dutch marginal

Ooit in Italië zo'n dun plakje panforte gekregen en je was gelijk verkocht? Het is een dure taart, maar het is altijd het geld dubbel en dwars waard. Er zijn heel veel recepten op internet te vinden, maar samen met mijn panforteverslinders thuis heb ik mijn eigen recept ontwikkeld. En dat wil ik delen, dus hier volgt het recept van onze ideale panforte. Rooster 360 gram amandelen licht in de oven. Meng ondertussen in een schaal de volgende ingrediënten: 360 gram bloem 5 eetlepels cacao 1 theelepel kruidnagel 1 theelepel nootmuskaat 2 theelepels kaneel 180 gram gekonfijte citroenschil 180 gram gekonfijte sinaasappelschil Doe de afgekoelde amandelen ook in de schaal. Warm ondertussen 700 gram acaciahoning in de warme oven Meng de honing met een lepel door het mengsel in de schaal, tot alles goed gemengd is. Leg een vel bakpapier in een platte ovenschaal van 30 cm doorsnede Druk nu het kleffe mengsel uit in de schaal en zet het in de heteluchtoven op 150 graden voor 30 minuten. De taa...

Heb jij ook al zo vaak geprobeerd om heerlijke Oud-Hollandse pepernoten te maken en worden het altijd meer kruidnoten? Een paar jaar geleden ontdekte ik dit recept en sindsdien lukt het altijd. Inmiddels heb ik het recept een beetje aangepast, maar het gaat vooral om de manier van maken. De smaak kun je variëren met wel of niet wat speculaaskruiden, meer suiker, roggebloem ... Weeg 190 gram volkoren smeltbloem af. Voeg 190 gram gebuild tarwebloem toe (80%). Voeg 75 gram maizena toe. Voeg een zakje bakpoeder toe, of zoveel bakpoeder als nodig is voor 400 gram bloem. Voeg 16 gram gemalen anijs toe. Giet 250 gram honing in een aparte schaal. Voeg daar 50 gram rietsuiker aan toe. Doe dit een minuutje in de magnetron. Meng nu het bloemmengsel met het honingmengsel en kneed het goed. Voeg tijdens het kneden 50 gram water toe. Als het goed gemengd is doe je het deegje in plasticfolie en leg je het een dag in de koelkast. Na 12-24 uur, als de smaken getrokken zijn, brokkel je het deeg en voeg ...

happiness is most close when you read. after that you can best go gardening to be happy and finally, having sex cheers you up too. but i know books that can make me utterly sad. gardening can make you sad too, when you see the plants dying in autumn and winter or when it is raining too much. and sex? well to be honest you sleep well on it but as an ultimate remedy for a dip, no, not for me. my recipe to wipe out that dip is to start making something, to do something that has to be done, to go outside, or like last weekend, to bring my son at half past six to a rowing-course and watch the rowers do their best in the early morning hours. and what to think of drinking something hot, like strong decaf or rooibos tea, taking a chocolate or a cacao bean and almond. or what to think of eating an egg, a banana or strawberries. they seem to be stimulating your dopamine content. and dopamine helps us to feel peaceful and happy. other people go for increasing the serotonine content of their bo...

do you know the nutcracker fairytale in the version of sophie dahl. i just read the story in her cooking book 'from season to season: a year in recipes'. the humorous, modern version of the old story reminds of the 'revolting rhymes' of her famous granddad roald dahl. if you do not know the story or would like to read it again, here is the link to the story on her website . and might you have some leftover bread at the moment, or cake or panettone, you can make her fantastic recipe for panettone and apple bread-and-butter pudding .

ever read farmer boy by laura ingalls wilder, you know, one of the little house books? i never read it upto last week, only saw the tv-serie. but really, do not miss this book. you will get visions of everything homemade, from butter and sugar to fabrics, shoes and all kind of tools. never knew you could keep ice frozen through the summer by using sawdust. of course, going back to that time is no option, but it gives you more appreciation for craftsmanship. why spend so much time with your computer, television or other machines. slow living, with the seasons a modern trend was just the essence back in those times. if ever you are dissatified with things you do not have, remember this book and enjoy the things you do have or do. why buy pink lemonade if at home there is always apple cider from your own apples and milk from you own cows. enjoy the clean water in the tap. enjoy the more than enough clothes in your wardrobe. enjoy life.

did you ever read any book of jules verne, or do you just know the stories from childhood? anyway, i decided to read the two books on captain nemo, travelling 20,000 miles under sea. i had difficulties finding the motivation to read through the first half of the first book, but then i got caught by the verne fever. the books are filled with future, considering they have been written in the 19th century. they remind me of the drawings and sketchings of leonardo da vinci. and, what a coincidence. i just read an article in the newspaper on plagues of jellyfish, while verne already predicts that plagues will occur in the future due to the overfishing of other fishes and whales for example. the balance will become disturbed and so it is. how can we ever say now, that we did not realize the consequences of our fishing and hunting, if even more than 100 years ago it was already predicted.

ever heard of it? fairchain, radically good coffee. moyee. it is delicious, absolutely worth the extra price only by taste already. and than knowing that you support the fairchain of coffee, it gives you a good feeling. try it too. and probably you will want more. click the logo if you are curious.

if you are super sensitive for motion, you probably already tried a lot of cures. as i do not like to take medicines and would like to enjoy travelling more, i renewed my search for a cure. last week i made candied ginger, as ginger still seems to be the best way to feel as less sick as possible. my son tried out. it is delicious and really diminished the sickness a lot. the only disadvantage was the ginger being really hot. now, after a week, it has become somewhat softer in taste. so try it out yourself. use a more healthy sugar like raw cane sugar or another sweetener if you prefer. the recipe i used: 1 ginger root, peeled and sliced add water (1 cup per 100 mg of ginger) cover and cook for 35 minutes or until tender drain the ginger, keeping the water weigh the ginger and add as much sweetener reheat the ginger, water and sweetener and keep stirring until the sugar (re)crystallizes (20 minutes) transfer to a cooling rack with backing sheet underneath and let dry the res...

did you ever hear of regrowing new vegetables from the scraps? i just came by regrowing carrot tops into new plants and discovered that you can regrow so much. of course we tried out seeds from vegetables and fruits before, even grew our own date palm but from scraps is something new to us. check out the internet if you are interested in doing so too.

at the canals in my home town you can find a lot of lime trees (tilia). beautiful trees with healthy fruits to use for tea and flowers that bees make delicious honey from. but as i was biking under the trees this week, my tires got stuck to the street a bit. i remembered the car being parked under it would turn into an dirty old car, as if parked there for a long time, in a few days. so i decided to exactly find out if the sticky street and dirty cars came from insects in the trees or from the trees itself. it seems that in particular, aphids are attracted by the rich supply of sap of the leaves. in turn, they are "farmed" by ants for the production of the sap which the ants collect for their own use. the result, a dripping of excess sap (honeydew) onto the lower branches and leaves, streets and cars. and as this honeydew is often covered with a black mould, a black sticky layer is the result. happily enough this sticky layer is only annoying to us while the trees do not ...

even red wine seems to be bad for your health. all the stories on red wine being good for the heart, seem to have been made from misinterpreted research. alcohol is poison. and that just now, when after years of not drinking a drop, i recently started with drinking a small glass once a month or so. i stopped years ago when i became ill for three days after drinking bubbles after a hard days work when i was very tired and short of breath. the first advice for those with any physical defect is to quit with alcohol, coffee and black tea. so i stopped with alcohol, coffee and black tea. the coffee came back when i was just permanently too tired but mixed with caffeine-free coffee. now red wine came back. but with the news article i just read, it seems to be as stupid as smoking. so i will just drink raisin juice instead of wine again. it is delicious though and relaxing, but i can think of other relaxing things.

i hate spoiling food so i always buy carrots without the greens on though then the greens probably have been thrown away anyway. but now, my daughter brought a big bundle of carrots with the green leafs from her own garden. reason to find out what to do with the green tops. and guess what. a world of recipes opened up, like pasta sauce, pesto, salad ... take a look yourself on the internet. and then to know it is very healthy, full of vitamins and minerals and even proteins. by the way, did you know you can also use the green leaves of cauliflower?

around this time, you wonder why the sweet chestnuts are delicious and the horse chestnuts, that almost look alike, should not be eaten. i promised my daughter to find out, so now i understand that sweet chestnuts come from the castanea family of trees while the horse chestnut comes from a totally different aesculus family. the horse chestnut is very bitter to us humans and even poisonous, while squirrels and deers love them. the horse chestnut tree is beautiful though, while flowering and during autumn. and the chestnuts we can use in crafting, like making a spiderweb, while eating the delicious sweet lookalikes. both chestnuts have medicinal properties. maybe in a next post more on that topic or just google yourself if you are curious.

did you already notice the new project from greenpeace:  GREENBEES sign the petition if you feel like we really have to help the bees adopt a bee perhaps ( this link for dutch people) use organic seeds, buy organic food and make your balcony or garden bee-friendly guide to make a bees paradise (in dutch):  bees paradise and more tips (in english):  happy bees

microsoft is producing smart chips by building a datacenter besides greenhouses. the datacenter needs to be cooled and the greenhouses need to be warmed. bell pepper growers work with energy from cogeneration. the datacenter uses the extra cogenerated energy for cooling and gives its residual heat to the pepper growers. chips with pepper and tomato  (in Dutch)

an informative website regarding living more green, fair and fine. in dutch though:  www.hetkanWel.net nice articles like the change that everyone picking up one piece of litter everyday would make. or all kind of recipes for using old bread.

most people love to drink coffee. but how sustainable is that in these times. here  you will find an article on it. it supports me in investing in more expensive coffee. to drink, but: arabica, organic, rainforestfriendly, birdfriendly, fair trade. it is investing in plant earth and still enjoying the moment.

on the search for tibetan barley bread i found this nice site with all kind of bread experiments, in dutch though. Wie bakt mee? the recipe for french bread is tempting. but first i will pursue some terra cotta tiles for my oven.

if you feel like cleaning your lungs, try eating broccoli or cauliflower more often. they possess the component sulforaphane, that cleans your lungs from bacteria. link to an article on this subject in dutch. link to an article on this subject in english .

two weeks ago i enjoyed drinking wine after a hard days work in the garden. unfortunately it worked not well and i was so ill. so, you can guess, i decided never to drink alcohol anymore. and what appears, a week later, the newspaper heads with 'alcohol can shake it'. the range of non-alcoholic drinks is rising. recipes for mocktails: http://www.cocktailrecepten.nl/artikelen/alcoholvrije-cocktails.html (in dutch, select non-alcoholisch in the search bar) http://www.cocktail.uk.com/db/viewAllCocktails.asp?type=4 (in english) but of course, just some clear water with or without bubbles and pure juices are already a feast to drink.