Coffee obsession

We make do...

Belgium Slice

Fortunately, Solomon Islanders as well as our expat friends like eating sweet things! 

So I get to obsessively bake but don't have to try and eat it all!

Recipe:

Ingredients

120g butter

½ c white sugar

½ c brown sugar

1 tbsp golden syrup

1 egg

2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

about ½ c raspberry jam

Method

· Cream butter and sugar, then add golden syrup then egg

· Mix in dry ingredients

· Roll out half of the mixture to cover the base of a 18 x 23cm slice tin

· Spread with raspberry jam and then cover with the other half of the 

  mixture rolled to fit (this patches really well)

· Bake at 180c for 20 minutes

Once cold ice with plain white or pink icing (I used about 2 c icing sugar, 1 tsp butter and enough milk to make a smooth icing, then I added a couple of drops of red food colouring). Sprinkle with raspberry jelly crystals.

Cousins!

Pizzoccheri...

We were given some wonderful foody presents by our Italian friends on holiday...

1. This rustic pasta (pizzoccheri). As you can see by the box it has survived

many weeks of travelling...

2.  Some gorgeous Italian Parmesan - the real deal...

3. This special herb from the mountain area of northern Italy...

We got to try the original version of the pizzoccheri pasta with a family 

in the Italian alps near the Swiss border. This is it:

This is the family:

Here's the New Zealand/Solomon Island version:

Yummy!

Recipe for 2:

Ingredients 

250g pizzoccheri 

100g butter

1 clove garlic

100g cheddar cheese

Grated Parmesan

Salt and pepper 

150g cabbage or spinach (we used choisam)

2 potatoes cut in small cubes

Instructions

Put the diced potatoes and green vegetables in a large pan of salted water, bring to the boil. When the water boils add the pizzoccheri and cook for a further 10 minutes. Drain. 

Arrange a layer of pizzoccheri, then cover with small pieces of cheese and sprinkle with Parmesan. Repeat until all ingredients are used.

Season with a sauce of melted butter with garlic, diced onion and fresh sage. When golden brown pour over the prepared dis and season with freshly ground pepper (we used the pesteda). 

Decorate with a sprig of sage.

After a light rain...

That was fast...

Planted mesculin on Friday... By Monday it's sprouted!

Solomon Islands on the website

http://www.jw.org/en/

 

Getting back into baking...

My new acquisition!

So that means donuts...

That was fun!

This was more of a cakey style recipe. Next time I'll try a yeast one.  The recipe comes from here:

http://ahappyfooddance.com/baked-cinnamon-sugar-donuts

My next gardening project...

Particularly interested in the lavender to see if it can handle the humidity...

By the way, the strawberry plant from last year is hanging in there. I think this may not be the original though... maybe one of its runners.  Don't know what I am doing wrong as I can't seem to get fruit. Help anyone!??

We're back and we're feeling the heat!