Happy Halloween!

Halloween's coming, Halloween's coming

Skeletons will be after you...

I remember I learned this song when I was probably in Kindergarten, and I still can't help but wanting to sing it all day long whenever I realise how close Halloween is.

I don't know about you, but I personally love Halloween. I'm not much of a dress-up person, but I do love seeing lots of amazing costumes in the streets... And I also love celebrating. And having a week-long sugar overdose! So, to celebrate such a wonderful occasion, I hosted a Halloween party with my high school girlfriends last Saturday. We hadn't been together in ages, so it was a perfect excuse for a reunion. And nothing could have been better! We had lots of fun, chatting around, acting like weird monsters and making funny faces.

We also had some good food. And sweets! For the menu, I chose to give them some mummies, made of sausages covered with pastry and mustard eyes. The dessert were tombs, made of chocolate pudding and smashed Oreo cookies... Plus lots of sweets––including some other tombs, with ghosts around, made by some of my friends. For the drinks, we had eye cocktails (that can include whatever you choose, but the ice cubes must be made with lychees with something inside to make them look like actual eyes) and brain shots (which are rum shots with lemon and some drops of Irish cream –the lemon is essential to get the brain effect!).

Don't get spooked by a ghost!

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

Holy Patterns!

Last Sunday, I went for lunch to my favourite restaurant with my family. We had a wonderful time, and we ate a lot! But probably the best part of the day was that I got to wear my newest trousers! I fell in love with the pattern at first sight. I also like them being jeans and the black pattern adding a great touch, but without being too over the top!

I decided to wear them with black, and I only added a little colour in a bracelet. I wore two necklaces––trust me, this is the newest evolution of stacking up––and I loved them.

The jacket was a beautiful gift from my boyfriend, and the booties were a re-discovery I made recently. I bought them over a year ago, and they had some straps that I discovered I didn't like after wearing them a couple of times. So I removed the straps a few weeks ago, and decided they're a great companion for this fall! I wore a classic watch, with some more pearls... And the purse. This is one of my favourites because it is so timeless! I feel I can wear it almost any day, and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to continue doing so for many years.

Love,

Do What You Love...

...And Love What You Do!

As you might already know, I love to dance! As a child, I dreamt of becoming a ballerina and, although that dreamy ballerina was replaced by an economist, I refuse to stop dancing. And that's the only reason why I decided to join the contemporary dancing group of my university.

This week, we're participating in a festival for dancers from different universities –yes, photos are coming soon!– and, today, I want to share with you one of the things that I have loved the most about it.

On our Saturday, one of the international guests of the festival was present in our practice. He said a couple of things that actually changed the way I think about dancing. The first one, was about performing. Although we are on a stage, we need to communicate with the audience, and to have some contact with them. And this is what our eyes are for. Believe it or not, eye contact is one of the most important expressions of human beings.

But the problem –our guest believes– is that we're forgetting about it. Not only when dancing –or performing, in general–, but in every other aspect of our lives. And this is something we must relearn to do. Eye contact is absolutely necessary, especially when trying to build a relationship with someone else.

The other thing he mentioned –and this is the central point I want to make to day– was to love what we do. None of us in the group is a professional dancer. We all dance for dance's sake, and because we love it. We're economists, engineers, doctors and architects. But, nevertheless, we dedicate several hours every week to our dance practices, and we love doing it!

This is one of the things that our guest said he really loved about us. The problem he recognised was that, during our performance, we were concentrating so much on doing everything right, that we were forgetting to enjoy dancing. And this is absolutely terrible!

We all were shocked by what he said but, after giving it some thought, I think I might agree with him. Sometimes, we get so into our daily activities, that we forget what we do and why we do it. I don't even agree to do homework in a mechanic way. Whenever we do something, we should do it with the heart, because that's the only way it will make us happy; if it doesn't, then it turns into an obligation. Every single action we do is a message to the universe. And we only live once, so we should make sure that we leave the happiest story through our messages.

Today we had our first performance, and I think we all enjoyed how we danced. And I also think we had the words of our international guest in our minds, because there could have been no better performance! We were nervous, since we opened the show. And we were excited to show months of work. But we were also loving to dance. We danced with our hearts. And we danced as a great group of friends, who have learnt to look at each other and work hard towards a common goal.

This is all healthy. Dancing is healthy because it is a physical activity: your muscles activate and your heart pumps full of energy. But it is even healthier if you love doing it with all your heart. And this is probably the only reason why I want to continue dancing until the end of my days!

Love,

October Recipes: Pumpkin Coffee Cake

One thing I love about October is having pumpkins all around... And they're not only useful for lanterns –although this is probably their coolest use!

Last weekend, I decided to bake a pumpkin coffee cake to celebrate the beauty of October! I must tell you that he almost fainted when he heard I wanted to bake a coffee cake, since he doesn't like coffee at all... But coffee cakes don't have coffee. I mean, they could, but they don't have to. I might be lying to you here, but I think what makes a coffee cake a coffee cake is the delicious crumb-topping on top of the actual cake. And that goes perfectly with a cup of coffee. Or tea. Or anything, really!

I honestly recommend you this recipe. It is absolutely delicious, and super easy to prepare! And it's a great meal for these October days, trust me!

What you'll need

For the cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup pure pumpkin puree*
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 milk (I actually used soymilk)

For the crumble-topping:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter (you can use dairy-free butter, if you prefer)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

You'll also need at least three bowls for the cake, a baking pan (of about 25 cm x 25 cm).

What you should do

Generously spread some butter on the baking pan, and sprinkle some flour on top of it. Set aside, and preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).

To make the crumb topping, you should mix the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. Then add the cold butter, and start breaking it into pieces with a fork. Continue mixing until it looks like bread crumbles.

To make the cake, mix on a large bowl the "dry" ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Then, in a separate bowl, mix the sugar with the "wet" ingredients: pumpkin, oil, maple syrup and milk. Make sure you combine them well. Now pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones, and mix. Try not to overmix them, since the batter might become too thick and hard to handle.

Pour the cake mixture on the baking pan, and spread to make an even surface. Then pour the crumble topping on top, and press it lightly with your fingers, to "stick" it to the cake. Now bake for 30-35 minutes, until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean (with only a couple wet crumbles, maybe).

And now you're ready to enjoy! You can eat it just-baked, or wait until it cools down... You can have it with some coffee, some tea or, if you really love pumpkin, maybe even with some pumpkin-spice latte. You choose!

Happy eating,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

Just Take It Easy...

You might have noticed my absence from the blog last week... And although I'd like to excuse myself for being such a bad blogger, the truth is I don't regret about it at all!

I was doing some Yin Yoga the other day, and the instructor was talking about the importance of taking a good rest, especially after doing exercise. His class was all about taking it slowly and relaxing the body, while exercising the deepest tissues in our joints –in fact, that's precisely what Yin Yoga is all about.

This didn't make more sense to me until last Monday. When I woke up to go to school, I noticed I had a headache and my nose was feeling weird. It turned out I had a big cold –which I didn't get in quite a while. Being a very responsible student, I decided to go to class, but I realised by noon this had been a huge mistake. I had such a headache that I couldn't focus on the letters at all when I tried to read; I was feeling cold and I was really uncomfortable to actually concentrate in class.

That's when I remembered the wise words of my Yin Yoga instructor. He mentioned more than once the importance of letting your body rest when you're ill, because that way it can use more energy to fight against viruses and any other organisms that might be trying to get hold of your health.

So I decided to go home...

And I spent most of the week trying to just relax and take life easily. The cold was gone by Thursday, but I just thought it was a good excuse to just take some time to myself... I didn't even go riding –and you must be aware by now that's a whole big deal to me!

Love,

Torero Meets Leopard

As I told you before, this might be the season of statement jackets. And this particular one has something that made me fall in love with it from the first moment I saw it...

It might be black... But it's not your typical black jacket. To me, it kind of looks like a Torero jacket, but without being too over the top. It's short in the back, but longer in the front –a sort of asymmetry that makes it even more interesting! And it's got beads! The trousers also had a big say. Although they're a neutral, sort of nude colour, they've got animal print –well, more like texture. And, let me tell you: this will be huge for what's left of the year! Animal print rules the world this fall/winter season!

All in all, it was a simple, but great looking outfit, perfect for a lunch date on a weekend. It was not too edgy, but not absolutely mainstream... That's what I find a perfect combination!

Love,

Breakfast Recipes: The Parfait

Although I lovelunch––basically because of dessert––, the most important meal in my day is definitely breakfast. Believe it or not, when you have a good breakfast you are better prepared to embrace all the challenges in your day, you have more energies, and you'll be happier –who doesn't get grumpy when he's hungry, eh?

However, I understand it is sometimes quite difficult for us to have a good breakfast in the middle of our rush in the mornings... But that is definitely not an excuse for skipping this very important meal! And that's why I decided to share with you one of my favourite breakfast recipes for busy days at college or work: the parfait!

Apart from being healthy, it is also delicious and super easy to make!

Let's start with the ingredients

This super short list includes greek yogurt (any flavour, you choose!), strawberries and some granola.

How to prepare it

You'll need a container where to prepare your parfait. Once you've got it, you must pour your yogurt in it. Try to make the top surface of the yogurt as smooth as possible.

You must then cut the strawberries in small pieces that can fit inside your mouth, and pour them on top of the greek yogurt.

Once you're done with the strawberries, add the granola on top of them.

And now you're ready to go! I usually prepare it on a Tupperware, since I carry it and eat it on my way to school. But you can prepare it in a normal cup if you're going to eat it soon enough.

As you've seen, it is super easy to make and, better than that, it's really quick! So there are no excuses to skip breakfast anymore!

If you're wondering what if I get tired of it? let me tell you that's not going to happen, since there are lots of variations you can make... For instance, if you change the flavour of the yogurt, that can give a complete twist to your parfait. You can also replace the strawberries for any other fruit; in fact, you can also mix different fruits. You can add some honey to make it sweeter, or maybe even some chocolate chips... Use your imagination and be creative! And please share some of your creations with me. I would love to try them out!

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio