A cool beverage & nutrient snack

These are my beverage and snack at the moment: Iced Ginger Juice with honey and Bruschette (roasted bread rounds) with Linseeds. The ginger juice is very digestive and the bruschette are rich in fiber and Omega-3. They're great for your afternoon break in summer time ;-)

Brain & Heart

The difference that makes sense

I'm not particularly a fan of Lady Gaga but I watch her performances with pleasure. As any worldwide famous public figures, she's always got many compliments and complaints. For her eccentricity, people talk about her in both positive and negative ways. Yesterday she was performing a big live concert at Bangkok. I've read that she felt very happy that Thai people welcomed her a lot and that she felt embraced. As you may know, some muslim and buddhist countries banned her performance. She might have been a bit surprised of how Thailand treated her.

As I mentioned before, I don't feel a particular sympathy towards her but I have nothing against her either. I somehow like some of her phrases. When she has an interview, I think she says things that make sense. Her odd ways of dressing and acting may get beyond the substance.

This post has something to do with my previous one. The "normality" I meant wasn't the way people always get used to. Sometimes we should dare to be different.

The sense of normality

It's too easy to lose the sense of normality. We often think what we're used to do/see or what many people are doing/seeing is normal. If others do it, you should do it too so you're considered "normal". On the other hand, you want to act differently but you feel ashamed or you're afraid of what people will think about you, so you end up with doing like others. I don't like this concept at all. I'm the one who loves reflecting and giving value to things by myself and caring less about others' comments. However, it's not that easy because you want to avoid complications or bad experiences, so you just agree with others.

This isn't intended to be a complaint, but I just would like to persuade all of us to question ourselves more often if what is considered normal is "really" normal. The world is becoming weird, more people are going insane, isn't this perhaps because we're losing the true sense of normality?

My all-time favorite book

It looks like I've abandoned my blog for a while....I'm, at the moment, devouring the books I've bought some time ago and I'm not quite in the mood of writing ;-P

Among those books, there's one which I'd like to suggest you. It was my favorite book when I was about 10, and it's still one of my most favorite ever! I read and reread and reread it for several times when I was a child. I was so glad to find it in Italian language and I didn't hesitate a bit to get it for my son. And I wasn't wrong, he's enjoying the book very much. I, too, am reading it once again, this time in Italian version. Some of you might have read it already. It's suitable for all ages; since the youngest to the oldest in your family! And the book is....

 

The Italian title is: Totto-chan la bambina alla finestra.

Silence

Silence is a voice
perceived not by ears but soul
potential and strong

(my tentative to write an haiku)

Colorful low-fat muffins! (Why not baking them to celebrate Carnival?)

Tomorrow it's carnival! We normally don't do much on carnival, we don't disguise ourselves except our kid who goes to school in costume. We also brought him to see some funny parades; however we've never been to a famous one like the Venetian one yet. I just learnt that the word "carnevale" means "farewell to meat". Some years I helped my mom-in-law making the classical carnival fried pastry called "Frittelle" or "Chiacchiere" or "Bugie".

Two days ago, I baked some of my-styled muffins. Then I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea proposing them in the occasion of the carnival celebration too. My muffins are not the same muffins you know because I replaced butter with low-fat white yogurt for the reason that all my family members could have them without worring much about their health and weight! They came out to be very light and not less yummy than those made of butter. I decided to make some with cocoa powder and the few with matcha green-tea powder. I love every food with green-tea flavour such as spaghetti, ice-cream and cakes. How I adore its scent and taste!

This's my recipe. 
Ingredients:
(I measured everything by the cup of yogurt)
1 cup of low-fat white yogurt
3 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of sugar
3 eggs
1 cup of vegetable oil
4 tea spoons of baking powder
1 1/2 table spoons of matche (green-tea) powder
2 table spoons of cocoa powder
sugar grains and tails for topping decorations

Before baking

Preparations:
1. I used 2 large bowls where I put half of sifted flour and baking powder.
2. I added the cocoa powder into one bowl and the matcha powder into another bowl. I mixed the ingredients well.
3. In a large bowl I whisked the yogurt with sugar, then I added eggs and vegetable oil and I mixed them well.
4. I united half of the well-mixed wet ingredients to the bowl with cocoa powder and then I mixed them very well until it became smooth. As well I poured another half of wet mixture into the bowl with matcha powder and mixed well.
5. I filled the mixture into muffin-sized containers for oven. At last, I put the sugar grains and tails on top.
6. I baked them for about 18 min. at 180°c.

The final result!

Have a great time on Carnival!