Astariomaria Cossileffi

Hey guys!

So… we’re working on this uni project right now which is all about applying our SEO skills. In other words: we’ve been split into project groups and had to create a blog from scratch. Once every group had a brand new, totally randomly titled blog (well, we might have had a bit of a strategy here…) our prof gave us the made up name of Astariomaria Cossileffi, which has absolutely zero results in the Google research.
The aim of the project is to fill our blog with content about this mystery man and get it ranked as high as possible in the search results of Google – within three weeks. On the 14th of December, our prof will type in the fantastic name into Google and the group of the top result will win extra points for the exam. Are you still following me? 😉

So anyway, this is our blog: https://quelgiornoincui.wordpress.com if you’r interested in our blog, the life of Astariomaria Cossileffi or simply want to support our aim to win, have a look and perhaps share it on other channels.

As always,

XX, Angie

Sunshine in a cookie

As you know, I make a point of buying vegetables and fruit at the market not far from where I live. On the one hand it’s a really good excuse to go out and get a break from studying, but on the other hand I really have to speak to people. I remember from my Erasmus days when we were taught how to ask for “2 etti di prosciutto” or “mezzo chilo di patate” in the Italian language course – but we never got to actually use it, as in most supermarkets you just grab your stuff and pay. At most they ask you if you want a carrier bag.

Anyway, I like going to the market. Especially on sunny days like today. I bought the most gorgeous Sicilian blood oranges and when I came home I exactly knew what I’d do with them: Orange-Chocolate-Sunshine-Cookies!

I baked the whole afternoon and the flat smelt amazing! And when I eventually got back to my desk (after all there’s some nasty exams waiting for me) I had some very sweet company!

Sweet sunshine kisses,

Angie

Apple Crostata

Today I decided to bake a belated birthday cake for myself – but not just any cake, I decided to make apple pie!

I made it like my grandma does it, with shortcrust pastry and a wonderful cinnamon-y filling. But instead a normal cake tin, I decided to bake it in little Crostata shapes. Italian crostata is usually filled with apricot or plum jam, or perhaps nutella. So I put my own little Austrian twist on it *hmmm*

Hope you had an amazing weekend full of cake as well!

XX, Angie

Super Summer Dessert!

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to a new recipe I found – it’s gonna be my summer go-to recipe, super yummy and so simple!

All you need for this amazing Berry Cheesecake:

the base:

300 g Digestive biscuits, crumbled
125 g butter
– mixed and pressed into a cake tin

the filling:

375 g mascarpone
375 g cream cheese (Philadelphia)
100 g icing sugar
zest of one lemon and a bit of juice to taste
– mix everything together until you get a smooth cream and carefully spread on the base

the topping:

berries!

And that’s it. Simple as that! Now chill the cake or just start eating it straight out of the pan – like Francesca, Andrea, James, Paddy and me did. We couldn’t wait 😉

Enjoy!

XX, Angie

I found the recipe on http://www.donalskehan.com

Camden Town and Primrose Hill

Today was one of those sunny/cloudy/sunny again Sundays, but I determined to make the best of it, I went for a walk in Camden and onwards to Primrose Hill.

Now, Primrose Hill is a rater posh area of London, and one can clearly see that in the Victorian houses, fancy delis, little florists and dainty boutiques that seam the streets. The funny part is, that it’s really close to Camden, so within a couple of streets you can change from “alternative and cool” to “smart and chic”. And I did exactly that.

First I wandered around Camden Market, had a look at all the bric-a-brac stalls and imagined living in one of the rainbow coloured houses that make up most of the backstreets.
As I walked on towards Regent’s Park, the streets go a little less colourful, but the further up I went, swanky Tapas places and independent jewellery shops started to appear. Now I dreamt about being a well-to-Londoner and being able to afford a semi-detached Victorian house with a terrace.
When I finally arrived at the park, I went all the way to the top of Primrose Hill, found a lovely hidden bench and solved my murder case, while blissfully enjoying the setting sun. And now I wanted to live in a big old English mansion in the country side – or better not, as it appears to heighten your chances to get murdered 😉

Hope you had a lovely Sunday as well!

XX, Angie

Sunday Adventure

Today Gonzo and me went to the Columbia Road Flower Market. And it was beautiful. It’s a lovely street of small victorian brick houses, but nobody pays much attention, as the stalls with thousands and thousands of fresh flowers, pot plants, palm trees and the strange herbs  lining the side walk are clearly the stars of the show.

We arrived there around 2 pm, when the stalls are actually about to close, but people just keep coming. Also at this time, the market cries started announcing their very special offers of the day: “Best Orchids in the world – today only a 5er!” 😀

Honestly, I think whatever kind of plant you desire, this must be the right place to buy it. As we made our way down the road, we saw the strangest flowers and the most colourful plants, but mainly cut flowers of course. It was a feast for the eyes to see that many colourful flowers at once! Tulips in all the colours of the rainbow!

Gonzo had brought his new 100 mm lens to experiment and he took that sweet shot of me, when I just bought some absolutely lovely ranunculus and mimosas and I hugged them extra tight against the cold.

We made our way to Brick Lane and as it started to rain sought shelter and had hamburgers and waffles for lunch!

What a lovely, colourful and flowery Sunday! And thank you, Gonzo for that lovely picture! ❤

XX, Angie

 

Women: New Portraits

Today I went to see the exhibition of photographer Annie Leibovitz, Women: New Portraits. I know her name and some of her pictures and therefor thought it might be quite interesting to go and see the exhibition. I honestly didn’t quite know what to expect.

Well, first of all I didn’t expect to queue for almost one hour. But well, this can be easily excused as a rookie mistake, as it was Saturday afternoon and to it the last weekend the exhibition was shown in London. So when I finally got in, I was basically frozen, but eager to see what it was all about.

One of the walls showed portraits of influential and renowned women, each photographed in a different manner. But in-between the prints were blank spaces, somehow leaving room for expansion, additions and maybe for you to be up there with them. A nice twist, I think.
Further there were big screens, showing portraits of famous women, posing or in ‘random’ shots; but also portraits of normal, average and everyday-women going about their normal lives and jobs. And between all those pictures of different-as-can-be women, snapshots of artefacts of femininity or the ‘composed picture of women’: shoes, dresses, make-up.
Unfortunately it was really crowded and hard be taken in fully. But as much as I saw, I loved it! For me it represented a critic way to show the role of women in society and what being a women actually comprises; or at least some of it.

XX, Angie

https://www.ubs.com/microsites/annie-leibovitz/en/exhibition.html

here are some impressions:

    

Whatever the medium – photographs, paintings, drawings, sculptures – people are almost always portrayed as “masculine” or “feminine”, different and unequal. Yet in every country of the world, there is a growing movement agains this gender inequality.

Annie Leibovitz is and always has been a pioneer of this movement. […] She is able to portray each woman as fully human and unique.

In this exhibit, we have the gift of seeing through her eyes.

And this is a big gift. We begin to understand what we have been missing in religious imagery and advertising, museums and movies, pornography and erotica; all those ways of limiting females so we fit into gender binary. […]

An Invitation to the exhibition by Gloria Steinhem, American feminist, journalist and social and political activist.

 

Let there be light!

The City of London started this amazing festival, called Lumiere London. This weekend the whole city centre was covered with light installations by numerous international artists.
It reminded me a lot of the Fête des Lumières we went to see in Lyon a couple of years ago. *sweet memories*

Yesterday was the last day of the festival, and after lazing around at home all day long, Gonzo and me finally got up in the evening and met up with Isa and Diego.

We started the night with amazing Five Guys hamburgers and milkshakes and then went to explore the installations.
We made our way from Oxford Circus, down Regent Street to Piccadilly and on to Trafalgar Square. We couldn’t find the installation at the Mall but we had a lovely walk around St James’s. 🙂

It was simply beautiful! There were flying whales, jumping stickman, a giant elephant illusion, projection mapping on the Royal Academy of Arts and an illuminated fairy forest. It felt like walking trough a magical world of light!

 

When we went home, we were freezing. So the only reasonable thing to do was to take a hot bath, obviously 😉

XX, Angie

http://www.visitlondon.com/lumiere

 

The Force is strong…

Yesterday night we went to the midnight premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

I was super excited as I’ve never been to a midnight premiere before and Gonzo was super excited because Star Wars and all 🙂
It was really good! There were lots of people in costumes and some in pyjamas. The general mood during the screening was very good as well, people applauding when the iconic intro started and cheering when old characters entered the screen.

I have to say that I really enjoyed the film! No spoilers, but I think it’s a very solid movie, softly reopening the franchise for another set of three films.

 

May the force be with you 🙂

XX, Angie