Dec
10

Twinkle lights & powdered sugar

by Sofia   -   in Cooking

This morning I woke up early. I tiptoed to our kitchen. I lit up some candles & put my favourite Christmas playlist on in the background. I made myself a cup of coffee and got to work. I wanted to make an old-fashioned rice porridge for my family for breakfast. Not unlike risotto it takes about 40 minutes to come together so to get my girls to school in time I was up long before I could hear the pitter patter of bare feet and see sleepy eyed & messy haired little angels in their nightgowns emerge to the kitchen from the warmth of their beds.

Yesterday was one of those days when at the end of it, before bedtime stories I sneaked in to our bathroom, ran myself a relaxing lavender bubble bath and read my book for a while, soaking up the warmth and relaxation. Sometimes we just need a minute for ourselves. I have learned early on that I always feel better after a run or a bath. Even on good days it sometimes does a world of good to unwind after the hectic running around and then I can be more present for my girls. I took out all our Christmas books a few days ago. It´s so nice to get back to them again and again every year. Some of them are from my childhood and maybe one day I will read them to my grandchildren. So even though my girls read by themselves I enjoy these books together with them and want to have the right state of mind for that moment.

I have been enjoying this time of twinkle lights all around us so much. All the buildings look like gingerbread houses with the pretty lights. I make sure to turn on the lamps by our windows every morning and night when we wake up or come home to give light to those walking outside. I also put a led candle to our hallway that I keep on, flickering in the mornings and at night, when it´s dark so anyone who comes home or leaves to go out in the dark gets a warm and cozy feeling. We also put fairy lights in the girls rooms. They look so magical. 

Our kitchen has been filling with lovely scents lately. We have been making peppermint bark, we baked gingerbread cookies and I have made some Christmas cakes sprinkled with powdered sugar that looks like freshly fallen snow for a festive feel. The kitchen and the whole house smells like cookies and spices and mandarins. I love it. Have you planned your Christmas menu yet? I have a feel for what I want to do for our Boxing Day brunch but I think I will need to finalise my menu soon. Today on the breakfast menu is anyway the rice porridge which we eat with a butter dot in the middle and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Rice porridge

2 dl water

2 dl porridge rice

1 l whole milk

salt

butter & cinnamon sugar to serve

1. Bring the water to boil. Add the rice and cook for a bout 2 minutes until the water has dissolved.

2. Add the milk and simmer slowly under a lid for about 40 minutes, until thick, stirring every once in a while.

Serve porridge with cinnamon sugar, a butter dot and some cold milk.

As I write this snow is falling outside our window in large white flakes. It has covered the lit up Christmas tree in our court yard it´s lights now shining through the snow with a lovely dim glow. I can not imagine a moment calmer than this.

Have a lovely day!

Lattemamma

p.s. Excuse my somewhat unrelated pictures compared to todays text. It´s still pitch black outside. But I do absolutely love this box of panettone. It was my very favourite this year. And it suits my colour way for this season perfectly. As I said before I decided on a lighter colour scheme of white, cream, pistachio, green and perhaps there will be a surprise element on my Boxing Day table to add to this scheme if the mail is on my side. Please keep your fingers crossed! I promise to share more if it comes in time.