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It’s time. For high heel shoes to take their spot in the closet and sequenced dresses to hit the dry cleaner’s address. For the blanket on the sofa and the chamomile tea with lemon as a midnight cuddles. For the maxi sweater so big – I could thrust my thoughts in. For grabbing an apple rather than another appetizing snack laid for me on a tray… so tempting. For wine bottles to fill in the half empty wine rack instead of my glass. For taking a break from all the holiday fuss I have been enrolled for two weeks.
I’ve missed my simple home-made foods and idle long evenings in front of the fireplace with an intriguing book. And yesterday, the first day of the month, the new year, I spent doing nothing. Some movies, a book and a long walk in the deserted city were more delightful than any fancy party of the latest days. Also the food – so artless, yet so filling and joyful – colored my first day of 2013.
Strawberries, yogurt and poppy seeds.
Some chicken with vegetables for lunch.
Mango, avocado, mozzarella, sunflower seed salad in the evening.
Plus an avocado with some shrimp, tomatoes + sun dried tomatoes and cashews. The dressing was so-so (yogurt and a bit of tomato paste.) 
And some tea with “benefits”.
That’s all. Submitted to the party at Jen’s Peas & Crayons.
But before you go, could you suggest this Coffee Addict some flavors of your favorite tea? I would truly appreciate some variety in my cupboards.
xoxo
Coffee Addict 
Oh I LOVE spending days doing nothing!! So good! And Iam with you on the homemade food – just tastes the best, right? All the dishes look so delicious. I love Green Tea with fresh mint leaves; Lemon Ginger Tea (Hot water with fresh ginger chunks and fresh lemon juice); Rooibos Caramel…just a few of my faves!!
Oh, Lucie, your home-made food is definitely better than any restaurant’s special. I think I’m repeating this for the hundredth of time, but it does look simple and divine!
And you’ve intrigued me with that ginger/lemon mix for a tea! I should try that – thanks! 😉
hmmmmm!!!
Your day sounds perfect. I mean whoever doesn’t enjoy doing NOTHING may have something wrong w/ them =)
Yes! Yes! Yes! To lazy days, Jessie!
I wish you to have one as well!
I have this one brand of Chinese Jasmin tea, it’s the best. I dont remember the brand name, but it comes in an orange box with white tea-bags, I think your local Asian store might carry it? Also; rooibos-honey (I dont like rooibos tea, except for this one) and Indian vanilla Chai tea of a local brand!
Gosh, how come I’ve never though visiting one of the smaller Asian stores. I just pop to the supermarket lately and I’m done.
Thank you for the ideas, Sooz. I’ll be checking on those.
When I lived in Amsterdam I never visited regular supermarkets, only Asian stores and Middle Eastern ones! So much more fun to shop at. Oh and I had a packet of caramellized pear tea a while back, was quite nice as well!
You see, you are a better person, than me, Sooz! Supporting local businesses! And gosh, that caramellized pear tea sounds divine!!! 😀
Greta, I agree with you So much. I am so looking forward to getting back to my regular eating routine. All of the rich and extra foods throw my whole system off. I enjoy eating my way and need to get back to it. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you too, Fran!
Yup, holidays are fun and overfilling especially food wise. I hope we both will get back to our usuals in no time.
Hi Greta! Sounds like you had one of my best days:) I really enjoy earl grey tea; as well as english breakfast! Have yourself a wonderful New Year! may this one be special, I really enjoy your posts
Thank you, dear Sadia.
Don’t you love those lazy days? Sometimes I feel guilty of having one, but after all small indulgences make our life more special.
Sounds like a lovely peaceful way to start your new year. I love your photos as usual!
It’s going to be sad to say goodbye to the holiday season and get back to everyday life again. This is the first time in years I’ve felt on holidays too, and it’s been so nice.
I love peppermint tea, and lemon and ginger tea. They are really nice sweetened. Otherwise I just have plain black – English Breakfast is nice but I hate Earl Grey. And always with milk.
Love you and have a lovely last week of the holidays xx
Thank you, Fiona. I’m still very happy and exited about your past weeks, and your elated spirit. Way to go! Are you on holiday this week as well, cause I am, but I just can’t sit still and already doing some projects for work.
And you seem to be a true tea girl, a? Also I agree that peppermint tea rocks!!
Hello my lovely Greta! Yes I’m still on holidays, very sad that they are coming to an end. it’s the first time I’ve felt like I’ve been on holiday for years, because when you are not doing much with your life the rest of the time, there are no holidays, it’s all the same.
Sounds great to be doing things already – that way you will have some of those tasks out of the way when everything starts happening, and hopefully a little more time to relax then, when you are in need of it that much more!
Yes, I’m a tea girl – always have been. It’s soothing – I do like coffee but it often is way too strong for me. xxx
Hihihi! I love it! A lot of firsts for you – merry Christmas, A holiday! I feel so good to “see” you alive! Yay, Fi!
Your lunch looks delicious. Other than the salad, what are those other veggies?
And that hot cinnamon tea sounds marvelous. My favorite is English Breakfast with a spoonful of honey. Lately though I’ve been drinking this organic peppermint tea from Trader Joes. Plain and simple– So good!
That salad was made of despair – I was so hungry so I threw salad, spinach and some radish together and dressed all of that with some yogurt and mustard.
Also thank you for your tea suggestions, dear!
Yummy food pics. Is it helping to do this weekly food check-in? It’s inspiring to me…in that it gives me simple ideas and reminds me of certain foods that I like but forget about. (Shrimp!!!).
My current favorite tea is fresh ginger sliced thin and simmered for a few minutes. I like a bit of honey in it. I also love Jasmin green tea with honey and a bit of almond milk. But I’m looking for a non-caffeine version as the caffeine is too nerve wracking for me. Another one I love is Rosta Roma by Celestial Seasoning. That one is so delicious sweetened and with almond milk. (it satisfies the way cocoa does).
A!!! Good question, Gel! Does it help me being accountable – neah, it doesn’t! I’m lazy! So when the Tuesday comes I always think, man, I should remember taking pictures, because I have this Wednesday post! And then the food looks awful, or the picture sucks and I don’t want to post… But I’ve promised that to some girls – so I will be doing that for some time, I guess. So maybe taking pictures of everything I have would be more challenging for me – but who has time for that?
And that almond milk suggestion is a good one. I like my coffee with some almond milk from time to time, but I’ve never tried it in my tea – now, I will! Thanks!
It looks delicious! Wow
My favorite tea at the moment is cinnamon tea, liquorice tea and some herbal teas. I’m an coffeaddict too, but I should drink more tea rather then coffe because of some problems with my stomach. But it’s not very easy..!
Hihihi, I hear you being addicted to coffee!
Gosh, how many times I was opening the cupboard looking for tea and garbing coffee instead? Millions!
Also cinnamon sound divine in winter!
Thanks, girl!
I just got a black tea called “Twelth Night”. It has notes of caramel. Smells and tastes so yummy. Hope this link works. http://www.thegreenteahouse.com/Twelfth-Night-p/617.htm
Thank you for this link, Maria!
I’ll look for the latter!
Have a great day!
My most favourite tea in the world is cinnamon chai. It’s perfect when allowed to steep for a few minutes (until the water is a lovely, deep amber colour), and with a drop of honey added to it. There’s nothing like a steaming hot cup of tea on a cold winter’s night! =)
Aw, Cyn, there’s nothing like a steaming hot cup of tea on a cold winter’s night – so true! I’ve never tried any chai kind of tea, so maybe one of those could become my favorites?
Thank you for this amazing suggestion!
Delicious looking eats! My favorite tea lately is the holiday Celestial brand’s Sugar Plum one. So sweet & delicious!
Hi Karey! I’ve checked your blog, and I left amazed at your journey – wow! You are a heroine! So anyways, thank you for your nice compliment and tea suggestion – I love plums, so I bet plum tea would work for me as well!
Thank you Greta! 🙂
I love the strawberries and yogurt combo. I’m already excited for strawberries to be in season again. 🙂
Oh and, I love that its snowing on you blog. So cool!
Aw, strawberries! My bf bough them for me as a treat! Yup, love them deadly too! And also I love the snowing! But it’ll be over after tomorrow. The snow is brought here by WordPress. 🙂
Just found your blog girl…I love it 🙂
I am def glad that the holiday season is over..it is fun, but too much sometimes!!!
I LOVE Celestial Christmas Cookie Tea – serious addiction, but it is REALLY tough to come by so you would probs have to order it online! So worth it!
Thank, you for this beautiful comment, Natasha! This means a lot!
And the name of the tea you’ve suggested sounds tempting already! I’ll be checking on it online.
First of all: I love that it also snows on your blog these days 😀
And mmmmmmhhh, your foods look delicious!! I truly underestimate poppy seeds, I even have a container with poppy seeds sitting on my kitchen shelf because I bought some for baking a while ago, but somehow I don’t consider using them in more usual dishes (as you know, I don’t bake a lot, but why not change this in 2013? 😉 )
Okay, as a tea person I have a lot of favorite kinds … I drink a lot of black tea with almond milk, my favorite varieties are Earl Grey (because of the bergamotte scent …), and I discovered an organic black chai tea a while ago which is a little bit more expensive but such a wonderful treat every now and then!
Then I also drink a lot of green tea, a fancy (probably love-or-hate fancy) variety of that one is genmai cha, which means brown rice tea in Japanese. It’s green tea that contains toasted rice grains and has a very peculiar flavor.
Apart from that, I also like a variety of herbal teas, such as peppermint, charmomile, or blends with orange or lemon or ginger flavor.
Tea is a world on its own, you can do tea tastings like you can do wine tastings (or coffee tastings 😀 ). For example, there are many differnt kinds of black tea such as Darjeeling (with is rather light), Ceylon, and Assam (the last one being very dark and a little bit like caramel). The same goes for green tea. I’m not as educated as I’d like to be as I usually stick to what tastes good for me, but I’d like to do a little bit of exploration 🙂
Okay, so I’ve really missed reading your blog and looking forward to getting back to that! Love and health and happiness in 2013 for you!
Aaaaa!!! My love, when you leave “posts” here, I feel like it’s me who reads your blog! Haha! Gosh, I enjoyed this! Tea addict! You really sound like one! And I should be exploring that mysterious tea world you are talking about!
Also on poppy seeds! I’ve had a bag in my cupboards for forever as well. And lately I though of tossing it but I’ve tried some with blueberries, then yogurt – fits perfectly.
And I’ve missed you, but I’d rather do, knowing that you are having a wonderful time instead spending it here. So feel free to stop or not by, whenever you have a spare minute – other then that enjoy your lovely life!
xoxo
Oh my gosh, all of your food looks amazing! And your New Year’s Day sounds so relaxing and perfect for ringing in 2013. 🙂
Thank you, Liv!
I wish all my days were that simple 😉