3 fulfilling breakfast ideas

Holà!

How are you?
Today I want to share some of my favourite breakfasts with you. In reality, I often make these breaksfasts when I have class, because they are super hearty and quick to make.
Moreover, there is no refined sugar in them (so the sugar only comes from the fruits). Oh and I was about to forget, they are vegan. I am not (yet) vegan and I don't know if I will ever be completely. Anyways I eat very few animal products and I am trying to reduce my consumption even more, for environmental reasons. 

After this description, you will probably think that these breakfasts must taste really bad ( I have the feeling that the word "vegan" scares many people, so if there is not even sugar?!), but it is really not the case. Really, they are all delicious, and if they don't fit perfectly to your taste, once again you can always slightly modify them to make them your favourite!

In fact, here I show you the versions I make the most, because they are my favourite, but the principle is always the same. Therefore, I often vary in my recipes (according to seasons for instance).

In any case, I can advise you to try them all out, to get an idea of what you like and what suits you best. Then, make it your own by personalising it!

Let's get started:

The warm porridge:

 Ingredients:


- About 50-60g oat flakes (to adjust)
- 1 tablespoon of raisins
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- some berries
- 1 tablespoon of soy yogurt
- 1 tablespoon of almond butter
- plant-based milk



Preparation:

In a pot, add the oat flakes, the raisins, the cinnamon and cover it all with some plant based milk. Let it cook at low heat until the you like the texture. I like it when it is very thick, so I let it cook until the oat flakes have absorbed all the liquid. Once you have obtained the texture you wished, put the porridge in a bowl, and add the soy yogurt, the almond butter and the berries.


It is a breakfast that I love to make during winter time, because it is super comforting. It takes about 10-15 min to make, depending on the size of the flakes and the amount of milk you add. The smaller the flakes and the less excessive milk, the faster it will go.

The fruits yum: 

(Okay I just made this name up, I apologize for the crappy translation :))

This breaksfast was recommended to me by a naturopath, for my acne problems. I like it a lot, because it changes from the usual oat flakes and one can prepare it in advance on the evening before. This is a time-saver in the morning (and who says no to time savers??)

Ingredients:

- 1 soy jogurt
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 tablespoon of wheat germ
- 1 tablespoon of rape oil
- 1 teaspoon of flax seeds
- 1 teaspoon of crushed pumpkin seeds
- 1 fruit


Preparation:

The evening before: Start by smashing the banana in a bowl, using a fork. Add all the other ingredients except for the fruit, mix well. Cover the bowl and let it sit in the fridge for the night.
In the morning, chop the fruit of your choice and add it in.

At  first glance, given the ingredients, you might think that the tatse won't be very good. But the reality is that the banana's taste covers that of the wheat germ, the rape oil, and even a bit of the soy jogurt. The rest will be delt with by the fruit you add in!

Overnight oatmeal:

This is the lazy version of porridge. I make this breakfast when I don't want to spend 10 short minutes preparing my porridge in the morning, but I still want to have porridge 😅.
I still have to admit that I don't like raw oat flakes as much as I like the cooked ones. Therefore, I came up with a little technique: I cover the taste with cocoa. And then, everything's better!


Ingredients: 

- about 60g oat flakes
- 1/2 tablespoon of raisins
- 1/2 tablespoon of pur cocoa
- plant based milk
- 1 banana


Preparation: 

The evening before: In a bowl, add the oat flakes with the cocoa, the raisins and half of the banana in slices. Mix it well. Add the plant based  milk, a bit more than to cover the rest (the mixture will absorb the milk overnight). Cover the bowl, and let it sit in the fridge for the night.
In the morning, slice in the other half of the banana and a bit of peanut butter if you want.

The texture is not the same as for the porridge. Therefore, you try it out with more or less milk so that the mixture can absorb all of the liquid or not, to see what you prefer.




And voilà! Usually, I switch between the three breakfasts every day, depending on my mood and how much time I have. To be honest, these three recipes are very quick and easy to make, but there are some days where I am particularly lazy. Then, I usually go for the third option!

You can experiment with different fruits in each recipe, to see what you like best in which form. For example, I sometimes cook half of a banana in my porridge, and add the rest on top, instead of berries.

By the way, because I have more time in the morning at the moment, I like to experiment with all sorts of bowls. If you want some ideas, you can go on my Instagram account, where they are all in my highlights stories. This could give you ideas of different toppings or things that you can replace or add in these recipes. Have fun!

I hope that you will try out these recipes. If you do, make sure to tell me about it, or even send me a picture! I will be super happy!!

See you soon :)

Mafral.

Letter to my readers

Holà!

Today I am launching a new concept on my blog: the letter to my readers. When I opened some documents in which I wrote ideas that I had for the blog and article inspirations, I found this concept. 

In fact, I thought it could be nice to write a letter by hand, destined to my readers. I like letters because they allow one to speak from the heart. Moreover, one can decorate them so they become even more personal. Nonetheless, I won't be able to write a letter and send it to each reader by post. Therefore, I will simply take a picture of the letter and put it in the article. Let me know if you enjoy the concept, I hope you will!

Letter to my readers:

Voilà for today's first letter. 

I really wrote it as if it was destined to a friend and that's what I like in this concept. Even though I could also simply write an article, I have the feeling that writing it by hand adds a personal dimension. What do you think? 

If you like, you can leave a comment to answer to my letter, it would make me really happy! 

Meanwhile, I wish you a beautiful day!

Mafral.

PS: I hadn't thought about it in the first place, but I had to write 2 different letters for the English and the French version. Therefore, the design is similar but not completely the same :) I'll keep that in mind for next time aha.

Look #4: an artistic Spring

Holà!

How are you doing? I hope that you are holding on during this confinement wherever you are!  On my side, I am lucky enough to be in the countryside, and maybe you already know that, but cherry blossoms are currently in full bloom. How fortunate am I to have a cherry orchard just outside my house?! Before the confinement, I had planned to take pictures of a look which I like, but I obviously hadn't planned that I would have to do it at home...
So I said to myself: "listen, you are far from being the only one in this situation, so you are going to find a solution to take pictures of this look at home: it is time to find a creative way to have nice pictures, even at home!". I instantly had the idea to go take the pictures in the orchard. Then, I got inspired by an Instagram account which plays with contrasts, straight lines in the decor, as well as some sort of hide and seek games with the environment. If you are interested in this account, it is called @oumaymaboumeshouli. Therefore, I took my few accessories and went down in the orchard to take these pictures:

I discovered the film camera that you can see on the pictures during the confinement, in one of the lost boxes in a corner of the house. It is an old film camera that belongs to my mum. Finally, the intensive cleaning up is paying off 😅. (Now I am going to stop pretending I was cleaning everything up and tell you the truth: the cleaning up addict here is my sister, so it wasn't me who found this precious box 😂, voilà voilà I admitted everything...)

I am really pleased by the result of the pictures. To be honest, I find that the pictures are even a bit better than the look. Therefore, I had some difficulty to find an adequate title: are we talking about a look, or artistic photos?? Well, you can make your own choice... I will still give you the information about the look:

Skirt - Handmade by my mother
Transparent T-shirt - S. Oliver (from a few years ago)

White bra/sleeveless shirt - Zara

Shoes- Converses (I think it was a limited edition)

Belt - thrifted

Necklace - Swarosky

Earrings - DIY, here is the link.

For the make up, I started by doing a blue-ish dot on the outer corner of my lid, using eye-shadow. Then I drew semi circles with an eyeliner around the dots.

Working on the pictures, I also realized that the style really resembles @natachabirds's aesthetic, which wasn't planned at all! I love her photo style, but it is not what I usually do, at least it is not what's natural for me to do. Nonetheless, it really made me want to do more artistic stuff like that, because I really like these pictures. Moreover, I had a lot of fun playing with the shadows.

Tell me what you think of it! Do you also like such shadow-light interplays in pictures? 

 Mafral. 

DIY: polymer clay comic strip panel

Holà! 

It's been a long time since I haven't posted any article because I've been a bit busy these last few weeks. On the other hand, I have photos for articles that are ready, but I couldn't decide on which article to post first. I have lots of articles ideas on several of my travels so given the current situation, I thought it might be a better idea to start with something else! Anyway, I hope that you and your relatives are doing good. I got back to France because I am (initially) on holidays. It looks like I am going to stay here longer than expected...

I know that it can sometimes be difficult to find things to do while being locked up at home. I guess we are all facing this situation. However, in the beginning of my holidays, when the epidemic hadn't  paralysed Europe yet, I went to Brussels where I visited many museums. One of them was the Comics Art museum, which inspired me this DIY. I will tell you more about my favorite things to do in Brussels in another article. For now, I am going to show you how to create a comic strip panel out of Fimo (polymer clay).

I've decided to make this for my father's birthday. Therefore, I chose a panel from one of his favorite comic strips, which I found funny. In this time of confinement and quarantine, this DIY will allow you to pass the time, while making someone you miss happy, once the situation goes back to normal. Moreover, if you regularly use polymer clay, you should have all the material needed at home; no need for you to go out!

To give you an idea, it took me around two entire days to make this panel, taking into account the mixing of colours and the time needed to take the pictures for the article. In general, the more detailed and coloured the panel you chose is, the more time you are going to need to make it.

This time, I have decided not to show you what I did step by step in pictures, but rather to show you the progress in a "video". I thought that it made more sense knowing that the steps are very simple and similar. I hope that you will enjoy this format!

Without further blabla, let's get into it:

You will need:

- polymer clay of different colours
- a blade
- an x-acto knife
- a rolling pin
- a toothpick or a small eye-screw
- two jump rings
- two crimp pliers (it is doable but more difficult with only one)
- a ribbon of your choice
- a thin black marker
- a piece of drawing paper
- scissors
- liquid glue

Step 1: Choose a panel of comic strip that you want to reproduce.

Step 2: Make a list of colours that you are going to need. Mix different polymer clay colours together, in order to get a sufficient amount of the colours you need.

Step 3: Start with the background of your panel. In my case, the background is the blue sky, so I started by making a blue rectangle of the size of the panel. This way, you can then add on the different elements.  

Step 4: Create the elements of the drawing one by one. Start by flattening out the clay using the rolling pin. Then, cut out the elements using the x-acto knife for more precision. Add the elements to the background. Lastly, if you want you can create texture using a small ball of aluminum foil for instance (for the ground), or making stripes with the x-acto knife (for the wood).

Step 5: Bake the polymer clay panel in the oven, as indicated on the packaging (e.g. I used Fimo, so I had to bake it for 30 min at 110°C). Let it cool down.


Step 6: Use a black thin marker to draw  the outlines of the drawing onto the panel. It is optional, but it makes it more detailed.


Step 7: Cut out a speech bubble in a piece of drawing paper, and write down the text on it using a thin black pen. Glue the speech bubble on your panel using universal liquid glue.


Step 8: Make little wholes in the two upper corners using an eyes-crew. You can also make the wholes before the baking using a toothpick. Pass a jump ring through each whole. (I explained you how to do that right in this post)


Etape 9: Pass the ribbon through one of the jump rings and make a knot. Repeat the same step on the other jump ring with the other side of the ribbon. I made a tie knot, but you can make whichever knot style you want.

Tadaam!

I hope that you like the final result! 

I am really happy about how it turned out because, even if the object is not clearly useful, it still is a nice present idea. Hung on the wall in between other frames for example, it can look super cool. Moreover, it is a truly original and totally customisable idea. 

The difficulty is not high as it only requires to reproduce an existing comic strip panel. Obviously, you can add on or take out elements of the panel as you like.

I strongly recommend you to make this DIY during the confinement because one: it will make the time pass, and two: it is a way to make someone that you currently can't see happy!

By the way, I have a question: Does the confinement make you more creative than ever too?? Because for me, the more I create things, the more I have ideas, and the more I create! So with all this spare time these days, my room looks more like a workshop than anything else 😅! 

Enough chatting, I wish you a creative confinement! 

Mafral.

What surprised me in Athens

July 2019. 

Last summer, we went to Greece. Everything started by a family challenge: who will succeed in organizing the best trip, and convince the family of going there during the summer? My dad and I were in charge of preparing a trip to Ireland. My mother and my sister would prepare the trip to Greece. Eventually, both trips seemed equally nice, but after a little lie of my sister during the draw, we agreed on going to Greece. 

I wasn't very enthusiastic at the idea of going to Greece. Rather contradictory knowing my love for traveling and discovering new cultures. Why? I don't know. I thought it would be too hot, too touristy, the food didn't inspire me. I also really wanted to go to Ireland. And yet!

I loved this trip. To be honest, while being there, I sometimes felt angry because of all the tourists, and I had the impression that everything was tailor-made for them (us). Yet when I think back to this trip, I have one only desire, it's to go back to Greece, and more particularly to Athens! 

Athens. 

I am not even sure if I had realized before starting the holiday that we would be going to Athens. I could only imagine those islands, full of tourists, who queue to take the perfect picture. To put it mildly, I wasn't expecting to enjoy the capital as much as I did. By displaying some pictures I took during the trip, I am going to tell you about what surprised me in Athens, that made me fall in love with this city. 

To begin with, I will tell you about something that strikes one when arriving there. It is nothing particularly interesting, but it is surprising. The number of cats. They are everywhere in the city. There are lots of them especially where they get fed by organizations or the inhabitants. 

Then, I was really surprised by the contrasts. By contrasts, I mean the coexistence of completely different worlds and periods of time. Indeed, there is an architectural mix between modern and antique, renovated and tumbled-down. Of course, when we think about Athens, we generally think about the cradle of the European civilization and philosophy. It seems evident that there are some important monuments in this city, such as the Parthenon or the Agora, but I did not expect to see these contrasts in the city centre.

On this last picture, you can see an H&M logo next to a historical monument. It is not rare to see such contrasts in the city. 

The atmosphere in the city is also quite contrasted, if I may say so. I felt like I was caught between China, for the smells and the traffic, Barcelona for the architecture, and the Middle East for the flea-market and the buildings. It was fascinating. 

To continue in this theme of contrasts, I was pleasantly surprised by the street art in Athens. When walking around, we regularly found some street art works, the one more sophisticated than the other. 

In the beginning, I hadn't really noticed anything. It is while spending an afternoon with my sister roaming the streets, that we found a first graffiti. So we continued roaming these streets, and we found other ones. We made it our main purpose, and continued to walk around the streets, on the look-out for any sign of colour, or pattern on the houses' walls. In the end, these hours which were initially destined to taking a nap, were better used with more creativity and spontaneity. 

If there is one thing that I can advise you to do while you travel, it is not to hesitate to get lost in the streets of cities. Generally speaking, this is when we get the best surprises!

The last thing which pleasantly surprised me, was the price of the food. There were many small grocery sellers, who would sell their goods for a few pences. 

Moreover, in Greece in general, there are always those "Gyros" that you can buy for maximum 3 euros. Those are simply kebabs, with a few tomatoes, cucumber, french fries and meat (optionally). I am almost sure that you've never felt so full for 2 euros. 

I can tell you that my brother was happy: Kebab every day, that's what we call real life! 

These are the things which surprised me when we first arrived in Greece. Since then, Athens has been one of my favourite cities I have ever visited. 

And you, have you ever been there?
If so, tell me what you thought of it, and if you were also surprised by those things! 

If not, I can strongly advise you to go there if you ever have the occasion! Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed the original city tour! 

See you soon, 

Mafral.

5 Tips for being an eco-friendly student

Holà! Happy New Year!!!

I hope that your year has properly begun!

2020 is the beginning of a new decade, which I hope will see humanity react in order to save our specie, but above all, the planet. The planet is in an alarming situation, and I believe that more and more people are becoming aware of this. 

The thing is, what can we do about it? 

When you are an ordinary person, and more specifically, a student, it can sometimes be tricky to know what to do to help the planet. This doesn’t mean that we can do nothing! I myself try to do whatever I can to become more eco-friendly in my daily life. I am not perfect, let’s be clear. But I think that if we all put ourselves into it, we can do a lot! 

I'm a bit late for New Year's resolutions, but I still wanted to present you a few of my tips and tricks that you can implement in you daily life, in order to become increasingly more eco-friendly and help the planet. 

I would also like to talk to you about a way to make things change massively, without having to become a politician! It’s called consuming better. 

What for?

« Consuming better » is the usual catchphrase when thinking about ecology, I am aware of that. However, it can make things change for real. Imagine that you decide to stop buying things that are wrapped up in a plastic packaging. If everyone does the same, the companies producing what you used to buy packed in plastic, will start to produce the same product without the packaging. Then, the company producing the plastic packaging will start to sell less and less products every day and will eventually have to close. And voilà, no more plastique! Of course, this is very simplified, but the idea is that being consumers, we have a lot of influence over the food industry. Consumers can influence the production of products by making choices! This is the power of consumerism.

If you are alone making those changes, of course it won’t change much. But you are not alone, and we must start somewhere! 

Let the snowball begin its journey… 

Now, let’s move on to my tips: 

1. Riding a bike 

 

I don’t know why, but in France people don’t ride bikes often. Maybe it’s the habits, the culture, the infrastructures. It is obviously not easy everywhere, but as I just explained to you, the more we ride, the easier it will become. The adequate infrastructures will follow from the initiative if they don’t start it. I am studying in Germany, and I can tell you that I was really surprised by the number of bikes here. It’s incredible! There are parking lots for bikes, roads where bikes have priority etc. Not only is it super beneficial for the planet, but it also helps to make the city way more pleasant to live in. Moreover, it allows everyone to do a little bit of sports in the middle of a full day. So, let’s all start biking! 
 

2. Buy second-hand 

 

I started doing this with my sister this year, mostly for our clothes. We registered on Vinted (which is a second-hand app) to sell old clothes and make a little bit of pocket money. We rapidly realized that there are many nice pieces on Vinted and elsewhere. I also rediscovered thrift shops. I’m not talking about those chic and expensive thrift shops, I’m talking about the Red Cross, Emmaüs (similar to the Red Cross in France) etc.! There are also flea markets: those are usually goldmines. You must only dig a bit more carefully, but I can assure you, it is usually worth it!

3. Buying in bulk and organic 

 

(This is maybe the most difficult tip for students to put in place, especially in France, but it’s all about making choices 😉)

I recently discovered bulk food stores. Of course, I already knew about the concept, but I had never been there, for the good reason that I didn’t go grocery shopping on my own 😊. Well I can assure you that it makes one feel super good to buy in bulk. Really, you have the feeling that what you are doing is good for the planet. Moreover, I noticed that it is not necessarily more expensive than when it is packed. Indeed, it is usually organic, and the fact that there is no packaging, makes the price drop! So here’s one reason more to do it: it is a good deal. You obviously don’t need to buy fruits and vegetables at the bulk store, because they are more expensive there. For this I prefer organic supermarkets or going to the market. In general, I can advise you to compare the prices from different products in different stores. For instance, I noticed that oatmeal is less expensive at my local bulk store than in the other supermarkets. On the other hand, some drugstores in Germany propose some less expensive organic tofu than the normal supermarkets…

You should make your own conclusions, but keep in mind that you want to make conscious choices!

In addition, I recently replaced my makeup remover with coconut oil. Not only is it better for your skin and the planet, but it is also way less expensive. Indeed, I haven’t even finished my first little coconut oil jar yet! Also, think about using solid soap instead of shower gel, solid shampoo instead of liquid one, and solid face soap instead of classic cleanser. The planet will thank you.

Now let’s move on to the numerical part if I may say so.

4. Use Ecosia 

 

If you don’t know what Ecosia is, it is simply a web browser. Like Google, but better!

Why? I will explain to you.

When you do researches on the Internet, money is generated by adds and so on, and part of this money goes to the web browser you’re using. Well Ecosia uses this money to plant trees around the world, but also to implement sustainable development projects in countries such as Kenya, Madagascar, Colombia and many others. Furthermore, they don’t use or sell your data. If you’ve watched the documentary about Cambridge Analytica (which I advise you to do), you’ll understand how beneficial that is.

If you go on Ecosia’s website, you will even be able to turn it into your default browser. Nice right?

PS: I also invite you to unsubscribe from useless mail newsletters, and to delete your e-mails regularly. They take a lot of space on the server, which is a source of pollution (more than what we imagine).

5. Use TooGoodToGo 

 

This app has been created by a French woman, who was astonished by the amount of food waste in France and around the world. Therefore, she invented an app which allows you to “save” food baskets, in bakeries, supermarkets, restaurants etc. Basically, you buy a “surprise basket” on the app, and you go and get it during the time interval set by the seller.

I have used the app several times, and every time it was worth it. For example, I got 5 pieces of cake and additionally some pastries for 3,50€. Knowing that the piece of cake usually costs 3,50€, I was really happy. Also, I have had some very full vegetables baskets for 3€, with a majority of organic products. I believe that it can be a really nice option for students, because it is way less expensive than normally, and it is very satisfactory!

That’s it for my eco-friendly tips for students. I could elaborate on certain points in a next article. If you’re interested in that, please tell me! For instance, I could write about transportation or nutrition.

Anyways, these are things that I do on a daily basis, and which have come to be my routine. In the end, it is not very complicated, everything is a question of habit. Have you noticed that these 5 tips can be quite easily implemented? I hope you have, and that it will make you want to get started in your eco-friendly journey. If this is the case, it would be a pleasure to hear about your experience 😊. Also, if you have other tips that you want to share with the other readers, feel free to write them in a commentary, we’ll be happy to learn from you! 
 

Most importantly, keep in mind that the consumer’s power is immense. It is by pulling our efforts together that we will make things change. 

On this positive note, see you soon! 

Mafral.