The lost signal of Democracy.

The situation in Greece is getting really worse.

12 days ago, the greek PM decided to shutdown ERT,  the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation.
The greek state TV  was offering more than true information, it was also a connection between Greece and the Greek diaspora.
This action was taken so abruptly, reminding us of fascism techniques. More specifically, since Tuesday's evening the screens are "black", but ERT's
employees, loyal to their conscience and their sense of duty, continue the fight to keep the public informed, by broadcasting via Internet.

Please watch "THE LOST SIGNAL OF DEMOCRACY",  it will only take you 9 minutes, and you'll get a vibrant description of the above facts.

To stay tuned, visit http://www.ertopen.com/news-in-4-languges/english 

Feel free to sign this petition if you also think that Democracy has to be SAVED.

ERT OPEN-FREE VOICE FOR THE SOCIETY

Girl who got away..

How are you my blog-friends? Well, post's title is taken from Dido's new cd album. You know she  is my favorite singer!!
Anyway, I'm back for a while, just to tell you some of my news!

A few months ago, A went to his village to help his father collecting some olives. He returned with a great amount of them that had to be treated to make them edible. The whole making procedure lasted approximately 1 month, but it was worth it! Now we eat OUR olives, which are quite tasty!
I also decorated a small vase for someone I really appreciate...!

What else? Oh, I made a fb page for my father's weather station! You can find it here!

Finally, I want to thank keywoman for the amazing purse she made, and I won in her giveaway!

I apologise for not being around for a quite long time, but my schedule is very-very heavy.
Lots of kisses,
Angeliki

Breaking the 3-Colours Granny Square Code!!!! UPDATE!!!!

The new version 2.0 of the GRANNY_SQUARES program, computes the different arrangements for a 3, 4 or 5 color granny square and writes down all the combinations using the ver1.0 format.
You can download it from the following link:

https://sites.google.com/site/angelikisplace/GRANNY_SQUARES_VER2.0.rar

For a more detailed description, see my previous post.

Please, leave me a message, telling me how you found the program, in which crochet project it helped you, or report me any bugs!

Breaking the 3-Colours Granny Square Code.....

Hi to everyone! Has anyone missed me??

The past few months I have disappeared from the blogland because, I have a very heavy schedule  working on my undergraduate project in photonic crystals! 

The today post is about a program that me and A made, for computing the different colour arrangements of granny squares!

And how this idea came to our minds? Well, yesterday, Robin from Crochet Nirvana,  asked me:

''I have 14 colors of thread and I'm making 3 color granny squares.
How many color combinations are there (including various order combos ie: (red, blue, green), (blue, green, red), (green, blue, red) etc...)''

And then thought, why not making a program that not only computes that number, but also  writes down all these different combinations? Of course the program will work with  any desired number for the colours of thread! So, we immediatelly started cooperating and made a  Fortran program which can be found in the following adress:

https://sites.google.com/site/angelikisplace/GRANNY_SQUARES.rar

 Now a few instuctions:
Once you click on the above address, a new blank tab opens and the following message appears on your screen:

Unfortunately, it's written in greek but it's easy to see that the second option 'Save File' is checked. Once you save the file on  your computer,  unzip the folder Granny_Squares. In this folder, there's a .exe file which is the program we made. Double click on it and the following command line appears:

Now let's say you have 5 colours of thread, you write 5 and then press enter.

 The number of different arrangements appears on the screen and the GRANNY_SQUARES.TXT file is created in the GRANNY_SQUARES folder. This txt file can be opened with any editor and looks like this:

 The 60 arrangements are printed in the txt file (In this tutorial I show you only the first 23)

 You can give any number of colours, you want, then run the program and see how many different granny squares you can make! Have fun!!!

***The new updated ver2.0,  includes the combos for a 3, 4 and a 5 square. You can check it out  here****

Please, leave me a message, telling me how you found the program, in which crochet project it helped you, or report me any bugs!

Semolina halva..!!

Hi everyone! Did you miss me? My vacation is over and now I'm slowly preparing again for my September exams. Nevertheless, I'm always finding some little time to try something new in the kitchen..!

Semolina halva is a challenging dessert for me! I have tried making it many times in the past and all of them had a bad end! Today, I followed carefully my mum's instructions and finally made it!! And yeah, it tastes really well!!

How about you? Is that dessert familiar to you too dear bloggers from around the world? 

Spaghetti with tomato sauce and homegrown fresh basil..!!

Today A had an excellent idea about our meal. He thought about making a spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and our pot's basil, as basic ingredients!

Remember the transplants I had done about a month ago? Well my basil looks like that now,

so A cut a few leaves for our spaghetti!!! I'm so happy we used my homegrown basil!!!

Then we put 2 sliced tomatoes, 1 onion, 1 peper, the basil leave's, a bit of salt, a bit of  black pepper, and a few drops of olive oil in the blender for the sauce to be done.

We boiled the sauce to lose some water,

finally added some feta and  I can't really describe you how much we liked it!!! It was fantastic!!

Yesterday, A also suggested baking some peppers, so we made a mix of onion, feta, olive oil and paprika powder for the filling! We also boiled some eggs to complete our dinner!

 We also had an unexpected visitor in the balcony..

A not so small pigeon, that obviously couldn't fly, found a safe and cool shelter for a while... 

Then it headed to the next balcony!

Hope you're having great time,

Angeliki

Making an oil -pie!

Yeap I made the traditional oil-pie! Peli finally convinced me to try her recipe (ok, it wasn't that difficult, I admit!)

I'm not quite sure that I made it though, oil's taste is a bit intense, but I suppose that's why it's called an oil-pie! Anyway, it leaves a sweet taste in the end which is something I like!! I also added some fresh orange juice as Peli suggested.

Before baking

and after

What do you think? For more infos about that pie, and of course the recipe, check Peli's relevant post.

See you soon,

Angeliki

Crocheted bird..!

I followed Lucy's tutorial and used paper towel for filling and a black board marker for the eyes...

It was fun...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a wonderful Sunday,

Angeliki

Making sesame cookies....!

Yesterday, I baked again! Yeap, I rushed to the market to buy all the necessary ingredients to make   Ambreen's sesame cookies,
then translated the recipe in greek, 

for greek fans only!! The english version can be found in Ambreen's blog!

and began combining my ingredients!!

It's better using dough hooks for blending!!

Unfortunatelly I don't have a rolling pin and rolling out the dough using  my hands, made the procedure a liitle more difficult than I had expected!!! Anyway, after some effort, I made it...!

...and because I don't have a cookie cutter I used a glass instead!!

But, in the end, after some, hem, hours in the kitchen....tadahhhh.....!

And they taste reeeeeally good! You should try the recipe too!
I'm linking to Adorned from above blog hop
Many kisses,
Angeliki

Small purse...!

A few days before I saw some crochet gift bags in Tammy's post and really loved them! So I asked her the pattern and yesterday I gave it a try!

I also received another award from http://meehameeha.blogspot.gr/ and I'm really thankful for that!

I now pass the award to these 5 amazing blogs:

Crochet Nirvana

Tammy's Daily Treasures

Crafty in The Med

H γελαστή κλωστή

Keywoman

 *Don't feel pressed by the award, it's up to you if you want to pass it to other bloggers or not!


Many kisses,
Angeliki

Crochet and Bake..!

Yesterday was a very creative day! One day after my second exam was over, I had full of energy and wanted to make things. During the previous week I was studying for about 10 hours per day, so I couldn't pass to a day doing nothing so abruptly! That's why I started crocheting a coffee can, inpired by my friend Tammy from http://tsdailytreasures.blogspot.gr/ , but soon gave up cause I felt I was wasting too much yarn. See, I only have big cans! Then remembered a video I had seen on youtube about  a credit card case and thought that what I had crocheted until then, should become that cute case! The design was coming to my mind slowly and the yellow part is because I miscalculated can's circumference so had to add some more yarn! Anyway..!

These aren't credit cards! They're just cards, lol

But that's not all, though it was the biggest part of the day! I also made some cleaning and  inspired again by Tammy's post I made shortbreads with apricot jam centers. The jam made from my mum!

The recipe can be found here and it's super easy! (Thank you Tammy for the great discovery!)

Well that's all my news! I still have one more exam on the 17th of July, but until then I'l get some rest!  What about you? How was your day? Had it been creative?

I'm linking in here ...

Not just an award!

A few days before, my good friend Peli from a lovely mess passed my the 

                                         

along with some really touching words, 

"we started bloging practically at the same time...you were one of my first and best supporters...your blog is lovely and its getting better everyday just like your crochet creations!! so heres an award for you with all my love :)"

The truth is that the last four years I didn't have hobbies. I suppose because of my heavy schedule. A few months before, my friend's mum crocheted some bags, and then thought, 'If she did it, then I can too!". Well, of course I should learn the basics first! So, as I was searching in a greek craft community, infos about crochet, I ran into Peli. Her help was immediate and next day, I was already buying my first crochet equipment! Her enormous support and her good words about my first  creations, were giving me courage to go on! I was inspired (and still am!) by her crochet and believing that by hard work I will also crochet perfectly! 

Now, few months later, I'm still crocheting and I'm glad I've found such a wonderful hobby (and a few more!)

Thank you Peli for everything!!!

But that's enough with the emotional part!!!!

I'm now passing the award to some blogs I really like,

Crochet Nirvana

Crafty in The Med

H γελαστή κλωστή

Poppy View

Keywoman

*The Liebster award has a few rules attached. The person who receives it is to acknowledge the giver, just as I have done, and then pass the award on to 3-5 other blogs by leaving a comment or emailing the blog writer. The chosen blogs must have less than 200 followers (this is the harder part - if you do have more than 200 followers and I selected you, please don't be insulted) and must capture your heart or your fancy, as the word "liebster" means dearest. You must also paste the award button onto your blog, so others will know you have already received it.* (as posted by Peli)

** I made a special tab with awards to keep the blog organised! I hope you'like it!

Crochet case..!

A few days ago I started crocheting again! So suddenly, just to take a break from my exam's stydies. Anyway I didn't know what to do and as you may remember I had asked your help about a crochet bag. You think I have forgotten?? No, I don't give up my projects that easily, just wait for the right time! Well, I decised to start with something easier and smaller like a cell-phone case. So I found this video on youtube and started following the instructions. Here's a "behind the scenes" image!!

                          

After some effort and many rows of double crochet... tadahh!

                         

                         

   

             Back

       
 

I also attached a double chain, just to learn how this can be done!

I really had fun but still have some problems I have to get over:

1. Still don't know how to finish off well, that's why there are some knots left

2. Sometimes I miss the final stitch of  a row and as a result my work doesn't become symmetrical

3. Have to learn how to change colour or what to do if my yarn ends in the middle of a row!

Anyway, one thing at a time...I'm optimist!

And since this case can't be used outside of the house, A found a practical use for it, in the  inside!

What do you think? I'm waiting for your thoughts and remarks!

Have a nice day,

Angeliki

A bit of everything..!

A few days ago my beloved grandma who lives in Kedros, a village near Karditsa, sent us in Athens some vegetables from her own garden. So, as I was making a salad for today's meal, A had a brilliant idea about growing peppers from my grandma's seeds!

                        

So he digged a bit, creating some space in our big pot and put the seeds in..
                         

The remaining seeds, left for me, were placed in a different pot. Don't know if we'll see any growth  but it was fun!

After finishing the seeding, we went back to the kitchen to finish off the "greek salad". Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, feta, olive oil, salt and oregan! (We had lack of onions and olives)
                                   
                                 Ready for the shot!                                           Ready to eat!

And of course the main course, cooked by my sweet mummy, au gratin and homemade tzatziki! Both delicious!!
                          

Now off to water my plants and then have some study about superconductivity's properties. If you wonder about that, take a look at this really impressing YT video, showing  Quantum Levitation.
Have a nice day,
Angeliki