Monthly Musings: February 2022
Happy Wednesday, friends! I hope this Monthly Musings: February 2022 post finds you well. Did you have a nice January? Mine was pretty great as far as Januarys go, and my February is shaping up to follow suit! I am very much one of those people that needs to have something in the not-so-distant future to look forward to, and this month I have two! This weekend I’m heading out to the new Six by Nico restaurant with my family, and I’m very intrigued to try their ‘Once Upon a Time’ story-based tasting menu. I have high hopes! On top of that, in just a few short weeks Boyfriend & I are heading back to our beloved Westport! Pre-pandemic we used to visit the town every year around Boyfriend’s birthday, and this will be our first time back since September 2019. We can hardly wait! We’ve already booked into all of our favourite restaurants and I have a list of newly opened spots I’m itching to try! Told you it was shaping up!
I feel like I say this every month, but I’m going to try to keep it brief today, friends. Our monthly dose of ramblings for the weeks ahead are below. I hope you find something to take away with you, be it a new recipe, a hankering to visit a tiny country, or a new addictive word game. Enjoy!
Monthly Musings: February 2022
Covid-19 update: they’ve thrown out basically all of the restrictions. As of January 21st, you no longer need a Covid certificate to get into bars/restaurants, there’s no capacity restrictions indoors, and the curfew has been lifted. The only things you need a Covid cert for is travel, and you only need to wear a mask in shops/on public transport. It’s mad, and I definitely don’t agree with most of it. Other than that: it seems like every second person has Covid, but thankfully both mine & Boyfriend’s families have remained healthy & safe.
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Our quick trip to Luxembourg was great! I can’t believe we were there less than 2-weeks ago, it totally feels like a dream. We spent 3-days pounding the streets – literally, we did over 20,000 steps every day – of Luxembourg City and the fairytale town of Vianden. We also: ate wonderfully, tried as many Luxembourgish lagers as we could, visited a real-life castle, and took full advantage of the country-wide free public transport. Dreamy indeed! Fear not, Luxembourg travel guides coming soon!
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Related: we took the time out recently to organize part of our summer travel plans! We’ll be visiting Tuscany in June with Boyfriend’s family to celebrate his mom’s birthday, and then going on our own little trip afterwards. Our plan includes: San Donato in Poggio, Florence, Bologna, and hopefully day-trips to both San Marino and Sambuca. I just love Italy! See more: An Ode to Florence, Italy / Bologna, A Love Letter.
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In case you missed it: I shared my Bordeaux travel guide online last month! Eating Our Way Around Bordeaux, France is basically a love letter to the food scene in the wine capital. I’ll be sharing a quick guide to Saint-Émilion sometime this month and I can’t wait for you to see how cute and magical the tiny village is! Have you visited?
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It’s Valentine’s month! Will you be baking for a loved one? If so, I gotchu covered: Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bar Hearts / Lemon & Blueberry Heart Pies / Personal Apple Pie. Boyfriend’s love language is anything involving blueberries, so there will likely be something buttery & blooby in our near future – perhaps Vallery’s Blueberry Buckle? We shall see.
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Remember last year’s epic Godzilla Cake that I made for Boyfriend’s nephew? Well, this past week I found myself making an equally as epic Rapunzel cake for his niece. I haven’t fully decided if I’ll share a behind the scenes post about it yet, but gosh, I’m so proud of how it turned out. It was a fully edible, free standing Rapunzel tower, made out of chocolate biscuit cake and carefully/painstakingly hand painted by moi. It was a labour of love – but it was so worth it to see everyone’s reactions. Anyone else in need of a birthday cake? I’ll give you mates rates đŸ˜‰
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This is more a note for future me than for any of you reading, but I’ve pulled down all of my photo journals. I know, I’m kind of sad about it too! It’s just, all those extra photos took up a LOT of space, and it didn’t really make sense to keep them all here anyways. To counteract the loss – for myself – I’m going back through all of my travel posts & including one or two of my favourite personal photos. A compromise, of sorts.
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Have you joined the Wordle train? It exploded all over my Instagram feed a couple weeks ago & it seems like everyone does it. If you ask me how I feel about it, I’d tell you I don’t really like it. And yet, I find myself doing it every single day. It’s kind of addictive. Related: NYT just bought Wordle for 7-figures. Hopefully it stays free and subscription free!
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On a sadder note, we said goodbye to our sweet dog Bobbi last month. She was a boxer/sheep-dog mixed breed, and she would’ve been 12-years old this coming November. It all happened very fast in the end – I’m so thankful that Boyfriend & I were back from Luxembourg in time to say goodbye! – but it was kidney failure that did her in. She suddenly couldn’t eat or walk, and she looked so sad. It was heartbreaking, but at least she isn’t in pain anymore.
And there we have it: Monthly Musings: February 2022! Thanks for dropping by, friends! Let’s chat again in March, okay?
All my love,
Vicki xo
