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Hello Food | Spaghetti alla Carbonara

January 31, 2021 MissWidjaja

Hello Lovel Readers, it is time for another easy peasy recipe after almost a year. I have to say, I love cooking again. It feels a bit like therapy and I am very happy that I can cook for others this period. If you like to follow my cooking journey, best is to follow me on Instagram. For specific cooking-related content click as follow; my cooking journey in 2020 and my current cooking journey in 2021.

Spaghetti alla carbonara is a simple recipe that I ate many times before but never made myself. Mainly because I always thought it was hard to make the carbonara the right way, at least that were always my thoughts.

Recently I saw this recipe again on Social Media and I thought this is actually not so hard to make. Plus you do not need a lot of ingredients. So, I wanted to challenge myself and make a delicious Roman spaghetti alla carbonara.

What do you need ?

Eggs – I use the yolk, but I think it is allowed to use the whole egg. Tip; use 1x yolk per person and add an extra one at the end
Black pepper
Pecorino Romano cheese – 50 grams per person
Pasta – spaghetti 100 gram or less per person
Pancetta – or Guanciale or bacon 50 gram per person

What’s next?

Prepare the pasta as usual. Brown the pancetta in a non-stick pan. In the meantime, put the egg yolk in a bowl and add the cheese and black pepper. Mix this up and add a bit of the pasta water to dilute the mixture and make it creamy. When the pasta is al dente, add to the pancetta, turn off the heat to prevent cooking of the eggs. Add the carbonara sauce to the pasta and mix mix mix. Add a bit of pasta water to make it creamier.

Et Voila! My first-time Pasta alla Carbonara looked perfect and it was very delicious. At least that is what they said 🙂 Enjoy making your version of this delicious Roman dish.

LIFESTYLE

GOODBYE 2020 | WELCOME 2021

December 31, 2020 MissWidjaja

Hello lovely people, how is everyone doing this last day of the year? I hope everyone made it through 2020 feeling content and stronger than ever. I would like to take this moment to reflect on my year here in London and thank you all for being my supportive readers.

The year has passed by so fast, I can still remember last year this time. I was in such a different mind-set. I had to make important decisions for myself and I am grateful I did make some great decisions. I think the best one has been staying in London after my break up in 2019 after more or less four years.

The beginning of 2020 has been mostly about adjusting. Finding out my passions again, loving myself and finding my goals in life again. To be honest, I had no idea how and where this journey would take me in 2020, but I was open to anything. I mainly tried to listen to myself so much more.

Art, writing my thought and feelings down and painting has been a significant part of my journey to the self. I am super proud of myself that one of my paintings has been featured in this amazing Ebook, RegenerArt Resilience and Hope, with many other great artists. It meant so much to finally see myself as an artist (even if I am not on a professional level yet) and sharing my art with others. The painting that has been featured means a lot to me. It helped me to see a lot of things I didn’t realise in a long time. It taught me to take care of myself and to love me for being me.

Unfortunately, the pandemic cancelled a lot of my travels with family, friends and fun things, but it helped me a lot to grow within. I am grateful I could be home in the summer and now spend the Christmas holidays with my lovely family. One thing the pandemic did, was connecting on a deeper level with the people I love. I feel like I can speak much more about my feelings, being true, what I like and want in life than years before.

In 2020 I made some new friends, which in the beginning, I am not going to lie, I thought would be difficult. Turned out it was not and actually it was more of an organic thing. So happy that I found a housemate who I could speak to in difficult times and who I have some fun with as well.

Cooking has been so much fun this year. I wish I could invite people over to try some of the recipes I made because I kid you not, some recipes I made were really good! I shared a lot of them on my Instagram instead or via a video call with my mom. Unfortunately, she couldn’t smell the delicious food.

Another thing that I realised while living here in London is that I am making so many wonderful new memories. I love to walk around the city centre, especially through the bankside and St. Pauls. London is full of new discoveries and so many beautiful architectures. Summer and winters are so different, you will see the same things from different perspectives. If I ever leave this beautiful city, I will definitely miss my walks here. It is just a city that never gets boring.

This year also has been the year of grounding myself, being present and listening to my intuition. Meditating and doing yoga helped a lot. The first lockdown I was on top of daily meditating and yoga. I still do it, but less often. This is something I need to push myself into doing a lot more again in 2021. It helps a lot, my state of mind changed and I feel like it helps me be a better person.

Dealing with my inner child and traumas helped me to see why I made the decisions I made in my life. Realising that I wasn’t following my own path and why I kept making certain mistakes, was definitely worth working on this year. Still continuing working on it.

My advice to you would be to always work on being a better version of yourself and be happy by yourself. It is nice to share your happiness with others, but never chase it. I feel so much more grounded and I definitely know now what I do want in my life. Certainly realising what I do not need in my life. Do what feels good to you, even if people don’t like it. Do you and do what makes you happy! In the end, only YOU can make YOU happy, no one else.

So set some goals for yourself, goals that will make you grow as a person. Set some goals for your career, things you want to achieve in 2021 and do some fun stuff that you can add in your beautiful box of wonderful memories.

I wish everyone a very healthy, successful, joyful and mesmerizing 2021. Listen to your heart and follow your own path!

Happy New Year!

LIFESTYLE

HELLO LONDON | TATE BRITAIN WINTER COMMISSION

November 30, 2020 MissWidjaja

Hello Lovely People and welcome back to a new Hello London blogpost!
I just had to share this one with you, because this is too pretty to keep for myself. Last weekends’ afternoon walk was very mesmerizing. Knowing that the Tate had a beautiful installation installed on its building that is related to Diwali and India, I wanted to make sure to see it at least once.

This beautiful neon installation is done by Chila Kumari Singh Burman. The artist changes the figure of Britannia, a symbol of British imperialism, into Kali, the Hindu goddess of liberation and power.
Tate Britain

The installation is portraited in different shapes, neon lights and words. Among all the beauty, you will find this beautiful lady between the light installation, who is Lakshmibai, the Rani Queen of Jhansi. This queen is a power woman and warrior in India’s resistance to British colonial rule in the 19th century. She was one of the leading figures of the Indian rebellion. Beautiful thought is that she was born in November, maybe she was a gift for Diwali? Happy to know another powerful woman in history.

Definitely keeping my eyes open for more of the artist beautiful work of art. If you are in and around London. The installation will be on Tate Britain till the 31st of January 2021.

Hope you enjoyed a little bit of London in your cosy living room!
Stay safe, lovely people.

LIFESTYLE

HELLO LONDON | ART & ARCHITECTURE

November 7, 2020 MissWidjaja

Hello Lovely People and welcome back to a new Hello London blogpost!
How are you holding up the second wave of lockdown? I hope you are all doing well! To me, this lockdown feels less intense than the first one. I suppose my mind and body got used to the current situation and I am trying to make the best out of it. One thing that helped me during these months, is a long walk. Each walk I am quite amazed that I discover new things to see or maybe it is just the same things from a different perspective. Either way, I just love walking around and seeing architecture in different lights and seasons.

During one of my many walks, I came across this beautiful courtyard surrounded by an art gallery and some other beautiful buildings. The Barbican, a beautiful church and the Guildhall Art Gallery. The yard is beautiful, it reminds of a random white square in Spain. The gallery houses art of the city of London. It is quite small if you compare it with the National Gallery. Nevertheless, art in this gallery is on point. It is definitely worth a visit when you pop into London when everything is back to the new normal.

The Church on this courtyard has a Gothic feel to it. I would love to see the inside one day.

A suggestion for a walk to see some great architecture is around Liverpool Street Station. The buildings, the structure and materials used for these buildings in this area is just a sight for sore eyes.

Most buildings are offices and it has a corporate vibe to it. I like that between the massive building you will find some cute houses and even a church. It is definitely a place to wander around. Tip for you is to take a break in Spitalfield market. There are lots of stands with food, coffee and fresh bread. You will find a lot of creative gifts here. During lockdown maybe not, but the walk is worth it anytime.