Kitchen closed

Dear Reader,

thank You for following my culinary adventures and random ramblings up to now.

The kitchen will be closing it’s doors… at least for a while.

Yours, in hibernation,
B.

Vivian Shaw „Strange Practice“ – Regrettably adorable bat

Ruthven poured out tea into a mug, a sharp lemony smell filling the kitchen, and then added generous amounts of both honey and brandy. Fastitocalon hadn’t really been listening; he reflected dreamily that he’d never met a sanguivore quite so ineffably domestic, silver screen looks and all. Ruthven ought to be wearing pearls and a frilly apron. Possibly with little bats on it.“

Dear Reader,

Halloween celebrations are creeping up on us. Have you prepared presents for all your undead friends?
Here’s a gift idea for those friends who like to bang pots and pans in the middle of the night – a dapper embroidered apron for a favorite chef.
Gather up your supplies and let’s get stitching.

After performing a blood sacrifice and solemnly swearing to never ever eeeeveeer do counted cross-stitch on high thread count black cloth again, it is time for phase two.

How does he talk when he’s a snake? Their mouths aren’t built for it.“
„How does he turn into a snake in the first place? How does Ruthven change from sixty or seventy kilos of bipedal humanoid into a few grams of regrettably adorable bat?“ Fastitocalon shrugged. „It’s not a meaningful question. I could go into metaphysics, but you complain at me when I talk about sums.“

Stitching with an exciting adventurous audiobook to keep you company comes with risks. Please note, dear Reader, that drawing your pattern on (correctly, too) might not prevent you from stitching in a spelling mistake. Thankfully, no stitches needed to be sacrificed on the altar of repairs.

Swear your way through one more bat and hurrah!, we have a finished apron!

Now how about breaking it in by very nicely asking your friend to fix up something yummy for Halloween dinner?

Later that evening, after Ruthven had made dinner for her and Cranswell (no garlic was the only real house rule when it came to food; small amounts of scallions and chives were on the okay list, and it turned out you didn’t need Allium sativum to make quite a passable Bolognese), she told her interpretation of what she had seen.

Yours eternally (but hold the garlic),
B.

Book info:
Author: Vivian Shaw
Title: Strange Practice
Year: 2017
Find it on Goodreads

Bat pattern

Cat Sebastian „The Lawrence Browne Affair“ – Part 2 – Bread, ham and apples. No more.

Late in the afternoon, Georgie heard the painstakingly soft footsteps outside the door, signaling a delivery of the inevitable ham, apples, and bread. His stomach turned. Even if he had to forage in the woods he would have a decent meal tonight.
„Do you know,“ he said thoughtfully, „I don’t think I can see myself through another supper of ham and bread.“
Radnor bent over his battery, not paying attention.
Georgie rose to his feet. „Two weeks of ham is quite enough. I’ll have a proper dinner or I’ll know the reason why.“ He headed for the door.

Dear Reader,

Two weeks of ham and bread is indeed quite enough. So off we go with Mr. Turner in search of something else edible. A good walk later we turn up at a farmers‘ cottage. Might they have something for us?

„Sixpence for half a dozen eggs,“ the man said, a barely suppressed smirk on his face.
That was an outrageous price, but Georgie would let himself get fleeced for a good cause.
„I’ll make it a shilling if you’ll also let me have some cheese, butter, and maybe a couple of mushrooms.“ Georgie had seen a basket of mushrooms hanging on a peg near the door.
A minute later a girl of ten or twelve came out of the cottage with a parcel wrapped in cloth. „Mama put an onion in too,“ she said…

We take our bounty to the kitchen at Penkellis. We shall have to impose upon Mrs. Ferris’s domain. Hunger is a great motivator. Steel yourself and stride in.

„I know it’s most irregular, but it’ll take a quarter of an hour, and I’ll scour the pans myself,“ Georgie said, arranging the mushrooms before him in a straight row. „I just can’t face another ham sandwich.“

Clean up a handful of mushrooms and chop off the ends of their stems. Also prepare an onion, a couple of eggs, about a spoon of butter, salt, pepper and some garden herbs.

He felt the older woman’s gaze on him as he placed the onion on the chopping block and started to peel its papery skin. On a hunch, he cut the onion into several oddly sized chunks. Before its pungent aroma had even reached his nostrils she was by his side.
„No, no. What are you about? Chop the onion fine, like this.“ She took the knife from his hand and held up a paper thin slice of onion for his edification. „Each piece the same as all the others.“

Janet, melt the butter in that saucepan. Mr. Turner, you slice the mushrooms.

Put the onion into the pan first. Cook until softened then add the sliced mushrooms.
While the mushrooms cook through (keep an eye on the pan and stir occasionally), crack two eggs into a bowl and beat them to a light froth.
Pour the egg mixture over the onions and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle in some herbs for flavor.
Wait until the underside of the omelet is cooked and flip it.

Twenty minutes later, the three of them shared a mushroom omelet in Mrs. Ferris’s parlor.

Serve with a few slices of freshly baked bread.

Reader, what kind of omelet filling do you enjoy the most?

Yours, with a sprinkle of parsley,
B.

Book info:
Author: Cat Sebastian
Title: The Lawrence Browne Affair
Year: 2017
Find it on Goodreads

Cat Sebastian „The Lawrence Browne Affair“ – Part 1 – Bread, ham and apples, always

As he wound his way through the passageways of Penkellis, brushing aside cobwebs and stepping lightly over creaky floorboards, he checked for signs of civillization, some clue that would bring him closer to a hot meal and a working chimney…

Dear Reader,

Come along. We are making our way through Penkellis Castle with George Turner, newly-employed secretary to the Earl of Radnor.

All the rooms outside the tower that held Radnor’s study were in various states of ruin. No attempt had been made to stop the progress of decay. The house had simply been given up as a lost cause. All the doors Georgie opened led to rooms as bad as the one he had slept in last night. Some weren’t furnished at all; others smelled of damp and mushrooms…

Along crumbling halls, past the mouldering library we go…

Finally, he smelled bread baking. Thank God. A few paces later he heard voices, then arrived on the threshold of the tidiest room he had seen yet in this shambles. It was a small kitchen for this size house but neat as a pin. Two women were having what looked like a comfortable coze near a blazing fire.

One of them is Mrs. Ferris, the cook, taking a break having just prepared several loaves of bread.
She mixed together 1.5 cups of whole grain wheat flour, 1.5 cups of whole grain rye flour, a portion of sourdough, some yeast, a tablespoon of honey, a tablespoon of flax seeds, a teaspoon of cumin seeds, half a teaspoon of salt and enough water to form a thick dough.The dough turned out slightly thicker than desired so she added a little more water.
She then covered the dough with a clean damp cloth and let it rise in a warm corner near the hearth until it about doubled in size. She kneaded the dough , dipping her hands in water so the dough doesn’t stick to them, and divided it into two loaves. She covered them back up with a clean damp cloth and left them to rise.
When the loaves were done rising she placed them into the hot oven. About one hour later fragrant bread was ready to be served as part of his Lordship’s meals.
She had previously boiled a few pieces of cold-smoked ham in water.
The ham, bread and a few crisp apples were arranged on a tray.

Twice, a tray bearing cold ham, bread, and apples appeared mysteriously outside the study door, and Radnor fetched it in as if this were an utterly unremarkable event. Georgie helped himself to an apple, and Radnor stared as if it hadn’t occurred to him that his secretary required feeding.

Yours, with ham and apples, always,
B.

P.S. Dear Reader, if you are curious to known what happened when a certain secretary got fed up with ham and apples, please come back to the kitchen next week.

A portion of sourdough = a packet of 150 g.
Amount of yeast: half a cube – about 20 g.

Oven temperature: 220 °C at the start for about 10 minutes to form the crust; after that lowered to 180 °C.

Place a pan of water in the bottom of the oven.

Book info:
Author: Cat Sebastian
Title: The Lawrence Browne Affair
Year: 2017
Find it on Goodreads

A ladder built from dumplings

Dear Reader,

some time ago I found myself a few days into my summer vacation, stuck at home II, travel-tired, not yet quite unwound from the do-all-the-things pre-vacation work work-up… If this were to last, my mind was threatening to engage in some improvised alpinism (i.e. climbing up the walls). To occupy it for the time being I turned to one of the best sources of distraction, procrastination and inspiration – Youtube. Among the Pantheon of my favorite youtubers are Simon and Martina – travelers, foodie hipsters, awesome people. Reader, I was in luck – on my subscription page was a fresh video – Simon traveling in Poland with his father:

Among the adventures shown was a visit to a dumpling restaurant which resulted in a serious case of dumpling envy.
It was decided that this problem absolutely had to be tackled the next morning.
About 20 minutes and one generous coating of the kitchen in flour later I sat before a stack of dumpling wrappers. Mixed up some filling (crushed bilberries, sugar and starch) and got to work.

Several dumplings in I noticed that dumpling making has a rather pleasant side effect – the repetitive pinch and roll motions were soothing the no-chill-can’t-sit-still mode I was in.
Ran out of filling with about one third of the wrappers still empty. Decided to improvise and filled them with raspberry jam. Future me thanks past me for that decision.

Cooked up the dumplings, packed my bag and hopped a bus to meet a dear friend for a day of hiking, bird watching, tea-talks and a picnic – quality ladder building material.

Building a ladder is a concept created by Martina. She has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome – a chronic disease that affects the body’s collagen production with negative impact upon connective tissue (for example, the joints). Building a ladder is a strategy for hard days – each glimpse of goodness, each small pleasure, each achievement adds a rung to your ladder and helps you climb out from dark depths.
(For a better and more thorough explanation, please see the video below)
That day, my ladder was built from sunshine, hugs, swallow feathers and dumplings with a view.

Aloysius IV enjoyed the sunshine too.

Dear Reader, what do you build your ladder from?

Yours, with buns and tea in tow,
B.

Martina on #buildaladder:

You can follow Simon and Martina’s adventures here.

Dough recipe adapted from here.
For my dumplings I halved the recipe and used 1.5 glasses (1 glass = about 250 ml) of flour, 0.5 glass of boiling water, 2.5 tablespoons of oil (sunflower, for example) and a pinch of salt.
Sift the flour, add the salt and the oil and mix everything together. Add the hot water (careful!) and mix. Wait for the dough to cool down and then knead it. Take chunks of the dough and roll them out on a floured surface. Press out circles from the dough with a glass. Place a small dollop of the filling onto a dough circle and pinch the edges closed. If you’d like fancier looking dumplings, try the pinch-and-roll maneuver.

Reading on the move

Dear Reader,

long time no see!
What adventures were you having while I was hibernating?…

…and knitting socks…
…lots and lots of socks…

Um… let’s go back sixteen steps to that little door that says ‚Adventure‘ on it.
Weather and local mosquito population permitting I like to go reading on the move.
Do not worry, dear reader, this adventure does not come with the risk of me straying off the path and landing in the ditch. Instead of having my nose in a book, I have a book in my ears.
IMG_4818 sqr Listening to audiobooks while out on walks is like adding one additional layer of adventure…
…or a backdrop to the book.
You can strike out on a ramble across the fields, like the protagonist of your favorite Regency novel.
Or find yourself among ivy-clad oaks with a faint scent of Green Men magic in the air.
You can have your favorite philosophers accompany you on a misty morning meditation.
You might even become inspired to go on a photo safari…
…or to start a collection of herbarium samples for ‚Botany for Urban Elves. Volume III‘.
But do not forget to pause the book and listen what the birds are talking about.

And now, dear Reader, I must be off. Another adventure (and Skippy the Magnificent) await.

Yours in comfy shoes,
B.

(Raise Your) Blood Sugar – Part 11 – The Unicorn Made Me Do It

Dear Reader,

for the collection’s finale I am going to make magic happen… with science!

To set the stage, prepare the base cookie dough.
Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper (about 0.5 cm thick) and cut it into squares (4×4 cm).

Bake the cookies at 190 °C until their edges start to brown (about 10 minutes).

Spread some blackberry jam on a cookie and sandwich another cookie on top.

And now, for lunch…

…er, no. Now, to make magic food colouring, chop up a few red cabbage leaves and boil them with 1.5 – 2 cups of water until the colour is extracted from the leaves. Strain out the cabbage and return the liquid to the pot. Heat on a very low temperature (the liquid should be steaming, but not boiling) until most of the water has evaporated.

For the icing, mix 100 g of powdered sugar, two tablespoons of golden syrup and a few spoons of water. Separate three portions of the icing (about two tablespoons each).

To the first portion of icing add a tablespoon of cherry juice. Mix in about a tablespoon of powdered sugar to restore the consistency. This will make a light pink icing.
To the second portion, add a few drops of the cabbage colouring as well as a few drops of lemon juice. This will make a purple icing.
To the third portion, add a few drops of the cabbage colouring and a little sprinkle of baking soda, to shift the colour to blue. Be careful not to add too much baking soda as this might turn the colour greenish (also, baking soda is not a pleasant icing flavour).

The magic science behind the colour changing icing: the colour of the cabbage dye depends on the molecular structure of the main component, anthocyanin, which depends on the acidity of the mixture the molecule is in. In neutral conditions, the dye is purple, with increasing basicness (that’s the job of the baking soda in the mixture) it turns blue, then green.
Bonus fun fact: blueberries contain the same colourful compound and baking powder is basic (similar to baking soda) – that is why zombie-coloured muffins may happen some times.

Add a dab of each icing onto the cookies. Use a toothpick to even out the edges and to draw swirls and patterns into the intersecting colours. Let the iced cookies relax for a while until the top of the icing dries. Decorate with halved blackberries, and here we are!

A colourful cookie straight from a unicorn’s dreams.

Yours, from cotton candy clouds,
B.

P.S. I have a friend with magic powers. He is mysteriously capable of talking me into anything, be it blogging, games or ducks. Well, this epic kitchen adventure almost would not have happened, were it not for your encouragement. Thank you! And this cookie’s for you, mate.

And to all of You, Dear Readers, thank You for accompanying me on this sugar and energy drink fueled journey.

The (Raise Your) Blood Sugar cookie collection, inspired by Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson:
Hot Tea
Wig Disintegrated
Limited Edition
Signature
Pop
Dinner
Pigment X
Conspiracy
Strong
The Unicorn Made Me Do It – you are here!

(Raise Your) Blood Sugar – Part 10 – Strong

Dear Reader,

chocolate cannot fix things, but sometimes it may improve the day a little.

Prepare the base dough.
Take a portion of the dough and knead a tablespoon of cocoa powder into it. Let the dough chill in the refrigerator for an hour.

Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper (about 0.5 cm thick) and cut it into squares (4×4 cm).

Bake the cookies at 190 °C for about 10 minutes.

Heat 50 ml of heavy cream over a hot water bath (be careful when handling the bowl – hot steam may escape from the pot!). Dissolve a packet of instant espresso in the cream.
Add 50 g of dark chocolate to the bowl, allow it to melt and stir it into the coffee cream.
Place the finished cream into the refrigerator to set.

Break half of the cookies. Spread some of the coffee cream on a cookie and reassemble the cookie pieces on top.

Melt 50 g of dark chocolate over a hot water bath. Coat the cookies with chocolate and let them chill in the refrigerator until the chocolate solidifies. Using edible silver shimmer, adorn the cookies with love… and here we are!

Yours, with a cup of warmth,
B.

Watch Jeffree and Shane’s series (part five):

(Raise Your) Blood Sugar – Part 9 – Conspiracy

Dear Reader,

Shh! Don’t tell anyone, but I’m starting a conspiracy to increase the amount of green tea flavoured sweets in Europe.

This conspiracy begins with rumors about base cookie dough. Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper (about 0.5 cm thick) and cut it into squares (4×4 cm).Bake the cookies at 190 °C until their edges start to brown.

Melt about 100 g of white chocolate over a hot water bath and stir in 50 ml of whipping cream (be careful when handling the bowl, hot steam may escape from the pot!).

Please note, that the amounts of chocolate and cream were for the entire cookie collection, if you are only making this cookie, use about 1/3 of the ingredients.

Take 1/3 of the chocolate mixture and stir in a teaspoon of matcha (green tea) powder.

Spread some filling onto a cookie and sandwich another cookie on top. Put the sandwiches into the refrigerator to set the filling.

Melt about 50 g of white chocolate over a hot water bath. Coat the cookies in chocolate and place them back into the refrigerator to solidify the chocolate.

Prepare a paper stencil, paint mysterious symbols onto the cookies using matcha powder, and here we are!

A cookie that is suspiciously delicious.

Yours, sneakily,
B.

The (Raise Your) Blood Sugar cookie collection, inspired by Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star:
Hot Tea
Wig Disintegrated
Limited Edition
Signature
Pop
Dinner
Pigment X
Conspiracy – you are here!
Strong
The Unicorn Made Me Do It

Watch Shane and Jeffree’s series (part four):

(Raise Your) Blood Sugar – Part 8 – Pigment X

Dear Reader,

with today’s cookie we celebrate the makeup (mis)adventures of Garrett Watts.

To begin this adventure prepare the base cookie dough.Take one portion of the dough and knead about a teaspoon of gingerbread spice mixture into it. Place the dough into the refrigerator to chill for one hour.

Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper (about 0.5 cm thick) and cut it into squares (4×4 cm).

Bake the cookies at 190 °C until they start to brown.

For the buttercream filling, mix two tablespoons of powdered sugar with two tablespoons of butter. Mix in a splash of milk (about a teaspoon).

Separate about half of the buttercream and mix in a few drops of vanilla flavouring.

Spread some buttercream filling on a cookie and sandwich another cookie on top.

Melt about 50 g of white chocolate over a hot water bath (be careful when handling the bowl; hot steam may escape from the pot!). Coat each cookie with chocolate and place them into the refrigerator to set.