The Art of Comfort

Rice Pudding

2010-10-03T05:31:00.000-07:00

Hey Sweets :)

I finally, finally finished my internship in this stupid school :) and I already handed in at least one assignment :). Thats why I thought I should celebrate in doing something comfy for me...so, I made my favorite food ever...rice pudding!! With stewed cherries and pears :)

and in wearing my new favorite dress, with happy floral pattern :) for a pub night with friends (my friend from Sweden had been here for the weekend :) )

oh, and I´m going to watch Eat, Pray, Love with my sister :) hopefully it is as good as the book. It is always hard to watch a movie after reading the book. You always feel like there is so much left out what had been important in you opinion...
but we´ll see.
Has anyone of you watched the movie yet??

Have a lovefilled weekend my little lovecats :)

cuddles and kisses :)

Things I love so very much...

2010-09-26T03:26:00.000-07:00

Hey sweets,

Out of my working-chaos, I thought it might be time for a little list of things I love :) so here we go...

1. autumn
2. letters, handwritten, with ink
3. receiving letters in general
4. leaves sailing to the ground
5. autumn colored leaves
6. cinnamon in everything
7. candles
8. spending the whole day just reading
9. long walks in the woods
10. long walks with my dog :)
11. good food
12. warm food
13. soups and stews and pasta
14. baked goods
15. baking
16. the smell of baking in my house
17. dreaming of my own café
18. dreaming of being a writer
19. dreaming of being anything interesting
20. listening to music without doing anything else
21. listening to music while doing something else
22. long drives in the dark, when I dont have to drive
23. university
24. nail polish in creamy,brown shades
25. red lipstick worn during the day
26. necklaces with pretty pendants
27. leather armchairs
28. blankets and pillows (you can never have enough of them)
29. being surrounded by my books
30. finding a new book and while reading you get totally lost in it
31. most members of my family
32. all of my beloved friends
33. getting crazy with my niece
34. spending Sundays in cafés with fiends
35. flowers on the table
36. flowers in the garden
37. hearing mice on the roof
38. napping after eating a lot
39. the warm, comfortable feeling after a nap
40. feeling warm and comfortable
41. helping my friends feeling happy
42. baking or making caramel for my friends
43. new years holidays in Denmark
44. beaches in autumn or winter
45. soft skin
46. body butter with warm smell
47. tea tea tea
48. chai latte
49. coffee coffee coffee
50. feeling warm wind in my hair

hm, okee...I guess this might be enough for now... but wait, I have beautiful song to share with you, too :)

hope you all have the most enchanted weekend :)

kisses and cuddles

Recipetime :)

2010-09-18T03:14:00.001-07:00

Hey Sweets,

I finally managed to take some time to share the cinnamon buns recipe with you :)
I hope you´ll like it!!! I tried my best to convert the recipe in cups :)

You´ll need:

for the dough

150g - 2/3 cups butter
500ml - little more than 2 cups milk
50g - ca. 2 teaspoons (use enough for the amount of flour) yeast
150g - 2/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cardamom (I used ginger :) )
800-900g - 7 -7 1/2 cups flour (depends on the consistency)

for the filling:

75g - 1/3 cup butter
100g - little less than 1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 egg (to spread on the buns later)

What to do:

1. Melt the butter for the dough and add the milk until everything is warm. Then add the yeast and stir well. After that there comes the sugar, the salt and the cardamom.

2. Everything moves into a mixing bowl. Add the flour and knead well. Remember that yeast needs oxygen to work well!!!

3. Cover it and let it rest at a warm place for 30-40 minutes.

4. divide in 3 parts. Roll out into rectangles on a flour covered table.

5. Melt the butter for the filling and spread over the rectangles. Mix the filling sugar with the cinnamon and spread it over the buttered rectangles.

6. roll them up and then cut into 4cm thick slices. Place on a tray with the cuttet side down. Cover them and let it rest on a warm place for 30 minutes.

7. Mix 1 egg and spread it on the buns. Add a little decoration-sugar if you like.

8. bake for 5-8 minutes at 250°C / 475°F. Let cool under a towel.

9. Enjoy :)

Hope it will work the way I described it ;) happy baking!!

Kisses cuddles and autumn air for you :)

Quote

2010-08-20T01:58:00.000-07:00

"I love people. Everybody. I love them, I think, as a stamp collector loves his collection. Every story, every incident, every bit of conversation is raw material for me. My love's not impersonal yet not wholly subjective either. I would like to be everyone, a cripple, a dying man, a whore, and then come back to write about my thoughts, my emotions, as that person. But I am not omniscient. I have to live my life, and it is the only one I'll ever have. And you cannot regard your own life with objective curiosity all the time..."

— Sylvia Plath (The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath)

Bookshop session

2010-08-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Hey Sweets,

it´s time for some music again. I just love the Bookshop Session by Mumford & Sons. That´s why I thought I should share a little with you ;) the music is great and the atmosphere even greater...so enjoy :)

The last two songs are my favorites :)

Kisses, cuddles and sugardrops for you

What I baked on Sunday

2010-08-02T05:01:00.000-07:00

Hey Sweets,

sundays are my baking days :) mostly due to time issues ;)
so I thought I share a recipe with you every now and then...and the first one will be *tadadadaaa*

Chai-Banana-Cookies

you´ll need:
1x 25g instant Chai latte sachet
1 tablespoon boiling water
125g butter, softened
3/4 cup (165g) sugar (either brown or white)
1/2 mashed banana
1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour
1/4 cup (35g) self-raising flour

1. you have to blend the content of the sachet with the boiling water... and mash the banana (I use a fork)

2. beat butter, sugar, banana and the chai-paste with electric mixer until combined. Add the flours in two batches while mixing.

3. mixe or knead the dough until it´s smooth. Put it, covered in the refrigerator for 30min.

4. preheat oven to 160°C. Roll dough on floured surface until ca. 5mm thick. Then cut squares and place them on oven trays. Stamp centers of the cookies with whatever cutterform you like :)

5. bake for about 15 minutes. let cool...enjoy :)

I hope you liked the recipe :)

I wish you a beautiful cookie-day!!

Kisses and cuddles

I´m back

2010-07-07T02:19:00.000-07:00

Hey Sweets,

I´m back from Paris and I cannot say anything about it because I don´t have the words for something that fantastic. So, instead of talking...here are a few pictures I took while strolling around :) enjoy!!

oh, and is there anyone else already fed up with summer?? I want autumn back :)

kisses, cuddles and macarons

pear cookies for everyone ;)

2009-10-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

hey sweets,

i´m so sorry for my absence these days but uni started again and i was busy running around like a maniac ;)
so today i´ll give you my pear-cookie recipe :) i made these yesterday for my sisters birthday brunch .

So, first of all, what you need:

115g butter, softened
180g sugar (brown or white...just how you like it)
1 egg
5ml vanilla extract (also working: almond, rum...hmm...whatever you like might work ;)
250g flour
7g baking powder
half teaspoon ground cinnamon (you can use more ginger and cinnamon if you like it)
half teaspoon ground ginger
1 pear - peeled, cored and diced
70g raisins (cranberries work also)
60g chopped walnuts (i used hazelnuts this time...also great)

and now what to do with this stuff ;)

first you combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger. (i always use a little baking soda, too)

then mix raisins and the nuts.

pear chopping ;) and adding to the nuts/raisins

beat butter and sugar until really smooth and then add the egg and the extract.

now add the flour...

and then the pear/nut/raisins

now put onto a baking sheet a little apart from each other rounded tablespoonfuls of the dough and bake ca.15 minutes at 175°C but dont let them get too dark ;)

i hope you can soon enjoy some cookies very soon ;) and one more add, with the spices, extracs and so on you can be creative. i also added a little rosemary...you can do what your taste wants ;)

have fun and see you soon my little fairy-cupcakes :)

*kisses*