#LoveFromItaly + a Giveaway!

You might have caught our little Valentine's Day guide to the perfect cozy and casual date and might have guessed our date of choice is one spent inside, being cozy and doing something cute and creative together and this is exactly what we planned for Valentine's Day this year - nothing too fancy, just the two of us spending some quality time together doing the things that we are most comfortable doing (otherwise known as eating, cuddling, eating and laughing... and eating again).

I'm actually quite the fan of V-Day, I love the whole concept of celebrating love and all the cards, chocolates, gifts of the season. It might be a superficial date, but it's just super cute! This is the first Valentine's Day documented on Miel Café so far, so I've snapped away to bring you a hour by hour (sort of) reportage of a very cozy day.

Psst, stick with us until the end for a romantic Giveaway!

8.30 am - I woke up to an email that some special one bought me a tree as gift for Valentine's Day! I received a lovely cocoa tree based in Haiti from Treedom and that's probably the cutest gift I ever had! This together with others (and I might add - writing a blog post about lingerie just a few days before the date has totally rewarded!).

11.00am - We slept in until super late and spent a big amount of time dressing up and deciding what to do - it was kind of an impromptu day. We decided to head over to our favourite bakery for breakfast: there's something special about their cappuccino that is always sweet enough even with the tiniest amount of sugar, not mentioning that velvety foam... and their cream croissants are always our first choice!

We spent the rest of the morning chatting at our table, observing the rain outside and picking up some heart-shaped cookie cutters for our V-Day romantic baking session!

2.00pm - I dusted off my favourite and trusted brownies recipe (and decided it was kind of a-okay to be less healthy during V-Day) and we baked delicious heart-shaped treats to eat together later! Baking together is definitely my favourite thing ever, I just love spending some quality time with my favourite person doing one of my favourite things!

5.00pm - We installed and put together a romantic and super cozy (and very fancy too!) Italian themed picnic inside (since the weather wasn't keen in letting us enjoy it outside). This was probably my favourite part of the day! We had a fancy bubbly Italian Prosecco, as well as delicious Baci Perugina (probably my favourite truffles for this time of the year and definitely an Italian V-Day signature chocolate that we both love) and spent the time enjoying the bubbles and reading the chocolate quotes at the light of a beautiful Millefiori candle that filled up the room with a sublime floral scent.

8pm - To finish off the day the Italian way, we baked homemade pizza! We love Saturdays because it's pizza time and we spend a good amount of the afternoon at kneading a few pizza doughs together and this year V-Day happened to be on a Saturday, that meant it was just right (maybe not too fancy, but right) to eat our favourite food on the date. I admit I was quite tempted to make heart-shaped pizza too, but I was already exhausted by that time!

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The whole day was quite improvised but turned out to be the most beautiful and thoughtless day we had in a while. However my favourite part of the day, the picnic, was lovingly hosted by Inntravel, a holiday company that specialises in slow holidays, ones to take the lesser-taken paths, and that has some great holiday offerings over here in Italy too, by very kindly treating us to a rich Valentine's hamper filled with Italian wine, chocolates and a beautiful candle as part of their #LoveFromItaly campaign, to which, being Italian and a lover of the date of love, I was so excited to take part of! Not only this, they're also so kind to treat one of my readers to a £50 Carluccio's voucher for you to have a chance to spend a romantic time and let you be inspired by Italy as much as we did on February 14th this year!

To enter the giveaway simply apply through the Rafflecopter form below. The giveaway will run for two weeks until 03/03/15, h. 12am GMT+1. I will randomly pick a winner and contact him/her via email and Twitter. Please check the giveaway's Terms & Conditions before entering.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I'd love to know - how was your Valentine's Day? How did you spend it? I've loved your date ideas from my latest V-Day post! x

{ POST & GIVEAWAY IN COLLABORATION WITH INNTRAVEL }

An Ode To Triangle Bras.

Right so, Valentine's Day is only two days ahead, and believe me when I say I'm totally, completely, absolutely stepping out of my comfort zone with this post, but it's love season, this means it's entirely acceptable to talk about lingerie, right? Right. And believe me also when I say, this is the first time I talk about lingerie online mostly because I've only owned embarassing granny panties and uncomfortable bras until recently... But now I've discovered it, and this is just the perfect excuse to share my love for the triangle bra!

If you haven't joined the club yet, what are you waiting for?! Imagine a sport bra but cuter and, uhm, sexier, eeek! What a scary word to write! Not that my aim is to wear very nice put together lingerie all the time, and no, I'm not one that wears bras with their paired bottoms everyday (or ever really), but I truly believe in the power of clothes (and underwear) to boost and support my mood. If I wear comfy lingerie, I might feel cozy, relaxed, at ease, and no doubts there're situations where only comfy underwear would do, but if I wear something nicer, chances are I will feel nicer, more intriguing and determined, feminine and powerful, and that's what the world out there want us to be!

Triangle bras might make you think they're only for smaller-busted, but I definitely can't be labelled like that at all (TMI?) and I assure you they are still comfy, yet supportive and most of them fits amazingly on me too! ASOS has the best selection of triangle bras with very inexpensive price tags, I love their Chiffon Spot Bra - it's the softest and comfiest ever and yet looks very nice and detailed, but let me reveal the big news, H&M has the most beautiful ones at the moment! I'm in love with my new black lace set (bra + brief), it's not hugely discreet, but nothing too much and I definitely feel at ease and nice in it! Now that I've discovered the power of pretty lingerie, I feel like there's nothing better than treating myself to a new lace bra or set...

... next on my list? This beauty! x

3 Different Valentine's Day Date Ideas.

For years I haven't been a fan of Valentine's Day and thought it was such an overrated and commercial date, not to mention how sad it is to spend it alone if you don't have an actual partner! This until a pair of years ago, when I realized Valentine's Day might be superficial and a huge part of consumerism nowadays, but it has quite a lovely concept at its roots, love, that is something really worth to be celebrated. Forget V-Day gifts, cards and all the commerce behind it, you don't really need anything to celebrate love on its day (even though I've loudly requested tulips this year), and yes, true, everyday is the day to be enthusiastic about love in its every shape, but it's just nice to have a specific date when to stop and think about who you care and what caring means to you!

We take V-Day quite easy and casual, don't ever do anything too fancy - because where's it written that you need to do so?! We like to celebrate the fact of being a couple and loving each other in the simplest ways - in fact we actually never really plan anything at all besides from being together! And since you don't really need to have a partner to love someone, just think about spending your V-Day with your friends and/or family and do something nice with/for them instead! We thought to list down a few ideas to spend a different, simple, casual Valentine's Day date, whether it's romantic or not!

Bake together.
If there's a thing I adore is baking treats for ones I love, even better if I can bake together with my better half! I'm such a perfectionist at baking and get stressed out quite often if things don't turn out as they are supposed to, so I can be a bit of a pain to bake with, but sometimes it's nice to relax and bake comfy and trusted recipes just for the sake of being together and do something fun together! But yes, I usually supervise the work. We're quite the fans of cozy dates (the most adventurous are ones at the cinema; wild!) so you can say staying at home, enjoying the sofa and maybe baking something together or preparing dinner side by side and then devour it all is definitely our date of choice.

{ Click here to check out the recipe of the chocolate + strawberry cupcakes in the pictures! }

* He's wearing :: top ; jeans ; shoes *

* I'm wearing :: dress ; shoes *

Din din! Go for a bike ride!
Feeling adventurous?! Dust off your pretty bicycles and go for a healthy ride in the green! Where I live there's a nice road next to the river and the fields where to go for a good old bike ride. It was something I did pretty often years ago and that I'd love to do in a pair! I can't really wait for the days to be a little bit warmer and dust off the bicycles for real - but at this very moment it's freezing here in Italy and we can't really be bothered to go outside in pretty dresses and thin layers to face the wind. But if you live in warmer conditions, you might want to consider a bike-ride-date on V-Day; maybe fill those bicycles baskets with picnic friendly food and stop by a pretty park where to lay down and have a romantic lunch outside!

Stay cozy + share the chocolate!
Valentine's Day might be the most commercial date of the whole year, but if that means plenty of chocolate everywhere, I won't really complain! As I said we love cozy nights in dates and this is most probably what we're actually going to do this year on February 14th. We have gathered up a little too much chocolate and we really need to set a date for finishing it all up (nope, we don't...). If you don't want to surrender in front of consumerism, at least do yourself and your partner (or family/friends) a favour and indulge in this Lindt Master Chocolatier Collection Love Box* while you're enjoying the coziness of your sofa on V-Day - because everyone deserves chocolate, right?!

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How are you planning to spend your Valentine's Day this year? Are you one for fancy dates or just simple, casual, cozy nights in with your loved one(s)? x

* A huge thank you to Lindt for spoiling us this year and for helping me rediscover the true essence of love - a crunchy toffee and hazelnut praline heart! ;)

Chocolate + Strawberry Valentine Cupcakes { with Lindt }

- 10 days to the big day! Have you got something exciting planned?! Either if you don't want to plan anything, you don't have someone to spend your Valentine's Day with, you have planned to organize a nice dinner for two or something special like a romantic picnic lunch, I've got something for you!

A pair of years ago I discovered this cupcake base recipe and decided this was *the one*. These chocolate cupcakes always have the best, thick, nice texture that pairs amazingly with any fluffy frosting or creamy heart you might want to experiment with. I developed the idea of using a truffle to obtain a creamy center a few years ago and since then I use and play with this recipe every year around Valentine's Day, and every year I try it with different truffles and flavours. I've tried almost every Ferrero offering, but I'd say Mon Cheri and Ferrero Rocher were the most appropriate and my favourites so far, until a box full of Lindt Valentine treats was left on my doorstep...

Lindt's romantic Valentine's Day inspired offering are revisited Lindor truffles made out of white chocolate and a cream + strawberry smooth melting filling. Can anything else be more appropriate for this time of the year? I admit I had a few difficulties to avoid that all the Strawberries & Cream Lindor Truffles were gone before I had the time to properly shoot this recipe, and that I had to hide them away from myself too, but in the end the result was amazing, the creamy strawberry heart paired deliciously with the chocolate cupcakes I love, and the strawberry flavoured frosting on top was the perfect addition to the couple... I might need to buy a decent pastry bag and maybe obtain actual aesthetically pleasing cupcakes next time, but they were good, let me tell you this!

Makes 6 cupcakes | Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
85g white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder
55g soften unsalted butter
55g white sugar
1 large egg
3 Strawberry & Cream Lindor Truffles

For the frosting:
125g unsalted butter
50g strawberries
70g white sugar

1 :: Preheat the oven to 190°C. Place six baking cups into a muffin tin.

2 :: Cut the cupcake butter into cubes and add it into a big mixing bowl together with the white sugar and beat with a spoon until soft and creamy.

3 :: Sift in the white flour and give it a nice stir, then add the cocoa powder, the baking powder and the egg and stir with a spoon until all the ingredients look nicely incorporated. You should get a thick and quite solid mixture. If it's too solid and you can't mix it with a spoon, add a splash of milk.

4 :: Place a tablespoon of cupcake mixture into every baking cup to create a base, then cut the Lindor truffles in half and place one half in every baking cup. Place another teaspoon (or a bit more) of cupcake mixture on top of the truffles to cover them up completely.

5 :: Place the tin in the oven for 20 minutes. The cupcakes will rise but still be quite thick and solid, and the truffle in the middle will melt to create a creamy heart. Once done, remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely or serve warm if you don't want to make the topping!

6 :: Meanwhile make the frosting: wash the strawberries and mince them in an electric mincer with a pair of teaspoons of water to create a liquid strawberry syrup. It will give the colour and the flavour to the frosting.

7 :: In a very large and deep bowl, cream the butter, sugar and strawberry syrup together using an electric beater until pale and fluffy.

8 :: Use a pastry bag to apply the buttercream on top of the cooled cupcakes.

{ Enjoy with your loved one(s)! }

... whether it's your family, your friends or your lover!

Don't forget to let me know if you try this recipe in the comments and tweet me a picture if you do! Also share your favourite Valentine's Day recipes! I'd love to know! x

In January I've Loved...

Whoa, wait, is it the last day of January already? It feels like 2015 has only started yesterday! January wasn't my favourite month, however I'm pleased to say I was able to try a lot of new things that obviously could make to my monthly favourites, and yes, this includes a lot of chocolate but also a few healthy choices that was an anchor to me for my January detox! If you'd like to read about what I was up to in January, simply check my January Highlights, otherwise let's just jump right into my most favourite things from the last 30 days...

LINDORS ℅ LINDT

FOOD

The most exciting highlight of the month was that day when the postman came and brought a huge box full of Lindt treats! Isn't it everyone's dream?! I've always been a fan of classic Lindor Milk Truffles* but I was so pleased to finally try the delicious and indulgent Lindor Strawberry & Cream Truffles*, that are just perfect for anything Valentine's Day related, including recipes, cozy nights in and moments of sweetness!

As for the healthier food choices, I'm quite enjoying the Clipper Green tea with Echinacea which is just my new favourite afternoon treat! Green tea is so good for our bodies but not the best flavour to me, but echinacea makes the whole thing a lot more interesting: it quite completely covers the flavour of green tea and make it tastes more citrusy and good! If you'd like to introduce green tea in your lifestyle but don't quite enjoy the original flavour, I can't suggest this Clipper offering enough..!

Lastly but not least on the food front is my new IKEA Produkt Milk-Frother: as you might remember I haven't had a milk frother anymore for a long time, then I spotted this so inexpensive IKEA utensil and I just thought to give it a try. It is so good and easy to obtain a perfect foam - yes, it's not velvety enough to experiment with latte art, but it's just good enough to get a very nice basic latte in no time at all!

MEMORIES

It's been a very long time since the last time we printed our pictures but it's always my favourite parcel to unwrap, so I ordered a few other prints from the last 6 months! I love going back to those memories once again just by browsing through a few pages of our photo album - it's just so nice to have your pictures printed instead of only digital files, you get the occasion of seeing and reliving those memories surely more often than you would if you don't ever print them!

STYLE

On the fashion front, I can't *not* mention my new Sugarhill Boutique Starstruck Glitter Skirt - it's just the cutest and most flattering skirt I own at the moment, needless to say I'm wearing it a lot. It's thick enough to wear it during this season, and obviously pairs amazingly with anything really. Something that has just joined my wardrobe recently is my new Sheinside Wine Red Sweater (similar) - I'm totally a fan of 2015 Pantone color of the year: marsala is definitely a colour I could wear all year around, but I realized I didn't own a lot of wine red clothes in my wardrobe, so this Sheinside sweater was the perfect addition!

BEAUTY

As I've already told you in one of my recent posts I'm trying to stick to only coconut oil to cleanse/moisturize my skin. I had very bad skin, so it's nice to go back to something organic and natural, and I'm quite surprised about how nicely my skin is reacting to it. It has only been a week or more, but so far I'm not going back to anything I was using before!

What's on your January favourites list? x