Tomorrow is Mardi Gras or Carnevale as we call it in Italy. Carnevale is a big event in Italy – kids even stay home from school! Everyone dresses up for almost a week and goes on parades with all kinds of floats.
Honey Hard Candy
Have you ever made candy? I have made caramel and sugar decorations (remember my Frozen cake?) and even lollipops, but I had never made flavoured hard candy before. I got the idea when I had my last cold with a terrible sore throat. I used to buy honey candy in Italy and I suddenly felt…
Tagliatelle Dolci di Carnevale
If you follow Manu’s Menu, you will know that Mardi Gras, or Carnevale for us Italians, is my favourite time of the year! Carnevale is quite big in Italy and all kids dress up for almost a week and go on parades with all kinds of floats. There are many famous Carnevali in Italy, like…
Tahini Honey Roasted Cashews
Today I want to share with you a fantastic recipe for Tahini Honey Roasted Cashews. Italians love and are quite famous for their aperitivo. For who doesn’t know what aperitivo is… it is our way to start off dinner. We usually drink some wine (cocktails have been introduced too, lately) and eat something with it,…
Lavender Sugar
I love the smell and taste of lavender. It reminds me of when I used to travel to the south of France with my parents. One of our favourite spots was Aix-en-Provence. We always stopped at the morning markets to buy beautiful bunches of lavender, hand-made lavender soap and all sorts of lavender perfumed items. …
Rock Candy Lollipops
I made these lollipops for Victoria’s Frozen party. I wanted to make some candy that resembled ice and these seemed like a cute idea. I actually loved the way they turned out. They really looked like ice and they were rough and sparkly. Just beautiful. Rock Candy is very easy to make, but it requires…
Salted Caramel Popcorn
I only recently discovered salted caramel popcorn. My husband bought a box of them from Costco for the birthday party of one of our daughters and I was quite sceptical about them at first. But that only lasted till the first bite. OMG, how could I have doubted these would taste so good? In fact,…
Bomboloni alla Crema
Happy Mardi Gras everyone! As promised in my last post about Ravioli di Carnevale, I am back with yet another delicious treat that is perfect to make and eat this time of the year: Bomboloni alla Crema – aka Italian doughnuts filled with pastry cream. To be truthful, Italians eat Bomboloni all year round, but…
Ravioli dolci di Carnevale #SundaySupper
This week we are going to have a Fat Sunday celebration for Sunday Supper! YAY! As you all know, Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras is on the 4th of March, so we are all sharing decadent or Mardi Gras inspired recipes. This is an absolute treat for me. If you follow Manu’s Menu, you will know that…
PIXIE DUST MARSHMALLOW POPS
Pops are always a great idea for kids parties. I love cake pops, but they can be quite time consuming to make and as I was already making quite a bit of time consuming food for Victoria’s 6th birthday party, I decided to go for marshmallow pops instead. They were a great hit at her…
CHERRY JAM
I must admit that I was not very fond of jams while growing up… I would always choose crème patissière or chocolate over jam filled sweets. It was way too sweet for me. That was until I went to Normady with my parents and some friends. We were staying at a farm and the lady…
TRUFFLE HONEY & VANILLA CRÈME BRÛLÉE
A little while ago, my husband and I went out to have dinner at a delightful restaurant called Chophouse. We ate really well and I was particularly impressed by their Wagyu Tartare with truffle aioli, pear, pine nuts & white soy dressing and by their Wagyu Striploin with harissa… divine! Also, I was pleasantly surprised…
HOME-MADE CHOCOLATE SYRUP
Today I want to share with you a very easy recipe. I love making at home, food that you would usually buy ready made at the stores. It is often so much tastier and definitely healthier! I actually had to make this for another recipe that called for chocolate syrup, which is an item that…
GRAVLAX WITH SWEET DILL MUSTARD SAUCE
Maybe you don’t know this, but since I was a teenager I have always loved Scandinavia. I love the long and bright summer nights and the short and cold winter days. I love snow. I love the beautiful Norwegian fjords and the Finnish lakes. I love the little and colourful Danish villages… Well, I guess…
CRÈME BRÛLÉE
Today I want to share with you the recipe of a popular French dessert: crème brûlée. It is one of those dishes that should be in every food lover cookbook as it is a classic, simple yet sophisticated dish that pleases everyone. I personally love it and it is one of my husband’s weaknesses. I…
TORTELLI DI CARNEVALE
This is a very special time of the year for all Italian children: it is “Carnevale”, the time to wear costumes and parade in the streets playing tricks on other kids and throwing coriandoli (round shaped paper confettis) and stelle filanti (similar to paper streamers) everywhere. It is like Halloween but it lasts longer (about…
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
Today we celebrate the Chinese New Year: 新年快乐! I am not Chinese, nor do I have Chinese relatives, but I live in a city with a huge Chinese community, so I feel it is the right thing to celebrate this special day. To do so, I made some special sugar cookies… they are eggless and have…
ICED ESPRESSO
I love coffee… well, I am addicted to coffee. Not to the brewed coffee but to espresso. I restrict myself to no more than 2 a day, but I could drink so much more. Only the smell of a freshly brewed espresso in the morning sets the day in the right direction. You know what…
CARBONE DELLA BEFANA – SWEET COAL
I thought of taking a little break from my Sicilian Street Food Party series of posts, to share this recipe with you. In Italy, Christmas holidays always end after January 6th as we celebrate the day of the Epiphany and the visitation of the Biblical Magi to the baby Jesus. That is also the last occasion…
TAMARIND CHUTNEY – IMLI KI CHUTNEY
This is a very easy recipe for a tasty tamarind chutney. It’s sweet and sour thanks to the perfect combination of sugar & jaggery and tamarind. The spice mix also gives it an intense flavour. You can make it as mild or as spicy as you like. I tend to make it mild so my…
LIGHT BLUEBERRY MUFFINS WITH LEMON SUGAR CRUST
I know there are many blueberry muffins recipes out there. A couple of years ago I was looking for one, but I did not find exactly what I was looking for. So I came up with this one that is really a mix of 2 or 3 recipes. I tried to look them up on…
