Dinner to remember

As you probably know, last week I made 40.. and that my friend is a great reason to celebrate.
I wanted to have a dinner with people that make part of my daily life, once that are there when needed, with whom I can share good and bed news.
Since the beginning I knew I wanted to make it at Chef Nino, cosy and beautiful place that has a special place in my hart. Anna and Nini said yes immediately and since then they were so cool about making all my wishes come true {*smile}.
Their place is so pretty and I knew I don't need to do some extra decorations, but I wanted just some small personalised touches..and here enters Rita, with her great style and amazing work.
I just loved, loved, loved what she did (go here to see more).

These 3 ladies made my dream come true and I am so thankful for all they did. It was such a great dinner and night to remember!!!!

Welcome to the circus

There is something special about our partnership with De Alma e Coração.
Besides the happiness and good mood that is always present , Rita always come to me with a challenge. And believe me, I do love challenges.

Latest challenge was a dessert table for a special wedding.. a different one, a 'circus wedding' .
I knew this included a lot of planing and work but I was so crazily happy about it.
Here you can see some of the photos with cookies I made for kids and if you are curious (and I am sure you are), you can see more HERE.
Enjoy!!!

{Party:  De Alma e Coração}
{Photos: Rodrigo Cardoso - De Alma e Coração}

In the mood to celebrate

I am entering the last week of my thirties and I am in the mood to celebrate.

I want to celebrate every single success or failure, every happy and sad moment, with all of you who cross my path.
I want to celebrate with M. and kids, want to celebrate with friends, with the ones that have their share in my daily life and I want to celebrate with you, who are always here, supporting me in my life change.

So... there is no celebration without a good chocolate cake. But, since I can't have that, I came up with this crazy good beetroot and carob cake.
Beetroot gives it moist and carob gives it a chocolaty taste, and there is a lot of lemon whose acidity gives that special touch.

My celebration cake!!

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Estou a entrar na última semana de meus trintas e estou com vontade de comemorar.

Quero comemorar cada sucesso ou fracasso, cada momento feliz ou triste, com todos os que cruzam o meu caminho.
Quero comemorar com o M. e as crianças, quero comemorar com os amigos, com os que têm a sua parte no meu dia-a-dia e quero comemorar com vocês, que estão sempre aqui, a apoiar-me na minha mudança de vida.

Então... não há celebração sem um bom bolo de chocolate. Mas, como não posso ter isso, criei este bolo incrivelmente bom de beterraba e alfarroba.
A beterraba dá-lhe humidade e a alfarroba dá-lhe um sabor achocolatado, e há bastante limão cuja acidez dá aquele toque especial.

O meu bolo de celebração!

Carob and Beetroot Anniversary Cake

175g spelt flour
1ts baking powder
75g carob flour
250g sugar
250g cooked beetroot
3 eggs
200ml olive oil
1ts vanilla extract
zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat your oven to 180ºC. Mix the dry ingredients in a big recipient, spelt flour, baking powder, carob flour and sugar.
Place the beetroot, olive oil, vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice and eggs in a food processor and process until creamy.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the beetroot mix and mix well.
Place in a prepared tin and bake for 50-60 min.

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Bolo de Aniversário de Alfarroba e Beterraba
175g de farinha de espelta
1 colher de chá de fermento em pó
75g de farinha de alfarroba
250g de açúcar
250g de beterraba cozida
3 ovos
200ml de azeite
1 colher de chá de extracto de baunilha
raspa e sumo de 1 limão

Pré-aqueça o forno a 180ºC. Misture os ingredientes secos num recipiente grande, farinha de espelta, fermento em pó, farinha de alfarroba e açúcar.
Coloque a beterraba, azeite, extrato de baunilha, raspas e sumo de limão e os ovos num processador de alimentos e misture até ficar cremoso.
Lentamente, adicione os ingredientes secos à mistura de beterraba e misture bem.
Coloque numa forma preparada e leve ao forno durante 50-60 minutos.

Party at the attic

Do you remember when I said that I had a really busy week? Well... the 'guilty in charge' for it was Isabel.

Isabel wanted to make a surprise party for her husband's 50th birthday and she wanted something new and different. Since her house has a big attic (which was used as storage), she decided to do a makeover and organize a party there.
When I first saw the space I admit I had doubts about it. I was afraid she wouldn't be able to finish it until the party. But she was really determined and, with the help of friends and the girls from De Alma e Coração, they transformed it into the most magical space that I ever saw.
Vintage, full of colour, beautiful... the party took place there.
I think we all managed to make a surprise to Isabel's husband and I am sure it was a party and so!!

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Lembram-se de eu ter dito que tive uma semana muito ocupada? Bem... a 'culpada' disso foi a Isabel.

A Isabel queria fazer uma festa surpresa para o 50º aniversário do marido e queria algo novo e diferente. Como a sua casa tem um sótão grande (que era usado para armazenamento), ela decidiu fazer um makeover e organizar lá uma festa.
Quando vi pela primeira vez o espaço admito que tive dúvidas sobre isso. Estava com medo que ela não conseguisse terminá-lo a tempo da festa. Mas ela estava muito determinada e, com a ajuda de amigos e das meninas de De Alma e Coração, transformaram-no no espaço mais mágico que alguma vez vi.
Vintage, cheio de cor, bonito... a festa foi lá.
Acho que todos nós conseguimos fazer uma surpresa ao marido da Isabel e tenho a certeza de que foi uma festa e tanto!!

{photo by Rodrigo Cardoso}

I suggest you to go to De alma e coraçao for more of it.

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Sugiro uma visita a De alma e coraçao para mais da festa

My Saturday in images

It happened this Saturday again. A day that we don't miss, a day when Teatro Maria Matos goes on the street and makes wonderful things for kids (and adults).
Drawings, experiments, theatre pieces, music, dance, cooking... for the third year they succeed to surprise us.

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Aconteceu novamente este sábado. Um dia que não perdemos, um dia quando o Teatro Maria Matos vai para a rua e faz coisas maravilhosas para as crianças (e adultos).
Desenhos, experiências, peças de teatro, música, dança, culinária... pelo terceiro ano eles conseguem surpreender-nos.

Are you a fan also?

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Também é fã?

Joana & Manuel Wedding Cake

{photo by Rodrigo Cardoso}

When Rita & Rute asked me to make a wedding cake, I admit I got a bit scared.
Since I make organic cakes, I didn't know if a rustic organic cake with simple decoration is what the bride and groom really wanted.
Then I met Joana and Manuel. We spoke about what would they like and I realised that what I had in mind was what they really wanted. I was so trilled about it.
It was chocolate and vanilla cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting and chocolate ganache and vanilla cream cheese frosting from outside, decorated with edible organic flowers.
J&M loved it!!
What do you think?

Take time and see some more pretty photos from J&M wedding decorated by De Alama e Coração.

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Quando a Rita & Rute me pediram para fazer um bolo de casamento, admito que fiquei um pouco assustada.
Como eu faço bolos biológicos, não sabia se um bolo biológico rústico com uma decoração simples seria o que a noiva e o noivo realmente queriam.
Então eu conheci a Joana e o Manuel. Falamos sobre o que eles gostam e percebi que o que eu tinha em mente era o que realmente queriam. Estava tão estusiasmada com isso!
O bolo foi de chocolate e baunilha com cobertura de chocolate e queijo creme e ganache de chocolate e cobertura de queijo creme de baunilha por fora, decorado com flores comestíveis biológicas.
J&M adoraram!!
O que acham?

Tire algum tempo para ver mais algumas bonitas fotos do casamento J&M decorado por De Alama e Coração.

Last Week We Celebrated

We celebrated last week... and we do like to celebrate! She made 9 and she wanted to have her friends in the park, make picnic, have a ladybug birthday cake... and that's what we did.

They played games, they ran, made war with water balloons, got wet... but a smile was always there on their faces. That's the way we like to celebrate!

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Na semana passada celebramos... e nós gostamos de celebrar! Ela fez 9 e queria ter os seus amigos no parque, fazer um piquenique, ter um bolo de aniversário joaninha... e foi isso que nós fizemos.

Jogaram, correram, fizeram guerra de balões de água, molharam-se... mas esteve sempre um sorriso nas suas caras. Essa é a maneira que nós gostamos de celebrar!

What we like

When days become longer and grass is high and green, all I would like to do is to spend my days out, walk barefoot and feel the wet grass under my feet. I would go home just to sleep.

It's funny to see that my kids are the same. They enjoy picnics, parties, running outside until late... and they wouldn't even go back home to sleep if you ask them {*smile}.
They run until they fall down, they laugh, they play... and I love to see their dirty feet and pretty pink cheeks smiling.
For me that's a sign that they are happy!!!

Hope you had a nice weekend!!

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Quando os dias se tornam mais longos e a relva fica alta e verde, tudo o que eu gostaria de fazer era passar os meus dias fora, andar descalça e sentir a relva molhada sob meus pés. Iria para casa apenas para dormir.

É engraçado ver que meus filhos são o mesmo. Eles gostam de piqueniques, festas, correr até tarde lá fora... e eles nem sequer voltariam para casa para dormir, se lhes perguntassem {*smile}.
Eles correm até cair, eles riem, eles brincam... e eu adoro ver os seus pés sujos e as suas bonitas bochechas rosadas e sorridentes.
Para mim isso é um sinal de que eles estão felizes!!!

Espero que tenham tido um bom fim de semana!!

Friday Dinner

It was such a magical night. Friends around, great food, loud laugh, speak until late... I still succeeded to take some photos before dinner {*smile}.


I hope you had a nice Friday evening and a great weekend.


P.S. You may have noticed that I already received the Ixxi that I planned to make with my photos. I love it!!

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Foi uma noite absolutamente mágica. Rodeada de amigas, comida fantástica, gargalhadas, falar até tarde... ainda consegui tirar uma fotos antes do jantar {*smile}.


Espero que tenham tido uma noite de seta-feira agradável e um ótimo fim-de-semana.


P.S. Talvez tenham reparado que já recebi o Ixxi que estava a planear fazer com as minhas fotos. Adoro!!

Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake and one important birthday

It was M.'s Birthday and I couldn't offer him any present… so I decided to try to make at least a cake. He helped a lot, all chopping was done by him, and he spent a lot of time on that… but the effort was really worth. The cake was great... flour-less, with a lot of chocolate, with crunchy hazelnut and chocolate bits on top.

Era o Aniversário do M. e eu não podia oferecer-lhe nenhum presente… por isso decidi tentar fazer-lhe pelo menos um bolo. Ele ajudou bastante, fez toda a parte de picar e esmagar, e gastou muito tempo nisso… mas o esforço valeu realmente a pena. O bolo ficou fantástico... sem farinha, com muito chocolate, com avelãs crocantes e os bocadinhos de chocolate por cima.