Turkey with lentils, turmeric and saffron

Here goes..my first foodie post that is not a dessert. Don't get me wrong, I still fired up the oven this weekend (caramel mascarpone layer cake in case you're wondering) but I want to show you want we eat before the treat.

I am not a soupie but my guy is so I had to come up with a way to satisfy us both. Stews. Thick and rich, it's soup cousin which is a must because I'm not big on eating dinner with a spoon (yea, hang-ups abound..). And since we're on things that make me happy, I like lentils. Basically the more flavourful and exotic version of the beloved Dutch brown bean. 

This baby is not pretty and it instantly made my kids loose their appetite, as they are not to be confused with adventurous eaters. Actually Mika told me exactly what it looked like, but luckily did not taste like..after much prodding, poking and a time-out. I, however had it for dinner and breakfast this morning and it's even better when the flavours have time to mellow. 

This a more a guideline than a recipe because I measure nothing and eyeball everything in cooking. I completely forgot to soak the the red lentils in water beforehand and since I wanted this dinner I put them in a bowl of hot water and microwaved for a minute. Worked like a charm. They then got transfered to a large pot with chicken broth and two bay leaves. 

In a separate pot I poached trimmed turkey breast with another bay leave, ground black pepper and a small handful of whole allspice/Jamaican pepper. Once cooked and cooled I flaked the turkey with a fork. In a pan heat a drizzle of oil and toss in an almost equal amount of diced onions as turkey and lentils. Once translucent sprinkle with ground turmeric and garlic powder and cook till glazed and crispy bits start to form.

Add the flaked turkey and turmeric onions to the lentils and let cook further. When the liquid has reduced, add ground saffron powder. I used a generous pinch. Season with black pepper and sea salt flakes. The total cooking time for the lentils is about an hour. 

Spoon into bowls and top with a spoonful of creme fraiche, that will slowly melt and add soft creaminess to the heartiness of this bowl. Serve simply with pieces of Naan. This stuff fills like a mother, without being too heavy. Perfect for the Indian summer weather of crisp autumn breeze and blue skies.

Brook Green Residence

I'm planning a little break soon but have no clue as to the destination? When I saw this home in London, it was decided..Okay not really but it sure as heck put London back on the list! Plus it is the kick in the minimalist lover's butt that I needed to consider staying in someone's home.

This amazing place by an interior stylist. How could it not be, seeing how perfectly minimalist it is? Made me hop right on over to Bodie & Fou to check out the prints.

Check out the home at Kid & Coe, which seems like a dream come true for trotting around the globe with tots in tow..

Baked raspberry custards with cream cheese & prosecco

 

Ain't no school, like the old school' is a saying i use often but it doesn't exactly apply to me in the kitchen. I like classic but with a twist. A kooky twist, based solely on whatever I'm craving at the moment. ‘I wonder what I can do with a pack of frozen raspberries?’ 'I have a bit of prosecco in the fridge.’ ‘I haven’t had cheesecake in a while’. 

And so it was decided that I needed to make baked custards with raspberries and of course the berries needed to be macerated in drowned in prosecco and not forgetting the spoonfuls of vanilla speckled cheesecake cream dropped in...

The answer was crystal clear, right! Anyhoo, enjoy your Monday!

Custard

3 eggs

1/2 cup fine sugar
2 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Berries

250 grams frozen raspberries
1 tablespoons fine sugar
a glug of prosecco (enough to toss)

Cream cheese

1 tub Philadelphia cream cheese
2 tablespoons fine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Toss the still frozen berries in the prosecco and sugar and set aside to thaw. 

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Whip the cream cheese with the sugar and vanilla till creamy. Combine all custard ingredients till smooth. Pour into six ramekins, about two thirds full. Drop in some of the drained berries and half teaspoons of the whipped cream cheese. Place the ramekins in a large container and full half-way with water to form a water bath. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Refrigerate till serving. Serve with the remaining berries.

P.S. the serving tray is the Sittning cutting board from Ikea and the tea towel is from Bloomingville and purchased at ByZenz.

Autumn colors

My latest trip to the florist was on a warm and beautiful sunny day, I was drawn to dark and moody, crooked twigs and dark purples. As much I love sunshine and summer, part of me is actually excited about autumn. Not only because I can wear more coats and hats. But because of candles, sheepskins, moody colors and chunky knits. Autumn feels like baked apples and cinnamon. Knits and boots Leaves and candles.

Plywood loft bed

Plywood is my favourite material at the moment. I have a couple of plywood DIY’s I’m working on and so it is safe to say I’m obsessed. And since my baby have literally almost outgrown his crib, I’m planning bedroom redo. So imagine my delight (actual squeals) to discover an online store dedicated to cool kids gear made of, you guessed it, plywood. Love the name PLyRoom, just too cheeky. 

The dream cloud loft bed would be the thing to upgrade the not so huge space. I can see the toy railroad tracks and Lego towers already. Later, a desk an in between an extra bed for sleepovers? This bed allows it all. The fact that it is aesthetically pleasing to the discerning mom's eye is a bonus..

Fringe

I'm sorry but Zara is crazy good at making me long to over stuff my wardrobe. This top is so good. I love the flap, the asymmetric cut-out, the wispy texture, the higher neckline and of course the chunky zip hardware. Soft means clean lines, perfect.

Glazed brandy almond cookies and Serax breadspoons

This post started life as the second of the Arnhemse Stockdagen purchases. See the first here.

I purchased several bread making spoons at Van Mij. The spoons are part of a set that is specifically made for measuring the ingredients for a single loaf. I loved them so much I ended up getting the rest of the set at Kookpunt. The spoons are from Niels Datema for Serax. Remember I mentioned my love, well this is what kicked it off.

I couldn’t just show you these beautiful spoons, could I? I wanted something with a sweet, yet hearty and very much homely edge. These cookies are heavenly and the perfect Indian summer treat. Flavours of cinnamon, almonds and brandy! And I even went lactose-free. These cookies are super moist, flavour-packed and oh so addictive. Makes enough to share, yet I offered the tin to  no one..sorry.

Cookies

2 cups almond meal

 1 cup unbleached patent flour

1/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup lactose-free yogurt
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste 
1/2 cinnamon powder

2 tablespoons brandy

1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Glaze

2 tablespoons brandy

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste

Combine the meal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Incorporate the coconut oil into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter. You could use my staple of creamed butter here, but I opted to keep it lactose free, since I'm intolerant.

In a separate bowl, combine the yogurt, egg, brandy and vanilla paste. Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and fold in using a wooden spoon until just combined. It's quite a wet mixture, so add more almond meal if it seems too runny. Refrigerate for an hour.

I spoon-dropped my mix onto a greased sheet, about an inch apart. Bake in a 175 Celsius oven for 25 minutes, or until risen and golden brown. Remove to a wire rack for cooling. Let cool for a few minutes before glazing. And by glazing I mean dousing in sweet, sticky syrup! 

Makes 10 large and 8 small cookies. I like my best when slightly warm as the brandy almond flavour really gears up..

My fear of blogging

When I first started sharing my thoughts on my then pregnancy blog, one of the comments I got was ‘I never realised you were…human’. I was considered anti-social all through school. Not the amicable colleague. Stuck-up and withdrawn. An ice queen. In actuality dead shy, highly introverted, overly sensitive, scared and extremely self-critical. These are things that are still a challenge to this day. 

I fear I can’t keep up. This blog, as much I love it, feeds that fear. The fear that it’s not good enough. That I’m not good enough. Not interesting enough. Content, pictures, every and anything never seem good enough. There is so much out there to see and be inspired by, so beautifully curated that it is perfection. Each picture, each title, each subject, planned, chosen and framed meticulously. Blogging as my voice and yet I find my voice getting softer and softer. Trying to achieve what, I’m not sure. Perfection maybe?  Blogging was my way of being me without fear. I fear judgement and rejection.

Blogging was speaking in anonymity. Totally unaware of the vast scale. Of key words. Of templates. Of followers. Of hashtags. Then I realised it’s huge. Stylish, trendy, avante garde folks, in every creative field. And there are rules to being a good blogger. All the rules, guidelines and tips come back to being perfect. The idea of perfection holds me in awe at the same time it hits my deepest fear of not being me. If I had to choose a niche, curate each post, each picture, each thought, keep an active account on every form of social media, then maybe? Perfection?

I blog at the same time I feel a growing fear of blogging, of being an uninteresting ugly voice in a sea of perfection. I fear blogging because I feel incapable of perfection and of wanting it. Those fears, that scary bar. Am I alone? Am I pressuring myself or is it real, the expectation? And why do I care so damn much? I can’t say I have an answer to any of the questions. I don’t. I can only say my fear of blogging is not greater than my desire to be me.

Pipeline

I mentioned  Tuesday that my tic is waiting eons to break things out of the box. This concrete vase is a good example of that. Sitting, unopened under the stairs in the shipping crate, since the spring..

But now that my updated media console (more on that later) is almost done, my urban vase finally saw daylight. I love the juxtaposition of concrete, gritty, grey urban versus bright, colourful nature. The vase is from Lyon Beton and the bowl from Olav Slingerland. 

Memento

 

Cards and letters so faded they're almost illegible. Train tickets for a long ago winter holiday to Paris. My kids tiny newborn hospital outfits. Mementos of special memories. Worth treasuring. I've finally found the perfect keepsake spot. Memento from Ridder & Clown is as beautiful as the mementos it contains.

Made of oak and glass, you decide how it is comprised by the placement of glass and solid boxes. And with secret drawers you can choose what to display and what memories are just for you. More memories and mementos? This memory archive grows with you.

P.S. Check out the other amazing products. I need the bedtimestories bed for Mika, asap! And the Blokjebank is exactly what my hallway needs..

Sneaks

Sneakers remind me of school days..blech. White shoes are just no. Or at least that's the way I used to feel about white sneakers. That is.. till I bought the stop/start platform trainers from Zara. Well here are my newest pair of white sneakers. I totally fell for these for the metallic detail on the heel. When I saw the clasps are rose gold, well it was done deal.

I haven't worn them yet though because neurotic as I am I know exactly the outfit for these..

But that you'll have to wait and see!  

Positano

Devil is in the detail. Enjoy the simple things. Does two things belong together in my book. The simple act of drinking a cup of coffee is made more pleasurable when sipped from a beautiful cup. And so my collection of beautiful porcelain cups keeps growing.

My latest find however is a complete set of raw and tactile unglazed grey porcelain. A carafe, espresso cups and water glasses. Simple, smooth and strong looking this set references the Italian tradition of the simplicity in refreshment that is 'osteria'. The Positano collection (also available in white) from Italian duo Mondocubo evokes feelings of banquet; long, honest, gatherings with plenty of refreshments to go around. Just the way I like it..

Sliver of light

Minimal lighting, yes please. Unexpected minimal lighting, double yes. A cube of Poplar wood. A colourful cord. A thin sliver of slight. The Cubro light is just one of the beautiful accessories and furniture designs by Carapace Design.