All the more do I enjoy thinking about what I could make for the two of us on the weekend and then making whatever I have come up with.
Last weekend was mostly grey and cold, with some drizzle to make it even more November-ish - just perfect for spending more time than usual in my warm kitchen, and that's exactly what I did.
On Friday night, I made tomato soup from scratch. It looked nice with a dollop of cream on top and a sprig of Italian parsley (the variety that is not "curly") from the pot on my windowsill. What with O.K.'s arrival, making G&Ts for starters and then wanting to serve the hot soup quickly, I didn't take a picture. But it was as nice as I had hoped it would be, and I think I will make it again.
Saturday, we slept in (my biggest luxury on weekends and one I hate to give up when we have to be somewhere early) and then went for a leisurely run. It was cold, but with the right clothing, we weren't really feeling cold; breathing was not so good with the chilly air, though.
Back home, it was still breakfast time for us even though it was around 1:00 pm. We had fresh fruit (bananas and apples chopped up and topped with blueberries) with yoghurt and cream. By the time we were ready to leave again for a walk, it was close to sunset, which we caught the last beautiful bits of before reaching the fields where we walked for an hour or so in the dusk and then dark. I was amazed at how many other people we encountered there on the unlit fields; a few dog walkers (one dog was wearing a collar with lights), some people on bikes and others on foot.
We had reserved a table at a nearby Italian restaurant that has changed hands about a month ago, so there was no cooking that night. The food was good, service friendly, but there were hardly any other guests at the restaurant. I do hope business will pick up for them.
On Sunday morning, I finally did what I had wanted to do for weeks: Make Swedish cinammon buns! Monica (you may know her from her own blog) kindly gave me her recipe when I asked her for it. For the dough, I only made about half her original recipe (I knew that would be more than enough for us) but when I made only half the amount of filling, I found out I actually needed the entire recipe for the filling, not just half.
Without O.K.'s help, I don't know how my "snails" would have turned out - he made the second batch while I was in the bath. Actually, all I did was heat the oven, make the dough and the filling.
For the dough, I did not stick entirely to Monica's recipe, but used the tested and trusted one I showed you here, without the raisins.
For the filling, I mixed 100 g of soft butter with four tablespoons of sugar and three teaspoons of cinnamon.
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| One half of the dough that I rolled out - not the perfect shape to make into a roll... |
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| ...but O.K. still managed to create the desired shapes. |
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| Eight minutes in the oven at 225 C (fan on) was all it took. |
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| The second batch - O.K. is a lot better at this than I am! |
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| That's what I wanted them to look like! |
Once the buns were baked and cooled off a little, I put them in a box and we took them to my parents', where we had invited ourselves for coffee. My Mum had made a delicious soft cake with apples and bananas, the cinnamon buns were our contribution.
Afterwards, O.K. and I walked for another hour or so (in the dark) to get some exercise and fresh air. For our evening meal, I made mixed vegetables in the oven. We were both still full from yesterday's evening at the Italian restaurant and from coffee and cake that it was all we needed - plus some Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream for dessert.
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| Missing on the photo is the large yellow pepper that I added to the mix. |
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| Salt, pepper, ground ginger and thyme, plus olive oil. |
By the way, my kitchen still smells of cinnamon - in spite of having had the window open for hours! But I don't mind that; it just reminds me of a cosy weekend with plenty of comfort food.
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