Feb
2

Early bird gets the cardamon-vanilla scented seeds

by Sofia   -   in Cooking

Hyvää huomenta aamuihmiset ja muutkin! Uskon, että kaunis kahvi ihanasta kupista maistuu paremmalta ja sama koskee kaikkia aterioitakin. Erityisesti olen sitä mieltä, että aamiainen nautitaan usein kiireessä ja estetiikka jää vähän vähille. Jos sinulla on hetkin aikaa, niin kokeile joskus vaikkapa tätä suosikki yhdeistelmääni, paahdettuja siemeniä luonnonjugurtin kera ja lisäksi tuoreita marjoja ta hedelmiä. Nämä siemenet on maustettu vielä kardemummalla ja vaniljalla joka tekee aamiaisesta erityisen maistuvan ja tuoksukin on huumaava. Tällä kertaa hedelmien virkaa toimittaa appelsiini carpaccio kuumalla hunajalla silattuna ja mintunlehdillä raikastettuna. Omaan aamiaiseeni tosin kuuluu aina myös ainakin yksi kupillinen hyvää kahvia kuumalla maitovaahdolla kuorrutettuna. No rehellisyyden nimissä aika harvoin vain yksi…

Good Morning! Are you a morning person? What about a breakfast person? I love breakfast and brunch foods. Eggs, waffles, croissants. I also love porridge if it´s well made and fresh fruit and berries just make a breakfast. But on a regular morning I don´t stuff my face with white breads or so. I´m sure I have mentioned before that my favourite breakfast on a regular morning is coffee… just kidding. Well not quite. A lot of coffee and then some natural yoghurt with some toasted seeds or nuts. And some fresh fruit or berries to go with that too. But even that can use some changing up a bit every now and then. This time I spruced the toasted seeds by adding some vanilla powder and some cardamon to it. And the oranges I sliced up in a mandolin to make a carpaccio of sorts. I drizzled some hot honey on top and fresh mint for a great taste combination. Sometimes having the same thing in a bit prettier way and with an added little something can change the whole thing in to special treat. This is what you need for the nut mixture…

Toasted Seeds

a handful of sunflower seed

a handful of pumpkin seed

3 tbls toasted flaxseeds

1 tsp honey

2 tsp coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla powder

1 tsp ground cardamon ( or to taste)

Toast the seeds on a dry pan. Add the coconut oil and honey. It´s not necessary to add these but they do give the seeds a bit of an granola like consistency. Mix the spices and add to your morning yoghurt as you like. It´s also good added on top of your oatmeal, maybe with some extra honey drizzled on in.

Jan
26

A little tea party

by Sofia   -   in Cooking  Party planning

Kuten perjantaina mainitsinkin, oli meillä ilo saada ystäväni ja hänen tyttärensä kylään viikonloppuna. Pidimme teekutsut ja myös tyttöjen Corolle-nuket oli kutsuttu juhlimaan ( en muistanut kuvata suloisia nukkeja, mutta rehellisyyden nimissä todettakoot, että ne eivät kyllä yhtä lukuunottamatta saaneet kovinkaan paljoa huomiota tai edes mielikuvitus teekupposta näissä juhlissa). Pienet ladyt käyttäytyivät oikein mallikaasti ja lähtivät sitten yhdessä leikkimään kun jatkoimme ystäväni kanssa keskustelua pöydän ääressä.

Last weekend I and the girls hosted a tea party for my friend and her daughter. The girl´s dolls were also invited but truth be told only one poor doll got a cup of imaginary tea. But the little ladies behaved well, all enjoyed more than one cup of strawberry tea and they managed to pour their own milk from a little silver jug and eat plenty of little star and heart shaped sugar cubes along the way. My girls were so excited about planning the party. They both sat with me to scroll through my Pinterest board about tea parties and were happy to go through the etiquette. They also wanted to help set the table and came with me to the bakery to choose the petit four. Cotton Candy even remembered to apply what she had learned about the etiquette. She was also the designated tea pourer and took her job with the pink tea pot in to heart. But I think even the 3 year olds managed very well. After they had tasted a little of everything they went to play and my friend and I got to sit at the table and chat with more tea and pink bubbles. We had a really great time. I even remembered to take a few photos before we started eating. Although not from the whole table scape as the little girls had already seated themselves and started drinking their rose scented lemonade…

I took this antique silver bowl to my favourite florist Inbloom along with a few pictures of what I had in mind for the flowers. They were absolutely perfect!

Jan
5

Gourmet fast food

by Sofia   -   in Cooking  Party planning

Here is a few photos from our New Years eve table as some of you requested. As I said on a previous blog entry we aimed for cocktail food but with some “gourmet fast food” in mind. It´s easy to upgrade these American comfort foods by adding some special touches to them like upgrade for a better cheddar for cheese burgers or add some gruyere to your mac´n cheese, sprinkle your fries with gourmet sea salt or smoked salt or maybe parmesan or add specific gourmet mayo to your sandwiches or burgers ( we used a chipotle mayo that gave it a nice kick). And when the food is served off a silver tray and with champagne the combination is fun and festive. I also bought some fabulous Bloody Mary mix and we made bloody mary shots served with lime wedges and teeny celery stalks.