Instagram.

Hi guys, just a short post to share some news with you. It's not something exceptional, don't be excited. If you want, from this moment on, you can find me on Instagram. Just look up for laura_waitforit_pagani (the link takes you to my profile). I chose this name because of an "How I met your mother" episode, when Barney chooses the middle name for Marshall and Lily's baby. I think it's something funny, isn't it? Maybe one day I will change it, who knows.

One hundred and one...muffins!

Hi everybody. This Christmas we have decided to save money on gifts, as in Italy with the crisis we don't have a lot of money to waste. So, we gave as Christmas presents some muffins to our neighbors. We packed it with a small glass dish, bought at Casa, a nice shop that sells things for the house. They cost us 89 cent, because it was an offer; then we added a Gabel dish cloth (2,8 € with the 3x2), or a Gabel pot holder (1,45 €).

Then we have to prepare a looot of muffins! I made 5 different kinds of muffin: with blueberry, with coconut and dark chocolate, with banana and milk chocolate, with cocoa and white chocolate, with carrots. For the first four kinds the dough is the same, then I add the different ingridients.

Here's the receipt for the first four kinds of muffins:

WHAT YOU NEED (base):

• 125gr butter
• 150gr sugar (the finest the better)
• 3 eggs (2 whole eggs and a yolk)
• 380gr flour
• 1 packet of yeast with vanilla
• a pinch of salt
• 250 ml milk

HOW TO:

• mix the softened butter with the sugar, then add the eggs (one by one)
• add flour, the salt and the yeast with a sieve little by little, and sometimes add some milk, so the dough isn't to hard to work.

Blueberry: add blueberry as you like.

Coconut and dark chocolate: add shredder coconut and the dark chocolat cut in small pieces, as you desidered.

Banana and milk chocolate: add the pureed banana and the milk chocolate cut into small pieces, as much as you prefer.

Cocoa and white chocolate: add the cocoa powder with a sieve till the dough becomes brownish, then add some white chocolate cut in small pieces (not too much white chocolate).

All my muffins!

And here are my presents:

Presents

Present

As you can see, I hve added a small sticker with the addressee (Primark, 50 x 1,5 €) and a clip (Casa, 6 x 1,29 €): I attached a note with the name of the different kinds of muffins.

And these are muffins packed in muffins boxes! I found these at Casa, and it was 1,99 € for two boxes.

Muffins boxes

So, maybe it could be a good idea for next Christmas, isn't it? Have fun this Christmas, bye!

Berlin (part 1)

Hello everybody, I'm back from my short trip in Berlin, Germany. It was a nice holiday, maybe not my favourite, but it has worth it. As usual, I will divided the post in 3 parts: how to get, accomodation and transports in the first, what to do&see, food and souvenirs in the second and a third part with a special about Christmas markets. Enjoy!

HOW TO GET THERE: As usual, I booked a flight with EasyJet, taking off in the early morning (auch!) and getting back very late in evening, so we had four whole days to spend there. We landed at Shonefeld Airport (what a horrible airport!), in the south east of Berlin. From there, it takes about an hour to get to the city centre (it depends on where your hotel is, actually). To get into the city we decided to take the bus X7 to Rudow U7 metro stop, then frome there we changed line to reach our hotel. To get back to the airport, instead we take metro + line S9 and it took about an hour, too. I think the fastest way is by train, but trains run every half an hour. So, it's up to you! There're no big differences.

Our room at ApartHotel Vega

ACCOMODATION: once again, I booked with Booking.com. I chose ApartHotel Vega, a nice hotel with apartments, too. It was very close to Uhlandstrasse (sorry I can't find the double s in my keybord) U-stop, and a short walk from Zoologischer Garten U-stop and S-stop. The hotel was safe, with a code for entering the main door. At the reception there are two women, very nice even if their english is not so good (but it's enough to understand each other). Our room was big, the bathroom was as wide as the bedroom. We chose the hotel formula, as we didn't need an apartment with kitchen. We paid 19,5€ per person per night. The only thing that can leave you a little bit disappointed is that they don't make up beds (why?! It is an hotel!), but not a big problem for us, as we slept also during the day (sometimes)! Remember: don't choose this hotel in summer, because you would need to keep the windows open for the high temperature inside the room, but you can't. In fact, just near the hotel there is the S-bahn, which isn't a real problem in winter, when the windows are shut.

Hackescher Markt stop of S-bahn

TRANSPORT:  the daily ticket is quite expensive, 6,7€ per person for zone AB. If you arrive from the airport, buy directly the daily ticket for zone ABC (only for the day of arrival and when you leave), that cost 7,2 €. I think that you need the daily ticket, as Berlin is very big. We use the metro a lot, because our hotel was in a residential zone, not so near the centre to be reached on foot. In Berlin there are two kind of metro: the U-bahn, which is more the real underground (but sometimes goes outside the ground), and the S-bahn, which is a sort of overground subway. Trains run frequently during the day, but in the night they run every 10-15 minutes. You can find more information here.

It's Christmas time!

Oh oh oh! Hi everyone! It's Christmas time! As every year, my family and I make a "presepe" (is it in english called "nativity scene"? I don't know). We have travelled a lot around Europe, and we found out that in France they have a lot of beautiful little statues called "santons". So, we decided to buy them (one or two per year, as they cost a loooot). We love the brand Escoffier, it is our favourite, all our statues are of this brand except three: the baker, the donkey with lavender (both from "Just Marie", another brand) and the donkey with the old man (bought by my parents during a trip in Greece). So, let's have a look to my Presepe!

Man who collects olives

The three kings with camel & camel driver

Old woman

Baker with donkey and fields of flowers

Cave with the proper nativity scene

Dancer

Rubber Ducks' Map.

Hi guys! This post will be quite short, but I just would like to share with you something that really impressed me. This is a map of the trip of thousands rubber ducks. Don't you know the story? Well, to tell it shortly, in 1992 a cargo ship lost three containers of rubber animals. This animals followed ocean currents and reach more or less all the northen emisphere. I heard about it for the first time in Touch (a tv series with Kiefer Sutherland), and I think that all this story is amazing. Nothing important, just to tell you something interesting, maybe one day it will be useful. Have a nice day!

RUBBER DUCKS' TRIP AROUND THE WORLD

Thinking about holiday!!!

Finally, here I am. Next week I'm going to Berlin, Germany. Yes I know, I can't stay at home for more than two months! But you know, 115 € per person for 4 days/3 nights...

I'm quite excited, the northen Europe cities at Christmas are fabulous! I have already been in Berlin with my parents, five years ago I think. I liked it, but not too much, so let's try again, this time with my boyfriend.

As soon as I come back, I will update you. STAY TUNED!