Plum and ginger crumble with flapjack topping

As I’d imagined, my list of favorites wasn’t on the Academy members’ minds, but at least Ang Lee took home the Best Director award and that was great – the moment his name was announced I jumped on the bed so hard I ended up waking up my husband. :D
I have tremendous respect for Lee who, to me, is one of the best directors out there: not only is the man super talented but also very versatile –

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Ginger plum muffins

Quite a while ago I made some peach muffins spiked with ginger and they turned out absolutely delicious; now I've learned that ginger goes really well with plums, too, again in muffin form (but please don't ask me to pick a favorite). ;)

Ginger plum muffins
slightly adapted from the delicious Tate's Bake Shop: Baking For Friends

150ml whole milk
6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted
1

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White chocolate, honey and almond panforte

Back in my college days, I had a classmate that was ten years older than me (I was 16 then) and we used to disagree about music preferences: she loved Brazilian music while I preferred American and British rock bands. She used to tell me that when I got older I would begin enjoying the kind of music she did back then. Well, eighteen years have passed and nothing has changed: I still don’t

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Apple, pecan and gingerbread loaf + "Top Chef"

There are shows and series I adore but never have the time to watch; “Top Chef” is one of them – I watched the first season back in the day but then never got to watch the following seasons, therefore it’s been wonderful to watch the reruns at Sony for the past months.

* spoilers – seasons 1 through 7 *

Apart from Howard, which I thought truly deserved winning “Top Chef”, I did not like all

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Ginger and molasses cake + Christian Bale (again)

I know that by telling you again how much I adore Christian Bale I might sound like a broken record, but what can I do? Not only is he an amazing and versatile actor – one of my top favorites – he’s also been making headlines these past few days for all the right reasons – how can one not love the guy? :)
“The Dark Knight Rises” opens tomorrow here in Brazil and my tickets were bought a long,

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Gingered pear and raspberry pandowdy

Despite loving their first film collaboration, I’m not a fan of Burton or Depp (both together and separate). Burton’s just not the kind of director I admire, and I find Depp very limited as an actor – playing the weird doesn’t necessarily mean one is talented. To make things even worse, they butchered one of the most important movies of my childhood. Having said that, you must know that I loved

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Gingerbread chocolate madeleines

My last holiday post almost turned out like a big FAIL: after baking these delicious and oh, so tender madeleines I decided to deep them on a chocolate glaze I’d seen in one of my cookbooks. But the problem was that the glaze never set. Not ever. So I recommend dipping them in tempered chocolate to avoid that problem (just so you know it, the madeleines are great without the chocolate coating,

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Chocolate ginger crinkle cookies and movies I cannot wait to watch

In my world, there is no such thing as too many cookies, especially at this time of the year – therefore, my baking spree included these crinkle cookies (along with the almond spice wafers).

On a different note, have you seen this poster? Absolutely amazing – I have the feeling that a masterpiece is coming (as if I did not have enough to long for already). :)

Chocolate ginger crinkle cookies

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Lemon ginger cake - a baking session inspired by The Cure

There are songs I’ve loved since I was a kid but even after learning English I still don’t understand certain parts of their lyrics – thank heavens for the Internet. :)

Last week I spent much of my lunchtime listening to some of those songs and following the lyrics online. “The Caterpillar”, one of my all time favorites – which video is great, too – was an almost complete mystery to me;

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Ginger cookies with lemon icing and acquired tastes in life

Certain things we learn to love really early in life, while others are an acquired taste. I remember going crazy for Scorsese right after watching “Goodfellas” (the first of his movies I ever watched), but not until I was a young woman I fully appreciated the beauty of “The Godfather”. Go figure.

Not a ginger fan until my late twenties, I can eat a bag of crystallized ginger in no time

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