More Christmas mood / Dar daugiau kalėdinės nuotaikos

Christmas mood / Kalėdų nuotaika

This is going to be our first Christmas upside down. Quite difficult to get into the mood when there's no sign of winter outside. I gave it a try anyway.

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Artėja pirmosios mūsų Kalėdos aukštyn kojomis. Gan sunku pradėti gyventi kalėdinėmis nuotaikomis, kai žiemos nė kvapo, bet pabandėme.

1-nice-word-a-day advent calendar / Vieno gražaus žodžio per dieną advento kalendorius

Kitchen decorations / Virtuvės papuošimai

More crafts on the way. / Toliau karpau ir klijuoju, tad bus daugiau.

Truffles and perfect risotto / Triufeliai ir idealus daugiaryžis

Last weekend I finally went to two foodie places in Sydney. The Essential Ingredient and Herbie’s spices. At Herbie’s among other things I had bought some fennel pollen. I shall write about it as soon as I make something with it.

This time I want to write about The Essential Ingredient or a free tasting session they were hosting. The Wine and Truffle Co from Western Australia was introducing fresh truffles to the foodies in the shop. Internationally experienced Australian chef Travis Harvey demonstrated how to treat fresh black truffles. He made creamy truffled eggs and truffle risotto. I was not impressed by the eggs, but risotto was delicious. Chef was friendly answering all the questions to those few shop visitors about making the perfect risotto. His tips are:

1. The secret to a good risotto is a good stock.
2. Cook the rice in the butter until the grain ends start to be glassy and transparent.
3. Add only hot stock not to lower the rice temperature. Otherwise your risotto shall become gluey.
4. Add the stock, one ladleful at a time, stirring until it's absorbed. This releases starch from the rice, which makes the risotto creamy.
5. When the rice is ready, take the pan off the heat and cool for a minute before beating in the cold butter and finely grated Parmesan. Now it is time to season your risotto with salt and pepper.

After Travis Garvey cooking lesson I read more about the perfect risotto and found a very good article on the issue in The Guardian.

Representative from The Wine and Truffle Co told that fresh truffles should be kept in a air tight jar with some paper tissue, which should be changed each day as truffles do not like humidity. A truffle should be used within 10-14 days. They cost a fortune, but when you buy one, so it's enough for many dishes.

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Praėjusį savaitgalį pagaliau nuvykau į dvi foodie vieteles Sidnėjuje. The Essential Ingredient ir Herbie’s spices. Herbie’s spices parduotuvėje be viso kito įsigyjau ir pankolių žiedadulkių. Parašysiu apie jas, kai tik ką nors pagaminsiu su jomis.

Šįkart noriu papasakoti apie The Essential Ingredient arba jų patalpose surengtą nemokamą ragavimo sesiją. The Wine and Truffle Co kompanija Vakarų Australijoje auginanti juosuosius Australijos triufelius, atvežė naudo derliaus triufelių ir pristatė juos parduotuvėje besisukinėjantiems maisto mėgėjams. Tarptautinės patirties turintis australų virtuvės šefas Travis Harvey demonstravo, kaip elgtis su šviežiais juodaisiais triufeliais. Jis gamino kiaušinienę su triufeliais ir daug daug sviesto bei triufelių daugiaryžį. Nebuvau sužavėta kiaušiniene, bet daugiaryžis buvo neapsakomai skanus. Virtuvės šefas mielai atsakinėjo į klausimus kaip pasigaminti idealų daugiaryžį. Jo patarimai: 

1. Gero daugiaryžio paslaptis – geras sultinys.
2. Ryžius pakepinkite svieste, kol kruopų galiukai taps lengvai permatomi.
3. Ant ryžių pilkite tik karštą sultinį, kad nesumažėtų ryžių temperatūra. Kitaip jūsų daugiaryžis pavirs klijais.
4. Sultinį pilkite samtis po samčio, maišydami, kol jis susigers. Po truputį pilamas skystis padeda krakmolui išsiskirti iš ryžių. Taip jūsų daugiaryžis taps kreminės konsistencijos.
5. Kai ryžiai jau išvirę, nukelkite keptuvę nuo ugnies ir minutėlę palikite atvėsti. Tada įmaišykite šalto sviesto ir tarkuoto parmezano sūrio. Dabar metas daugiaryžį pagardinti druska ir pipirais.

Po Travis Garvey maisto gaminimo pamokos pasiskaičiau daugiau apie idealaus daugiaryžio gaminimą ir radau apie tai puikų straipsnį The Guardian tinklapyje.

The Wine and Truffle Co kompanijos atstovė papasakojo, kad triufelius reikia laikyti uždarytus stikliniame inde kartu su popierine servetėle, kurią reikia kasdien pakeisti. Triufeliai nemėgsta drėgmės. Teisingai laikomi triufeliai turi būti sunaudoti per 10-14 dienų. Ir o taip, jie kainuoja šūsnį pinigų, tačiau nusipirkus vieną - užteks ne vienam patiekalui.  

Astalicious #3

Once again I was holding Astalicious party. This time each guest had to tell me one ingredient two days before the party and I had tried to make an entertaining menu. 

Cinnamon (Sam) - cinnamon sugared bacon

Avocado (Tracey) - salmon and avocado timbales

Prawns (Diana) - prawns and chorizo tapas

Mango (me) - snow pea prawns with mango dip

Star anise (Amelia) - sorry, I have failed to deliver something with a star anise. I was planing to make this, but seafood shops around me did not have the main ingredient. The dish is postponed to future Astalicious.

And on the top of everything - a three layer chocolate cake. Recipe comes soon.

Good day recipe / Geros dienos receptas

Cooking and cookbooks are  two main ingridients for a foodie heaven? Don't forget to spice with food shows! 1-3 July Sydney excebition centre held Good Food & Wine Show. Five hours in the show were gone like five minutes and I am looking forward to the next year show. 

Wines and other alcoholic drinks were attracting quite a lot of people, but still big crowds were gathering to watch one or the other celebrity chef's food session.
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Maisto gaminimas ir receptų knygos yra dvi pagrindinės sudėtinės dalys maisčiuko/smagurio (foodie) rojuj? Nepamirškime pagardinti maisto parodomis! Liepos 1-3 d. Sidnėjaus parodų centre vyko Good Food & Wine Show. Penkios valandos parodoje pralėkė kaip penkios minutės ir aš jau laukiu kitų metų parodos.
Vynai ir kiti alkoholiniai gėrimai sutraukė nemažai žmonių, bet jų netrūko ir vieno ar kito įžymaus šefo maisto gaminimo sesijose.

My picture of the day: MasterChef Australia judge Gary Mehigan was rocking for a big crowd and made spicy pumpking with chicken kofta and chocolate mousse with honey cumquats. 
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Mano dienos nuotrauka: MasterChef Australia vertintojo Gary Mehigan rokenrolas dideliam žiūrovų būriui, begaminant aštrius moliūgus su vištienos kofta ir šokoladinį musą su kinkanais meduje

If to forget about the wine, so the most popular products in all the show were oils, vinegars, jams, pickles, relishes, chutneys and fruit butters.  

Product tasting was available in most of the stands, so I am glad I did not have time to eat breakfast that day. Chocolate, smoked meat and sausages, spices, herbs, fresh apples, surdough bread, tea, chai, sparkling wine and cider, pasta, pastry and much more I can't recall in my mind.
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Jei užmiršti visus vynus, tai populiariausi parodos produktai buvo aliejai, actai, uogienės, marinuotų daržovių padažai ir užtepai, relišai, čatniai ir vaisiniai sviestai.
Paragauti produktų buvo įmanoma beveik kiekviename parodos stende, tad džiaugiuosi neturėjusi laiko papusryčiauti tą dieną. Šokoladas, rūkyta mėsa ir dešra, prieskoniai, žolelės, švieži obuoliai, duona su raugu, arbata, chai, putojantis vynas ir sidras, makaronai, saldūs kepiniai ir dar daug visko, ko nebesugebu prisiminti.

There were also some paid food classes available: home barista, butcher workshop, cheese workchop etc. 
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Už papildomus pinigėlius buvo galima sudalyvauti namų barista kursuose, mėsininko ar sūrio gaminimo praktiniuose užsiėmimuose.

I had a great day!
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Buvo nuostabi diena!

Other blogs writing about the show: Simon Food Favourites, The 2 Little Piggies, Yummy Stuff Goes Here and probably more posting this week.
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Kiti blogai jau parašę apie parodą: Simon Food Favourites, The 2 Little Piggies, Yummy Stuff Goes Here ir tikriausiai bus dar daugiau parašiusių šią savaitę. 

Double picnic day / Dvigubos iškylos diena

Today is International Picnic Day and I had a crazy day. I got ready for a small family picnic in Bobbin Head. Champagne ham sandwiches with cream cheese. baby spinach and tomatoes, cold elderflower drink and honey jellies. And then I realized I have no memory chip in my camera. I knew something like that will happen one day, but why today??? It took me a few minutes of deep breathing to recover and start eating the food. My husband came up with plan B. After picnic we went back home, did some shopping on the way, got ready for another picnic and went to a small park outside Sydney to watch the sunset. Strawberries, grapes, cherries, honey glazed cashews and marshmallows. And a sparkling wine. And a camera with a memory chip inside. And a sunset. It was so good to sit down and enjoy it. For 2 minutes. Then my older boy ran into a dam with all his clothes and shoes on. End of the calm picnic :)

I wish I was in Shpilka’s picnic as it seamed to be a really relaxing one.

Nobody else took part in my virtual picnic this year. Let’s hope more people will be willing to join next year.

Now I start looking forward to the world’s greatest picnic, which takes place in Sydney. Great that I am in Sydney too!

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Šiandien tarptautinė iškylų diena, o mano diena buvo lengvai beprotiška. Susiruošiau mažai šeimos iškylai Bobbin Head'e. Šampaninio kumpio sumuštiniai su kreminiu sūriu, jaunais špinatų lapeliais ir pomidorais, šaltas šeivamedžių gėrimas ir medaus želė. O tada pamatau, kad fotoaparate nėra atminties kortelės. Žinojau, kad tai nutiks vieną dieną, bet kodėl šiandien??? Teko keletą minučių giliai pakvėpuoti, kad galėčiau pradėti valgyti iškylos maistą. Bevalgydamas vyras sukurpė planą B. Po iškylos nuvykome namo, pakeliui dar užbėgau į parduotuvę ir turgelį, pasiruošiau naujai iškylai ir išvykome į mažą parkelį už Sidnėjaus ribų stebėti saulėlydžio. Braškės, vynuogės, vyšnios, meduje skrudinti anakardžių riešutai ir zefyriukai. Ir putojantis vynas. Ir fotoaparatas su atminties kortele. Ir besileidžianti saulė. Buvo taip gera prisėsti ir mėgautis visu tuo. 2 minutes. Tada mano vyresnėlis su visais rūbais ir batais įlėkė į prūdą (tikriausiai ančių rimtesnei vakarienei pasigaudyti, nes uogom gi gyvas nebūsi). Iškylos pabaiga :)

 

Labai norėčiau, jog būčiau buvusi Shpilkos iškyloje, kuri dvelkia jaukumu ir ramuma.

Daugiau niekas į virtualią iškylą neatvyko. Tikėkimės, kad kitais metais atsiras daugiau norinčių prisijungti. O dabar aš pradedu laukti šauniausios pasaulyje iškylos, kuri vyksta Sidnėjujė. O aš juk irgi Sidnėjuje!

Picnic time! / Iškyla!

Photo by babiesgottahaveit

In a weeks time it's International Picnic Day. Let's have an online picnic all together!

Please send me your picnic food and/or drinks photos with or without recipes to villa.alps @ gmail.com untll 17 June.

Welcome to the picnic on 18 June! There's place for everyone on online picnic blanket!

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Po savaitės pasaulis švęs Pasaulinę iškylų dieną. Kviečiu visus į virtualią iškylą!

Siūskite man savo iškylų maisto ir/ar gėrimų nuotraukas su ar be receptų į villa.alps @ gmail.com iki birželio 17 d.

Susitiksime iškyloje birželio 18 d.! Vietos ant virtualios iškylos pledo atsiras visiems! 

Merry Christmas / Linksmų Šv. Kalėdų

Dear readers, thank you for this year together. I enjoyed every comment I received. Hope you enjoyed the food! Wish you cozy, warm and peaceful Christmas holidays with your families! 

P.S. I will be extraordinarry happy to know that something from this blog shall be prepared for your Christmas table.

Happy holidays!

Asta
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Mieli skaitytojai, ačiū už šiuos metus kartu. Aš džiaugiausi kiekvienu paliktu komentaru. Tkiuosi jums patiko mano siūlomas maistas. Linkiu jums jaukių, šiltų ir ramių Kalėdų su jūsų šeimomis!

P.S. Labai nudžiuginsite, jei kažkas iš mano tinklaraščio atsidurs ant jūsų kalėdinio stalo.

Gražių švenčių!
Asta

Vasaloppet

Photo: www.langd.se

Today is the day of Vasaloppet. Each year first Sunday of March is Vasaloppet day. Yep 90 km skiing in classical style. Crazy people. And there are thousands of them! Today around 13 600 participants came to the start.

National Swedish TV channel SVT sends direct all the race. We woke up and watched it from 8 a.m. The SVT had reporters in the start area, racing ones (yes, yes, they did ski quite fast with the leading group for a while, some did ski all the race), reporters in the intermediate points with hot blueberry soup and of course in the finish. Vasaloppet is a very important event in Sweden, so it is not strange that so much effort is put to entertain the TV watchers or let's say those who did not dare to ski themselves :)
My favorite part of the race is the start. Yes, I have to wake up early on a Sunday morning, but it is worth. The view how thousands of people try to start moving, get stuck in a jam as soon as the first uphill begins is impressive. The organizers try various solutions how to speed up the start of those standing not in the front lines, but still it takes time for people in the back to start moving. It can take not seconds, but minutes.

Photo: www.langd.se

Then it gets a bit boring to watch how a few strong elite skiers are racing for more than 4 hours, but I keep watching for the funny interviews with skiers racing not for a result, but just for fun.

Many Swedes think that Vasaloppet is something they have to do at least one in a lifetime. Patrik did it. And want to do it again. And he thinks I should do that as well. Well.... we'll see... Maybe... Someday...

As Vasaloppet was so popular through the years, so the organizes developed it to the whole Vasaloppet week with some shorter events like Ladies Vasa, Half Vasa, Open Vasa etc.

During Vasaloppet week around 40 000 competitors drink:
46,000 liters of blueberry soup
40,000 liters of sports drinks
6,300 liters of coffee
12,000 liters of bouillon – all served in 900,000 cups.
They also eat:
800 liters of whole meal gruel
109,500 Vasaloppet sweet rolls

Almost 60,000 race numbers, the equivalent of enough fabric to cover two soccer fields, as well as 450,000 meters of sewing thread, are also used for the race.

During the race each person that take part in it looses from 2 to 5 kg of weight. In average that makes 3,6 kg lost weight of each competitor. That means that roughly 500 persons disappear in the tracks each year.

So if you want to go fast in weight, just ski this famous 90 kilometers race between Sälen and Mora. The result is guaranteed :)

During the race one competitor produces around 1 kilowatt energy, so during the main Vasaloppet race around 14 000 kilowatts of energy are produced, which is enough for a quite big house electricity consumption during 1 year.

One day goodies

Already in January I marked the 24th Feb in my calendar that I should blog about very special Swedish bun called semla. But as I was sick, so I missed the day and thought let it be till the next year as it is not actual any more. However, yesterday on book sale I bought a book Semlor by Mia Öhrn, read it this morning and decided to write. Better later than never, as we say in Lithuania.

Actually the tradition of one day goodie eaten only during Fettisdag (direct translation: Fat Tuesday, equivalent to Shrove Tuesday or Pancakes day in England, Mardi Gras in French speaking countries, Užgavenės in Lithuania) already do not exists. Some Swedish false start eating semla already a few months before. Konditori Dalpojken in Stockholm start baking them already in December. Elsewhere semla start to appear in January/February.

What's so special about this bun? For me it's a seducing combination of whipped cream and marzipan filling which makes me close my eyes and say mmmmmmm when taking a bite.

In Mia's book it is stated that Swedes eat up 7,4 semla per year in average. I do eat it in a traditional way - once a year, but only one semla. Probably that's the reason why I am looking forward till next Fettisdag.

In Lithuania the traditions are close to English and French as we eat a lot of pancakes and crepes, but we have carnival elements as famous Mardi Gras carnivals in Venice, New Orleans and Quebec. I never was to a carnival at Rumšiškės open air museum in Lithuania, but people say it's worth to go.
Mia states that the tradition of eating lots of pancakes comes of the need to use all the eggs before 40 days fasting. Might be. Shame on me, but I do not know the origin of it in Lithuania. That I will explore till next Užgavenės. And next year I shall bake semla myself.