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Recent Books I've Read

Wednesday 28 June 2017

The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain

An adorable and heartfelt book by the author renowned for writing adorable and heartfelt books: Antoine Laurain. We follow Laurent Letellier, a French bookseller in Paris who one day, stumbles upon a woman's lone handbag. This leads to a growing interest in the mystery woman who's bag contains so much of her personality yet so little about her person. Read how this simple (yet clever) event is unravelled to change the course of two people's lives.

Favourite quote: "He drank some more wine, feeling he was about to commit a forbidden act. A transgression. For a man should never go through a woman's handbag-even the most remote tribe would adhere to the ancestral rule".


Utan Personligt Ansvar by Lena Andersson

If you've read my previous post about books, you know that I love Willful Disregard (Egenmäktigt Förfarande). I picked up Lena Andersson's sequel and started reading. It is about how Ester finds Hugo Rask 2.0 and falls in love with him even though he's married... and the unrequited love story continues. If I'm being honest, I couldn't get through it, I put it down halfway through because I couldn't relate to Ester anymore. She hadn't learnt anything from Hugo, she hadn't changed as a person and she became interested in a man that she was fully aware had a wife. Well written and clever but Ester remains just the same.

Favourite quote: "Kvinnor i din närhet tvingas bli väldigt uppmärksamma på de atmosfäriska störningar som aviserar dina manövrer. Du tror inte att det märks hur du slirar och girar".



The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

Oh, my what a wonderful book. Don't let the cover fool you, this is an incredible, heartfelt, deep and cultured book about feelings, books and finding yourself. We follow Monsieur Perdu, and like Laurent Letellier, he is also a French bookseller in Paris but with two exceptions: his bookstore is an actually boat and allthough he can find the perfect book to heal everyone else, he himself is still heartbroken. I really don't want to say more as I will spoil the plot but let me just say that Nina George's language, storytelling and vocabulary really heightens the story of a lsot bookseller who needs healing, friendship and adventure. Maybe it's the fat that I read this book in Portugal and the nostalgia is getting to me, but this is one of my favourites: such a cosy and comforting read!

Favourite quote: "Books keep stupidity at bay. And vain hopes. And vain men. They undress you with love, strength and knowledge. It's love from within".


The Girls by Emma Cline

I finally picked this book up after a long waiting list and am so in love with it. I originally picked it up in Swedish but since the first few pages are quite confusing and I thought it was something wrong with the translation, I went back and borrowed the original. This book follows 14-year old Evie Boyd in California when she gets sucked in by the coercive and seemingly loving and free Manson family before later realising that it was not as it seemed. We see this story narrated by a much older Evie whose life is still affected by those few months of teenage naivety. It is a lovely fictional book that feels quite dystopian. I would've loved more of the details as to how the Manson family operated and was compelled to follow Charles Manson's wishes incorporated into the story. note, Cline has changed their names so: Russell is Charles Manson, Suzanne is Susan Atkins, Donna is Patricia Krenwinkle, Helen is Leslie van Houten, Roos is Mary Brunner, Guy is Tex Watson.

Favourite quote: "That was part of being a girl--you were resigned to whatever feedback you'd get. If you got mad, you were crazy and if you didn't react, you were a bitch. The only thing you could do was smile from the corner they'd backed you into. Implicate yourself in the joke even if the joke was always on you".

Love,
Sofia

Blue

Monday 26 June 2017





Jacket - H&M, Blouse - Kappahl, Trousers - Gina Tricot, Earrings - Mango, Shoes - Adidas

Ida and I are going to Copenhagen! I am so excited! After sitting down for coffee and discussing our trip (!!) we went out and about looking for the right place to shoot an ootd. And of course it starts raining... I think taking a trip to cph sounds pretty good right now.

Love,
Sofia

Saved on Instagram

Sunday 25 June 2017

Photos are from (in order): chicmagasin, fannyekstrand, siduations, fannyekstrand, fannyekstrand, emmashbates, fannyekstrand, siduations, fridargustavsson

Chocolate Cake With Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Saturday 24 June 2017

I made this cake for our Midsummer party this year. Although Swiss meringue buttercream can be incredibly frustrating, this cake was a big success so I thought I'd share it with you. Scroll down for the recipe...




Ingredients

2 cups granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup milk
1 cup boiling water
1-2 tbsp instant coffee

3 large egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
315 grams unsalted butter
½ cup cream cheese
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Method

Preheat the oven to 150ºC. Line two 18 cm round tins with baking paper. Grease with butter, and then dust with flour or coconut. 

In a large bowl, beat eggs, add sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Then, add oil and the milk and combine. Finally, boil the water and add however much of the instant coffee you want (if you want any at all) then add it to the main mixture. Your batter should now be fairly liquid; no need to worry.

Divide the batter into the two prepared tins. Place into the oven and bake for 30 - 40 minutes. The goal is to keep the cakes as undercooked/moist as possible. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from their pans. Let them finish cooling on a wire rack.


For the icing: in the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the egg whites and sugar. Create a double boiler by filling a saucepan with a little water and bring to a simmer. Place the bowl on top of the saucepan.

Whisking constantly, heat the egg mixture until it reaches 160 degrees on a candy thermometer. If you don't have one, wait until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is almost too hot to touch. Take the bowl off the saucepan and continue to whisk the mixture for 8-10 minutes, creating a meringue with glossy peaks.

With the whisk on medium-low, add in the butter, about 50 grams at a time, and mix until incorporated. Add in the cream cheese, raspberries and vanilla.

Turn the mixer up to medium-high and mix until silky smooth. If at any point the buttercream appears curdled, don't worry, place the bowl back on the saucepan to heat the mixture up then keep whisking. If the buttercream appears soupy, try placing it in the refrigerator for about 10 to 15 minutes then mixing again. For a stronger pink colour, add a few drops of pink food colouring.

Place the first cake on your plate of choice and spread about a 1/4 of your buttercream over top. Then, place your other cake on top and create a crumb coat with your icing.  To seal this in place, pop your cake in the fridge for 10-20 minutes. Spread the rest of your buttercream around your finished cake and top with raspberries. Enjoy!


Love,
Sofia

Welcome

Thursday 22 June 2017

As some of you may know, I've now moved the blog to this new website: sofiavendela.blogspot.se (sofiavendela.blogspot.com also works). Here, I will be elevating my content from focusing on quantity to focusing solely on quality. To satisfy my perfectionism, I will not be able to conform to a post schedule and will most likely not be posting as regularly as I used to on the old blog (sorry). Here, I will focus on fashion, lifestyle and beauty, continuing my cafe guides and really trying to create something that you would want to read. So, please comment if there is something that you'd be interested in seeing, it would help me a lot! There will be some exciting things happening on the blog including a trip to Copenhagen in a few weeks, Barcelona in the beginning of August, maybe a trip to our summer house in Finland and Christmas in Australia. I am so excited to share everything with you!






Jacket: Mango, Jumper: Pull & Bear, Trousers: Kappahl, Bag: Rebecca Minkoff, Shoes: Marzio

I wore this a few days ago when going to a country estate for lunch to celebrate my grandmother's birthday which was so lovely. Also: I am so in love with these red, white and blue flowy trousers. They're both comfortable and stylish; not to mention that they go really well with the rest of my favourite pieces since blue, white, grey, black and red dominate my wardrobe.

Love,
Sofia
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