berlin, I love you, I'm starting to fade.

I'm very productive in terms of cooking these days, yesterday was wonderfully oozy and creamy wild mushroom risotto and today a lovely fresh greek salad, which was preceeded by a royal breakfast of omelette with truffles. the last two were courtesy of my favourite jamie's books - "jamie does...". it's so inspiring and cheerful, just like everything that jamie touches. his brand of cooking is the closest to my heart. sure, I like to challenge myself with an elaborate recipe every once in a while, preferably when I'm at home - spacious, light-filled kitchen with picturesque bucolic scenery outside the windows is much more suited to those kind of pursuits than the "kitchen" in my shoebox-y london flat ;) jamie's style can be desribed in the same way he talks about the aforementioned greek salad - "confident and scruffy with a bit of attitude". it's right up my alley, considering my inherent dislike for strict recipes and measurements.

anyway, I have a tv show recommendation today - "downton abbey", a "lavish period drama" set in berkshire in 1910s. nothing much ever happens and yet it is so addictive...
also, I have finished "everything is illuminated" by jonathan safran foer yesterday at 2am (just couldn't put it down!) and I must say this was probably one of the three best books I have ever read. I don't recall any other book that literally left me in pieces after such a shattering climax. at the same time, no other book made me laugh out loud like a maniac so many times either. genius, is all I say.

(if you want something lighter, why not try a new "reality" show on itv - "the only way is essex". the definition of a guilty pleasure, but sometimes after a day of working, studying and lectures I'm so brain dead I can't digest anything else ;) anyone else watching this?...)

the photos come from an interior design site freunde von freunden, publishing pictures of the houses of hip berliners. airy, clean, filled with light. very inspiring, I think.

p.s. I found out about this website at capture the castle.

freunde von freunden

I am a bird girl now. I have my heart here in my hands now.

big yes for cancelled uni project meetings.
sundays should be work-free. as in the words of chandler: "because it's sunday. it's god's day!".

two autumn coffee snaps to celebrate what's left of the weekend, stay warm!

top photo weheartit, bottom photo from brian

czekanie sprawia, że gorzknieje cała słodycz w nas

a few recommendations (in bullet points - my attempt at being at least a little bit coherent here! not enough sleep last night means I've been pretty useless today):

• "little britain" - why am I only catching up now? the beginning of this episode cracks me up. "oh, yeah... you've got a faulty connection with your starter motor!". also: "a favourite holiday destination, after siberia, is scotland." david walliams is a genius.
• "everything is illuminated" by jonathan safran foer. I've only started reading it, but if the rest will be even half as good, this is going to be the best book I've read in a long long time. so bizarre and beautiful. to those who've read it: "officious seeing-eye bitch"? I couldn't stop laughing.
• and finally... last but so not least - "fish tank". I thought this was such an amazing movie, fresh and gritty. however, I'm wondering if I would've enjoyed it quite as much if michael fassbender wasn't in it. hmm... he brings such raw magnetism to the screen. ok, umm, let's take five here and look at some pretty pictures.

"with tea I amused the evening, with tea solaced the midnight and with tea welcomed the morning"

samuel johnson

weheartit

I like smoking, drinking and ordering in restaurants

I urge you to listen to this song. make your friday even better.

you can tell him that my skin is warm in the hands' of another

"there is harmony in autumn, and lustre in its sky, which through summer is not heard or seen,
as if it could not be, as if it had not been."

percy bysshe shelley



english countryside in algo's lens

cała jestem bałaganem i Twoim wojennym stanem

please forgive my absence, I'm rather busy - have started the final year of uni (bad) and returned to work (good). I have no films to recommend (currently am catching up properly on the tudors) and as far as books go, about the most interesting one on my shelf now is a corporate finance textbook. anyone?...

but... I'm more active on tumblr, it's quick and delightfully random. so have a look at nonchalant, or the other one - days gone by, inspired by the book I was raving about some time ago - nicholas & alexandra.

à bientôt.

weheartit, stars mending