Street Snapshots in Florence

Found 2 snapshots that I took in Florence.


For some reason I really love taking picture of fruits and veggies...haha

I have a food blog!

I have a food blog for all my recipes! Check this out!

http://thesecretfoodgarden.blogspot.hk/

There is nothing secret about this blog but I always love the secret garden theme. So I called it "The Secret Food Garden" hahaha.  I drew the header picture of the blog and that is exactly what I love <3

If you want to find out how to make this delicious, moist and sweet banana cake, with no sugar, no wheat flour, no oil added, you should definitely click the link above :)

Of course I will continue to maintain this blog. Here you will find my travel tips, the books that I recommend, some arts and some thoughts I'd like to share. Keep coming back!

XOXO

My August reading list

Instead of writing full length book reviews, I guess I will just write short summaries about the books that I have been reading. I will try to make this a monthly update. I hope I will be able to give you some inspirations on what is good to read.

***There are amazon links attached to the pictures of the books below, you can click to read the reviews and the descriptions of the books :)



Secret of Paris: Paris for beginners: An insider's guide 
by Vernon Coleman

I fell off my chair laughing a dozen of times reading this book. It's a book about Paris: the cafes, the people, the traffic, the history...everything. If you wonder why this supposed to be boring topics can be so funny. Read this:

I hope I won't get into some copyright issues by quoting the book this way. All credits go to the awesome author of this book :)

There are lots of funny paragraphs like this in the book, and it is still incredibly practical for someone who's going to Paris. I got this for USD 4.99 but it's now selling for USD 0.99. T_T

I think the discount is only valid until tomorrow. If you are going to Paris and need a guidebook that's fun to read, buy it now.




Impressionism: The History, The Artists, The Masterpieces 
by V. Kuvatova

I don't know why this book is selling for only USD 1.35 because art-books with pictures are generally quite expensive. I expect the book to be extremely shallow but indeed, it's informative even for someone like me who already knows a bit about arts. I have sent this book as a gift to one of my dear friends. This book is an impressionism 101. It covers several most famous impressionism artists, their important works and their lives. It's a short book, very easy to read and understand.

If you are planning a trip to Paris and wish to know more about the artworks that you're going to see, or if you simply want to impress someone who loves art. This book is a foolproof investment (of only USD1.35 and no more than a few hours of your time). LOL




Inferno 
by Dan Brown

Disclaimer: I am a HUGE Dan Brown fan. If you love Dan Brown, you will love this book.

If you ask me why I love Dan Brown's novels, I'd say it's because his books help you expand your horizons. It's entertaining, as well as "educational". I don't know how many Dan Brown fans would do this, but whatever facts that were quoted in the book, I would look them up and dig deeper. So by the time you finished reading this book, you would find yourself so familiar with the city Florence, and the artists and writers (Botticelli and Dante).

A side note: this book will be made into a movie by Sony Pictures to be released in Dec 2015. Yay!!!




Not in time
by Shawna Seed

I love this book so much that as soon as I finished reading it I wrote an review.
[ Read here ! ]

More delicious Gluten-Free Sugar-Free Guilt-Free Dishes!!

Besides reading extensively, I have also been cooking too (when I was not dancing in my studio or twisting my spine in the yoga classes : P)

Here is a glimpse of what I have been cooking these 2 weeks. I don't have time to put together the recipes yet. Let me know if you're interested in any of these below, I will post the recipes as soon as I can. :)

There are 3 golden rules in whatever things that I cook:
1) There must be no sugar, sweetener, syrups added. All the sweetness comes naturally from fruits.
2) There must be no refined carbs (bread, pasta, noodles alike), and gluten. To fill my stomach I eat potatoes, sweet potatoes, quinoa and sometimes, brown rice.
3) There must be no artificial flavoring. I use only garlic cloves, onion, black pepper, chili flakes, herbs to add natural flavor.

Stay healthy (and hungry) my friends

XOXO

Sugar-Free Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Pie

Healthy Full Breakfast  

Gluten-Free Salmon Potato Pizza

Easy Cheesy Salmon lunchbox 

Not in time

I have been relatively quiet these few days because I have dived into a book - Not in time

It's a suspense novel related to art history, and part of the story was set in Paris (which were the reasons why I got the book). I have to say the amazon reviews are confusing. If you're looking for something like Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code", you'll be disappointed. I am always impressed with Dan Brown's thorough research on everything he wrote. However, half of the artworks quoted in this book were imaginary. But I don't think it's fair to compare Shawna Seed to Dan Brown because, if you don't already know, his wife is an art historian and painter, who co-writes almost all of his novels. 2 brains work better than one, true? (Guys, marry someone smart!)

In a smart way, Shawna Seed worked around this by adding more elements in the book to keep the readers happy: a little bit of mystery, a great deal of romance, and very likable characters who you can easily relate to. I actually see a lot of myself in Gen, the main character in the book, who is quiet, shy, self-conscious, socially awkward, mentally active, loves art, adores Paris, admires impressionists, loves cats, always blushes at the wrong time (and hates it), eats standing up in the kitchen (lol)... You can now probably see why I love this book so much. It's funny, and almost miraculous, how it powerfully resonates with me.

"So what do you love about art?"

"I like the way you can look at something an artist created hundreds of years ago, something that captures a moment of life, and that moment can still feel real centuries later. Passion, love, loss... So much of the world feels temporary, but a really great piece of art is timeless"

SPOT. ON.

GET OUT OF MY WAY!! AM001!!

Feel pissed/ upset for some reason. But negative energy is energy too, so I am going to put it into better use.

From now on, whenever I feel bad I will draw a little monster and post it here. Let's see how many we'll get by the end of this year.....lol

Let's call him...hmm....AM001 (a.k.a. Anger Monster 001). Yes I know, the name is really creative.

And yes it sounds lame. Don't judge me. Never mess with an angry woman  :-<

Burano - A glorious burst of CoLOuRs!!

This is going to be a very colourful entry because I am going to write about BURANO!

If you know how I am obsessed with colours, you will know how much I love this tiny island, which is famous for its rainbow coloured houses.

On this island you will never find 2 houses with the same colour sitting next to each other. It's because the government controls the colour to be used. I wonder if they have recruited a team of artists because the colour scheme is just brilliant!

Other than being beautiful, there is a practical reason for them to paint the house this way. Historically, families in Burano caught fish for a living. While the houses looked almost identical, it was way easier for the fishermen to find their way home by colours.

Burano is a small island and many tourists may find it not much to do there. It's not true. Unlike central Venice, Burano is not purely for tourists. It is where local people live. I strongly advice you to take some time and slowly walk around the island. You will be surprised by the amount of things that fascinate you.

I was wearing the glass necklace that I got in Murano, by the way :)

I found the way they hanged their clothes was extremely artistic.

The small town is famous for making lace too! They were all hand-made and labelled "made in Burano", next to a very intimidating price tag.....

Errrr....there is something wrong with this bell tower.....

I later googled and realize Italy is in fact quite famous for building leaning towers, other than Pisa [ The list of leaning towers ]

Here I bring to you my collection of beautiful window-sills in Burano. Now admire the perfectly matching colours.

 

It's a crime not be to romantic in Italy, I guess

But there was one thing that I was not quite satisfied with Burano: The food. It's quite pricey compared to elsewhere in Venice but the quality was, to be honest, just so-so...hmm....

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For those who love reading my blog, THANK YOU! <3 *muah*

There is a lot of effort to organize the thousands of photos that I took in Italy. But I just enjoy sharing with people the things that I love. And I wish I can inspire you to admire the extraordinary things in our ordinary lives.

More interesting things about Venice is coming soon. Goodnight, my friends.

XOXO