Lisa in England - Day 6 (+ Vlog + Shoplog)

This is the last day of our wonderful trip to England. A journal, vlog, and shoplog!

Since we spent a lot of time traveling on this last day, we didn't have much time to do anything but that, and drinking coffee. So no pretty pictures today, unfortunately :( We did make a nice video of our journey back, which you can watch here:

You may have already noticed that we visited quite a lot of shops. So we thought it would be nice to put together a little shoplog as well :)

We only visited a Lush store twice - I'm so proud of myself! :p But seriously, I'm a huge fan of their products, and they're quite a bit less pricey in England than they are here, so whenever I get a chance to go to England, I stock up on all my favourites. The three jars (Sympathy For The Skin, Big, and Angels On Bare Skin) are my absolute favourites, and the round shampoo bar (Copperhead) is well on its way of becoming one. The chunky brick on the right (Movis) is a facial cleanser, and also pretty nice!

Since my boyfriend and I are both former English students, we both have a sweet spot for books. The gigantic stack at the top is my boyfriend's (although we kind of bought I Am Legend and The Graveyard Book together..), which makes my "stack" all the more modest. I love the number and diversity of bookshops in Oxford and London, by the way!

On Day 4, we visited Forbidden Planet, a sci-fi /fantasy shop. I never really see myself as a sci-fi fan, but I was fangirling all over the place for the two hours we were there.  We only bought Doctor Who stuff, because we're both really into it, and this show has the best merchandise. I'm a tad bit jealous of my boyfriend's sonic screwdriver (which lights up, makes sound, and is actually a screwdriver!). We  also got ourselves a poseable Weeping Angel statue, a pair of mugs, and I even got myself a badge :p

Of course, we couldn't come home without a few souvenirs for the families, so we stocked up on mugs, trays, toys, books, and snowglobes.

And since we liked the Banksy poster for my brother so much, we decided to get one ourselves as well.

So, that was it. We hoped you enjoyed the vlogs (if you haven't seen them yet, you can find them here) and journals; we certainly enjoyed making them! We would love to hear what you liked about them, or what you would like to see differently, so please let us know!

xx Lisa (& Ivanna)

Lisa in England - Day 5 (+ Vlog)

A journal and vlog on the fifth day of our trip to England. On this day, we visited Hyde Park and the Camden Markets.

Tuesday was an extra special day, because this was the whole reason we spend a holiday in England anyway: our 10 year anniversary! It was my favourite day too, because we had already crossed all the must-sees off our list, so we had all the time in the world to just roam around the city.

We started off with a delicious breakfast at Maroush Bakery instead of having breakfast at the hotel. Mainly because we just wanted to treat ourselves on our special day, but also because the instant coffee at the hotel was downright depressing. Really, I highly recommend the hotel, especially if your on a budget, but I also urge you to visit Maroush for breakfast ;)

We didn't have to do anything, but that didn't mean we had no plan at all. Since I had never been to Hyde Park before, I really wanted to go there, and I especially wanted to see the Peter Pan statue. And take the obligatory Peter Pan selfie.

Next, we took the tube to the Camden Markets, to stroll around between to little shops and stands. I had already been there once myself, but my boyfriend hadn't, so I wanted to show him how awesome it is. If you ever go to London for shopping, you should definitely go here instead of just visiting Primark and Topshop!

Afterwards, we had dinner at Nando's again. I am almost ashamed to admit it, but it's just so pleasantly low-key, and it was close to our hotel, so after dinner we could get into bed and romantically watch Doctor Who together ;)

Didn't feel like reading? No problem at all! You can also watch our video right here:

So, did we miss anything important on our trip? What would you have done on a special day like this?

xx 

Lisa

Lisa in England - Day 4 (+ Vlog)

This is the journal and vlog of day 4 of our trip to England.

We started our Monday morning with a rather scanty breakfast. To be honest, after our stay at Susanne any breakfast would have seemed scanty in comparison, and we didn't expect much for what we payed for our stay, but instant coffee?? Luckily, we had a busy day ahead of us, so instead of sulking, we grabbed our stuff and went to the Natural History Museum.

I love this kind of museums. As a linguist, I am often expected to like literature and arts, which I absolutely do, but I also have a soft spot for biology. And animatronic dinosaurs.

After spending the entire morning at the museum, we took the tube to Covent Garden, to have lunch at Le Pain Quotidien. We had planned to visit the Lush store there as well, but since it seemed to have vanished (?), we decided to go straight to the next point on our to-do list: Forbidden Planet. After stopping at the Tea House, because I have this strange habit of buying tea in every country I visit.

In case anyone is wondering what he Forbidden Planet is: it is said to be the biggest sci-fi/fantasy store in Europe. My boyfriend and I were both too excited to take pictures :p but it is briefly shown in our vlog, whichyou can find at the bottom of this article.

After our visit to Forbidden Planet, we decided to just take it easy for the rest of the day. Stroll around for a bit, have some coffee, visit some shops, and try to find another Lush store. It all worked out perfectly, and after having dinner at a cute indian restaurant, we dragged our bags full of Lush and Doctor Who merchandise back to our hotel room, where we almost immediately fell asleep.

If you want to see a bit of Forbidden Planet, or - even better - an animatronic T-Rex, check out our vlog! All vlogs on the previous days of our trip can be found on the Spring to Fall Youtube Channel.

Have a lovely day!

xx
Lisa

Lisa in England - Day 3 (+ Vlog)

Day 3 of our trip was a bit bittersweet. We had to leave Oxford, and thus our friend Susanne behind, but we also continued our trip to London!

Again, I've written a little journal below. Don't feel like reading? You can also watch the video:

Once again, we started our day with a Dutch-English fusion breakfast prepared by our incredible host Susanne. Tea, juice, eggs, scones, crumpets, and Old Amsterdam cheese. Really, that girl knows how to make breakfast.

We packed our bags, and made our way to the bus, but not before making a short stop at Blackwell's bookstore. This short stop turned out to be nearly two hours, but what else would you expect with two former English students?

With lighter wallets and heavier bags, we finally arrived at the bus station, where we hastilly said goodbye to our friend before hopping in and driving off. Goodbye Susanne, see you in April! And goodbye Oxford!

And hello London! After a two and a half hour trip, we finally stepped out of Earl's Court station, and were immedtiately welcomed by the familiar rain and wind. This is the England we know :p We had some difficulties finding the hotel because I had forgotten to bring the address and directions, but managed to arrive there pretty quickly. We stayed at the Garden View Hotel - a tiny, but cozy and clean hotel at a great location. No, we were not payed for this review :p

After unpacking our bags, and taking an unplanned nap, we headed to Nando's for dinner. Not the most interesting option perhaps from a blogger's perspective, but Nando's is just always a good idea.

Do you have a go-to restaurant when you're in London?

xx
Lisa

Lisa in England - Day 2 (+ Vlog)

As promised, a little journal and vlog on our second day in England!

Last week, my boyfriend and I spent 6 days in Oxford and London to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. After a rather adventurous first day, we started day two with the delicious breakfast our friend Susanne had prepared for us. Most Englishmen would probably have a seizure at the sight of what we did to their national products to call it breakfast, but it was scrumptious nonetheless.

After this hearty breakfast, we headed off to the Oxford University Museum National History and the adjoining Pitt Rivers Museum, which were both incredibly beautiful and interesting. I was actually promised human heads in jars, which was the whole reason I wanted to go to the Pitt Rivers Museum, but unfortunately they only had "regular" shrunken heads. Which were also pretty disgusting interesting. And the architecture of the Natural History Museum was phenomenal!

After that we sneaked into Christ Church, where Alice in Wonderland was written, and several scenes of the Harry Potter movies were filmed. Unfortunately, we couldn't get into the Great Hall due to reconstruction work. Bummer. We also briefly visited the covered market before heading for lunch.

Lunch consisted of fruit and juice packs (daytrips like this always bring out the mother figure in Susanne), and pasties we bought at Sainsbury's. Very fancy ;)

And after some well deserved rest and coffee and hot cocoa, we walked up the hill to enjoy a splendid sunset over Oxford.

To see the rest of the evening on our second day, and to enjoy even more visual input, check our vlog below!


 

There are 4 more days of vlogs to come, so stay tuned!

 

Love,

Lisa

Lisa in England - Day 1 (+ Vlog)

Last week, me (Lisa) and my boyfriend went to Oxford and London for six days. This is a journal of the first day of our trip.

The main reason we went on this trip, was to celebrate our ten year anniversary on February 24 - hooray for us! Also, since we were heading in that direction anyway, we thought it would be a great opportunity to visit our friend Susanne who is currently working on her PhD at Oxford University. 

We left on Friday February 20 to Gatwick Airport, and took the bus to Oxford. We stayed there until Sunday afternoon, when we took the bus back to London, and we stayed there until Wednesday Februari 25. This meant we had almost 6 full days to enjoy all the goodness these cities have to offer! (and it proved to be not nearly enough :p)

The first day started out a bit more exciting than we had hoped for. Spoiler: we had a little issue at the check-in, because I am unbelievably stupid. For the rest of the story, you'll have to check the video ;) Thank goodness everything turned out alright, and a few hours laters, we were able to meet up with Susanne. We had a wonderful, busy first day in Oxford, thanks to Susanne's activities program. 

Since we did so much in these six days, it would be madness to cram it all in just a single post and one video, so we decided to spread it out and post an article and a video about each individual day. So stay tuned for the rest!

Have you ever been to Oxford and/or London? We'd love to hear what you've seen there, or would like to see!

xx Lisa (and Ivanna, who has edited all the videos!)

DIY: Peanutbutter cups

It's recipe time again! This time we wanted to go for something sweet (which of course, involves chocolate..).

Today we're going to make peanutbutter cups! Of course we didn't come up with the idea of coating chocolate around peanutbutter ourselves. The idea is based on the famous Reese's peanutbutter cups. We noticed that sometimes, all of a sudden, we really crave for this type of candy. Maybe it's because of the perfect balance between sweet and salty.. the pretty shape.. the chocolate bite.. the soft peanutbutter core..  Anyway, we find it extremely addictive!

On the food blog Oh My Foodness we found a recipe that was very useful. We changed the ingrediënts a little bit, depending on what we had at home. And they turned out perfectly!!

For a clear and easy explanation on how to make them, you can watch the video below.

For 12 peanutbutter cups, use:

- 4 tablespoons of peanutbutter (smooth: without small pieces of peanut)

- 2 tablespoons of butter

- a small bowl of powdered sugar

- a pinch of salt

- two large milk chocolate bars

Bon appetit:)

Let us know if you tried them and how they turned out!

xx

Lisa & Ivanna

Swan Market

Last Sunday, we went to the Swan Market in Rotterdam again. It was a perfect, sunny day for a little trip like this, and judging by the line at the entrance, we weren't the only ones with this idea ;) Luckily, it did turn out to be a great day, despite the initial congestion. 

For those who are not familiar with this creative lifestyle market, you should really check their website, or read this post. And please pay it a visit sometime, because it really is awesome. Vintage, food, and handmade goodies - what is not to like?

Since it was inside (the glorious Van Nelle factory) this time, we unfortunately weren't able to take a lot of pictures like we did before because of the lack of daylight, but we did manage to shoot a nice little video (which functions as a little shop vlog as well)!

Were you there as well?

Love,
Lisa & Ivanna

Recipe Cajun Spice Mix

Time for a fun recipe! Actually, it's not even a recipe, just a homemade spice mix to use for meat rubs and marinades. But it's very easy to make, and it's pretty damn tasty too!

You can watch the video below for a clear overview and some background info.

Or - if you're in a hurry - just mix these things together:
- 3 parts sweet paprika

- 1 part cayenne

- 1 part garlic powder

- 1 part onion powder

- 1 part thyme

- 1 part oregano

- 1.5 parts black pepper

- 1.5 parts white pepper

We didn't use any salt, because we like to season each dish individually, but feel free to add some if you feel like it!

The numbers indicate the proportions; you can use a tea spoon, table spoon, cup, bucket - all depending on how much you want to make. As long as the proportions are the same, you're good. We used a table spoon, and multiplied it by 5, to make half a jar of spice mix.

This mix is incredibly delicious on chicken (try this recipe!), but if you know any other dishes, let us know!

Lisa & Ivanna