Scraps, Shreds and other Insanities

Carrot-Cupcakes

Posted on April 14, 2011 by theskiesiwander

Hey World,

Sorry it’s been a while, but I got an awesome recipe waiting in the oven (litterally, I’m typing this waiting for the last batch of cupcakes to come out of the oven). I found the following recipe (a tiny bit different, as usual) on Anne’s Kitchen (THE foodblog), but de-americanised it a bit (read: WAY less sugar).

aye then,

You will need (for about 30 cupcakes-> unless you’re alone, don’t do less, because they WILL be eaten fast)

4 eggs
300 gr sugar (I used 210 gr of mascobado sugar, which is fairtrade, and biological and has a really special taste, and 90 gr of ordinary sugar)
300 ml vegetable oil
3-5 grated carrots
3-5 tinned pineapple rings (if you don’t want it all that sweet, don’t use the ones in syrup but try to find the tinned one in juice, I prefer that one to heavy syrup)
100 gr ground walnuts or hazelnuts
80 gr of dessicated coconut (Kokosraspel as the Germans say)
400 gr flour
1,5 tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

How to proceed

preheat the oven to 150 C°
chop the pineapple rings into tiny pieces
whisk the eggs at high speed until they become all nice and fluffy, then add the sugar and continue whisking at high speed (it won’t become very pale in colour if you use mascobado or other non refined sugar, but don’t worry, just make sure it’s fluffy)
add the oil in a steady stream
continue beating
mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl
add the carrots, pineapples and the dry ingredients to the egg and sugar mixture, and gently fold them. It will mix pretty easily, even if just using a spoon.
put in forms and bake for 40 minutes.

optional (yes optional because they are also damn awesome without) frosting

As the one in the original recipe contains like 400 gr of icing sugar with 100 gr of cream cheese ( and would have sent the Ducheror screaming SUGARRUUUUUUUUUSH, and kept me from eating those divine little cupcakes), I went for something way lighter.

I used 3 tablespoons of cream, and whisked it to whipped cream, added the same amount of white cheese (Frischkäse), a spoonful of coconut milk, a bit of mascobado and about a tablespoon of the pineapple juice, mixed it all together and put it on the cupcakes.

Let them rest in the fridge for about half an hour or so before serving.

et voilà.

I hope you enjoy,

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Posted in Baking and tagged carrot, coconut, cupcakes, mascobado sugar, pineapple. Bookmark the permalink.

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best ~ Epictetus

Posted on March 28, 2011 by theskiesiwander

If Epictetus was right, well then my weekend was quite damn worth it. But let’s start at the beginning. A while back, more precisely after the Ducheror’s first tea party I felt like rekindling that old habit of mine to organise tea parties myself ( a habit kind of lost as my usual venue studies in various parts of the world and is, as a consequence virtually impossible to gather for a proper afternoon tea). The venue was a very select one, namely two blogging friends, the Ducheror himself, and mydemoiselle, a teacher in need for refined company, and as a matter of fact, the best boyfriend of all.

I like organising such type of gatherings, not just for love of tea and cakes, but also because all the things around, like laying the table, writing invitations and all just make it something really really special. Also, having slightly turned towards bagged tea in recent times for reasons of “no I don’t have time for this, I won’t bag the tea myself”, I finally found the opportunity to set foot into the tea and coffee place in my town. (Couleur Café in Ettelbruck, if you get a chance to go this far up north, go there, the place is small, cozy and has a huge choice in various types of tea, ranging from biological white tea to green tea mixes with rose petals and mint, or even matcha).

I walked out with 3 different types of tea, my favourite as of now being a Rooiboos Blend with Cinnamon and Orange.

The baking orgy preceding the gathering was not for the faint of heart either. I had to refrain myself from baking more than 3 different types of pastries (as I did allow the Ducheror to have his share of baking time too, with very almondy muffins and cyanide scones), namely the vicious chocolate-almond cake (completely underestimated by the boyfriend) and apple pie (both already featured on the blog). In addition to this I made cinnamon rolls, to which the recipe will follow when I have managed to prepare them to my own satisfaction.

Needless to say, the afternoon proved very…. well opulent. Due to mydemoiselles unforeseen early departure I found myself pretty much stranded in an all male surrounding, but was not harmed in the process 😉 As if that sugarrush were not enough, the even more restricted circle of the Ducheror, the boyfriend and me attempted a drinking game to the Invention of Lying, which we did pretty much abandon after the first 5 lies, because, after all, toasting to every single lie in the film would have left us awfully drunk and unable to proceed to the Sunday plans, which were visiting museums (Luxembourg had an event going on called l’Invitation aux musées, which is quite a cool initiative, a bit like museum night only in the daytime and over a few days).

After a brief visit at the Museum of Natural History (my all time favourite ever since I was a kid, and that not just because of the animal taxidermies)We got to see an exposition about Latvian Symbolism, old photographies from Egypt and Conceptual Art slash (mainly) photography, and had a go at the underground section of the National Museum of History and Art (which is insanely cool, as it is built far down into the rock, but without making you feel claustrophobic). I really like their prehistoric section which is precisely located on the -5 floor, and is a wonderfully calm place when there are no people around, as meters and meters of rock keep away all sounds of a roaring city.

But what would a Sunday visit to LC be without dropping by at the most awesome cafe in town, especially if the Ducheror and the Bee are involved? So we found ourselves heading to vis-à-vis vum Palais, the Chocolate House by Nathalie Bonn, a place specialised mainly in chocolate products, known as the HotChocSpoons, pieces of chocolate coming on wooden spoons to be melted in a cup of hot milk for the most wonderful hot chocolate possible.

But it’s not just the chocolate. They also drive every avid baking fan insane with their awesome recipes ranging from apple pie to Sachertorte (still trying to copy the apple pie, but I don’t quite seem to have the exact composition yet).

Anyways, after that exhausting weekend, I now find myself plunged into Emilie Autumn’s Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls which the Ducheror brought along (Surprise Surprise, and a quite damn good one too;-) ), and, in order to get back to my reading, I’ll just share some pictures from the weekend with you.

Love,

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Posted in Baking, pretty things and tagged baking, Company, Museums, Places to go, Tea, Teaparties. Bookmark the permalink.

Calligraphy

Posted on March 21, 2011 by theskiesiwander

Howdy world out there,
Spring is back, and so is the most wonderful man in the world ( naah he’s mine;-) ) so I’m getting back my sense for pretty things in life. One of those is a passion I coincidentally share ( well okay one of the many) I share with J, or around here, the Ducheror. As a matter of fact we’re not just both studying law and sow wrath in kitchens but we share an affinity for the fine art of calligraphy. Luckily none of us has reached the summum of skill yet, otherwise there might be some tiny waves of jealousy that might possibly lead to very nasty ideas;-)

But back to topic. Handwriting is a skill. Beautiful handwriting that is. Having started off as, as the Polish speaking community says, a chicken scribbling with its claw I guess I can safely say I have come a long way from the kid not quite knowing how to hold a pen properly without ending up covered in ink( well I have to admit depending on which fountain pen I use this still tends to happen).
The way was quite, let’s say winding. I went through all of the ‘try to copy your friends’ cool handwriting with open- center dots on the i and other abominations’ phases. Luckily for me, and anyone who has to read my writing, that has come to an end quite a while back.
However my handwriting does seem to be a hybrid from various inspirations and sources.
Some letters I have copied from the way friends make them, others have an additional arabesque or too so I can avoid lifting the nib from the paper, the secret love for Klimt’s spirals, others again come from my short trip into ciryllic writing and finally, a lot of influence also comes from how my mother writes. Although I suspect quite a few letter she does are also taken from Russian writing, given that Poland and Russia do happen to be neighboring countries after all.
So I guess I find myself with a quite tolerable to look at, moderately ornamental but stil rather easy to read handwriting.
However seeing works of pure beauty as the ones in the video attached make me realise just how very far I am from reaching my ideal.
Yet I’m not giving up hope that some day I’ll manage to fill my Paperblanks notebooks ( don’t get me started on those, I’m pretty damn as hooked as one can possibly be on their wonderful pieces of art that make me not want to lay my pen out of my hand ever again) with the most exquisite calligraphy.

Pens Used:
• 1mm steel nib Pelikan script
• 1.1mm steel Lamy nib
• 1.5mm steel Lamy nib
• fine Parker Gold nib

And here’s the video:

Love, and lots of arabesqued wishes for the beginning of spring!

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Posted in pretty things and tagged Passions, pretty things, skills. Bookmark the permalink.

Desiderata

Posted on March 20, 2011 by theskiesiwander

Today’s post is somewhat marked by the reflective mood I was in all week, which was probably due to the partly really cold and hideous weather, and as usual, lack of sleep.

The following poem’s background story is quite fun to read. Usually said to have been found in Old St.Paul’s Church in Baltimore, and dating from 1692, Desiderata is in fact a far more recent text, written in 1927 by Max Ehrmann, an Indiana lawyer (fancy that). But I’ll leave you to it:

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Love,

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Posted in profound thoughts and tagged poetry. Bookmark the permalink.

A π-Pie for the Dough-do

Posted on March 16, 2011 by theskiesiwander

Monday was the 14th of March, or in American notation 3.14… oooor our old friend from math class: π… as I had just handed in my intern-ship report and filled the void with my favorite occupation, namely, baking (surprise surprise).

You will need a cakemould (Springform) in two pieces, that has an opening ring around, or this will be virtually impossible to prepare.

Ingredients

2x 200gr Flour, all purpose (Bléééh as says the J) will do the trick, but preferably a more nutritiously valuable type.
2x50gr Oatmeal
2x 150gr cold (!!!) Butter
2 Eggs
2x 70gr Honey
Cinnamon
2x 1 Tablespoon of Rum
5 Apples
Dried Raisins
Chopped Almonds
Cinnamon
Maple Syrup

Preparation

prepare the dough in two portions
mix oatmeal, flour, butter cut in little pieces, rum, egg, a tiny tiny bit of cinnamon and honey together until you get a uniform mass. But don’t mix it to long or the butter will become too soft and make the dough difficult to work with afterwards.
wrap in plastic foil and put in the fridge
do the same with the second portion of dough
keep both in the fridge for at least an hour. I kept mine in over night, but just because it was really late and I was insanely tired and knew I had a free morning.
preheat the oven to 180C° in air circulation mode.
prepare the mould for the dough (butter it thouroughly)
roll out one ball of the dough so it covers the floor and the sides of your mould (about 0,5cm thick)
put in the oven for 5 minutes, this way the “floor” will not soften up so much during baking with the apples.
take it out again.
cut the apples into very thin slices (as the baking time is rather very short you will want to make sure they have a chance to cook)
put them in a plastic bowl with a cover
add almonds, cinnamon, a spoonful of maple syrup and raisins
cover the bowl and shake it thoroughly so the ingredients are well mixed
put the mix into your mould, and make sure it covers all sides up to the rim.
roll out the second ball of dough
cut into stripes
lay them in criss-cross shape on top of the apples
optional: cut out a π and lay it on top
optionally: brush egg yolk over your grid, so it becomes all golden and shiny
get the whole thing back in the oven, for about 15 minutes.
shape a dough-do or other extinct animals from whatever remains of your dough (you’ll probably eat it while your pie is cooling down later, so enjoy 😉 )
bake the dough-do

let the pie cool down properly before opening the mould, then serve and enjoy.

Love,

B. ❤

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Posted in Baking and tagged Apples, baking, Cinnamon, Fun in the Kitchen, Pie, Yeast-free. Bookmark the permalink.

Braised Guinea fowl- Tweaked French Style

Posted on March 13, 2011 by theskiesiwander

Last night, mum and I decided we wanted to do curry-chicken for Sunday lunch. however, due to some mixup, what we had in the freezer weren’t two free range chicken, but two free range guinea fowls. As we were not too keen on experimenting with this type of poultry (domestic to the African continent as far as I know) we, once again, got to thank the vast realms of the Internet for helping us find a recipe we could do with what we had in house.

The guinea fowl with a side dish of Spätzle and Cinnamon spiced red cabbage (there’s the not so French tweaks) takes about an hour to marinate, but you can do more, like preparing it the night before or so, and 1h30 to cook, so make sure to start early (I admit it’s nothing compared to Indian cuisine where I start the day prior and are busy until the moment of sitting down to enjoy the meal).

Ingredients (for 6-8 people)

2 Guinea Fowls

For the Marinade

3/4 bottle of dry white wine
8 black peppercorns, crushed
2 chopped carrots
4 chopped ribs celery
2 chopped onions
2 bay leaves
a few branches of parsley
2 cloves of garlic
salt (preferably Camargue Fleur de Sel)

For the Braise

the Birds ( I’m having a little Hitchcock moment here 😉 )
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 small onions, not peeled!
3-4 shallots, also not peeled!
2 leeks, only the white and light green parts
5-6 carrots
a cup of bouillon
a sprig of sage (as we had no fresh one, we took the dried one that is usually used for tea)
savory
800gr of turnips (the white-purple ones)

For the Side Dishes

Red cabbage (usually sold prepared in hermetic “bags”, try to find some prepared with apples=
One apple
One cinnamon quill
Spätzle

Preparation

Use the chopped onion, garlic, carrots, 3 of the celery ribs to stuff the birds. In order to prevent everything from falling out, use the celery leaves like a cork.
Put the chicken in a heavy large iron pot (ours is a cousances one) and pour the wine on top and inside of the fowls. Add the rest of the celery, pepper and salt, and cover.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Cut the onions in half, leaving the peel, this will add savor to the sauce later on, and set aside.
Peel and cut the turnips.
Cut the remaining vegetables in large pieces and put in a bowl.
Heat the olive oil in a large pan and shortly bake the guinea fowls from all sides.
Pour the marinade in a recipient for later, leaving the celery in the pot.
Add the bouillon and the onions, put in the fowls and pour some of the marinade over it.
Add the sage, thyme and the rest of the “leafy” stuff.
Cover the whole thing and put it in the oven.
Meanwhile, heat the cabbage with apple slices and the cinnamon quill. Just leave it covered at low temperature so it can slowly boil until the rest is ready.
Every once in a while pour some of the marinade over the fowls.
After an hour of cooking, add the vegetables to the preparation ( by no means earlier, or they will pretty much lose all colour and consistency). Continue adding the marinade, And remember to cover.
Heat & salt water for the Spätzle, they take about 15 minutes to boil depending on the brand used.
After 1h30 take out the fowls and cut them into pieces.
Serve the vegetables in a separate dish, unless you have some really huge dishes around, then you can also leave poultry and vegetables together.
Let the sauce boil for a moment, before serving.
Add a little butter to the Spätzle.
Chop more parsley and add some to the sauce and the Spätzle, if you like you can also use some to decorate the guinea fowl.
Serve!

I hope you enjoy,

Love,

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Posted in cooking and tagged Cinnamon, Poultry, Vegetables, Wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Coco-Curry-Pork

Posted on March 6, 2011 by theskiesiwander

Sunshine and Indian cuisine just go together, as do tea and rain, Bonnie and Clyde, apples and cinnamon. And I just love cooking Indian food, but I don’t get around to practicing it very often as it does usually take lots and lots of time, ingredients and preparation, which is why, I suspect, dancing Shiva has two sets of arms (lucky bastard). But for once, there were two sets of arms here too, as today’s post is based on a cooking joint venture with my super awesome mum (whose 2 most recent witty remarks were: curry is the new Windex- because apparently now that she adds curry to our vegetables everyone eats them, and “make sure to write in your blog that this only works in mother-daughter joint venture”, though I do assure you it also works with sets of arms that are not linked by a very long umbilical cord, and can also be prepared without company, but that’s just not quite as much fun).

So there we go:

Ingredients for 6 people

– 1, 5 kg pork, diced in 5cm pieces (or any other type of meat)

– 4cm piece of fresh ginger (add more or less according to personal taste)

– 3 tomatoes

-1 onion

– 2 apples

– 1-2 garlic cloves

– 2 tablespoons of curry or Indian mix (depending on preference again, the Indian mix is usually less spicy than curry by itself)

-200 ml of coconut milk

– 2 tablespoons of Ghee or olive oil

-1/2 l of bouillon

– salt& pepper

-a pinch of Garam Masala

– wok

explanations:

Ghee: special Indian type of fat, it is a very dense butter so to speak (obtained by a process of mainly dehydrating butter if I understood well), which allows for it to be heated to very high temperatures without turning brown. We buy ours at the local Naturata, a store specialised in exotic and organic cuisine.

Garam Masala: as far as I know this is the Hindi word for “great spice mix”, and that’s pretty much what it is. Garam Masala can rather easily be found in larger stores which have an international cuisine department, or in plain and simple Asia stores.

Preparation:

– cut the onions, the garlic and tomatoes (large dice) and set them aside.

– use a kitchen grater to cut the ginger and apples.

– heat the Ghee/ oil in a wok and bake the pork dices on all sides until they are slightly golden brown. Don’t bother to have them baked all thoroughly, as they will have enough time to get done later.

– set the meat aside in a bowl

– add a little more Ghee/ oil to the wok and put in the onion, garlic and curry.

– add ginger after about 2-4 minutes.

– add meat, cut apples and tomatos in large dice.

– add the bouillon and coconut milk.

– add the Garam Masala and let it cook at low heat for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has diminished in volume.

Serve with plain rice.

Love,
B.

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Posted in cooking and tagged Curry, Indian, Spices. Bookmark the permalink.

Personal Growth

Posted on February 26, 2011 by theskiesiwander

People grow. Not just on the outside, but they become better at what they do, stronger at facing both themselves and the world and on a general note just better, improved versions of themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe the world is a scary place, but sometimes things happen that make me feel less of a misfit, and more of a young human being slowly, slowly finding my way through the mess of life. It’s not a thing I could do by myself though, which is why I am very, very grateful for the people I get to meet, from whom I get to learn so much I feel like somewhat of a knowledge sponge, with the only thing slightly scary about it being the occasional “oh no how much more will fit into that little head of mine? There’s still so so much stuff left to learn…”thought.
Call it perfectionist drive or anything else, the point is, I guess as Katherine Mansfield said, I want to be all I was created to be. And if that involves being on the constant lookout for things I’m not good at and and trying to reduce or get rid of them altogether then so be it. I have a to do list for such things, after all I wouldn’t want to miss a thing.
It ranges from stopping to torture my cuticles, over getting myself out of bed for morning yoga more than just once a week, to elaborate things like “I really have to learn to express myself in French. Not written but spoken”. Which is one of the really exasperating things, annoying mostly because I know I’ve got the linguistic knowledge to do so, but lack the confidence I have in English for instance to use it in day to day life.
The only thing really getting in the way is that inner inertia that crawls up behind slash inside me whenever I feel I lost the drive of something that pushed me until then. So I and the voices have to work on that.
We found eight week plans to be a rather efficient way of breaking bad and creating good routines. Why eight weeks? Because they say that it’s the time you need to create a habit…
So, that’s all the momentary news from constructionsite-me… I’m starting classes again on Monday, not quite as well rested as I’d have hoped for, but still kind of driven, which is the state of mind I like myself best in…

Love,
B.

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Posted in profound thoughts and tagged Self-motivational. Bookmark the permalink.

And so it is…CYANIDEPOISONINGCHOCOLATECAKE (naah, no worries, it’s “just” almonds)

Posted on February 25, 2011 by theskiesiwander

(Damien Rice mode, sorry for that, I’ll get my auditive faculties into Rodrigo and Gabriela in a moment)

I finished my intern-ship today. It was an overall amazing, challenging time (oh yeah, the challenges and me, I really just can’t do without) which deserved to be celebrated, well or rather, those who put up with me deserved a little thank you. And so the Intern baked, the schedule was quite tight, as I really really needed to get some sleep and do a million other things before doing so. Luckily there was that one recipe that takes 10 minutes to prepare, baking time excluded (but in those 40 minutes one can get quite a few things done). Yet, what would me in the kitchen be without some little twist, so I went for a flourless chocolatecake, but not with all that strange stuff J. put into his matcha-muffins (which are most divine, even if some of the ingredients apparently got the pharmacist suspicious). Long story short, I went for almonds instead of wheat, and ended up with this:

Ingredients

200gr of Butter

150gr of Sugar

200 gr of preferably dark chocolate, if you prefer milk, I’d suggest reducing the sugar

200gr of ground almonds (if you want it crunchy, add a handful or two of chopped ones too)

3 large or 4 small Eggs (if taking all ingredients double, use 5 large or 7 small eggs)

2 teaspoons of baking powder (I tend to go for the biological one, but any type will do)

1 greased form

optionally: vanilla or cinnamon or any other spice you like in cakes, to add to the dough.

How to proceed

– preheat the oven to 160°C

– Melt butter and chocolate together, but beware don’t heat too much or you’ll have a lot of fun scratching the mix off the bottom of your pot.

– mix all the other ingredients in a bowl

– add the butter and chocolate mix once its completely melted, and mix the whole thing (if living with other people: defend your dough! 😉 )

– once it’s thoroughly (random association of the day: in my list of favourite words, this one comes very close to “onomatopoeia”) mixed, pour the dough into the form and shove the whole thing into the oven (suggestion: propose to flat/house mates, siblings or other people around to scratch out the bits of dough from the bowl, it should awaken their inner five-year old)

– bake for 40 minutes, take the cake out, let it cool down and enjoy ( after preferably having skipped all other meals of the day, a suggestion J. also has for anyone who plans on organising an opulent tea-party)

Decoration and other Ideas:

– Chocolate glaze and slash or smarties

– Icing(white or coloured)

– serving with ice-cream

…

Love,

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Posted in Baking and tagged almonds, baking, chocolate, easy, sweet. Bookmark the permalink.

Images*

Posted on February 20, 2011 by theskiesiwander

*title preferably to be sung on the vocalise done by A Fine Frenzy in Almost Lover somewhat near the end. (no no worries, the song is in no way relevant to my mood, but I love the music)

Anyways, today I’m feeling slightly worn out, as 3 weeks of intern-ship, especially when this enthralling take their toll on sleep deprived law students. Or, rather, take their toll on non legal thinking of sleep deprived law students.

So, I will, for once not write so much and share some pictures I shot last week using the hipstamatic iPhone app. It’s an awesome little piece of code I think, it allows for doing retro pictures using nothing but the iPhone. It’s perfect if you’re looking for that old feel in your pictures, but can’t really be bothered to spend hours and hours photoshopping because you either suck at it (as I do) or have no bloody time ( as I don’t either). So I’ll just shut up and let you see for yourselves: