Incubo

7 Feb

This morning I finally finished the carnival cloak that I started a few weeks ago.  And once again it had me on the edge of complete mental breakdown.  That material!  That slippery, slide-y, silky nightmare of a fabric.  Never again.  Ever.  But I didn’t give up.  And for that I’m very proud of myself.  The cloak might have pleats and puckers where there shouldn’t be.  And it might be left unhemmed.  And it’s even possible not one member of my family would be caught dead wearing it.  But that’s fine.  I chalk it all up to a really good learning experience in sewing and a reassurance that my mental state is pretty stable (I didn’t lose my cool…not even once).  After finishing the cloak we had time to make a quick fabric basket.  Very miniature but very sweet.  I’ll be making many more of these during these cold days at home.

Here’s the little fabric basket with the famous cloak hanging in the background.

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Whimsical

6 Feb

Trip to the grocery store en famille.  Eva noticed that people were staring at her and smiling.  Amazing how a little colour and whimsical fashion can make people happy.

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Red lentil soup with fresh coriander

5 Feb

It is so so so cold here at the moment.  It’s all I talk about to anyone I meet. At bit like when I had newborn twins and all I talked about with anyone who even made eye contact with me was sleep deprivation.   It was actually -15 when we got home from a party last night at midnight.  I’ve decided to not leave the house until the Italian weather smartens up and the crocuses (croci ?) start sprouting.  I keep expecting to find my chickens frozen solid in their little house in the morning when I take them their heated water and kitchen scraps.  How can they survive?  I’m seriously thinking of knitting them this or this.  So of course to make us all feel warmer I decided to make one of my favorite soups.  It’s a recipe from my mother and I actually have no idea where she found it.  It’s delicious and so flavourful.  Lots of fresh coriander is a must. I have a thing for photographing food in mason jars lately.,,,,

Red Lentil Soup with Fresh Coriander.

2 onions finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

3/4 cup red lentils

820 grams  crushed tomatoes (or 2 large cans)

1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/3 cup fresh coriander, chopped

2 tsp tumeric

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp black pepper

Cumin to taste (I put a lot)

1. Saute oil, onions and garlic for 2-4 minutes.

2. Add all other ingredients, bring to a boil.

3. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

4. Puree soup (or not) to desired consistency.

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Agrumi

4 Feb

This past week has been quite a citrus-y week. First lemon curd and now blood orange marmalade.  But living in Italy it’s quite normal to eat and cook with citrus in the winter months.  You find trucks from the south of Italy parked on the side of all the roads selling their oranges and clementines.  The men who sell these fruits have such a thick southern accent that I sometimes have a hard time deciphering what they’re saying to me and I do a lot of smiling and nodding. But the oranges that they sell are so delicious.  Full of flavour, not too acidic and sometimes so sweet.  I found a recipe for Orange Marmalade in an old Martha Stewart magazine from years ago.  I altered it a little by adding more chopped rind, less sugar and by using blood oranges (Tarocco) instead of normal oranges.  Apparently these Tarocco oranges are packed full of antioxidents, vitamin c, folate, calcium and dietary fibre.  But I’m thinking all that good stuff is wiped out by the truckload of sugar the marmalade recipe calls for.  But it is oh so tasty.

Recipe: Blood Orange Marmalade

3 Organic oranges (I used 2 blood orange and 1 normal)

2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

6 cups water

7 1/2 cups sugar (I know…it’s nuts.  I only added 7 cups of sugar)

1. Rinse oranges under hot water.  Cut orange in 8 wedges lengthwise.  Slice these wedges very thinly crosswise (to get little triangle shaped pieces).

2. Over medium-high heat bring orange slices, orange juice, lemon juice and 6 cups of water to a boil in large heavy bottomed pan (Le Creuset pots are perfect for this).  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.  The oranges slices should become slightly translucent and tender.

3. Stir in sugar and bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir constantly until sugar is dissolved.  Continue cooking (skimming foam from surface) until mixture reads approx. 220 on a candy thermometer (about 15 minutes).    If you see mixture is still runny cook a further 5-10 minutes until syrupy.

4. Let cool and transfer to an airtight container or sterilized bottles. Enjoy!

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Snow Day

3 Feb

Yesterday morning my kids woke up at 6:30 and stared at their school’s website, praying for a snow day.  And it paid off.  By about 6:45 the school put up the announcement that school was called off for the day due to snowy weather.  There were a lot of cheers.  I heard them from my bed.  So we spent the day baking bagels, learning to make traditional danish buns (from a Danish friend), going to the park with the sleds, playing in the snowy garden and then going out sledding for a second time on the grounds of a local castle.  By the end of the day the kids were red cheeked, happy and in need of a mug of hot chocolate.

Not a bad backdrop to admire while your kids throw themselves down a snowy hill.

Chrysanthemum didn’t appreciate the snow so much.  She has delicate feet.

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Cold weather baked goods

1 Feb

I am in absolute shock at the weather the last few days.  Living in Italy you don’t expect to get lots of snow and below zero temperatures.  But we have and apparently it’s going to continue for a while.  Which means I will be holed up in my house with the fire on and the oven ready at all times to bake various goodies.  Something about cold weather just makes me want to bake and make stews.  Here are a few things I’ve made over the last few days…I used my grandmother’s recipe for the lemon curd.  It’s just so good.  You could eat it by the spoonful.  I do actually. I used some of this batch of curd to fill a coconut cake with boiled icing.  It was good.  But very lopsided.  I have some issues with my oven and it’s hotspots.I made these yesterday evening and didn’t notice my son eating them by the handful.  Let’s just say bedtime was very wild last night.  He kept saying “Mama, these look like REAL cookies!”.  And all the other thousands of cookies I’ve made him?  What did they look like? Get shortbread recipe here.

Recipe for Lemon Curd:

3 eggs
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Melt butter in double boiler.  Add sugar and well beaten eggs.  Combine and cook, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.  Add lemon juice and cook another 3 minutes or until smooth and thick.  CHILL and store in glass jar.  Enjoy!

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Fast Forward

31 Jan

Yesterday one of my daughters was “sick”.  As in fine and not sick at all.  But I love these mornings with just one of my children.  We chat, we read, we sew and most importantly we always bake.  It was decided that we would make some biscuits and take photos to make a “Fast Forward” for her and her twin sister’s blog (http://cocova.wordpress.com/).    Here it is…

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Caramelle

30 Jan

I’ve been buying various candies lately so that the kids can make some Valentine’s Day gifts for their classmates.  Is there anything more cheerful than a bowl full of candies?  All those great colours and (artificial) aromas are just irresistable. 

I bought these cinnamon hearts in Canada when I was there after Christmas (because of course all the Valentine’s Day stuff was on the shelves by the 26th of December).  I’m pretty sure there aren’t too many kids that actually like cinnamon hearts but I just can’t resist.  Cinnamon hearts DEFINE Valentine’s Day for me.  They bring back warm and fuzzy memories of heart shaped chocolate boxes and drugstore bought Valentine’s cards.  I’ve already made each of my children suffer the spicy pain of eating at least one.

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The Classics

28 Jan

A friend of mine who is sadly moving away dropped by yesterday with a few things for the kids.  She gave them some paints, pastels, canvases, stickers, a few Dutch card games and a collection of English Classics.  Considering my kids are schooled in Dutch, French and Italian I’m really excited to introduce them to a little bit of Anglosaxon literature.  My kids absolutely love to read.  They pass hours curled up on the couch reading their novels and comic strips.  They almost exclusively read in Dutch so I think these books will be a great motivation for them to start reading in English.  And I have to say that I’m quite keen to re-read a few of these classics myself.

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Cugini

25 Jan

I was just browsing through some photos from our summer vacation last year in the South of France and came across a series of shots of all of the cousins from my husband’s side of the family.  I had the idea to make t-shirts for all 8 grandkids with the number of their birth order and give it to my mother-in-law as a present for her 60th birthday.  I hadn’t quite realised how hard it would be to get 8 kids (ranging in ages from 1-9) to stand still, not blink, not cry, not poke their neighbour, not look behind them etc etc etc.  We took tons of photos and in the end managed to get quite a few good candid (key word) shots.

#7 trying to escape

#7 very upset she couldn’t escape

#6 giving #7 a little shove and #3 with his eyes shut

Not a bad shot even if #5 sees something interesting to his left

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