Wishing you a Hot Chocolaty Christmas

1 cup (120 gr) powdered milk

1 cup (100 gr) Dutch processed cocoa powder

1 cup (115 gr) powdered sugar

2 tsp corn starch

1 packet vanilla sugar

 

Put 2-3 tbs cocoa mix  in a mug, add hot milk to fill the mug.

 

That’s all folks!

 

Or… isn’t it just as easy to use some ready made cocoa mix? Easy yes. Maybe. Good? Maybe. Better? NO! Definitely not! This is the good thing boys and girls, much better than the overpriced enhanced stuff in the yellow box. (Which by the way my sons adore especially on camping holidays when all milk is pasteurized milk and as such less than drinkable according to sons. Sons make that milk drinkable by adding huge amounts of said enhanced stuff in yellow box.) 

Or… you could press your baby-owning sis into giving you 30 baby food jars, clean them, put a nice piece of wrapping paper around. Top the cocoa mix with mini-marshmallows and chocolate chips and put each jar in a lovely paper bag, do an on-line search for a fitting label and add a peppermint stick just for fun (and stirring your hot chocolate). Et voila! A nice gift to give!

Gadgets that work; Ibis garlic press

 

 

Just a quick addition to the “gadgets that work” series; my new Ibis Garlic press by Animal House,! Isn’t she a cutie?

She does work well, in that the garlic cloves come out finely pressed and still juicy, the clean-up is very easy (a major reason to buy this one) because once you flip the beak over the other side with the rubber tips gets rid of the garlic remains quite nicely. A quick shower under the tap and you’re done. I just think it could press a little better, have a feeling my old (horror to clean) Brabantia did get a little more out of each garlic clove. Having said that.. I get this one out of the drawer every time I need to press garlic so the Brabantia next to it enjoys a retirement.

There are more fun animal shaped gadgets, and I really think I really really need Wallie the Whale Ice cream scoop: 

 

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: gadgets,garlic

Favorite things!

Probably the one necklace I wear most because it is so versatile. See how the colors shimmer? The stone seems to adapt to the colors you’re wearing. Green, purple, blue… (I never wear pink but I can see it would go with pink as well).

The story started with the bracelet; a present from Tanna and Sue when they visited us eh… way back in 2007? Needless to say I was thrilled! That visit continued in discovering London together and lo and behold, I found a matching necklace in one of the artist jewelry shops in Portobello market: love at first sight!

Fast forward to August 2011, holiday in the US for the first time since the boys were tiny toddlers, strolling through –very very touristy but oh the scenery!- Sedona.

We found lots of stores selling native American jewelry and I remembered Sue telling me they found the bracelet in a similar store…. you could have heard my brain clicking. So now I was an a mission… to find a pair of matching earrings! As you can see I succeeded!

Disclaimer: of course you are going to ask me what kind of stone it is and for the life of me I really cannot remember! I know I thought that I should keep the note that was in the box but can’t find it anymore. Grrrr!

EDIT: Thanks to Linda (Hi Linda!) who in her comment suggested that this could well be abalone shell I now know it is!

“The abalone is a mollusk shell that has been used for personal and ceremonial adornment since early times. Abalone has been considered sacred by many Native Americans.”

“Abalone Shell has the colors of the ocean in it, blues, greens, purples and yellows. It is soft to the touch from repeated tumbles in the sand and water. It has slight ripples on it like the patterns left in the sand as the waves lapse over it. It is comforting to hold it and rub the softness like you would a worry stone”

I also found some information on line discussing the healing properties, associated with women, motherhood, emotional balance…

I smile when I read this…. That’s exactly what I do when I wear it. I seem to always –almost absent mindedly- fiddle with this jewelry, just holding it or feel the softness with my fingers. Isn’t that intriguing?

Flowers and an apology to my future daughters in law

Dear future daughter in law / or son in law (what do I know?)

I want you to know that your future husband has not been taught to bring you flowers. Because when his mom was young and foolish she once told her young husband that she didn’t want him to bring her flowers every Friday. Because she thought that was the stupidest thing ever. She explained that buying your wife flowers every week out of sheer habit was dumb. What can I say? She was young. She thought she would hate to get flowers out of sheer habit. Just because it was Friday. Her husband listened very carefully.

Well dear daughter in law, we all know now that what she should have said was: honey, I’d love for you to bring me flowers but please buy them because you love me not only because it’s Friday.

Sigh.

So I’m afraid that my sons, your future husbands, never got the message that it is very nice to bring flowers. I’m truly sorry.

But…..

There’s hope!! At least when you love to bake. (Eh.. girl… in this household you better like to bake and cook, I’m just sayin’….) Then one day he might bring you a rose. A silicon rose. That’s what my oldest son did when he returned from Rome. He bought me a silicon rose cake mold. I thought it was the sweetest thing! (and he also bought us 1 kg of Parmesan and a bottle of Limoncello. I think after all I’ve raised him right).

Anyway, I baked the boys a regular pound cake in it. I loved how it turned out, I loved the crisp crust and the defined lines on the cake. Sweet!

Now who calls me tiny?

Or how a very small car trumps men at a DIY-store.

I had my eye on this eh rack? bookstand? accessory-ladder thingy? for some time already. But… too expensive for what it was, did I really need it, the husband wouldn’t understand, should I fill all that lovely space we created etc etc..

But.. on my way back from the hairdresser I walked in the DIY-store to check some paint-colors and there it was again! This time with a 50% price-off tag and already assembled I gave in. Schlepped it all the way through the store to the cashier and paid.

In a skirt, high heels and my hair freshly cut.
Driving my new teeny tiny car.
Never thinking about the size of that tiny car.
Because I am still not used to having a new car.

That realization only came when I walked up to my car and stopped. You see my old –very old as in 17 yr old- car was a little bigger than this one and had fold flat back seats and a fold flat passenger seat because it was a 3-door one.
This new car however is small and has the 5-doors I wanted. Which means that the passenger seat will not fold down anymore. Which means less space.

Enter the damsel in distress. Remember the skirt and the high heels and the DIY-store? Ok.
I stood there for a couple of minutes contemplating how to get the stupid thing home in one piece IN my car. Mind you, I was fairly certain I could do it. The men that passed me by on their way into the store were not so sure.

One grinned in passing and called out: that is not going to work!

One came up to me, sized the car, the rack, me, then shook his head and went on his merry way.

A pair of two walked by laughing and told me: “Now you’ve got a problem Hon!”

Another one took the time to come up to me (thank you sir, you were really nice!) and tried to think of various ways of fitting the thing into my car, even asking me where I had to go. On the brink of offering to take it but when he heard where I was headed he too shook his head, warning me that he wouldn’t take the risk.

Now THAT was all wrong you see? I mean I AM an ace-packer, the one that fits 3 weeks worth of clothes for 5 persons in two bags and always always packs the car and tent trailer. So don’t mess with my skills guys!

HAH!

Granted, it took some time and various ways of trying but after 10 minutes of trying it fitted like this in my car. Back seats folded flat, front seats pushed all the way up, a shopping bag as protection and the chain lock we use to lock our gate looped through the back door and around the rack locked shut to keep it in place and prevent it from sliding out. I didn’t exactly come prepared but used what was in my car.
It took some sort of restraint to not go back into the store and show them that I did it. Yeah that’s me, pathetic.

(The Husband likes it but still feels it should be properly hanged on the wall. It shouldn’t. It is not meant to hang. It is supposed to stand like that. Honestly. All the magazines show it this way honey. Really. See? (Me showing him pictures in various magazines until he is really really bored).

Gadgets that work! Is it a clock? Is it a frisbee?

Nooooo, but what is it? I know, do you?

You both are right and what David said in the comments is what had me grinning all the way from the back of the store to the register... Ah great minds...

This plate will help you divide a round whatever into odd parts. Or rather even parts. Odd numbers. Hmm. Picture a pizza on the plate and in this example 5 hungry family members. Your first cut will be starting at the "0" on the bottom of the picture and then slice starting at every "5" you see on the plate. Ofcourse we tried it immediately and it really works.

Not sure what the crèpe recipe is doing there in the center, can't imagine dividing a crèpe into so many parts but since we bought in Britttany I figured a crèpe recipe and this plate was the ideal souvenir.

Gadgets that work! Shiitake update

Aren't they beautiful?
I'm still in no-move-mood but these shiitake sure don't need their behinds kicked, they keep growing fast! Maybe I should try and photograph their progress every couple of hours, it seems to me we can see them grow.

I've already harvested 5 large shiitake and this morning there were 4 more ready to pick. I thoroughly enjoy my birthday present! Shiitake for dinner tonight.

Een schimmeltje voor je verjaardag! / Happy fungus day!

(Please scroll for English)

Het is hier zo stil geweest, ik kon na de vakantie gewoon niet op gang komen. Het is niet zo dat ik in een stoel heb gehangen en gewacht tot het beter zou worden, om eerlijk te zijn heb ik best een behoorlijke berg werk verzet maar er kwam gewoon weinig naar buiten zullen we maar zeggen.

Het ultieme verjaardagskado om weer eens wat aan mijn blog te doen. Vanmorgen angstig vroeg op bed verrast door het gezin met koffie en weinig gezang (voor zevenen is alleen koffie prima) en kadootjes natuurlijk. Vanmorgen kreeg ik een doos, netjes ingepakt, leek verdacht veel op een doosje wijn... maar nee. Ik mag mijn krachten beproeven op het laten groeien van schimmels. Nou is dát niet een fijn kado? En ik was er nog blij mee ook!

Het is een compleet pakket; in de doos vind je een grote bruin-wit beschimmelde klomp (ja sorry kan het ook niet helpen) keurig verpakt in een plastic zak. Volgens de handleiding van Casa Foresta is het een "stevig baaltje zaagsel verpakt in een groeitas, in een gecontroleerde omgeving ontwikkeld dus absoluut veilig". Dat is fijn om te weten. Mijn klomp belooft een rijke oogst aan shii-take en weet je, ik kan de eerste knopjes al zien zitten.

Zoals mijn kinderen zouden zeggen: Vét!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know that your family loves and understands you when you get a bag ful of funghi for your birthday! This morning they woke me up with coffee and presents (no singing, no breakfast which is perfectly fine for me at 6.30 in the morning). A very nice coffee mug, lovely aromatic bath oil, a Thai cookbook (wink wink), and a large cardboard box.... Wine? Limoncella? Nope, a plastic bag filled with a big mouldy lump of sawdust! Why thank you honey, you sure know how to treat your wife!

Really this is so much fun. It's a "grow your own" package for growing mushrooms, according to plan mine will sprout shiitake! They need to be sprayed with water every day but already I can see the first signs of growth. Isn't that amazing? Promise is of harvesting 3 to 4 times depending on growing conditions, totalling to 500 grams of shiitake. The growing bag is a product of Casa Foresta, there seems to be a choice of mushrooms, the pics they show on their website are almost fairy-like.

DH also got me a copy of Julia Childs' "The art of French cooking 1&2", there might be just the recipe for excellent fresh mushrooms in there.

Spoiled I am.

POM pom di dum.. (POM Wonderful)

(In English? just scroll!)

Een gesponsorde blogpost? Hier? Dacht het niet! Ik werd een poosje geleden benaderd of ik genegen was Pom Wonderful uit te proberen. Zo ja, dan zou het produkt persoonlijk aan de deur afgeleverd worden.... Pom watte? Nou jeweetwel Pom!

Dat granaatappelsap waar een flink aantal Amerikaanse blogs vol van stond een poosje geleden. Zie je? Alles gebeurt hier ook maar gewoon wat later. Uitgekiende marketing strategie die kennelijk wereldwijd wordt toegepast. Benader eerst de foodies, genereer wat gratis "rumour around the brand", zorg dat je gezien en gehoord wordt op de juiste plekken met een minimale marketing inspanning aan geld. Nice. Er is nog genoeg marketing meisje over in mij om het te kunnen waarderen.

Ben ik gezwicht? Tuurlijk. Gratis! Nieuw! En... voor mij het belangrijkste, er werden geen voorwaarden gesteld. Gewoon alsjeblieft, hier zijn 2 ijsgekoelde flesjes van 473 ml en veel plezier ermee.

Nou goed dan, wat doen we eerst? Smaak? Uiterlijk? Prijs?

Uiterlijk dan maar, grappige flesjes (zie foto hierboven, het cape-je zit niet bij de prijs inbegrepen), heel donkerrood ondoorzichtig wat dikker sap. Wij vroegen ons af of je wel geacht werd het puur te drinken.

Smaak: ik vond het gelijk lekker, twee van mijn zoons vertrokken gelijktijdig hun gezicht. Oef! Zoon nr. 3 keek, en schudde fanatiek zijn hoofd, hij wilde niet. Inderdaad het is maar een klein beetje zoet jongens, eerder rins met een klein bittertje, droog, en heel vol van smaak. Doet denken aan die flesjes bosbessensap van vroeger.

Prijs: Ai! Behoorlijk. Ik zag adviesprijzen van 3,99 per flesje van 473 ml. Dat is flink. Even rekenen? Dat is zo'n € 8,50 per liter...

Dat is duur voor een glas sap. Is het duur voor een glas "gezondheid"? Wel grappig, het ziet eruit en wordt gepresenteerd als een luxe "sapje" maar tegelijkertijd staat er in de persberichten dat 1 flesje POM goed is voor 2 doseringen. Doseringen? Hmm. Want dat is de claim; POM Wonderful bevat 100% granaatappelsap, geen toegevoegde suikers, geen kunstmatige toevoegingen en krioelt van de anti-oxidanten. En die zijn weer overal goed voor, de nieuwe vitamine C. (is trouwens ook een anti-oxidant maar dat wisten onze moeders vroeger nog niet, hadden ze toch gelijk). Heb jij je anti-oxidanten al gehad vandaag?

Anti-oxidanten zijn van nature aanwezig in met name rode vruchten zoals frambozen, bosbessen, paprika, kersen, tomaten, aalbessen, druiven, granaatappels ;-), maar ook in koffie en -groene- thee. Dus wat gaan we doen? Even langs de groenteboer of de markt, of toch voor een quick-fix naar de supermarkt voor een flesje? Ondanks dat ik het sap erg lekker vond geloof ik dat ik prijstechnisch tóch eerder naar de groenteman zal gaan, hapje vezels erbij, wat mineralen en andere nuttige zaken... Zoals ze zeggen bij het Voedingscentrum:

Een evenwichtige voeding met volop groenten en fruit levert voldoende voedingsstoffen inclusief antioxidanten in ‘veilige’ hoeveelheden

Goed, wat heb ik er mee gedaan behalve puur gedronken, gemixed met sinasappelsap en me vermaakt met het kijken naar de gezichten van mijn kinderen? POM Wonderful was een smaakvolle aanvulling in een smoothie met banaan, frambozen uit eigen tuin, zemelen en ijsblokjes, en ik heb er een dressing van gemaakt voor een maaltijdsalade bestaande uit verschillende soorten sla, lauwwarme eendenborst, geroosterde paprika en gebakken paddestoelen.

Dressing:

3 delen olijfolie

1 deel frambozenazijn

2 el granaatappelsap

peper,zout

1 tl dyon mosterd

Dank aan Pom Wonderful voor de keurige service and de mogelijkheid om dit nieuwe produkt te proberen!

This is a sponsored message!

No, not really. Not here. Never.
Fact is that I was asked if I would like to try Pom Wonderful, launched here in Holland last week. I was interested to try (hey it was free, it's new to Holland and yes I was a little flattered), so last Thursday two precious** 473ml ice cold bottles were hand-delivered on my doorstep for us to sample. Just like that, no questions asked, no conditions, no strings attached.
** didn't know how precious exactly, waited to see store prices... Ouch! €3,99 per bottle.

I think they are effectively steamrolling the blogging world having seen many a post featuring the pomegranate juice-in-a-bottle pop up over the last couple of weeks, USA first and now the rest of the world to follow? We're talking about a claimed 100% pomegranate juice from concentrate. Quite tart, full of flavour (rich?) and a deep dark opaque red in color. The full bodied flavour had us wonder if you had to mix it up or drink it as-is.

What I did after enjoying the kids faces when they tasted the stuff (wrinkling every facial feature). I made a smoothie, a salad dressing, mixed it up with orange juice, drank it pure and enjoyed it with wodka, lime, sugar syrup and sparkling water....

Smoothie:

1 large banana

large handful fresh raspberries from the garden

1/2 cup of pomegranate juice

a few ice cubes

3/4 cup yoghurt

2 tbs wheat bran

Will I buy it from now on? Hmm I don't think so, it's quite expensive and I do believe that a balanced diet including a visit to the market will provide you with all the anti-oxidants you need. Berries, broccoli, tomatoes, grapes, spinach, bell peppers anyone?

Does size really matter? (pansizes dear readers, pansizes!)

Question: Is there a way to figure out how much (bread) dough you need to fill a loaf pan?

Although the gadget situation has improved a lot lately, it is still quite difficult to get specific ingredients and bakeware here. Even more so when you step up the ladder and broaden your baking horizon and buy books in English. So we European bakers often need to calculate, and/or get creative, do the trial and error thing (that's me), get some tasty but sometimes misshapen loaves, because the regular 9x5" loaf pans are not the standard size we can buy here. A couple of years ago I bought one (why? why only one?) 9x5" loaf pan in London and ever since I regret that I didn't buy two. Because that's the yield most bread recipes state.

"Makes 2 9x5" loaves" sound familiar?

Let me show you the different sized pans I own. The ones missing in the picture are my first loaf pans, heavy black tinned steel, relatively narrow and long. They were tossed recently. I fought with them for too long. They need to be seasoned and have a tendency to rust when used with wetter doughs or retarding in the fridge. (Forget about acidic sour doughs too) It is possible to get them back in shape but it is such a chore. Mind you it can be done but I finally decided that it was just too much of a hassle. Scoring, re-seasoning, using an inlay of baking parchment, all possible but I've given up. These are the pans I regularly use nowadays;

On the left the London one: a 9x5", middle is a Chicago metallic 10x5", and to the right and on top two loaf pans that expand from 27x15x9 cm (11x6x4.5") to a whopping 40 cm (15") and everything inbetween. Right is the smallest size, the one on top is pushed out to the max.

All pans are ever so lightly brushed with oil every now and then and loaves slide out easily. I wipe them clean, only wash them in hot water (no soap) when needed. The Chicago metallic is one I bought very recently together with a jelly roll pan (yay! Finally!). The shop promised me they were getting more sizes so I have my eye on another 9x5...

Not shown in the pic are the 8-mini-loaf pans, one silicon and one dark steel.

Then you fill the loaf pan. How? Generally I gouge it to be filled halfway or less: 1/3, depending on the dough. If you fill a loaf pan like you would fill for instance a cake pan (up to 2/3) your message of "I'm risen enough" gets to you too soon resulting in baking a bread that has not fullfilled the proofing potential and, thus, lacking in flavour that it gets from full rise. Then again, a wetter dough will not dome above the loaf pan but will rather go up and sideways. (Think of the low pants that were in vogue for a while and how they made some of us look around the belt area... ahum *cough*).

That makes us come full circle; how much dough in a pan and how do we calculate?

Name	Pan size inches	Pan size Metric cm	Dough weight	Flour volume	Pan Volume
Jumbo	10 x 4.5”	25 x 11	2 lb	4 - 5 cups
Standard	9 x 5”	23 x 13	2 lb	3 - 4 cups	1.9 ltr / 8 cups
Large	8.5 x 4.5”	21 x 11	1.1/2 lb	3 cups	1.4 ltr / 6 cups
Medium	7.5 x 3.5”	19 x 9	1 lb	2.1/2 cups
Small	5.75 x 3.75	14.5x9.5	8 oz	1.1/2 cups
Miniature	4.5 x 2.5”	11x6	6 oz	¾ cups
Banneton	8”	20	1/2 - 1 lb	1 - 2 cups
Banneton	9”	23	1 – 2 lb	2 – 3 cups
Banneton	10”	25	2 – 3 lb	4 – 5 cups

1 lb = 1 pound = 454 grams!

(Info compiled from various sources a.o. "Bread made easy" by Beth Hensperger, and The Fresh Loaf)

Equivalents:

Jumbo also makes:

- two loaves 8.5x4.5

- two 8" rounds

- three 7.5x3.5"loaves

- eight 4.5x2.5 mini loaves

- twelve 2.5" muffin cups

Standard also makes:

Two 9” rounds

Two 9” fluted/tube

Four 7.5x3.5”

Six to seven 5.5x3”

12 to 14 mini loaves 4.5-2.5”

You're missing the Pullman loaf pan? (Pain de mie). I found the following in Raymond Calvel's Le Gout du Pain:

"For medium density breads:

260 grams (9.173 oz) per liter of pan volume for open pans.

245 grams (8.64 oz) per liter of pan volume for lidded/Pullman pans.

For higher density breads, generally baked in lidded molds or forms:

approx. 275 gr (9.7 oz) dough per liter of pan volume."

Or you can calculate. Ahum. Yes. Math. Let's try.

Calculating volume: length x width x height = volume

This way you can see which substitute you can use. Same volume, same amount of dough will fit. Here's how they do it over at Baking 911 (scroll down to find the chart and the mathematical calculation on the bottom of the page).

Edit: thanks to Elizabeth, here's another handy dandy pan size chart that lists in square inches!

Pooh... Was this helpful? Am I making sense here? Let me know!

Gadgets that work: I'd like you to meet Al

Al who?

Al Dente?

The guy in black that times your pasta and serenades you with aria's from famous opera's when he thinks it's done. (Technically, not completely "done" of course).

Just boil your salted water, put him in the pan together with the pasta...and wait for the right opera!

After 7 minutes, he performs the Triumphal March from Aïda....

after 9 minutes, you hear the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco....

after 11 minutes, it's La Donna è Mobile from Rigoletto...

Al comes in 4 colours, hands already tied, feet nicely anchored in a barrel with cement. As the instruction booklet says:"I've got a small hole in my hat. Take care - this is not a production defect. It merely ensures that I don't explode while in the pan. In real life holes in the head of a maffiosi typically have different reasons. The dents in my barrel have been put there for visual reasons and have no influence on my mode of functioning. As in real life, mafiosi for cost reason are drowned with used barrels only."

Al was a birthday present from a friend, isn't he fun?

Previous Pasta recipes:

- four cheese macaroni

- pasta e pesto (in Dutch, Nederlands)

- broccoli terrine with parmesan and pasta

- spring pasta (with salmon and asparagus)

- canneloni (with spinach and ricotta)

Gadgets that work: Nutmeg grater!

This is the new and improved version of the old. For years I've had an oblong metal grater with that little knob on top where you could store the nutmeg in use. I've grated with pleasure, enjoying the fresh smell and grated knuckles. But now my dear readers, you could say I've upgrated..This little one has got the looks, the style, the name and oh yes, this baby works! I'm in love.

Dulce de Leche / Caramel pasta

Dulce de leche; een Argentijnse lekkernij gewoon in het schap bij de Jumbo, onder de naam: "Mijn Oma" (Vraag me niet waarom....).

Zelf maken kan trouwens ook; neem een (of twee ;-)) blikje gezoete! gecondenseerde melk (Friesche Vlag) en leg dit nog steeds gesloten in een grote pan water. Het blikje moet ruim onder staan. Laat het water aan de kook komen, en kook één á anderhalf uur. Zorg dat het blikje altijd goed onder water staat! Afgieten, evt. koud water erop en af laten koelen alvorens je het opent. Er zijn verhalen over exploderende blikjes.... ik heb het verschillende malen gemaakt en ben nog steeds in het bezit van al mijn ledematen.

Maar...mocht je dit toch te riskant vinden, het kan ook in de oven worden gemaakt, giet hiervoor de inhoud van het blikje (of twee) in een ovenschaal, dek af met alufolie en zet deze ovenschaal in een grotere ovenschaal gevuld met water. Het water moet halverwege je schaal met melk komen. Oven voorverwarmen op 220C en het mengsel ongeveer een uur "bakken". Zoals David Leibovitz zegt, een snufje zeezout toevoegen geeft de smaak nog een extra dimensie! Check af en toe even of er nog voldoende water in je schaal is.

Lekker als beleg, over ijs (of in ijs als je in het bezit bent van een ijsmachine!), maar ook bijvoorbeeld als je cake bakt, 1/3 van het beslag achterhouden en daar een gedeelte dulce de leche doorroeren, over de rest van het beslag gieten en een paar keer met een spatel erdoor. Gemarmerde cake!

Vroeger hadden wij weleens Bebogeen, als ik me goed herinner ongeveer vergelijkbaar in smaak.

Het hele gecondenseerde melkverhaal is trouwens een terugblik in de tijd, als ik me goed herinner was dat vaste prik als we op vakantie waren. In de Franse supermarkt speuren naar de tubes gecondenseerde melk die mijn vader in de koffie gebruikte en ook wel op brood smeerde. Wij, dochters, hielpen braaf meezoeken maar keken toch altijd enigszins verbijsterd toe hoe mijn vader van zijn stokbroodje genoot...brrr.

Toen we eenmaal zelfstandig op vakantie gingen werd het een soort traditie om tubes van heinde en ver van vakantie mee terug te nemen naar huis. Alsjeblieft pap! (Totdat we erachter kwamen dat het spul in Nederland ook te koop was.....).

Gadgets that work! Pre-cut parchment paper

Back in January, Lisa at La Mia Cucina, jumped to the opportunity to review Reynold's parchment paper. True to style she reviewed it up and down and asked bloggers to help convince the Parchment Parliament People out there to give us pre-cut parchment rounds, cookie sheet sizes or please alter the box so we can actually use it to tear it the way we want to...

Well, living in Holland obviously Reynold's isn't a brand we know, but I bet the complaints here are the same. Those cardboard boxes tear away at the roll and I end up ripping the box apart, hurting myself and use scissors.

This post is long overdue because Santa (by way of my Mom) brought me pre-cut parchment rounds, fitted to use in spring forms. All the way from Germany, easy as apple pie! Tadaaa!

Cheese (smelly post no. 1)

(voor nederlands, even scrollen)

The cheese store in the Zuiderzee museum was small but in all it's smelly-ness a treasure trove for a cheese lover, and cheese lovers we are! Still the Dutch aren't the biggest "kaaskoppen" , we eat approx. 20 kg per capita not as much as the Germans (22kg) and the French (25 kg)!

The twins headed out the door pretty quickly, overpowered by the smell but Floris and I stayed put and sampled some nice pieces of cheese, which the man in the white coat was happy to provide us with. (no, not those men! The cheese makers in Holland tradionally used to wear white coats, similar to those worn by doctors). For more pictures of the cheese makers and their store please click here.

I bought a very well aged farmer's cheese, which had a characteristic salty and sharp flavour; true to it's nature. Usually these cheeses are brittle due to their ageing and thus almost impossible to slice, this one however was quite soft in texture, a pleasant mouthfeel. At the right temperature (room temperature; leave it out on the counter for a couple of hours before you use it) you'll get perfect slices and maximum taste.

Couldn't resist buying this little fellow, a small round mature cheese flavoured with fenegreek. Fenegreek is native to countries bordering the Mediterranean and is regularly used in the Indian cuisine as well (called methi). It lends a walnut-like flavour to this cheese which I really like, the seeds might have been toasted to enhance the flavour, in itself this herb tends to taste quite bitter.

Deze kaas kochten we in het Zuiderzee-museum, een klein rond kaasje met fenegriek-kruid. Erg lekker met een noot-achtige smaak, die een beetje aan walnoot doet denken. Ik geloof dat ik het maar in mijn eentje moet gaan opeten als ik dit zo lees! Wie weet is er nog hoop!


Fenegriek is een kruid dat met name in de keukens rond de Middellandse Zee wordt gebruikt in stoofgerechten en curries, en ook zijn plaats heeft in Indiase gerechten. Ik vermoed dat de noot-achtige smaak komt doordat de zaden geroosterd zijn voordat ze toegevoegd worden aan kaas. Het kruid zelf smaakt nogal bitter en is vooral in combinatie met bijvoorbeeld korianderzaad een lekkere smaakmaker voor bijvoorbeeld kip curry.

Moroccan Gold on my plate

And I'm not sure if I like it...

This appears to be a precious little bottle of oil, all the way from Morocco. It's called Argan Oil, I've been doing some reading today and apparently it's good for almost anything, culinary purposes, radiant skin, anti-aging, luscious shining hair, you name it.

I don't know if my SIL thought I should do something about my appearance when she brought it back for me from her vacation in Morocco, I believe she meant for us to enjoy and eat it, I must admit it was sitting in the basement for a while, but it's out now and I plan on using it.

As I said, a little reading was in order and the part that I had the most fun with, was the part with the goats. Goats? Yes! Somewhere in the back of my mind upon receiving the present there was this little story on goats eating, er.. processing and fermenting, and hey presto: extra-special aroma! But....that was coffee beans.... It turns out it's Argan nuts as well. Or is it?

Different sources, different stories but goats in every one of them. In one, we unsuspecting readers and future consumers are reassured that goats are only allowed to climb the trees that are not used for culinary purposes....(hah, no, we won't eat that but instead dab it on our pretty faces...duh!) in another we are told that because of the goat-fermenting process the nuts are easier to crack and so the oil can be pressed. In the area around Agadir where these Argan trees are found, food is hard to get and for the goats the fruit of these trees are a much welcomed part of their diet. They eat the whole fruit, leaving the inner core (the nut) intact and in passing the digestive system makes it softer and easier to crack.

For the sake of sanity argument I am going to believe that these goats can be trained to climb the not-culinary-nut-holding-trees, and that the people collecting the nuts are trained to distinguish between goat-processed nuts and not-goat-processed nuts. Nuts. Indeed! Do you think goats can climb trees, not just the lower branches but the entire tree? Go on....click!

Isn't that fun? Now that I have this bottle, truth or dare? I braced myself and tasted the oil as it was, straight from the bottle like you would an olive oil. Hmm, quite strong and powerful, funny aftertaste, very nutty earthy flavor, somewhat herbal? It gives a very oily/buttery mouthfeel as well (organoleptically speaking *grin*). The next thing was try it on some good bread with er.. soft goat cheese (sorry, that was on hand in the kitchen and I thought it was kind of appropriate). Well eeh....the flavours mingled and seem to enhance one 'n other.....

Haven't had the chance to use it in a dish yet, but I'm thinking a salad will be nice, using oranges and parsley, some roasted pine nuts. And a dash of oil instead of butter in a bowl of couscous sounds good too. And maybe I should try to make the Moroccan variety of peanutbutter, Amlou, a mixture of roasted ground almonds, honey and argan oil. Suggestions anyone?

Het goud van Marokko op mijn bord

English will follow...soon!

Mijn schoonzus (ja, die van de kaas) had wederom een heel speciaal kadootje voor me meegenomen van hun vakantie in Marokko.

Argan olie dus, moeizaam en zeer arbeidsintensief verkregen uit noten. Ik kreeg ter plekke visioenen van noten die door geiten gegeten worden, langs natuurlijke weg het lichaam verlaten, en vervolgens... Ho. Stop! Dat zijn koffie bonen. (Dat verhaal hou je nog een keer tegoed en nee, ik heb nog niet het genoegen gehad die zeer speciale koffie te mogen drinken. Hoeft ook niet geloof ik).

Schakel mentaal even over naar Berbervrouwen die in een verre uithoek van Marokko harde noten kraken om deze olie te kunnen persen uit de zaden. Hard werk, weinig opbrengst. Even verder zoekend kom ik, ha, zie je wel, toch geiten tegen!! En inderdaad, noten worden gegeten, verlaten de geit, zijn intussen ietwat gefermenteerd (bij gebrek aan een ander woord) en zachter geworden en dus makkelijker te openen. Gelukkig worden deze noten niet gebruikt om culinaire olie van te maken....(en dat geloven wij onmiddellijk. Toch?) beweert de ene bron, de andere beweert even stellig het andere...

"De vruchten zijn te bitter om te eten. Maar geiten houden ervan en klimmen er graag voor in de takken. Een bizar gezicht, dat wel steeds ongewoner wordt, omdat het alleen wordt toegestaan bij bomen waarvan geen olie voor de markt wordt verkregen"

Die geiten weten dat natuurlijk precies, welke boom wél en welke níet beklommen kan worden.

Afgezien van direct uit Marokko schijnt deze olie hier moeilijk verkrijgbaar te zijn en vrij kostbaar (eh...erg kostbaar geloof ik). Al lezende denk ik dat ik het flesje wellicht beter in de kluis leggen dan ongegeneerd over mijn salade met geitenkaas en sinasappels uitgieten. In Nederland overigens hier te verkrijgen. (Zie je wel...ook Manfred heeft het over geiten! Klik hier eens, toe?). LOL!

De smaak... ik weet het eerlijk gezegd niet zo goed. Zo puur is het letterlijk even slikken, heel vol en krachtig van smaak, erg nootachtig en op e.o.a. manier kruidig. Op een stukje brood met zachte geitenkaas alweer heel anders, het lijkt of ze elkaar versterken (grijns!). Nog even experimenteren dus, met salade, couscous...

Weekend Cook Book Challenge in retrospect

This is a post I initially wrote for Weekend Cookbook Challenge no.18 hosted at "I like to cook". Somehow, inbetween kids at home for the summer holidays and preparing our vacation the post never got posted. I figured since I have to start somewhere to again, I could as well do it here (I hate to see things go to waste, even if it's a ramshackle post that was already finished the 15th of July....).

So, to explain the challenge: we were given a choice of either something made of red and white, or something made out of a cook book in red and white. I could have picked King Arthur's Baker's Companion, but instead decided to open Sheila-Lukins' USA Cookbook.

KA, I know for sure, would have given me success recipes, Sheila on the other hand... Don't know what it is with that one. Somehow I love the way the book looks and feels in your hands, it's a sturdy square chunk of a book, bold cover, I like the way the recipes are written, hell I even like the cheapish paper the book is made off. For me the book oozes something comforting, it almost pats you on the arm and says: hey, I know you don't know how to cook but let's do it together, see I am not scary, look at my friendly lettering and the soothing little stories that are preceding every recipe.

The recipes in this book are an overview of true American dishes, chapters are divided by type of meal; breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks. In a way that's convenient, on the other hand if you are looking for a muffin recipe you have to think real hard at what time other people would like to have their muffins.... Comes in the magnificent index which is real nice and lists the recipes by their names as well as their ingredients. I like that. In my Dutch version (yes, it's translated and that feels a bit weird with the all-American cover and the all-American recipes) it even gives the recipes in their original names as well.

So, why not use it more often? I really don't know. I made a very successful cake once, used the layer cake recipe again to make other cakes and it worked great. I really don't know why the recipes in it don't shout: make me, no me, oh make me!

This time I chose a waffle recipe, and not just an ordinary waffle recipe but the Marion Cunningham raised waffles! To be honest I didn't have a clue who she was but it seems she is the Queen of waffles. Well, apparently I am not! Have a look;


This doesn't look half bad eh?







And... this is the other side. You know how they say there are always two sides of a discussion? Well here it is, discuss!

Don't think it was just this lonesome waffle showing us the dark side, they were all like this. The batter was way too liquid, the yeast managed to raise some of the batter but underneath there was a milky sea.


The flavour was off as well, overly sweet and awfully buttery (really just greasy...yuck!). I realized however that I misread the recipe....ahem....happens a lot right? In your houses as well right? Again I started a recipe two hours before mealtime and halfway through discovered that the batter had to rest a whole night in the fridge prior to using.....ánd prior to mixing the eggs in... yeah right. I was looking at a bowl of strange-looking batter at the time, eggs whisked in and all.... screaming kids around me: Yay, we're having waffles....

So what's a Mom gottado? She serves waffles and then blogs about it, dissing a recipe where throngs of people rave about... or not all of them?. Hmmm, obviously, what She really needed to do was toss the whole batch and start another recipe, another batch. Yup! But She didn't.

PS: for you to try.... here's the LA Times recipe (if you scroll down there's some instruction on how to par bake your waffles and reheat them in the oven to feed a hungry family in one batch. Might come in handy!

PS2: I know I know... if I let a dough rise for a fraction of the time it needs I would have gotten a disaster bread as well. So, it's not the recipe, it's me.