Little treats

I just finished my last exam for this semester, so I'm officially on holiday for next two weeks. After that it's time to return to Finland (and study a bit more). 

So, for my last couple of weeks here, I'll try to do as much fun things possible with my very limited amount of money. Today I joined some of my friends as they wanted to go to Leonidas outlet to buy some discount Belgian chocolate. And it was a chocolate heaven! You could try all the chocolates they had for sale there, YUM YUM YUM! A complete chocolate overdose. Here's a taster of a speciality they had there:

I'm a bit afraid to try that one though... I don't really think chocolate and gin would make the perfect combination, to be honest. :D But maybe I'll give it to a friend who loves gin, maybe he'll appreciate it.

Another "local" treat I got from an ex-flatmate. A group of Spanish people left couple of days ago and they said we can take any of their leftover stuff (groceries etc.) So I immediately spotted this:

Speculoos. It's like Nutella, but tastes like cookies. Like cookies in a paste form. Crazy, eh? Speculoos is actually originally a brand of cookies. I know normally people would put it on top of a toast but I've have to admit eating it straight from the jar... But I love it!

Toute personne a droit au respect de sa vie privée

"Jokaisella on oikeus siihen, että hänen yksityiselämäänsä kunnioitetaan" [Euroopan Unionin perusoikeuskirja, ote 7 artiklasta].

I decided to respect my private life by starting to use this little black notebook here I got from the European Parliament. Lately I've been trying to stop worrying and planning so much ahead and instead enjoy the moments as they are. In my efforts to do so, there is still a little problem: I've always very good at deliberately forgetting what I was meant to do. It's very relieving from time to time not to have these thoughts buzzing in your head, yet the momentary relief I get from not thinking about what I should do, normally comes back with a price of remembering what I should have already done. And that is way more displeasing than the pleasure I get from getting these things out of my head for a while. So, after losing tons of post-its and little pieces of notepaper, I decided to put everything here from now on, the daily upcoming stuff starting from the front, and the not-so-recently upcoming things starting from the back. Let's see how long this little bit of organization manages to keep on going with my lifestyle!

And to end up this probably rather boring entry, I'll share some customer knowledge. Normally all the blogs tell you what to buy, I'll tell you what NOT to buy:

These.

They are some kind of inner soles for shoes you normally use without socks (ballerinas etc). And they promise to keep the unwanted smells away and your feet fresh ad a flower. I don't know about the smell, but if you're planning to walk in the shoes, I don't recommend putting these in there. They roll, slip and break after just a couple of days of using. At least with my couple of days using. :D And I just ended up with blisters!

I've been slightly unmotivated with poledancing lately due to the fact my teacher didn't have any classes for a couple of weeks and I've been busy doing other things, so I've been also slacking on my condition training...

Anyhow, here's a video I still always find inspirational. Maybe (a strong emphasis on maybe!) someday I'll be able to do tricks as well as she does!

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Sugar : The bitter truth

The other night, browsing through the blogosphere as usual, I came a cross this video:

It's an interesting lecture about sugar and it's effects on liver and body in general. I generally avoid taking any sides on this dialogue about carbs or fat being damaging for you, but this was an interesting new insight I hadn't heard of. Personally, I'm pro natural diet, not eliminating any specific nutritional groups but keeping diet balanced, varied and natural and listening to your own body. I can't say that I would live by my own rules though, but I'm trying. And to be honest, I have no scientific information to back up my own health believes, just some random stuff I've read online through years. Nevertheless, this lecture seemed scientific enough to convince me to cut down the sugar intake a bit. Couldn't hurt anyway, I don't believe that sugary drinks are part of the "natural" diet of human beings after all.

And talking of these healthy diets, I've been wondering the concept of PH/alkaline diets. These are the diets that are based on the idea of human body (with the modern diet) being too acidic so eating more alkaline foods would make it function better. And of course we are talking about acidity after digestion, so mainly the diet rules I've seen just suggest eating more vegetables and fruit (although avoiding some, like plums), so I was wondering if the results people get are due to increase in intake of fibre and vitamines. I would love to know if there is any scientific reserch done on this field since this sounds so strange to me.

C'est l'angoisse du temps qui passe qui nous fait tant parler du temps qu'il fait

Last week it was the first time I ate a crème brûlée, macarons, had champagne on Seine, walked through Les Galleries Lafayette, saw the Eiffel tower. It was my first time to Paris. And it was love at first sight.

For once, I've been to a city where I immediately can feel like I could more into, at least for some time.

Not that i wouldn't like Belgium, but Brussels is getting a bit too much and too little for me. Paris had it all:

It's a big and posh city with a vibrancy in it but it's not too polished. It has rough edges and real feeling of life yet plenty of places where you can escape the reality. I really want to go back.

Here is the last cup of café I had in Paris. Ah, I loved the macarons!

Okay, now I feel like watching Amélie, just to get the Paris feeling again! And I'll think I'll do just that.

"The hardest thing is to take less when you can get more." ~ Kin Hubbard

I had a friend from Finland over for the weekend and eventually after walking around the stores for a while I couldn't resist anymore. But aren't there earpieces just the cutest ever?