Giant Mountains from West to East

Here is the Photo documentation of my 5-days Giant Mountains crossing... 

1. day

Jakuszice (PL) - Szrenica Hut (PL) - Trzy Swinski Stones (PL) - Tvarožník Stones (PL/CZ) - Sniezne Kotly (PL) - Vysoké kolo Stones (PL/CZ) - Martin´s Hut (CZ)

Tvarožník stones - CZ/PL border

Sniezne kotly

2. day

Martin´s Hut (CZ) - Labská Hut (CZ) - spring river Labe (CZ) - Harrach´s Stones (CZ) - Dvoračky (CZ) - Kotelní jámy (CZ) - Horní Mísečky (CZ) - Zlaté návrší (CZ) - Martin´s Hut (CZ)

up hill and down dale

meandring river Labe (Elbe)

3. day

Martin´s Hut (CZ) - Man Stones (CZ) - Girl Stones (CZ) - Petr´s Hut (CZ) - Špindlerovka (CZ) - Pielgrzymy (PL) - church Wang (PL) - Samotina Hut (PL)

in the distance Mužské kameny (Man Stones)

wedding day :)

church Wang

4. day

Samotina (PL) - Sněžka hill (PL/CZ) - Pomezní boudy (CZ) - Lysocina (PL) - Roh hranic (PL/CZ) Rýchorská Hut (CZ)

view from the window and our track

Sněžka hill (1602 m above sea level)

peak toast :)

deserved rest

such a beautiful landscape

mountain meadow

5.day

Rýchorská Hut (CZ) - Rýchorský Primeval Forest (CZ) - Svoboda nad Úpou (CZ)

primeval forest

...beautiful weather, great friends and wonderful nature and landscape. Sorry sometimes I have used local names. For mor information feel free to contact me :)

Happy Holiday :)

melissa syrup

It is only the end of May and melissa (or lemon balm) at our garden more then half meter high. We usually do syrup from flowers of elderberry but why not try this time something else :) This herb has wonderful smell of lemon and has also healing effects on human body.

uses in medicine - healing effects

It has lemon scent and  taste after honey. Nowadays is really popular herbs in our stressful life. It is extraordinary drug to calm the whole organism. It has not only act on the nervous system and psyche, but treats all the organs of the body affected by stress. It has excellent soporific effects as on children as and adults. 

culinary use

Melissa is often used as a flavouring in herbal teas and syrups often in combination with other herbs such as mint.  We can use it as a decoration for desserts or in fish dishes as well.

melissa syrup 

ingredients:

20 stems of melissa herb

1,7l water

1kg sugar

20g citric acid

1 lemon 

1. Boil the water and wait until is cooled little bit (you can hold the finger in it).
2. Put the stems or just leaves in the water.
3. Let it rest for 24 hours. (I did just for 12 hours, but I used more then 30 stems).
4. Decant water with herbs and boil it.
5. Add the sugar, citirc acid and juice form lemon.
6. Boil it until the sugar is dissolvd and continue boiling for 2-3 mins.
7. Fill prepared glasses.

You can use this syrup as a sweetener for tea, prepare herb juice or just mix hot water with few spoons of syrup as I did. After the stressful day you can enjoy cup of hot melissa tea and read some nice book :)

have a nice evening :)

...meadow flowers...

Finally it is Friday afternoon and I went to my parents flat at the countryside. They live near really nice landscape, all around are just meadows, fields and small forest. And my dog Tommy likes walking in these meadows. After long time at home I have decided to go for walk with him. On our walk through flowering meadows I have created this wild flower. All you need is few white Marguerites, violet Bellflowers, Shepherd´s-purse,  red Clover and some green grasses or whatrever you will find around you :)

Here is the result of my Friday walk. 

HAVE A NICE WEEKEND :)

blueberry-chocolate muffins for chocolate addicts :)

If you are chocolate addict like me you will love these blueberry-chocolate muffins :)

Ingredients (for 6 pieces):

130g plain flour
60g sugar
40g butter
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking cocoa (Holland)
1 egg
100g milk or dark chocolate (broken)
large handful of blueberries

1. Heat oven to 180°C.
2. In one bowl mix all the loose ingredients (plain flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder)
3. In other bowl mix dissolved and cooled down butter, egg and milk.
4. Then mix it together, add broken chocolate and blueberries.
5. Chocolate addicts could add some broken chocolate on the top of each muffins.
6. Bake it for 20-25 until rise.

ENJOY IT :)

inspiration for colourful flowerbeds

Now it is the best time (at least in the northern hemisphere) to plant beautiful and colourful flowers in your garden. Then during the summer you can sit and watch this beauty :)

. . . inspiration from my favorite flowers e.g. hydrangea paniculata, echinacea, penisetum, hydrangea macrophylla, rudbekia, phlox, dahlia, euphorbia.... :) 

Next time I will show you samples of thematic flowerbeds (white, blue, yellow, sunny, shady etc.)

HAPPY GARDENING:)

spring muffins

Spring is all around so is time to cook something fresh, healthy and of course green. I prepared  for you special spring muffins. It´s really easy and tasty!

What will we need for 6 pieces?

170g wholemeal flour
100 ml milk
1 egg
80g butter (dissolved and cooled down)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
pepper (how you like it)
herbs (eg.: nettle, spring onion, parsley, chives)
cheese (eg.: eidam, gouda, parmesan)

For my muffins I have used young nettles and eidam cheese.

1. Heat oven to 180°C.
2. In bowl beat egg  and whisk it with milk and cooled down butter, then add herbs and cheese.
3. In other bowl mix all loose ingredients - wholemeal flour, salt, baking powder and pepper.
4. Mix it all together and fill muffin cases two-third full. You can use grated cheese on the top.
5. Bake it for 25-30 mins, until risen.

HAPPY SPRING :)

herbal and veggie garden

How to choose correct plants for your herbal/veggie garden?

On a garden bed we should combine herbs and vegetable together. It is even natural for the nature. We can create interesting colourful combination and pattern. But I am not sure if you know that every plant has its friends and enemies and it could affects its growth. In this article I'd like to show you some examples of veggie/herbal beds.

Aromatic plants may attract insect to pollinate, repelled pests and enhance vegetable taste so it is good to include them into the veggie bed.

The most common combination is carrot, onion and dill. You can also plant this vegetable with leek or green pea. But do not plant leek and green pea together. They are not good friends :)

Also you can chose just two kinds of vegetable, for example carrot and onion. In this case you should create bed wide 120 cm and sow 3 rows of carrots and 3 rows of onion. 

Nowadays is really popular beetroot. It is one of the most common species cultivated beets. This vegetable we can use in various salads. On the garden bed you can plant almost with everything. The best combination is for example with: spinach, parsley, carrot, mangold, nasturtium, beans or peas. Just potatoes or leek are not good neighbours. Also spinach you can plant with every kind of vegetable or herbs. This vegetable supports growth its neighbour. It is really good friend with potatoes, celery, beans, radish, beets or strawberry. 

Tomatoes are good friends with herbs. The unusual combination is with mint or pot marigold. On the picture you can see a sample with parsley and celery. But certainly it spoils nothing with other kinds of herbs even with garlic. Just never plant tomatoes with potatoes. It could be a disaster on your garden. They are from the same botany family and when potatoes are attacked with mold it spreads quickly on tomatoes as well. 

Green peas we can combine for example with broccoli, dill, onion, radish, beetroot, carrot and salad. Interesting combination could be with orange or yellow flowering pot marigold. Pea is not good friend with potatoes, garlic, beans, leek and tomatoes. 

There are a lot of possibilities how to combine veggie and herbs and I wish you 

HAPPY GARDENING :)

 

blanket for a newborn baby

Today I´d like to share with you instructions for blanket I crocheted for my best friend's newborn son Theo. 

For this blanket size  80 x 60 cm I chose yarn Himalaya dolphin baby. This type of yarn is really soft and the baby will love it :) I used 4 clews of grey, 3 clews of green and 2 clews of yellow. Clews number depends on size of blanket. 

Here you can see the stitch diagram I used for my blanket:

For this type of crochet blanket you should know how to make a chain, single crochet and treble crochet. You will crochet required number of chains (even number) and then you will continue according to  the stitch diagram above. When I crocheted required blanket size I fringed it with 6 rows of single crochet. Here is the result of my crocheting. I hope little Theo and his mum will love it :)

HAPPY CROCHETING !!!