A pink heaven on my feet

It's lovely to live close to one of the most beautiful cities (if not THE most beautiful city) in the world: Venice! We spent last weekend there, enjoying the museums, window shopping and real shopping (obviously), sipping overpriced coffee, visiting the oldest casino in the world, eating ice-cream and loving life! 

There is just one down side when you're from around here: you do wanna dress "Italian style"; fashionable, trendy and not touristy. You wanna show you are from the area which usually comes with pretty but pretty uncomfortable shoes! That, again, is a huge problem when you're in Venice where you walk miles after miles after miles while discovering new streets, trying to find the exhibition site and eventually getting lost on your way back to the hotel. Not so easy. I opted for sneakers for my weekend trip, but trendy ones with a wedge. I admit I had previously never worn them for more than three to four hours at the time while mostly standing or sitting. In Venice however, we walked for hours and hours straight. The first day was somewhat okay but I suffered after just 30 minutes the next day. I obviously needed new sneakers, real ones. I managed to get comfy yet trendy ones: I loooooove my pink Nike Dual Fusion sneakers!!! They feel like heaven and saved my weekend in Venice. I will definitely wear them next time to the lagoon city and make sure to combine them with an Italian brand purse. They already go with my opi nail polish. Good to go!

Stylish water intake

Once in a while my old problem of drinking too little reemerges. I need to constantly pay attention to get enough fluids into me throughout the day. Once every now and then I get a headache attack at night right before going to bed and it happens usually because I forgot to drink a lot.

Italians drink lots of water during meals and I got used to this custom. This helps to hydrate my body but the water with the meals alone is not enough. 

That's why I like to come up with healthy drinks that taste better than plain water and that make me crave fluids even more. Today I made a non-alcoholic Hugo - not so low-calorie but definitely one of my favourites.

Don't know what Hugo is? Hugo has been a popular drink for the past decade around here. It originated in Northern Italy and is the popular summer drink here as well as in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It's base is a prosecco and the special taste comes from the elderberry flower syrup and the mint leaves. Here is the original (alcoholic) Hugo recipe for a great summer drink:

3 ice cubes

2-3 tbs of elderflower flower syrup (the more you use the sweeter the tase)

100 ml of Prosecco 

50 ml of sparkling mineral water

1 tbl of squeezed lime juice

4-5 mint leaves

for a hint of colour throw in a raspberry or a small strawberry

And this is my non-alcoholic Hugo version, basically just leave out the prosecco and add more water:

3 ice cubes

2-3 tbs of elderflower flower syrup (the more you use the sweeter the tase)

250 ml of sparkling mineral water

1 tbl of squeezed lime juice

4-5 mint leaves

for a hint of colour throw in a raspberry or a small strawberry

For a healthier Hugo version use less syrup. This drink does obviously not substitute plain water, as the non-alcoholic Hugo is sugary due to the syrup. I like to sometimes just add some lime and a hint of the syrup to my water just to make water more fun! By the way, I buy the elderberry flower syrup at my local Ikea! Cheers! 

Morning redness

My healthy smoothie of the day after my morning run along the beach in Italy:

Frozen red berries, apple sauce, yoghurt, almonds, popped amaranth - blend! And yum!!

Weirdness: green tea lattes

The whole coffee culture is still a myth to me after having lived for four years in Italy. A few years ago I learned that a "coffee latte" is a "latte macchiato", the translation meaning "spotted milk"; hot milk with a spot of coffee - makes sense. A "caffè macchiato" though is a "spotted coffee" whereas "coffee" here means espresso, not your German, American or Canadian Tim Horton's filter coffee. We conclude: "caffè macchiato" is an espresso coffee with a spot of milk. 

You need to specify here though if you want your "caffè macchiato" "caldo" or "freddo", "warm" or "cold". You can also ask for "senza schiuma", "without "foam" or you can ask for the milk on the side rather than poured onto the coffee. 

Once you understand the ordering process, it doesn't end here. For example, when I wanted to order coffee in Trieste a few months ago, which is only about an hour car drive away from where zu live, they did not understand me. In order to get a "decaf espresso with a bit of milk" (that was what I wanted) I should have asked for a "capo deca" - kind of like a decaffeinated mini cappuccino. Though some people would add here "capo deca in b" where "b" stands for "bicchiere"; "glass" instead of coffee in a cup. I have yet to see a what I consider "real cappuccino" in Trieste, I am sure you can get it somehow, but let's not go there. Ordering coffee in Trieste seems to be difficult even for Italians.

What I really wanted to say today is that I find it astonishing that Italians make all this fuss about how to order your coffee and when to drink it. The first rule I mentioned here before is that Italians never, and I mean never, drink cappuccino any other time during the day than in the morning. They just don't do it. And most of them think I am weird - and give me that look of "really?!" - when I order green tea with some milk on the side to make my "green tea latte" in the afternoon? I would say: everyone as they wish. 

Maybe Starbucks is still not present in Italy (!) because they are intimidated and are afraid to not keep up with all the coffee rules in this country. I would for sure love a "skim milk salted caramel hot chocolate no cream" from Starbucks once in a while. Ordering in front of the green-aproned staff members seems like a walk in the park after having lived in Italy. Trust me.

Happiness in pink

I received this fabulous bouquet of orchids from the best man in the world! I'm over the moon. Happyness.

Bring on the spring

I love it when my ikea couch slipcovers are white and shiny and newly washed. They smell like spring. The tulips enhance this feeling and make me think it's May not February! Gotta love your home. 

One year, one challenge, one success

After one year of sweating, studying and contemplating, I can proudly say that I completed my yoga teacher trainings with Sadie Nardini today: the Evolution and the Rockstar training!

My intention was to blog about my experience as I went along with the courses, however, I realized that that was impossible to do. In order to do the training, you need to dedicate a full day of class, yoga and contemplation. Usually the discussions are about 1.5 hours long and there are two in a day. I took lots of notes and sometimes paused the video and replayed parts of it. Then there is the practice, two sessions, between 1.5 and 2 hours each. I usually did the practice session once while doing yoga and then I played it one more time to take notes about Sadie's instructions. This helped me a lot as her words really sink in this way and her language becomes very familiar and easier to replicate.

Whenever I practice now, I hear Sadie's voice in my mind as I know what she would say. This should make it easier to teach as well. Theoretically anyways. I think I would be able to teach yoga classes after this intense training and after having been practicing yoga for about 10 years. However, I would have a hard time finding students who would want to practice yoga with me and listen to my English instructions. I live in Italy and the language might be a problem. Before I can acually teach I would have to translate Sadie's instructions and get my anatomy vocabulary in Italian straight. Who knows how long this will take me to do. 

However, I will not give up as this is what I learned through the training. Baby steps can make the difference and here I am. Done with the courses.

Thank you, Sadie, for this beautiful experience and for sharing your knowledge with me. 

If you are interested in Sadie Nardini's courses, books and wellness tips, please check out her lovely website: www.sadienardini.com