Israel

I really like this cute map of Israel as well as the stamp, as a fun fact it's a joint issue between Israel and Nepal featuring the highest and lowest points on Earth, Mt. Everest in Nepal and the Dead sea in Israel

Israel is a small yet diverse Middle Eastern country with a long coastline on the eastern Mediterranean Sea and a small window on the Red Sea at the Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba). Israel is bordered by Egypt and the Gaza Strip to the southwest, by Jordan to the east, and by Syria and Lebanon to the north. It shares borders to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea with the West Bank and Jordan. 

Israel is considered part of the Holy Land. The three major monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—all have historical ties to the region. Israel thus contains a vibrant modern history and culture, based in part on the diverse, immigrant origins of its inhabitants returning from the Jewish Diaspora. These aspects make Israel a fascinating destination for many travelers and pilgrims. 

Israel is a highly urbanized and economically developed society and is therefore best divided for the traveler into its main cities and towns, followed by the regions and other sites.

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תודה רבה (toda raba) Einav! 

Animal life - South Africa

My second postcards from Africa! It displays a very african scene which I really like, as well as the stamps

South Africa is a paradise for anyone interested in natural history. A wide range of species (some potentially dangerous) may be encountered in parks, farms, private reserves and even on the roads.

• The Kruger National Park is exceptionally well managed and a favorite tourist destination.
• Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the heart of the Kalahari desert with wide open spaces and hordes of games including the majestic 'Gemsbok'. This is the first park in Africa to cross political borders.
• There are also a large number of smaller parks, like the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park, Addo Elephant National Park, Pilanesberg National Park or the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

 There are hiking trails available in almost all the parks and around geographical places of interest.

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Dankie Rayno!

Penpals ♥

[Penpalling] 

I had my first penpal when I was 10 years old however I lost touch with her due to the fact that our teachers were the ones who handled the mailing process so when the school year ended so did our pen-friendship.
In 2011 I officially became a snail-mailer after the discovery of postcrossing and I decided to try penpalling again, since then I've received and sent lots of letters from/to many people, sadly most of them have just come and go and I don't really write with them anymore.
Snail-mail is an essential part of my life and penpalling is super special because I really enjoy the fact that I can share the love for old fashioned mail with someone else who lives across the world and we are able to build a friendship through writing (which is another essential part of my life).

[My amazing penpals]
After loosing some penpals for different reasons I took a few new ones and we are in the process of sending our first letters and getting to know each other so I hope that recently I'll get to talk about them. At the moment I want to share with you two amazing friends.
I wanted to include pics but I didn't want to post their picture without their permission (this post is a surprise) so I decided to draw some portraits...

Jackie

Jackie found me on instagram through a pic I had uploaded that had a snail-mail hashtag.
She's australian (I have to admit Australia has always caught my attention so I was excited about having an aussie friend when she asked me if I wanted to be penpals) and she happens to have a connection with Mexico, so we immediately got along.
Jackie is a fun, sensitive, adventurous, nature-loving girl and I feel really lucky to be her penpal, she's awesome and I always enjoy reading her long letters, we were very close to meeting in person last year but sadly it didn't happen, however I'm sure we'll make it happen sometime. I can imagine how fun would it be having Jackie the outdoorsy explorer and Niza the concrete loving "city rat" together and now that I think about it, that's one of the things I cherish the most about our friendship, the fact that we live different lives in very different environments but still we are very similar in many ways.

Sophie

This went the other way around, I found Sophie on instagram while exploring the penpal hashtag and after looking at her cute gallery I asked her if she wanted to be penpals.
She's welsh (another country that has caught my attention for a long time) and she really is one of the most "kawaii" people I've ever met.
Sophie is a cool, sweet, caring, free-spirited girl and I'm really glad I had the chance to meet her and befriend her. One of the things I really like about her is that she's one of those people that proves that a person should look the way they want to look and be whoever they want to be. Another thing I really enjoy about writing to Sophie is the fact that we started college around the same time so it's great to have someone to share experiences, opinions and anecdotes about our college life, specially since we live in different countries and that way we both gain different perspectives. I always appreciate how cute her letters are and I hope we get to meet in person really soon and hang out while sharing lots of laughs.



And I think that's all for now, next time I'll talk a bit more about my experience in the penpalling world. Thanks to anyone who reads this and as always comments are much appreciated!

The welsh alphabet

This has to be one of my favorite cards ever! I'm majoring in philology (linguistics and literature) and I love everything related to languages so it's very interesting to see the welsh alphabet with the changes of the digraphs and even learning some words. 

I found this video with the pronunciation of the letters in case that as me you are curious about the welsh language, very interesting!

Diolch yn fawr Fjara!

Fromages d'Italie

We have a new one for the collection, cheese from Italy!

*Chèvre des Langhe 

*Cimonino Valsassina 

*Chèvre et bouchons 

*Mortarat Ciambellina

*Chèvre aux noisettes et aux amandes 

*Gorgonzola 

*Scamorze fumées 

*Piacentino di Enna 

*Chèvre au moût de raisins Moscato

*Paglierina appassita 

*Ricotta fumée de Calabre 

*Burrata en feuille de jonc 

*Ricotta salée Marzolina

*Tomme de chèvre de la Val Cerrina 

*Provola Calabrese 

*Pecorino feuille de noyer 

*Ragusano 

*Sora

*Robiola de chèvre 

*Brillo rouge de Trévise 

*Mozzarella de bufflonne 

*Robiola vieille de la Valsassina 

*Ricotta Ossolana fumée

*Tommette Valle Elvo

*Ricotta piémontaise Seirass affinée dans le foin 

*Parmigiano Reggiano 

*Mascarpone et bouchées de chèvre 

*Ricotta piémontaise Seirass fraîche 

*Caciocavallo Silano

*Asiago 

Ačiū Alma!

München

A very original card showing different monuments in Munich and you have to love the stamp with the sunset at Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer.

Munich is the capital city of Bavaria. Within the city limits, it has a population of more than 1.4 million, making it the third most populous city in Germany.
Located at the river Isar in the south of Bavaria, is famous for its beautiful architecture, fine culture, and the annual Oktoberfest beer celebration. Many travelers to Munich are absolutely stunned by the quality of the architecture. Although it was heavily damaged by allied bombing during World War II, many of its historic buildings have been rebuilt and the city center appears mostly as it did in the late 1800s including its largest church, the Frauenkirche, and the famous city hall.
Munich is a major international center of business, engineering, research and medicine exemplified by the presence of two research universities, a multitude of smaller colleges, headquarters of several multinational companies and worldclass technology and science museums like the Deutsches Museum and BMW Museum. It is Germany's most prosperous city and makes it repeatedly into the top 10 of global quality-of-life rankings.

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Danke Birgit!

Lietuva

A really nice card along some amazing stamps, I love the fact that the church ones have the floor plans on them and it's a good idea to have a stamp with a map.

Lithuania is a Baltic country in Northern Europe. It has a Baltic Sea coastline in the west and is surrounded by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east, Poland to the southwest, and Russia (Kaliningrad) to the west.

Lithuania is justly proud of its unfailing treasures of folklore: colourful clothing, meandering songs, an abundance of tales and stories, sonorous dialects and voluble language. This ethnographic heritage is nourished by ethnographic and folklore companies and barn theatres. Recent years have witnessed the revival of ethnographic crafts and culinary traditions. Folk craft fairs and live craft days are organized during many events and festivals.

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 Ačiū Ieva!

Cornish Pasty

This postcard is great because the part of Mexico I come from was a large english settlement so pasties (known as pastes over here) are one of the main dishes of this region.

And I love the gold medal winner stamp as well, I can't believe the olympics were two years ago! 

A pasty  is a baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, the westernmost county in England. It is made by placing uncooked filling typically of meat and vegetables on a flat pastry circle and folding it to wrap the filling, crimping the edge to form a seal. After baking, the result is a raised semicircular food item.The traditional Cornish pasty is filled with beef, sliced or diced potato, swede (referred to in Cornwall as turnip) and onion, seasoned with salt and pepper. 
The origins of the pasty are unclear, though there are many references to them throughout historical documents and fiction. The pasty is now popular world-wide due to the spread of Cornish miners, and variations can be found in Australia, the United States, Mexico and elsewhere.


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Thank you Carolyn!

Happy new year!

I know I'm a bit late but I wanted to wish everyone who reads this blog a happy new year! If you happen to be a snail-mailer I wish you lots of postcards, letters and parcels for this year! (: Also I want to apologize for leaving the blog behind, I know in my last posts I've said the same but I was really busy and moving from  one place to another but now that I'm all settled I hope to update periodically because I still have lots of interesting postcards to show to you!

There are many interviews from snail-mailers around the globe to come, lots of postcards to write about, some new sections and this year I'll be holding lotteries for all the readers of this blog who would like to win a card from Mexico! So keep tuned! :D 

[For any requests, comments, swaps, questions, etc you can reach me at: lovebisquets@yahoo.com.mx]

A bit thank you and my best wishes for 2014 to everyone who visits!

Gotochi - Tochigi

This is my second Gotochi card but the first one sent from Japan! (The other one I have was sent from Hong Kong)

Gotochi cards are from Japan, they portray something that's characteristic from every japanese prefecture, in this case we have gyozas from Tochigi. 

Gyozas are fried dumplings often filled with meat and vegetables and served with a soy-vinegar dipping sauce. With a chewier, thicker skin than a wonton, a gyoza is a variant of the popular Chinese potsticker. Utsunomiya, capital city of the Tochigi Prefecture, is famous for its gyozas, featuring over 200 restaurants that serve the popular dish.

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Arigato Nicole!

San Marino

A postcard from a "hard to get" country! Along some of my favorite stamps, they are very colorful and lovely

San Marino (officially the Republic of San Marino) is the third smallest state in Europe and claims to be the world's oldest republic. According to tradition, it was founded by a Christian stonemason named Marinus in 301. San Marino's foreign policy is aligned with that of Italy, which surrounds it. Social and political trends in the republic also track closely with those of its larger neighbor.

San Marino is made up of a few towns dotted around the mountain sides. The capital of San Marino is itself called 'San Marino' and is situated high up on a mountain top. The capital is surrounded by a wall and three distinct towers overlook the rest of the country. The site "San Marino: Historic Centre and Mount Titano" has become part of the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008. It lies 657 m above sea level with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside and Adriatic coast.

The towns surrounding the capital are more industrial and generally not as attractive as the main city.

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Grazie Luca!

Latvia

This is my first and only card from Latvia! It's a very original card showing one of the typical dresses of the country as well as some coats of arms on the stamps.

Latvia is a European state which is situated on the coast of Baltic Sea. One of the three Baltic states, Latvia is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Belarus on the south east, and the Baltic Sea on the west. The most famous travel spot is the capital Riga, a World Heritage Site. There are also many other great places to see, both urban and rural, such as Liepaja with its unique former secret military town of Karosta and a magnificent beach.

Tourists can also enjoy the wild beauty of Latvia's unspoilt sea coast, which is 500 km long and consists mainly of white, soft sandy beaches. Forests, which cover approximately a half of Latvia's territory, offer many nature trails and nature parks.

Because of a tribal past and divisions between occupying nations, there are regional differences between parts of Latvia which are interesting to explore.

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Paldies Svetlana!

Bandung

This is a lovely and colorful illustration of Bandung along a curious stamp of a kangaroo... yes a kangaroo from Indonesia...

This is one of Indonesia's megacities (the Bandung conurbation is home to almost eight million people). Bandung attracts workers, intellectuals and students from across the archipelago, and its industries, restaurants and cafes throb with life. Today, grandiose art deco buildings, heaving market stalls, becak and multiplexes jostle for space in the city. For travellers, the city does make a good base for daytrips to the surrounding countryside, high volcanic peaks, hot springs and tea plantations are all within easy reach.

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Terima kasih Jennifer!

La passion du chocolat

For my first post of 2014 we have chocolate!

*Macarons
*Religieuse à l'ancienne
*Tigré
*Saobo
*Tartes au chocolat
*Opéra
*Moule à chocolat
*Eclairs
*Forêt noire
*Criolo
*Menthe
*Mini-criolo
*Tigré
*Opéra
*Brownies
*Religieuse
*Décor en chocolat
*Mousse
*Mousse aux trois chocolats
*Chocolats brut

Aitäh Jalutaja!