Food cravings

At the moment I'm craving pork buns.
I would love to make these, but alas, I do not have a steamer! (or the money to buy ingredients right now...)
I'll put this video on my to do list though! Nom!

Looking forward to today

Today doesn't seem it'll be that bad.
In fact, I'm quite looking forward to it!

My friend is picking me in her new car at half four today (I'll have to get ready after this post!) and we'll be going to the pub. Then later on I'll pick up my brother and eat Frankfurters, as according to the Hungarian tradition on New Years Eve! We'll play games and then go home. I'm quite excited about it.

I learnt that in the Netherlands they make apple fritters and something called Oliebol which is sometimes full of raisins. I'm not keen on raisins so I'll try making it without sometime. Perhaps, if I learn about a few other traditions, I'll adopt them all and make a lot of food next year. (Oh goodness, where will I be living next year?!)

There doesn't seem to be any British edible traditions. Nope, we just go to the pub and drink whatever we fancy. Maybe I'll contribute with my panna cotta or chocolate pancakes.
Chocolate pancakes are good!
Maybe I'll share the recipe sometime.

Food

Recently I've been trying to learn new recipes to encourage myself to:

• A) Eat healthier
• B) Eat more
• C) Feel like I could achieve something.

So far it's worked, but the project is now on stand still until I get better. From roast dinners to pudding, it's generally been a success (or so say the polite tasters), and I'd like to blog about my favourite recipes soon which probably include plum dumplings and melktert.

This reminds me to give a heads up to one of my favourite food/recipe blogs, Cakecrumbs. It is well photographed, well written, and the author/owner of the blog is generally interesting and very friendly. Well worth a visit if you're looking for things to bake next.

Art

I feel my blog is too melachony right now, so here's my attempt to fill it with a bit of colour in this post. I begin with Kashiwa Daisuke, one of my favourite composers. He's imaginative and extremely clever with a range of sounds and different genres. It's always a pleasure to listen to his works, so I highly recommend readers to have a look into his albums.

First painting after quite a few years!

First or second best so far. I enjoy painting trees.

I've also given a go at painting, and have a new painting project on the go which has been enjoyable and relaxing to work at.

Wasn't bad for  a first try!

Done a bit of baking too. This was the first rainbow cake I ever made, with the help of a couple of great friends. Note to self, grapefruit are not suitable for baking.

And this is salmon with rice and onions. This was so good. I found out later soy sauce contains gluten, woops. But this was a good meal. I enjoy boiling rice now. I have to eat gluten for 6 weeks in order to find if I am truly intolerant, so looks like I may as well enjoy soy sauce now for a while!

Other than food and painting, I've been travelling. Recently I went to Cumbria and my boyfriend went on a course and saw Maddy Prior. She even gave us *both* a hug. That was a good adventure.

I enjoyed the wild beauty of Cumbria.

Great place for walks when it's sunny

I've also been writing strange things here and there. I'm currently working on a horror story with double meanings that has been quite fun. Also been reading a few books here and there. I'm on goodreads now, which has been encouraging me to read more than usual. A close friend of mine has 740 books on goodreads, so of course, being the competitive person I am, I have to beat her. I have a lot of catching up to do first though... I am currently concentrating on The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penny as my main read, and frankly, it's getting a little boring right now. Maybe I lack the concentration span needed for this kind of read.

Brown Sprite

Did you know?
In the early nineties, there was a fad for clear drinks. Crystal Pepsi and Tab Clear stole the fizzy consumer market for a short moment, but then the cap was opened and the drink vanished from the shelves. People wrote their dissertations to explain the Crystal phenomenon, and many argued it was because consumers preferred cola to look like cola.

Thus, introducing, Brown Sprite.

Because no matter what colouring you use, it doesn't change the taste.

Baby Buddha: Chinese Teahouse and Dim Sum!

Yesterday my boyfriend and I made a visit to Baby Buddha in Norwich, a chinese dumpling paradise in disguise as a teahouse. The tea is good too, but it's the Dim Sum menu you really want to be the focus on your visit. It's quite a small yet cute menu, with a couple of extra dishes available from Sat - Tues. For the fish lovers - this is the fishiest Dim Sum menu I've come across, for the vegetarians the menu may not be so convenient as other competitors.

 Overall, the food was great. As always - the BBQ pork dumplings was my favourite (and has been with all Dim Sum places!) but the rest of the dumplings were good as well. Baby Buddha does a FANTASTIC mango pudding - I really recommend it for sweet tooth readers. It is a good idea to eat the mango pudding last, as it leaves a satisfying smooth after-taste. We also had some kind of puff pastry 'thing', that wasn't too great & we've had better spring rolls, but overall I was quite satisfied with the food.

When ordering drinks however, I must encourage readers not to order Ooolong Tea with your Dim Sum. Oolong Tea is a lovely blend, but it does not go well with dumplings or anything sweet. For Dim Sum I'd probably recommend Green Tea from the small selection I am accustomed to.

The staff at Baby Buddha were lovely. The music, although it was your typical cheesy music, was fine and good for a background scene. I noticed to my amusement, when custom was slow the music followed suit, and when there were more customers the music was speed in pace. This has inspired another post.

I defiantly want to visit Baby Buddha again. It is not the best place for Dim Sum out there, but it's quite high on the ranks and defiantly worth any excuse to go.

Doughnut Monster

I sigh.
Sitting to my right is a see through plastic container, displaying honestly the last doughnut from the pack of four. Half eaten, the icing long gone, the doughnut sits dismal and quite unappeitizing. But, just with a glance, the emotion of this ice-less ring is largely apparent. It wants to join the fate of it's brothers and sisters, and no matter how hard this journey might be, I have to take the challenge, in order to honour itself and it's forefathers. I lift the lid, and snatch it from it's prison. A moment later, and the duty is done.

Somloi Galuska

So yesterday I gained exp on my cooking level, attempting to make some delicious Somloi. It was good fun, but I did rely on a very patient friend a little too much, especially with the whisking. I seriously need to build muscles ._.;

But what exactly is Somloi you ask?

Well! I can gladly inform you I have more of an idea now before I started trying to make it. (Otherwise, I'd be a little worried to be honest.) It is a Hungarian cake that takes hours to make. (Honestly, no kidding!) It is made of three layers if sponge, each requires consistant, crazy amounts of whisking the whites of eggs to a such a thick mixture that it no longer moves in the bowl. It is then combined with the yolk, which itself may be mixed with cocoa powder or grounded walnuts (or a cheaper alternative). Then, after baking each layer individually, you make the filling that goes on top of each layer. This uses even more egg whites so, after your arm is about to full off, you have a much bigger challenge in getting this mixture to go into a desire mix.

There is also the wine with sugar gently heated that is generiously soaked on each layer, double cream also heated (don't overb over boil it and spill it over a gas oven, seriously.) to combine with the filling. And then, don't forget the chocolate sauce!

I have no photo, but it was seriously nice. I am thankful for my friend in making it with me, and can't wait to try again someday! First I might try and pull some weights or something to build my arm muscles... Or invest in an electric whisk...