great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live." - Bertrand Russell

MARZIPAN FINE ARTS

These photos were taken in Hungary - one of our most favorite countries which we often visit. Each time we are there we come to Sentendre, a small beautiful picturesque town in the central Hungary, 30 min drive from Budapest. Sentendre is famouse for the Museum of Marzipan that is also a place where marzipan masterpieces are being created and sold in a shop by the museum.

Can you believe everything you see on the photos below made from Marzipan!!?

You may click each photo to watch this fine work in high details.

Comparing marzipan parliament with the original..! (photos from FLickr)

BERLIN CAKE

Hallo everybody, hope you all had wonderful New Year's Holidays and someone are still having;)! Every new year is considered as a new start, bringing our way new opportunities and new impressions. So let's surround ourselves with wonderful things and happy people that inspire us, making amazing discoveries and experiencing heartiest joy! But the most imortant is that it shouldn't be just occasional moments but converted into such a sensual and passionate lifestyle!

Thus I decided to follow this my own rule and start the new year learning something new and namely I did my first steps into the world of bakery!;) I took this recipe from my large bakery book by Christian Teubner and Annette Wolter. Sincerely speaking I was afraid that it would come no good, preoccupied that it might burn or wouldn't get baked through well...but, I am proudly saying that it has come out to be much more beyond my expectations!

The only thing that differs my cake from the original recipe is that I used cashews instead of pine nuts.

Ingredients: (calculated for the cake-form 24cm in diameter)

• 
  
  300 g of high quality wheet flour
• 
  
  15 g of yeast
• 
  
  1/8 liter of warm milk
• 
  
  100 g of sugar (you may use cane sugar that is more healthy)
• 
  
  175 g of butter
• 
  
  3 eggs
• 
  
  salt to taste
• 
  
  grated peel of 1 lemon
• 
  
  200 g of raisins ( I used big and juicy Jambo raisins)
• 
  
  100 g of melted chocolate for frosting
• 
  
  pine nuts for decoration
• 
  
  butter and dried and finely ground breadcrumbs

Method of cooking:

1. 
   
   Smear the form with some butter and sprinkle it with breadcrumbs.
2. 
   
   Sift flour in a big bowl and make a hole to crumb there yeast. Then add a warm milk with some quantity of flour and sugar. Cover with a towel and leave for 15 minutes.
3. 
   
   Add melted butter, salt, eggs, sugar, grated lemon peel and make dough till bubbles appear.
4. 
   
   Again cover the dough trough with a towel and leave for 30 minutes.
5. 
   
   Mix washed raisins into dough and put it into a form. Leave for 20 minutes.
6. 
   
   Meanwhile preheat the oven up to 200C.
7. 
   
   Bake the cake for 50 min on the 2nd level from the bottom.
8. 
   
   Melt the chocolate and pour it over the freshly baked cake. While it is warm fix pine nuts as a decoration.

And this is just a Cake Fantasy!:)