Aha sirup...

John has a very sweet tooth, and he used to buy a lot of a lot cookies, cakes and ice cream not really focusing so much on quality as quantity (Sorry Honey...) . His habit's has changed, and now he likes more natural flavored and sweets of a general higher quality. Nearly every evening he eats homemade yogurt with granola and maple syrup.... But maple syrup is quite expensive, so... Then I stumbled on this recipe (in danish...) that tries to mimic the flavor profile of maple syrup. It has the flavor of caramel, orange and licorice. The syrup has a beautiful golden color and of course it is not maple syrup, but in my opinion a very good syrup...thanks Max...one liter of syrup lasts about 3 weeks... yep that's what I said, he has a sweet tooth.... 

I caramelise 5 dl. of sugar. The darker you make the caramel the less sweet the syrup gets but with a stronger taste of caramel. Then I pour in 7 dl. of water, 5 dl. sugar, and depending on how strong and big they are one or two crushed licorice root, and the zest and juice of one or two oranges. I normally have juice and zest frozen down in cubes.

I filter the syrup and put in a bottle. This way it is easy to pour from

.  

The syrup is boiled till it reaches the temperature 106 degrees

Eat your greens...

One of the things I have promised myself this year was to take the challenge of eating primarily what was in the garden. off course...its obvious...

So here it was From the garden: potatoes, fennel, onions, carrots, parsley, basil, savory, chives and some edible flowers

From the kitchen: Celery, capers, toasted almonds with salt, sausage. cherry vinegar, Dijon mustard, grainy mustard, olive oil, and some sausage

Notes: make a rather acidic dressing with lots of attitude, and if making for two days boil the potatoes the next day and have the dressing and everything ready to assembly... boiled potatoes that's been in the fridge are just not very taste

Do I have to say that the kids didn't really eat. Seth had bread and sausage. Dea was very interested but only ate bread and sausage

But they are nice kids even if they don't eat my food...

with the possibility of sounding like one of  "those mothers"  I just cant believe he is only 5 years old...I mean look at that drawing...Maybe if I could convince him that this is exactly the kind of guys that would come after him if he don't eat his vegetables...hm mm....maybe I should not get these mixed up...

Busy week ahead...

Tomorrow is the end of my holiday, and I have a very busy week ahead. That's alright as long as I have the feeling of being on top of the situation. There is no way that our house can be totally organised, and to be honest that is also not something I am striving for. Activity is a messy thing...fine with me. But one area that has to be in perfect order and up to date is the calender and my desk ( which is actually just a couple of shelves in a closet...)

There are many ways to organize things... I like to keep it simple and flexible. I have a little metal tray that holds important papers just simply organized with clips and a little cream colored strip with the subjects that concerns our everyday life....

Examples are Freezer inventory, weekly baking recipes, meals, Seth, Dea, Work schedules, My cookbook, Stickers for Seth  ( Rewards...). In the bottom of the tray are extra clips and strips of paper.

At the wall we have a year planner, and a more detailed 2 week ahead plan ( that's where we put all plannings like what to eat, shopping memo and whatever is important to remember. At the end of the weekend I normally take a look at the week to come, and try to jot little things down

Thats really all... It is simple but it works

The perfect bread...

If you are interested in cooking there are two things you might have stumbled upon: Heirloom tomatoes and the no knead bread. So today I am adding one more blog posting about This subject.

I have done a lot of baking in my life, and more and more it seems as if I don't really need that many different types of bread. One of the bread types I cant live without is a white fluffy bread with big holes and a golden cracked surface. This is the bread to use for Bruchetta and crostini. This is also the bread I put on the table for a tapas style dinner. It is a great bread to use for vegetables since it does not have the strong whole wheat flavor.

Jim Lahey is the guy behind the no knead bread method. Somehow a very moist dough that is left to rise for a long time develops the gluten network similar to that of bread dough that has been kneaded for a long time. I would really like ti know the food science behind this... So please let me know... 

I call my version of this bread the one/one third bread. The most important in a bread dough like this that only consist of water, a tiny tiny amount of yeast, salt and flour, is the ratio between water and flour, and that has a lot to do with the flour you are using. The flour gives the dough the right consistency at the ratio one / one third between water and flour. That's it dead simple. Decide how much bread you want to make. I used 400 g water, 530 g flour, yeast at the size of a pea, and 6 g of salt. Just stir it together.Leave to rise for a minimum of 12 hours. Shape the bread, and let it rise on a flipped over baking sheet. Put a pizza stone in the oven with a oven thermometer and turn it on the highest temperature possible and let it heat while the bread rises.

Take the rack with the pizza stone out of the oven and close the ovens door. Slide the bread over on the stone and put it back in the oven. Throw ½ a deciliter of water into the oven to create steam, and do the same after 3 minutes. When the first brown spot shows I turn it down to 200 degrees C and leave to bake till it has a golden color 

I want more cracks like this....

I normally don't just make two breads I make a lot and I bake them for a shorter time. Into the freezer they go. One bread is enough for one dinner based mostly on bread.

The bread has the perfect size and toasted they give a good surface structure for rubbing garlic on.

Today's dinner was bruchetta with tomatoes, garlic basil, lemon juice and olive oil

The 3 small tomatoes in the front are our own from the greenhouse ( did anyone say heirloom... )

I store tomatoes hanging in a basket at room temperature. This keeps them very and makes sure they don't loose their flavor.

This year I have been experimenting with different types of organic fertilizer. Cant seem to get it right, but I guess everyday is a learning day.

So this was dinner. No leftovers... I have been a good girl ...kept it simple and I didn't cook to much. I guess my new problem is I write to much. Certainly have to change that... 

Colors...

Seth started school introductory course the first of April. Real school starts next week...

Most kids in Denmark go to public schools that has, or at least had a good reputation, but lately the smaller schools are being  merged into very big schools. Luckily we have a system in this country that also supports private schools that use a different way of teaching or have a special agenda  . Seth's school is a small private one. The whole school work on the same subject for a longer time. In my opinion it gives a feeling of being together working on something like in a family or even a workplace. When I go to the school I see older children taking care of the small ones and even being like a sister or brother. The school has 20 student pr class and 1 class pr age.

It was a big day and off course he got some new crayons and markers.

I made a bag for his new markers, and bought some real good crayons from Mercurius (Stockmar ). This place sells them in either packages of 12 or 24 and you can even just buy one in the color you like or if one got lost. I made an elastic band of an old belt to keep it all well together. Everything has his name on it. For the wooden crayons I used a burner to write his name with. I think it is quite important to teach children to care for their things and learn that its their responsibility....off course... 

One of the things that shows quality of different type of paint, crayons and markers is of course their intensity but also their color range. For me it is important that they are true to the color wheel. If they are not the colors will act strange and the red and the blue mixed together will suddenly have a brown tone to it...just not nice. All of Mercurius stuff seems to have this quality.

For watercolors to little children I have a little different approach and that is buy cheap and in tubes. The ones I got have strange colors. Some are opaque others aren't. The yellow is opaque and very weak which makes it a little strange when mixing. But with children I just find it better to give them a clean new fresh palette very often. I have a bunch of plastic palettes and When Seth is done with one he get a new one. I wash the palettes, put new paint on and they get into the everlasting circle of colors in our house.

It is no secret that I have a hard time to just sit down with my children, and (In my opinion... ) do nothing. I like to be productive, and I find it so much easier for me to do things with Seth that I also like. Making color wheels and building stuff is much more my thing than being killed (10 times...)  in a Star Wars fight ( While making dinner...)

These color wheels are so much fun to make, and we have made them with Seth's watercolors and with his Stochmar big giants. He also has some fine pointed crayons and I guess we should try it on those as well.

So much fun and so much learning...

Dinner tonight: pasta salad from yesterday. Added some celeriac and salad for crunch and some chopped olives to balance the sweetness of the roasted pepper.

Making dinner simple...

I have a tendency to overdo things... Dinner is the same.

I cook to many different things and I cook to much..

I don't like to throw food out ( Who does ... ) So what happens is that dinner often is something from yesterday combined with something new.

Today's scenario was pasta salad with roasted red peppers, salted and toasted almonds, shallots, garlic, pesto and basil. Some leftover pizza from yesterday and some hummus from two days ago... Strange combination.

So whats left after dinner is half of the pasta salad, still some pizza and hummus left.

Got to change this... do I..

The future "dogma" rules is

Keep it simple...

Don't cook more than:

Rise and dried pasta 80 g per person.
Fresh pasta 125 g per person.
Potatoes 250 g per person. if its the main thing, otherwise use less.
Soups 2½ dl. per person and combine with a side dish.

Use mostly vegetables from the garden, and remember crunchy stuff...

4 days with meat 100 g per person, 2 green days, and one with fish.

Don't be stingy with oil, cheese, nuts

My kids ( If they eat... ) don't eat more than a quarter portion.

Don't experiment to much, get the basic stuff right... ( This I probably will have a hard time with but i will try...)

Hope you had a good dinner for me it is coffee time...

Small polkadots for me...

I have been working on a simple pattern with just the amount of ease that's needed for a garment that involves no button or zipper closures.

With jeans and boots they are just fine for that everyday casualness that's my life...

Its just long enough to be worn with sandals on a hot day. Some accessories, a bag and of I go...

I made  a wide boat neck and a little white inset at the shoulder. The sleeve is 3/4 length in blouse style and I have made a little fold at the edge.

I like the detail at the neck, but I can still take a bit of the ease. Also a fitted sleeve would add to a slimmer overall look of the upper body.

Elderflower lemonade, rhubarb lemonade and family...

We don't have a lot of freezer space but we have access to cold storage in a basement, so canning is the right way for us to stock up on summer goodies.

We made rhubarb lemonade and elderflower lemonade. Rhubarb can be picked in spring and after giving the plant a break, once more in fall. Elderflower is really a thing where you have to pick all you plan for when its there. I made 6 liters which is not enough for us, and had plans for making one more batch.... Never happened ... something came in the way...i guess life. So next year pick it all at once...

My parents have this huge garden with an abundance of produce... It is really a waste to not use it all. So this year it is my plan to cherish and get to most of it.

My mother is the hardworking gardener who loves her hand tools and hates being in charge of anything machine driven. My dad is the one in charge of the machinery and all the technical stuff. For many years he was the one in charge of the workers in their nursery and he still likes to walk around inspecting and spreading good vibes.

In the middle of it all is John thinking...How the hell did I end up here?... He is the reflective one putting everything into perspective, and reminding us, that it is alright to take a break... Oh yes and he is in charge of the new device that puts caps on the bottles after the lemonade have been cooked in it for 10 minutes. Very safe storage.

Being The owner of a very good ice cream machine I always make my lemonade in the same water sugar  ratio that is required for a good sorbet. That way I just drop a couple of bottles In the machine and voila!...

Dairy...

W have very close access to organic farm milk.

Good organic dairy products can be rather expensive ( which is understandable... ) So I have decided to start making our own...

We normally buy 10-20 liters of milk

What we make so far:

• Yogurt Greek style
• Skimmed milk
• Cream
• Cream cheese
• Feta cheese
• Farmers cheese
• icecream

Feta cheese waiting for the saltwater

Yogurt  dripping...out of 5 liters of milk we get 2½ liter and 2½ liter whey for breadmaking...

Knitting for Dea...

I do like knitting in fine wool on small needles...but...it takes a looong time, so It was time to make some changes. This piece is knitted partly by hand and partly by my very old machine

The pattern is my own designed, using this method and the yarn is knoll supersoft from Holst Garn. For the garter stitch I used needle size 2, for stocking stitch I used size 3 and on the machine yarn tension 6 and loop size 6,3

The colours are aquamarine and almond. I like the combination of the bright colour of the aquamarine and the neutral colour of  almond. It was a very pleasant knit made in just one day...