The winter has finally decided to let everybody know about itself. Day after day it has simply become cold. It comes as no surprise. After all, it is January. This kind of weather could have started over a month ago. I don't like extreme weather. I definitely prefer a temperate climate. I like a not too hot summer and a not so frosty winter. Snow is overrated, and I would like to see it only in the mountains and city parks.

However, since we do have such a climate, we should rescue ourselves somehow. Today my proposal is for an especially tasty and warming horseradish soup. I found an inspiring recipe in the online Lidl cookery book. The soup is flavorsome and the decoration of chives could be a shy invitation for spring to come. Ok, I exaggerated a little with the idea of spring in January, but you should try the soup.

Ingredients:

6 potatoes

2 stock cubes

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

3 tablespoons of horseradish

160g of Parma ham

1 teaspoon of marjoram

100ml of heavy cream

1 tablespoon of butter

4 eggs

2 tablespoons of chives

salt and pepper

A carrot cake with cinnamon resembling a Christmas ginger cake appeared in my home a few years ago and I have made it regularly since. Every time it is excellent: sweet-smelling, moist, slightly nutty, with a hint of chocolate. I know that this cake is often decorated with lemon glaze.

Most of all I like a chocolate and nut combination. The quantity of the ingredients is easy to remember. You need two of almost everything (except for eggs and oil). Recently I found that this portion is too big for me, so I made an "at once" cake, taking into consideration the amount of ingredients as well as the speed at which it disappears from the plate. In the ingredients of this cake you will only find amounts, because if you keep everything in proportion and use a cup as a measuring jug for the carrot and flour, the cake will be perfect.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cup of oil

2 cups of flour

2 cups of grated carrot

2 cups of sugar

2 teaspoons of cinnammon

2 teaspoons of baking soda

2 teaspoons of baking powder

walnuts, raisins

chocolate icing

We live in relationships, sometimes marriages, we spend time together, we live under the same roof, but we only know about each other what the other person wants to say. Even people who have known each other since the nursery have their own secrets. Sometimes only extreme situations cause us to look at our partner from a completely different perspective.

When we meet the main heroes Justyna and Łukasz from the book "Kidnapped" by Róża Lewanowicz they are living the daily routine of Warsaw city slickers. They have similar problems to many other couples. They think about buying a flat, taking out a loan, and they worry that they do not have children, despite their best efforts.

Their well managed life is turned upside down in one moment, when in full view of Łukasz a hooded character kidnaps Justyna from just outside their house. The story runs fast like an American thriller. At the beginning it seems that the reason for the woman being kidnapped is Łukasz's job as an officer of the Central Bureau of Investigations. In the course of time many secrets of Justyna's past are brought to light. Scared, Łukasz discovers that he knows very little about the person he is sharing his life with. Are the things happening around him real, do they apply to his quiet, retiring wife?

Sometimes I wondered whether it is possible that we really do not know our partner to such an extent. I had the impression that this couple was completely separated from their family and friends. Of course, we can say about ourselves only what we want others to hear. Even so, it is still unlikely that we will never meet anyone from our hidden past, if only by chance, and that everybody will agree to keep quiet about their former life.