Monday, November 30, 2009

Death by coffee

I've been following Ree from the Pioneer Woman for about more than a year now. She and Deb definitely contributes to my pouchiness and round buttom :)
When Ree posted this recipe awhile back, I really wanted to try it but never had the time to bake it. Until now.

Coffee cake

Recipe: Coffee cake

Frosting recipe: Best creamy frosting

Verdict: I didn't use the frosting recipe from cake recipe, because I'm bored of regular o buttercream frosting. I found the frosting recipe from Tasty Kitchen, and it is sooo gooodd! I'll never go back to the buttercream frosting again (unless I have to). I added 1 Tablespoon of instant coffee to the frosting to make it coffee flavored. The cake is a bit dense. But flavorwise, if you love coffee, this is the cake for you. It's best enjoyed with a cup of coffee. Told you it's death by coffee :))

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Cooking stuff

When it was mushroom season, the monkey king brought home a box of Cantarella mushroom. Never cook with them before, so after intense browsing, I decided to make mushroom stew, except that I don't really have the ingredients.

Cantarella mushroom stew
Recipe: none. I fused several mushroom stew that I found online to adjust for my lack of ingredients.
Verdict: mm...too mushroomy? :)

Curry Kyllingboller (Curry chicken meatballs)
Curry kyllingboller
Recipe: from Rema 2000 (grocery store) pamphlet. They are advocating dinner for 4 in less that U$20.
Verdict: definitely not enough flavor us. The idea of using chicken meatball than real meat for curry is refreshing, but not using coconut milk for the curry sauce? That's baffling for me.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Farikal (lamb in cabbage)

I couldn't believe that I've been living in Norway for 2 years. Time flies. And during those 2 years, I've never cooked farikal, despite the abundance of lamb during October.
This is about to change...

Farikal
Recipe: Farikal
Modification: nothing, I think.
Verdict: Really easy recipe. Just just assembled the meat and cabbage in a pot, and leave it for 1.5 hours on low heat. And it came out really good. The meat is soft, tender, and flavorful.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Cabled Beret

Finally, another knitting FO just in time for the cold season.
Cabled beret

Pattern: Cabled beret (Ravelry download)
Yarn: Brownsheep lamb's pride worsted frogged from Bzz hat
Needles: US 6 and 8
Modifications: don't have enough yarn, so shortened the cable section (more on rav), and added pompom on top
Verdict: Love it. It's slouchy but not too slouchy, warm, and can you believe that this is my first beret? I've been missing on the whole slouchy beret thing. Definitely need to make more of this.
Ravelled here

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Furikake

I love love love furikake. They are really yummy eaten with warm rice. But sadly, there is no furikake in Bergen. So, after reading Just Bento's furikake, I decided to make homemade furikake

Homemade furikake

Recipe:
  • 1 piece of fish (I use cod marinated in pepper and lemon)
  • 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
  • 2 teaspoon of soy sauce
  • 1 sheet of nori (cut up in small pieces)
  • 1-2 teaspoon of sesame seeds
Heat up a dry non-stick frying pan. Dump in the fish, and break them up with a spatula. As they cook and dry out, keep breaking them up until they form fine flakes. Add the sesame oil, and soy sauce halfway through and keep stirring. Your objective is to dry out and crisp up the fish without burning it.

When the fish is fairly dry and fine, add the nori and sesame seeds. Stir this only takes about 10-20 seconds.

Remove from the frying pan into a bowl. Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for up to a week. But in our case, we finished it right away.