Banana Muffins

 Saw a recipe of a banana-coconut-dulce de leche cake on a tv show and I knew I had to make it.
It's very simple to make and the result is a very moist delicious thing.
I chose to make muffins (or cupcakes, I wonder what the difference is, maybe French-American?) because I wanted to use this cute cupcake liners I bought, I also made a pudding, cake, fruit-cake-with-no-fruit? (how do you say budin inglés?!) version
The recipe is in Spanish, but the ingredients are as simple as: sugar, butter, eggs, bananas, vanilla and self rising flour.
 The interesting thing about this is the crusty crust on top, it's a mix of coconut, sugar and an egg and everything has to have a layer of aluminium foil on top so that coat doesn't burn in the oven.

 Of course I had to had my touch to this, other than making the recipe in different shapes, I figured I could add a filling, in this case little dots of dulce de leche ,like those store-bought muffins, with a disposable pastry bag and this funny tip.

Brownies and Pastafrola

I baked these two back in May and they were a success. 

This time I changed the recipe a bit.

Brownies: I changed nuts for inflated quinoa and also they are thinner, which made them be not as humid as brownies should be, but I got compliments anyways so it worked.

Pastafrola: this is the third time I bake this, never took pics of the last two because I suck at making the weaving, the dough is so sticky that at the end I give up and just roll the dough in my hands. This time I was smart enough to spread the dough between two freezer separator sheets and it worked. About the stuffing, it's always dulce de leche, the traditional recipe is with other jams like membrillo, last time I baked pastafrola, I got a little extra dough and baked a tiny one with membrillo jelly and it turned great when cut.

Tarta de Zapallitos

My dad is here which is great for two reasons: one, I have a killer cold and I need someone to take care of me :3 and two he is vegetarian so I have to eat healthy and good, good meaning best quality products, since I'm a student, I have to make ends meet so I'm not used to buy those every day.

I'm not really into vegetables, I should, but I get puzzled when trying to cook them properly, except for potatoes, onions and tomatoes (not a vegetable but oh well), the rest is a "?" in my head, specially green vegetables. Once I tried to make a onion/carrot pie and it turned out way too sweet for me, my brother liked it though. So cooking for my dad was a challenge, good thing he also cooks so he always helps me.*

So I called my mom and ask for her assistance, went to the market and then with my dad's help here we have, squash pie or tarta de zapallitos.**

Making it was really easy, we just dice 2 onions and about 4 squashes (plural?) and then put them in a pan and let them cook.
At the same time, I prepared the dough, which is light, put some slices of low fat cheese because my mom told me the squashes would give off (? I will have to look that up) a lot of water and would make everything a mess, so I kind of isolate (or insulate? wow this college break is killing my English) the base with the cheese.

Then when the stuffing is cool, I added it to the dough with some more slices of low fat cheese again and some blue cheese and finally a beaten egg with a pinch of salt, pepper and little bit of grated cheese... I love cheese.
Finally we covered it with the other dough and to the oven!
I almost forgot, my mom always tells me to paint (?) the pie before going to the oven with milk or egg.
It tasted really good, it's not something I'd crave to eat but it is a start.


* Before I went back home for Christmas and New Years last year, my dad came and helped me bake some sweet things, pan dulce and a rosca. He was a great help, I'm surprised we share this, we always bond in intellectual matters. I might make pan dulce and rosca again, it was my first time, the rosca turned out great, unlike the pan dulce which was kind of a disappointment but I'll make it up this year.
** This was interesting in the matter of language, I couldn't find in English the type of squash we have here. This was helpful but even so, I still don't know how to translate it for future uses.

Empanadas

Resulta que quedo de hace unas semanas en el congelador una bandeja con 4 bifes de cuadril enormes, y con mi hermano ayer no teniamos ganas de comer carne al plato asi que... salieron las empanadas cortadas a cuchillo! // I happened to have a few steaks on the freezer and my brother and I didn't feel like, eating plain steak(?) so we just decided to make empanadas which turns out to be very simple.

• Mi hermano se encargo de descongelar y cortar la carne en cubitos, corto dos cebollas  y puso todo en una olla a cocinar junto con una pizca de una especia que nos encanta: Garam Masala. // My brother diced the meat and two onions and put them to cook in a pot together with a little pinch of our favorite spice: Garam Masala.
• Cuando estaba todo cocido y enfriandose, puse agua a hervir, cuando hirviò , puse dos huevos (y me quede un poco corta al final) y espere que hirvieran 10 minutos, los pele y corte en cubitos. // When the meat and onions were cooked and cooling (it's very important that the stuffing is cold to .. stuff) I put water to boil, and once it boiled, I put two eggs to cook for 10 minutes then I peeled and diced them.
• Despues a armar las empanadas con un poco de carne (estaba cortada muy grande pero bueno), huevo, a hacer el repulgue, pintar con huevo batido, y al horno! // Then I put a bit of the stuffing in the dough along with a piece of egg, folded the dough, closed it, painted with beaten egg (beaten? lol) and then I just put the empanadas in the oven to cook.

No salieron jugosas como las verdaderas empanadas cortadas a cuchillo porque la carne no tenia grasa, igual salieron ricas, aunque tenia un poquito de mas la especia que es un poco invasiva, tiene mucho perfume.

Pan Casero

Hace mucho que tenia ganas de hacer pan casero, hace años que no comia, me hace acordar a la ciudad donde naci y me crie hasta hace un par de años (uhmm 2011 va a ser el 5to desde que me mudé... como pasa el tiempo)
  Hace varios dias que estoy viendo Utilisima de nuevo, lo veia con mi mamá cuando era chica, lastima que esta tan cambiado desde que se vendio... en fin. Desde la vez de la foccacia me di cuenta que hacer pan es muuy fácil y me gusta bastante amasar, se siente bien, y hacer este pan casero fue... demasiado fácil y rápido, no se porque no me anime antes. Receta

I've been looking forward to make (bake?) pan casero for a long time, it reminds me of my hometown, it was very easy, I've read some recipes and found one that is even easy to remember.

  De fondo los individuales que me anime a hacer en un par de dias... llevo su trabajo, sus errores, pero bue, total... no son para vender, aunque me molesta que no esten perfectos.. pero... las fotos si tienen que estar buenas, asi que... cuando arregle todo.. saldran.

Sneak peak of the placemats I made days ago.. it was harder than I thought, I guess I wasn't looking for something easy. I'm happy with the results although they are not as neat as I'd like them to be... but oh well... we are in family, nobody is going to notice... but pictures must be good, so I'm going to take my time with that.

Multitasking day(s)

uhm where to start....
Over a week ago I saw focaccia recipes everywhere (I love italian food), it didn't seem too complicated so I wanted to give it a try, since my brother's birthday was coming, it was the perfect opportunity. So I made it happen, wrote down 2 recipes that looked the best and made my own with bits of them and it worked out really well, I wanted to make buns with the dough leftovers but my brother was like... "why don't we make a pizza out of it?"

This is what is left for tomorrow (and the day after tomorrow and who knows) (lots of food -.- but you don't turn 29 everyday):
 

Today I've also been watching videos at lockerz, they give you more points for watching videos today and since the redemption is coming soon and I have enough points to TRY to trade for 25 bucks on my paypal account (I'm looking forward to buy a rotary cutter on etsy), I made the most of it and watched threadbanger's videos, interesting things there.
There were also idiotic videos like some girls talking emptyheadedgirly stuff, I can't believe such people can be so airheaded, it's so ridiculous that it looks fake... come on, who cares if your bf wears designer underwear that cost more than a car! or if your miniature dog's farts smell like flowers! or if a "newsupahottop" iphone gadget gives you massages! come on!... so with just reading the video tittles ("Pink is in, Julia is out" or "Sex with ex?" or "Strippers"... please, give me a break here >.>) I knew it wasn't good, so I muted them and listened to some good old Beck songs, nice memories there... I used to lol at this video when it was first released, I was like 11 or 12 and the image of the fridge humping the cooker was to die for, also the songs sounds so... happy, like No rain by Blind Melon with the little bee that kinda looks like the girl from Little Miss Sunshine.

DANCE LITTLE BEE!! ^^



 These days, and today, I've been crocheting a little, I still have this endless "square net sweater"

but I know I'm going to complete it... this time.

Seriously... I do. Oh and there is also a peek at the crochet cushion cover I made for the white cushions I also made :p, I just need to make the other one.... so lazy

Also while I was waiting for the dough to rise I tried to knit with these double point needles I bought today... I almost bought them on etsy because no craft store had them or the size I needed, funny thing is that I didn't even know their name in Spanish (I think I heard it on a craft show here but I first knew about them in English) so I was like translating it and I found out the name "agujas para medias" or... sock needles... it seems nobody knit them anymore but I saw oooh so pretty sock patterns on ravelry!

The result of me getting started in ... this technique, more here.
Well, it is a nice "thumb cosy"
I'm excited with this.... it feels like those moments when your mind is all happy and racing because you accomplished something that seemed too hard,
eg:
- "I'm riding a bicycle on my own!"
- "I'm knitting!"
- "I'm driving!"
- "I finished school!"
- "I won!" (a dressing contest in second life, funny thing it was "best in skirts" and my avatar was wearing a simple one and the rest of the girls were all dressing like ho's... and people voted for me and I won :p)  
- "Opeth is coming!!!" (probably one of the happiest moments in my life, too bad at that time I didn't have someone to share the excitement with)
- "I understand!" (when I read or listen to stuff in other languages that I don't know much about)
- Etc...
And now...
- "I'm knitting with double needles!" 
 

212 Randomness and yesterday's sweetness

The other day I was touching up one of my posts (I can't help it) and saw this:

I don't really trust these things, some of them "catch" the IPs, others if you saw a picture on google images and so on, I think I'm going to get rid of these someday... but I really like the moon and the flags, I wonder how you called a person who likes countries and languages? Anyways...
Nice... 212 Polish views (I bet most of them are you mój przyjaciółka :p)... and tomorrow 1st... I'm going to be 22... yeah, random!!.

And about the sweetness... I baked tortas negras yesterday, I really enjoyed kneading, I used to do it a lot when I was younger, not for eating though, just to make a mess in the kitchen... sorry mom.

Banderas con comida

Muy original, estas son los platos que más me gustan... o deberia decir las naciones que más me gustan, lastima que no esta la de Argentina :/.

Italia

Brasil

 

Francia

Libano

Indonesia (en realidad me gusta Polonia pero seria este plato al revés :p)

De la feria internacional de comida de Sydney (Sydney International Food Festival). Más fotos acá. Fuente.

Cumpleaños de mi hermano

 Simple... smacznego!