7th December

If you are looking for a new fresh idea for your advent calender for the next year here I have a suggestions. This one comes from December issue of MC des idees. I have to admit though that you need a stairs to make something like this ;-)

And what do you think about this lovely candy bag? Do you know that Ikea has these kind of candy bags this year? It is an easy option if you don't want to make them yourself...

Less cute but more practicalare these usefull gloves for cleaning. Can be used as a present, although I won't be thrilled to get something like this under my Christmas tree.

I hope you've noticed that all these ideas are number 7-marked!!!

Another marvelous tip is just to use your lovey rubber boots as gift socks. I really love it! Simple and cute.

I buy Marie Claire des idees for a couple of years now ad I find a lot of interesting ideas, tips and sugestions in every issue. This magazine is in French, whic is not that easy for me, but on the other hand it stimulates me to practice my French in a very pleasant way!

I will leave you with some more beautiful pictures from December issue:

And this idea cmes from December issue from last year. It's quite eqsy to make, you need to use Fimo and be a bit patient and accurate - the rest are peanuts ;-)

And a birdy of course which do remind me of Attic24 style a lot!

See you tomorrow guys!

3rd December

Lucky number 3. As you probably know cycling is quite popular in Belgium. Ialso try to go everywhere wih my bike - it's good for my health, I don't have any traffic problems and it's betr for the environment. You can see this kind of signs for bicycle routes all over the city.

For those of you who love cooking I have picked these three ideas for three different recipes. If you like to get one of themplease leave a comment and I will write them in one of my following posts. For each recipe you have 3 possible vaiations!

Have a nice day and till tomorrow!

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PS I have my very first follower Kimbles at Home!!! This is so great. Thank you for your lovely comment btw.

December countdown -1

I have always enjoyed this last month of every year at the bloggers' land! There are a lot of you who start with this final countdown and post beautiful pictures with numbers. Well, I want to join the fun this year, but the point is that it is not that easy to find numbers and make nice pictures at the same time. I am not disencouraged yet, I still want to go through it, but I am afraid that my photography won't be such inspiring...

I also don't have any luck with light this time of the year. It is raining already 3 weeks in a row, there is no sun and taking pictures inside is a coplete disaster! I have little light sources in my appartement, s my pictures are always turning out too dark and out of focus if I have to take them indoors. But I will try anyway ;-)

As some of you already know the 28th of November has started the Christma Lent for the Orthodox Russians. It means we do not eat from now on and till 6th of December any anymal food, like meat, cheese or milk. This is why I have to look for new recipes to make my menu a bit more variated. Today I have made a celery soup with potatoes.

Its recipe comes from the last year's edition of AllerHande - it's a free magazine from Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn.

The recipe is very easy - you just have to cut you celery root in smaal blocks together with 250 gr of potatoes, one onion and two garlic cloves. Then you fry it during 3-4 minutes in 2 ts of olive oil, add water or boullion, salt and herbs and let it all cook for another 20 min. Then you pour your soup in the bender, mix it all till the structure is smooth, cook it on a soft fire for another 10 min and it's ready. You can serve it with rye bread and some ham. Very very easy-peasy and healthy as you can see.

As my mom follows this blog but doesn't speak English quite well, I will post translations of the recipes for her.

Суп-пюре из сельдерея с картошкой:

1 корень сельдерея

250 гр рассыпчатой картошки

1 луковица

2 головки чеснока

2 ст л оливкого масла

бульон говяжий или овощной

Сельдерей помыть, нарезать ломтиками и очистить. Порезать на кубики. Картофель почистить и также нарезать кубиками. Лук и чснок мелко пошинковать, обжарить в масле, добавить порезанные сельдерей и картофель, попассировать еще 3-4 минуты. Добавить бульон, дать закипеть и варить на малом огне около 20 мин. Миксером сделать суп-пюре, поварить еще 10 мин и подавать горячим с кусочком ржаного хлеба (можно добавить немного порезаной ветчины или бекона для непостящихся).

Here you go. Enjoy your day and a nice meal.