Two weeks ago, we went on a long weekend to Catalonia. We were going there on the occasion of the Vida Festival but since we were flying in Barcelona, we decided to visit a little bit of this beautiful city too.
I had been there about 13 years ago but, long story short, it was not a very memorable trip. This time, I had the chance to enjoy it properly in the company of E. and also my brother S. who lives there.

Barcelona is an amazing city with a lot to do, see and eat. We managed to spend a bit of time exploring parts of it at the start and end of our trip. It probably was not enough to see a lot of things but we managed to take advantage of our time there properly with a mix of sightseeing, catching up with my brother and enjoying many food delights.
The rest of the long weekend, as mentioned above, was spent outside of the city at Vilanova i la Geltrú where Vida Festival was taking place in a beautiful forest setting.

I don't about you but I felt like this week was never going to end. Every day, I could not stop shaking my head in despair as I was reading the news about the families being separated at the US borders and the little babies and children being kept in inhumane conditions in camps. It made me sad. No, it made me sad AND angry.  How can human beings do this to others?! This is not acceptable and so cruel.
Of course, things are being signed now so this does not happen again. But those families are still separated and there is a lot to do to help them being reunited.
​So,  I did not feel like sharing all my usual links this week, instead just a couple of things:

- Something important: this article on stopping family separation published on Cup of Jo this week. If you had questions or were wondering exactly about what has been going on in the US at the borders, this give some very clear answers and suggestions on how to help.

- Where you can donate to help: I asked my best friend in the USA what were the best charities where I should donate to help. RAICES and ACLU are the ones she suggested (they are also mentioned in the article above). 

I was recently thinking about those delicious blackberry rochers I made a while back and thought it would be a great idea to adapt the recipe to a Summer fruit and a different type of nut. Since raspberries are currently in season, they are ideal for this type of sweet treat and even better with the addition of pistachio nut.
The idea kept popping up in my mind so as soon as I found some time for it, I rushed to my nearest shop and got the three ingredients I needed: fresh raspberries, good quality Belgian white chocolate and ground pistachios (well, those were whole peeled one but I finely chopped them for a similar effect).

From my trip to Florida a few weeks ago, I packed up a few things in my suitcase to bring back as gifts or things for us to enjoy at home.
Whenever I travel somewhere (especially when it's a different country), I like to get a selection of things to bring back and those things are usually food related, books and/or artwork.

Wonderful friends, sunshine, relaxation and amazing food. This is how I could sum up the holidays I spent in Tampa, Florida, a few weeks ago.
I actually only planned this trip a couple of weeks before I left. It was the third time I was receiving promotional emails from an airline with direct flights to Orlando from Dublin. I needed a holiday and I wanted to catch up with my best friend: the decision was made!
On our last trip to Florida, we had mostly been traveling outside of Tampa with our friends so this time, I was happy taking it easy and discovering more of this city itself (with the occasional little trips elsewhere). In no particular order, here are some of the highlights of this trip:

Hello there, long time no see! I just realised my last blog post on here was more than a month ago. During that long break and among other work and life things, I visited my wonderful friends in Florida and had a very impromptu trip to France (where I had to skip eating any of the delicious bread goods and pastries on offer, yikes very much! - it will hopefully not be a forever thing, still a 'figuring it all out' work in progress though...).
I did take a break from the blog but did not forget about it and prepared a few posts as well as collected links for Saturdays so here is a selection for today. Have a wonderful weekend!

- Something interesting: this article about meditation on Cup of Jo has definitely been helpful to me lately as I searched ideas such as mindfulness to relieve stress. The app Headspace made it onto my phone and as I am starting to use it, I can already see how good it will be for me.

- Something to dream about: I love collecting ideas for future travels and the more I read about trips to the Dolomites such as this one, the more I push it higher on my list of places to visit.

- Something delicious: those toasts niçoise made me quite hungry and the ingredients are already on my list for the long weekend's meal ideas.

- Something else delicious: the ingredients for this delicious sounding one pot creamy parmesan chicken with mushroom rice will also make it on my shopping list this week.

- Something to watch: this classic movie from 1979 is on Netflix at the moment. I rewatched it with E., who had never seen it, and I was reminded what an incredible film this is.

- Something to listen to: I am putting this song on my playlist before listening to it live next month.

- Something else to listen to: my friend introduced me to podcast My Favorite Murder when I visited her in Florida and this is seriously addictive (I studied criminology in college and I find those stories fascinating - despite being scared by my own shadow, ha!).