happy new year!

i've been checking the pioneer woman's blog a lot lately and at her suggestion i decided to try leannen's little egg & bacon tarts. stopped at the store on my way to the shack from work but forgot, naturally, to buy mushrooms and didn't have that many eggs at the shack, but i went ahead anyway.

did remember to buy some puff pastry, it's sold in perfect amount to yield 12 tarts that i could bake in my muffin tin. this is one of those recipes that you could easily not follow to a tee, i had most of the ingredients but went about in my way. started by crisping 4 slices of bacon, then grated some gruyere and julienned (or something to that effect) one spanish pepper







then halved some cherry tomatoes and diced one ball of mozzarella







leannen's recipe calls for cutting out circles of the puff pastry, i decided that mine would look "rustic" and cut my pastry into squares. as i didn't have too many eggs, i used only four, added 1 dl of cooking cream, mixed all that and divided the mixture equally between the cups







loaded half of the cups with pepper and bacon







topped with the gruyere and black pepper







finished with 1 tsp of cream cheese







the other half got the cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and dried basil (fresh basil won't survive home from the shop, it's way too cold for that, -15C)







and the blob of cream cheese







they looked like this after 25 mins in 200 C oven








couldn't decide which one i liked better, ended up eating 2 of each... one of each and a nice green salad would make a great lunch







i've been thinking of making a new year's resolution. but, if i end up making one and tell you guys about it, i might actually have to keep it. on the other hand, and either way, you'd know what i've been cooking and baking, hence being able to know if i've kept my resolution or not. hmm, this matter requires a lot more thinking, will let you know what i decide. or not

oh, i know! i will renew my last year's resolution of not to buy any clothes in finland. it's quite reasonable and i really don't need that many clothes as i don't wear my own at work. also, i will finally take the heap of old clothes i've decided to donate to the salvation army.

it's only 9 pm but some of the neighbours (no that there are many at the shack) are already sending off their fireworks. the poor dog is trembling, shivering and panting with fear. he wouldn't even eat his dinner a bit earlier and that's saying a lot!

have a good one folks!

ps. certain someone has been in the studio recording, he would appreciate if you visited www.myspace/campkein.com (i'll make him pay me for this)