''leaving it to you is like leaving my dinner plan to Gordon Ramsey''

It has been a long time since I last wrote anything here, and then one very inspiring and amazing person told me: "I don't like it that Shoshana stopped making little steps", so I thought to my self : "but I didn't". And it is time for a new blog, maybe it is not going to be similar to anything I have written before, but that is what I feel like this Sunday evening.

Spring time is finally here and I feel that it is such time of the year that everybody has some sort of action in their lives - it is time for changes: we change time, coats, dark jeans for light ones, and of course we look for new experiences, knowledge, friends, lovers - in other words just throw off the heaviness of winter and greet the world around us, which has also changed: trees put on their colourful outfits, days become longer, sun is shining (well as we are in UK it is not always right, but at least it is much warmer). Everything is like screaming: ' C'mon, act! It is nice, bright, warm - what else you need?!'

BUT!

You probably all know about such thing as spring fever, spring tiredness and all these terms which identify this special mood we tend to get in spring.. It is probably caused by the lack of sun and vitamins in winter and gets us all upset, sleepy, tired and even depressed.

Well, I will try to think of a list of things you can possibly do to pull yourself out of your sad mood (whatever caused it). Ha!

Firstly, let me explain the name of this blog and hopefully it will lead to the first point of my HAPPY SPRING LIST :)
I love planning and organising, and I was sitting with this one great person (who inspired this blogpost) and we were thinking of what we would like to do to boost our mood - and the idea is to

GET OUT OF HOUSE - travel, explore, organise a day out! So he told me: "leaving it (organising) to you is like leaving my dinner plan to Gordon Ramsey" and you can imagine that this made my level of self-esteem boost (maybe too much and this blogpost won't be too great at the end :D). But seriously!
You had enough time for surfing internet and watching movies inside during autumn and winter! Get a picnic basket, book, headphones,friend, or whatever you have.. and go to the park!
Parks are great :) Or organise a day trip to a nearest town, or just explore the places you've never been before in your city. Also, IT IS OK! to go on your own! The most important that this will feel you feel better.

SPORT! - well spring is also there to remind us all that we have few months left for getting our bodies into the shape ! Just remember, in less than two months starts the season of girls in bikinis and topless guys ! You better be ready, but that is not the main reason - sport or in general any physical activity like dancing or playing games are good for taking away you sad thoughts or depression. All you will be thinking about is what is the next step in the dance or how many push ups have you done. Also, it is now warmer and even an evening/morning jog is helpful to give you a boost of energy!

NEW THINGS - by that I do not mean only shopping (however, you have a great excuse - everyone needs to update their wardrobes for spring ;) ). In general, try out something new, new hair, new style, discover new band, new author, sign up to some courses, learning something new is always good. Also investing in yourself is never a waste of time or money and especially when you are not at your best you might need to get some new perspective or opinion on things :) Also try out some new food, if it makes you happy (well food certainly makes me very happy, however it sometimes conflicts with my previous point) - don't mix it - eating your problems away is not the way! :D

Btw here is my drawing I made once.. no comment :D

PEOPLE - here are two things : "Some people are like clouds - when they go away it is a beautiful day", but some people, who inspire, care and make you feel happy can turn your day into the most beautiful one. It is all up to you who you want to have close to you in your life and spend your spring days with! I am sure that even if you are feeling very lonely, there are people who care and think of you! So don't be upset, all your worries are not forever (however i know it might seem so) - well i guess i am turning into spiritual leader or a psychologist here, but i do believe it's true :D

PS: didn't like any of those? One very simple advice just stroke me - switch on your favorite hits (guilty pleasures like Britney) sing and dance to yourself when you are sad. Music is a great medicine ;)

Anyways, have a great spring! 

Love,

Shoshana (who keeps making steps)

 

Smoked chicken layered salad - easy option for any occasion

One very good friend of mine recently watched 'Julie and Julia' (if you haven't seen it and you love good food and Meryl Streep you should do so) and inspired her mum to start a blog, which i think is absolutely amazing! We all know that there is nothing better than your mum's cooking - and these brave ladies decided to share their secret family recipes with the whole (Russian speaking) world. I will link it here in case you are interested to check out a mixture of Jewish and Eastern European cuisine recipes - Inna's blog. Recently I was doing some cooking and I decided why not to share this one with you too. This one is quite an easy salad (despite the fact that there is a lot of chopping to do) that my mum does sometimes when we have guests around or something like that. So here it is: You will need following:

Smoked chicken - about 400g
Chinese leaf or sweet lettuce
Colorful peppers - you can choose one colour it just adds some brightness to the salad
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Sliced tinned mushrooms- or you can fry them yourself
Pineapple chunks and
Mayo and sour cream for the sauce between the layers

To make it easier I prefer to chop all the ingredients first and then just create the layers of the salad. Also it looks nice if you have a glass form for the salad. However, it is all about the taste at the end of the day :) For the first layer I chop the lettuce and put it in the glass form

next is chicken

after that we want to add some colour by adding peppers and coating it with mayo and sour cream. I usually mix 2 table spoons of sour cream and 2 tbs of mayo in a separate bowl.

after, a new section of our salad begins with pineapple chunks and mushrooms

add on your chopped tomatoes and cucumber

finally add on everything what is left from chicken and lettuce and coat it with the mayo layer.

Sorry, don't have the photo of the final result. But I promise it was tasty. 

Try it out and let me know what you think.

Bon appetite!