tisdag 27 december 2011

Pig

27/12-2011
My new roomie likes pigs so I thought she deserved one such. Not easy to do a pig really... But it might depend on the fact that I am not very talended. :O)

Basically done out of one larger ball for the body, two small balls for the front feet, two small balls for the eye and black dots on the top of those two and a little curl for the back.


I did small triangles for the ears and bent them in half to create the ears.


As pigs bring luck as I understand, I decided to make two pigs for my mom's brother and his fiancée. One each. One was longer eared than the other... Do not know why I felt if was better with longer ears after the first two...
This is how they looked from the front:
27/12-2011
and here from the back:
27/12-2011

tisdag 20 december 2011

Christmas atmosphere....

I love Christmas! Ideally, I could have Christmas 6 months a year and I still wouldn't be bored by it. I always wish to have a lot of Christmas decorations already from the beginning of the month... But I may indeed start putting it up only when the house is clean. So now house clean, and I was allowed to do a wreath to put on my door! Actually with some delay as the cleaning took so long time, there was no time to go buy stuff for my planned wreath.
But last Saturday I made it! And up it was...
18/12-2011

It was the most difficult project this Christmas: first thing the frame.
I thought it was just to buy some metal thread and bend it suitably. Well, it turned out the metal thread I purchased was so hard, it was very hard to bend. So after I actually made the outer frame, I had no power in me left to do any more adjusting. It was formed as a heart. I connected two thick bent threads, with some piece of thread that was much thinner. In its whole it looked ok. Only issue, sometimes it simply folds.... In two... Gah... Strange. Anyways, now it seems it has not folded since I hanged up the wreath... Let us hope for the future....
Next step would be to make some kind of net to hang the moss on it. Basically impossible task without a welder. So I got something that looked like a chaos of very thin green metal thread and had to be satisfied with it.
Next step was to actually cover the chaos with moss. Started with white moss. Weee... what a trip. Janne had to help... things were sticking out everywhere. Could not keep where it was supposed to. And the wreath was not fully covered. And of course, the moss I purchased was not enough. Crap really!
So I was anyways planning to also use some Spanish moss....
18/12-2011
Not much easier to hold it on place, but there no way it could be harder than the white moss. Very very tricky... What an idea... And it could "bend in two" anytime... Ng...
So now the final finish: mountain ash berries... not a walk in the park either... but still not as hard as either white moss or Spanish moss... Going upwards...
Actually, I had made some hearts with clay for this thing. But in all that cleaning, they are now gone... not sure where really! Crap!
When I was in NY last month though, thinking of my future wreath, I did purchase some bow material... So there it is... :O)
Believe it or not... as long as this thing stays open, does not fly away, bend in two or whatever, I am very satisfied... now when I come home, there is no doubt. It is Christmas, the Christmas atmosphere is here!!!!

Just a regular Scandinavian December...

Over a week ago, my daddy published some images taken at the beginning of December in their Italian garden picturing some roses that were blooming. It sounded quite weird to me... but thinking back I realized I had seen some white spots in the area around my roses. So last Sunday, I just confronted the weather and under the wet snow, I went exploring the garden to spot if I had been imagining stuff...
And I was indeed not! There were roses, white roses in full bloom. Slightly covered by the light snow!

18/12-2011


 It was my new beloved rose Thérèse de Lisieux purchased during last Spring from a French mail order company.
18/12-2011

So isn't nature beautiful? This is just one more typical Swedish December I guess... ;O) Or is it a French rose that believes it is still at home?! Just really hope they will survive the Swedish winter, really!


söndag 11 december 2011

Royal icing

This is the first time I try this kind of icing. Last time I needed to cement my gingerbread house, I actually used fat with it. That recipe was very "long lasting" as the house did not have any problems until April the year after. Not sure about this recipe, but let us see.... :O)
So far it hardened pretty quick and seems indeed very stable compared to the one from last year.
After 1-2 hours I could really move around my gingerbread house without bothering.

11/12-2011
Ingredients
3 tablespoons Meringue pownder
4 cups confectioners sugar
6 tablespoons warm water

Instructions
Mix for about 10 minutes with Kitchen Aid and whip. We whipped slowly half time and quick the rest of the time.

Gingerbread house

It has become a kind of a tradition at home to do some kind of gingerbread house. And so to keep up traditions and to give my architect talents some chance, we made one yesterday, too. After a lot of trouble with a terrible recipe turning out in 1,8kg crumbles, a recycling of those to a somewhat better recipe, resulting in a rather friable kind of gingerbread, a roof in pieces and somewhat bumpy way, the house is ready.

11/12-2011

As the recipe for the gingerbread did not turn out at all, I will not publish it at all really.
For cementing the sides and decoration, we used Royal icing, which so far seems to keep the house together. Let us see how long it will keep together without falling apart. Last years house made it to April, but we used a different recipe though.
11/12-2011
Lessons learnt
  • Round structures are not easy to do
  • As the roof is rounded, I believed it would be good to put it on place while it was still warm so that it would be much easier to bend it. It broke together and was beyond all saving. Next time, we let it cool down and then it kept together but was still able to bend a little.
  • To keep royal icing from turning into "stone" over night, we closed the upper side of the decorating bag with a clip and kept the decorating tip in water.
  • When using royal icing, be quick. It turns hard very quickly.

lördag 10 december 2011

Caramel sauce

I used to work at McDonald's and their caramel sundays were to die for. I found caramel sauce in shops but they were not even near in taste. Until one day I went to work when I worked at Herrgår'n and somebody made caramel sauce. Sooooooo lovely. So I stole the recipe and have used for a long time until I lost it. It turns out Google is my friend and I actually found a very similar recipe, which is the one I have been using since.
Actually I took a picture of it but I happened to delete it from my camera... Well... you do know how caramel sauce looks like, don't you? ;O)

Ingredients
1 dl sugar
1 dl cream
1 dl light syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

Instructions
Melt sugar, cream and syrup and let it cook slowly for about 5 minutes until golden and smooth looking. Add vanilla sugar.
It can then be used warm with ice cream, to fill pralines, or whatever comes to mind really. I love it. I could actually drink it if it were healthy... :O)

Mh... it seems I had already blogged about this recipe. It seems caramel sauce is some kind of favorite. Even funnier is that I actually wrote very similar comments there, too!

Oat muffins alias "hälsoknäck"

One good day I had to bake for Janne's mom's birthday, and there are people in the family that cannot eat flour so I found a recipe for oat muffins, which is in its nature without any flour. They tasted very good and very much alike an healthier version of knäck. So now around Christmas, I thought of taking out the same recipe and try to make small small muffins with this recipe so they would look like the Swedish knäck.
11/12-2011

Ingredients
75gr butter
75gr muscovado sugar
1,5 tablespoons dark syrup
138gr oat

Instructions
Turn on oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Melt butter, sugar and syrup. Add oat.
Put in baking cups. If you use muffin sized cups, bake for about 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. In small "knäck" cups, 10-15 minutes should be enough to reach the same status.
If desired you can decorate the muffins with melted chocolate.

fredag 9 december 2011

Tiramisu'

Background
The first time I got to taste Tiramisu' was when my dear "cousin" Cristina made it when I was a teen. That was definitively the best dessert on earth. She had a simple recipe for it and I wish I had it written down somewhere. As long as I kept re-making Tiramisu' all the time, I had it in mind, but now it is definitively not there anylonger. I remember some few numbers and ingredients. That is it. Something like 4 table spoons of sugar, 2 or 4 eggs, 250gr or less than a whole container anyways of mascarpone. But I have not been able to reproduce it since a long time.
Now I actually found a modified recipe that sounds pretty much like it if you remove the "strange parts of it".

11/12-2011
Ingredients
2 eggs
4 tablespoons sugar
250gr mascarpone
espresso coffee
savoiardi cookies
11/12-2011

Instructions
Whip egg yolks with sugar until white and fluffy. Add mascarpone. Whip egg whites until stiff. Put whipped egg whites in the egg and mascarpone cream.
Dip savoiardi cookies in espresso coffee. I like it a lot when the cookies become very soaked I am no friend of savoiardi without coffee. Then I drip it. But normal people like savoiardi and try to avoid that trouble. Some think indeed it is not so good if you soak the cookies. But I do not care really... I love it that way no matter what! If they don't like it, more for me! :O)
Above I have made tiramisu' in portion forms, but if you are a real italian, you will probably stick it into a rectangular form.
Sprinkle with cocoa when they are ready to serve.
Not sure what happened this time but the coffee was incredibly bitter. Strange! Normally, it should not be.

fredag 11 november 2011

Giò's Tea pot

One happy day, the Panduro hobby catalogue was dropped in my mailbox. So many neat things in there, I could spend twice my salary every month on everything in there.... And one of the things I saw was a tea pot with built in cup painted with golden and pink colours. I do not know why, but my first thought went to Giò. I got that weird, maybe not even reasonable idea, that I should paint something similar to her. So off I went and purchased the tea pot and the colours.
6/12-2011
 Actually, the pattern I went for was nothing like the original one I saw in the catalogue, but, guess what, copying stuff is not really my strong side. I remembered I had some nice stamps with some cute flowers and I thought of actually "stamping them on" to the cup and then paint it, which is quite obviously a worthless and impossible idea. So I simply did flowers by hand. The idea would be to start from the bottom of the cup and let flowers go from there to the top of the cup and in some cases to the bottom of the tea pot part of it.

If you look below, you see how the stems go through.
6/11-2011
It is even possible to turn the pot around compared to the cup and still have stems matching up in some points.
6/11-11
6/11-11
The top part has also got small flowers all around. The knob is also pink.
Every detail has been bordered with golden relief colour.
This project has been done by using Pébéos Porcelaine 150 colour, Shimmer pink #107 and a similar stick colour for the relief.
After painting, the colour needs to rest for about 1 day at least. As the relief was thick I let it dry somewhat longer. Then you can simply bake it in the oven at 150degrees Celsius for about 35 minutes. I am unsure of whether this is necessary, but to make sure I put it in the cold oven (if I recall it correctly) and let it in there until completely cold again.
Theoretically, you should be able to wash it in the dish washer. But you never know....

I personally felt it was very difficult to get a "sleek colour" really. When painting the colour would go away. But well... who says you need a sleek colour?!

Hope Giò likes it! Actually, her colour is blue rather than pink but you never know! Could not stop thinking about her and a pink tea pot so it had to be pink :O)

söndag 23 oktober 2011

Mommy's birthday minicake...

Background
Mommy does not really like cakes that much. So I thought instead of making a big cake, I could bake a lot of muffins and cupcakes of different kind for her enjoyment but still make a very little cake for her, just for the tradition... :O) Well, that was theoretically a good idea, but making a small cake is really far from easy. And as a matter of fact, it looked pretty ugly... Poor mommy... :O(
11/8-2011
 But on the other side, she seemed to enjoy the cupcakes/muffins with Nutella, her favorite! And she did not complain about the cake. Maybe as I had been baking for her the whole day basically and she did not dare :O)

And on the positive side of it, I got to use my brand new cake plate!
11/8-2011

I used the same sugarpaste that I used for Janne's birthday cake. I took the orange color as she likes orange a lot. I also found quite cute "candles" that fit mommy.
11/8-2011

Honestly, I can't really remember what I had in it.... Thit is what happens if you wait that long to write a post about something... :O( I'll try to think some more.

lördag 22 oktober 2011

Barbro's Birthday Cake

Background
Barbro's birthday had to be celebrated. She mentioned she liked chocolate and berries. Then well, this was the result based on her statements.
25/10-2011

The cream used to decorate the external part was an Italian marengue butter cream.The chocolate decorations were made with regular 70% chocolate and the cake was then topped with blackberries. The idea with the chocolate decoration was to look like "paint" spots on the side and as a grid on the top.
25/9-2011
I wanted to write "Happy birthday Barbro", but the chocolate was giving me a hard time: tried to "temperate" the chocolate to get a good result without a thermometer, but it did not turn out as desired: the chocolate melted as soon as you touched it. So I just tried to minimise the touching of course. But it was not easy to move around those very big letters. Also the "space" was not enough to put the name on it also. So Grattis was all that got space... :O)

In the inside, I did a raspberry "Jelly/jam" and a vanilla sauce (which I burned while I got distracted) mixed with whipped cream.

This was a very very heavy cake really. After one slice, you were more than full. Personally, I have eaten better, but I cannot state I did not try to do something good. But sometimes, trying is simply not enough... :O( I guess next time I ever come up with the idea of doing a butter cream, I will have to make sure I will use butter without salt. But then I did not have a choice as there was hardly any butter to find in the shops.

Almond maringue

Background
In Italy, sometimes you can purchase wonderful soft almond cookies made out of what they call almond paste. How they do it has always been a kind of secret to me. I have tried many times but I never got even near the original. This time was no exception, but it does not need to be like the original to be good... So it was indeed very enjoyable. Trying to remember the exact recipe, and this is my best try. They tasted a lot like soft meringue.
25/9-2011

Ingredients
3 egg whites
1,75dl sugar
125gr almonds (a little bag)

Procedure
Cook hot water and throw in the almonds. Remove the skin. Mix the clean almonds until you do not have any pieces left.
Whip egg whites.
Mix with sugar and almonds.
Continue whipping for a long time until the mixture seems to keep its form. Actually it is not easy and it takes some time, but at the end it will work.

25/9-2011
Put in the oven at 140 degrees Celsius and bake 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the cookies in there until the day after (or at least until the oven is cold).

söndag 18 september 2011

Panang curry

Background
November 2011 we were on Koh Phiphi in Thailand and one of the last days there, we landed in a "hole in the wall" restaurant with the best food ever. There was a guy standing in the door producing pad thai and other very good food. Then there were a few ladies in the back doing curry on demand. We ordered panang curry and were so positively surprised by it, we were forced to simply try it at home. We even decided to start a chili production to guarantee the supply of chilis for panaeng curry.

Ingredients
The dish
1 can coconut milk
1 tablespoon shredded lime leaves (I did not have this)
1/2 teaspoon palm sugar
200gr sliced pork or beef (actually I had double as much and it worked anyways)
2 teaspoons fish sauce (original recipe said 2 tablespoons, but that was not correct. I tried it with that amount last time and I thought I was about to die of salt excess!!!! So 2 teaspoons is just right)

The curry
1 chilli (original recipe says 1/3 big dried chilies) soaked with seeds removed
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons galangal, cut into small cubes
2 tablespoons lemon grass, cut into thin rounds
1 tablespoon coriander root (I did not have this)
1 teaspoon roasted coriander seeds (could not find whole seeds so I used grounded ones, 1,5 spoons to make up for the missing coriander root)
1 tablespoon roasted cumin seeds (actually should only have been 1 teaspoon but I like the taste of cumin)
2 tablespoons garlic
2 tablespoons shallots
2 tablespoon roasted peanuts (actually should only have been 1 tablespoon but I love peanuts)
1 teaspoon shrimp paste (make sure you do not use more as it tastes like fish food...)

For a different recipy for Panaeng curry, also refer to the Curry paste post. The only Panaeng curry I tried to cook was this one though.

Instructions
Preparing the curry
  1. Start by soaking the chillies in water until they’re soft. This could take up to a half hour. When they’re soft, cut them open to remove the guts & seeds. If you have fresh chilli use that, of course, so you skip the soaking and waiting
  2. Toast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and peanuts separately in a pan over medium heat. Roast each until fragrant, about 3-5 minutes.
  3. Grind up the seeds together in a stone mortar and pestle until powdered. Remove and set aside. I actually used a grinder as it was quicker.
  4. Add your chillies with the salt to the stone mortar and pestle and pound until a paste. This will take awhile — the skins are difficult to mash indeed.
  5. When your chillies are a uniform paste, add the lemongrass. Pound until a paste. Then add the galangal and coriander roots, and again, smash until paste. Actually tried to use the grinder but it was not so easy to grind.
  6. Add the peanuts, shallots, garlic and your powdered cumin & cilantro seeds. Mash until paste. Add the shrimp paste and pound to mix well. Set aside. As it did not really mix so well in the mixer, I added some of the coconut milk, which was a good idea. Not really the thai way, but who cares... :O) I have a good excuse: my mortar is too little and the whole amount does not fit in it... :O)
Preparing the dish
  1. Cut your meat cross-grain into thin slices (about 1.5″ (4cm) long x 1/2″ (1.25cm) tall x 1/8″ (.25cm) thick).
  2. Heat up your pan first on medium-high heat, then add 1/2 cup of the coconut cream. It should sizzle right away and boil. Add all the paste and mix well.
  3. Fry the paste. You want to keep the paste dry, but not too dry that it sticks and burns. Keep adding a little bit of coconut milk when it gets too dry, maybe about 1/4 cup every minute or two. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.
  4. Keep adding coconut cream about 1/4 cup at a time, every minute or two. You should start to see a lot of oil coming to the top of the curry. This is normal and a sign that you’re doing it right! Personally, even though it is not the real thai stuff, I am no friend of oil swimming around so I actually tried to keep it emulsionated and not that thick as it is supposed to be. I think it tastes better. The one I got in Koh Phi phi was not completely thick either.
  5. Your paste should start to smell really good after 4-5 minutes. You’ll start to see a lot of oil rising to the top, especially where it’s bubbling. When it does, add your meat. Myself, not being a fan of the oil floating around, I actually added the meat earlier, and I am indeed happy for that.
  6. Cook the meat until cooked, add the lime leaves, fish sauce and palm sugar, then keep going about 3-5 minutes so the meat is soft. The consistency of the curry should be similar to the photo. If it’s too dry, add a bit more of the coconut milk. Remove and serve.
  7. Feel free to garnish with shredded lime leaves and a few leaves of Thai basil. In the original recipe, it says that some fancy restaurants serve it with a bit of thickened coconut cream (thickened with a bit of tapioca flour) which you’re welcome to do too! I personally could not bother... :O)
Took some pictures, but I first need to upload them on my computer. There will be more to come!
Note to self: doubling up the sauce amount instead of the meat could be a better idea.

    tisdag 13 september 2011

    Caramel sauce

    This is the best recipe so far for caramel sauce. This sauce makes good competition to the McDonald's caramel sauce in the McSundays. Might sound geeky, but it is really very good.
    Actually, the last time I did caramel sauce, it was not this real recipe but the taste was not as good either.

    Ingredients
    2dl sugar
    2dl sirup
    2dl cream
    2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

    Note: If you use white sirup, it will take ages to get to the right colour... if ever. One tip is then to use maybe somewhat less than 0,5dl brown sirup. It gives the right result much quicker.

    Preparation
    Mix all together and cook slowly until the mixture becomes light brown but rather thick texture. It might take quite some time.

    Tips
    • Can be used for ice cream, over fruits or, of course, over both :O) Ate it with tofu line ice cream and raspberries.
    • Even though it contains cream, it seems to resist for a long time in the fridge. Found some in the fridge left from Christmas time and it still did not look anything quite a few months afterwards. I then left it outside the fridge for over a month and nothing started growing in it anyway. Surprising how easy it is to preserve caramel sauce. Well, to tell the truth, I did not dare tasting it any longer, but it did look pretty fresh.

    måndag 29 augusti 2011

    Rhododendron Catawbiense 'Grandiflorum'

    Latin: Rhododendron Catawbiense 'Grandiflorum'
    Swedish: Parkrododendron
    English: Rhododendron Catawbiense 'Grandiflorum'
    Purchased at Plantagen quite a few years ago

    7/6-2011

    This plant requires sour soil and is therefore to be planted in peat. At the beginning we actually dug a hole and filled it with peat only. Reading about this plant, you are supposed to really only have peat in the area.
    7/6-2011
    And the hole should also be rather large, otherwise the plant will grow well until the roots reach the "normal soil" and then stop feeling well. Which is more or less what happened here.

    One other issue with this plant (and also this I found out the hard way) is that you really have to water it properly in Spring time. Being an evergreen plant that never looses its leaves, it has quite a large area (all the leaves) to evaporate water through. When it is not humid in the ground and maybe also is rather frozen in the soil, the sun will burn the leaves and for that matter also the blossoms/potential blossoms.
    This year only a few rather small blossoms bloomed. But it was never how it should be. This is when the shrub had its maximum period of flowering this Spring. Not much indeed.
    31/5-2011
    I will try again next year with watering at an earlier stage of the Spring. A lot of sources recommend covering the leaves with tissue to avoid evaporation. I personally do not feel it looks very good so I do hope watering will do it.

    2/7-2011
    This year we have actually refurbished the area around the rhododendron as we felt it was not very practical as it was. The grass (especially the couch grass) could not keep away and grew in together with the plant all the time. In a few days after removal, it was there again. Furthermore, it is said that grass takes away nutrition from the plant itself. So we decided to do a whole flower bed for peat plants. We removed a whole deal of ground and refilled it with peat. The plant seems to have recharged its powers since then. Maybe with good watering, we'll have some enjoyable blooming next year?!

    Producer's information
    Normal watering and fertilizing
    Distance to other plants: 3m
    Height: 2,5m
    Prefers half shady to shady location.
    Blooms in May-June
    Winter hardy up to Swedish zone 5

    tisdag 23 augusti 2011

    Dahlia 'Catherine Deneuve'

    Latin: Dahlia 'Catherine Deneuve'
    Swedish: Dahlia 'Catherine Deneuve'
    English: Dahlia 'Catherine Deneuve'

    This dahlia is one of the most lovely dahlias I have seen. It lights up the place. Really no kidding.
    14/8-2011

    We have now had it two years in a row, that is we purchased it twice.
    Last year, 2010, it gave very large amounts of flowers and it lighted up my Automn. It really even survived the first frost until October. It was a pleasure to see it.

    This year, 2011, I was forced to purchase a new bulb as I enjoyed last year's so much. I am though not sure why: it might depend on the fact that it does not have enough space, or it might simply be that it was not its year. Or maybe I put it outside too early. Though the current amount of flowers is far from satisfactory: there are a lot of blossoms, but they haven't developed to flowers yet. So far we have only seen one only flower at the time. Still lighting up my everyday routine, but I wish more flowers were to come.

    Product description
    Single orange flowers (8 cm. across) and beautiful dark foliage, height 80 cm.

    Dahlia Gallery Matisse Purple

    Latin: Dahlia "Gallery Matisse Purple"
    Swedish: Dahlia "Gallery Matisse Purple"
    English: Dahlia "Gallery Matisse Purple"

    14/8-2011
    This dahlia is a tricky one. She will though land again on my purchase list: the flowers, even though not even near to what they looked like in the catalog are very beautiful, colourful and happy. Well, why tricky, you might wonder. The answer is easy! It is the only dahlia whose flowers actually grow under the leaves... So if you want to see them, you'll need to do serious research... under all those leaves. It is very small compared to other dahlias. Right now it has maybe around 2-3 flowers but there are more to come... somewhere under all those leaves... :O)


    Producer's description
    rather large (13 cm. Ø) orange flowers, height only 30 cm. Purple colour.

    söndag 21 augusti 2011

    Ficus carica 'Brown Turkey'

    Latin: Ficus carica 'Brown Turkey'
    Swedish: Fikon 'Brown Turkey'
    English: Fig 'Brown Turkey'
    Purchased from Graines Baumaux spring 2010 by post order.

    21/8-2011

    The description gave a very positive impression of the fruit. And as it seemed to be giving very good figs as well as being suitable for containers and cold areas, we ordered it. It arrived with 2 figs on it. Both of them fell off while trying to "replant" the guy. We purchased a rather large pot and let us see how far it is enough.
    I do not believe the plant can stand outside in wintertime in Sweden so it still needs to have an acceptably light pot so we can move it around.
    In 2010 the first figs were gone but quite a few more came back. Unfortunately all of them far too late. The winter came and they never became ripe. In Automn we covered it with a little "plastic house" and wrapped the pot in bubble plastic. It looses all leaves in Automn. But in Winter, we put it in Jannes parents garage that was supposed to keep over 0 degrees but not much higher. The garage did not have any windows but theoretically the plant does not need windows when it does not have any leaves. Indeed it survived. We took it back in March or April again and placed it on the Southern side of the house against the house wall. I removed the figs that were on, maybe it was not necessary or maybe it was even a bad idea? Unsure. Next year, I'll leave them there if there are any and see where this leads us. It is never too late to remove them if it turns out to be a bad idea.
    21/5-2011

    The plant has grown and has given more branches. The size has increased also, but it is still rather small.
    21/7-2011

    Today we ate our first fig ever: it was very very sweet and very tasty.
    21/8-2011

    21/8-2011

    The figs you normally buy around here taste like nothing compared to our first fig from our little plant! It was not very big, but it was very good!!!! Maybe not like a real Italian 10cm fig, but I am very happy anyways! Two more are about to become ripe.

    21/8-2011
    And quite a few more are to be seen on the plant, but they are far from large or ripe unfortunately.
    26/7-2011

    14/6-2011

    Hope they will make it before Winter comes. It is very special though to see a plant without any leaves but with figs on it. Funny!

    Producer's information
    In catalogue: It produces fruits twice a year: once at the end of July/beginning of August and once in September/october. The fruits are formed as a pear, with a colour going from golden to brown (40/45 grams). The meat is read. It is the fig plant that is supposed to be most resistent to cold and is recommended for the Northern and Eastern areas (My little note: of France, of course.... Do not think this applies to Sweden). It is perfectly suited to be grown in containers.


    On the tag: Place in a sunny position. Gives big and juicy fruits. Ripe for picking: July-August. Trim: March. Height approximately 150cm.

    fredag 19 augusti 2011

    Pyrus salicifolia maybe...

    Latin: Pyrus salicifolia maybe...
    Swedish: Silverpäron
    English: Willow-leafed Pear, Willowleaf Pear, Weeping Pear
    Purchased probably in 2009 at Blomstertorget

    We purchased this tree as a grown tree as we wanted to have a tree from the beginning and not start from a small thing. It was rather expensive and not easy to transport, but it got home and we created a flower bed around it to crown it.


    8/7-2009
    The stem was nearly 2 meters but it was not very thick. We had to use three stocks to stabilize the tree.
    The tree looses all its leaves during winter time but it can become very beautiful anyways when the snow freezes the branches.
    30/12-2009
    In two years time, the stem has not grown in length as I think it is not supposed to as I have understood it, but it has become thicker and we are considering removing the stocks now.
    Also the amounts of branches has increased.
    21/5-2011
    Personally, I felt like it was "weeping" too much so I came up with the idea of cutting the branches so that the growth will go upwards. The idea was good but I did it too far down. Will repeat the process later in September but starting further up. Let us see if it becomes beautiful then. I have some picture in my head about how it should look. The idea is to get it grow in width rather than downwards.
    This tree gives beautiful white flowers in spring, but they are not very visible from far as the leaves are green-grey. In July-August, it gives unedible (really, unedible, I tried) small pears.
    6/8-2011

    6/8-2011



    lördag 13 augusti 2011

    Less than a two-day absence....

    ... does miracles.... Yesterday, we left for a short trip to Stockholm with mom and dad and when we came back, things had changed in the garden... :O)

    More strawberries were ready to eat and more blueberries from our favorite blueberry plant. Not a surprise... But:
    • two very large blueberries were spotted on the one blueberry plant that did not seem to give any blueberries for this year
    • the "wild strawberries" had grown to a huge amount and some of them to a size of nearly 3 cm...
    • the rhododendron Cunningam White had bloomed (!!!) again. Please note it is the 13th of August...
    • the newest miniature rhododendron has bloomed (!!!), too.
    • The first Dahlia Catherine Deneuve has bloomed.
    • The Dahlia Honka surprise has given 2 more flowers and there seem to be quite a few more on their way 
    • The dahlia in the hosta flower bed has now two neat flowers
    • Nearly all sunflowers have now flowers (yesterday, there were only 2...)
    • The roses had bloomed again (at least two of the white ones, but also the orange one)
    • Nearly all nigellas have bloomed now
    • At least 3-4 tomatoes were spotted on the green tomato plant outside!
    • I spotted beetroots sticking out of the ground
    • The salad, which we have been eating 4 people from the last 10 days, seems to be increased to a humongous amount...
    Am I forgetting something?! Hehe... Coool!!!!!

    torsdag 11 augusti 2011

    Sedum oreganum

    Latin: Sedum oreganum
    Swedish: Oregonfetknopp
    English: Oregon Stonecrop
    Purchased at Blomstertorget 6/8-2011

    Now where the rockery is nearly on place, we were out looking for what plants that are available for rockeries and saw this plant. It was very "little", but promising so we purchased 2. And not to underestimate the value of the sticker picture... :O) Let see if it holds the promise in reality, too.
    6/8-2011

    Producer's description
    Dark red-green, fat rosettes that spread to low, thick, winter green carpets about 5cm high. It blooms in July and August with yellow flowers of about 10cm. It prefers well-drained, dry places. It is very resistant to lack of water. It is well suited for rockeries, very dry slopes, walls, etc.


    Brasato

    This is a typical Italian dish that my grandmom used to do on Sundays and we used to eat it together with Polenta.
    This is not the traditional recipe, but something that tastes and smells pretty much alike and has very similar ingredients.
    Ingredients
    3 teaspoons oil
    25gr butter  (but if you ask Mom, you'll have to at least double the amount of all mentioned fat :O) )
    1/2 carrot
    1/2 celery stalk
    5-6 leaves of sage
    3-4 small pieces of rosmary
    500gr small steak onions (originally, the flat onces should be used, not available at ICA though)
    3 cans of mashed tomatoes
    500gr prime rib (Swedish: Högrev)
    1 solo garlic
    1 can of water
    1 teaspoon salt
    2,5dl red wine

    Instructions
    Grate the carrot and the celery stalk. Do holes in the meat and chunk in sage, rosemary, garlic in them. Salt (and pepper if you wish. I don't). Put carrot, celery and possibly sage and rosemary if you haven't chunked it all in the meat already in the oil and butter. Let it go slowly so that the fat catches taste. Brown the meat in it. Put onions in. Through the wine in and let the alcohol evaporate a little.

    Put everything in a croc pot including the tomatoes and the water and let it cook for about 6 hours starting with 3-4 hours high heat and the rest low heat. Grandmom would actually cook it in a pot for 2-3 hours instead. Of course, Grandmoms tastes better, but I am not sure what more magic she did on the stove. :O)

    Actually, I did brown meat first and put it in the crocpot and then reused the fat for the onions. That worked fine, too.

    I do recommend to eat it with sliced hot polenta and gorgonzola.

    Lemon Pie


    A little background

    Not sure why, but I got really into eating lemon pie. Nothing that usually happens to me. It was mom's exam party and we needed a dessert anyways. Found a recipe on Tasteline. Following it gave a rather weird result: the crust mixture became too dry and crumby and it was far too much for one pie. Actually, I managed to do two pies with it and still have too much in each and have mixture left to do cookies with. So this is the modified recipe I will follow next time I bake this pie. This version serves 6 people well after a well-fed dinner. There won't be anything left though... :O)
    6/8-2011

    Crust
    50gr sugar
    1 good teaspoon vanilla sugar
    120gr flour
    100gr butter
    1 egg yolk
    1 good teaspoon lemon zest

    Filling
    For those that desire a lot of filling look at the numbers in parenthesis instead...

    2 tablespoons lemon juice (3 tablespoons)
    1 teaspoon lemon zest (1 good one)
    80gr sugar (120gr)
    40gr flour (60gr)
    2 eggs (3 eggs)

    Instructions
    Mix sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon zest and flour in a bowl. Add butter and yolks and mix. I used my KitchenAid with the blender tool.
    Butter a pie mold and distribute the mixture in it evenly. Put in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
    If you desire to have a perfect cake, you might want to use e.g. cheek peas to bake the crust: put aluminium foil on the crust, put 300gr cheek peas in it and bake for 10 minutes at 200degrees. I skipped that part as such fuzz bores me, but I am pretty sure you get neater results if you do.
    Whip eggs for the filling with sugar until fluffy. Add flour, zest and juice and whip some more.
    Put the filling in the pre-baked crust and bake for some 15 more minutes at the lowest level in the oven to avoid the pie to burn.
    According to the original recipe the pie should rest over night in the refrigerator. I did not really saw this until I had already eaten the pie, and I can tell that the not that cold version was very good anyways.

    I served it with blueberries and raspberries at the top and sprinkled some confectioner's sugar at the top.
    6/8-2011
    Tasted great to be a lemon pie really!

    onsdag 10 augusti 2011

    Pinus mugo 'Gnom'

    Latin: Pinus mugo 'Gnom'

    I once saw at a plant shop the most amazing tree. It was a Pinus mugo 'Gnom' over 1 meter tall and pruned to give it a very exotic look. Only downside that stopped me was the price. After some time I saw a little plant of the same kind and had to purchase it. I would let it grow myself and take care of the pruning myself.
    So home we went with this little guy and planted it towards the neighbors border as it would contrast wonderfully with the white garage of the neighbor.
    7/6-2011
    Little downside to it: I do not have the heart to actually prune it in reality. Only a few cuts have been carried out so far, but a few though is more than nothing... :O) The plan is though to keep a maximum of three branches on each round of branches. Each second round, I might either cut or keep 3 branches but turned in a different way compared to the ones below.

    In the meantime, the neighbor planted some hedge on their own and the tree kind of disappears with that background, sadly enough.

    The tree has kind of doubled its size since we purchased it, but is still a little cute tree.
    2/7-2011
    We even spotted one cone on it this year :O) Neat! We have used fertilizer for conifers, which kind of gave it a growing boost. I believe it kind of enjoys water, too. The less it rains the less it thrives.

    Producer's description
    Shiny dark green, long needles. Buds are very decorative. Ball-shaped, very dense, up to 3 m high and wide.
    Tolerates frost.
     
    Producer's instructions
    Soak plant in water before planting. Dig hole of twice the width and depth of the ball. Insert plant and fill up with soil. Water well after planting.
    Enjoys sunny position and has no specific soil needs. Normal rain is sufficient. Use customary commercial fertilizers in spring and summer. It needs no pruning and requires no special care.

    tisdag 9 augusti 2011

    Tulip Maureen


    This is a very beautiful tulip: long stemmed, with a clean white colour.
    21/5-2011
    It is though as any tulip very tasty for bunnies and bambies so it can be a good idea to protect them with some stinky substance that keeps those guys away.
    These were presents from Janne, but I guess he purchased those at Schiphol Airport. I got them twice (actually three times, but I happened not to plant them correctly the last time - or actually not at all as it snowed before I made it). The first time I put them in the grass. That is not a really good idea as you are not supposed to cut them away until the leaves have become yellow and that impedes grass mowing for a far too long time. Plus if you have a robot mower, it will cut them when they are in bloom  :O(((( The other bunch was put in a specific bed, which was much smarter indeed. We'll have though to refurbish the bed as it has become rather "crappy".