Hotel review - Albergo La Castellana, Fosdinovo ***

The room seemed nice at first, but during the night it was a nightmare.

The water basin from the toilet was making an unbareable noise. The walls had no soundproofing, so we could hear everything from the other rooms. We couldn´t sleep at all. It was a nightmare.

Italian breakfast: coffee and a croissant. Free wi-fi and free parking places.

Trip to Palma de Mallorca

It´s OK for a stroll, but it´s much overrated and overcrowded.

All the shops are full with Chinese things sold like they were made on the island. And dont´t let us  start about the food or sweets.

Two cookies - Miremont, Bordeaux

The cakes looked, so nice we couldn´t resist.
They were really good. The guys seems to know what they doing.

Kefir pancakes - recipe with step-by-step photos

Ingredients:

• 300 milliliters kefir
• 250 grams wheat flour
• 100 milliliters milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon with baking powder
• a bit of salt
• sunflower oil for frying

Beat the eggs with the salt for a few seconds.

Add the kefir and half of the flour previously mixed with the baking powder and mix.

Add the milk and mix.

Add the remaining flour and mix until well incorporated.

In a frying pan, add a drop of sunflower oil and, when hot, drop a spoonfull of the composition. We had a small frying pan so we fried 3 pancakes at the time. Fry at medium fire until golden brown.

Enjoy!

The original recipe can be found here

Trip to Cap de Formentor, Mallorca

The rocky road from Port de Pollenca till Cap de Formentor is offering stunning views.

First stop should be at Mirador es Colomer, which offers an incredible views over the sea and the mountains. It will be almost impossible to find a place to park you car, so rent a really small one :)

Restaurant review - Restaurant Le Chaudron, Oloron Sainte Marie

The starters were good, but the meat from the main course wasn´t cooked well, although we specified well done.

Above the burger they said it's foie gras, but instead it was a burnt liver on the exterior and not so cooked on the interior.

The chocolate desert was good. On the other side the dessert that came with the coffee, the so called cafe gourmand, was below the expectations. The lemon tart had too much meringue, and the two mini muffins were a bit dry. And we didn´t like the ice cream that came with it.

Overall, OK if you are hungry, but definitely not worth a second visit.

Trip to La Rochefoucauld, Charente

Not much, but the castle is impressive.

Cheesecake brownies - recipe

Ingredients for the dough:

• 3 eggs
• 3 spoons wheat flour
• 3 spoons sugar
• 2 spoons cocoa powder
• 1 spoon sunflower oil
• half of a teaspoon baking powder
• a bit of salt

Ingredients for the cheese filling: 

• 450 grams of fresh cheese
• 100 grams of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 spoon of cocoa powder
• a bit of lemon zest

Prepare the dough:

Separate the egg yolks from the the egg whites.
Mix the egg yolks with half of the sugar and the sunflower oil.

Separately beat the egg whites with a bit of salt.

Incorporate the mixed egg yolks, the flour, the cocoa powder, the remaining sugar and the baking powder into the beaten egg whites.

Grease an oven pan with some sunflower oil and add the dough. Put it aside while you prepare the cheese mixture.

Prepare the filling:

Mix the cheese with the eggs, the lemon zest and the sugar.

Add the cheese mixture on top of the cocoa dough.

Keep a few spoons with cheese mixture and mix it with 1 spoon of cocoa powder. Add this small mixter on top.

With a toothpick combine the white cheese with the cocoa mixture.

Put it in the oven at 180 Celsius degrees for 25-30 minutes or until done.

Enjoy!

The original recipe can be found here

Trip to Durham, England

From afar it seemed like a nice town with a castle on top of the hill.

But there's really not too much to see, so it could be a short stop.

Trip to Tellaro, Italy, Liguria

The city center is not in its best shape, but it will be in a few years as works were on site.

You have to let your car about 500 meters outside the city because the city is on a rock and the parking spaces are barely enough for the locals.

The walking through the city center it has ups and downs, literally, so came prepared with comfortable shoes.