Friday, November 30, 2018

Honey Trap



On these really cold days my lips always need some extra love. And because of that this little tin goes with me everywhere. This lip balm is amazing! It just melts melts onto the lips and leaves them soft all day long! It has honey, oats that make your lips all smooth while the almond and olive oil moisturize them. The beeswax almost seals your lips from the cold, keeping them nice and smooth. And the tin container with the pink sticker is just too cute.

Monday, November 26, 2018

EAT | Taberna Belga, Braga

Francesinha -- or little french girl, in English.The very traditional Portuguese sandwich, meat packed, cheese covered and doused in a hot rich sauce. They say it's an adaption of the french croque-monsieur to the Portuguese taste, hence it's name. Although it has spread  all over the country, Porto -- and it's close surroundings -- is the traditional area of the Francesinha, however the best one I've ever had is little further north, in Braga.


Taberna Belga serves the best Francesinha I've ever tried in my life. You have to go there and try it for yourself. It's the best one ever. But be prepared to wait, because Taberna Belga always has a line at the door. ALWAYS, even though this restaurant is huge, and it has a LOT of tables it is always completely full. For lunch, or dinner. And unless you go super early or really late -- as we did -- you are going to wait. But trust me, it will be completely worth it.

This Francesinha is slightly different form the ones you eat in Porto -- and astonishingly different form the kind you can find here in Lisbon -- because the sauce is different. It's much richer, and ticker and intense. You can tell from the picture that even has a brighter red shade. It is very velvety and extremely of flavorful. I've been told that not everybody likes it because it has a stronger tomato base, and therefor it tastes more like tomato --  It reminded me of a lighter pizza sauce.The sauce was not spicy at all, contrarily to the Francsinha you eat in Porto who's sauce is always always hotter than hell. 

Usually I'm not able to eat one whole franchise on my own. It's just too much food -- but I ate the whole thing. And it was a very hot summer day! To help the Francesinha go down -- and to tone down the heat -- we order a really cold La Trappe Quadrupel, a Dutch dark strong beer. Oh yeah, Taberna Belga serves a variety of unusual beers. I'm usually not very fond of this type of beers but this one, because it has a nuttier flavor complements really well the richness of the Francesinha sauce.

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

How to become Belle


Over the years, Disney hasn't always been known for creating strong female role models. In part, that’s been down to the era their movies have been made in; films such as Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, reflect the attitudes toward women at the time - which is to say that the girl stays at home, happy to perform chores while waiting for a Prince to come and sweep her off her feet.

But in Beauty and the Beast we have Belle. She is the girl that everyone wants to be. She is beautiful, graceful, strong and smart! There are undeniable aspects of strength to this character: Belle loved books while other girls in the village only focused on their appearances in order to land a man. She fought back hard against Gaston’s advances, and wasn’t afraid to tell the Beast that he was rude. And even though she may have suffered from Stockholm Syndrome, she is indisputably one of the strongest classic Disney characters. Who doesn't want to be like Belle?

-- Please be nice and supportive and click on at least one of the pictures! I'd do the same for you. Thank you! --

Monday, November 12, 2018

Thirteen Studio | Be Kind

Unique clothes are hard to find. 
Everything is globalized and everybody has acess to the same things.  But thankfully there are talented people with amazing ideas that make beautiful -- and meaningful -- things for you to wear.



ThirtheenStudio is a small portuguese brand founded by two sisters that bascilly were missing each other. Ana surprised Carolina -- the amazing girl behind the blog Thirteen --  with a hand-embroidered t-shirt, that made all Carolina's followers go nutz asking where they could get one, and all of a suden they were in business seelling a few different desgins, all embroidered, all with an inspirational message. And because they are done by hand -- they are all a little bit different. All with their own unique details.


Now, they've lunched a special desgin to support a special event -- Blogging for a Cause. For each t-shirt sold, ThirteenProject will donate 5€ to Blogging for a Cause, that eventually will redestrebut the raised amount amonst the five different charities the event is supporting this year.
The t-shirt reads "Be Kind to Yourself", a simple but important message that you can carry right over your heart. It helps you to remind yourself that there is only one person in the world you'll always have a relationship with, and that's yourself. And that like any other relationship you may need to work on it a a little. You need to make sure that you are a good companion for yourself becasue before being able to take care of others, you need to take care of yourself.


For now, you can only buy their products at their Instagram Account or by contacting Carolina directly through her email -- carolina@thirteen.pt -- however I've heard they're working on a cool website.

Thursday, November 8, 2018




These cold rainy days make me miss the beach and that careless, stress free summer feeling.

Monday, November 5, 2018

EAT | Heim Café, Lisbon

It's strange how food plays such an important part in our lives. How we connect with other people over a plate of food. How we make amends by sharing food. And this time we decided to visit Heim Café, a super cool space, with amazing food, and always picture ready.

Hiem -- it means home in German, and that's exactly how you feel when you step food into this really small coffee shop in Santos -- you feel at home.


The space is really small, and the decor is really minimalist -- simple tables with a Nordic vibe, green plants and light shades.

It's always has a line at door, like all the other brunch places that are so trendy right now. And when I say always, I mean ALWAYS. It had a line when we arrived, and it had a bigger line when we left. We went around noon and we had to wait 45 min to get a table. Which was actually good because when we finally sat down, we were absolutely starving. The really hard task was choosing what to order. Everything on the menu sounds -- and looks --  extremely delicious! And since we were so hungry we ordered a lot of stuff.


After carefully reading the menu, I opted for the Yellow Brunch -- composed by toast, two fried eggs, bacon, sausage, some salad, tomatoes, beans, a waffle with nutella and nuts, yogurt with granola and orange juice --  and my friend had a mushroom toast and the Sunday Breakfast -- fried eggs, bacon, salad, tomatoes, beans and orange juice. And we also had two lovely cappuccinos.


And you what, for once, I have zero complaints about the food. Everything was delicious. My eggs were perfectly fried, and the yoke was still runny, the bacon was crispy and not soggy at all! The portions were huge! And what truly amazed me was that, this place was packed and always with a line at the door, but yet the food was so well prepared! I'm definitely going back!