My uncle gave me this traditionally made spoon; he bought it in a local market in Tanzania. It is quite large, but perfectly functional, and quite nice. I don't know what dark wood it is made of. The smaller spoon in the picture is there for size comparison.
This is the second of the four cookies I made for my Hotpot dinner with my beautiful Thai girlfriend, her brother, her sister and two of her nephews. Green tea powder, or matcha, comes from Japan, and is what is normally used in 'Green Tea' baked goods. The green tea smells very good, and its scent comes out in the finished cookie. Almonds and green tea are two favourites of my beautiful Thai girlfriend, I hope she likes them. As I was making so many cookies, I cut the recipe in half from the original.
Green Tea Almond CookiesPreheat oven to 190C/375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift flour with baking powder, matcha and almonds.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fuffy.
Add egg and beat in well.
Add flour mixture in two batches; stir to combine.
Roll mixture into small balls and flatten slightly. Gently press a flaked almond into the top and place on baking sheets.
Baked for about 15 minutes.
Makes 48 small cookies.
This is one of four cookies that I made for my Hotpot dinner with the family of my beautiful Thai girlfriend. My intent was to find some combinations that speak Thai, but are Western cookies (of course, later, I was told that this particular combination, lime and coconut, would not really occur). I found this recipe somewhere on the 'Net, I would say that the 1/4 cup of lime juice, the juice of about 2 to 2-1/2 limes, is far too much, most of it remained in the mixing bowl. The macaroons did taste quite good, the lime combines very well with the coconut. Too, they are very easy to make.
Coconut-Lime MacaroonsPreheat oven to 180C/350F.
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients thoroughly. Form into small balls and place 1/2 inch apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.
Cool on wire racks.
Yesterday was finally the marking point of six months for my Homemade Vanilla Extract, which means that it is ready, and it looks great! I can't wait to try it out!
I really like apricots, especially when fresh Ontario offerings are available in the summer, they are sweet and juicy and wonderfully flavourful. I came across these unusual, to me, variety of apricot, with red skins, in a Chinese supermarket, and knew I had to try them. Tasting them, they did not evoke the same kind of flavours that I enjoy from the Ontario variety, and they are not as fresh, being flown in from parts unknown (the source was not labelled, or if it was, it was labelled in Chinese characters, which I can't read), but they were definitely apricots, and quite good.
Ritter Sport produces lots of different chocolate bars in many flavours and combinations, well-liked in Germany, Europe and North America, too. Their tagline 'Quality in a Square', coupled with their unique packaging, or 'Knick-Pack', with which you 'break open' the packaging to get at the chocolate, makes them unique and stand out among competitors. But it really is the quality of the product that ultimately makes consumers decide whether to repurchase their products. Recently, they have created several chocolate bars that contain dark chocolate rather than milk, and these are two of them.
This is a straight dark chocolate bar, no added ingredients or fillings. The ingredient listing looks pretty good, though the cocoa content is only at 50%, it is sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin and vanillin (not so good). It tastes fairly good, though I doubt that I would purchase this one again.
This chocolate offering is dark chocolate with chocolate mousse filling. It has even less cocoa content, just 36%, and more sugar and less desirable ingredients, so I don't think that I would buy this ever again, despite the fact that it tasted good. The long ingredient listing is suar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, butterfat, milk powder, vegetable oil (palm kernel oil), hazelnut paste, soy lecithin and artificial flavour vanillin.
The conclusion is that these two products are a little disappointing in dark chocolate offerings, serviceable but not great, but there are two more that I also bought at the same time that are a little better, that I will write about soon.
Having enjoyed the Dried Mangoes from 7D, I was pleased to find another product from them. Of course, I was hoping that it shared the same quality and flavour. The bright yellow of the juice and the mangoes on the package looked a little too good to be true, but that's true of most marketing. The spot where you 'Insert Straw' was proof against my efforts to pierce it with the small straw with its sharp edge, I don't see the trick, so I cut the top off and poured the not-as-bright-the-picture-in-the-packaging orange coloured juice out into a glass and tasted it. And it tasted good. I've had fresh mango juice, which is more work than it's worth to do (the juice is excellent, but you don't get much liquid from a mango), and this is an excellent product, for being packaged and processed juice. Quite fresh, and not too sweet, the ingredients are purified water, mango puree, sugar, citric acid, vegetable gum, sodium benzoate (a preservative) and Vitamin C. I would say that the 7D company produces superior products.
I adapted this from a recipe by Jamie Oliver, his had marjoram and garlic, also good additions. Too, I added chicken, Jamie's recipe being originally vegetarian. Either way, it is quite delicious and easy to assemble, a good quick nutritious meal for a busy night.
Spaghetti with Sweet Cherry Tomatoes, Basil and OilPut your pasta into a large pot of salted boiling water and cook until al dente (7-9 minutes). While it's cooking, halve the tomatoes and put them into a large bowl, squishing several of them to get the juice out. Add the basil, olive and hazelnut oil and balsamic vinegar. Season to taste. Grill the chicken till done, 4 minutes per side. Drain the pasta, and while still steaming hot, mix well with the tomato mixture, check the season, add the cooked chicken and serve.
I have been in the mood lately to bake cakes rather than cookies it seems these days, I contemplated changing the name, just for a moment, to Filberts and Chocolate Cakes. I took inspiration for this version of the Devonshire Honey from Nigella Lawson's Nutella Cake, the amounts of Nutella, Frangelico (hazelnut liquor) and ground hazelnuts are from that recipe. To think, too, writing about hazelnuts, that this is only the second time I have mentioned Nutella, the beloved Italian spread made from hazelnuts, skim milk and a bit of cocoa, we've all seen the commercials, as part of a recipe. But there you are. This turned out quite moist in the center, which again collapsed, and drier around the edge (though perhaps I put it in for 5 minutes too long). All in all, quite delicious, and well received at work. Two things that happened, one is that one lady asked me if I was trying to make everyone fat, the other is when I got the empty container back, there was lipstick on the outside, I can only imagine that someone was so hungry -- well, I don't want to go there...
Chocolate Nutella Honey CakePreheat oven to 300F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan. Line bottom with parchment paper.
Melt butter, honey, and sugar slowly in a saucepan. Boil for one minute. Leave to cool (caramel will thicken).
Add chocolate to hot caramel and stir till melted and mixed through.
Whisk flour and cocoa together till mixed.
Beat in eggs one at a time in the saucepan. Whisk in flour into egg caramel mixture in two batches. Whisk ground hazelnuts into batter. Whisk in entire jar of Nutella, followed by the tablespoon of Frangelico into batter.
Pour into the greased pan and bake for 60-65 minutes or until cake is golden brown and spring back when pressed.
Turn out the cake onto a wire rack. Warm 2 Tbsp honey in a small saucepan and brush over the top of the cake to glaze. Leave to cool.
Pitahaya or Pitaya or Yellow Dragon Fruit is the fruit of a flowering cactus, which grows mostly in South America, and is related to the Red Dragon Fruit, though it is regarded as far tastier, and I agree. It is sweeter, and slightly tangier, a pleasant and refreshing fruit. I am still looking for the Dragon Fruit with the red flesh.
