January: Snowy days and cosiness

There were some snowy days in January and I tried to spent most of my spare time outside walking through the snow. And there was a left over gingerbread house full of chocolate and other sweets waiting to be eaten.

December

As usual December went by way to fast. I spent some time in Offenbach and visited the lovely Christmas Market in Heusenstamm. I baked a lot of cookies, but wasn't in the mood for taking photos. Unfortunately there was no snow on Christmas Eve, but I spent the days as cosy as usual.

November: Stockholm and preparations for the cosiness of Christmas

In November, I went to Stockholm which was a lovely trip but no photo weather. But the cold made us spending more time in cafés drinking coffee and eating way to many kanelbullar. At the end of the month I went to Valkenburg to visit the often recommended Christmas Market in a cave which was the worst Christmas Market I have ever visited. No Christmas spirit at all. But I met this friendly bear on the way to the market. I am quite fond of bears.

October: Berlin

In October, I spent a lovely time in Berlin. The weather was fine and walking around was as nice as it always is.

September: Brigitte & Paris

September was a real French month: I saw the band Brigitte - those girls are really fun and make great music. And I also spent some time in a lovely apartement in Paris with a wonderful view over the roof tops of the city. Went to the Bon Marché to see the Catherine Deneuve exhibition by Marjan Satrapi and waited for the Eiffel Tower to make its *blinkblink* every full hour at night time.

August & July

Summer went by really fast: The weather was fine, I went blueberry picking in the forest, made jam, pancakes and muffins and ate a lot of quiche and salad.

Something from my kitchen: Very berry

Take two at something from my kitchen is very berry! This year I am so into raspberries, that I chose to make a sweet spread of white chocolate and fresh raspberries called "tourbillon chocolat blanc - framboise" by Rachel Khoo. Each of its million calories is unbelievably delicious...

For one common sized jar you need:

130g white chocolat (cut into small pieces)
70 ml cream
1 pinch of salt
200g fresh raspberries
120g jam sugar

1. Melt the white chocolat, the cream and the pinch of salt and let it cool down for about 15 minutes in the fridge.
2. Mix the raspberries with the jam sugar and cook the mix for about 5 minutes. Let it also coool down in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
3. Whisk the white chocolat cream until it gets a little bit stiffer and creamier.
4. Layer cream and raspberries alternately in the glass, finally stirring  a little with the end of a spoon to get a marble effect.

Carrot cake cupcakes with vanilla icing

I made some carrot cake cupcakes with delicious vanilla icing for a friend's wedding (that's were this bridal bouquet is from). Carrot cake is my all-time favourite cake. It is so moist and although with wintry spices a great treat the whole year around.

For about 18 cupcakes:

250 ml vegetable oil
250g brown sugar
3 eggs
720g coarsely grated carrots
120g coarsely chopped walnuts
375g flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. quatre-epices (or cinnamon)

For the icing:

30g butter (at room temperature)
80g cream cheese
1/2 vanilla bean
240g icing sugar

1. Preheat oven at 200 degrees, prepare muffin pan with paper forms.
2. Beat oil, sugar eggs until thick and creamy.
3. Stir in carrots and nuts, then sifted dry ingredients.
4. Pour mixture into the pans and bake about 35 minutes.
5. Prepare the frosting and spread the frosting over the cold cupcakes.

Enjoy your cupcakes!

This weekend

I made my first mini gugls but they were not really good. They had absolutely no taste at all although I used really nice fresh blueberries. I ate them anyway... I tried on my new dress that I bought for a wedding next weekend and spend four nice hours at the theatre watching Dostojewski's "The Idiot".

A walk along the Rhine

Nice weather, a nice view and beautiful flowers along the way.

Such a nice day

Today was such a nice day. I left earlier from work and spent some time in town, drinking coffee and reading. Also got some new baking books, you never can have enough baking inspiration. And I found a nice blooming branch for my window sill.

Rhubarb cupcakes with marzipan and cranberry icing

I love rhubarb! It is a pity that is always only available for such a short time. I made some great cupcakes wih rhubarb, almonds and marzipan which are really moist ( I love that!) and topped with a cranberry icing. Yummy!

For about 20 cupcakes:

For the dough:                                                For the icing:

400g fresh rhubarb (cut into small pieces)       250g icing sugar

120g marzipan                                               some water

250g butter at room temperature                    2-3 tsp. of canned cranberries

120g sugar

a pinch of salt

6 eggs

120g flour

60g cornflour

1 tsp. baking powder

120g ground almonds

1. Grate the marzipan and cream it for about 5 minutes with the butter, sugar and salt.

2. Continue mixing the batter and add one egg after the other.

3. Mix the flour, cornstarch and baking powder and sift the mix before stirring it in (very shortly). Add the almonds and the rhubarb.

4. Preheat the oven at 170 degrees and bake the dough in for about 25 minutes in a cupcake tin.

5. After cooling down make the icing by adding as much water and cranberries as you like. I prefer less water and more cranberries to get a thick, pink icing.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Current flowers obsession

I am quite a flower addict but quite an arrogant one because I only like flowers in bloom. I just don't like green plants, at least not in my apartment. The only exception is a Christmas tree but with all the lights and ornaments it definitly is in bloom!

Sunday

Sunday was such a lazy day. As usual I wanted to do so many things but the only thing worth taking a photo of was dinner: asparagus potato tortilla with cherry tomatoes, avocado and salad.

I like my way to work