A recipe for Happiness: Cookies, Movies, Vanlife and Quality Time

Hi Hive,

As my weekend comes to an end, I feel a deep sense of satisfaction thinking about the moments experienced over the past two days. I believe it's fair to say that I feel a certain gratitude.

Thanks to these two days, I dare say my level of happiness has jumped from about 40% to 70%, if not more. Evaluating one's happiness is a task I find delicate, but this estimate seems quite faithful to my current state of mind.

To give you a bit of context, it's been almost two months that my partner and I have been sharing everyday life with my parents. This cohabitation, although healthy, presents its set of challenges for our relationship, especially in terms of intimacy. We feel it because these last few days, we've had difficulty speaking to each other without raising our voices.

Friday brought an unexpected turn: my parents announced they were leaving for the weekend, thus offering us the much-desired space to reconnect. Perfect!

To celebrate, we concocted a champion's aperitif with biscuits, good beer, and a few other snacks. Caught up in the moment's euphoria, I forgot to capture this moment in photo. Anyway, we needed to find each other again, and not having my phone was a good thing. We then spent the evening watching the latest Jurassic World, continuing our marathon of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies we started last week.

In summary: Jurassic Park is good, Jurassic World is bad. 😅

Saturday morning, we attended a football competition where one of my girlfriend's nieces was playing. The morning went by quickly, and upon our return, we savored a meal together. A simple meal, but talking just the two of us did us the world of good.

In the afternoon, we indulged in making cookies according to my partner's favorite recipe, a recipe so delicious that I promise to share it with you soon. 😋

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While the cookies were baking, we rested in the sauna. After which, we ate a few.

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I also wanted to cook something. The sauna had really made me hungry, and I was craving a burger. But not a red meat burger, rather a chicken burger.

So, I grabbed my keys and went shopping for it, not forgetting to stop by my butcher to pick up 2 chicken fillets. Back home, I prepared my burgers. For sides, I had potatoes that I could have cut to make fries, but I was busy enough with preparing the fried chicken. So, I opted for simple frozen fries.

The result was so convincing that I'm tempted to share my recipe with you soon. Meanwhile, I leave you with a photo.

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This Sunday, the morning was gentle and unhurried, marked by a revitalizing walk. Lunch consisted of a last burger prepared with the leftovers from the previous day, rounding off the experience.

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The afternoon was dedicated to finishing the setup of our van, notably the kitchen countertop. During the technical control, we had to dismantle everything. But it's now 100% operational again!

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Then, we went to a DIY store near my parents' to buy the flooring for our future tiny house, another step towards realizing our project. We're happy to have finally done this, our project is progressing. It's not fast, but speed isn't really what matters.

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Back home, in our van, we loaded a machine belonging to my father. It will allow us to make the cuts in the parquet for our tiny house. The van is now almost ready to hit the road. We plan to leave this week, if everything goes as planned, although our dense professional schedule makes things somewhat uncertain... At least, this influx of work is financially beneficial. But we hope to be able to breathe more easily soon.

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This weekend was for us a bubble of tranquility and shared happiness. Precious time to find each other and recharge together, away from the hassles of work and other small worries that we share and don't necessarily talk about otherwise. I think it really did us good to be just the two of us.




VERSION FRANÇAISE




Salut Hive 👋

Alors que mon week-end touche à sa fin, je ressens une profonde satisfaction en pensant aux moments vécus ces deux derniers jours. Je crois qu'on peut dire que j'éprouve une certaine gratitude.

Grâce à ces deux jours, j'ose dire que mon niveau de bonheur a bondi d'environ 40% à 70%, voire plus. Évaluer son bonheur est une tâche que je trouve délicate, mais cette estimation me semble assez fidèle à mon état d'esprit actuel.

Pour vous mettre un peu dans le contexte, cela fait presque deux mois que ma compagne et moi partageons le quotidien de mes parents. Cette cohabitation, bien que saine, présente son lot de défis pour notre couple, notamment en termes d'intimité. On le ressent parce que ces derniers jours, nous avons eu du mal à nous parler sans hausser le ton.

Vendredi, un revirement inattendu : mes parents ont annoncé leur départ pour le week-end, nous offrant ainsi un espace tant désiré pour nous retrouver. Parfait !

Pour célébrer ça, nous avons concocté un apéro de champion à base de biscuits, d'une bonne bière et de quelques autres snacks. Pris dans l'euphorie du moment, j'ai omis de capturer cet instant en photo. De toute manière, nous avions besoin de nous retrouver et ne pas avoir mon téléphone était une bonne chose. Nous avons ensuite passé la soirée devant le dernier Jurassic World, poursuivant notre marathon des films Jurassic Park et Jurassic World entamé la semaine dernière.

En résumé : Jurassic Park c'est bien, Jurassic World c'est nul. 😅

Samedi matin, nous avons assisté à une compétition de foot où jouait une des nièces de ma copine. La matinée s'est écoulée rapidement, et à notre retour, nous avons savouré un plat en tête-à-tête. Un repas simple, mais parler à deux nous a fait le plus grand bien.

L'après-midi, nous nous sommes adonnés à la préparation de cookies selon la recette fétiche de ma compagne, une recette tellement délicieuse que je me promets de la partager bientôt avec vous. 😋

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Pendant que les cookies chauffaient, nous nous sommes reposés dans le sauna. Après quoi, nous en avons mangé quelques-uns.

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J'avais moi aussi envie de cuisiner quelque chose. Le sauna m'avait donné vraiment faim et j'avais envie de burger. Mais pas d'un burger à base de viande rouge, plutôt à base de poulet.

J'ai donc attrapé mes clés et je suis allé faire quelques courses pour préparer ça, sans oublier de passer chez mon boucher prendre 2 filets de poulet. En rentrant, j'ai préparé mes burgers. Comme accompagnement, j'avais des pommes de terre que j'aurais pu découper pour faire des frites, mais j'étais suffisamment occupé avec la préparation du poulet frit. Donc j'ai opté pour de simples frites surgelées.

Le résultat était si convaincant que je suis tenté de vous divulguer ma recette prochainement. En attendant, je vous laisse avec une photo.

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Ce dimanche, la matinée a été douce et sans hâte, marquée par une promenade revigorante. Le déjeuner a consisté en un dernier burger préparé avec les restes de la veille, histoire de boucler la boucle.

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L'après-midi fut consacrée à la fin de l'aménagement de notre fourgon, notamment le plan de travail de la cuisine. Lors du passage au contrôle technique, nous avions été obligé de tout démonter. Mais il est de nouveau 100% opérationnel !

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Ensuite, nous nous sommes rendu dans un magasin de bricolage proche de chez mes parents afin d'aller acheter le revêtement de sol pour notre future tiny house, une étape de plus vers la concrétisation de notre projet. On est content d'avoir enfin fait ça, notre projet avance. Il n'avance pas vite, mais l'important n'est pas vraiment la vitesse.

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De retour à la maison, dans notre van, nous avons chargé une machine appartenant à mon père. Elle nous permettra de faire les découpes du parquet pour notre tiny house. Le van est désormais presque prêt à prendre la route. Nous prévoyons de partir cette semaine, si tout se déroule comme prévu, bien que notre emploi du temps professionnel dense rende les choses quelque peu incertaines... Au moins, cet afflux de travail est bénéfique financièrement. Mais on espère pouvoir bientôt pouvoir sortir la tête de l'eau.

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Ce week-end a été pour nous une bulle de tranquillité et de bonheur partagé. Un temps précieux pour nous retrouver et nous ressourcer ensemble, loin des tracas du travail et d'autres petits soucis que nous partageons et dont nous ne nous parlons pas forcément par ailleurs. Je pense que ça nous a vraiment fait du bien de nous retrouver seulement à deux.




All the photos are mine and were taken with my smartphone.

The English translation is done with DeepL.

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The van is looking great! I do like the curtains on the cupboard - much lighter. Be really interested to see the parquet floor!

I'm glad you had a happy weekend - honestly, it sounds totally blissful! Happiness comes and goes - so enjoy it fully when it's there!

When we bought this van, it had already been fitted out by the previous owner. We only had to redo the entire kitchen area, as it had been cobbled together and the wood was of very poor quality.

There are a lot of things we'd like to redo in our van. But we don't have the finances.

As for the parquet, I hope that within two weeks we'll have had time to lay it, but of course I'll share everything here!

And as for happiness, that's it. We know it's fleeting, and that's why it makes happiness all the more enjoyable!

Without darkness, the light isn't as bright!

I always think the van life media makes us feel like we should be making all these fancy improvements to our vans. I mean, the old days we'd chuck a matress in and a single gas stove and off we would go.

Now it's all toilets and diesel heaters and water heaters and wood lining. It's a constant rechecking of need vs want. And there's a lot to be said for recycled and Upcycled!

Its true, you are right. Maybe I'm a little too matrixial with all the photos I see everywhere.

The problem is that when you live in it for a long time, you also want to feel good. These are things that can be done step by step, but you know, sometimes when I see all the poor finishes that the previous owner has, I'm really on the verge of dismantling everything and starting again.

But I'm holding back because I'm not sure my girlfriend would like it 😅

matrixial

What a freaking awesome word! I have never heard of it but it makes UTTER sense!

sometimes when I see all the poor finishes that the previous owner has

Exactly how we rebuilt two Land Rovers ahahah - we would be so guilty of ignoring my own advice haha.

I think it's a word that Generation Z uses a lot. I don't know if you can fit people into boxes, so I hate the terms generation Z, generation A,B,C and all the rest.

But I have to admit, it comes in handy sometimes!

Getting back to the term "being matrixed", I've never tried to define it, I think it's pretty easy to grasp the meaning. But to put it simply, it's the fact of letting yourself be influenced or manipulated without realizing it, but also the fact of being fascinated or obsessed by something.

I don't know, but I think it's a reference to the Matrix movie, where after a while, Neo realizes that the world he perceives isn't real, but a simulation created by machines.

I'm not sure where it comes from, but I use it a lot! ^^

I'm before breakfast and the food is calling my name. Good thing I am still on my no sugar challenge, so no cookies for me, but the burger would be great 😋

Haha, I think I'd have to get into a sugar-free challenge too. I've never liked sugar actually, but my partner grew up with parents who made a lot of cakes so she really likes sugar. As a result, I eat a lot more sweet things now. It's a real drug, because even though I don't particularly like it, it's now hard to do without.

And for the burger, I'm thinking of sharing the recipe this week, it's really simple and a real treat 😋

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