INSTA PICKS

The weather was really shitty today. It was raining and the wind was blowing like crazy, so we thought we'd stay home in our freshly cleaned apartment and do what we do best: Be lazy. 

But still we have to give you some kind of post today right? Don't worry, we found something that we could do without moving an inch, namely showing you a fine selection of our favorite Instagram pictures. 

Browsing through these images we realized how different we were in our posting habits. Melina for example mostly takes photos of her friends or her environment and the occasional selfie and with Ago it's 90% photos of food. Maybe we should have named this blog "Vain and Gluttony"? 

Anyways, we are huge fans of Instagram. Mainly because you can get so much information and inspiration out of it (think of all the motivational quotes alone, love em!) and also because we like stalking a lot. 

If we made you curious now and the photos down below are not enough to satisfy your appetite then don't be shy and follow us @msmelinah and @agogurl and of course @routetwentythree! 

PASTA PUMPKANESCA

We know Halloween is over, but pumpkin season isn't and you might still have some leftovers from your past pumpkin carving sessions. So here's a treat for all the people who are (like Melina) not too much into sweets and cakes. Besides that, who doesn't love a steaming bowl of nice pasta, topped with a deliciously creamy sauce?

Well, we certainly do and we think that you won't be able to resist this quick and easy dish either! 

Don't worry if you lack some ingredients. Just remember that cooking is a creative process and if you do it with love, the chances of your food not tasting good are close to zero. So we hope you enjoy this recipe and maybe even surprise a loved one with a nice home cooked meal. 

You'll need: 

pumpkin pulp (can't give you any measurements here, just use how much you like) 

fennel (no measurements either)

a nice big onion 

a small cup of cream

a tiny glass of white wine 

some cherry tomatoes

Parmesan

and of course the pasta of your choice 

After you put the pasta in boiling water, dice the onion and fry it in some olive oil. Add the fennel, pumpkin and tomatoes and stir until semi soft. Then pour the wine and cream over it and let it cook until the vegetables are done. Spice the sauce with spices of your choice, mix it with the pasta and help yourself to a big heap of Parmesan or Pecorino. Easy-peasy! 

LAST NIGHT

A thirst that does not go away, a throbbing pain in the head and a stomach that feels like you spent the last night on a pirate ship. No, we are not feeling to good today, what a surprise! But we did have fun last night. Lots of fun! Think vodka, Jägermeister and Tequila mixed together. Think dancing bare feet and lighting cigarettes at the wrong end. That's what we had yesterday. It was an awesome Halloween party, we saw some incredible costumes and now we're suffering from post Halloween melancholia. And that's pretty much all we have to say today. 

HALLOWEEN RECAP

Today is the big day! Happy halloween y'all! Since we're really busy getting ready for the big party, there won't be any big speeches about the glory of dressing up and how much fun halloween is. Instead we're giving you pictures of the past four years and you can decide whether you hate our costumes or not. Please just keep in mind, that we were young and stupid...

ALICE AND THE KITTY CAT

This is the last part of our Instant Costume Challenge and boy, are we sad! We only just realized how much we like playing dress up. 

So with one part of us laughing and the other crying, we present to you the pictures of our latest shoot, under the Theme of "Alice in Wonderland". Of course we chose the two most badass characters, namely the Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat. And again we have one character, which is more girly and another one that would probably scare the crap out of some people. 

To portrait the Queen of Hearts, you'll need a red dress with a hell lotta tulle, a tiny crown and if you're keen to spend money on a piece of cheap plastic, a scepter. Complete the look with with bright blue eye shadow and red lipstick in the shape of a heart and you will sure as hell turn some heads (or maybe even let them roll). 

The Cheshire Cat is a bit trickier. You'll need a purple and pink or purple and black striped something, cat ears and as much paint as Lindsay Lohan before a photo shoot. We won't even try to describe how the make up is done, because it takes about an hour and there are too many good tutorials out there. 

We hope you enjoyed our Instant Costume Challenge and can assure you, that we will continue it next year.

As always, let yourself be inspired and don't forget that attitude to wear your outfit with! 

PUMPKIN CAKE

Maybe you did a lot of pumpkin carving these past days and now you're wondering what to do with all the pulp you saved. We can help you, let's just agree on the fact, that pumpkin soup most certainly is delicious, but it gets boring after a while, doesn't it? 

Here's the recipe for a mouth-watering pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting: 

175 g flour

175g brown sugar 

125g sun flower or other plant oil 

175g pumpkin pulp 

80g of ground walnuts 

3 eggs

1 tea spoon cinnamon

1 tea spoon baking powder

1 pack of vanilla sugar

the skin of one orange 

a pinch of salt 

for the frosting: 

200g cream cheese

80g powdered sugar

the juice of one orange 

Preheat the oven to 180°C, then mix sugar, oil and eggs until nice and creamy. Now comes the best part, you can add all the other ingredients for the cake, mix thoroughly and surprise surprise (!) you're done. Coat a baking dish with oil or butter, pour the mix in and let it bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. Now sit down and have a cigarette. You deserved it! 

After the cake is done and you took it out of the oven to let it cool down, you can prepare the frosting, which basically means whipping the three ingredients together and then you just wait for your cake to have room temperature, to put the frosting on top and if you like in between. And that's it. Seriously. Who knew baking could be that easy?

INSTANT COSTUME CHALLENGE PART 6

We recently saw the movie "Clash of the Titans", which by the way is a great movie to watch when you're hungover, but calling it extraordinarily good would be a lie. Anyways, there was a scene where the hero battled Medusa and we thought we should give this awesome icon of the Greek mythology a try! 

Another thing that's been on our mind these days are girls dressing up as sexy "she-devils". What the fuck? Seriously, why would anybody think that wearing a tight red dress and horns is a costume? So we decided to try out a different version of the classic she-devil, darker and with lots of black leather. 

Take a look and decide whether you like our creations or not, just keep in mind that they're super easy and super instant, which is a good thing this close to Halloween. 

Follow us on Instagram @routetwentythree YAY!