Fave Five Little Every Day Happy Stuff

Time to look back and reflect on the good things from the past week.

1. Home baked bread. I love to bake my own bread. It's been a while since I last baked one until last night, when I realized how I had missed it. It's aroma slowly spreading through the whole house while it's in the oven. The rustic look of it when I put it on my wooden cutting board.
That crunchy crust, and the taste of that first slice when you have hardly given it the time to cool down thoroughly... It needs nothing more.
Hmmm, unless ... some real butter, some marmalade or home made jam ... strawberry jam mmm yes! A hand cut thick slice of that bread, with some Parma ham, a little salad on the side and some mustard and pickled onions to go with it? I think it would be a great idea for lunch!
Eww, I must be hungry? Or seen to many Nigella Lawson cooking shows on television this week?

2. The days are definitely getting a lot longer now. The last day of February already today, now where has that month gone to? March will be on the calendar as of tomorrow.
Next week is the tenth week of the year, and for some reason, I don't know why that week has always been some sort of wake up call, when new energy starts to flow. I think I carry the genetic heritage of a hedgehog inside of me! Oh well, it could be worse!

3. Coffee. Yeah I KNOW I talked about coffee last week too, but that was about the first coffee in the morning, which is very different to the coffee I treat myself to some time in the afternoon.
That's when I make myself a little espresso. My latest treat is some foamed up milk to top it off.
I add some flavour to the milk, ( cinnamon, vanilla, sweetener, or that new orange - star anise sugar I bought yesterday) heat it in the micro wave and stir it with my aerolatte milk frother.
( You can find recipes through this link)
It works great to get a terrific low fat creamy layer on top of the coffee! Yum!


( You can click to enlarge this collage)


4. The new things I learn through blogging. I learn something new every day, and I love that.
Sometimes I have to Google stuff I don't quite understand, but that's what makes it interesting.
It can be fun! Having to Google stuff sometimes makes me feel stupid, but then I discover that I am not the only one to never have heard of "a dog and pony show" before.
But I'm afraid it will still take some time before I'll be able to participate in Quilly's Three Word Challenge though! Or do a Haiku, or a 100 word challenge ... **Sigh**
Still. I've come this far, and I'm grateful for what I learn each day.

5. I was feeling a little lonely yesterday, so what does a girl do? Yes, I went shopping at the mall! Not that I spent that much money, nor did I spend it on clothes.
I ended up in one of those shops for foodies like Oil and Vinegar, and a trendy tableware shop.
I KNOW I do not NEED more new plates, but I could not resist, besides, they were a steal!
Beautiful plates always inspire me to create a new recipe to use them for.



Mind you, these are just a few highlights of the week that has passed.
There was also that deliciously creamy Veal Goulash I made, the Blue Tits inspecting the nest on my patio, the blue Hyacinth I bought and it turns out to be pink, the first good lace design I have finished this week ( No, no pictures of that just yet, I'm building up some tension here!)

Find other people's Fave Five's at Suzanne's, on Living to tell the story.

Abc in Pictures, K and L ....

My letter K is a little bit belated, but I'll make it up to you!

K is for .... kneading.

The professional way ...
or my way ...



L is for ... a loaf of bread ...

or even two loaves!

Feeling the dough come to life in my hands,
and the smell of the bread in the oven filling the house ...
Nothing can compare.
I love my home made bread!


Don't forget to visit the others at Quilly's blog.

Oh my God, does this mean ...?

Doing the same post three times, while I was baking bread
... makes huge bread! You would not believe this!
I was so busy writing and I got so inspired yesterday,
that I forgot all about my bread rising in the oven!
When I finally returned to the kitchen to get someting to drink,
I saw this huge bread in the oven!
Gosh!
Wauw!!!
Thank you ever so much, Saint Peter!
Does this mean I am a domestic goddess now?

Just a simple nutty recipe ...

See this?

And this?

Christine started this!
We were both doing Nablopomo,
and we had this conversation going on one day,
when she commented on my apple pie recipe ...
"I think the speculoos recipe sounds good... spicy Christmas cookies...yum. While I am at it I think I should make some Peppernuts. My mom is Norwegian and they take her back to her childhood. I have not ever tried to make them. I can buy them at an excellent German resteraunt that we sometimes go to.They are homemade. They are expensive. They are addictive. "

At 8:33am on November 18th, 2007, heaveninbelgium said…
"Oooohhh!! Could you post the recipe for the Peppernuts? I have never had them, but I sure would like to try making them?"

At 5:16pm on November 19th, 2007, Christine Braun said…
"Sure...give me a couple of days...have to go and work tomorrow plus have a list as long as my arm of things that I have to do."

The next day, or the day after that, she posted it.
Ever since that day I wanted to make them,
but something always came up, and I didn't get to it!
You know, first I had to "translate" the measurements and the Fahrenheit degrees.
Then I had to go out and buy the ingredients, molasses for instance.
I had never even heard of molasses before, so I looked it up at Google,
and found out it looked a bit like our black candy syrup.
And then I had bought all of that, I had done all of that research,
I had a lot of time on my hands since my husband had a cold and we would not be going out,
so I thought it would be a good time to get started and bake those Peppernuts!
That was more than a week ago!
But then I discovered I had no eggs! Geee!!!

And then a few days ago, I got another comment from her, saying ...
Jientje...I gave you the wrong recipe for Pepper Nuts. I have posted the proper recipe today. I hope you did not try that recipe! I can just visualize you baking even as I write and ending up with a disaster. I am sorry.christine

Good for me a had not tried it yet! Hehehehe!
So I went back to Christine's Coop and got the right recipe.
And then I got another comment from her, saying ...
"I made the pepper nut cookies. I make them tiny...smaller than the recipe says...they should be about the size of a bottle cap when they are done. John says they could have a little more pepper but I like them the way they are just fine. I substituted 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1/2 tsp. ginger for the cloves. What a picky job. don't start unless you have time to kill.christine"

Don't start unless you have time to kill!
Yep, that's right! But I did it anyway, and I made pictures all the way!
So maybe next week , I will post my version of the peppernut recipe,
but I'll tell you one thing though, .... they are delicious !!!
The whole house smells of them, a winter day's delight!
Want to see Christines Peppernuts? They are here ...

While exchanging recipes we became friends, funny isn't it?