urban:eve

creative living | everyday solutions

Open faced grilled mushroom sandwich

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mushroomsandwich

Making your own sandwich spread is really easy, and the result is tasty, cheap, and you can make it healthier if you want to! :) For this mushroom spread, you’ll need an immersion blender — if you don’t have one, I highly suggest investing in a good one. You can also use it for cream soups and smoothies.

Here’s how it’s made…

For about 8 portions, slice up 250 grams of mushrooms, and stir it in a pan drizzled with olive oil until softened. You can also add some minced garlic if you like. Salt and pepper to taste, and add your favourite herb (fresh or dried — either is fine). Thyme and rosemary go especially well with mushrooms. When it’s done, put it in in a tall cup you can blend it in. Add around a cup of sour cream (or cream cheese) and a small teaspoon of mustard. Blend it smooth. You can keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for future use, or use immediately: a couple of spoonfuls for each slice of bread (pick your favourite, I like it on whole weat!), add some grated cheese if you like, and grill until golden. Serve with fresh veggies or a salad.

Feel free to improvise, add other spices, condiments! That’s the beauty of cooking. :)

Avoid September Regret by making a Summer Top 10 List

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When spending the whole summer working burned me out by September, I vowed to make a change. So I created the Summer Top 10 list to balance work and recharging. Create your own with my free printable list!

I love a good staycation. It doesn’t even have to be a whole day or a week: just a fifteen-minute break eating ice cream in the sun, a quiet night in playing cards, or running home for cover in the warm rain – anything that summons the essence of Summer (big S!) has a special place in my heart.

But it wasn’t always that way.

I can admit now that as I headed into my late 20’s, I let work overtake my life more and more, I started to appreciate the benefits of rest less and less. And as a direct consequence of that, I started to take summer for granted.

A couple of years ago we spent the whole of summer working – the bane of running your own business is that there’s no one there to tell you to stop working. There was always something to do, so we didn’t stop. Day in, day out — no weekends, no vacation, nothing.

And then, straight out of nowhere, it was September.

Suddenly, the feeling of not having had a ‘proper’ summer – not having rested, not enjoying the good weather while it lasted, not stopping for one second – dawned on us. I felt devastated. I cried for a day. I felt like I had wasted all this time, and that the summer activities I love so much – like eating fruit until you’re full, swimming in a pool, having lángos for lunch with garlicky sour cream -, things I long for all year long are now yet another year away from me.

I was burned out and I felt like I lost a huge opportunity to recharge, both mentally and physically.

Yes, work is important, but I realised we really could make more time in our summer days to actually enjoy life, even if we don’t have the time or money for an actual vacation.

So that’s what we did.

We sat down and we started making a list of activities that felt “summery” for us, things we could do without travelling or taking days off work. We now do this every year, and consciously plan to do one or two each week, so even if an actual vacation is far away (or not gonna happen until next year), we still have something to look forward to.

When spending the whole summer working burned me out by September, I vowed to make a change. So I created the Summer Top 10 list to balance work and recharging. Create your own with my free printable list!How to make your Summer top 10 list (for any season)

Making sure you refocus on recharging this summer is simple. Think about what makes you say ‘now this means it’s finally summer!’ Is it the first taste of sweet watermelon? Is it starting or ending your day with a great (or fluffy) novel? Sleeping in? Having a picnic on the living room carpet? Painting?

For us, some of our selected things were ingrained in our childhood, like eating corn on the cob, or watching cartoons on Sundays. In these cases, the nostalgia factor is what adds an extra layer of satisfaction to doing them (and some others, we realise when trying them, we simply grew out of – it happens). Other times, they simply express a need for getting out there and doing something that has nothing to do with work.

With that in mind, I urge you to try this method and create your Summer Top 10 List. Then all you have to do is to start looking for opportunities to actually make those list items happen.

I made a free printable for you to make the process easier — click here and I’ll send you the PDF, plus a handful of tips to help you actually come up with your list. Print it out, fill it in and stick it on your wall, fridge, above your bed, workspace, or inside your bathroom door – wherever you see it most and are inspired to actually do the things you’ve written down! :)

Click here to get your printable Summer Top 10 List

You can also make this into a family project: print one for each family member, and then make plans using items from everyone’s list (or, if you’re adventurous, do all of them!). Start with the items that have the most ‘votes’.

Short on ideas? Check out my best staycation tips here.

Now it’s your turn!

What’s the one thing that absolutely has to be on your Summer Top 10 list? Let me know in the comments below! You can even share your full Top 10 list. :)

Make a word collage to help you with your goals

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wordcollage01

This word collage slash scrapbook page slash vision board thingy hangs above my workspace. Whenever I look at it, it gives me motivation, reminds me of my goals and purpose and makes me smile. Not bad for something I made from free stuff, right? :) I’ll show you how.

All you’ll need is…
  • cardboard or a solid colour scrapbook paper for the base (whatever size)
  • magazines, catalogues, brochures – anything with potentially pretty pictures, inspiring headlines and quotes, illustrations, or anything you like
  • scissors and glue
  • 1 or 2 free hours

wordcollage02

First, I gathered everything I needed. The main materials were free stuff I collected during a trip to London: a Paperchase brochure, a Monsoon catalogue, free magazines (I especially used a lot from the Tesco one – surprisingly great design, the big Kindness-quote is from it actually). Then I started browsing. (Initially I thought I’d use some traditional scrapbook materials as well, hence the little doilies and my green box o’treasures, that’s why they’re there.)

wordcollage03

I didn’t have anything specific in mind — I looked for things that jumped at me — nice quotes, cool typography, colours, pictures and scenery, etc. I let it be a creative, meditative experience — the whole process really soothed my soul, as any type of DIY usually does. I cut everything that could be remotely useful on the spot and discarded the rest to the paper recycle bin. [Read more…]

Well, hello there!

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farkaslivia-profilI’m Livia (Via), and this here is urbaneve.co.uk, the English little sister to my long-running, award winning Hungarian lifestyle blog, urban-eve.hu.

I started my first webpage in 1999 (I was 13 at the time, wow, time flies), and since then I always had some kind of blog or fansite I could write my thoughts on & share stuff I learned. After websites and websites, the whole thing eventually grew into a business I really love — I’m currently a full time blogger and digital entrepreneur.

Still, not counting a short-lived LiveJournal blog, I never really published in English. As years went by, I met more and more people on this nifty thing called the Internet, and as soon as I told people what I’m working on, they started asking for the URL. And I gave it to them. And everything was in Hungarian and they couldn’t understand a thing.

So here it is. I’m the same, the principles are the same, the language is different. I really hope you’ll like it.

Please say hi, I’m really nervous. :)

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