Christmas Charity Winter Fair in Tbilisi 2015

24 December, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 12 seen

Christmas charity Winter Fair was held in Tbilisi's Radisson Blu Iveria hotel on December 5, 2015. Winter fair was organized by International Women's Association Georgia (IWAG) and as in all previous year we paid a visit here and bought a lot of goodies. Money spent on such fairs goes to the charity,

Read more:

• Christmas Charity Winter Fair in Tbilisi Sheraton Hotel (2014)
• Christmas charity fair in Tbilisi (2013)

In this year's Winter fair a total of 23 diplomatic missions located in Georgia took participation: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, China, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Qatar, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and United States of America.

Together with diplomatic mission  local artist and craftsmen works were featured during this fair.

Basket of sweets from Latvian Embassy in Tbilisi

Wood made toys from Georgian craftsmen 

Christmas trees at Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel lobby in Tbilisi

Traditional snacks from Czech Republic embassy in Tbilisi

Tulip Bulbs from The Netherlands embassy in Tbilisi

We actually bought 10 bulbs here. Read more how I bought Tulip bulbs in Keukenhof (The Netherlands) or see the magic of Keukenhofs tulip garden

Rye bread and Riga Black balsam from Latvian embassy in Tbilisi

Teddy bears and Vodka from Polish embassy in Tbilisi

Radisson Blu Iveria hotel in Tbilisi

About IWAG

The International Women's Association Georgia is a non-profit, non-governmental organization and part of the International Women's Association worldwide network. Membership is open to all women 18 or above residing in Georgia. Prospective members must complete an application form. Georgian citizen membership is capped at 25% of the total association membership.

The Tbilisi IWA strives to:

• Welcome and assist newcomers to Georgia;
• Foster goodwill and friendship among association members;
• Build relationships between women of different cultures living in Georgia;
• Provide the opportunity to socialize with each other;
• Enhance our members understanding of Georgia.

Through charitable events and fundraisers, the IWA Georgia hopes to have a positive impact in Georgia

Lear more at www.iwa.ge

Minimum Wage Set to Rise in All Baltic States in 2016

23 December, 2015 | Macroeconomics | 5 seen

There have been some positive improvements for raising the minimum wage in all three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) in recent years. And there are more to come. In 2016 minimum wage is set to rise in all Baltic states. Estonia will have a minimum wage of EUR 430; Latvia - EUR 370 and Lithuania - EUR 350.

Update: Minimum Wage Set to Rise in the Baltic States in 2018

Here are my previous articles about minimum wage in Baltic states:

• Minimum wage in the Baltic States 2013 and 2014
• Minimum wage in the Baltic States 2015

Minimum wage in the Baltic States 2016

*Minimum wage in Lithuania was increased twice in 2015; to EUR 300 at the start of 2015 and to EUR 325 in July 2015

Estonia is leading this trio with pretty impressive monthly minimum wage advantage of EUR 60 if compared to Latvia, and even EUR 80 if compared to Lithuania. On a yearly basis, it makes a huge EUR 720 and EUR 960 difference.

Estonia - EUR 430 / USD 468

• The minimum wage in Estonia is set to jump €40 a month in 2016, and another €40 in 2017. Read more: Minimum Wage in Estonia to Rise in 2016 and 2017 
• Currently (2015) the minimum wage in Estonia is €390 a month and unions have agreed with policymakers to increase the rate to €430 in 2016. This will be followed by another increase to €470 in 2017. The rise represents an increase of more than 20% 

Latvia - EUR 370 / USD 402

• The ministers in Latvia agreed on the most significant matters regarding next year's budget – to increase the minimum wage to EUR 370. Read more: Latvian government approves budget draft for 2016

Lithuania - EUR 350 / USD 380

• The minimum monthly wage in Lithuania will be increased by 25 euros to 325 euros in July and may be raised by a further 25 euros to 350 euros early in 2016, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius has said. Read more: Lithuanian government to raise minimum pay to EUR 350

I forecast that by 2018 minimum wage in Estonia will be set at least EUR 500. While it will be tough to catch up Estonia in terms of minimum wage both for Latvia and Lithuania I believe it's good you have such a competitive neighbors that keep you motivated. Let's wish prosperity for Baltic's and all the rest of World in coming years!

Podnieku Lake Near Kalvene in Latvia

22 December, 2015 | Lakes | 13 seen

Podnieku lake is located close to the Kalvene in Western Latvia. We headed here while returning back from Liepāja (probably we were eating paella's and empanadas at Tex-Mex Klondaika restaurant prior).

This lake seems in past has been some popular recreational area, there were a lot of camping sites and rumor has it here even was a cafeteria. Nobody knows for sure what happened to this place and why any development tasks has stopped. I believe it won't take long and Podnieku lake will be turned again in a popular recreational area. But for know take a look how it looked like here in Summer 2015.

If you are up to for some eco tourism adventures - Podnieku lake has a lot to offer. Be careful with bonfire - most probably it's not allowed without a special permit to burn a bonfire in Latvia.

Abandoned camping house at Podnieku lake

Functional WC

Footbridge

A boat and footbridge at Podnieku lake

Most probably that boat is leaky and you shouldn't try it out. 

Podnieku lake

Akhali (New) Shuamta Monastery Complex

21 December, 2015 | Churches and Monasteries | 18 seen

If you are traveling to the region of Kakheti in Georgia and your road is leading through the Telavi town, there are a few interesting tourist sites to visit and one of them is monastery complex Akhali Shuamta. 

We arrived to this site just shortly we paid a visit to another Dzveli Shuamta monastery. In fact that's a good idea to visit both monastery complexes together. 

The monastery was founded in the XVI century by the king of Kakheti Leon and his wife Tinatin. Queen Tinatin was tonsured a nun in the same Monastery and is Buried there.

Akhali Shuamta monastery complex

New Shuamta Monastery lies near Telavi, on the wooded slope of ,,Tsivgombori’’ mountain. The Monastery got its name because of its site –it is surrounded from three sides by the mountains. ,,Shuamta’’ means – among the mountains.

The guests of the Monastery are requested to wait at the gate for the sister of the Monastery, who will lead them into the Church.

Notice, there is a smaller sign informing that no photos are allowed, luckily I didn't notice this sign before entered inside the church, so I managed to take some photography here (no flash)

Altar inside Akhali Shuamta monastery 

Cupola inside church

There is a legend about the founding of the Monastery. King Leon and Queen Tinatin were returning from Guria. The retinue of the king was carrying The icon which the queen never parted with. The Holy Icon of Queen TinaTin was placed under cornel-tree. 

Listening to Classical Music at Tbilisi Baroque Festival

20 December, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 13 seen

Tbilisi Baroque Festival was held from November 13 till December 6, 2015 in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.

There is something in the classical music. I don't know exactly what, but I have found that lately I'm starting to enjoy it. Maybe that was the reason I allowed to convince me to visit a Tbilisi Baroque festival.

On December 3rd we visited Sergio Azzolini and Christine Busch concert in Rustaveli Theater. 

Tbilisi Baroque Festival

About Tbilisi Baroque Festival

The word "Baroque" (French) – means a "rough or imperfect pearl." This style has been conceived approximately in 1600-ies in genres of sculpture, painting, literature, music and spread all over the Europe of those times. The course was aspiring to the greatness of art and to more effective, non-domestic forms. Many layers of the world culture had their influences on the formation of this phenomenon. Performing with maximally close manner and on the corresponding instruments, has a great popularity in Europe for decades already. Besides aesthetical and exotic load, such performances are interesting from the point of view of the history as well. For example, we may get closer to the methods and other unique features of composers of different countries. The huge and diverse repertoire can also be striking for us. An international festival of this content is held in Caucasus for the first time. Tbilisi State Chamber Orchestra "Georgian Sinfonietta" holds "Tbilisi Baroque Festival" with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia. “Georgian Sinfonietta” is the only academic ensemble of old music in the region. It has already attracted the attention of the best concert halls of the world. "Tbilisi Baroque Festival" will be held in the recital hall of Tbilisi Rustaveli Theatre from 13 November to 6 December 2015. In each concert, music will be played by means of old fashioned instruments. The stars of the world academic stage and the specialists of old music will take part in the festival. Jordi Savall (Spain), Sergio Azzolini (Italy), Christine Busch (Germany), Pawel Kotla (Poland/England), and others. With their help, the Museum of Sounds of the European Culture will be opened in Tbilisi.

Learn more: www.tbf.ge 

Visa Free Travel For Georgian Citizens Entering European Union

19 December, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 4 seen

December 18, 2015 marked another important milestone for Georgia - European Commission agreed to lift visa requirements for Georgian citizens entering European Union.

According to record from European Commission visa free travel will enter in force in 2016.

I have been following Georgia's aspirations and developments entering and joining European organizations probably since day 1, when first arrived to Georgia back in April, 2011, and I believe this is a very important step for Georgia. 

Here are few notes from my blog: Back on 2014 Georgia has signed Association Agreement with European Union after a short time Georgian government announced that Georgia Expects Visa Free Travel to EU by End of 2015 and that actually Georgia Plans To Have Full membership in EU in 5-10 Years.

Now the visa part is formally completed, it's time to look into further steps of joining EU. Who knows, maybe we will see Georgia joining European Union in a decade or so.

Georgian and European Union Flags in streets of Tbilisi

​I took above picture on December 19, 2015 in the Shardeni (Tbilisi Meidan sqaure). 

Now, let me share the joy of Georgian people, as I believe this is a huge step. Probably we will see more Georgian tourists across European cities, and I believe cheap flight from Kutaisi airport carried by Wizzair will help that to happen. Well, done!

Commission Progress Report: Georgia meets criteria for visa liberalization

Following the positive assessment of the progress report and taking into account the overall EU-Georgia relations, the Commission will present in early 2016 a legislative proposal to the Council and the European Parliament to lift visa requirements for Georgian citizens holding a biometric passport.

The visa-free travel will apply to all EU Member States, except for Ireland and UK, as well as the four Schengen associated countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland). The exemption from visa requirement concerns only short-stays, up to 90 days in any 180-day period for business, touristic or family purposes.

Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art in Tbilisi

19 December, 2015 | Museums | 110 seen

I don't call myself an art or museum person, thus time by time I visit some exhibition, and that's exactly happened again at start of December, 2015 - For the first time I visited Tbilisi MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). And it happened by accident. It started as a planed visit to classical music event in frames of Tbilisi Baroque Festival. We left our apartment early and had some time to spend on lively Rustaveli avenue, for a starter we headed to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to enjoy cup of tasty latte, when another great spontaneous idea arrived - let's visit a museum which proudly bares the MOMA name. 

It turned out to be - Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art, as I have learnt now, by writing these lines - Zurab Tsereteli is very well known artist in Georgia and Russia, according to Wikipedia - Zurab Tsereteli is a Georgian-Russian painter, sculptor and architect who holds the office of President of the Russian Academy of Arts.

At Zurab's Tsereteli's Museum of Modern Art museum are featured his own works, as well other artist works are featured here in this three-storey building. 

Souvenir shop at Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art

Mostly art literature and printed mugs here

Kids corner at Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art

​

Floor plan for Zurab Tsereteli Tbilisi Museum of Modern Art

Oil painting at Tbilisi Museum of Modern Art

Rodolfo Villaplana's exhibition "DUCHAMP IS DEAD" in Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art

Exhibition hall 

Pretty surrealistic paintings here. Reminded me something from Salvador Dali museum in Figueras, Spain

From Rodolfo Villaplana's exhibition "DUCHAMP IS DEAD"

Metal sculptures

Exposition at Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art

Exhibition hall at Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art

Zurab Tseretli Museum of Modern art in Tbilisi, Georgia

About Zurab Tsereteli

Zurab Tsereteli is a Georgian-Russian painter, sculptor and architect who holds the office of President of the Russian Academy of Arts.

Tsereteli was born in Tbilisi and graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, but soon relocated to Moscow. Among his works from the Soviet period was a resort for children in Sochi, completed in 1986. His wife was Princess Andronikashvili, from a noble Georgian family that claims patrilineal descent from Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos.

Although much of his career was dogged by controversy, Tsereteli came to befriend Moscow's mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who secured some important commissions for him, including the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Manege Squareensemble and the War Memorial Complex on Poklonnaya Gora. Luzhkov also allowed him to occupy an old mansion in downtown Moscow, which now houses the Zurab Tsereteli Gallery and where his life-size statue of Vladimir Putin is on display. He is acquainted with Eunice Kennedy Shriver through the Special Olympics. He designed and installed a monument (called Happiness to the Children of the World) on the campus of SUNY Brockport commemorating the 1979 Special Olympics and the International Year of the Child.

The Bottom Line

If you are in Tbilisi and have some free time - deffintelty pay a visit here. Speaking of me, I just found another inspiration for my blog content - Tbilisi museums.

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Rustaveli Avenue (Tbilisi)

18 December, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 28 seen

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf seems is a popular coffee shop brand in US. Thus I thought this is some Georgian brand when first noticed (and a lot of times actually visiting) the one located at Tbilisi Mall. In today's article about Tbilisi restaurants I will speak about The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi.

In this location there were before another great French style pastry Entree. Entree still is in business and you can find it on other locations in Tbilisi. 

Located on lively Rustaveli avenue in Tbilisi

It features an outdoor patio which most probably best is enjoyed in Summertime

Gingerbread cookies

Huge latte

Tasty chicken sandwich 

The Bottom Line

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is a great place offering great coffee, delicious cakes and tasty sandwiches. It is run according to Western standards. Prices at this place are well above average, but hey you are getting what you paid for.

Restaurant Tsiskvili in Tskneti

16 December, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 32 seen

It was a mid day of working day at the start of December when I came up with spontaneous idea  - lets leave our work behind and let's go out. I was eager to photography a daylight photography for my 365 photo project. We decided to use public bus instead of using a taxi to get to the Freedom Square in Tbilisi center. So we were standing at bus stop and couldn't figure out which bus actually goes to Freedom Square. I proposed, hey let's take bus #34 heading to Tskenti, which already approached our bus stop.

And so instead of Freedom Square we were heading to Tskenti. Tskenti is very lovely suburb close to Tbilisi, I have been there several times, either during some hiking activities or playing a bowling at Kopola bowling center.

And here we were - wandering around Tskneti. Shortly we found an interesting facade of a place that looked from scenes from Mexico.

Tsisiskvili restaurant in Tskneti

Bird cage with a lot of apartments in restaurants territory

Winter terrace in Tsiskvili restaurant

Thus it was at the start of December we visited this place it was already decorated in best Christmas traditions. Just lovely.

Very well done and interesting inside interior 

Turkish coffee

This is my standard like at any Georgian restaurant - a cup of Turkish coffee

Kubdari

Now, this was the masterpiece of this place. Probably a bit spicy, but hey that;s a thing of a good kubdari, it must be spicy.

Lobio in the pot

Another traditional Georgian cuisine

Chicken barbecue 

These are the words you should learn in Georgian to order a chicken barbecue - Katmis Mtsvadi. 

Overall bill at Tsisikvili restaurant

Now, the price probably is well above average, but due to it's great interior/exterior and fantastic service on site, as well delicious food it was worth of every tetri. Highly recommend. 

Tex-Mex Klondaika Restaurant in Liepāja

14 December, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 23 seen

Tex-Mex Klondaika in Liepāja is among one of my favorite Liepāja restaurants. I can't say I'm visiting this seaside town too often, but once I'm here I'm looking for this brand.

Located on lovely Stendera street in almost Liepāja city center, this restaurant has a lot to offer - starting traditional Tex-Mex style cuisine ending traditional Latvian cold soup (made from beets).

Menu at Tex-Mex Klondaika restaurant

Refreshing water with mint drink

Traditional Latvian Cold soup

Paella at Klondaika Tex-Mex

Sorry for the bad image here. Frankly speaking I first tried a traditional paella in Catalonia, Spain back in the 2014, the one prepared here in Liepāja was good as the Catalonian.

Empanada or something

Dessert with strawberries

Outdoor Patio at Tex-Mex Liepāja

The Bottom Line

Tex-Mex Klondaika restaurant in Liepāja is a must have place. They offer a really good menu with both Tex-Mex and traditional Latvian cuisine. Prices are pretty average.For above seen food we paid about EUR 30.

Visit www.texmex.lv (In Latvian) to learn more

Car Service in Kazdanga

13 December, 2015 | Professional services | 13 seen

If you are having troubles with engine, need to change a tire or just looking to replace oil and you are stuck in Kazdanga area (Latvia) there is one car service I can recommend. Since I believe it's the one and only one in Kazdanga, let's name it  - Kazdanga car service.

At this service we fixed a leaky muffler and straightened  a dent on car's surface for about EUR 50

Car service in Kazdanga

Since this service is located in rural Latvia they mainly specializes on repairing tractor machinery and agricultural vehicles.

Repairing hydraulics 

Agricultural machinery

Tractor

Oils and other

How to Capture and Post-Process Professional HDR Photos Using HDR Efex PRO

12 December, 2015 | Digital Photography School | 19 seen

In today's digital photography school tutorial I will show how you can take and make professional looking images using technology which is called HDR photography.

In fact before teaching you how to take and process a HDR images please take a note - I have been doing HDR photography less for one month. My findings so far are - like HDR is the best thing (I know as time will go I will probably change my mind and will go back to the routes, who knows maybe I will find a B&W the next BIG thing?!). I'm not a professional photographer, just a regular dude with a DLSR camera eager to learn some new things. I'm more than glad sharing my findings with you, my dear reader.

For this Tutorial I'm using: 

• Adobe Lightroom
• HDR Efex PRO
• Canon 1200D DSLR camera
• Sturdy tripod

Final HDR image created with HDR Efex PRO and fine tuned in Adobe Lightroom

I submitted the above image as day 63/365 entry image on my Flickr page. I gave it a name - "It is still Autumn", taken on November 26, 2015 in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

Now let me show how you can take and create similar images using a DSLR camera. As I'm photographing with Canon 1200D model camera I will describe methods for this particular camera, but the same rules applies to other cameras as well.

First you will need change some settings on your camera, enter menu and set following:

• Bracketing - -2 - +2

Bracketing

From your menu select bracketing tab, then using your front tuner change values.

• Timer 2 seconds

Now make a photography - your camera will record 3 images with different exposure settings:

3 different exposure settings

After shooting process I like to import my images in Adobe Lightroom to post - process them. 

Library folder in Adobe Lightroom

Now from your Adobe Ligtroom library select photos from your scene and export them to HDR Efex PRO

Export photos to HDR Efex PRO

CTRL+Click images from your scene you want to export to HDR Efex PRO

Merging Images in HDR Efex PRO

You will be prompted with a new window from HDR Efex PRO with your images presented, you can fine tune some settings here, or leave default and click on the Create HDR button.

Editing HDR image in HDR Efex PRO

You are presented with 28 different and very cool presets to apply to your HDR image, or you can fine tune your image using some of the many sliders. Once you are done, click Save to import your image back to Adobe Ligtrooms to either apply some final touching or to export a final image.

Basically that's it. HDR is pretty simple if you have the right tools and little know how. Hope you liked this article, if so, please leave me a comment.

Dzveli (Old) Shuamta Monastery

11 December, 2015 | Churches and Monasteries | 55 seen

If you are traveling to region of Kakheti and your road is leading through Telavi town, there are few interesting tourist sites to visit and one of them is a very old monastery complex called Dzveli Shuamta.

For the first time I visited this site together vith my mom in the middle of October 2015. It was a rainy and foggy day so not very spectacular images this time, anyway Dzveli Shuamta still has one of the oldest Christian churches of Georgia – the triple-nave basilica that dates back to the 5th century. Two other cross-domed churches were built in the 7th century. The walls of these churches still have fragments of frescos and inscriptions made in the old Georgian Asomtavruli alphabet. The monastery is situated in a hollow between forest-covered mountains so that it has natural protection from three sides. The fourth side used to be fortified by a thick wall. A tradition has it St. King Tamar once spent 40 days fasting in solitude on Shuamta hill. Source: Kakheti.travel

Dzveli Shuamta monastery complex near Telavi

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Clay pots for storing wine

I don't know for sure the reason why those clay pots are so popular in territories of monasteries in Georgia, but you will find them a lot. Probably ancient Georgian wine making traditions are closely related to monks?!

Prayers corner inside Dzveli Shuamta church

I assume for a donation to the church you can get some of the cards or prayer candles.

Cupola inside Dzveli Shuamta monastery

This one actually is very interesting cupola just because it's not featuring any paintings or gold elements (as it is common for cupolas) at all.

Simple altar at Dzveli Shuamta church

Dzveli Shuamta monastery complex

Dzveli Shuamta monastery complex

November 2015 Blog Traffic and Income Report 54,446 Users / $947.05

10 December, 2015 | Blogging | 8 seen

Welcome to the #23 traffic and income report covering blog traffic and earnings/expenses for November 2015. #23 means just one - one more month and it will be already two years since I have opted into thing called - making money from blogging. Two years are a lot of time, it's has been a long journey, but... I still feel it is day 2 or day 3.

I was doing separate reviews both for traffic and income until September, when I realized - how time consuming it is to provide 2 similar articles on related topic. Traffic and Income for a website goes hand to hand. You might wonder what stimulates me publish my traffic and revealing earnings for  the past 23 months already? The reason for publishing such reports and revealing secrets beyond the scenes are simple - Transparency matters. I hope my success or failures can give some ideas to you as well. 

About Blog Traffic in November 2015

Past November was just brilliant - for the very first time it cracked 50K unique users milestone and totaled in 54,446 unique users. Compared to October it is 36.36% traffic growth.

Blog Traffic November 2015. Data source: Google Analytics

As you can see in the middle of November there is a huge traffic spike, on this day my article about minimum wages in European Union for 2015 got a lot of eyeballs, mostly originating from Turkey. This was already third traffic spike to my blog, previous record was set back in January (2015) with 3,584 users. While the first serious traffic spike my blog experienced almost two years ago, when total daily traffic surged just above 1,000 daily users. You can read more detailed case study on this traffic spike here: Third Traffic Spike: More than 7,500 Daily Users.

Now, the thing that makes me worried is a low Pages / Session generated per user. In November it was as low as 1.23, which I believe is among the lowest by all time. It's time to implement some better User Experience on my blog. I would love to see this number being about 2 Pages per session for a long term, but for shorter time would love to increase to about 1.5. 

It has been more than a year ago when I set a goal - to reach 100K monthly users. As in November that didn't happened, last month still makes me believe it's possible. 54K users are about 54% of my goal. It would be great to crack 100K user milestone by the end of 2016. In combination with better pages per session ration 100,000 monthly users would make a very nice total page views.

About Income and Expenses in November 2015

A quick note: Some of the links below are affiliate links.By clicking on them I might end up earning some income from that.

• Google AdSense: $76.38
• Amazon Associates*: $930.85
• Sovrn: $6.87
• Booking: $1.09
• Bluehost: $0
• ThemeSnap: $7

*Amazon Associates includes Amazon CPM

Total income: $1,022.19

Expenses

• Linode VPS: $42.50
• Facebook Ads: $12.64

Total expenses: $55.14

Net Profit: $947.05

Thoughts on Income and Expense

November was the first month this year and second in lifetime cracking $1,000 milestone. Although I have been monetizing my blog for almost two years already, the money stream is more or less constant just for the last one year. Two years ago in November I didn't made anything, a year ago in November I made about $700. Technically speaking about $300 growth over a year is nothing much, taking into account that traffic have "exploded" from about 9,000 users in November 2014 to about 54,000 users in 2015. It's about 6 times of increase for traffic to my blog in just one year. Unfortunately money made on blog is not increasing at the same pace as traffic does. This is the thing I should be concerned in coming months and years.

On the other hand I'm very happy seeing earnings increasing from Google AdSense. $78 per month might not seem much, but a year ago I was making about $5 per month with Google AdSense. 

Combined RPM

Those of you who are using Google AdSense, are already familiar with term of RPM - which stands for earnings for 1000 page views/impression - Reach per Mile. I decided to create my blog's overall RPM covering not only AdSense, but all other income streams combined. My combined RPM Stands for $13.78 in November.

This is the second lowest RPM this year, just up by about three dollars from October, when as I believe the bottom of the pot was reached this year. I believe RPM will go up in December. But speaking of a good RPM - twenty dollars per 1000 page views seems a pretty reasonable amount to have. 

Things on blog

There is one major feature I implemented on blog last month - e-mail subscriptions (you can find a form to signup for my monthly newsletter under each article). In two weeks in November my subscriber base grown from 0 to 7. It's not much, but it's better than nothing. Make sure you subscribe bellow to not to miss some important updates.

How did it went for you in November? Any passive income money made? Drop a comment, readers and me would love to hear.

How to Make Homemade Dumplings from Scratch

9 December, 2015 | Food blogger | 7 seen

In today's food blogger series I will demonstrate how to make homemade dumplings from scratch. Well, almost from scratch, there are a few handy tools that might be very useful preparing this delicious food.

I love dumplings, in most cases dumplings is a cost effective solution when you are in hurry and really hungry. It hasn't been rare for me to visit local groceries shop at 2AM just to buy a pack of frozen dumplings. Today I will show how you can prepare dumplings at home. It's a really simple and doesn't take a lot of time or a lot of effort.

Ingredients for dumpling dough.

• 1 kg of flour
• 600 ml water
• 100 grams of butter
• 1 tsp (with top) salt

Rest the dough for 30 minutes :
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Total cooking time: 40 minutes

I took this dough recipe from a Russian language culinary blog: Заварное тесто для вареников и пельменей

Let's start cooking:

Dumpling dough mass

Make a scoop from dough mass and leave it to rest for 30-60 minutes

Meanwhile you can prepare fillings for dumplings - basically take ground meat, add some onions, egg and seasoning, it's up to you.

Roll out dumpling dough using rolling pin

Once you have rolled out a very slim dumpling dough and depending on tools you have, you can either cut a small dumpling shapes using a glass for example and then adding fillings in it, or you can use a Dumpling maker form, if you don't own one you can buy for cheap one on Amazon. We got ours a metal dumpling maker form at Tbilisi Flea market. I very cool purchase.

Dumpling maker form

Now the following is really simple, you cover the dumpling maker form with a flattened dough and add filling

Making homemade dumplings

Filling for dumplings

Adding second layer of flattened dough and using rolling pin to stick them together

The better you will roll, the easier it will be to remove dumplings out of form

Dumpling maker form

It's almost all done, now you need just to remove dumplings from form and put them in a pot with boiled water and boil for couple of minutes, or you can put them in some container and put in the fridge and freeze. 

Handmade dumplings

Boiled dumplings served with sour cream

Homemade dumplings

Mmm, looks yummy. 

If you enjoyed this recipe, please drop a short comment or share this article.