Cake and tea. Finally.

Today I did something I haven't done in a long long time: I baked a cake. I can't believe I used to do this at least once every two weeks or so, sometimes even more often. Oh, where did my food blogger days go? Sometimes I wonder if it would be a good idea to start another food blog (as you may know, my previous domain expired and was bought by someone else :S) because I kind of miss it. Then I remember that I've had weeks when my diet consisted basically of morning cereals, cookies, cafeteria food and coffee. Lots of coffee. And that although coffee does indeed look good on camera, it doesn't really count as a recipe (especially one you can repeat every week). 

But today I actually did cook something worth sharing, at least in photo form. The original recipe was Kamran's (The Shophisticated Gourmet) "Yellow Birthday Cake", which I slightly adapted (the cake batter was delicious. Moist and fluffy as a cake should be)  There was no birthday to celebrate, but I've been on holidays for a week already and it's almost New Year and why not? There's always something worth celebrating. I still have pictures of Barcelona to share with you (full of Christmas lights :D) but I thought this photos had a festive enough feeling as well ;)

How are your holidays going? Do you usually bake/cook a lot during those days? I don't like to spend the whole week in the kitchen, but I do enjoy cooking something more special. After all, it's the only time of the year I have the time to do so :P 

Budapest

It has been three months since I visited Budapest, the first term is almost over and I have the feeling that just two days ago I was still swimming in the sea and sunbathing on the beach, with all the time in the world (which I used...eh...to do nothing). It's scary how fast time flies (I sound like a granny, I know). Many things happened, most of them completely unexciting and mainly irrelevant, but when you reflect on past times is always those small unimportant things that matter the most. Life is a funny thing, right?. I got myself a new laptop in the meantime (hurray!), so I hope that will help to solve the I'm-so-behind-the-editing problem. 

So yeah, here there are, photos from the beautiful city of Budapest. I don't know if it's because the grass is always greener on the other side, but I kind of fall in love with each city I visit. I do love Barcelona (which by the way, I hope I will have the time to photograph again soon! It has been a long time since I went for a walk with just my camera), but when I think about all the places that I can still discover I get an urge to pack a bag and go somewhere far away. Or maybe not so far away: Budapest is like two hours away on plane. Wanderlust, I guess they call it. 

In short, Budapest was awesome. We spent only two days there, but as always it felt as such a short but long time, if that makes sense at all. We visited four coffee shops during those two days, and I wish it had been more. It rained half of the time and I got terrible blisters on my feet, but it was awesome anyway. 

Wroclaw

I realized that I had this post in drafts for months. I decided not to edit it, so when it says a month it actually means half a year ago. I hope next time it doesn't take me so long to publish!

***************

Barely a month has passed, but it already seems so so far away. Going back to the university routine - go to class, sleep (a little), work on weekends, repeat - is never easy, but this trimester is being especially tough. Not even because of the workload, which is more or less the same, but beacause of the feeling that something is already ending but you don't really see yet what is about to come and the uncertainty is just too much. 

The trip to Wroclaw was nice. We spent three days (and a half) there, were very lucky with both the apartment and the weather and walked a lot; actually, more than my friends would have liked, but travelling with me is kind of exhausting so it's nothing new. I'm usually an all or nothing when it comes to travelling: walk eight hours a day to see everything or don't go. You know: go big or go home.

We rented an aparment, since we were four and sounded like a better option, and we weren't dissapointed. Small (although in a cosy way), well decorated, with pictures of Marilyn Monroe. What else could you as for? (although the bathroom leak was an unpleasant surprise, but we will forgive them that because of the cutest kitchen ever). It was situated right in the center of the city; and when I say the center, I mean it. Like, in the main town's square, next to the city hall. The architecture in the old (and centrinc) part of the town is something between magnificent and cute. There are gothic style cathedrals - lots of cathedrals - with high and spiky towers and then cheerfully coloured houses that make you thing immediately about Hansel and Gretel and chocolate houses and fairy tales. 

But my favorite part was the university's library. It's was located inside a gothic style building, with a tower and a clock. When we went inside, a woman - we suppose the librarian - came out and started the talk to us in Polish, which was the standard there. Despite the expression of absolute bewilderment on our faces, she didn't switch to English so we still don't know what she wanted. We assumed it was because of the camera - obviously, we took a photo inside anyway - or maybe it was because of the coats since the library had a cloackroom. It will remain a mystery forever.