"In The Midst Of Winter, I Found There Was, Within Me, An Invincible Summer"

“My dear,
In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.
In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.
In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.
I realized, through it all, that…
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.

Truly yours,
Albert Camus”

These words are just beautiful! Couldn't resist sharing this idea :)
I mean, seriously, the world is only a combination of what we think about it, how we see it and what we're feeling. Let's watch and feel then. Simple as that.

Energy From Within... Or French Breakfasts Are The Best

   “I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.” 

― Jack London

   When you think of a human being from a physical point of view – we are just a bunch of atoms. And then, what is an atom? Piece of matter. And when these pieces of energy collide - there is a splash of energy, which appears in some magical way. Same with people. We collide and create energy.

   It’s a beautiful Saturday morning, I decided to be a little like Carrie Bradshow today, so I woke up at 8, quickly packed my laptop to my bag and now, here I am, sitting at Charlotte, eating delicious french breakfast and  watching people collide. It’s just amazing to think that everything around me is just a sum of atoms, simple as it is – flows of energy, which interact in all possible ways. It’s crazy, if you think about it and try to understand... How does this work?

   And yes, I’m sitting here all alone. And no, I don’t feel lonely. And yes, I love spending time on my own – thinking, observing, learning something new. My life taught me, that this can be pretty cool. It’s such a rush around, everyone’s talking, laughing, nice music playing (as always in Charlotte) and I’m writing this post and inside I’m smiling – because I feel just right. Like everything around me is not happening for real. Strange feeling, anyways.

   Being alone from time to time - is kind of experience you can’t replace with anything on Earth. I mean, don’t get me wrong – I’m super social person, I can talk hours and hours, I love meeting new people and being with my friends. But there are just days and moments, when I need time for myself. 

   Coming back to atoms – I still can’t fully get it.How do emotions work? How does love work? I regret not learning physics at school, it could explain a lot now...
    Love, anger, happiness - are all those things simple result of atoms interactions? I always thought that emotions are not connected with logic. But what if it's a simple combination of laws of physics, chemistry and math rules? We meet somebody - our minds and bodies create energy, it comes from within and crushes into this stranger. There can be chemical reaction, There may be not... But if there is - we change, and never come back to previous state of mind. Then, according to probability theory there are millions of ways what can happen. One of them says "they lived happily ever after", but the chances are not that high. And it's not destiny, not some extra power - that's just math. If you try adding some logic, chances go even closer to zero... 

   Same with work. Same with all you love to do, your passions - you create energy and invest it, hoping it'll pay off. Hoping everything will work out. Dreaming. Giving more than receiving.
    And all together this makes our life. Math, physics, love, passion... Again passion, work, energy. And all over again. This is what life is about. And it is complicated (at least for me).

    Apart from this - it was a really nice October day! And with all the work and routine I completely forgot to look around and appreciate the city I live in. The moments I have to experience. To share with others and with myself. Krakow is beautiful and... full of energy :)

Midnight Cooking... Or First Steps To Going Vegan

   So, guys, we make decisions every single day. Sometimes we make up our minds very fast and then let's say, we're obsessed with some idea, we say "ok, starting from tomorrow things will change" but then... next morning our inspiration vanishes somewhere even faster than it appeared! Happened to you? Oh yes, happened to me as well. Many times :)

   But there actually ARE some decisions, that grow up in our heads slowly, with full understanding of WHAT we are doing and WHY we are doing this. I'm not gonna dig deeply into the topic of veganism, it's pros end cones etc. I'll probably make a separate post about this whole thing - including the root cause and consequences. But this will be later.

   

   Today I just want to share an idea of an extremely healthy, easy, tasty breakfast, and on top of that - really fast one! Because come on, we don't want to waste time on making breakfast forever... Actually, this "something" you can cook once in a big portion and then keep it for about a month and it still will be ok :) And this "something" is called homemade granola.

   Yeah, just one note, it's probably only for sweet-breakfasts lovers... Reminded me of guys from my work, they're like: "Miaaaaa what's that? Are we birds or something?" :) Well, not birds, but birds would definitely eat that too, I guess...

   So, biggest part of it is grocery shopping. Here's the approx list of what you can buy (and feel free to add some other things), that's just my quick version:

•    Oatmeal (rolled oats, slow cooking - I mean those in bigger pieces)
•    Maple/Date syrup (you can replace it with honey, but it won't be vegan anymore)
•    Vegetable oil (coconut or.... I chose palm oil - it's awesome or olive oil will do as well)
•    Sunflower, pumpkin seeds
•    Nuts, nuts, nuts (whichever you have - just chop them)
•    Dry fruits (raisins or anything you like)
•    Coconut strips
•    Flax seeds
•    Vanilla extract

Pretty much it. Now you have it all and you can go on and heat the oven to 150 C.

Recipe is as easy as you can imagine. First of all, mix 2 big spoons of oil + 150ml maple syrup + vanilla extract (1 tbsp.) + a pack of oatmeal (about 400g)... Mix it like that :)

Add the nuts and seeds. Don't add coconut and/or dried fruit yet...

Mix it again (wow, this becomes complicated) and place it on a foil before putting to the oven...

This one above is with extra date syrup, because I really like it SWEET :)

Bake it for some 10-15 min, then add coconut strips and raisins and let it bake for another 10min or so...

And voilà! Your personal granola is ready. Now you can put it in nice fancy jars and you'll have breakfast ready for next week or two :) 

   It goes well with water or milk (I mean almond or coconut), but I personally just pour some water and put it to the microwave for 30 sec. And then I just enjoy it while reading my e-mails with a large, no... HUGE cup of morning coffee :)

   And a really quick post, took me 15 minutes in total :)

   Bon Appétit! 

p.s. see you soon...

p.p.s. this really tastes good and it doesn't contain any sh*t they usually put in packed products :)