Time for your opion on the kitchen machine matter!!

Okay, here is the matter which we debate, my husband and I, when ever the subject kitchen machine comes up. Is the Kitchen Aid machine as good (or bad) as people say?? My husband is not positive about it at all!

 

 Is it just the design and the brand which you pay - a lot! - for, or does the machine really work as well as some people say??

We are going to get some kind of kitchen machine, so I can start baking some more again. I can't knead dough very well any longer, and that annoys me so...I would much rather have my hands in the dough and do the work myself.

I would really love to hear your opinion and experiences with this machine. Or maybe you can tell me about a totally different machine, which is much better. :)

For me...

So it's time for advent presents again.

The advent bag has been put on it's usual place - right there on the banister, so it's the first thing Emil sees when he comes down the stars from his room.

This year is different from all the other years. Anne-Sophie's advent bag is no longer on the banister but has gone with her to her appartment. It's really strange...and a bit sad...but I know that her advent present is even more appriciated this year.

I'm so fortunate that I get to have an advent calender as well. It's my dear bigsister who has made it for me, and I absolutely love it.

Today I got this beautiful biscuit tin and inside it is lots, and lots of delicious Pebernødder (a Danish Christmas biscuit. Literally translated it's pepper nuts) which she baked for me. Uhmmm!

I got so emotional when I opned the present from Lotte - she has so much to do in her life, but still she took the time to make a calender for me again and bake those lovely cookies. I really appricite it deep down in my heart.

Now I only need to figure out how to keep the Pebernødder away from the rest of my family in this house. I definitely want to share, but it's when I say so...

Eskild's cake - now in blue

Eskilds' cake, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

That's what we call this layer cake, which we always have for birthdays in my house. And of course we had it yesterday for Anne-Sophie's birthday.

This time with (chocking) blue icing. It was only supposed to have been pale blue, but...
However, this made all the guests get blue teeth for a while!!

As you might have guessed , my brother-in-law Eskild is the one who came up with the idea for this particular cake.
It's such a fresh kind of cake eventhough it might look sweet. The raspberries, which are put into the whipped cream, do it all - for the taste as well as the color.

Did you eat "æggesnaps" as a child?

Do you know this?? A little sugar (or rather a lot!!) and some pasteurised egg yolks - give it a quick whisk untill it gets airy and brighter....and then you have my childhood favourite in sweet stuff: æggesnaps.

I haven't had that for years, but today I all of a sudden just had to make it. Uhmmm!! In my mind I turned 7 years old again, sitting on our kitchen table looking out the window...

Eating æggesnaps is a short pleasure, though - it very fast gets a bit too sweet....

Oh! Did I mention that I was home alone?

Days off

We sure have enjoyed the last couple of days off:

• We spent some lovely time with my sister and her family eating pizza and watching our nationalteam in soccer win the match over Sweden
• We went into our garden to fix stuff - but there is still lots to do
• I did however, love the fact that many flowers have been sown without my interference. Nature took care of it all by itself...
• We ate Hindbærsnitter at the beach on a dotty blanket, while Otto took yet another swim. I just adore the smell of wild Roses...
• And finally new fabrics arrived from abroad - and the Liberty fabric from Malika og Rosa showed up at my doorstep the same day.

Now we are back at everyday life - but just for a while. Before we know it Summerholidays will be here....

For the eyes and the mouth

Soon the winter holidays are over and everyday life returns. Time have passed by far too quickly, but we have had some wonderful days together.

The last few days have been so beautiful with sun and cold weather, so today we thought that we had better check out, wheter we could go iceskating on the fiord nearby.

It only takes a few minutes to get there by car and about 10 minutes to get there by bike.

The water was frozen but needed another day or 2 to be completely ready.

Sadly, I didn't dare walking on the ice due to my back, and I haven't skated since the accident either. Too bad because I LOVE iceskating - the feeling you get when you glide (more or less elegantly) over the ice, and all you can hear is the skates touching the ice...

It wasn't boring standing on land though, because I was able to enjoy the beatiful sight of water acting in many different ways...

I could have stayed at the fiord all afternoon, but we had decided to bake Fastelavnsboller, so off we went....

Maybe you think that you have seen them before, those Fastelavnsboller?? Well, they are made from the same recipe as last year - only decorated in pink and red this year.

If you want to bake them yourself, then have a go at my mother in law's great recipe.

Return of the Iron Age boy

In my family we are not that good at being apart!!! So I have been looking very much forward to Emil's return from camp.

Christian was one of the parents who had volunteered to drive the children to Hvolris and pick them up again.

Meanwhile I went to the school to wait for Emil when the whole class came back there. I think it's extremely important to be welcomed back in a propper way ;0)

Emil was SO tired when we came home - he just had a bath and went straight to the couch to have a rest. And he hasn't really left if yet!! I baked a whole lot of "Kanelsnegle" (direct translation must be cinnamon snails!!) because I knew how much they would be appriciated by a former Iron Age boy...

The beautiful "Kvindekniv" and the breadtray you see above, is something Emil made at Hvolris. I think the camp was a brilliant oppertunity to try how hard it was to live once. When knives - and a numerous amount of other daily tolls and food - couldn't be bought at a store and you had to make them yourselves....To try the work with your on hands.

This funny woodman Emil found there as well - I just love him. He has a georgeous surprised expression in his face....

This afternoon I have also been going through a bit of my sewing patterns. I'm looking for some shorts' patterns, because I have promised Daniel and Simon - our neighbour boys - to make them some shorts. They picked out the fabrics themselves and with the sunny weather forecast I just saw, I had better move on.....

Haberdashery and Emil's Hindbærsnitter

What else can I ask for????

The cake experiment

Macaroon cupcakes and the very old "Donald Duck Cake" (which was found in a Donald Duck magazine when I was a child - hence the name!!) have always been Emil's and Anne-Sophie's favourite choices of cakes to bake - among others..... Yesterday Emil decided that it was time for new ideas. "What do you think will happen if I mix some of the ingredients from both recipes, mom??" Emil asked me. I saw no other answer than for him to try it out....

Emil thought that the macaroons definitely had to be put in the Donald Duck Cake and the vanilla essence. He added the rest of the ingredients and the dough was put in an baking tin with a hole in the middle, instead of in a plain one - I suspected the cake to become a bit "heavy", but didn't say a word about it!

For ½ an hour Emil waited in suspense. Had a little look through the owen window now and then...And finally the cake was done!

It looked quite good and didn't collapse (shame on me for thinking it would!) Emil was very content....it looked great....it tasted fantastic....only a tiny piece is left......the experiment was a succes for sure!!!

Now we know how to make a "Makronsiand Cake" in my little family!!!!

And the recipe is all written down in the new book Emil made for Christian and me at school....

To make the "Makaronskiand Cake" you use this:

3 eggs

2 deciltres of sugar

150 grams of melted butter

½ teaspoonful of bakingpowder

2 ½ decilitres of flour

17 crushed macaroons

1 ½ teaspoonful of vanilla essence

Wisk eggs and sugar untill it is light and foaming......add the rest of the ingredients.

Bake the cake for 30 - 40 minutes at 200 degrees - put the cake in the middle of the oven.