food, travel, lifestyle
Does anyone love bruschetta as much as I do? I’m thinking about starting a support club, seriously.
My dad always made it when we would cook at home, and my obsession just escalated from there, especially when I visited Italy. Literally, give me all of the bruschetta. All of it.
If you know me, or read our first post, you know I’m in denial I’m turning 25 this year. Why? I don’t know. It’s just a freaky age, okay? I think it means I have to stop eating goldfish and chicken strips or something. To ease the pain of turning 25, I’m hoping to spend it at Oktoberfest in Munich, which starts a couple days after my birthday. That’s an adult thing to do, right..? So, I’m starting to plan the trip, which made me want to reminisce on our trip to Munich earlier this year. It’s an awesome place.
Lexi and I went with our parents for a long weekend in January, and we drove there from my parents’ place in Frankfurt (that’s still weird to say). Munich is in Bavaria (Bayern) and what you picture typical Germany to look like. Beautiful old buildings and lots and lots of beer.
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| Beers LITERally as big as your head |
Is there anything better than the smell and taste of fresh, homemade bread? I’m convinced there’s not. And just to make sure I was right, I baked two focaccia loaves yesterday in the name of science and taste-testing and stuff.
Let’s continue our Barcelona talk. It’s one of my absolute favorite cities ever – probably top 3. I visited once when I was studying abroad in 2011, and Lexi and I went again last summer, and I’m completely in love with it. For those who’ve never been, it’s kind of like the LA of Spain: laid-back lifestyle, beautiful weather and beaches, phenomenal food scene, and it’s just full of really cool people you wish you were like. It’s also like the Texas of Spain in the sense that the region it’s in, Catalonia, wants to basically secede from the rest of the country. Just FYI, the majority of people in Barca speak Catalan, not Spanish. They will also be highly offended if you and your sister wear Spain futbol scarves to watch the Spain v. Brazil Confederation Cup Final and will shame you into taking the scarves off.
Edited: August 2015
I’ve become obsessed with puff pastry. It’s something that you can transform into a variety of things, and not to mention, the flaky, buttery crust. I’ve made a few things with it, but so far, this is one of my favorites.
It also may be one of my favorite because gruyere is involved. Where there is gruyere, there is greatness. It can be one of the more expensive cheeses, but it’s so worth it. You could definitely substitute parmigiano-reggiano or something of that sort, but gruyere is where it’s at, y’all.
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| Barceloneta Beach |
La Sagrada Familia:One word to describe La Sagrada Familia is without a doubt: breathtaking. The Roman Catholic Church was designed by architect Antoni Gaudi, and has been under construction for almost 200 years. Trust me, there’s a reason this thing is taking so long. It’s unbelievable how detailed every inch of the church is, considering I cant even make an adequate sand castle. You could spend hours just walking around the outside and following the story of Christ which is sculpted into the exterior stone walls. Inside, light coming through the stained glass windows paints the huge white columns and vaulted ceiling with bright blues, greens, and reds. La Sagrada Familia is a-ma-zing, and definitely well worth the entrance fee and long, hot wait in line. There’s also a Metro stop right in front of it, so getting there is really easy.
Obviously, my first food post for this blog is going to be pizza. It is hands-down my favorite food, and if you don’t like it, I’m not sure I can trust you as a person. So, I’m taking on the very important mission of finding the perfect pizza dough. If you’re in the OKC area and want to join my pizza club, I’ll feed you free pizza because I’m probably going to be making an abundance of it.
But, then again, I may just stop my search now because the pizza I made last night is unbelievably good (I have two people to vouch for me).
I’m not talking about thick crust pizza, even though that’s totally good too, Neapolitan style is my favorite. It’s crispy thin, yet still chewy. The problem can be finding pizza dough that can hold its weight. However, I solved that problem last night, and this dough may also bring peace to the world.
Hi, y’all! For those who don’t know us, we’re Kelsie and Lexi Aziz, sisters and friends. Kelsie is a Texas Tech alum and current graduate student at the University of Oklahoma who is a live music enthusiast and in denial she’s turning 25 this year. Lexi is a PR student at Texas Tech and a textbook Gemini whose iTunes library ranges from Drake to Frank Sinatra.
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| Cooking traditional Kurdish dishes |
We both had the amazing opportunity through Texas Tech to study abroad in Sevilla, Spain (two years apart), and it didn’t take long after Kelsie’s trip in 2011 to realize we were passionate about traveling. Prior to studying abroad, we had never lived outside of Texas, or really outside of Dallas. Fast-forward to September 2013, and our parents are hopping on a Lufthansa flight to move to Frankfurt, Germany, for 3-5 years. A lot has changed in our lives, and pretty quickly, but we couldn’t be happier about it.
One thing we have always loved, and has added to our wanderlust, is food. Coming from a family with a Kurdish background, cooking was a way for us to learn about a culture we weren’t able to experience firsthand in Kurdistan. Add our love for food to our newfound passion for traveling, and you’ve got a pretty amazing and exciting combo with endless opportunities.
Most importantly, for this blog, we both love to write, and vowed to do it more as we contemplated our New Years resolutions. Kelsie has her bachelor’s in PR and is earning her master’s in strategic communication, and Lexi is earning her bachelor’s in PR (we’re not totally the same person, we swear), so writing is a big part of our lives. Finally, after really wanting to start a blog together for over a year, we decided to do it. And what better time than when we’re both trying to graduate in May?
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| Paris, France |
So, this brings us to Pizza and Champagne. The day our parents moved, the first thing we did was check into our hotel (because we were now homeless in Dallas), and buy a pizza and a bottle (or two) of champagne. We really have realized, no matter where you are in life or in the world, sometimes, the only constants are pizza and champagne. And, can you really go wrong with either of those things?
We’ve learned that life gets much easier (and way more fun) when you accept the spontaneity that comes with it. So, join us on our adventures, whether they’re in another country or in our kitchen, as we share with you what makes us happy.