EAT | Mushroom Risotto

One of my favorite things to eat is Risotto. Mushroom Risotto to be more specific. It's such a simple dish, but so heart-warming and cozy. I love to eat it just with a poached egg on top. And I have a fool-prof recipe, that you can make with just some pantry staples. 

- 100g of arborio rice (or any other short grain rice)

- 150g of sliced mushrooms (fresh is better, but canned also work)

- 1 Shallot

- 1 garlic

- 1 tea spoon of chopped parsley

- 1 table spoon of olive oil

- 1 table spoon of butter

- 1 cup of shredded cheese (mozzarella, emmental, parmesan -- whatever you have on hand)

- 1 Knorr Natura Chicken Stock Pot -- I don't like to use stock cubes, but if that's all you have, do it.

- 500 ml of water

- Tree table spoons of white wine

- Salt and Pepper

Start by heating up the water to dissolve your Knorr Chicken Stock Pot in. Just drop the content of the chicken stock pot on hot water and stir for a minute until it's fully dissolved.

Move on to finely chopping the shallot, the garlic and the parsley.

On a wide pan, on medium heat, add your butter and your olive oil and wait until the butter is almost melted. Add the shallot and the parsley. When the shallot is translucid add the garlic, the mushrooms and the pepper. Let the mushrooms cook for maybe 5 min, string once in a while so that nothing burns. When you feel like your mushrooms are cooked -- I always taste them -- add the rice. Keep string, and let the rice cook and absorb all the yummy-ness going on on that pot. Once you have pretty much no liquid, add the white wine and keep stirring The trick here is that you always need to stir the rice because string helps releasing all the starches that make a super creamy risotto. When all the wine is absorbed and you can't smell alcohol anymore, add two ladles of the stock to the rice and stir. Wait until most of the liquid is absorbed, add two more ladles of stock, and keep repeating this process until the rice is al dente or until you run of of stock -- (you wont tho, 500ml of stock is more than enough). When you feel like the rice is cooked, add the cheese. Add as much as you want, and as much as you like. There's no such thing as too much cheese.

Right at the end, taste the rice to check it for salt. Sometimes the stock or the cheese is really salty and you don't need to add any more salt, other times you may need to add some salt, so I always wait until the end to do it. And it's ready.

EAT | Dear Breakfast, Lisbon

Ok, I’ll admit. I’m into brunches. I absolutely love breakfast food and I to able to have - a lot of it — for lunch and not be judged it’s awesome. Eggs, Croissants, Cheese, Jam and Butter, all together, that’s my jam.

This time, my love for brunch took me to this lovely coffee in São Bento — Dear Breakfast.

Dear Breakfast has been on my list forever. It’s one of the first Brunch places I’ve hear about. And people talk really good about their eggs Benedict and their pancakes! I was drying to try it and last weekend I finally had the opportunity to visit it.

Dear Breakfast is small, like many of these trendy bunch places, but it didn’t had a 45 min line at the door -- They sat us down right away. Their menu is filled with all these different amazing things, but to keep it simple they only have one brunch menu that is designed to make you drunkenly roll out of your table. Yes, drunkenly. Because this menu includes three drinks that can be plain old orange juice, a Bloody Mary or -- my favorite -- a sparkly Mimosa. Trust me you can get DRUNK at 11 AM. And yes, it's awesome! If you follow my IG you may have seen some drunken stories. The menu also comes with a yummy french flaky croissant, perfectly toasted bread and they also give you a little dish of butter and jam for you to put eat as much as you want. The brunch menu gives you the option to chose between eggs or pancakes, but being the fat-ass I am, I asked for both and just payed the pancakes separately. I had their famous eggs Benedict and their sweet pancakes, with chocolate and fruit.

The croissant, the toast, the butter and the jam, where good. But you know, it's
bread. It feels you up so much. But the eggs. THE EGGS WERE AMAZING. They were perfectly poached, laid on top of some nice yummy crispy bacon, and covered with the most delicious zingy hollandaise sauce. I could go trough life only eating these eggs, really. They were so good. I asked for a cappuccino -- that was yummy, but all cappuccinos are yummy. And I had the three mimosas that I was entitled for. At the end we asked for the pancakes and that took a while to come, but since we had booze, we were fine. And it was so worth the wait. The pancakes were light but tall and fluffy, and they were covered with a rich dark chocolate that was so tasty and that just went perfectly with the sweetness of the fruits. Just perfect. My mouth is watering just from thinking about them. 

This was not not a cheap brunch -- well, but to be fair when is Brunch cheap? In fact, you could eat a full meal in a good restaurant with the money we paid, but it's worth it. You will be full, and drunk, that's for sure. And if you can splurge, do it. Do it once in a while. Go to one of these instagramable places and have cool yummy food. It makes you feel like a million bucks.

Best Eggs Benedict in Lisbon (?)

I have a mission --  to find the best Eggs Benedict in Lisbon. I've tried a few, but my favorites are the one from Dear Breakfast -- full post coming soon, with tons of pictures. Perfectly poached eggs, with crispy bacon on an English muffin, covered a really velvety, tangy hollandaise sauce. Very simple, and very yummy.

Where should I go next? Where can I eat the best Eggs Benedict in Lisbon?

Super Bowl Halftime Show 2019

Did you see this year's Super Bowl Halftime Show? Omg, It was dreadful. It lacked soul and passion! It was just dull.. plain old boring. I was so disappointed. I love Maroon 5, and Adam Lavine is one of my top 5 celebrity crushes, but his performance was so underwhelming. Even the line up they chose to perform was not that special.

The show it's self just failed to impress. There was no awesome light effects or people flying through the air, the dynamic between Maroon 5 and Big Boi and Travis Scoot was flat, there were no connection between Adam and the audience... It was so bad. I think this was the worst half-time show of the last years. 

They have done so well before -- remember when they did the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2015? That was so amazing. So energetic, so charismatic. What happen Adam, WHAT HAPPEN?

The only great moment of the show, was when Adam was singing Moves like Jagger, and right after that part where he says 'I swear I'll behave', he takes off his shirt. That was good. But Adam's abs weren't enough to save the show. Oh, and don't get me started on the Sponge Bob thing! I mean, the main attractions of Maroon 5’s concert were characters not on stage, and not even in the stadium. I love Sponge Bob but it didn't make any sense. I feel like they were trying to add a whimsical character to the show to make it somehow memorable -- remember left shark from Katy Perry's 2015 half time show? Last summer, when I saw her live, SHE HAD A THE LEFT-SHARK ON STAGE! No one is ever forgetting that one.

New In My Closet | My Furla Play

HERE

-- When I wrote my What I Got For Christmas post I totally forgot to include this. This Christmas my fuck-boy gave me a Furla Play bag. He saw that I shared this bag on an Instagram Story, and he knows I love Furla, so we just got me this bag. It was a complete surprise for me. I wasn't expecting at all. Specially because he is always bashing on me for buying super expensive stuff. This bag so beautiful and exquisite. I absolutely love it. And I know this picture isn't the best but the truth is I haven't even had the opportunity to wear it out. But it's such an expensive bag that I feel I should only wear it at a nice, special occasion. Guys, this bag was more expensive than my couch. I love it. It's amazing and it's something I'm going to cherish for ever -- 

REVIEW | Bio-Oil

Ever since I've started going to the gym more often I am much more concerned about giving my skin everything it needs to accompany the rest of my body while getting in shape.

I know I'm pron to get stretch-marks. I've had stretch-marks on my hips and butt since I was about 12. And because of that I decided to bring back an old friend that, honesty, I've missed a lot -- Bio-oil.  

This is not the first time you hear me talk about his product, and I bet it definitely wont be the last. I wrote a post telling how great it is in 2015 ...Way before everybody starting to talk about it, and before everyone went crazy about it. And my opinion remains the same! But let me remind me of what it is and what it does.

Bio-oil is well known for being a wonder product against stretch marks, scars and other skin marks that we all have and hate.  As I said, I deal with a lot of stretch-marks on my hips / butt. And I know what they are not going away -- it is impossible to get completely rid of stretch marks, BUT this product really helps in preventing new ones from forming and it helps reduce the appearance of the existing ones.

Bio-Oil it's what we call a dry-oil. This just means that it at first it feels like an oil, but after you rub it in it is quickly absorbed without leaving any trace of residue -- it leaves you skin looking silky and smooth. It's very smooth and lightweight, and it smells really nice.

Personally I've never had any problems but be aware that this is an oil and it may stain your clothes, so be careful when applying it and handling it.
I've had it in my gym bag and I always apply it after showering and after applying my Vaseline Spray Body Lotion, and this combination leaves my skin feeling nurtured, smooth and amazing.

Shop here:

Zomato Gold | Use my code CATYOL for 25% off !

A while ago I decided to subscribe Zomato Gold and I'm honestly very happy with this decision.

Zomato Gold is a service that gives you offers in some restaurantes, allowing you to eat out and save  some money.

There are two types of deals -- 1+1 meal or 2+2 drinks. This means they offer one dish if you get two, or two drinks if you get other two. Some restaurants offer the meal deal, others offer the drinks. But I don't think I've ever seen one that offers both (don't even know if that's possible).

The deal I feel it's more worth it is the one for meals. Two for the price of one it's a pretty good deal! This, of course, does not include meals to share, or buffet meals or all you can eat. Basically you need to oreder two separate dishes. And of course they always charge you the most expensive dish.

You can only use Gold on the same restaurant up to 8 times and all you have to do is to click on the Gold button on your app and let your waiter know you are using Gold when she comes to get your order.

This membership is not cheap, but it's always on sale! And if you use a referral code you get en extra 25% off and this way it defendente pays off. I think I paid 25€ for my one year subscription and I have already saved tree times that value. That's because I use Zomato Gold mostly to visit restaurants that otherwise I'd find too expensive.

Currently Zomato has a lot of Gold Partner Restaurants, serving all different types of food. One of my currently favorites is Prego D'Pescador in Parque das Nações -- serving very tasteful Portuguese food. Being already relatively cheap, using gold makes it a bargain! I've been there 4 times already and I've never been disappointed. Perfect for a casual lunch date. But if you want to try something fancier -- I'd suggest Akla at the 5 Star Intercontinental Hotel. Super expensive, but it's truly an exquisite experience -- just check out our fancy desserts!

Browse a little bit trough Zomato Website, check all the gold restaurantes, the prices, and do the math yourself. And if you think it would be worth it for you. And you can use my referral code to get 25% off the price. 

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.

More on Lush:

| Saving Money On Lush | Favorites | Enzymion Facial Moisturizer | NEW Solid Shampoo Bar |

Boi-ing

I've been loving this little pink pot. It's my little helper on rough mornings. Specially because since I've completely dropped my morning routine and now the only thing I do is to lightly cover my dark circles and put on mascara and lipstick.

This is Benefit's Boi-ing Airbrush Concealer on shade No 2, and it's amazing. It is super creamy, super easy to apply and super easy to blend with your fingers. This shade is actually pretty perfect for my skin, specially for my eyes --  It covers all the darkness and redness and it looks fairly natural. I love using it on my eyelids and on my dark-circles. I don't wear foundation on a daily basis because I don't have many blemishes or scares, and I often just opt to apply bit of concealer to cover some occasional red-ish spots.

My blog turned three this year and I thought it was time to make a few changes around here. I'm a different person that I was three years ago, I've changed, and I think my blog deserved to grow too. I wasn't trying to make any drastic changes, because honestly I still liked what I had before. But I asked Sofia from Pirilampos Em Marte to make me something simple, that I could relate to. She made me a new header and a new avatar. And I think it came out great. Specially because I just asked her to make anything really -- I gave her almost zero instruction or guidelines --   and she just amazed me. I honestly had no idea what I wanted but I think she nail it. I love how cute I look!

What do you think?

GLAMOUROSA | Sensilis and Lierac with great prices!

I just realized that I've being the dumbest person on the face of the earth. Why, you ask? Well... I've been buying all my body/skin care products at my local pharmacy while I could be being them from Glamourosa all along. I know what fiscally buying the products is better because you can try them, smell them, feel them... however, they are way more expensive...

Today I've received an email saying that Glamourosa now carries Sensilis and everything is 15% off! I have a few products that are on my wishlist that are a great deal! I always wanted to try their skin care products but they are super expensive...

Even my favorite sculpting cream is on sale here -- it's expensive as hell, but it works wonders! Actually, all Lierac products have 20% off and this is really awesome. I will be definitely placing an order real soon. Also, there's a full review of this product coming out in the next few days!

And if these amazing prices weren't enough, you can always use my code thenotsogirlygirl at the end of you purchase for an extra 5% off!

I honestly invite you to take a look. It's all original products and they carry a lot brands -- including  Benefit, Kat Von D, Huda Beauty, among others. I love fancy brands and if I can save a few euros, it's always a good deal!

TRAVEL | Braga, Portugal

-- Sanctuary of Our Lady of Sameiro, Braga --

This summer I had the opportunity to visit Braga and I fell in love.

It's such an amazing city, with beautiful monuments and full of flowers.

Absolutely Stunning. Can't wait to go back and discover all the little magical places I din't had time to see.

My Life | Turning around

Last week I went to my firs ever nutrition consultation. I know that my eating habits are not the best... but I decided that it was time to go and find out exactly how bad it was...

About a year ago, I was in a really bad, toxic, weird, relationship. And I was always so sad and depressed that I couldn't eat and when I could I wasn't able to keep food down. Last November I was weighting 48 kg (and I'm 1.60m). I was definitely too thin. I had zero energy, I was always tired.

But as soon as I turned around, and I started to feel better about my self, I regained my appetite and my weight went up.

Now I'm 56kg and I'm comfortable with this weight. I have curves, I feel sexy and really good about my self. However, I feel like I lost a lot of muscle during my depression phase, and I have been feeling super flubbery. So a few months ago I decided to join a gym. It took me a while to add the gym to my routine. I think that for the first two months I went twice. But than I set my mind and I decided that I had to start going and now I'm loving going to the gym. I've been going at least twice a week -- ON WEEKENDS EVEN! 

The nutritionist was super sweet and nice with me. She asked me why I decided to go to the appointment, and what was my overall goal. She made me go on the scale and took some measurements like my weight, % of fat, basal metabolism, etc. And she started to create my meal plan. I told her that I’m busy and that I don’t have time for a lot of meal prep and that usually I only eat the 3 main meals of the day. She asked me to describe what I normally eat in a day and created my meal plan around it. It’s a simple meal plan that I’m sure I’ll be able to follow.

My goal is to go from 56 kg to 54 kg and to lower my percentage of body fat from 28% to somewhere under 25%, in the next two months. I have no idea if this is going to be difficult or easy because it’s the first time I’m doing something like this. But I’ll do my best! Wish me luck!

EAT | Rubro, Lisbon

Food with a friend is always a great idea. And if there’s something where I honestly don’t mind spending my money is on good restaurants. Having that, I am always looking for cool, tasteful places to eat.

Rubro is a nice cozy restaurant well know got their aged chuletón. Let’s all that aged beef is definitely the biggest trend in meat right now, there’s no how to avoid it. This restaurant has two location in the city, on in Campo Pequeno and another one near Av. da Liberdade. Be careful when booking — make sure you call the right restaurante. We made that mistake, but fortunately they were super nice about it.

-- I know the picture isn't the best, the lighting was shit, but you get the idea, right? --

We went on a week nigh — it was a Wednesday — and it was almost full. We had the chuletón of course, and let’s just say that we were not disappointed. The serving is for two, but it definitely serves more. The meet was cooked to a perfect medium-rare, just the way I like it. And The contrast of textures between the charred outside and the soft and warm inside was amazing. It was my first time having chuletón and I was impressed on how the same piece of meet can have so many textures and different flavors... the meet around the bone was sweeter, with a more intense flavor, than the rest of that gigantic piece of meet. We had a nice bottle of wine and baked potatoes as a side dish... I was craving sweet-potato fries but unfortunately they don’t have on the menu.

I got the feeling that this is a good place to go with a group of friends. The portions are big and ideal for sharing. And really perfect for a date. The dimmed lights make it cozy and romantic. And the good wine makes for an excellent ice breaker.

ROCK IN RIO LISBON '18

Last Saturday I went to Rock In Rio Lisbon. For those who live in another planet, RIR is a recurring music festival that started out in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil, of course) but that eventually branched out to a few other locations worldwide, including Lisbon. It takes place every two years, since 2004, and usually it spreads across 4/5 days. The only edition I've missed was the fist one, but since than I've been attending at, at least, one of the days. This year was no different. 

I choose to go on June 30 because I really wanted to see Katy Perry live. I'm not into a lot of pop stuff, but I like Katy Perry. I like her music, I like her vibe. I like the message she spreads... And I was dying to see her live. I like her so much that I can't even explain how excited I was when I saw her on stage, on the flesh, with my eyeballs. It's stupid and crazy but yeah. I was for real excited.

I was also pretty excited to see Hailee Steinfeld whom I also really like. And of course Jessie J, who is an awesome performer, and even only knowing three songs from her set, I enjoyed her concert very much.

I took a ride at the Ferris Wheel, I danced, I dunk, I took a ton of pictures and I even wan a free eyebrow wax service from Benefit! It was a day well spent!

EVIAN Brumisateur Facial Spray

If you have never used a facial mist before, you've been missing out on something good.

It's a great way to quickly rehydrate your parched, dried skin, or even to set your makeup.

My favorite is definitely the Evian Brumisateur Facial Spray and this has been a stable on my beach bag. I like to use it to refresh my skin when I'm just sun-bathing. It's a spray, so I just mist my face, décolletage and chest area, and this leaves me feeling cool and refreshed as it quickly gives back some of the moisture my skin is loosing by standing under the sun. 

I've also enjoyed using it as na extra step for cleansing and toning my face, along with my regular skincare routine. It's supposed to help balancing the skin pH because of it's unique mineral balance. 

There are other face mists -- or thermal waters -- on the market, but this is the cheapest I've found. And it can be bought at you regular supermarket. 

BENEFIT Brow Bar

For a while now, I've been getting my eyebrows threaded. BUT that hurts like hell. I mean. LIKE HELL. It hurts so much that I was literally trying to wait the most possible amount of 

time between apointments because I was litreally dreading the pain. So I decided that it was time to move on. And also, I felt like my brows were getting thinner -- the girls there get carried away sometimes.

Anyway, I just wanted to give the Benefit Brow Bar a try out and see what I might be missing.

Actually this was very much a spare of the moment decision... I was walking around El Corte Ingles, swatching everything at the Sephora Counter as usual, and I noticed that they have a Benefit Brow Bar there, so I made an appointment for the next day.

I got there right on time and sat at the bar. The first thing she did was asking me if I had any allergies or if had done any treatment to my face recently. Next she cleaned and prepped my skin, and followed with the brow mapping. She marked 3 lines on my brows, representing where they should start, end and where the highest point should be. And then she proceeded with waxing my brows according to those markings. The first thing she did was applying an oil to my skin to insure that the waxing product only grabs onto the hairs and doesn't pull on my skin. The product they use is not exactly a traditional wax, it's more like a paste infused with zinc oxide, which is great for your skin. And the waxing per se is really gentle. Believe me I've been getting my brows waxed for a very long time, and this was one of the more gently waxes I've had.

She was picking up the wax from a large wax pot, BUT evrytime she would dip in the pot, she would use a new wood stick: She picks up wax with the stick, apply it on my skin and trows away the stick. I mean it's a little wasteful but this way the pot isn't actually shared by a bunch of people. It's pretty hygienic. And even when applying any product to my face, she'd use a long q-tip, with the same method. 

After the waxing she applied a little cream and, since I told her I don't fill my brows -- just comb them with tinted gel -- that's exactly how she finished them off. She also covered some of the redness on my face with a bit of concealer and powder, and applied a little bit of bronzer just to give my face a little color -- and that made me feel brand new!

The only thing I didn't like about this experience was the fact that the brow bar is right in front of the entrance. I mean, everyone passing by could see me. I felt a little uncomfortable having her wax my upper lip while a few dudes were walking around, you know. But I can live with that. Specially because I really liked the end result. Oh and another thing -- yeah, this is a little bit expensive. Upper Lip and Brows costed me 25€, but she did my make up and gave me some tips on how to comb my eyebrows. She also gave me two samples of their eye-cream -- I DIDN'T KNEW BENEFIT HAD SKIN CARE!! And I ended up buying the eyebrow gel and the concealer (they were both on my wishlist for a while, she didn't push me into getting any product.

Honestly, if you can afford it, I really recommend this service. It's definitely expensive, but it's definitely worth it. Specially if you are a bit sensitive when it comes to facial hair removal.

Morning Face Routine V2.0

The last time I showed you my Morning Face Routine was 3 years ago. Somethings have changed. But one thing hasn't -- it's my get ready fast routine. Takes me 10 mins tops do do all this.

I know this looks like a lot of products but it isn't. And comparing it to my old routine, not much has changed. The products are slight different but it's basically the same thing. Fast, simple, easy, effortless. Oh and yeah, I use brushes now!

This is my routine: Moisturizer, primer and concealer under the eyes. Power foundation all over, very loosely. A little bit of blush, bronzer and highlighter. A bit of powder foundation as if it was eye-shadow. Mascara and if I'm feeling fancy a little bit of eyeliner.

And I'm out the door.

EAT | IL Mercato, Lisbon

A lot of people told me about this place... An Italian fresh-pasta restaurant, that only has pasta dishes. --there's no pizza here -- and where everything comes from Italy. Everything: the flower, the olive oil, the proscoiutto, the parmigiano-regiano... They don't sell Coca-Cola, for example, just juice and Italian soda. They only have Italian beer... The staff speaks Italian... You get the idea, it's supposed to make if you feel like you are in Italy. Oh and yeah, the menu is in Italian. 

It's a very charismatic restaurant, in a very charismatic place -- Patio Bagatela. I don't know if you've heard of this or not, but it's just a small nook, a small courtyard, that almost make you forget that you are just around the corner of one of the busiest thoroughfares of this city.

Inside the actual restaurant, they have a small traditional looking grocery store, where you can buy all kinds of Italian goodies. Inducing freshly made pasta that you can actually see the lady making and kneading it right over the counter. 

I ordered what I always order whenever I go to a new Italian restaurant -- Spaghetti carbonara alla romana. With real organic eggs. I love carbonara and I mesure the quality of an Italian restaurant by how good it's carbonara is. It's served on a large plate, and they grate fresh Parmesan and pepper right on top of it. It's so nice. The carbonara was creamy, cheesy and delicious. The pasta, for me, was a tiny bit over al dente... but I'm extremelly picky with pasta and I like it really under cook. But it was really really tasteful and comforting. I'm definitely going back -- the ravioli looked delicious!

EAT | La Boulangerie, Lisbon

Croissants are life. And I am always looking for the best croissants. So when The Girl In Clouds suggested us to go to this amazing boulangerie, I was damn excited. And there we went on a Sunday afternoon, to chat a bit about life.

We had tea, and of course, croissants. Both delicious. It's a really small space --  I mean REALLY small -- with only 3 tables inside! But the space is so cool! Specially because you can see directly into the kitchen. Yep, the kitchen it's completely open. They don't even have a glass -- just a counter separating the sitting area from the place where they make all kinds of delicious puffy treats. And this fills the space with that warm smell of freshly baked goods that just comforts your soul. 

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