Smørbirkes / Special Danish Morning Rolls

These rolls were incredibly easy to make, once I got the hang of the 'folding'. They weren't as 'puffy' as the ones, you can by at the baker in Denmark, but I still thought they tasted really well. I froze some of them, and they were delicious warmed up.

I love it when I get to use my rolling pin.

As I didn't have any poppy seeds, I used caraway seeds, which worked well.

The finished product.

I really want to make these again soon.

I'm back...

Hi,

So, I didn't manage to stick to writing a post at least once a month in 2015. Neither did I keep up most of my other tasks on my list from January. But as we say in Danish: 'Pyt!' Which I guess could be translated into: 'Oh, well, the intention was there but I might have been slightly over-ambitious and under-realistic. Time to move on.'

My lack of sticking to certain projects hasn't hurt anyone and I'm still here, happy and hopefully back to blogging on a regular basis again.

What didn't I do:

• Weekly baking / bread making: I'll look into this again as we've moved since my last post and now have a bigger kitchen. And I have colleagues who like cakes. 

• Be more conscious of what I'm eating and drinking: I'm still conscious when I eat and drink, but that's about it. More work is needed here.

• Walk 10,000 steps a day: I did actually take this up again recently, but only recently.

• Find a yoga teacher: I have tried a few different ones and the best one is actually someone on YouTube. I did two weeks of regular yoga following her videos and then stopped. I need to go back and then not stop.

• Regular Zumba classes: Yeah, not really any excuse for this one. 'Karen, get back on the dance floor.'

• Avoid Starbucks: I tried and failed. I even have a gold card now. 

• Read German for at least 15 minutes a day: I'm not too worried about that, though, as I read, speak and occasionally write German at work (one of my Swiss-German colleagues always looks through any written text first in order to make sure I haven't inadvertently offended anyone before I send it out...).

• Write more reviews for TripAdvisor and become one of the 10% most popular reviewers in Zurich: Well, I haven't actually written many this year (if any), but I've still managed to move from being among the 20% most popular reviewers to the 15% most popular ones. I should get my act together, as we went to some fabulous places in Italy during our summer holidays.

• Use mindfulness and meditation daily. I really need to make this part of my routine again.

What did I do:

• Find out what to do professionally: Since July I've got a full-time job which I enjoy, so that's pretty good going. It's through a temp-agency and the contract runs out end of January - what happens then is still up in the air.

• Continue craft projects: I've finished the Cross Stitch Bitch and framed her, and started a new cross stitch project.

Here she is. I'm still not sure where to hang her.
According to my husband, it won't be in the living room.

I hope this will be finished before I turn 50.

• Furthermore, I've really got into colouring books (check out instagram @stefansmor)  as part of mindfulness and finding new ways of honing my focusing skills.

My first attempt.

This is a close up of a 'colour-in-yourself' postcard.

• Take a daily picture for Instagram: I don't take one every day, but I do post regularly. I've realised how much I like taking pictures of in particular buildings!!! My favourite subject is unsurprisingly Stefan and luckily he is very photogenic. (She writes humbly.)

I love how many vertical and horizontal stripes are present in this picture. Choosing the black and white setting helps display them beautifully. 

This is part of the Allianz Tower not far from where I currently work.  It is absolutely stunning and this is just a small part of a complex structure. I have taken quite a few pictures from various angles already...

Overall: I think what I have succeeded in and continue to do well without any effort is to prioritise spending time with Stefan and Paul and be happy and content with the here and now = life.

The Rosinger Family anno late summer 2015.

Thanks, if you're still out there and reading my blog. And welcome, if you stumbled across this in your search for something else.

Lots of love,

Karen x

Beautiful Italy, Beautiful Elba - a Family Affair

(This was written a couple of weeks ago. We're now back in Zurich.)

I'm currently sitting on our balcony with the most beautiful view towards a well-maintained garden, three pools and a little bit further out, the sea. After some discussion over a bottle of wine last night, I finally worked out which sea. Or did I? Maybe I just managed to boil it down to not being the Baltic Sea. Paul knows but he won't tell me and I don't trust the information on Wikipidia about Elba since it said that the population of the biggest town here is 500,000,000. Anyway, I can see a lot of water and a lot of sky. It sounds as if Paul has managed to get Stefan to sleep, so all I can hear are the birds doing their thing and a man carrying a ladder (yes, it's THAT quiet!).

We arrived on Saturday and will be leaving on Sunday. Driving. I love the fact that we can just get in our car and six-seven hours later (depending on traffic and strength / weakness of the passengers' bladders) we've exchanged a cloudy sky, sweaters and scarfs for sun, sandals and swimwear.

As a mother in possession of a mobile phone and no shame, I have minutely recorded Stefan's first proper meeting with the sea (last year, he had only learned to walk, so we were a bit worried about letting him too loose near the water), Stefan discovering sand, Stefan discovering sand in his shoes, socks, between his toes (his parents later discovering it in his hair, body, nappy...), Stefan eating ice cream, Stefan sitting on his dad's shoulders part 1, 2, 3, etc. Stefan playing in the sand with his dad part 1, 2, 3, etc. Basically a never ending series of pictures and videoes of Stefan and Stefan and his dad. I'd sent some of the pictures to some family and friends and one of my friends said, it would be nice to see some pictures of me as well. And I agree. Because I'm actually also here. But behind the camera. Which I think is quite often the case with mums.

Luckily, my sunny disposition and always positive attitude meant I found a solution to immortalise myself in pictures along with my son and husband:

Stefan and his stalker mum

A crazy big footprint in the middle of this picture

There's no stopping her

We might use this for our Christmas cards 2015

And the good old selfie 

Toddlers - the New Breed of Forensic Detectives?

After having spent yet another 45 minutes on a walk with Stefan which resulted in us exploring, minutely, an area the size of an A4 sheet of paper, I suddenly had a thought: Why don't the police train toddlers to become forensic detectives? They are naturals. Yes, there might be slight communication and behavioural problems and yes, it might not be entirely legal, but apart from that I really can't see why this isn't an amazing idea.

Here are some reasons why (based on my, yes, I will admit, perhaps rather limited experience, but still, I don't think Stefan is any different from other toddlers his age when it comes to the explorative nature of our walks).

• No stone, not even the smallest (including grains of sand), is left unturned, unstudied or in the cases of the younger toddlers, untasted. 
• Nothing escapes their gaze: Cigarette buds, rotten fruit, plastic lids, insects - so my argument would be that this were also to be the case with: Fingernails, minute body parts, hair, earrings, teeth, smaller bones.
• The same small area will be looked at from all angles more than once.
• Gloves are not necessary when it comes to examining any wet areas.
• When they're in the field, they're totally in the zone: They hear nothing and don't let anything stop them from for example digging into brown mud, not made out of soil, with a stick (if one is lucky!).
• Everything excites them.
• Confidentiality isn't a problem for them as they're unlikely to be able to talk. 

However, as in all employer-employee relationships, there are likely to be a few negatives and drawbacks when it comes to employing toddlers (in addition to the ones mentioned above):

• They might not understand the seriousness of the matter and laugh at inappropriate moments.
• They'll need longer and more breaks than older workers.
• They'll need help to go to the toilet and eat.
• They might ruin the evidence found and not want to hand it over.
• There is a chance that they'll suddenly get bored with the task at hand and nothing, no kind of bribe, that being monetary, extra annual leave, gym membership, monthly flowers, is going to make them change their minds.
• There might be more tears and hissyfits than with older colleagues.
• They will need a chaperone.

Over the next couple of months, I will do some more research. I have already started writing a questionnaire about Exploration Habits Among Toddlers When Going for Walks and in General (title to be shortened), which I 'm planning on handing out to the parents in Stefan's nursery to start with. Once a result has come back, I will make a pretty powerpoint presentation including loads of impressive slides and try to get a meeting in place with Herr Top-Police-Detective-Guy here in Zurich and see what he says. I think this could lead to something big. 

Actually, I have so much faith in this idea, I'm going to start designing appropriate forensic detective outfits for toddlers.

Chocolate Cookies with Chilli

Since I saw the recipe for these cookies a while back, I've wanted to try them out. But due to a disaster with some store-bought, ready-made cookie dough a couple of years back, I've been shying away from throwing myself into the art of making cookies, as I was convinced this was something I would never master.

Stage one: Getting the ingredients ready (which includes my mixer wearing a collar).

Stage two: The dough is being mixed using the correct tools and expert folding technique.

Stage three: Yumminess on a plate (with the mandatory glass of milk).

I decided to subject one of my therapy groups to my first batch of homemade cookies, and their comments were very encouraging. I didn't necessarily understand everything they said, but I returned home more or less empty-handed which in this case is a positive. And one of them asked for the recipe! Personally, I must admit I was a bit disappointed. I'd been looking forward to the chocolate / chilli combination but didn't think it worked that well. However, I am so excited that I managed to make cookies which didn't need to go directly from the oven into the bin...

Sports Update and Garlic Bread

Stefan is sitting in the sofa doing hand movements to 'Wheels on the Bus'. He's actually pretty good and I'm almost jealous of the fact that he knows the order of them already (he's also able to copy all the gestures Pharrell Williams does in the beginning of his video to 'Happy'! We might look into entering him to some highbrow show for intelligent people thought up by Simon Cowell in a year or two). I'm still struggling with the moves and routines in my Zumba class. Admittedly, I haven't actually been going to my class regularly, but that's all about to change! 

BECAUSE:

My yearly subscription to the fitness center two minutes' walk from here (three, if the wind is in my face (headwind?)) ran out last month and having no income, I felt rather reluctant to fork out quite a lot of non-existing money on something which might end up just being another card in my collection. So I was toying with the idea of saying: Been there, didn't really do much of that, did buy some sports t-shirts.

UNTIL: 

(Does this capitalising work? I'm trying to create a somewhat dramatic atmosphere.)

Da-da-da-daaaah: Paul made a suggestion: He'd pay for a new subscription under the condition that I go at least 52 times. If not, I'd have to pay him back. Theoretically, I thought this was an amazing offer and theoretically, I could definitely see this as the incentive I need in order to start going more regularly. Not having the best track record when it comes to turning theory into practise, I still decided that with a 'can-do' and 'I'm going to show myself (and a little bit the world)' attitude, this project should be feasible. Hence, I accepted the offer. It's now been a month or so and I've been to Zumba once (Easter got in the way last week) and I'm planning on going tomorrow morning, so I'm on track - also because the subscription runs for 13 months...

The search for a yoga teacher / class is still ongoing. I did a couple of sessions from YouTube which were actually quite good, but I would like to be in a studio surrounded by mirrors, as I need to make sure I do the movements correctly. (Not to admire myself as most of the poses are rather unflattering unless you're very lean and fit and don't wear socks with rubber underneath them.) And it would be good to have a teacher there as well who can guide and instruct in person. 

Reaching 10,000 steps a day is actually a bit more tricky than I first thought. However, with the warmer weather coming our way and the increase of number of hours of daylight, I should be able to improve this. So I keep monitoring my steps and my weight. Which goes up and down, but if nothing else, it shows that the pedometer works and it creates a more interesting graph than one that just goes down, stays still, or moves up...

What I have done / added to my fitness routine is cycling into Zurich city centre and back from here when the weather's good and I have morning therapy. It's about 7 km and takes 20-25 minutes. 

I feel that I've made some progress but know that I could do better. 

On a final note, I would like to show a couple of pictures of the making of what I personally think is the best garlic bread I have EVER tasted. 

The dough has been stretched and shaped into a rectangle.

Cutting and slicing job done and on with the garlic and herb butter.

Bird's view of the buttered slices having been placed in the tin.

Post-bake in tin.

Final result.

Giving the Bitch the Final Stitch (so much anger in someone so young-ish...)

It's now time to update you all on the progress with my cross-stiching. (Yes, I am a 73-year-old fragile looking lady trapped in the body of an almost 42-year-old slightly craft and cake obsessed person.)

The Cross-Stitch Bitch has now been given the last stitch, so I might look into getting her framed. However, I doubt very much that the husband will be happy for me to hang it up in our living room glowing eternally under a projector light. We'll see.

This is what she ended up looking like (I'll get a better picture once she's moved into her frame):

I think that once we have a bigger abode and I get my own room (one can dream), I can turn it into my own personal tasteful haven with loads of flowers and plants, a Lindt chocolatier (instead of a butler: I don't wear top-hats or white gloves or receive handwritten letters which need to be brought to me on a silver plate), a comfortable chair, where I can do my knitting, and an adjustable table (and ditto chair) which is big enough to hold both cross-stitching AS WELL AS jigsaw puzzle projects. I think I might also like a bed in there as I'll probably get tired from all the crafting. And baking which I'll be doing in the French farmhouse style kitchen which belongs to this dream-house. There will still be time and room for Stefan and Paul. ALWAYS!

Okay, this is what I'll be working on post-bitch:

I have actually already started on the 'My Day Off' design (more about that on my Instagram-account, @stefansmor) and am thoroughly enjoying every stitch. It's comparable to my mental progress: Small steps to begin with, then the bigger picture will emerge.

Au-Pair Talk and Adieu to Antibiotics

Rosinger Senior and Junior are now both back on their big and small feet again. And we have said good-buy and good riddance to the traumatic experience it has been to squirt antibiotics into Stefan's mouth twice a day. (Senior was given pills.) We tried to bribe him with Smarties but I'm not sure he understood our explanation as to why we would do something horrible to him and then excitedly let him pick out some colourful round things that he could eat. Once he started feeding me the bribe after the event; all covered in white sticky stuff with a sickly sweet smell. I did the 'pretending to eat with great enjoyment' face and think I fooled him...

Anyway, we should hopefully now be over the first bad flu episodes of the year.

My dear childhood friend, Helle, came over for a visit last weekend and we had some lovely and relaxing days together. (She was also not feeling 100% but obviously after having spent a couple of days in a warm flat (probably warmer than usual due to rising temperatures), drinking numerous mugs of tea, eating Lindt chocolate and going for a couple of walks, she was feeling marginally better when she left.) Stefan and she got on like a house on fire and I suggested that she give up her life in Denmark to become our au-pair instead. For some reason this amazing offer was declined. There were excuses like: 'I have three children and a husband at home. And a full-time job. Etc.' Basically a lot of hot air. (Well, it's factually true but still. Is she a true friend or not?) I love how she's introduced Stefan to 'Totte' (the Danish version of 'Postman Pat' apart from the fact that Totte is a four-five year old boy) and Smarties. And he let her brush his teeth. He doesn't let his mum go near him with a toothbrush. Or a tissue. Or a morning kiss. Or let his mum hug his dad when he can see it. 

Food:

This week I've decided to share some pictures of the soda bread I made a couple of weeks back. You can see more under the 'Food' tab.

Craft Projects:

As I've now finished a few knitted items, I thought it was time to post some pictures of them under the 'Craft Projects' tab. 

I like my tabs and will probably add more in time...

Chocolate Cookies and Coughing

This week the Rosinger household has joined the many Swiss families which have been subjected to the flu over the past couple of weeks. I was under the weather last weekend and the first part of this week, Stefan has been at home with a pretty bad cough and high fever since Tuesday, and today Paul came home from work earlier than usual and went more or less straight to bed. We managed to get through January without anyone being sick but seem to be making up for that now...

Before the invasion of germs, I managed to make chocolate cookies for the first time ever. See how that went under the 'Food' tab.

Next week I hope to show you pictures of my Soda Bread experiment as well as of my latest craft projects.

Keep warm and healthy!

:-)

Alternative Ways to Improve Your German

When we first moved here, I had some basic knowledge of German which I hoped would help me make myself understood in everyday situations like ordering food in restaurants and grocery shopping. Some days, it went okay, other days, I couldn't make myself less understood had I tried to. My nightmare example (and one which Paul loves to bring up!) was when we had been here for two weeks and needed to buy some special rubbish bags, Züri-Sachs, which are the only acceptable bags to put into rubbish containers. (A Swiss friend told me that the people in charge of emptying containers have been known to open 'non' Züri-Sachs to see if there was anything (an address on an envelope or so) that could identify the 'sinner'!). And though they are expensive, they are quite sturdy. Anyway, I'm digressing...

So, we went shopping in the local supermarket, and I decided to ask for these rubbish bags. I'd forgotten that they were called 'Züri-Sachs', and I didn't know the German word for 'rubbish'. What do I do? I decide to talk about bananas. I think the conversation went a bit like this (in 'rubbish' German): 'You know, when you have a banana, and you have the, you know you eat it, and you have the yellow bit, and you want to...' Including a strange demonstration using a real banana. The cashier looked blank - and slightly scared, before she was saved by the lady behind us, who luckily spoke some English and explained to us where we could buy the bags. Paul found this pretty amusing and I felt like a pillock having told him that I spoke some German...

Not long after having almost been arrested for threatening a supermarket worker with a fruit weapon, I signed up to an evening class in German (which I wrote about here my-weekly-german-class-german-at-work.html) and it was okay. I enjoyed the first semester the most as the group was great fun and highly motivated, but the second semester, the group had expanded along with my pregnant stomach, and I stopped going after a couple of times.

Luckily, it turns out that you don't need to attend German classes in order to learn German, instead, if you put yourself in one / some of the following situations, you're very likely to improve your German automatically (Some knowledge of the language is desirable.)

1. Get pregnant. (This mostly applies for the female part of the population, though I think there was a story about a man who carried a baby. I don't really want to think about that too much...)
2. Sign your child up to a local nursery.
3. Become a victim of a crime.
4. Join a local gym.

Ad. 1) In Switzerland, all women have a gynaecologist who follows them throughout their pregnancy. This means no visits to your GP, no special trips to the hospital for scans: That's all taken care of at your gynaecologist. I found a local lady, who, according to her receptionist, spoke great English. Unfortunately, she only showed that skill, when Paul came along with me. For some reason, she was hell-bent on sticking to German, when I turned up to my appointments on my own. 

Ad. 2) Choose a local nursery where the person in charge is from Brazil and only speaks Portuguese or Swiss German. The staff speak some English but I prefer to conduct any communication in German as that leads to fewer misunderstandings. Stefan is slowly picking up Swiss German words, and has started saying 'ufe' for 'up'. 

Ad. 3) In October last year, my purse was stolen (without me realising; I wasn't mugged) so I went to the police to report this. The friendly police person, who took on my case, didn't speak much English, hence I was interviewed and replied in German. 

Ad. 4) Another quick way to learn German is to join a local gym and do some of their group fitness classes as they are all conducted in (Swiss) German. And you can always see what the other people are doing, if you're not entirely sure of what the instructor's saying. (But there have been times in Zumba, when I've happily been doing a full body turn and everyone else is jumping on one leg.)

Having a small child is also a great way to get to practise your German, as particularly older people often stop to compliment you on your cute child. (At least that's what I think they do, I make sure to do a lot of smiling and saying 'Danke!')

Project Karen

TWO posts in under TWO weeks, what is going on with the previously post-publishing-sky Karen? Who knows - but I think this is a good sign. People who know me well are perfectly aware of the fact that I never shut up when experienced live, but it now looks as if this torrent of words (not always with any specific meaning) has found its way to the screen. My plan is to only write meaningful sentences - only time will show how this pans out.

Before I get started with this year's second post, I want to say a BIG THANK YOU for the kind, lovely and loving messages I received from near and afar after my previous post. I'm really grateful for your thoughts and uplifting words which have reassured me of my choice in making my battle with depression so public - though I'm aware that I'm only a small blogger-shrimp compared to the blogger-whales out there in the deep and never-ending cyber-sea. 

Last year the lovely Maria recommended the book 'The Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin. I swallowed her quest for finding happiness along with numerous coffee lattes (from Starbucks, more about that later) and got very inspired to do my own version of her project.

As I'm in a place of my life where I'm battling numerous issues / facing several challenges, I've decided to, magnificently unoriginally, call this project 'Project Karen'. The aim of the project is to, through mastering various tasks, manifesting certain habits, motivation and mindfulness, end up with a happier, healthier and more well-balanced me.

Below is a random list, in no order, of things I'd like to change, try, turn into a habit, finish:

• Be more conscious of what I'm eating and drinking. I started writing a food diary a couple of weeks ago and it's proving very useful. (But my gosh, is it boring reading!)

• Practise mindfulness daily, including meditation. (I can recommend the app Insight Timer, to those of you who might want to start meditating - again a recommendation from the ever-resourceful Maria.)

• Read German for a least 15 minutes every day. (During my therapy I cover the action (Swiss) German conversation, but I think it's almost equally important to read texts in German as well in order to improve my German language skills.) At the moment I'm reading 'Mord auf Raten' by Andreas Franz. If anyone can suggest any fiction books in German, please let me know.

• Update my blog at least once a month. (Hey-ho, what a great start to this 'task' already!)

• Bake one type of bread and / or cake a week, as we are a family of bread and cake lovers. And continue to experiment in the kitchen. Please see below a couple of previous bakes:

Focaccia

Tin loaf

Red onion quiche

Tin loaf, second batch, cubed for Swiss cheese fondue

• Find a yoga class I enjoy and attend regularly.

• Continue to do Zumba at least once a week. (My class consists of a bunch of people of all ages and flexibility (flexibilities?). It's good to know that there are other brave people out there who don't care about their lack of coordination either. In my head I'm a gazelle, but when I catch my moves in the mirror I look more like a three legged, sweaty - but happy - elephant.)

• Continue with or finish the following craft projects:

My current collection of knitted socks (some almost there and some half-way)

The very beginning of a scarf. Yes, I will be knitting it using sharpened drumsticks. 

Finish the Cross-Stich Bitch

Finish this Raffaello puzzle (loads of sky left...)

• Aim to reach 10,000 steps daily using the pedometer which Paul has given me. (Even if it means walking around in circles in front of the TV whilst watching 'The Bridge' with Paul in order to get the last 200 steps in.) Paul and I talked about planting the gadget on Stefan for one day to see how many kilometres he walks / runs a day, but it will probably mess up my current stats.

• Continue to take a daily picture and post it on http://instagram.com/; you can find me under: @stefansmor. The pictures are of pretty random things often with an even more random text, but it's a fun, quick and easy daily task to do.

• Continue to write reviews for Trip Advisor. The aim is to be among the top 10% reviewers in Zurich; at the moment I'm among the 20% top ones. I'm quite strict when it comes to choosing what to review. The experience has to be exceptional - either good or bad. Anything mediocre doesn't make the cut. 

• Avoid Starbucks but instead get my coffee kick from one of the many cafes here in Zurich which are not part of an international chain. It's about time that I make myself familiar with what Zurich has to offer: not only when it comes to cafes, but also guided tours, places to visit, quirky shops, restaurants etc. which I can then take visitors to - and review for Trip Advisor. Paul and I would like to stay here for a very, very long time, so it makes sense to start looking at Zurich as 'our town'. 

Main goal for 2015:

Find out what I would like to do professionally.

However, over the next couple of months, I will be getting different kinds of therapy a couple of hours a day, four days a week and the fifth day I have my weekly session with my psychiatrist. My goal there is to stay motivated and learn as much as I can from the therapists, other patients and not least myself in order for me to overcome this depression and avoid future ones.  

I look forward to updating any progress here over the next couple of weeks / months. And do let me know if you have any suggestions / want to do a project X yourself.

I'm aware that all of the above might come across as an incredibly self-indulgent and self-obsessed exercise, but I would like to add that none of the above mini projects / self-improvement tasks will ever take time away from Stefan and Paul. They are and always will be my main priority. (Hopefully, they (and us as a family) will also benefit from any improvement and development of 'Project Karen'.)

Depression (postnatal and current)

Happy belated New Year from Zurich. It's been a while since I last posted something on my blog and there are reasons for that. I've been debating with myself as to whether I should mention what has actually been going on behind the happy pictures on Facebook and have decided that why not. I have nothing to be embarrassed about and those around me already know and have been fantastic in showing their support and love. So here goes:

In January last year I was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital here in Zurich for eights weeks with postnatal depression. This is obviously an experience both Paul and I could have been without, but fortunately I was able to get treatment when I needed it most. Since my 'realease' I continued to see a psychiatrist once a week. Unfortunately, in November, after having had three different jobs since March (made redundant from the first one; didn't pass my probation period in the second one and left after four weeks in the third one after a breakdown) it became clear that I was / am still depressed and in need of more help. Hence, I am now receiving treatment at a day clinic where I go four times a week for different kinds of therapy – and I continue to see my psychiatrist. This sucks and was definitely not how Paul and I envisaged starting family life. But hey, trials and tribulations are all part of being human. 

I don't want to belittle or attempt to appear flippant about my condition, but I'm pleased to have realised that something good has emerged from this situation (apart from me getting help):

1. My German has improved considerably! All the staff as well as the other 'patients' at the hospital and now clinic speak (Swiss) German and so does my psychiatrist. (She does speak some English but I prefer to be the one looking for words and not the other way round.)

2. I have been introduced to 'mindfulness'.

3. I have discovered that I find baking and cooking relaxing! (!!)

I wish you all a happy and healthy 2015 and am looking forward to updating this blog more regularly this year.