Dear Instagram - September '15

September my love,
You are probably my favourite month of all 12. I'm not kidding, I mean it.
Even if this year I wasn't able to decently appreciate your magic, I have to thank you for all the love you always bring to my heart. You always make me feel renovated, stronger and happier.
I hope that next time we meet my life will be completely different from now and I will be able to spend some quality time with you.

Hopefully I will see you next year x

Autumn happiness!

I think my favourite months of the year are August and September. After a delicious beach season (for some) with nights out (not necessarily clubbing), dinners with friends, lunches in family, travelling, fresh clothes and warm sun, cosy season comes by.
And what's not to like about Autumn? No sweat, yet no frost bite. I find it the perfect and most balanced season of the year. (I'm actually much happier during Autumn/Winter that I am in Summer).

22nd September yesterday, Autumn is officially here and what's the best way to welcome it other than listing the best things to look forward for? Here's 7 things I love the most about this season.

The importance of protein

People who work out and have specific goals need to know the effect of different nutrients in their body. Those who exercise need to eat, and eat well - working out and closing your mouth is a huge mistake and it will most probably give you the opposite to a slim, toned and healthy body.

Basic, undeniable and scientifically proven rule: the food is the one that supplies energy to the body and allows us to be active, able to do all our daily tasks and - most basic, still important - survive. The food that gives us energy is the one that contains macro-nutrients. 

1st Birthday Party! (+ giveaway)

Yeaaay! 1 year blogging!

September is one of my favourite months of the year, and it is now even more special.

1 year ago by this time I was writing the first words in this blog. I wasn't sure where this would get to, I just knew how much I wanted to have this place in the Internet, a place of my own. Something that represents me, a place where I could express myself and feel proud of. It would eventually come to the moment when someone else was reading my words, and it felt so great I decided to keep going.

All you bloggers who happen to be reading this words might know as much as me how difficult it is to keep your space going and growing. Some times were difficult, I thought maybe it would come to an end, maybe it wasn't worth it. But it got better, and it's still up!

In the meanwhile both name and theme changed. It started making more sense to me. And the love went on and on and on...

Life update - holidays, health, dreams and plans

As many of you might already know by reading my last posts, this year hasn't been making it easy for me, specially the last 3 or 4 months. Me and Habibi splitting (which is taking forever, let me tell you, we are still sharing the same place!), my job killing me day after day (too much work, no time and no money = not worth it) and basically me losing focus of what I wanted my life to be.

After getting to a breaking point I decided to just throw everything behind my back and do whatever felt closer to my heart's will. So I quit my job, went to see my family for 2 weeks and tried to get my batteries charged.

Also my health last week complicated things a bit. I was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy, which is basically a partial and 'temporary' paralysis of the face. Not easy, but already recovering!

Dear Instagram - August '15

Sweet August,
I was able to go on holidays for 2 weeks and enjoy everything from that delicious sunlight, to the great food, the beautiful places and the warm people. It was like a retreat for the soul.
Being amazed with every single thing and so in peace with myself, I shared a few pictures on Instagram just for you guys. Have a look.

Follow me in Instagram.

Healthy Way to Increase Muscle Size with These Three Supplements (GP)

Proper diet and regular training can do wonders for your body, but if there are more efficient ways of achieving your goals is it wise to ignore them? 

This question has never been easy to answer. Same as men and women all across the world are no longer hunting with bow and arrow, people who are serious about their training are no longer avoiding supplementation.

The truth is, proper supplementation can significantly improve the results of all your hard work and effort. Many people fear it because they are not familiar with it, all they do know about are some stereotypes made before any proper researches took place. However, if used properly supplementation with proteins can be a completely natural and healthy process. Here are three probably most popular supplements out there as well as healthy ways to use them to increase your muscle size.

Dear Instagram - July '15

July, 'what the hell' happened with ya?

This was a particularly difficult month for me, and I wasn't that present in the blogosphere. Twitter and Instagram suffered a lot with that as well.

Anyway I hope that soon everything will get back to normal!

July was like this.

My Instagram over here.

Short and Powerful Training for Busy People (GP)

Guest Post by Mathews McGarry

The pace of modern living often leaves little time for physical exercise.
In addition to being necessary to counterweight hours spent in an office or in front of TV, many people are struggling to find a balance between there social life and the time spent in the gym. This guide will try to explain how anyone can spare not more than 30 minutes for workout anytime, anywhere. 

Dear Instagram - June '15

Bye June!
Hi July! 

How has June been for me? Total madness.
I know this starts to seem like a rule in my life, it has been messy since the year started, specially in the last couple months. But it's true - too many problems, very few solutions.
So just as May, you too didn't see the best of me.
I'm sure better times will come.

Stay with my month of June in pictures.

My Instagram over here.

Life lately (extra messy)

No, nop, not really.
I refuse to believe in how my life just turned into this huge mess in the last couple months.
Seriously, it just became ridiculously unbearable.

Remember me and Habibi splitting?  Yeah, he is still here.
Why? Well, he decided to present himself to Immigration (he has been illegal in the UK since before I met him) as he wants to go back to Tunisia. However, they didn't do anything at all, they just said they couldn't help him. So he came back, and he is now in contact with Refugee Action, an organisation that promises to pay for the ticket back home if he decides to go back. This process takes a bit of time (couple months? more maybe?) as it involves some legal procedures.

Becoming a feminist

I've never considered myself to be a feminist. I am not the kind of person to follow "trends" or to be that much influenced. I usually just react to what a feel. And lately I've been feeling particularly attacked.

That idea of fighting for "equality" of the sexes is a bit ridiculous, at my sight. Women are different from men in several ways, there's no way we can be treated with the demanded equality. And here in between us, let's be completely honest with ourselves and accept that equality between sexes is nothing but a utopia.

Going back to Yoga!

After such a long time (1 year and half already??) I am finally going back to Yoga!
I can't believe it was so long ago when I used to sit in the dark and focus all my energy in myself and actually train my body to its fullest. I can't call it "Yoga" coz I'm not an expert in the subject and I've never had any lessons. Let's call it "my Yoga".

Sitting in the floor, candle lights on, a light inspirational music, ... I would stay in this for ages. I would do my own work out in this environment, focusing in my elasticity and body strength. Very Yoga-inspired, hun?
I would end up feeling so much stronger, inside and out. I loved that feeling of renovation.

Blogging: Authenticity vs Anonymity

I've been thinking about this subject lately and I would like to hear from you guys.

Getting on-line, eventually through a blog, vlog or any other that gives you plenty of exposure, is quite a delicate matter.

When choosing a way to present yourself to others,  you can decide either to build a virtual identity with no real name or details about your personal life, or to turn yourself public and share your life just as it is, in a transparent way.

If the first might lead to some lack of authenticity and - perhaps - empathy from others or make you feel too distant from your public, the second might make them way too close and more difficult for you to control what part of your life comes out public.

Choccywoccydoodah

Did you look at that title?  Really weird, isn't it? Just like the place itself, if you gonna think about how cake/chocolate places usually look like. But let's say "weird" in a very positive way.

Choccywoccydoodah,  who doesn't know the show? I used to watch it with my younger sister back home. Just casually,  but the name was still very familiar to us. "Choccywo... oh, that show where they do insane cake decoration only with chocolate! ",  that's how we knew it.

Well I imagined the store was situated in Brighton, for the pictures they used to pass in the show. However only 2 weeks ago I knew about the existence of a second store,  in London!!
So as an obviously-not-a-chocolate-lover that I am (insert sarcasm right here) of course I had to pay a visit.

The story behind my recent house change

So I recently had to leave my lovely space - which I was loving to call "home" - due to the end of a 7-month contract. Unfortunately I couldn't renovate it as Habibi stopped working and I couldn't afford it all by myself; also our relationship has came to an end, so no point of keeping the place.

Our relationship as recently come to an end, but we are still sharing the same room. Actually we are still sharing everything as normal, only keeping in mind that Habibi is going back to Tunisia at any time.
He wasn't showing any signals of worry about finding a new place, as we had to move in 1 week time. So I was the one under stress trying to find something viable but not too expensive - I'm definitely not in the mood to spend all my money when I see him not worrying about anything and having this amazing do-whatever-I-want lifestyle.

So I finally got this double room which is not too expensive and very close to our last place. I came to view the property and I wasn't very impressed - the kitchen was small and full of dirty dishes, the toilets also didn't get my approval (although they are not dirty, they look old),  the house in general wasn't a palace. The decoration of the room wasn't lovely - red carpet and purple curtains (!!!).
But oh well, this is not a permanent place.
And that's why I picked it - no contract necessary, minimum stay 1 month (not 6 as I usually see), and 2 weeks notice necessary (not 1 month). The fact that my actual situation is so unsure, I need to stay in a place where I'll have the right flexibility to plan and move. I won't be trapped for months and months of contracts in a place I don't want to be. I can easily move out.

The funny part? 
2 days after I finally got the place, I was going home from work just to find out that Habibi had left with his stuff - he went to Immigration.
I was crying so much, my life lost meaning for a bit. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Luckily he went too late and nobody "served" him. He had to come back home.
So we are still together, but he is going next week - for good.
I asked him to stay until my birthday, which is next Friday 5th June.

After that it will be a completely new life.

Dear Instagram - May '15

June has arrived and May haven't seen the best of me.
May was not the month in which I made my presence in Instagram stronger. It was actually a very difficult month for me, full of emotional episodes that you might be aware of if you read my last posts.
So I wasn't really online a lot, even in the blog itself.

Anyway better times will come, and so I hope to become closer to the blog and you guys.
This was my last month in pictures, enjoy!

My Instagram over here.

After 1 year, me and Habibi split

I don't really know how to write this post, but I feel like I have to talk about it. It 's a very deep part of my life at the moment, so there's no way I can keep going without bringing this to the blog.

Me and Habibi have been always on and off, lots of issues going on, and it actually came to an end.
I am crying as I write this post, because I am not sure how I'm going to do through this.

Post update - too many things going on

Hi everyone!

I'm writing to let you know that in the next weeks I will probably fail to update the blog and even the social media as I'm going through a hard time. I'm moving out from my place next Sunday, so I have too many things to worry about; also my relationship with Habibi is seeing an end, although I'm still fighting against it. He is going back to Tunisia, and I can't handle all this pressure and the idea of losing him forever. As illegal, if he goes out from the UK, he won't be able to return in case he regrets leaving me.

Wishlist - Adidas Superstar Supercolor

Please stop, you beauties!

I'm usually not that much of a spender, but for these ones I would definitely spend my last pennies.

Since that day when I was walking down the shopping centre and I happened to look inside Foot Locker's store and saw those colourful Adidas Superstar,  I have been deeply in love. There were 5 or 6 of them from the top to the bottom of the shelves. Pink, yellow, blue, green... I remember seeing a full rainbow in front of me.

Sunday is Cake Day! #12

He cuts a slice of cake and...

...tcha-ran,

SURPRISE!

This week I wanted to try something very special.

I saw this cake book with "surprises" inside. Basically you do a sandwich-like cake and work the layers in a way that when you cut a slice in the final cake, a specific design comes out of it.

Life lately

Life in the past weeks hasn't been making it easy for me.

Me and Habibi have been talking about moving outside London, perhaps Manchester or Liverpool. Definitely cheaper and easier to have a deep breath without having to excuse myself. Honestly, and as I said before, I'm not in love with London anymore. Nice for a single person who doesn't have a future to worry about and has all an availability to go out and enjoy this huge city. For me it's time to look for a better place for myself in a less crowded environment, where I can focus in building my future.

Also Habibi had the stupid idea to leave his job 2 weeks ago, out of nowhere! He is illegal, so it's not that easy for him to get another job. Until this very moment he didn't find anything, so here we are with no future to be seen.

Cereal Killer Cafe

Do you enjoy your bowl of cereals every morning?

It is one of the sacred moments of your day?

Ok, are you in general crazy about cereals?

Then this is the place for you.

Cereal Killer Cafe is the dream of the twins Alan and Gary Keery, who opened the project to the public very recently on 10th December 2014. Already a success, I would say.

It offers over 120 different types of cereal from all around the world, 30 different varieties of milk and 20 different toppings.

I was amazed when I first got in this place. Cereal boxes all over the walls, the menu presented in a full black wall with this weird font-style, a complete alternative decoration that keeps your attention at all moments - I did even find a drawer in the table where I was sitting! Exciting! 

Visiting my family in pics 4/4

In continuation of the last post Visiting my family in pics 3/4, here's the pictures of my 4th and last day back home with my family.
I had to be in the airport by 4:30pm, get out from home at 3:30pm, so there wasn't too much to do really.

Basically in the morning we had a complete family breakfast; after I went to buy some souvenirs in the city centre with my mom; as soon as I finished my shopping, we headed to the Carnival (a full month of attractions!) to have some Hot Dog for lunch, something my sisters love to do - we were supposed to go the evening before, but it was raining as hell, so we had to go during the day, that's the reason why it looks so empty in the pictures.
At 4:30pm I was arriving to the airport. Destiny: London.

Sunday is Cake Day! #11

Holarey!

Cupcakes, who doesn't love them?

This week I decided to try one of my favourite flavours - coconut. And which one goes better with fresh coconut? Chocolate.
So instead of going for the usual combination of chocolate sponge with coconut frosting, I went for the opposite: fresh and sweet coconut sponge, with that amazing chocolate cream on top, decorated with tiny white & pink sugar flowers.

I LOVE fresh coconut flavour, and it's definitely something to try more often.

Have a look at the pictures of these simple, yet delicious cupcakes.

Visiting my family in pics 3/4

Hi everyone!

In continuation of the post Visiting my family in pics - Part 2/4, here's the photos of my third day back home. We didn't have many plans for this Monday 05/04/2015, so we basically woke up with this beautiful sun light and took it slowly and nicely. We had a delicious breakfast (and I had one of the cupcakes as well) and we went for a midday walk next to the river, stopping by this little Café next to this tiny tiny beach where I got burned just by staying under the sun for 2 hours - wasn't I so used to the sun before?!

After this we had for lunch one of the most delicious plates (a variation of a very traditional dish from my country) made by my mom - which includes codfish and french fries - followed by some Baklava sweets that I brought home from London just for my family to try as we never saw any like that around.

I distributed some presents that I brought from London, including this cute shirt saying "Little Man" and this Ninja Turtle hat for my nephew, who looked SO CUTE with it on.

We went out in the evening for a walk somewhere else, but unfortunately there's no pictures to show it. So you might not believe me...

Anyway, enjoy the pictures and please leave a comment bellow! x

Sunday is Cake Day! #10 - the compilation

Hello little fellows!

Today is the 10th week of Sunday is Cake Day! Every week there's a new cake.
So for this tenth edition of this TAG I thought it would be nice to make a compilation of the last 9 weeks. It's nice to see all the work I've been doing just for fun.

I'm a complete amateur in this baking world. 10 weeks ago I baked and decorated my very first cake. The passion invaded my soul and I started trying this and trying that, learning and developing my skills.
Now I love it and it's imperative to do it once in a while.

Well, I hope you enjoy this and please let me know what you think by commenting bellow.

Dear Instagram - April '15

Following last month's post Dear Instagram - March '15, here we go with the pictures I shared during April. This was the month that I travelled back home to see my family for a few days, although I didn't post proper pictures yet.
You can also find some pictures of what I baked and of my fruity breakfasts, together with a few pics of this and that.

I hope in May I'll be able to share more and more with you guys!

If you're not following me through Instagram, join me here.

Here's my last month in pictures.

Visiting my family in pics 2/4

Following the post Visiting my family in pics - Part 1/4, here's the photos of the second day back home. It was Sunday, Easter day, so all family was together for lunch. Once again I'll be showing general pictures of the place I grew up, but not any pictures that include other people (just one with my younger sister doing her first cupcakes :) ).

Enjoy and leave your comment bellow! x

Sunday is Cake Day! #9

Mnhum mnham everyone!

This week I baked a very special cake as it was Habibi's 23rd birthday on the 22nd of April.
He didn't want to celebrate, but I forced convinced him to do so.

I baked this amazing chocolate cake (remember my first cake? Yap, the same recipe) and made the usual buttercream, with a tiny difference - I turned it completely white without losing the good flavour. The secret? Adding a tiny bit of purple food colouring to it as purple and yellow are complementary colours. The purple will cut the effect of the yellow, making it whiter. Don't expect pure white, expect the whiter you can get in this case.

As he said he liked grey, I tried to decorate it in a neutral way, adding some grey details to it.
Also I had only 2 days (3 hours per day, after work) to make this, so 1st day to bake and 2nd day for the decoration.

Follow with the pictures bellow and I'll see you next Sunday!

I'm giving up

My life since 1 year from now has been going so wrong I can't even believe it. I don't know if I have been making the wrong choices or something,  the truth is my life is going in a direction that I've never wanted. Somehow I feel unable to change it now.

Visiting my family in pics 1/4

Hey ya! 

So I had the opportunity to finally go back home and meet my family after more than 1 year that I moved to London in January 2014. 

I was so excited, so nervous! Specially because I was going to see my nephew for the first time. He was born in the same week I moved,  so I've only seen him through Skype. 

Well I can't really tell you everything that happened but I can definitely share with you these 2/3 days in pictures.

For obvious reasons I'll avoid pictures with other people, but I'm still gonna try to show a bit of everything. Enjoy! :)

Sunday is Cake Day! #8

Holarey!

This week I decided to go back to the basics and make a simple sponge with a delicious chocolate buttercream filling and chocolate ganache as frosting. Not only it came out visibly nice, but it came out completely delicious! In fact it was, in my opinion and Habibi's, probably the best cake I've ever baked.

New this week was the 2 tiers cake which I decided to try as I needed to make some extra cake after being threatened by my colleagues that I would receive several kinds of reprisals - ok, they just asked me for some cake around 2,000 times since I started baking.

The decoration was simple with white royal icing (which I still can't pipe properly!!!!) and some light beige roses and petals.

Everything said, let's go for the recipe followed by the pictures!

Remember: I'm not a professional baker or cake decorator; also I usually use approximated measures of the ingredients - I just adjust them as I go and it always comes good anyway.

Sunday is Cake Day! #7

Hey y'all!

Last week I went back to my country to visit my family. As it was Easter time, all family got together in my parents home on Sunday 5th.
For a long time I had the idea of making this lovely cupcakes. I wanted to do something cute for all the family but simple and easy at the same time as I wanted my younger sister to step in and share the moment with me.

The hard times of life

I recently read a post by Petals of Perfection about "Why it's ok not to be ok...".
It's a subject that often crosses my mind but I've never written about it. We all have these particular moments when we feel not so good and we - unfortunately - have the tendency of closing ourselves and hiding our feelings.

Me, I've always had a low self-esteem (responsible for my 10 years depression) and lack of auto confidence which made me close my doors to the world and the world's doors to myself. I've almost turned into a wild scary creature apart from society ,  but I was lucky enough to find a way out (I'll give depression subject a proper post later).
My point is I know how it feels like when you go down to the very bottom. I know the panic, the insecurity, the terror it gives you not being able to find the right path.

Sunday is Cake Day! #6

Hello little gypsies!

My most recent cake adventure is here.
This time I wanted to try three different things: strawberry flavour, red colour and royal icing.
So it seemed logical: red velvet sponge with strawberry flavour, with white buttercream filling and white royal icing frosting. The decoration was made with pink buttercream.

This was a delicious experiment! Sweet strawberry flavour was definitely the main feature. The red velvet colour turned it into a piece of luxury. The white royal icing gave it the perfect finish.

Let me show you in pictures.

Help yourself with a slice while waiting for next Sunday :)

Dear Instagram - March '15

So March was the month in which I decided to open an Instagram account (here). Wasn't really sure about how much I would like it, but now I completely love it!

I decided to follow the steps of a few people and include here a summary of my Instagram activity, as it is completely related. Good ideas are to be shared, I've always heard. Nothing wrong about it, and definitely no bad intentions!

If you're not following me through Instagram, join me here.

Here's my last month in pictures.

Sunday is Cake Day! #5

Oh oh oh hello there!

In this 5th edition of Sunday is Cake Day I decided to do something Easter inspired.
I thought about the colours (pink, yellow and blue) and about the patterns usually present in chocolate eggs,  so typical from Easter season.

So I decided to spread these three main colours in different layers of a butter sponge recipe, separated by a nice layer of always-amazing buttercream. For the icing and decoration I thought a white and straight look would be good to contrast with the coloured layers so I gave sugarpaste/rolling icing a try. With some royal icing I did the patterns.  Finished by adding a bit of gold to the them.

My make-up routine

As a modern woman living in London, I was forced to surrender to the magic of make-up.

I'm a very practical person who loves arts and sports, so I didn't really use it before I move here. Now I can't go outside without some foundation.

However I opt for keeping it simple.

Here's my routine:

Sunday is Cake Day! #4

Hi everyone!

So for this 4th edition of Sunday Cake Day I went for cupcakes. I wanted to do something different from the usual buttercream on top, I wanted something without volume but still nice. I thought about royal icing and melted chocolate. I went for chocolate.

WRONG DECISION.
It was so difficult to do this one. I didn't know that chocolate was so difficult to model. You melt it, you wait for it to get some consistency so that it can hold, but obviously (dumb me sometimes) it's not a cream, so it just gets hard as it gets cold. There's no much to do with it.

Anyway I wanted to do some kind of grey and black fancy decoration, but ended up with this notsofancy but still delicious cupcakes.

White chocolate mixed with little black vanilla buttons to melt, made the grey.
The rest was just try to create something out of this insanely nothard but notthatliquideither chocolate that almost drove me crazy!

Well it was tasty anyway. Even if the look let me down, the flavour never does!
I also did a little something this time. I cut them in the middle and added some strawberry jam to the inside, covering it after. The result? A super delicious cupcake with a nice surprise inside!

Can't invite you for a bite, so please stay with the pics bellow :)

See you soon!

Nour xo

Relationship ABC: Plans

A relationship is a constant change of plans.
When you're single you are plenty of dreams. You wish to be socially active,  have plenty of friends, invest in your career, study, travel, etc.
You even dream about finding the prince of your dreams (ladies?). Until you find this guy that changes your life.

Sunday is Cake Day! #3

Happy Sunday Cake Day for everyone! :)

So this time I decided to try something very different from what I'm used to. For that I did a basic sponge cake and turned it light green and gave it some Pistachio flavour (with a bit of Vanilla).

For the icing and filling, I just went for an amazing dark chocolate ganaché. 

Dark chocolate in pieces and hot double cream to a pan, melt it, mix it, let it dry. Yeay!

Two layers and that's it.

For the decoration I did basic buttercream and turned it light eucalyptus for the leaves and aqua colour for the roses and added a few dots to keep it simple but interesting. 

This cake was so amazing! Not that easy to make, had a few issues in the middle, but turned out to be fine. And tasty. Sweet pistachio flavour and the sweet and powerful buttercream flavour cut by the dark chocolate ganaché created a very harmonious effect.

Lovely.

Have a look at the pictures and please don't forget to leave your ideas for my next Sunday is Cake Day!