Music to my Ears #5

Being an English teacher sometimes means that during the summer months I am forced into extended vacation. Most people would tell me that I am lucky to have a break for two months but I view it as the opposite. I wonder how long I can sustain myself in this manner when I am not making much income for two months of the year. 

Let me step back a little, it´s not that it´s all bad. I have food and shelter and don´t have to worry that I will end up in the street. The worry comes in when thinking about the future -- getting married, starting a family, and providing for the needs of having one. The conclusion being, my work situation cannot continue to be like this. I either need to change my career path or start my own business in this industry that I have really grown to love. 

With a lot of free time on my hands, I have been occupying my time with painting the house, hanging out by the pool, seeing friends and family, listening to a lot of music.... So, here it is my latest list of tracks to share!

Hurricane - Tiefschwarz feat. Jaw (Original Mix)

Ghost Hand - Sascha Braemer

Sirens - Monkey Safari (Original Mix)

The Giver - Duke Dumont (Original Mix)

U So Fine - Betoko

If you are a music lover and have found your way here. I would love to hear from you. If you are a lover of a different type of music and have discovered something that you like on here, I would love to hear from you as well. I would like to know what is music to your ears?

Daphne xx

From the Kitchen: Easy Garlic Chicken

It´s about time that I have a food post! It´s not that I haven´t been cooking all this time, the problem is I haven´t been attentive! I forget to take photos and lately remember to do it after we have started eating or after all the food is gone.

Today´s dish is from my Food folder on Pinterest (click to view original recipe, here) and it´s called Easy Garlic Chicken and after reading the preparation instructions, I can tell you it lives up to its name. I´ve prepared this with three people in mind. You will need the following:

3 Boneless and Chicken Breast
6 Garlic Cloves
4 tbs. Honey
1 tbs. Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper.

When I got back from the supermarket I realized that I didn´t remember to get brown sugar and so I changed this out for honey. I also preheated the oven to 250 degrees and once I placed the chicken inside, I kept it at 230 for the first 10 minutes only. I then dropped the heat to 170 and it stayed there until I was sure the chicken was cooked.

I like to prepare baked food this way to avoid the food from getting burned (as much as possible) and to make sure that the food is cooked thoroughly. Slow and sure is my mantra when cooking.

I paired the chicken off with white rice.

As you can see from the photos, I shaped very crude holders for the individual chicken breasts. I did it to keep the honey from sticking to the baking pan and to hold in the honey and garlic mixturee and allow the chicken to just bake in the juices. I was a little worried that it would come out very sweet but that didn´t happen, in the end B loved it :)

Weekend Bump (Music to My Ears #4)

Having spent half the weekend at home and half of it out with friends and B, I am sitting in the studio at home listening to great music on a Sunday afternoon. Hearing all these great tracks is building up the excitement for next month´s festival and at the same time I am taking advantage of the inspiration to write and share the eargasmic tracks I´m being treated to right now. 

Everything listed below has come from one source only, Solomun´s BBC 1 Radio Essential Mix on Soundcloud. If you wanna listen to the whole thing, you can do so here. Below however are the choice tracks that have stood out from this impeccable set!

I´m kicking off today´s tracklist with Shanghai´s Looking for Love (Lulu Rouge Mix). This was the first track he ever played on that set and I can´t get it out of my head. It surely makes me think of dancing in Sonar by Night and forgetting the people around me and just feeling the beats vibrate through my chest and spread everywhere else. Graphic enough yet? :)

Most electronic tracks don´t  have full blown lyrics. It is very likely that those that do are actually remixed or reedited. (Let´s not get into technicalities here as I would most likely lose that debate as I am not the most knowledgeable in that department. I just know good music when I hear it). There are quite a few of them that have been so tastefully done that are definitely worth the mention and the song The Sweetest Love by James Yuill is one of them. A ´sneaky edit´ by Prins Thomas

One that hasn´t been remixed or edited for this particular set is a track by Erik Christiansen called Cosmic Girl. In my elevated plane of happiness, I cannot help but put the laptop down and dance around for the duration of the track. I might have said something like this before in a previous entry about music that if I ever become a DJ, I am already building a tracklist, and this one just landed a spot in it. 

I hope this has been a short but sweet listening pleasure for you, if you happen to be here :) Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Daphne xx

Music to my ears # 3

This has taken a while to re-appear on here but I´m back with some new tracks that I would like to share with you. If you will notice the ones that have been included into this list has a theme-- the sun. Read on and you will understand what I mean. I didn´t plan it that way and I´´m amazed at how things just work themselves out without trying too much.

I´m kicking today´s post off with Nathan Fake. I loved his track from a few years ago The Sky Is Pink and few others found their way into my Ipod along with this one from 2006, Long Sunny (Fairmont Remix).

Sometimes the color of the sun can be described as crimson which makes this track fall perfectly in place with the unplanned theme that I have going on. Of course, the more important reason that I have chosen to include this track here is cause it sounds good and made me dance when I heard it. Released this year, it´s a track by Pearson Sound.

A name that is totally unfamiliar and new to me, Aphrodite. The only Aphrodite I know of is from Greek Mythology. However, the other night B was picking a track he was going to use for his football chronicles- He played a part of this track and it immediately caught my attention. This one goes by the name of Heat Haze from 2009.

I´ve said this before and I will say it again, I am always on the lookout for new artists to listen to. Music is such a big part of my life. I don´t need much to lift my spirits up, give me a beat that I can dance to and we´re on our way. 

Speaking of dancing, are you  going to Sonar Electronic Music Festival in Barcelona in June?
Which festival /s will you be attending this year?

Instaphotoshoot Me

Having a lot of alone time on my hands equals playing around at home. I´ve always wanted to try out the self-timer mode of the Nikon D70 and to try using a tripod to take photos.

Here are the ones that I liked from the hundreds that I must have taken! They aren´t perfect, check out the feather behind me which I needed to help the camera focus, needless to say I had a lot of fun doing this shoot.

P.S. All photos where taken in the bedroom where the afternoon sunlight is brightest. The walls at home are all white and makes the perfect backdrop for the shots I like to do.