My new experiment in the kitchen was blueberry muffins. They are quickly done and done require any special skills. they are perfect for any festive dinner because they look neat and jolly. Fresh blueberries add a touch of the home baked things. For the special occasions like New Year Eve's dinner I add a bit of French liquor Grand Marinier.
The ingredients: - 1 5/8 cups of flour - 1 tsp baking powder - 1/4 tsp salt - 1/2 cup superfine sugar - 3 tbsp margarine - 2/3 cup thick yogurt - 4 oz fresh blueberries - Grand Marinier liquor (optional)
How to make the batter: Preheat the oven 375 F. Line 12-hole baking pan with 12 muffin cases. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, 6 tbsp of sugar. In a bowl lightly whisk the egg whites. Add margarine, yogurt, and mix together. Add blueberries. Stir in the flour mix and blend well. Spoon the batter in the muffin cases up to 2/3 full. Sprinkle some sugar on top and put in the oven. Bake for about 25 min. To check if muffins done stick a toothpick in the muffin and if it comes out clean then it is done. For extra touch make little hole on top of muffins with a toothpick and pour a bit of liquor. Let muffins cool.
Serve to your friends and relatives to impress them. Save a couple of muffins for yourself to enjoy them as well.
Here are the lyrics for the song Apologize by One Republic:
I'm holding on your rope, Got me ten feet off the ground I'm hearin what you say but I just can't make a sound You tell me that you need me Then you go and cut me down, but wait You tell me that you're sorry Didn't think I'd turn around, and say that...
It's too late to apologize, it's too late I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late
I'd take another chance, take a fall Take a shot for you And I need you like a heart needs a beat But it's nothing new I loved you with a fire red- Now it's turning blue, and you say... "Sorry" like the angel heaven let me think was you But I'm afraid...
It's too late to apologize, it's too late I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late
Bridge (guitar/piano)
It's too late to apologize, it's too late I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late It's too late to apologize, yeah I said it's too late to apologize, yeah- I'm holdin on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground...
For past several weeks the hit Apologize by Timbaland has been climbing to the top of all hit charts. Few people notice the name in the parentheses One Republic. That is who signs this sweet song, and Timbaland is just the producer of the new band. Those guys did not make name for themselves yet, but their songs are already popular. Their recent CD Dreaming Out Loud has many sweet tunes and lyrics. It is wonder the band was not discovered early. The band formed in Colorado and then moved to Los Angeles to make the name. Their music takes inspiration from rock to classical melodies. Their songs are nice break from the hip-hop/pop tendencies today. Their CD will for sure brighten your day and put you in the lyrical mood.
In the time of holidays it is nice to have a quite moment in between shopping trips and relatives coming for a dinner. In that moment of peace I like to read some easy and fascinating novel. As I like historical books, Philippa Gregory is a perfect distraction from the modern world. Her novels will sweep you away to the far land of the historical adventures. On of my favorite books is The Queen's Fool. It is a story of a girl who can predict the future in the service of the royal palace in England of very turmoils time, reign of Queen Bloody Mary and Queen Elizabeth I. Hannah Green is a Jewish girl whose family is hiding from the Catholic Inquisiton. In the time when England is teared apart by rivalry between Anglican religion and Catholic one. Hannah puts herself and her family in real danger by serving in the royal court.
This book has everything from political intrigues to passionate love. The story delivers nice description of the time period as well as great life story. P. Gregory is an amazing storyteller and her book won't leave you untouched. I spent many pleasurable hours reading it.
After the Christmas festive, I usually want something light and easy to eat with my tea. Madeleine French cookies are the perfect choice. They don't take a lot of time to bake and the dough could be made in advance and frozen. Here is my recipe for Madeleines.
You will need:
6 tbsp of melted butter
2 large eggs
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 tbsp of salt
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
2/3 cup of baking flour pure vanilla extract
honey
2 tbsp orange zest and orange juice of 1/2 orange
Madeleine cooking pan:
How to make the dough:
First melt the 3-4 tbsp butter over medium heat until it goes brown and has nutty and toasted smell. Take it off the heat and let it cool.
Whip the eggs and sugar in a mixer until light and fluffy. Add flour, baking powder, vanilla extract, salt, pour in melted butter, while still mixing. Then add orange zest and juice.
Preheat the oven to 375 F and put inside the pan to heat it. remove the pan and butter the molds in it with melted butter. Pour the dough in each mold filling only 3/4 full as the dough will rise while baking.
Put the pan in the oven and bake for 5-8 min. When the borders of the cookies start to brown they are ready. Stick a toothpick to check if the cookie baked inside.
Remove the pan from the oven and immediately take the cookies out.
They are great with tea and fruits, and can be served warm as well as cool.
You can never go wrong with these cookies they are so easy to make that even I can do it. Every would love them because they are soft and delicious and they will make your desert table look fabulous.
I hope to hear from you if you loved them or not. Personally, I adore them.
As Christmas coming closer and closer (just couple more days), I decided to put some decorations that are easy, simple, and charming. Because the next year of 2008 will be the year of the Rat in Chinese calendar, I decided to decorate my Christmas tree in white and yellow colors. however, some of the decorations are very unusual because they are knitted snowflakes. You can check them out on the picture to the left. Those snowflakes took very long time to knit and I was almost desperate that I would finish in time for Christmas, but they really look magical and unique.
Another thing I want to show is a little video of snowball. I found it in one of the stores while Christmas shopping for presents and could not resist buying for myself.
I have decided to create a blog to share my interests and other stuff with you. I want the content of my blog to be also interesting to you. I will be writing about what I do at my free time, what I see around me, and other information other people can make use of.
I like cooking and I enjoy spending time "creating" something in the kitchen. However, my attempts are quite poor and it never looks the same as in cookbooks. But I am trying to improve my disgraceful skills. My friends still suffer from my experiments, but I am sure that practice and only practice will take my cooking to the edible level. If you are in the same situation, then check my posts as I will put some of my "creations" up. Together we can make difference in the kitchen.
This is one of the topics I will be discussing on this blog. If you want to know what else I will be talking about, visit me soon. I hope to see you here.
