Friday, March 21, 2014

{recipe} 3 minute oatmeal

There are soooo many things I need to blog about. For example, my trip to Prague (in November of last year!!!), an awesome food tour I went on in Madrid, my first solo trip to Zaragoza, Spain, a beautiful hike in the Spanish countryside, my travel plans for the rest of the year (I'm so excited), and of course my wonderful boyfriend's law school spring break trip to visit little ol' me in Madrid. But currently my laptop is sadly broken. The cooling fan has gone kaput, so it is now time to put some of these English teaching euros aside for a computer repair. Womp womp womppppp. Anyways, you didn't click on this link to read about my troubles in blogging paradise. Amirightttt? Alas, it is finally time for the most perfect oatmeal recipe around. And it only takes three minutes to make. (No really, it took me longer to make my cafe con leche than it did to churn out this delicious recipe.)



I have had a really hard time finding the chewy rolled oats I am used to eating at home in Madrid. The box I bought from the grocery store looked promising, but had an incredibly goopy, soupy texture. Ick. What can I say? I'm a texture girl through and through. I found these oats at a natural food store near my flat, called La Magdalena de Proust. I was like a middle aged man in a Ferrari showroom the first time I walked in there. It takes all of my willpower not to buy everything in sight. I have to keep reminding myself, "Do you want this bag of chia seeds or do you want to eat chocolate in Switzerland?" Priorities, obviously. When I saw a 500g bag of rolled oats for 2€ at this store though, all bets were off. I was so happy after leisurely waking up and rolling out of bed to be able to make a favorite breakfast item from home. So what makes this particular oatmeal so special? A very awesome addition of a mashed banana to the oats/milk mixture. It thickens the oatmeal and adds a natural sweetness. Usually I dump a bunch of brown sugar into my oatmeal, but I didn't need any additional sweetness with this recipe! 

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

{life} my unfiltered life abroad


If you were to take a look at my Instagram or Facebook you would think that I lived an incredibly charmed life filled with every day adventure, endless fun, and European glamour. While I know I am incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to live and work abroad, there are some moments when I severely miss my easy American life. This post is not meant to be filled with complaints, but I feel like it is good to let the "real" side of living abroad out. You will rarely meet an ex-pat who is not momentarily filled with homesickness, or completely exasperated with the new country he/she calls home. It's not all sunshine and rainbows over here in Europe, folks. Let's get to it.

Kitchen Space


My kitchen is cute. It's Euro. But it is freaking SMALL. Meet my kitchen table. AKA my cutting board station. AKA holder of random things. And everything in between. Did I mention that this table is smaller than a card table? If people are sitting at the table eating, you cannot open the fridge or the pantry. How I long for the days when I thought my college apartment's kitchen was small & not very well equipped. Puhleaasse. I dream of crock pots and blenders and food processors. But mainly I dream of space.