TRADITIONS

So, it's the 28th of December, and we don't have any Christmas decoration in the house.
I love Christmas, to check all the lovely decorations, the delicious recipes, the handmade gifts, the gigantic dinners. I check it all for months, and I always, invariably, inexplicably, do nothing.
No decorations.
No special dishes.
No handmade gifts.
No dinners.
I'm no Grinch. I'm just purely, genuinely, lazy.
I mean, I've even collected some ideas for handmade gifts, and one of them -the hot chocolate kit- is basically suggesting that yes, I give the chocolate, but could you please make it yourself?
And I didn't even prepare that.
Nevertheless, there is one thing that is bound to happen every Christmas, no matter what.
The only thing that actually made it to become one of our, well, our Christmas tradition.
I suggest you make it one of yours as well.


This is the recipe we used, taken from Weekend Bakery which, so far, proved being the very best.
Although, we kinda went crazy with the spice mix, totally changing all the doses. We just kept the cinnamon overload but then, for example, put almost as much cardamom, which I love. And skipped the aniseed powder cause.. I just don't know what that is.
In any case, you just can't go wrong.

SPICE MIX:
6,5 gr cinnamon
2 gr ground cloves
1,5 gr grated nutmeg
1 gr ground white pepper
2 gr aniseed powder
1 gr ginger powder
1/2 gr ground cardamom (pff, 1/2 a gr...)

COOKIE MIX:
225 gr all purpose flour
115 gr butter -room temperature-
130 gr soft brown sugar
7 gr baking powder
2 TBS milk
3 tsp spice mix
pinches of salt

DIRECTIONS:
1- Mix together flour, baking powder, spice mix and salt.

2- In a separate bowl, mix together butter and sugar. Add also the milk and knead with your hands until smooth.

3- Add the flour mix to the butter mix and knead it into a ball. Wrap it in plastic foil and leave it in the fridge for at least half an hour, so that all the ingredients mix together and soak into one another.

4- Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it from 2 to 7 mm thick (the thicker the easier, the thinner the crunchier)

5- Preheat your oven at 165°, cut your biscuits and bake for 16-18 minutes. To us it took a bit longer but, from minute 15 on, keep an eye on your cookies, 'cause they burn fast.

Well, I'm not always that lazy.
Wish you all some lovely holidays and new-found traditions.

CLOSED FOR MOVING. BIG RE-OPENINGS AND FAIRY TALES.

And, yes, we are still living a sort of camping experience, getting our clothes out of boxes in the cellar and finding the baking paper in the toilette but, finally, we moved!
It all sounds like a Disney story, a good mix of magic and drama and, in our case, I would say a mix between Cinderella and SnowWhite.

So, once upon a time, there were two girls forced to endlessly clean a house (that would be us), with an evil stepmother calling every half hour to yell that they had to do it better and faster (and that would be the landlady) and, yes, we even had our own midnight magic.
Although in our case, sadly enough, there were no gigantic pumpkins in the living room, just our cat that, at midnight o'clock, gracefully peed right in the middle of our parquet.
Yes, the last evening was quite a nightmare.

And even though now we've moved to the land of Far Far Away, the evil witch is still part of our story, holding our deposit hostage since a month. So,we just baked our poisonous apple into some delicious, end of the season's apple muffins.

So, that's basically the very same recipe I used for the apple cake you've never seen. Of course with halved measure, just because this time I didn't need 45 muffins but, well, you see.
Anyway, what happened is that this time I forgot to marinate the apples in lemon juice and cinnamon.

So, pity for the lemon, but I really needed the cinnamon: so what I did was mixing some cinnamon and some sugar, and topping the muffins before baking them.
So, pros: when baked the muffins had this crunchy, sugary, cinnamony top that was just so nice.
Cons: I think the topping kinda prevented them from rising as puffy as they could have been.
Still, I would say: success.

For directions, it's seriously the very same as for this cake, but with half the ingredients. I really just wanted to publish the pics.

WEEKLY PLANNING - WHEN PASTA IS NOT ENOUGH

Do you remember all the times you said "Oh, I could so live on pasta alone! All my life!"

You were wrong. So wrong.

And I can say it because I've tried it. And I did it for just a week. So enough.

Appearently something went wrong with my grocery shopping last week, which led to an alimentation based entirely on pasta and carrots. Taking a walk on the bright side, this has been really stimulating for our improvising skills, but there's a limit even to the joys of creativity.

That's why I've decided to write down a "weekly menu", which is actually just a collection of eight inspiring dishes, based on which I wrote down my shopping list.

Surprising to see it includes so much more than carrots.

And yes, just in case you're also in need of some inspiration, I'm so nice to share my plan with you.

Half of the recipes are coming from Love&Lemons, which is overflowing with tempting dishes.

Here is what I've chosen:

coconut creamed spinach

spiced carrot and chickpea salad

cauliflower puree with chickpeas

okonomiyaki

veggie curry with cardamom yogurt

These chickpea quenelles with yogurt sauce come from FeelCook.

While I've found this endive salad on Skinny Taste

  Finally, this cauliflower veloutée, from Giallo Zafferano.

And this, is a tiny reward for all this planning.

Apple spice cocktails. Well, now it's time for some grocery shopping, I guess.(All the recipes are redirecting to their original, inspiring blogs. There you will find these and even more beautiful pictures, all taken by the writers of these blogs.)

A HANDMADE CHRISTMAS

Well well, it feels like yesterday that I was complaining about my missed "welcome autumn" post, 

and it's already almost Christmas!

Well, yes, I'm aware that an "almost" can be pretty relative and, in this specific case, almost inappropriate, since Christmas is actually more than a month away. But if you're a follower of the self-sufficiency religion, and have decided that "all your Christmas presents shall be handmade", than you know that it's really almost Christmas.

So, if you're still trying to make up your mind and looking for some inspiration, I've made a little collection of things I've spotted that entered the list of "presents I want to make".

[ALERT: if I personally know you, you might want to stop reading now.]

Here is a "hot chocolate kit", inclusive not only of chocolate powder, but also of marshmallows, biscuits, peppermints, and everything you might fancy. I especially like this, because it feels like you're not giving just some chocolate powder, but a whole cozy afternoon. I found the idea at Kirtsy, originally from Megan at Not Martha.

I find this a brilliant idea, you can make the same gift for several people, and still make it personal, choosing among favorite poetry, funny jokes, or special quotes from your own personal anecdotes. This is from Aliona of Diy4everyday.

I already have one of these, mine is made out of a sock. It's a really beautiful sock, but still, owls win. Oh, wondering what they are? They're rice filled pillows. You can leave them to warm up on the heater, or directly in the microwave, and then cuddle them while chilling on the sofa. They're gonna be superwarmy for a while. You can find this project at 30 handmade days.

Some sweets are always good, especially when they're wrapped this nice. Other ideas from Laurie of Tip Junkie.

How awesome is this?! I have an obsession for glitter swirling in water, I bet now you do to. This is a kind of a fancy version, I don't have a printer or a laminator, but pictures can be replaced by... a cute dinosaur, for example. You can find this project at Our Best Bites.

Any other idea for a handmade Christmas?

STROLLING DOWN MEMORY LANE 20/11/2012

I've always wanted to write something that started like that.
So, since today happens to be the first time I have a "a year ago" post, I couldn't miss the chance.

So, one year ago it was...

CHICKPEAS, ONION AND MINT SALAD, CHINESE CABBAGE AND OLIVES –YES, IT’S ANOTHER SALAD, WE JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH- AND SMOKED CHEESE SANDWICH.

And the one of today was, oh boy, another salad.

Uhm, maybe not a master of creativity.

But, you see, I'm doing it for you: I could experiment and brag about supercomplicated and fancy looking recipes, but then, what about you? Would you really feel inspired to cook? Or would you just look at some nice pictures and then crawl back on the sofa wondering what you could possibly cook today?

So, if I keep a low profile, without flaunting my mastery of cooking, I'm doing it for you.

SURVIVAL TIMES AND WINTER SALAD

I don't know how it's going there, but here in Belgium it really feels like, after some two, whole weeks of autumn, winter has come. It's time for creamy soups, gratens, casseroles, pies, pures... All these warm, thik, consistent meals that make winter almost a joy, a good reason to cuddle up in your blanket with your mug of thick hot choccolate.

So, my recipe of today, is a salad.

Because, let's be honest, when you're spending your time reading buried in your blanket sipping hot tea, pies and casseroles are nice just if someone else is making them.
And you start to feel hungry, and you have the painful certainty that no one else is going to cook for you, and your estimate time of survival out of the pre-mentioned blanket is of about 5 minutes.

Which, luckily, is exactly the time you need to prepare this winter salad.
And a toast with melting cheese, of course.

So, what you need for this tasty version is:

- raisins + red wine vinegar
- endive
- apples
- walnuts
- gorgonzola dolce

The only real direction concerning this salad, is that the very first thing you might want to do is to put the raisins in a small cup and cover them with red wine vinegar. Just to give them the time to soak it up.

Then you just get lost in a crazy chop and mix dance, at last you add the raisins (i pour all the vinegar that might be left as well) and, done.

You might even roast the walnuts in a pan with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, but this really depends on how active you feel.

If you're indeed wondering "What about salt and pepper? Do we have to add olive oil?", here is where the wonder of this salad comes in: flavors are so well balanced that you don't even need to season it.

Now, try and say you don't love winter salads.

THE PERFECT STORM AND HOME-MADE POPCORN

We didn't settle for a Sunday afternoon; we didn't settle for a rainy day.

It had to be a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Then it came, and it was perfect.

We had pizza and a beer with it, which kind of makes it THE perfect movie night. 

Well, Sunday afternoon; rainy, Sunday afternoon.

Of course, if there's anything that might keep the competition up, that's popcorn.

And when I say popcorn, I mean home-made popcorn. Nothing compares to warm popcorn dowsed with melted butter and freshly chopped rosemary. 

YOU NEED:

- corn oil

- popcorn corn seed

          Optional (well, not really, but still): 

                                                               - butter

                                                               - rosemary; or any other herb or whatever thing you feel like adding

1- Pour some corn oil on the bottom of a big pot, just enough to cover it

2- For two people and a full pot of popcorn, I normally use half a cup of seeds. Although it has to be said that, normally, when we have popcorn we have it for dinner. Like a real, satisfying dinner. Just so you can take your measures.

3- Set the pot on a medium fire and cover it with its lid. Then... wait for the popping!!! Seriously, that's too exciting. Like fireworks. Just with less lights.

4- Well, when all the popping is over, yours popcorn are really likely to be done. Prepare to wonder and remove the lid.

5- For all the butter lovers out there, in the meanwhile you might want to melt some butter in a pan, add your chopped rosemary at last and pour it all over your popcorn. Sprinkle of salt, a good shake and you're ready to go.

Apple cake, or WHY WE LOVE AUTUMN

Well well.

To keep the pace with all the people that were singing the praises of autumn long ago, when it actually arrived, I also had my 
"welcome, autumn!" 
post.

I had all these pictures of beautiful berries on the weirdest tries and in the weirdest colours taken at the weirdest times of the day. A really nice project, I have to say.

And then the disgrace happened: our camera vanished. I really prefer to believe in magic, even though obscure magic, and believe it disappeared in a glittering cloud rather then to think that someone actually stole it (which, for the boring and sad non-believers, given the circumstances, seems to be the most probable option.)

Well, that's why in this post there are no pictures. Good thing is that you don't really need to see an apple cake to imagine how fragrant and inviting it might be.

So, before starting I have to tell you a little something 'cause, if normally I'm not really precise with measures, well, this time it went even further. Apparently something went wrong during the measuring process -although I feel like saying that wrong is not at all the right word. I mean, if you planned to bake one delicious apple cake, and at the end you find yourself with a lot more, something went definitely magic, not wrong.- So, as I was saying, something went magical and, what was supposed to be one normal-size cake turned out being: 
one normal side cake,
 three mini-size-cakes, 
one overflowing muffin.

So, I suggest you carefully follow the instructions only if you're planning to eat a lot, of apple cake.

By the way, to compensate the lack of pictures, I tried to make this post visually appealing anyway. I hope you appreciate the effort. 

I could also do colours but, honestly, that really felt too much.

Here is, just in case you're not funny and you didn't like my polifontic previous version, an easier-to-read one.

Well well.

To keep the pace with all the people that were singing the praises of autumn long ago, when it actually arrived, I also had my

"welcome, autumn!"

post.

I had all these pictures of beautiful berries on the weirdest tries and in the weirdest colours taken at the weirdest times of the day. A really nice project, I have to say.

And then the disgrace happened: our camera vanished. I really prefer to believe in magic, even though obscure magic, and believe it disappeared in a glittering cloud rather then to think that someone actually stole it (which, for the boring and sad non-believers, given the circumstances, seems to be the most probable option.)

Well, that's why in this post there are no pictures. Good thing is that you don't really need to see an apple cake to imagine how fragrant and inviting it might be.

So, before starting I have to tell you a little something 'cause, if normally I'm not really precise with measures, well, this time it went even further. Apparently something went wrong during the measuring process -although I feel like saying that wrong is not at all the right word. I mean, if you planned to bake one delicious apple cake, and at the end you find yourself with a lot more, something went definitely magic, not wrong.- So, as I was saying, something went magical and, what was supposed to be one normal-size cake turned out being:

one normal side cake,

three mini-size-cakes,

one overflowing muffin.

So, I suggest you carefully follow the instructions only if you're planning to eat a lot, of apple cake.

1 + 2/3 cups flour

4 apples

1 + 1/2  cups sugar

3 eggs

75gr butter

1 glass of milk

1 + 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 lemon

1- Peel and slice the apples, then let them marinate in the juice of one lemon and a couple TBS sugar

2- In the meanwhile, beat the yolks with the sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the whites until stiff.

3- Add to the yolks-and-sugar-batter: the sifted flour, baking soda, the butter that you had previously taken out from the fridge (and that you have also reduced in small pieces) and the milk. Mix everything well and, at least, add also the yolks, paying attention in stirring them gently and from down upwards.

4- Fold in also the apples, but keep aside enough to cover the top of the cake.

5- Pour the batter in a greased an sugared form, then get creative and decorate it with the apples you kept aside.

6- Bake for some 40 minutes at 180°F

NOTE: If you make drawings with your apples, check your cake properly before taking it out from the oven: being covered might make baking times a bit longer. If you don't feel creative and you were not in the mood to draw, leave it anyway in the oven for 40 minutes. If you think the top is getting brown a little too fast, cover it with some aluminium.

FASHION WEEKS - A Tribute

I don't go shopping for clothes since more than a year for moral convictions.
I don't do make-up, even though I've this new found obsession for red lipstick alone.
I didn't get a job as a shop assistant because, during the interview, I've naively offended the pompous sense of grandeur of the shop manager, comparing them to a minor brand.

Still, I'm in fascinated awe.

From a land where it's not officially autumn yet, but it's definitely not summer anymore, this seemed an appropriate way to greet her farewell.



{Credits: all pictures are taken from Vogue.it}

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Just so you know, I thought I had leftovers of blueberries, so this idea of making muffins with them popped up and acted on me before I could actually analyse it properly.
Just so you know, I kinda regretted it the very moment I cracked the eggs, and started eating blueberries on their own.
I regretted it in the first place because, if you eat half of your blueberries before folding them into your blueberry muffin batter, than it seems a bit less appropriate to bake -or at least to call them- blueberry muffin. And, in the second place, because oh-gosh-i-so-wanted-to-eat-them-all. When you get plump, sweet blueberries, you should really think twice about using them as an ingredient and not as a main.
While you think what's best to do, I suggest you start eating them already.
Don't get me wrong though, these muffins were really, really good.
Really good.

INGREDIENTS:

- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 TBS baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 TBS / 3/4 stick / 90gr butter
- 1 + 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 egg + 2 yolks
- 1 cup milk
- a lot of blueberries

DIRECTIONS
1- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

2- In a second bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and then, alternating, the flour mixture and the milk. - For some reason it seems you should- make sure you always begin and end with flour.

3- Fill you muffin tins and bake at 180° for about 30 minutes.

As easy as that.

OF JOBS AND BOOKS.

So, job wise, I think I broke some records today.

First of all, I got two rejections in 5 hours. That might even be already enough to make it a brighter day. But, actually, no.

What makes it really  remarkable, is that I've also figured that they will never write me back from a place I proposed to volunteer for.

Seriously???

Well, that's definitely remarkable, allow me to brag.

So, I have a new found depression and lots of time to bask in it.

A kind of an obvious solution would have been some sweet/cakie delight.

Still, if you think about it practically, I don't know how many cupcakes you can eat in hours and hours of sadness, but I guess it's around... a lot.

Honestly, I don't have the will to bake that many cupcakes.

And there it came, my solution.

The one thing I'm gonna do for hours and just be happy.

While you sweat behind your bar, I'm gonna take a trip to Alabama. Have fun.

Honestly I don't wanna know if you've ever read "To kill a mockingbird" -that is what I'm reading now-, I'm afraid you might spoil it mentionin'your favourite line or something.

On the other hand, I would be delighted to know if you've ever read "The perks of being a wallflower".

COMFORT CERTANTIES and Blueberry Pancakes

Everyone has his little comfort certainty, that tiny thing that you’re sure you make better that anyone else –or at least in a decent way- that goes reinforcing your selconfidence when you need it.

You might draw beautifully, you might be able to speak while burping, you might moonwalk for kilometers.

As for myself..well, nothing really comes to my mind now but, at least, I thought I was able to cut an onion. Not in any artistic way, like, I cannot carve a caravell out of a watermelon, but still, I though I could at least cube it properly.

Turns out I cannot.

Well, I couldn’t, you all please be jelous.

After denying me even the tiniest certanty of knowing how to cube an onion –seriously, was I asking so much?- at least Gordon taught me how to do that. No, of course I’m not gonna share it with you, keep wandering in oblivion.

Nevertheless, I’m gonna share with you his recipe for a wowbreakfast.

INGREDIENTS:

125g flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 TBS sugar

2 eggs, separated

100ml milk

125g ricotta

100g blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

Sift the flour, baking powder,
salt and sugar in a
       bowl and mix together. Add the egg
       yolks and, gradually, the milk, whisking slowly.  When everything is well combined, fold in the ricotta and the blueberries.

In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites  until
stiff. 

      You should be able to turn the bowl watchin
       your egg whites miraculously defying gravity.
      At this point, add them carefully to the batter.

Heat a non-stick frying pan and melt in it a knob
      of butter with some oil. Cook the pancakes
      using 2 TBS 

      of batter each, 2 minutes per side until golden.

Gordon suggests to serve them with Greek yoghurt 

      and honey, which must be divine. We had them with a sprinkling of brown sugar. Also divine.