Little pleasures

Last week-end we were all at this magical place:

Austria. Alps. And:

Blueberries!
(The European species, of course.)
There were so many of them that we simply couldn't eat them at once, so we brought a bottleful of them with us  home.
I washed them, they were really beautiful - and so good!

All it took was to mix two,three ingredients together, put the dough into the oven and let the muffins cool on the rack:

Yummy!!!!
Blueberry muffins!

If by chance you have found some blueberries, too, and would like to try my recipe out, here's how I make them:

Rinse the blueberries.

Mix :
200g sugar
105g softened (liquid) butter in a bowl.
Add
1/2 tsp salt 
2 eggs and stir well.

In an extra bowl mix 210g flour 405
30g wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder

Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture and add a little milk (around 100ml, just until the consistency is just fine)

(If you wish, add a little vanilla flavour, but not more than one drop)

Now carefully mix in the blueberries.

Put them into muffin stamps or jars or... and bake them for about 25 minutes at 180°C.

After baking, let them cool on a rack and serve them with milk or hot chocolate.

Enjoy!

Joseph.

Archaeology

Rule no. 1:

One shouldn't dig around in the knitting cupboard. One might end up finding something like this:

Bad, bad idea. What was this supposed to become some, ehem, years ago? If you know, please, tell me!



Have a nice knitting Friday!

Joseph.

Superdupereasycake!

I've had several requests for my recipe.

It is really easy, so here we go:

Mix
290g butter
250g sugar
2 tbs vanilla sugar
a pinch of salt
5 eggs
360g flour 405
20g whole wheat flour
12g (approx.) baking powder
add a bit of milk so that the dough gets elastic (a few tbs should do)

Butter 5 half-litre-glass jars  (must be suitable for baking in the oven!) and put half of the dough into them making sure the rim is completely clean.

Heat the oven to 175-180°C.

Add 20g cocoa powder and
a spoonful of dried cherries or cranberries to the rest of the white dough, mix and fill into the jars (attention: do not fill them too high as the dough will rise notably in the oven!)

Bake the cakes for about three quarters of an hour.

When they are done, take them out of the oven and close the jars immediately. While cooling they should seal hermetically and will stay fresh for weeks. 

Once you want to serve them, just dust them with some icing sugar. Serve with a generous cup of hot chocolate.

Enjoy!

Joseph.

Mittens, simple.

Yes, I make mittens. Some time ago I finished a plain and simple pair in children's size to try them out and I have to say I'm more than pleased with them. The yarn is fine merino in eggplant, bought in Italy during a trip some years ago and it is really perfect for this project: warm, incredibly soft but still sturdy - I mean, they are mittens, after all. They have already warmed cold little hands and have survived several trips to the the washing machine, so what you see is a "real life" photo. Ahem, photos. Well, here we go:

This one shows the colour.

 After the cuff, I did not increase since the thumb increases were enough to accomodate the hand nicely:

The part for the finger tips has an odd shape. Poor child - had to try them on every row. Result: strange, not centric, but perfect fit!

(This one doesn't count, just playing around with the colour.)

Resumé: Making mittens isn't difficult at all, just don't forget to make two matching ones!
Joseph.

Of stash and men.

I have a stash.
It is a rather big stash.
Actually I think it is huge.

For example there is a whole container with nice soft merino wool (rests) in the brightest colours. Different brands, but all of them are mostly the same thickness, and that's good.

I will see what I can make from it.
And this is the start of a whole new story.

Baby Steps

I am going to get accustomed to this site - one step at a time.

Let's have fun!

Joseph.