THE LONG DISTNAC
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Christmas Cookies
Don't forget to share
I love spending a december evening in the kitchen baking christmas cookies
(ok to be honest I will only do it once a year - it's fun and the output is amazing
but it's also quite time consuming and gets annoying due to the reptition for the work).
In all countries there are different baking traditions. Having spent time in
different countries I like to integrate traditions from everywhere. Why not
go with some chocolate chip cookies, pimped with some crystallized fruit to make
them more christmasy.
But to be honest the majority of cookies are those that I grew up with.
Moreover baking christmas cookies is a nice activity to do with your friends,
especially girlfriends.
Get a bottle of wine, come together, bake some cookies and share the latest stories.
Plus you can share the output afterwards.
I will later show you how I sent cookies to my special someone and my family.
However, on the pictures on the right you can see a few impressions from
my baking adventures!
What kind of cookies are you making this year?
Mulled Wine
Heat up that Kitchen!
Mulled wine is common in many countries. In Germany, where I live, the christmas markets essentially offer two products: Bratwurst and mulled wine. The drink is an integral part of the christmas tradition.
It's an easy recipe that doesn't require many ingredients.
In a nice bottle it works perfectly as a host gift at christmas parties - or else it might be fun to get tipsy with your special someone while cuddling on the couch.
RECIPE
Ingredients (8 servings):
750 ml (1 bottle) of red wine
4 cups cider
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
3 star anise
1/4 honey
1 orange, zested and juiced
1/4 honey
sugar to taste
oranges for garnish
Directions:
- In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients
- Bring to boil
- Let simmer for 13 minutes (low heat)
- Add sugar to your taste
- Pour into mugs
- Garnish with orange peel
- Serve and enjoy!
And remember...don't drink and drive!
Healthy Smoothies
Fresh Start!!
In Germany the christmas holidays were spent with eating and drinking. Overall not the best treatment for neither the liver nor the body shape...
And since I want to be both fit and happy in the new year - I had to start it right. My first official purchase this year was a mixer.
I had one a few years back, but during my studies I lived in shared apartments, and my flatmates didn't treat the mixer as well as I did. Moreover it wasn't thaaat expensive, so its break down was probably legitmate.
Anyways - new year, new start and new resolutions. I definitely want to be more fit and more healthy. This is also due to the long distance relationship. Whenever I see my special someone, I want to look the best possible for him!!
I will share a few smoothie recipes/ ideas with you - maybe you will also get eager to try it! It tastes great and gives you a lot of power!! :)
For the smoothie that you see on the picture I used the following ingredients (the result was about 4-5 cups):
- 1 banana
- 1 cup frozen rasperries
- 2 cups water
- 1 orange
- 1/2 cup pineapple
- 4-5 ice cubes
Then I just blended it - and voilà.
Next up are green smoothies!!
Birthdays
And the compromises that you have to make!
Yes, I can admit it: I am a birthday junkie. My birthday is a BIG deal to me. In the best case everyone that I love comes together and I will have a great day full of celebrations. Ideally celebrating the night before and opening a bottle of champaign at midnight, sleeping in, coffee and cake with the family and some friends, a birthday dinner with the closest family in a restaurant and finally an amazing birthday bash.
You get the picture.
It's the day of the year where I want to be in the center, and where I want everyone to come together and be happy!
Last year my birthday was very different. I spent midnight in a train - it was dark, it was cold and I was tired. I was travelling back from my special someone. I had decided that I would spend this weekend with him.
It was a great weekend, but as usual, I was sad about the goodbyes. And even the present that he gave me wasn't making me any happier...since I was determined to only open it at midnight (which I did...although I touched it quite a few times in order to guess what was inside :D ).
I had my family over the next day and we had a great dinner in an aethiopic restaurant.
But what I am trying to say: there are compromises in long distance relationships. Compromises that are sometimes not aligned with other stuff that you love. I hated to be in a train "celebrating" my birthday all by myself. However, every minute spend with him was amazing so it was all legitimate.
Long distance relationships are not easy. In a way you will have to evaluate your priorities. If your special someone is not number one think about the reasons why. It might be that your work is simply more present in the every day life. Then try to connect more with your loved one. Maybe call him/her not once a week but every two days. Don't let your relationship slip on lower priority ranks.
Make compromises - like I did for my birthday - if you feel that it is right!
copyright: kristin_a
White Chocolate Truffles with raspberry filling
Create some delicious Valentine's Day candy
There was a time when I spend most of my leisure time in the kitchen creating tasty and pretty cakes, cookies and candy of all kind.
This recipe was always one of my favorite: White chocolate truffles with raspberry filling. Also it looks pretty!
I thought I'd share it just in time for you to make as a Valentine's surprise!
Raspberry Truffles
(makes 30 truffles)
Ingredients
For the filling
150 g white chocolate
90 g raspberries
20 g cream
For the shells
250 g white chocolate coating
Directions
1. Coarsely chop the 250 g white chocolate coating for the truffle shells.
2. Melt 2/3 of the dark chocolate in a double boiler.
3. Remove pot from the cooktop.
4. Stir in the rest of the dark chocolate.
5. Fill the truffle molds completely with the liquid chocolate.
6. Remove the excess of chocolate with a scraper.
8. Tap the side of the truffle molds with the scraper so that the air bubbles rise.
9. Turn the truffles molds and tap on the back of the bottom side of the truffle molds so that most of the chocolate coating runs out of the molds (you will need this chocolate coating later on).
10. Again, remove the excess of chocolate with a scraper.
11. Put the truffle molds in the fridge.
12. Boil up the raspberries and the cream in a pan over medium heat for about 1 minute.
13. Coarsely chop the white chocolate.
14. Remove raspberry cream from cook pot.
15. Pour the liquid over the white chocolate.
16. Stir until the two ingredients are fully incorporated.
17. Take the truffle molds out of the fridge.
18. Fill the truffle forms - still sitting in the molds - with the raspberry chocolate filling (you might want to use an icing bag). Make sure that you leave a 2-3 mm border. This will be the bottom of your truffle and it should be sufficiently thick.
19. Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
20. Heat up the rest of the chocolate coating that you used for the truffle shells earlier.
21. Pour the melted chocolate over the truffle molds so that all truffles are equally covered with chocolate.
22. Remove the excess of chocolate with a scraper.
23. Tap against the side of the truffle forms so that the air bubbles rise.
24. Put the truffle forms in the fridge for one or two hours before removing them from the molds.
Not too easy - but the first step to become a true chocolatier!
Valentine's Day
How special is this day in your relationship?
Depending on your cultural background and the place where you're living, the importance of Valentine's day might differ quite a bit.
In the United States it is basically a must to do something big for Valentine's Day, in Europe not that much.
So if your special someone is from another culture it is definitely appropriate to talk about your and your partner's expectations - especially when you haven't been together for too long.
For me and my special someone Valentine's Day is not a very big deal. We agree that every day that we have each other is a good day, there is no need for big flower bouquets or boxes of chocolates. And not to make huge presents for Valentine's Day was basically an unspoken agreement.
However, when he lived on a different continent than I did, he sent me a bouquet of flowers and I sent him chocolate truffles. For both of us it was a big surprise. And I was really happy and felt really special. Both presents were delivered one day late - so our Valentine's Day was one day late - but amazig.
So especially when you are in a long distance relationship it can be really nice to send surprising gifts when you can't spend Valentine's Day with him/her. In case that you are together on that date, why not set up a little
surprise like on the picture.
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© Copyright 2014. AMK