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September 18, 2014

Packing and playing

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If you follow my Facebook page (if you don’t just get over and see the pictures of our lovely new place!) you would know by now that in few weeks time we are moving to a house! Yes a house, with a garden , with a huge kitchen with so many bedrooms and bathrooms!  I cannot even believe it’s going to be our place.

Moving is exciting times but packing is literally endless.. endless! Obviously every time we moved from a flat to a bigger one we bought more stuff, more kitchen gadgets (never too many!) and more toys! We have alreay packed at least 5 boxes of toys and we have left a few outside which will entertain the children while we are busy boxing all our items.

Just recently we got our kids some Mega blocks and I can tell you I’M SO glad we did because in difficult times like moving house there is nothing better than find the perfect toys which will entertain your kids for hours! Every time we take them out of the lovely storage bag,  both Leo and Bee play on the floor with them for ages!

Just recently  Leo has learned to hit people, cats, furniture with anything he holds in his little hands. I think he just likes the noise that the object makes agains something or the screams from Bee when he runs after her with the intention to hit her.  Poor Bee..

What I like about the mega blocks is that they are fairly light but at the same time stable when the kids build towers, houses, etc. therefore when they play with them, Leo can only knock the towers Bee builds as he doesn’t get any reaction when he attempts to hit her with one of these light block (a big plus when you leave them alone playing together!). Plus Mega block come in a big zipped bag so it’s very handy to keep them tidy and especially to pack them as the last item to take with us in our moving!

I like watching them playing together and the blocks are definitely helping their social skill. Although they fight to get the biggest piece or a certain colour, I can see that often they try to build together a tower or they help each other fetching the blocks a bit far away.  I always liked these simple toys because they encourage creative play in children and they can teach them about colours, shapes and balance. Plus it’s one of the few games that they can actually play together. Bee and Leo have 3 years between each others and often Bee enjoys playing with toys that are far too big for Leo. Mega blocks are actually easy for young toddlers to handle but still much fun for pre-schoolers because they free their imagination.

I’m planning to buy more of these Mega blocks as  both my children enjoy them plus we have still many many hours of packing so I better get some quickly!

 

 

 

 

August 27, 2014

Dolce Gusto coffee machine… you will love it

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When I think of Dolce Gusto the first thing that comes to my mind is not coffee.. it’s George Clooney!! Ok, alright I’m joking but I did ask if the Dolce Gusto machine would have been delivered by him..

Aaanyway let’s talk about coffee. Who isn’t crazy, addicted and needs it more than air!??! Not me.. I have to be honest I should be ashamed of being Italian and not loving passionately a good short espresso.. I just don’t! It makes me tachycardia, every time I drink one I almost feel like my heart is exploding and I’m about to have a heart attack! I do love a good cappuccino though, in the morning like most Italians do, but I seriously cannot be bothered to fill the Caffettiera (the traditional coffee machine that every Italian owns) with water then top it up with ground coffee, then wait for the coffee to “venire su” (to come up – basically the water goes all the way up to the half top of the pot) so I just give up and make an instant coffee, kettle on and it is me happy… until now…

The idea of owning a coffee machine is my husband’s dream; he’d love a huge super professional steam coffee machine. I could not care less, my dream machine would be one which is easy to use, fast and gives you a drink that tastes good…

I FOUND IT…

I’ve always been a bit reluctant about coffee machines that work with pods so when I was asked to try the Mini Me Dolce Gusto I was more excited about the beautiful design of the machine itself thinking it would look amazing in my kitchen than the idea to make coffee. Let’s not forget the colourful pods that come with it!  I was happy to give it a go and my husband was curious to put it to the test and compare it to his beloved Caffettiera.

I am the kind of person who doesn’t like reading instructions so the easier the better and this machine really amazed me: making coffee could not be simpler! You just need to fill the tank of water at the back, press the button on the top, wait for the light to become green and add the chosen pod (for latte or cappuccino you would need to use 2 pods, one for the coffee and one for the milk). On the pod you can see the suggestion for the amount of water needed,  easily set it on the machine and your coffee it’s ready in literally 30 seconds!

Yes, it is that easy and the result is fantastic! Not only you get a tasty coffee at a perfect temperature (cannot stand when you go to a coffee shop and the coffee is so hot that you need to wait half an hour before drinking it) but the foam is fluffy and delicious and it smells amazing! The choice of flavours and combination is huge,  you literally become addicted and would like to try them all.

I wish I had taken a picture of my husband tasting his first espresso made with Dolce Gusto. The little foam that usually a professional coffee machine produces was there, great taste was there, he was seriously impressed. Knowing that I was never too keen on coffee, he asked me if he could take it to his office and I obviously said no. It didn’t take me long to fall in love with this stylish looking coffee machine! To be honest the Dolce Gusto is actually pretty affordable so I might buy a second one just for his office.  The retail price is just RRP £99 and it comes with a free starter pack. The pods are £3.68 a pack but often you can find a deal  3 for £10 at Asda.

And if you don’t like coffee, you can always try a delicious hot chocolate ” Chococino” which again comes with a caramel twist or just plain chocolate, or you can try one of the teas available. Worth to mention that Dolce Gusto not only makes hot drinks but it gives you the option with a simple switch of a button to make a cold one, cool eh?

Love it, love it, love it, I could not recommend this machine enough especially because at the beginning I was pretty diffident about it and  then it totally won me over.

If I had to rate this coffee machine I would go for 9/10 and I take that point off only because I think it’s such a pity to have to waste the colourful coffee pods which obviously can only be used once.

If you are a coffee lover or not, if you drink lots of coffee or just the odd one, trust me,  The Dolce Gusto Mini Me IS the machine you want.

 

 

August 20, 2014

Edible cookie birthday card

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On Monday it was Nonna Nuti’s birthday so we decided to do something different and.. baked! Haha yeah but we didn’t bake the usual birthday cake, instead we decided to bake Vanilla butter cookies and make an edible Birthday card!

Nonna Nuti lives in Italy therefore we virtually gave her the card during our Skype birthday party! And then WE ate it!

We started preparing the cookies earlier the same morning when Leonardo went for a nap. Bee and I made the dough and then cut the letters out.

Then we baked them, cool them off and created the card! It was easy and fun!

 And cookies were yummy!

Nom nom nom…

Let’s play with the letters!

If you would like to make them too, you can find step by step instructions in this post

Happy birthday Nonna Nuti!

 

August 14, 2014

My Strawberry and Vanilla Swiss roll recipe

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This was our first week-end back from holidays and it was one of the busiest one ever!

I had booked tickets to go to the Foodies Festival on Saturday, then we promised some friends to join them afterwards for dinner. On Sunday I had to take Bee to a birthday party and in the between dropping and picking her up I had to get everything ready for dinner as we had friends coming over to taste my homemade pizza! Phewwwwwww

Obviously being just back from holidays, I completely forgot that on Wednesday the Great British Bake Off was on so I missed that!

The next day I noticed images of Swiss rolls popping up everywhere.. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest.. what was that all about?The Great British Bake off obviously! Therefore even if haven’t watched it (yet) I decided to do my first attempt to make a Swiss roll.

To be honest it’s not something that I would normally think to bake. I remember my mum used to make lots of these Swiss rolls when we were little so I thought to dig up one of her recipes and have it a go.

I dropped Bee off to the birthday party at 2pm and then I rushed home thinking that 1 and 1/2 hours  to prepare a swiss roll would have been enough.. at the end I made it but it was crazy (I mean look at these pictures I quickly took with my iphone!! ) because I wanted to bake it but I didn’t want to be the parent who was going to be late to pick her child up from the party!

I adapted a basic Swiss Roll recipe that my mum wrote on a recipe notebook… she gave it to me the day I left to move to Scotland… awwww!

Anyway, if I had to make it again I would avoid preparing this type of filling as although it tasted lovely, it kind of reminded me of strawberry yoghurt so I thought it was too much hassle to make something that ends up tasting  like yoghurt!

This is my recipe:

Ingredients for the roll
100gr of  flour
2 tbps of vanilla extract
140 gr caster sugar
5 eggs
red food coloring to taste
2gr of baking powder

Ingredients for the filling
50 gr of caster sugar
125 ml of double cream
125g of mascarpone
350 g of strawberries
8 gr of gelatin sheets
25 gr of powdered sugar

Preparation

Fist you need to start by making the filling. Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl with cold water for 10 minutes to soften. In the meantime wash and chop the strawberries and put them into a pan with the sugar and cook them just enough to soften.

Put the strawberries in the blender and blend until you get a puree. When the gelatine sheets are soft, squeeze them well and incorporate the strawberry sauce which should still be warm.

In another bowl combine together the icing sugar and mascarpone then add the strawberry sauce. Stir to mix the ingredients until you will get a light pink cream.

Whip the double cream  and incorporate it to the pink cream. Transfer it in a large bowl to cool, cover with plastic wrap and let it harden in the fridge for about 2 hours.

To prepare the Swiss roll place the egg yolks in a bowl (set aside the egg whites), sugar and mix add the vanilla extract and continue beating until mixture is light. Whip the egg whites separately and when you get stiff picks add the sugar.

Incorporate the egg whites by folding them with the rest of the mixture.

In a bowl combine the flour and baking powder, add it to the egg mixture and blend all together. Pick up a small portion of batter (around 4 tablespoons), take the red food coloring and pour a few drops in it, just remember to add the food coloring a little at a time until you get the deep red color.

Transfer the mixture in a piping bag and make the hearts of about 2 cm on a sheet of baking paper lying on a baking tray ( promise I can make better hearts but I was rushing rushing!)

Cook the hearts in oven preheated to 220° C for 2 minutes (fan oven at 200 degrees for about 1 minute)

Then take the tray out and spread the rest of the batter mixture into the baking tray distributing  it over the hearts.

Cook for another 7 minutes at 220° always in preheated oven (if fan oven at 200 ° C for 3 -4 minutes).

When it is ready, transfer it still hot on the work surface, sprinkle the surface with the granulated sugar and cover with the film. By doing so the roll will remain soft and elastic and easier to roll. When it has cooled, remove the cling film and spread the strawberry cream making sure to leave a two cm border.

Roll the Swiss roll and wrap it pretty tight (not like it did!).  Let the Swiss roll  firm up  in the fridge for about 4 hours, then dust it with icing sugar and serve.

TIP: You can vary the filling cream by using other fruits such as peaches or berries or just use plain jam and cream.

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