After watching in a row four movies by Danish directors (four amazing movies, by the way) I thought it was time for something lighter with a touch of romance, and because of that I went for Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz, the reason for choosing it being that I was never a fan of Michelle Williams but that changed after My Week With Marilyn and that Seth Rogen reminds me of my 18 year old
Showing posts with label yeast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yeast. Show all posts
Chocolate and almond babka and another post-movie emergency
After watching in a row four movies by Danish directors (four amazing movies, by the way) I thought it was time for something lighter with a touch of romance, and because of that I went for Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz, the reason for choosing it being that I was never a fan of Michelle Williams but that changed after My Week With Marilyn and that Seth Rogen reminds me of my 18 year old
Raspberry jam rolls and "Hannibal"
After some thought, I decided to put Game of Thrones aside and go for something more interesting: between Bates Motel and Hannibal I ended up choosing the latter, Mads Mikkelsen and the comments left on my blog in Portuguese being the reasons. I’m halfway through the show and loving each and every minute of it: the dark atmosphere, the music, the writing and the great acting are amazingly
Kulich
When I was little I hated panettone – all those crystallized fruits and raisins drove me nuts! My mom used to remove them all from the bread so I could eat it (mom was a saint, wasn’t she? :D). Years later the industry came up with the chocottone and that pretty much solved my problem. :)
Nowadays I love crystallized fruits and raisins and adore sweet breads studded with those ingredients.
Umbrian cheese bread and ignoring one instruction on the recipe
When it comes to cooking or baking one thing I have learned over the years is to read the entire recipe before actually making it – that has saved me a lot of trouble in the kitchen and a lot of frustration, too, and it’s a habit I highly recommend you to acquire.
Days ago I decided to put the cheeses in my fridge to some good use by baking Nick Malgieri’s wonderful bread – I sat down and
Marmalade and raisin brioche - much better than a certain pie
Even though I wasn’t happy with the winner of “The Great British Bake Off” I did have lots of fun watching the show – therefore, after Tania and Ana told me about the American version of the show I watched the first episode (which was focused on pies) and now I don’t feel like watching it anymore. :S
Mary Berry is not in the show, the host is annoying and the contestants aren’t interesting at
Spiced orange and currant rolls and another food show disappointment
Once again I watched a TV cooking show only to get disappointed with the winner – I should have learned from “Top Chef”, shouldn’t I? :/
* spoilers of “The Great British Bake Off” seasons 2 and 3 *
Choosing John over Brendan was completely unfair – Valentina thinks they went for the one who would look better on TV and cookbook/magazine covers, and I agree with her. I own John Whaite’s
Salami and cheese rolls from a fantastic recipe source
I might be the owner of too many cookbooks, that is true, and still one of my favorite sources for great food is Gourmet Traveller: the photos are crazy beautiful and the recipes are delicious and never disappoint. With a long holiday ahead and the urge to bake bread I went straight to GT’s website for some inspiration and there I found the perfect recipe: it was yeasted, as I wanted, and it
Apple and marzipan rolls + an interesting read
One of my favorite things to do is reading about how movies are made and especially how directors and actors are chosen for each project; there are characters impossible to imagine being played by someone else – can you picture Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones? – while with others I would have taken a different route: for instance, I would have chosen Vanessa Williams to play Storm instead of Halle
Coconut buns + a TV show disappointment
I waited months for the fifth season of “Mad Men” to arrive on Netflix but after watching all the episodes I did not like it much. :/
* spoilers *
I hated the fate of my favorite characters, Joan and Lane, and Don Draper doesn’t seem to be the interesting character he once was – at least Pete and Peggy had great finales. Seasons 1 through 4 are such favorites of mine, I hope season 6 gets
Parmesan pull-aparts
I once told you I wouldn’t be able to survive without bread and cheese, so can you imagine how much I loved these parmesan rolls? :) They’re delicious freshly baked – I doubt someone would resist demolishing them the minute they’re out of the oven – but reheat really well, too, so if you’re lucky enough to have leftovers the rolls can be enjoyed some other time. Just don’t count on that –
Spiced blueberry rolls + some comedy after the drama
After watching several drama shows in a row a girl needs something to make her laugh, right? I have found the perfect way to do that by watching “Parks and Recreation”: I haven’t finished the first season yet but I’m completely hooked! Amy Poehler is absolutely hilarious – I start laughing just by looking at her – and the other actors are great, too, my favorites being Nick Offerman and Aziz
Apricot cream cheese babka + an unforgettable movie
A couple of days ago I could finally watch “Bullhead” – I spent months looking for the DVD with no success but luckily for me it was on cable last Saturday. It’s that kind of movie that stays with you for days, or even weeks after you watched it, and the main reason is Matthias Schoenaerts’ absolutely powerful and flawless performance – the physical transformation he went through to play Jacky
Colomba Pasquale
My husband is not into sweets – I guess that the Universe knows better, right? :) – but he likes certain baked goods, like panettone and Colomba Pasquale. However, the store-bought versions are so heavily scented with artificial essences that he no longer eats them – he says those baked goods are not what they used to be when he was younger anymore and that all those artificial ingredients
Almond filled brioche with plum compote + "House of Cards"
After I finished watching the fourth season of “Breaking Bad” – I hope season 5 arrives soon here in Brazil – I immediately began watching “House of Cards”: I’d been wanting to watch the series ever since I first read that David Fincher was developing something for TV – I’m a huge fan and will watch anything this guy makes. As usual, Fincher doesn’t disappoint: the series is fantastic – script,
Cinnamon bubble buns
One of my favorite things about cooking and baking is being surround by fantastic smells: freshly brewed coffee, onions and olive oil being cooked together, citrus fruits while being zested or squeezed... Delicious. And to that list I'll add cinnamon - one of my favorite smells and one impossible to hide in the kitchen: it's really evident when there's something in the oven made with cinnamon,
Maple-iced fruity Advent bread
Trying the lime and coconut flavor combo both in cookie and cake form was not the end of my testing around: the apricot, cranberry and golden raisin trio worked out so beautifully in oatmeal cookie form that I thought it would be wonderful to use it again, this time in a yeasted treat: this delicious bread, with a hint of cardamom, comes from one of the best cookbooks I’ve ever bought – and
Lemon poppy seed brioche and learning from previous recipes
Cooking and baking to me, besides being loads of fun, are definitely a learning process – I think that certain recipes go beyond the deliciousness of their final products: they teach you something. I was making these lemon brioches and after the dough had proved for the first time it was too sticky and too soft to be shaped. That was when I remembered Paul Hollywood’s brioche recipe, in which
Brioche with brie and some Oscar ranting
The Oscar nominations were announced yesterday and, as usual, there’s something really wrong with them: Leonardo DiCaprio, one of the most talented actors I’ve seen onscreen got ignored once again, since the Academy preferred to pull a Judi Dench circa 1999 and nominate Alan Arkin instead of Leo – don’t get me wrong, I loved “Argo” but I don’t even have to watch “Django Unchained” (it opens
Lemon and almond buns + Dragonette
I have many favorite TV shows and one of them is “Chuck’s Day Off” – not only because the food looks delicious but also because to me it has the best soundtrack among the cooking shows. After watching several episodes, I noticed that one album cover kept appearing at the end of the show, and after listening to some of the tracks I completely fell in love with Dragonette’s “Fixin To Thrill”. My
Santa Lucia sour cherry and saffron buns
Usually it takes me some time to consider a cookbook a top favorite – I love beautiful books and they certainly get my instant attention, but I like to try some of the recipes first to be sure they actually work. However, Signe Johansen’s Scandilicious Baking is so pretty and everything in it sounds so delicious I came to the conclusion that it was the best cookbook I purchased in the last 11