Winter Warmer Recipe Swap - Recipe Cards

Today starts the countdown towards posting day for everybody's Winter Warmer Recipe Swap choices, which is on Friday. I must admit that I have been thinking a lot about recipes this last week, but have not yet made a decision on what to actually send. I just want the recipe to be something that my partner will hopefully enjoy! What about you other swappers? You all set?
Like I have mentioned before, I personally collect my recipes on whatever scraps of paper they come on and just paste them into my recipe book. But I know that a lot of you have proper recipe boxes with cards and indices and all. I did have a mosey around the internet to look at examples of recipes cards and came across a whole lot of lovely design-type people who are offering card templates for absolutely free. And seeing some of the designs kinda made me want to start my own box...
Here are my favourite finds. You can click on any image to be taken to the source. Make sure to leave a thank you in the designer's comments if you decide to print yourself a set!
I Heart Food from Scissors.Paper.Wok:

Bunting Cards from Heartmade:

Cross Stitch Design from Chez Sucre Chez:

Patterned Cards from Love Vs. Design (via How About Orange):

 Cute Owls from My Owl Barn:

Vintage Baking from My Girl Thursday:

For more inspiration, you can go look at Fiona's and my Recipe Cards Pinterest board if you like. You could also upload photos of your own collection to the Winter Warmers flickr group if you feel like sharing with the other swappers! Or, if you have a link to another cool recipe card printable, leave it in the comments below!

© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Fine Tuning: Peter Bradley Adams - Darkening Sky

                                                                                            This is probably the saddest song known to me at this moment. 

But sometimes only a sad song will remind you of how good happiness feels. 

Have a marvelous weekend!

{via}

  © Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

What do you like to eat in the morning?

This is how I roll: on the weekends, when there is time to sleep in and then have a long leisurely breakfast, I fancy variety. There may be a fry-up, or eggs Benedict, or pancakes, or waffles, or a smoothie, or fresh bread and jam. Anything that takes a bit of time to make and eat.... Anything that goes with the Sunday papers...
During the week, I am happy to have the same thing over and over again. I can say that I am pretty much a creature of habit, with slight seasonal changes. 
I try and be awake at 6 and leave the house at 7 to go to work and I need that hour to come to life. I am never interested in food that early in the morning, so I usually have the first meal of the day at my desk in the office. And in the cold season that meal mostly consists of the following:

PORRIDGE

COFFEE

JUICE

I vary the porridge toppings. At the moment I am into dried cranberries, chopped hazelnuts and cinnamon. And I loved the blueberries, peanut butter and Bran Bud combo I had every day in Canada. (If anybody knows where I can get Bran Buds in the UK, please tell and make me worship you!). 

Sometimes, when I have failed to make up my porridge mix the night before, I will have a quick Nutella sandwich instead. In the summer I swap porridge for fruit salad and yoghurt and hot coffee for iced. And then I will have that every day. 

Would you get bored eating the same thing for breakfast 5 days a week or are you with me on that ? Do you skip breakfast altogether? What are your favourite morning foods? I'd love to know!

© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Let It Snow

Marco and I are currently loving David Attenborough's latest series, Frozen Planet. Apart from stunning footage of wolf-fighting musk oxen, seal-hunting orcas and hibernating moths, there is a whole lot of absolutely breathtaking macro imagery.

Take this video of falling snow. It makes me want to smile and cry at the same time, it's so beautiful. And while I am watching winter in all its frozen grace on my television set, I cast a hopeful gaze towards the grey London sky, wishing for a dusting of white to add some magic to this city!

{via}

 © Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Winter Warmer Recipe Swap - My Recipe Book

                                                                                       



  By now, everybody has been assigned their partners for the Winter Warmer Recipe Swap. I would like to thank you again to all the lovely people who have signed up. I hope you are excited about where your recipe will be going and that you will have fun with this!  If you would like to get some inspiration on what kind of recipe you could send to your swapping buddy, check out Fiona's food post. If you are feeling artsy, maybe you aspire to follow in the steps of these amazing recipe writers. Whatever you do, however simple or elaborate, please make sure to send your recipes by 2 December. And maybe start reading your partners' blogs to see what they might get up to in the kitchen department!  I am not yet decided on what recipe my partner will get, but I thought I'd share a few pages from my recipe collection with you. I have been keeping my favourite recipes in the same A4 notebook since I was about 13. It's falling apart, it's stained with unruly ingredients and it is no longer my only recipe collection (amongst others, I now also have a folder of internet printouts and various loose magazine clippings in various locations. Not to mention my personal cookery book library...). But this tatty volume is still the place that the family classics and more recent keepers get written down or pasted into. All the early recipes are in German, but since the year I lived in the States there has always been a mix of both German and English entries. This book has moved with me where ever I went and is full of foody memories.

The Cover

Fahrenheit to Celcius Conversion Formula

My first ever recipe in the collection, a lasagna that I found in 

a girly magazine and have cooked a gazillion times in the last 20 years.

Party recipes - the first one a tuna salad that I had at a friend's 

birthday celebration as a teen (her mom wrote it out for me). The 

second one a melon punch I made for another friend's apartment warming do.

The page with my chocolate mousse recipe. Guess what: I 

spilled chocolate mousse on it... I am not a clean cook.

These are recipes that my host family in the States would make.

Some recipes I liked as they were to begin with but started altering 

when I began imagining how they might taste even better, like this pasta dish.

That white chocolate mousse was dessert the first ever time 

I cooked for my husband Marco.

My recipe collection contains the beer bread that started as a clipping from Delicious 

magazine and became a staple. And my mom-in-law's delicious potato salad.

The Back.

So there you have it, a piece out of my culinary history. How about your own? How do you collect your recipes? Do you have recipes that have been passed on to you by your friends or family? Do your recipes come in various languages? Or do you not cook at all? If you like, upload your own images to the Winter Warmer Flickr Group and maybe we can get a full-flavoured discussion going? (Pun very much intended!)

© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Gone Fishing

This post contains images of butchery, a dead fish and me in a red baseball cap. 
If you're squeamish in that regard, you might not want to look at the photos. 
And if you are thinking it was me who caught the fish: I should be so lucky! 
(I did, however, willingly put that cap on my head.)
x
I am slowly getting through all the photos from my trip to Canada in October and today I give you salmon fishing! Much to the astonishment of my husband (who couldn't care less about fishing), I requested that my dad-in-law Butch take me out to his favourite fishing spot. I had been fishing twice before and had enjoyed it very much. Spending some time outdoors with the prospect of catching food is enticing to me. And the tackle? My is that ever pretty! 
So I borrowed my brother-in-law's fishing rod (thanks, Giulio!), we packed a lunch and headed off at the break of dawn one morning, in the direction of the river Vedder. Much to my astonishment, Marco tagged along and took all of the photos with me in it.
It was the end of the salmon run, and the river was full of fish and anglers. We were, however, trying our luck quite late in the season. After the fish lay their eggs, they slowly begin to decay and die. Consequently, there were some beautiful salmon, but a great many fish that would be unsuitable for consumption when caught. Well, lucky me. I didn't catch any. 
I snagged a whole bunch, as the salmon were swimming (and undoubtedly laughing) all around us. Even though Butch was wonderfully patient with me and pretty much spent the whole time teaching me how to fish, no salmon whatsoever would go for my hook. But hey, I am a proud owner of an annual fishing license now, so I can always try again... 

Butch caught one Pink salmon that we were able to take home with us. I did not mind not catching anything myself. I watched the sun rise. I spent a beautiful warm autumn day standing by in an idyllic river with two people I treasure. I was the only woman fishing, hear me roar. I learned how to cast a spinning reel. I flooded my boots and got the line tangled up in a tree (for an added air of hilarity). I did not have to knock a salmon over the head with a rock. So all good!

© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Winter Warmer Recipe Swap - Last Day To Sign Up!

I'd like to say than you to everybody who has signed up to Fiona's and my recipe swap already. It looks like it's going to be good! 
If you too would like to take part, you still have time till midnight today to throw your name into the pot. (That's midnight London time, people). 
This swap is friendly and low cost, and apart from getting a brand new recipe for your collection, you will be sure to meet some new blog friends and become part of a little food-loving community. You can check out all the details here.
Fiona and I were trying to give everybody some inspiration, in case you think you might be stumped for ideas on what to swap. Read Fiona's yummy food post or have a look at my favourite recipes from They Draw And Cook.
You can sign up for the swap here or here. We'd love to get a few more joiners. Go on, you know you want to!


© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Fine Tuning: Mountain Man - Animal Tracks

These girls give me serious goose bumps. 

I like to turn the lights on low 

and just lie with my eyes closed, 

listening to their beyond awesome album. 

Their voices are like a blanket that keeps me warm and safe.

 

{via}

  Hope y'all will have some kind of warm-blanket-moment during your weekend, Friends!  
© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

The Rockies From Above

There are two areas that I look forward to on each flight to Canada. One is the vast expanse of lakes that spreads across Newfoundland and Quebec and which I discovered on the first ever trip. We were flying by night and a thousand watery mirrors glistened in the moonlight.  
By day, I like to marvel at the very aptly named Rocky Mountains. The shadow play along the ridges, the glacier lakes and the snow-capped peaks are a sight to behold. These are shots I took on the way to Vancouver. 

And on that note: check out these other incredible views out of airplane windows.

© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).