December 18, 2010

white

Soooo... Italy...not too generous on snow...

I decided to make my own...and it's not the kind you buy at the supermarket in a can, that sprays  weird smelling goo all over things, making them look like a fire truck had freshly puked on them...no! warm and fuzzy snow... like in old puppet cartoons... MY SNOW :)

you'll  say, "snow can't be warm and fuzzy! it's cold and it melts if you touch it". Yeah, in YOUR boring   world maybe, in MY world, it's very pleasant to the touch, and if you rub it on your cheek it won't prickle, or freeze it, it will give you warm fuzzies ;) just like little fluffy chicken (if you ever had the honor of touching one;)

here it is ;)
I think my snow will make real snow jealous :D! and it will come Christmas eve just to show off :)

I dare you Mother Nature! I dare you!

December 07, 2010

☃❄ ☃❄☃getting on the Christmas bandwagon ☃❄ ☃❄☃

Ho hooo hoooo! it's almost Christmas!

I am not awfully religious, but as any bad Catholic I think I am entitled to that :D
Christmas is more of a special time to spend with family, sharing love in the form of
great meals, jokes and presents.

Decorating the tree, wrapping gifts and preparing food is the best part of it all.
Yeah, I am that shallow...  cry me a river why don't you...!

Slowly, but most definitely surely,I've started on my Christmas decorations. There will be light! a lot of it!:)
lights I should say, and cookies, going to get pastry brushes and new piping bag tomorrow and get on with my cookie making;) E-x-C-i-T-i-N-g!



For now here's the recipe I've created (not modified from an online source -- CREATED! :) due to my temporary sugar free lifestyle :

2-3 egg whites
1/2c (or less)  Stevia/Equal or sugar if you're able to have it:)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
tiny pinch of salt
8-12 Tbsp almond flour

beat egg whites with sugar,cr. of tartar and salt to stiff glossy peaks. fold almond flower in gently, pour in the piping bag, squeeze on parchment paper and bake at 90C until light and crisp, about 30 minutes. They should not change color, if they start turning yellow, pry your oven open and leave it like that for the rest of time.
 (if you want heavier cookies, add more almond four, I prefer them heavier, but the amount automatically shrinks,because  you break air bubbles in the egg whites with the almond flower and additional mixing)

enjoy ;)

p.s. I added some food dye to make half of the cookies pink ;)



November 29, 2010

vegan,me? nooo way

so I am on this ridiculously restricting diet...
in short no carbs, carbs are in everything,so i only eat meat, nuts, and tiny amount of veggies...that sucks you'd say, and I'll agree...1000% :D
but I am getting creative to say the least ;) now I spend hours online looking for vegan recipes that include the ingredients I can have and this cheese is just too good not to make ;)
I found this recipe on the glorious website called Vegan Lunchbox.
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/
here's the cheese in all it's splendor! ;)


Enjoy! I sure did!!!

it's fantastic hot right from the oven, waiting for it to cool to see how it's cold ;) the crust is just scrumptious:)
I'm planing on making little cookie shaped thingies out of it next time to get more crust  per bite:D

November 14, 2010

I've been so neglectful  of my blog it's too sad! :D
and yet I am grinning ;)

I think it's a good sign ;) I had too much happening this summer, friends' visits, parents' visit, trips to London and Lithuana,it's been eventful and busy, not to mention very hot!
Italy is one glorious country and I have enjoyed every day of it tremendously!

I will try my best to make up for time lost and do better! 

here are some of the yummies I've made, and after I get off my ridiculously restrictive diet, I'll get to
my normal cooking routine .

enjoy;)

Avocado-lime-coconut ice-cream:




one of the healthier treats you can have, and oh so delicious!

1 ripe avocado
2-3 lemons (only use juice)
2-3 limes (use juice,plus use grated zest of one lime)
1 can coconut milk(400ml)

blend all ingredients in the blender until uniform and fluffy (add sugar to your preferences, I used some raw demerara sugar)

pour in the container, freeze and enjoy ;)

i do not mix it like some recipes suggest while it's freezing, it will crystallize no matter what, it's got raw veggie in it, so just let it sit for a bit before eating it will get nice and soft.


Fresh homemade cottage cheese :




3 liters (of fresh not skimmed milk) (12.6c)
250 ml sour cream (1c)
1/3c lemon juice
(makes over a pound of cottage cheese)

warm milk almost to a boiling point
add sour cream and lemon juice
mix on low heat slowly till it clots and whey is separated all the way
once there's no milk left in the pot, drain the cheese
and serve whichever way you like ;) I add some creme fresh and strawberries ,oh yumm!


and one more to finish the sweet trinity ;)

Salted butter caramel ice-cream :



I have used this link http://www.cilieginasullatorta.it/2010/04/gelato-al-caramello-al-burro-salato.html
The ice-cream is absolutely delectable!!! one of my favoritest flavors on earth! I've tried this ice-cream flavor in Paris for the first time and thought- goodness! it doesn't get better than that;)
I had a goal to replicate the flavor as close as possible, and I succeeded,  I make it without an ice-cream machine , with one it's probably close to perfection ;D


p.s the recipe is in Italian, but google translate does an amazing job ;)


ciao ciao ;)

January 26, 2010

Sea Monsters

Yep, that's what I think of when I have to drain my kitchen sink. Every time I have to roll up that right sleeve and dive in all the way up to the elbow, I wow I will never pour tea leaves in the sink, I will always scrape the plates and by golly I'll always toss dry rice from the pot straight into the trash. But that's a lie, I never remember to do it until the sink looks like a dark scary , COLD ocean.
And then it begins, the dreaded immersion in to the unknown, the creatures crawl up my skin, they tangle between my fingertips, they are slimy, sticky stinky! Oh how I hate my Sink Ocean!

I just irrigated it though, now I need to lift all the dying creatures and put them to rest... They don't like it, I can't stand it, but it has to be done. I like my sink clean, don't get me wrong, but I like dumping the contents of my mug straight in the sink, I like not scraping my plates into the trash bin, I like it! it's easy! leave me alone!


oh btw the main culprit of my Sink Ocean this time was this beauty ;) I tossed the cake pan in the sink and flooded it with water, Sink Ocean was very dark, rich chocolate color:)
here it is:
Crazy Chocolate Cake --triple C ;)


I am not going to share the recipe for now, I have no time at the moment, but I will , promise :)

Truly Madly Deeply yours ;)

Julija






January 18, 2010

'bloggy' frustration

I've been fighting with my blog recently, it's been causing unnecessary grief in my life,
so I played the 'ignore it and it will go away" game for a while now. It didn't go away,
I missed it instead ;)

Somebody's got to be smarter I guess...

I have tried posting a few times and It kept telling me there's some error preventing it to post my stuff, so we had a fight and i haven't spoke to it since Christmas...I made yummies,but i guess nobody will ever know how good they were, I hate going back to things, the moment is gone, so is Christmas tree (lie, i just lied! :) i still have it up, too lazy to move it, but it doesn't excite me anymore,so it's good as gone )

I made an awesome pund cake yesterday, stuffed my face with it and worked it all of doing bodyflex this morning, so here's the shot of it, drool all you want,it won't go to your hips ;)

the recipe is generic I used one from about.com website.
I made my glaze with 1cup of powdered sugar. fresh lemon juice and a drop of yellow food color.

p.s I watched  "it's complicated' yesterday... Merryl Streep is on the roll, good on you girl! ;)