on thursday, after getting home from taking my bro to pick up their car from the airport and getting rid of the cast, i was very hungry and decided to try to duplicate a lemon-cream chicken pasta that i had on the ferry from stockholm to helsinki. the shop across the street at my apt didn't have the kind of chicken i was hoping for so the dish ended up being very different. i also got fresh pasta (which i never do) to go along with the sauce. obviously, you need a lemon...
the shop did have parmesan cheese, though, good cheese always helps...
in an ideal case i would have browned chicken filees, then removed them from pan and made the sauce in the pan. this time i lightly browned the chicken strips, added the cream and the juice of one lemon and let cook for 10 mins. i would have used some of the peel as well but couldn't locate my grater... at the end i added 2 tsp of sugar to balance the tartness of lemon (honey would have done the trick as well). meanwhile, i had cooked the pasta which i added with the parmesan to the pan and mixed well.
served it to myself with some arugula. it was even better reheated (as usual, i made way too much just of it) later at the shack
this would be the start of another pasta dish. i had just arrived at the shack and we were both quite hungry. there was something i call survival food (easy to make, keeps for ever, but isn't something to be eaten on a regulatr basis) in the pantry, namely a pasta parmesan in one of those bags that you just need to add water and cook for a few minutes. there was some ham in the fridge so i chopped it fine and added to the pasta mix. the knife is my souvenir from manchester to myself...
the dish wasn't that appealing but removed the hunger, for a while
yesterday we had been invited to one of the neighbour's for dinner, so for lunch i made something easy and ligther as i knew dinner would be lamb. i started with one whole wheat baguette cut in half, one side got mayo, the other red pesto
then some lettuce, mozzarella and serrano ham
then some fresh basil, sliced tomato and ground black pepper
close the lid and bite on...
i wanted to bring something for dinner and saw that as an opportunity to tackle my arch-enemy, cranberry vanilla coffeecake, i made one and a half batch. this particular cake has caused me more grief than any other cake and i've decided that i will bake it as many times as it takes to perfect the recipe (luckily there is plenty of cranberries in the freezer, still...). i have also figured out that the "finely chopped" cranberries need to be drained a bit to get rid off of some of the juices...
also, spreading the dough is rather particular. you miss a spot around the edge and all juices run to the bottom of pan... not good
adding the crumble
baked beautifully...
well, one of the two cakes was perfect and i wish i would have taken pics at neighbour's of it. the cake that remained with us wasn't perfect...see the top layer is much thicker than the bottom...it really should be the other way around. not that it affects the taste in any way, it would just look so much nicer!
yesterday, after coming back from walking the dog, we noticed something weird looking pushing up from the ground...
on closer inspection it was the rhubarb. never have i seen it being this strange color (or maybe i haven't paid attention to it...)
this is how the wrist looks now. the scar isn't that bad and will definitely be smaller and not as noticeable as the one on the other side of my wrist
ps. i just noticed that deb from smitten kitchen has baked the cranberry vanilla coffeecake...if you check her pics of the cake you'll see that the american cranberries aren't at all like ours...i'm certain the reason my cakes don't turn up as even as deb's did is in the cranberries. at least that's my defence and i stick to it!
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