Yes, it’s boiling! Temperature above 3o°C can be said as boiling! A heatwave warning has been issued for England, with temperatures in some areas potentially rising as high as 32C (90F) in the coming days. It’s unusual to see this kind of headline in the newspaper, but, hey, sounds good to me! Hopefully, this summer will be much much better than last, which I don’t remember I saw the summer sun for more than 1 week?

During warm and humid days, I love cold drinks. Chilled smoothies are great! Since there are plenty of berries at this time of the year, I grab the opportunity to buy all the berries that I like and blend them to make into a glass of goodness! There are no rules to make smoothie. You use whatever fruits you like and blend them into the best drink ever! Ah, full of vitamins, of course! If you are on detox diet plan, smoothie is a must in your menu.  What kind of fruits would you use to make your smoothie?

Summer is colourful, warm and lively. Make this smoothie today!

Recipe: Berries Summer Berry Smoothie

Ingredients:

Strawberries, 75g
Raspberries, 75g
Blackberries, 75g
Apple juice, 150ml
Crushed ice, some
Raspberries and blackberries to garnish, some

Method:

Place all of the fruits and juice in the blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass over ice and garnish with raspberries and blackberries.

It was Sunday and I spent most of my time cooking and relaxing at home. It was broadcasted that snowstorms from Russia were expected to hit the eastern part of England on Sunday night. Oh well, it was probably not true and would just tiny bit snow that would melt after a few hours!

To my surprise, it snowed quite heavily at 5pm-ish. It was the coldest year in 13 years! Within minutes, the ground was covered with snow. Everywhere looked so white! At one point, the visibility was so bad that we couldn’t see Canary Wharf (during good day, it’s visible from our balcony). Then, there were snow storms! I saw this for the first time of my life! Ever since I have been in London, I haven’t experienced any like this before! The snow flakes were getting bigger and bigger every time when I checked!

I was tempted to go out. We went out finally and checked out our area. It was like a ghost town with no habitants, just so not like usual! I played in the snow for a bit and I was reluctant to go home. I wanted to take some pictures! Finally, I decided to leave that for the next day, hoping that the snow would stay when I woke up.

It snowed and it stopped. Then, it started to snow again. That was just great news for me. I love it! It looked just so pretty from any angles! It was so surreal! I think I was just like a kid, got so excited and couldn’t help to look out from the window to see if it was still snowing. I prayed so hard that it would continue to snow. I woke up in the middle of the night – not on purpose but I had to go to the loo. I couldn’t resist but looked out from the window.. So, it had snowed again when I was in my dreamland…I couldn’t sleep! I didn’t know why I got so excited with the snow!

My alarm went off. Darn! I had to get up. I wanted to snuggle under the duvet and wished that it was Sunday! I took me 10 minutes to be officially out of the bed. First thing I did was to pull up the blind and checked the situation outside! Wow, it was more than enough to build snowmen!!

Without wasting much time, I took my camera and started to shoot the beautiful scenes from the balcony. It was cold but that didn’t deter me from taking photos! Ok, I had to make sure that I was wrapped up warmly. I didn’t have a pair of proper footwear that I could put on. So, I had to bring an extra pair to change at work.

The roads were completely covered with snow. I had never seen our area like this before. I started to take photos as we walked to work. City of London in white? How nice! I just couldn’t resist and kept snapping away. I was very happy. The snow turned me insane!

I don’t want to see the snow starts melting. I want it to snow throughout the week. When I was typing this, it was still snowing. Russia, please bring more snow!

After all the excitement, I thought I want to share with you guys a winter drink. (Wikipedia) Mulled wine, variations of which are popular around the world, is wine, usually red, combined with spices and typically served warm. In the old times, wine often went bad. By adding spices and honey, it could be made drinkable again. Glögg is the Nordic form of mulled wine, similar to Glühwein in German-speaking countries or Vin Chaud in French.

Mulled wine or Vin Chaud is usually prepared from red wine, heated and spiced with cinnamon sticks, cloves, citrus and sugar. 

While  the weather yet again reminded me we are still in winter, after a day of chaos all over South of England, Vin Chaud or Mulled Wine would be a perfect drink to have! It makes me feels that I am on winter holiday, with my ski wears!

Recipe: Mulled Wine/ Vin Chaud

For 1 litre of red wine

Ingredients:

Lemon, 1/2

Clementines, 2

Red Wine (Bourgogne, Côtes du Rhône), 1 bottle

Fine sugar, 190g

Cinnamon, 2

Star Anis, 2

Cloves, 2

Water, 100ml

Method:

1. Cut lemon and clementines and put in a saucepan. 

2. Pour in the wine, water sugar and the spices. Then, boil for 4 minutes on low to medium heat.

3. Strain and serve in glasses.

Yes, I made a drink that’s from South of France! It’s very easy to make this drink. All you need are Ricard, almond syrup, water, and ice cubes. The name is Mauresque.

You probably have heard of Ricard, the Pastis of Marseille, a very well known star anis flavoured liqueur from France. Mauresque is particularly popular during summer, when it’s nice and warm outside! (I know summer is over, but, hey it doesn’t matter, does it?) Normally, Mauresque is taken as an apéritif.

To make mauqesque, first is to fill a highball glass with some ice cubes, pour in 10ml of almond syrup, then about 40ml of Ricard. Finally, fill the glass with water. That’s how easy it is.

As I didn’t use highball glass, (which usually is used to serve this drink) I just pour the quantity based on my own estimation and liking (in a sensible way, of course!) By the way, DO NOT drink like this: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2mk9c_boire-du-ricard-cest-tout-un-art_fun

Raffraichissant, facile a boire….. que pensez-vous que cela soit? Stay tune….. ” Marseillais, pitaing!”

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Have you ever felt too lazy to do anything on a Saturday/Sunday morning? Or that you have slept too much that it makes you feel more tired than before? Sometimes, we just need to pamper our body and give it a little bit of a boost.

It’s really simple. I do this from time to time and I think it’s good to have detox day. It’s just like a car needs MOT on a yearly basis, but our body needs more frequent tuning than a car!

You can use any of your favourite fruits to make a glass of goodness that will cleanse your body thoroughly. It will make you feel good after drinking this pure goodness!

I am sure everyone knows how to make smoothie – fruits of your choice + little crushed ice. The one that I made was Strawberries & Orange smoothie. I love this combination. Having said this, there are many good combinations that I love.

If you plan to sleep in a little this weekend and have selections of fruits in your fridge, why don’t you indulge yourself with a glass that smoothie that’s too good to resist?

It’s another Sunday that has gone passed so quickly! What’s best to do on a Sunday? Why don’t you give this refereshing cocktail a try.

Ingredients:
Mint syrup, 0.5 shot
Vodka, 1 shot
Lemon juice, a dash
Ice cubes, some

Method:
Stir ingredients together in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a glass half filled with ice.

Garnish:
Strawberry (for colour contrast) or Mint leaves

ENJOY!