Happy New Year

I love Oliebollen.
Oliebollen are the dutch doughnuts. They are balls with raisins in them fried in deep oil. In Israel we call them Sufganya, and we fill them with Jam.
We eat them to celebrate Hannukah and the miracle of the Menorah that gave light for 8 days instead of one. That's why there are a lot of oily foods around these times of the year. Here is an Oliebol:

Here is the Jewish version, the sufganya:

I love both versions.
In this time of the year, the streets in Holland are full with stools which sell those everywhere, it's beautiful.
I had my official one yesterday with my man, and this is how we looked after it. 

I wasn't around so much since I went to the hospital and was busy with my health for a couple of days. 

The doctor thinks I mave have a conidtion called : Cushing's Disease, which means that I have extra Cortisol in my body. And that makes me tired, anxious, nervous, fat (I gained 30 kg's in 2 years), and I have a very swollen belly all the time. 

There are a lot more symptoms. If you are interested in knowing you can read about it here:

http://www.medicalook.com/Hormonal_disorders/Cushings_syndrome.html

Since this condition becomes worse when I am stressed (since Cortisol is the stress hormone), I am going to talk about happy things now :

Tonight we are going to celebrate new years with our best friends Hand and Lisa, we are going to have a nice dinner and drink champagne and play games and just see the fireworks. 

Here in Holland, it's legal to have fireworks throughout the last day of the year, so throughout the day, children are playing with fireworks. It's a bit scary since I am not used to those sounds of explosions, but I can't wait till tonight when it's all pretty and the fireworks are amazing!!! 

I WISH YOU ALL A WONDERFUL (HEALTHY) 2012 , 

may it bring joy in your homes and love in your arms

Cheers from the mad scientist 

Finding Treasures

Dear Readers,

Today was a very happy day at the mad's scientists side of the world. I spent some quality time with my man doing some treasure hunting in a second hand store in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

We have a chain of second hand stores who are called Kringloop Winkel. There are a couple in every city, and they sell practically everything from a button to a couch. some of the things are very cheap and some of them are more expensive, but let's just say it goes between 0.10 Euros to 300 Euros.

There are a lot of vintage items there. I just love the boxes they have, since they are really crafts, I use them for everything, from storing cookies, buttons, pens etc. and they all have such wonderful printing on them.

I got two: one with a print of Albert Heijn (which is practically the godfather of supermarkets in Holland), and the other is a really nice one, of a printout of an old dutch house , like those you see in Amsterdam, and it fits 1 packet of flour, to start my bakery laboratory again hehe :)

On top of that I got 3 cooking books: a eastern dutch one with Indonesian recipes for all the sauces we make for stir fry and, one grandma's cooking dutch book, with all kind of vintage recipes, the other one is a calories guide in Dutch, for all the dutch foods.

I love Sesame street (well who doesn't) and I am especially crazy about Elmo. And so I was so happy to find this box in the store, I am already thinking about what to put in it, any ideas?

Yesterday i opened a "Crafty Tula" page on Facebook, with all kind of organizing tips, please like my page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crafty-Tula/224832560925642?sk=wall

and here is the first tip of the day from the page, I will post some from time to time here too, and refer my Facebook readers to my blog as well. If you guys have any organizing tips, please do share/ comment below.

Tip of the day : 

How to organize your sheets so you can easily find one whole set:

If you don't want to to search so hard after those hiding sheets, just put all the sheets you are folding into one pillow case, that way you wouldn't have to think hard when you are trying to match your sheets to your pillow cases, and while you arrange them in your closet, it also looks neat.


Later on I realized I have 2 chicken breasts in the fridge which I have to make, so what is better than to make oatmeal schnitzels.
They are always crispy, very healthy and very tasty, or as my man said after eating it : Did you buy this or make this ? (what a nice compliment, I guess he liked 'em).

For all of you who want to know how to make them, here is the recipe, unfortunately I couldn't take a picture of the final schnitzels, since my man ate them all too fast , Enjoy :)

Oatmeal Covered Schnitzels:


Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts
1 Egg
Chicken Soup Powder
Oatmeal
Sunflower Oil

Preparation:
1) Cut the chicken breasts into thin slices.
2) Put some oatmeal in a deep bowl
3) Mix the Egg with the chicken soup powder, than add a bit water and mix it all together. Add the chicken slices to the bowl and let it marinade for 2 hours.

4) after 2 hours in the fridge, warm a pan with some sunflower.

5) Put the chicken slices in the oatmeal and use it to cover them completely.
6) fry the schnitzels.
7) Serve with some white rice or with fries.
Bon Appetite...

Jolly Spirit

Boy we had a wonderful time last night with our best friends Lisa and Hans.
They are pagans, and they are celebrating Yule, which is the holiday of the bringing back of the light.

They sure did bring back the light to our housy. We had a very nice dinner together, drank bubbly pink champagne and had lots of laughter and jokes. Later on we talked about politics and religion, and found out that my religion (I'm Jewish) has similar holidays like they have.

They gave us a very nice Christmas card, they are indeed fab friends, and it said for many more Christmases together ... Hans and Lisa. they are just the best friends.

We switched gifts and I got some very nice things, and so did my man:
I got a notebook, some writing materials (since Lisa is gonna give me some language lessons every Monday which is very sweet of her), a dutch dictionary, some mint chocolate (yummy), a game to recognize songs from a CD , some butterflies to put on the window and a beautiful tablecloth, now our living room doesn't look so bad anymore. here are some pics of it:

Later in the afternoon I spoke with my sweet little niece Dana, she is 8 years old, and practically a genius. She actually knows how to work an IPod, an IPad, she has her own email , and she chats with her friends on skype. When I was her age I couldn't even read English. How amazing is that?

So we put some nice hats on, and she made an impression of Santa Claus. She showed me a necklace she got from her mom with the letter D on it, for Dana, she is my best friend. I love her to death.

When she was born, a huge light came into my life, I really hope that I have a daughter like her one day. She is the most sweet, funny, cute , smart and mature little girl I have ever met, and we always have fun together. We always laugh and have fun. Children are just a wonder, now aren't they?

Here she is making her own interpretation of Santa Claus, Beard and everything :)






And to finish today's post with a healthy recipe ,
Yesterday me and my man made a very nice healthy Salad for lunch, with Tuna and potatoes, it was so delicious, here is the recipe:

Lunch Tuna Salad:

Ingredients
1 Package of Green leaves
2 Tomatoes
1 Pilled potato
1 Can of Tuna
1 Paprika
250 gr mushrooms
1 Can of olives stuffed with feta cheese
4 small gherkins
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Preparation
Cut the tomatoes , the gherkins and the mushrooms into cubes.
Fry the mushrooms with a bit of olive oil
Cut the paprika into long pieces, put them in the oven for 15 minutes with a bit salt and olive oil.
Crust the potato in the oven with the paprika's
Put the greens in a big bowl, mix it with the rest of the ingredients, than put the tuna on top.
Make a salad sauce from 1/3 cup olive oil, salt and pepper.

Stay happy and healthy!

True Friends

A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.  ~Douglas Pagels

You don't need to have so many , but a few is certainly a good thing :)

I can count my best friends on one hand, but all of them are very precious to me, plus, it's hard to find something special, so if I got a few, I am a lucky person. 

Yesterday me and my man (well it was mostly him, but I cheered him and handed him the nails) finally got to putting our curtain up. we bought it at IKEA for really cheap a couple of months ago, and we had it for quite a while, but we never put it on. so after loaning the driller from our dear friends and a couple of hammers on the wood , my man was working really hard , and here are the before pictures: 

and finally, we had a beautiful window curtain to look at, I took a piece of linen I used to cover my flowers in my wedding, cut it in half and made curtain holders out of, so it would remind me of good things, here is the result , beautiful, isn't it ? 

While I as borrowing the driller from our friends (who live practically on the corner of our street) , my best friend Lisa loaned me a very nice catalog of  an online store called "large.nl" which are specializing in T shirts,  Goth clothing and other very special items and Jewlery. so I sat down to read it and found a lot of stuff which I like and would like to have in the future (when I have the money), some nice cookie monster items (I love him, in hebrew his name is Oogie, and if we ever have a dog again we will call him Oogie after that), a nice grumpy care bare shirts (smiling on the inside, ha ha so sarcastic) and a shirt of Beaker from the Muppet's (I am a huge fan), see for yourselves:

Later on I started to feel a little nauseous and had headaches, I think it was from the Chinese food I ate  with Opa yesterday, and I paid for it big time, but luckily a couple of days ago I made my mom's special Jewish Penicilin chicken soup with a ton of love in it (like she said), and it only needed some re hitting.

Here is the recipe for it:

Mom's Jewish Penicillin Chicken Soup 

Ingredients:

1 Large Potato (Pilled)

2 Carrots

1/2 Cauliflower

1 Zucchini (Pilled)

2 Chicken thighs 

1 Small Onion

1/4 

Parsely

Celery leaves

1/2 Celery Root

2 Celery Stalks

2 spoons Chicken Stock Powder (I have a specialty one from Israel but any bullion will do) 

2 Spoons sun flower oil

Salt

Preparation:

1. Cut the potato, carrots, cauliflower, onions zucchini and celery root into cubes. 

2. Preheat 2 spoons of sunflower oil in a cooking pan, and add the chicken thighs, let them become golden, throw in the cut vegetables, and add some water until the top of the pan. 

3. Add 2 Spoons of Chicken Stock Powder , or 2 bullions cubes, taste the soup and see if it needs more salt, then add according to taste. 

4. Bring to a boil. Then turn down the fire to the lowest flame.

5. In the meanwhile, chop the Parsley and the Celery leaves.

6. Add the Parsley and Celery leaves to the pan and let everything simmer for at least 2 hours (the more you let it simmer, the better the soup is).

7. Serve hot, with some bread or add some noodles (small soup noodles) 

Eet Smakelijk (Dutch for Bon Appetite, oh wait that was French, never mind)... 

Later on I created a project on a website called indiegogo.com, which is a website I came across due to my very nice musical friend Wolfman" and his wonderful pack, which deserves a seperate post, I promise to make one about the pack, cause it is a very special group of artists. 

Well, I called the indiegogo project 2 hearts living in one house, just like what my man once said to me. 

I told the story of what happened to us in the last couple of years. The project is to collect money for us to have our home back, and that means a floor and some basic furniture, since we lost it all due to the constant 

moving we had to go through the last couple of years. 

Here is the link, please share as much as you can :

http://www.indiegogo.com/2-hearts-living-in-one-house?a=32306

I must say I never expected to receive such warm reactions about my project, I want to post some of them here, cause friends are a very rare thing today, and I wanted all of you to see how special people can be, and how they make my heart warm in such difficult times:

"Tula…I had no idea you were going through these difficult times and I a very worried about your health. I wish I could give more, but money is tight during the holidays. Hopefully, 98 more people will give $37 each too and help you get your home furnished during the holidays. Merry Christmas to you both.

Wolfman"

" I don’t know how, but I know there is some connection between you and me – check my avatar here, which I promise has been up for some time. I am delighted to make what looks like the first contribution to your project. I hope the amount – one percent – serves to attract many more. Best wishes for unbounded happiness!"

"2 beautiful hearts…

All the very best to you,

Merry Christmas and courage to both of you,

Angie
xox"

I am a very lucky person indeed...

We are about to go to very special friends for dinner, so I hope this was a nice post for you, and have a great Christmas day, full with a lot of hearts. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy Hannukkah!

You know what I love? that feeling of waking up in your own home, after a good night sleep.
I have been tired for years and now I actually have the time to rest.

The last couple of years I have moved (get this) 6 times , and that includes intra continental (Europe Middle east) and in Europe.

So now, I am glad I'm home. I really feel that my current house is the place I wanna be in for the next 10-20 years.
Me and my man have recently moved to our own house (een huisje as you say in Dutch, which mean a tiny house). when we just moved in it was a complete wrack, but with the help of friends and family we made it nice.
We still don't have furniture or even a floor to the first floor, but that would come in the future. Creativity is a very important thing indeed. I found out a lot about how a person can manage with nothing if he has love. yeah, it's a cliche, but it's also true.
My man told me something beautiful , he said that whenever he passed by our house and he saw the two hearts hanging through the window, he said to himself, there are two hearts living in that house...

Yesterday I got a present from my man, some warm slippers, a tea box with different kinds of tea, and 2 amazing cooking books: one called Wok about Chinese cooking (my favourite cuisine) and the other is my ultimate favorite cupcakes (yay!) which I love.
My man always tells me I am a great baker, and since all my other cooking books are gone (That's for a separate blog), I am starting my new collection now.
If anyone has any cooking books he doesn't need, please do share, I love recipes of all kind.here are some pictures of my christ-hanukkah gift:

I returned from Israel after a 3 months stay and me and my man had to be apart for 2 weeks, and I found these signs everywhere around the house when I got back, the second one literally means hi ima (we call each other ima en aba , hebrew for mom and dead, like in a family, how we want our children to call us) aba missed you. I thought it was so cute...

Since we couldn't afford a Christmas tree, my man was creative enough to make this wonderful drawing of a Christmas tree with a menorah underneath, I thought it was so beautiful of him. I missed him so much.

I brought 2 important pieces back with me from Israel:
the first is just a regular door sign, but it was our door sign in the one place we were happy in, so I thought I would rub some of the happiness in on this current house, so it lasts, and so it's hanging on or front door now:

The second is very important to me:
It's a mezuza of my grandfather. It's what Jewish people put on their doors as a symbol of a Jewish person living in the house . I couldn't be more proud that my man put this on our threshold, saying the blessing together. I feel like my grandpa is protecting our house now.I feel he would be proud of me for placing a mezuza again and being proud I am Jewish in Europe since he experienced the holocaust and always had to hide his religion. I miss you Saba Jacob (Hebrew for grandpa is Saba).

Tonight I am going to visit a different grandpa, that's my man's grandpa (or opa as we say in dutch, and as we call him). We are going to have christmas dinner, and we are going to stay with him, since we are his only family. he reminds me a bit of my opa, so I feel lucky I have a opa again.

On Monday we are going to have dinner with very dear friends. We spent Wednesday dinner with them and Lisa, my friend gave us beautiful candles to light and "bring the light to our lives again" as she said. so we took them with us to remind ourselves of our wishes every time we light them. We got them some nice gifts, which I would tell you about later, and I hope they will like them, considering we have a very low budget...

I wish you all a fantastic holiday, and see you soon,

Signing off... the mad scientist :)

Tula's new blog

Dear Readers ,

This is going to be the funniest, most crazy, weird, real and experimental blog on the internet.
Some of you may know me by now, Tula, the mad scientist, the musician.
For the ones who don't know my music , here is my artist website:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Tula374?feature=mhee

A little bit about myself:
I was born and raised in Israel but for the last 2 years I have been living in Europe. First I lived in Belgium, and now I am living in the Netherlands. It's not only the change of culture and of the people. Sometimes I do feel I am in a whole different world. It's like a dream. But I am awake. I am going to try and share that dream with you guys :)

I just want to thank my sweet lover Bas. Everyone talks, he actually is here for me, always. I love you angel.
We got married on 16/08/2011 , and that was my ultimate dream , to be with my lover for ever, as his wife.
Nothing in this wolrd makes me more happy than that. We had the most beautiful wedding ever. it was magical , even the sun was shining on us in that bright day, when we became husband and wife.

I was recently diagnosed with a sort of a micro tumor in my brain, and that made a big change in my life.
I think that it made me see everything differently, how fragile life is, and what is important in life (my lover, family and friends) .We must seize the day (Carpe Diem) , have fun and joy of everything. I have had too many tears , and too little laughter, and I intend of changing that. that is what this blog is for - To remind me of the fun I have in life :)

I will try to make this as funny as possible, and I will start with my Ginger bread house experience. As you know, it's Christmas time, and I also celebrate Hanukkah, so for me it's a double celebration.
Here is me and bas while we are trying to make a ginger bread house, but that was an EPIC FAIL:

I would try and post as much as possible, and please feel free to comment, I wish you all a great Chrishanukkah with lots of lights in the house...

If you haven't still done so, please register to my newsletter at:
tulamanagement@gmail.com
Subject Newsletter

Please visit my youtube channel and like my videos, you can always also follow me on twitter.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Tula374?feature=mhee

I hope to keep you interested and of course, happy and laughing...
Cheers,
The mad scientist Tula