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amsterdam

den haag

(ahah :D)

delft

the easiest veggie pasta

this is the kind of pasta i make for dinner when i'm studying and/or being busy doing all afternoon long (i.e. almost all the time in the weeks before exams.. it's like my most usual dinner i should say ahah)
it's almost impossible to make it bad and it requires very little cooking skills and it turns out delicious with many different kinds of vegetables (besides it produces very little stuff to clean afterwards eheh)

i dont have precise doses, it all depends on how much veggie you want with your pasta (in these "veggie maniac" periods i tend to put a lot more vegetables than pasta actually) and with some little tips it can turn into a really awesome dish.
so well.. put a good amount of water to boil, clean and cut your vegetables (it can be cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, potato, pumpkin, green beans.. whatever vegetables you like boiled) pick your fav shape of pasta.
when the water is boiling, salt and throw in the pasta and the vegetables (NB. check the cooking time of your shape of pasta and compare it to how many min it takes to boil your vegetable without coming out destroyed. then throw in the vegetables according to that!)
when the pasta is ready (much "al dente" so it doesnt overcook in the next passage) drain everything and throw it back in the saucepan with olive oil, chili pepper and whatever spices you like with it and/or parmesan cheese.

is it that simple? yes it is. if you want to enhance your pasta, you can easily prepare some good soffritto (sauteeing some onion and garlic in a frying pan for example) or something super yummy to mix your pasta and veggie in after draining.. i love to boil cubed potato with my pasta and on the side sautee some bacon and rosemary, or some rabbit bites with thyme and lemon grass mmh :D
i often make orecchiette with broccoli this way, completing with olive oil in abundance, chili pepper, garlic and grated hard ricotta cheese.

lemon twist

finally i put my paws on some of my beloved lemon twist infusion.. sounds like i'm promoting twinings of london, but this infusion is definitely great :D just lemon grass, lemon peel, lemon flavour and a little prange peel, hibiscus and rosehips.. awesomeness.
on a different note, allergy is choking me.. it takes me ages to fall asleep and when i wake up my windpipe's on fire and my nostrils are on strike (plus i sneeze like crazy ahah) i'm not too much into spring really.

for the rest, what.. studying like hell extremely exciting things that involve differential equations, drawing and getting some artsy inspiration i wish i'll follow up (i'm looking forward to some painting, just need to get my paws on my tools eheh) drinking lots of teas and listening to music i didnt listen to in a while.. man i was a huge fan of savage garden back in the day :D
btw i cut my hair again.. whenever i tell myself this time i'll let it grow, then i get some sudden frenzy and go for the mohawk again ahah

pancakes and potatoes

my veggie madness is not over yet.. sometimes i get this frenzy and buy tons of vegetables to fill up my fridge, hence for days i eat vegetables in any possible way eheh
last night i made some awesome gnocchi with zucchini and a light quick pesto made of brazilian nuts. chili pepper and fresh basil.. so good :D
for lunch instead i had a very nice potato pancake.. usually i have it sweet but this time i sprinkled fresh basil and chopped buffalo mozzarella and then folded it.

potato pancakes

i dont have a too precise recipe for this, but more or less this is how i make them
(makes 2)
2eggs
4tbsp flour
a pinch of salt
a pinch of cardamom
half a glass of milk
1potato (boiled and mashed)
1tsp butter
1tsp baking powder

tiny world

this little guy is living on my plant of sage.. i was impressed by how small yet perfectly detailed it is :)

i got a few aromatic plants lately.. sage, thyme, rosemary and basil.. i thought my bonsai would feel lonely all by itself eheh besides i'm utterly fond of fresh basil.

book and a cup of tea

i love tea.

black, white, green, pu-erh, oolong, yellow, flavoured, infuses, rooibosch.. i tend to prefer loose leaf tea to compressed and the only tea in filters i drink is usually black flavoured vanilla of twinings of london (i'm so fond of that tea i wonder if i can find the loose leaf version.. i also love their lemon twist infuse, absolutely refreshing and tasty)
i usually have my tea with no sugar or other additions.. expect for the earl grey, which just calls for a cloud of milk or cream :D
i enjoy collecting nice containers and boxes for my teas, even though i cant find space enough to place as many of them as i'd like ^^ some of them are so cute.. same for teapots, i'm always forcing myself to not buy one more ahah

among the green teas, i have many faves i must admit.. i really enjoy some genmaicha right after dinner, that salty touch is so pleasant. i also like some flavoured bancha, i have a flowery one that never tires me.. as for the chinese i like jasmine chung feng a lot, let alone the everyday gunpowder special i drink a couple of cups a day :)

i'm a sucker for black teas like the already mentioned vanilla flavoured, the earl grey and the peach flavoured (i have a special peach and cream flavoured loose leaf tea by twinings that freaks me out eheh) i'm fond of the south african ntingwe kwazulu also, very particular and pleasant.

as for the white teas, i love the lin yun white downy and the xia zhou bi feng, so delicate.. and a good jasmine pearl.

i have tons of rooibos tea to drink in the evening (no caffeine and tannins is a very appreciable quality, besides it's rich in minerals and the taste is so good) or iced in the summer.. about this one, the only flavoured version i like is honey and vanilla.

i have some pretty good infuses of other kind also, even though some of them are more of a natural remedy (eucalyptus i need for the sinusitis for example)

said this, just a few pics on the subject :)

hojicha

ntingwe kwazulu

gunpowder special

genmaicha

eucalyptus

jasmine pearl

flowery bancha

strawberries and birthdays

i was back home during the past weekend and since my sis is gonna have her birthday soon and i wont be there, i made an early birthday cake for her :)
i love strawberries, i like to eaat them just by themselves, or with a bit of lemon juice, cane sugar and whipped cream.. even dipped in dark chocolate they're rather good to me eheh

this cake is very soft and delicious.. the cake itself melts in your mouth, matching the cream and strawberry filling perfectly.
i usually use a little bit more chili pepper for this recipe, but not everybody is mad about that so just try it with a little at first.

strawberry chocolate cake

85g softened butter
100g icing sugar
1egg
150g dark chocolate
1tbsp cointreau
170g flour
1tbsp cocoa powder
180ml milk
baking powder
1tsp ground chili pepper

filling:
250ml fresh cream
strawberries

icing:
200g dark chocolate
200ml milk
1tbsp butter
potato starch qs
strawberries

melt the chocolate in a bain marie and set aside. sift together flour, cocoa powder, chili pepper and baking powder. beat butter, sugar and egg till soft and creamy. stir in the melted chocolate and the cointreau.
mix the butter cream with the flour, alternating with milk. pour the batter in a baking tin and bake for about 30min in preheated oven at 180°C.

let cool the cake, then cut it in 2layers. spread the whipped cream (you can beat in a little sugar if the strawberries arent too sweet) and sprinkle with chopped strawberries.

mix the icing ingredients in a sauce pan and let it cook (low heat, bain marie) till creamy. spread onto the cake and spread a few straberries on top.

just a bunch of food pics :)

rice noodles

chinese srhimp and green peas dumplings


zucchini risotto

broccoli, zucchini and chili pepper pasta

lemon potato and chicken stew

oat mood

still struggling with my oven.. it's just a small electric oven, a few functions and the habit of overheating. i have to forget about recipe times.. they're not gonna apply except maybe for the first batch of cookies, so i often just look at them and try if they're ready or not :D

anyway.. it's been a long time since i bought these rolled oats. i really like oat, no matter what kind, but i either forget i have it or i just dont have the right ingredients to make something delicious with it.
i love swedish oatmeal cookies, flat, crunchy, dry and just a bit salty.. but i cant manage to find the right recipe, for some reason they never come out crunchy enough for my taste ^^

today's rainy and chilly, i have to study some pretty dull mathematics stuff and i feel like having a cuddling break for merenda.. so here is very nice recipe of soft oatmeal cookies, very good if dipped in warm milk :)

oatmeal cookies

150g sugar
150g butter, melted
150g wheat flour
150g rolled oats
1egg
baking powder
a pinch of salt

beat the egg with the sugar till fluffy, then stir in the butter. sift in flour, baking powder and salt, mixing well. add the oat flakes.
make round cookies, one tablespoon of mixture each. bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 10-15min.

olive oil and milk

this morning the man stated that he doesnt like the cookies that are currently resting in the cookie box. they're just some average industrial breakfast biscuits, actually not that bad since they're apparently made with real eggs and milk.

still, he's definitely true when he says they dont "suck up" enough milk and coffee when dipped.. so i rummaged in my memory to find some proper recipe.

there's a kind of milk cookie i really like, usually made by bakeries in my region. i havent been able yet to find the exact recipe of those, but i have to say this one gets pretty close.. moreover i like using olive oil in sweet recipes. they came out a bit brownish today since my new oven is still a mystery for me eheh :D
these cookies arent very sweet and they're just perfect for breakfast, to dip in caffelatte or to spread with jam :)

olive oil cookies

300g wheat flour
8g baking powder
80g icing sugar
1egg
50ml olive oil
50ml milk
a few extra tbsp milk
brown sugar

sift the flour with the baking powder and set aside. beat the egg with the icing sugar till fluffy. stir in the olive oil and a half of the flour, mix well. stir in the rest of the flour and the milk.
knead the dough well, then flatten it with a rolling pin and cut rectangles of dough. place the cookies on the oven grid, brush them with a bti of milk and sprinkle brown sugar all over them.
bake for about 12min in preheated oven at 180°C.