fennel theme

This is what it ended up with, when I found out my friends would come by for dinner in an hour - a very nice fall dinner.

Fennel, beetroot & apple salad

1 fennel
2 large beetroots
3 apples
a little lemon juice

Wash all the ingredients and chop the beetroot into small ½-1 cm squares, finely slice the fennel and grate the apple and squeeze a little lemon juice over to prevent them turning brown. Mix and serve.

Meat balls

oven temp. 225 c°

500 g beef
1½ onion
2 tsp chili flakes
1½ bulbs of garlic
salt
pepper
a handful beetroot squares

Chop or grate the onions according to what texture u want, and press the garlic. Mix all the ingredients and form meet balls the size of a table tennis ball and flatten them. Place them in a tray and cook in a preheated oven at 225 and cook for 15 mins.

Mashed potatoes

4 large potatoes ( the baking kind size)
3-4 bulbs of garlic
milk
salt
pepper
fennel top

Peel the potatoes and cut them into 2 cm squares. Take half a potato, in squares too, and cook it in the oven with salt and the garlic bulbs, I put them in the same tray as the meet balls and cook them for 20 mins.
Boil the rest of the potatoes - strain them and mix with the baked potato squares and the soft sweet garlic, remember not to put in the skin, only the soft inside. I mix with a fork and then pour a little milk, salt, pepper and finely chopped fennel top. If you taste while mixing, you will know when you put enough in.

love licorice cupcakes

mmmm made these the other day, as dessert for a bbq, and to quote my friend - they taste just fab!

They are really easy to make, and with normal household ingredients. I used homemade raspberry jam and marshmallows as topping - but you can top it with what ever you prefer :)

oven temperature 175 c°

100 g butter
60 g wheat flour
45 g cocoa
3 tbs licoricepowder (use more or less, according to how strong tasting you want it)
1 tsp bakingpowder
3 eggs
2 dl caster sugar
1 dl milk

- melt the butter
- mix the flour, cocoa, licorice powder and baking powder
- whisk the eggs into a fluffy white mix, use a hand mixer
- sift the flour mix into the eggs, shifting between this, the melted butter and the milk. Stir it together carefully along the way
- fill it into the cupcake molds, and bake them for 20-25 minutes at 175 c°

I put some homemade jam on top after and then some cut up marshmallows and a sprinkle of licorice powder and put them back in the oven for a short while, until the marshmallows turned light brown.

served with watermelon slush

first ceramic tryouts

Well I've always loved ceramics, and wanted to try doing it like a million times, but never quite got around to it until a month ago.

Believe me, I like it even more now, it is a community house and user run workshop, where you can buy clay and then otherwise you can do what you want. Hoping to learn from the others when you are a rookie like me. And luckily they are all really kind and outgoing, and I've learned so much already. The reason why I finally went there was that I wanted to make a yarn bowl for my mom as a surprise. 

The first attempt (the dry white one) I made by forming the clay from a lump shape into a bowl shape using my hands and some different smoothing tools. 

The second one (the wet light brown one) I made using the mechanical turntable and somehow this bowl came around really easy - maybe just beginners luck :) And today I finished the bottom, with guidance by one of the elder users, who is really good at throwing clay - am so impressed. And then just by chance one of the others just found so metallic letters, we could use to write in the clay - mine says: cool knitting mom on the side, and the space for the yarn to run through is shaped as a b, cos its the first letter in my moms name :) 

Now they are air drying, and are waiting to be burned. And then the next step is to decorate and glace them - so still a lot to try for the first time - am so excited about it.

an unplanned holiday

nothing better than having an extra unplanned holiday :) Nothing planned and a lot to do - visiting my friends and family.

I went to this 'let the cows out on summer grass and see them dance' event with my friend and her three kids. It was a lot of fun to see the cows go crazy and the smell of cows, straws and barns brought me back to my childhood and classmates homes. After we had lunch in my aunts summerhouse garden, enjoying the view and spring flowers.

I also went to my parents place, we worked in my moms vagetable garden and one day mom and I went on a trip to the west coast - it was really windy and beautiful. And in the middle of everything was a large shop, filled with clothes and a lot of really nice yarns - inspiration heaven - the pics shows the view from the first floor cafe. 

Near by was a farm shop with food made from the best ingredients and also some local produce. The owner was so sweet and explained what you could do with the ingredients. Mom gave me two bottles of balsamic vinegar, one with figs and dates which was thick and one normal one with pomegranate - mmmm they are so good, not easy to choose, my mom bought a thick one with blood orange, it was so cool cos we got to taste them before buying. I also got a can of liquorice powder, a brand I used often at my friends place, it's raw liquorice powder and small lumps of liquorice that cracks when you eat it.

I also had a sleep over at my grandmother, she is so cool living in a small apartment and almost 88, and so much fun to be around joking and discussing what goes on in the world. Thankful to what she experienced and able to be happy about the small things in life. She is my hero :)

At my parents place...

my parents friends new house, with the most stunning view

ice ice baby

The newest addition in my tiny, but well equipped, kitchen - an ice cream maker. And it's already a love-love relationship :) The first try was pomegranate flavoured frozen yogurt, which turned out amazingly delicate, then followed by raspberry frozen yogurt with chocolate chips. Then I tasted licorice ice cream at a farm market, just had to try it out. My first attempt was made with egg yokes, whipped cream, caster sugar and tons of licorice powder and lemon zest added as a twist. The taste was spot on, but the texture wasn't quite what I had hoped for - but then today I got it right, I made gelato, the Italian ice cream which is my all time favourite. It was surprisingly easy. I made it with tree different flavours: coffee, vanilla and licorice, and it turned out absolutely fantastic :) I used a recipe from www.iselsker.dk for a basic gelato, and then I added the flavours by using measurements from other types of ice cream, and tasting of cause :)

Gelato - base

2 dl cream (38%)
4 dl milk (1,5 %)
4 egg yolks
100 g caster sugar
a pinch of salt


Whisk the egg yolks and sugar into a light and fluffy egg nog (takes about 2 min.).

Pour milk and cream into a pot and heat up to just before boiling, 85°c (small bubbles will occur along the edge) and put the pot aside.

Add 1/3 of the milk/cream mix to the egg nog while whisking. Pour this mixture back into the pot and heat this up slowly until it thickens (max. 85°c) To prevent lumps in the ice cream, sift the mixture before leaving it to cool down. To draw flavour leave it to cool for at least four hours before using your ice cream maker to make the best gelato.

This is a gelato base, so experiment with your favourite flavours :)

I made these :

Liquorice: 25 g of raw liquorice powder, 25 g of crushed liquorice drops.

Vanilla: (½ a portion of gelato base) 1 vanilla pod - seeds and the empty pod. Its a good idea to put these ingredients in, before the second heating.

Coffee:  (½ a portion of gelato base)10-20 g of instant coffee powder - dissolved in a little warm milk, the amount of coffee depends on the strength of the powder, so try as you go along.

a flower headband

I crocheted this headband for my 'niece' for her 5 year birthday. I never learnt to crochet, but I've decided to let youtube help me, so thanks to all the people uploading videos showing and telling what to do :) I just made a lot of different looking flowers, some from the videos, and some from my own imagination as I got the hang of the techniques. I made a narrow band, with a wider piece where the flowers are attached. It was really easy, it didn't take long, even to a rookie and it brought a lot of smiles and happiness along, she really liked it :)

three coloured scarf

Phew - finally done, started this project just after Christmas, and have been working on it on and off for months. But am really satisfied with it - love the colours and yarn, got two of them from my moms stash, she didn't know what to make of it, so she passed it on to me :) It looks complicated, but is really easy, it only took a long time cos its thin and I had to continuously untangle the yarns, cos they cross while knitting the pattern. I knitted from what my mom told me, but later I found the recipe on www.knittingfool.com under T - tricolor fabric, and it looks as if its the same. Now I just have to find out what to do with it, cos even though I love the colours, I can't wear them myself - wonder who around me deserves a little extra appreciation :)

with flash - colder

a family celebration

This summer my parents decided to celebrate that my younger brother and sister finished both their educations, and since we were all very busy it ended up becoming a fall party instead :) If you know anything about the danish weather, you'll know that your lucky if the sun shines the day you choose to invite 16 people, but we were lucky. And even though it started with rain, it ended up being a beautiful and sunny day. All the guests arrived at one, and then we had a big and long lunch, and since my parents live in a big forest, we all went for a long walk, enjoying the sun, fresh air and fall colours and smells...oh how I love fall, when the sun shines, the sky is blue and clear and all the senses is activated. When we got back we had the best lime cake, cranberry-liquorish biscuits with coffee and later we had a little leftover feast. It was nothing less than a wonderful day with the family.

And it was even better cos I got to be in charge of all the preparation and cooking. My siblings and I decided on a buffet menu, and then I calculated how much we needed and when to buy it and what to perpare when. And thursday night my sister and I did most of the shopping, having a lot of fun with it. And then we spend most of friday in the kitchen, but we also went to pick up all  the tables and chairs needed and cleaned the house. Saturday was started with a early breakfast, and then the whole team started cooking.. we just managed to finish when the guests arrived.
We ended up buying a long piece of fabric and used it as tablecloth, which now is being turned into a shorter version, and a lot of scarfs. The table ended up being so beautiful, it was like it changed colour after how the light was, and it underlined the colours my parents allready uses in their livingroom. But tried to capture it in the pics below, which also shows the buffet and stunning nature :) In time I'll try to post some of the recipies, cos this food is ment to be shared, so please try it out.

brunch the next morning :)