Quick & Simple Heart-Shaped Dessert Recipe For Valentine’s Day

Scratching your head in search of last minute idea for something simple and very quick to make for your loved ones? Me too! So it happened that I remembered a simple recipe for a very versatile dough I used to make long time ago. Added an apple, some brown sugar and cinnamon and here is the result:

I think it looks lovely and certainly handmade but it took me less than 1 hour, with baking time, to finish it. As for the dough recipe, you'll need the same amount in weight of cottage cheese, margarine and flour. Nothing else, no eggs, no salt, no sugar...

I made the dough with 250 g of each. If your cottage cheese is to grainy you'll need to make it smoother with a hand blender or in the food processor. Add the margarine and mix well - mixing thoroughly with a fork is OK. Add the flour and continue to blend the ingredients with a fork or with the wooden spoon. If your dough feels to wet add a bit of flour.

Roll  the dough out  on the floured surface approximately 0,5 cm thick (1/5 of an inch), cut the hearths with a cookie cutter and place them on the baking sheet. Sprinkle each heart with some brown sugar and cinnamon if you like. Cut a small apple into thin slices and place 2 of them on each heart. Bake them in the oven on 380° F/180° C for 25-30 minutes. I wanted to color some apple slices in red but didn't have any red  food coloring left so I mixed some strawberry jelly powder with water and brushed the apple slices. Let them cool a bit and dust with icing sugar. If you want to make something more fancy here is my Valentine's blog post from last year. Bon appetit!

Quick & Simple Heart-Shaped Dessert Recipe For Valentine’s Day

Building An Ice Palace

So I guess I WAS completely frozen in the end. Maybe not because of the freezing weather... I just read my last post and thought to myself that, in those almost two months since I didn't give a sign of  life, the situation didn't change much. I continued to struggle and to ask myself if I made the right decision. This really was a big change for me and it isn't over yet. What frightens me is that on the one side I appreciate the security and the stability of the job but on the other side I am overwhelmed by the desire to do something big and crazy. Like moving (again!) far away. Or creating my own company. Both of the ideas sound tempting and frightening at the same time. It's almost like a life decade thing. In my twenties I did the usual: studying, marrying and having kids. In mu thirties I started a new life and a new career in Germany. In my forties, I came to Canada and started another, completely new life and career. Well, okay, I didn't change my husband nor my kids, but everything else was new.

As I was taking a walk last week near my work place, I was passing by a construction site of the "Bonhomme  Carnaval" Ice Palace. It struck me that I was given the opportunity to build my life like the ice palace. I had to work hard and in difficult circumstances in order to build something strong and beautiful for my family. But unfortunately it couldn't last, so I had to do it all over again.

Sure It was different each time but beautiful non the less. I'm very proud actually of those palaces I had built even if they weren't meant to last. Am I ready to tackle a new one? I sure miss the excitement of it!

And as someone said it so wisely: change is the only constant thing in life... Thank you for being so patient with me!

Building An Ice Palace

Not Completely Frozen Yet

Since my last post the time has passed in a blink of an eye. I was hit by the train at full speed, or so it felt, and I'm still gasping for air. Everything happened so quickly and I found myself in a completely new work environment, with new people and new challenges. This was what I wanted for a long time but when I finally got there it was like I wasn't ready for it. I started to feel some kind of weird resistance in my gut and my whole body turned against this "newness". I'll be honest with you, I never ever felt something like this, I was always up for a challenge. In fact, earlier in my life, any challenge would give me strength and motivation to fight and to work hard in order to achieve my goal. This time was very different. It was almost like I had enough of challenges in my life, I couldn't take it any more. Completely new experience...

Four weeks later, things are going better but I still can't get rid of this weird feeling. It may sound weird to you, but I rarely did things for myself, because I wanted it for ME - it was usually for my family, for my children or for any other reason. This last decision was not different. And this is exactly the thing I have to change, the time has come. Happily, I'll have ten days off for Christmas. Enough time to think things through but also to enjoy beautiful white Christmas in the city of Quebec...

Not Completely Frozen Yet

About Those Lemons Life Gave Me

Well, I must say, I had my share of lemons and I haven't always been able to make lemonade from them. But I surely learned quickly enough that you have to deal with the cards you are dealt. Or, as someone said : "It is not the cards you are dealt, but is how you play them." You can sit and complain about it and wait for change to happen, eventually. Or you can grab the bull by the horns and make something out of it, sometimes even make the best of it. And I sat and cried, believe me, often enough. And I complained about injustice and bad luck. It didn't change a thing. So I wiped my tears, analyzed my options, took a best guess and acted upon it. Oh, yes, it's infinitely easier not to move at all and to let yourself drown in self pity. But it is also a spiral staircase down to not worthy existence. The choice is always yours and you always have one.

Image source : Etsy

In the last 12 months or so, my life changed drastically after leaving a job that made me totally unhappy. It was as if the ground under my feet disappeared. I was standing on the crossroads with no signposts. I was looking for directions and I found them not outside, but inside of me. The long road took me on the journey to a completely new territory. I lowered my expectations towards myself (I'm so happy about it now), I got a new diploma (I'm so happy about it now too), I sent my new resume to places I wanted to work for (boy, am I happy about this one now!) and I didn't know until recently if I did the right thing or not. It turns out, I passed all the exams for all the jobs I wanted and now I get to choose the place I would like to work for. My head is spinning like crazy in the last 2 weeks, I can't believe that this is happening to ME!  I finally get to drink that lemonade I made from all those lemons life gave me...

About Those Lemons Life Gave Me

Where I'm Coming From

I have been blogging since last September more or less regularly (hey, I forgot the first blogoversary!). My preoccupations changed from one post to another but one thing keeps bothering me throughout this experience. I feel like I'm keeping a very big secret from you. Actually, I am. I did mention little things here and there but I never gave you the whole picture. I'm talking about my "Forrest Gump" life experience. I think I'm ready now to let you know more about me and my family.

Image source : http://littlehouseinparadise.blogspot.com

 My fellow blogger Zhu made a nice interview with me some time ago and so, instead of writing everything once again here, I invite you to go over to her wonderful blog and read her post.

P.S. Sherri, I didn't ask for permission to use your image, hope you're ok with it. I simply couldn't resist, it reminded me of things my mother used to make when she was young.

Where I'm Coming From

Time Is Flying Faster Than Ever

Apparently, I'm not the only one thinking about time, I just joined the whole humanity. Seriously, there is so much written about it out there that my head started spinning from all the theories. Is there an absolute truth about this phenomenon? I seriously doubt it. What initiated my curiosity is this very strong feeling I have as of lately that time is just rushing by, not measured by hours and days any more but rather by years and decades. Suddenly, it's like the countdown started going backwards to an unknown last number. I don't like this feeling, it's weighing me down, paralyzing my dreams. I'm constantly questioning myself about the sense of everything I do. I've got to engage in something creatively productive, I need to start making things with my hands, transforming a raw material in something useful -  my office job just doesn't cut it any more.

Enough of being smart and philosophical! Autumn is coming slowly and it's beautiful. Definitely my season of choice here in Canada. I love everything about it : colors, light, temperature, smell of fallen leaves and rain - yes, especially rain. I think I'll go out and finally buy a pair of rubber boots for myself. And if I was courageous enough it would be those, with a matching umbrella. I love to jump from one puddle to another, going trough the leaves gathered by the wind...

I didn't make my last flower arrangement of the season yet, but I think I've got my last tomatoes and peppers...

My office moved last week to another building, much closer to my house. We were packing for weeks and moving trough the mountains of boxes trying to follow the normal work routine. This week, the first in the new place, everyone was looking for something, many things got yet to be organized and installed. Today I was told that we have to be patient for the next 10 to 15 days. No problem! Patience is my middle name.

Time Is Flying Faster Than Ever