Recipe -- Apple cake

Hello,

There are Filofaxes, but there's honey too!!

This is a recipe I adapted from a bunch of others I read online, so I'll call it mine, but it's not all that original!

I don't know about you, but where I live we are having the Crappiest Summer Ever. Right now as I type this it's pouring. We also have an apple tree that makes a ton of apples, but they are too sour to be eaten on their own. So I backed small muffins, that taste of fall, that make use of my apples, and that are perfect to go with my cup of tea!

4-5 apples
25gr of brown sugar
175gr of sugar
200gr of flour
1/2 a packet of baking powder
2 eggs
2 spoons of cinnamon
2 yogurts (plain)
salt

Preheat oven to 180C (th.6)
Start by peeling and cutting in small dice the apples.
In a small pot, put 25gr of brown sugar and 75gr of white sugar. Pour enough water to cover it. Let the sugar melt, on low heat. When it's melted, add the apples and let them cook. Stir from time to time.
In a dish, mix the flour, the cinnamon, the baking powder and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
In a second dish, mix the eggs with the 100gr of sugar left, until the mix is white. Then add the 2 yogurts.
When the apples are done, mix them in with the wet mix first, then add the dry mix to it.
Fill the cupcake pan to 2/3 and cook for 25-30 minutes!

Enjoy, and let me know what you think of it!

Poll -- Your Filo & a job interview -- RESULTS!

Hello everyone,

I'm back from my interview! I'll tell you in a second how it went, but first, the poll results:

Thanks a lot for you 36 people who voted!

• 63% thought it was ok to take your Filo to a job interview, to use it to take notes.
• 44% thought it was ok to bring it to look up info you have researched before.
• And 16% wouldn't bring it under any circumstances...

If the matter interests you, please also have a look in the comment section of the original post!

So I did take it to the interview. Actually, it turned out to be 2 interviews... As we discussed in the comments, I took a not so cute Filo (the Chameleon), and got all the cuteness out of it (stickers and so on), so it would look professional enough. Rest assured, it still looked handsome!
I only used the notepad at the back both times, to take notes. Neither interviewer seemed phased by it, they treated it as they would have any notebook.
During the first interview (that one went really well) the interviewer said how much they would need me to be organized. I showed my Filo, and Leon made a good impression :) During the second one, which didn't go so well, we never talked about the Filo and the interviewer didn't look at it weird or anything.
All in all I would say the Filo itself made either no impression or a good one. Now pray for me as I'm waiting for their final answer....

Re: Poll -- Your Filo & a job interview

Hello everyone,

Thanks a lot for helping me with my Filo dilemma! I got a lot of comments on the post, and votes in the poll on the right side. Thanks a lot for sharing your insights on the matter with me! Given the discussion we've had so far, I'll take the Filo with me ;) (it's this one, which has all my notes about job searching. Of course my Malden will come as well, since it's my wallet!).

I'll be gone next week, to take this interview, so I won't be able to reply. But please keep the discussion going, and don't forget to vote! Also, send me good vibes :D

I'll try to comment during the week but can't promise. I'll make a post on how the interview went and if the Filo had any effect when I come back. By then, the poll will be closed, so I'll also be able to give the results. 

Thanks again everyone, and see you next week!

Malden, my Filo-on-the-go

Hey there,


Here is my second set-up! I hope you enjoyed the first one. Today I'll show you my Malden, which is the binder that's always with me. As I said when I described my Leon, this summer is a bit special for me in that I don't work and live at my parents', so my Filos are not as they would be in 'normal' life. Expect an update on the set-ups in a few months!

My Malden is my very first Filo. I had been expecting a Filofax for a long time, and this binder did not disappoint! It has a rich feeling, with its soft leather and beautiful color (to my eyes at least :) )
I ordered this binder in Pocket because it doubles as a wallet. To me, this is the best way to ensure I always take it with me.

Here goes!

This is what I see when I open the binder. I keep in the slip pockets my credit card, an ID, and some small business cards printed off of MOO.com. And I have a cute picture/quote to make me smile :)

I keep coins in the zip pocket. I was very surprised at how much fits, in this picture I had 20euros in coins, which is that much :

That many monies

Yes, it does say 'and act like Kate Middleton'. LOVE IT!

After the Dr Seuss picture I have two credit card holders, full of frequent flyer's card, debit card, social security... And then this picture, next to my post-it dash board. This is so useful. On the bigger post-its you see here, I can jot down whatever when I'm on the go, and later put it in either this Filo or the A5. On the back of the fly leaf I have 2 smaller post its.

This might be my favorite part of the diary: I write everything on this calendar, and it really helps me keep track of things (workouts, weight, travels, work, friends' visits, illnesses...) I had a hard finding blank months to show you :)

This is the diary itself. I use the week on 2 pages that came with the binder, but I think I might change to week on 1 page for 2013... not sure yet. Here I added a note page in the middle of the week to give me more room to write down info. Typically I only write appointments and some times grocery lists on the days :) This note page is actually from an A4 notebook I bought when I was younger and never used, because 'I had to save it for an occasion! I can't waste the paper!!'. Well I gathered all these precious notebooks and cut them down to fit in my Pocket, where the cute designs make me happy :)

Typical of this poor Malden : I write something down on a post it note, in a hurry, and slam it in the appropriate week. Then it never gets written down in pretty colors... I did use a sticker here though. The post it on the Today ruler has my weekly to-dos, so I don't repeat them.

This is the end of the diary part. On December 31st I put a post-it note on which I wrote things scheduled for 2013. They'll get written over when I get next year's calendar. After the diary we have a Notes section, delimited by this cute postcard I cut down to fit. You can see again some of the cutesy paper from earlier. Here I have notes I need to keep with me, mostly related to shopping! For instance I have a list of chemicals I try to avoid in cosmetics, or perfumes I want to try out...

After the notes I have some important phone numbers, and then a Finance section. For this section, I was too cheap to order Filofax' Finance paper, so I copied it by hand on paper cut to size... works perfectly for me :)

At the end of the binder I have this enveloppe containing souvernirs, then a zip-pocket with subway tickets for Paris. In the vertical slip pocket at the back I have my driver's licence, and in the horizontal one more note paper. The pen I use in this binder is a 0.5 Frixion, because it fits perfectly and because I need it to be erasable.

Last but not least, the reason why Pockets work so well as wallets to me: here I can of course stash paper money, but also letter I need to take care of, or doctor's notes... very useful.

There you go, you now know everything about my M.Malden!

Poll -- Your Filo & a job interview

Hello,

As you may know, I am currently looking for a job. It is lonely and sort of depressing, and I often find myself getting very absorbed in small details.
The question on my mind these days is: should I bring my Filo to interviews? As you may have seen in my A5 tour, I have a whole section dedicated to job search, which could be really useful during an interview. But I am concerned with the impression I would give to the interviewer.
What are your thoughts? You'll see a poll on the side of the blog, please participate, but also feel free to discuss in more details here in the comments! The poll will be open for 2 weeks.

Thanks for your help!