Rice, ice, and Sinterklaas

November has passed in a blink and we fell into Sinterklaas before I knew it, with cold, sunny days, hard and full days at work, a few nights out and recipes.

Memories of my first Sinterklaas? First consideration: how good it is, when you can share these cosy little moments with your family, even when it is only a couple of people and it is not even YOUR family. But my boyfriend's one member of his family that lives here is what we have, enough to say that we have such family moments, especially during festivity times. The dinner. The presents and Secret Santa, the poems. Everything so genuinely simple and authentic. I'm aging and being surrounded by unconditional love is reassuring - knowing that it exists with no particular effort or commitments, it just existed before you were born. Second consideration: my boyfriend has good taste. And got me an amazing present. I am convinced that I will be remembered as the one that would quote this movie at every suitable occasion, even because it is one of the few I really love everything about - from the incipit at the airport, to the enigmatic conclusion on the bus. No movie could sum up so well the spirit of those years, using music so wisely, choosing actors that matched their roles so well. To the smallest detail: the poster, one picture that manages to carry the whole movie spirit, atmosphere, and intentions.
And like a real masterpiece does, it stays - in minds, memories, and now even on a decorative object in my house, at least for the time being,
The LP is history. The music by Simon & Garfunkel in this movie just fits it so well - it's pop music, light and airy but with a hint of intense melancholy that changes it dramatically. I find the LP really pretty, and not only because, now you know, this movie is in my personal top 3 of all times, but because it is vintage, it carries a tiny bit of the rebellious spirit of the movie, and the construction of the picture itself is innovative - geometrical, feminine-centred, sexy, contemplative. I love to be the proud owner of it and I will treasure it as an exciting memory of celebrating my first Sinterklaas in the first year I moved to the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, the days we were experiencing cold - EXTREMELY cold - days in Amsterdam, I regressed to a childhood status in which I felt I needed a more energetic breakfast than plain oatflakes and milk (healthy is not always the answer, people. Right? Right.)
So I went for a super comforting breakfast that tastes homey, sweet and old fashioned: in Italian we call it risolatte, which means "ricemilk". And it's nothing more than rice (risotto rice, to be precise), boiled in milk and sugar, often with a piece of lemon zest or sprinkled with cinnamon powder at the end. A version of these dessert is actually quite common in Greece and in many other countries, including Spain.

To be completely honest, I hardly had risolatte for breakfast when I was a child. My Mum was sometimes making very simple cakes or puddings, but risolatte has never been part of the most-prepared recipes at home. However, in my mind rice is an old fashioned ingredient that turns a simple custard in something a little bit more complex: starch makes everything thicker of course, but at the same time rice grains add a "sandy" texture to the cream, a more rustic appearance and taste.
I find it quite interesting as an ingredient, and that's why I feel attracted by traditional recipes such as the rice cake typical of Emilia Romagna (in Italy) or the tarte au riz, which I sooner or later would like to taste (and make).
Going back to risolatte, a rice pudding is what a granny would prepare with just a couple of ingredients that everyone keeps in the pantry: it's comfort food, it's easy to make, it's full of taste. And I just happened to have a couple of spoonfuls of risotto rice (Arborio) that I could use. I boiled it in semi-skimmed milk and a bit of sugar. I added cinnamon. And, because I wanted it dark, creamy, dessert-like, I added cocoa powder, enough to make it look like a chocolate custard. Ready: chocolate cinnamon risolatte. Next time I would bring milk to the boil with an orange zest for a fresh citrusy touch, and possibly would top the rice pudding with toasted almonds.
Result? Three days' breakfast sorted, and a happy girl (me).

Homemade Nutella - chocolate and nuts spread for inspirational snacks

November is heavy rain and windy mornings.
November is Sundays at home, watching movies, reading books. And, of course, November is chocolate. Hot chocolate in a cup? Chips cookies? Decadent cakes?
As for me, I go for a jar of Nutella. But not the industrial spread, loaded with palm oil and sugars: although quite tempting, I am more into REAL chocolate and as I said I find Nutella definitely too sweet for my taste. I'd rather make my own.

The web is packed with interesting versions (even the famous David Lebovitz has one - even though I doubt I'd ever purchase powdered milk to prepare Nutella as it's obviously something I would not normally use in everyday life) but I went for the only one that was already tested before.

A friend of mine suggested to try this recipe. Although not specified in the instructions, she suggested to process the sugar as a first step, to make it as fine as flour and avoid to feel the grains in the smooth cream.
Unfortunately my blender is not powerful enough to make it as smooth as I desired. A little crunchiness from the sugar was still there. However,  I was at least surprised ro realize that no bits of hazelnuts ruined the result. This would have been a difficult issue. But blending the hazelnuts in multiple times actually worked well, and after toasting, pulverizing them while they are still warm also probably helped to get the oil out and turn the hazelnut flour in a homogeneous paste.

The quantities are perfect for a Bonne Maman jam jar. These jars also pretty enough to be used for a small homemade present.

I didn't change much in the original recipe, both in the ingredients and in the instructions. Only change I did was to use half milk and half dark chocolate, as I always prefer to balance the sweetness with a hint of bitterness for good measure. And I didn't regret it.

The cream turned out to be quite hard, so it's better to keep it in the fridge only the couple of hours suggested until it reaches the right texture. After that, it is advisable to keep it in the pantry - even though I am not sure about how many days it will last before the oils gets rancid.

As we are in Sinterklaas time in the Netherlands, I decided to make it as a little present for a couple of friends, decorating the jar with coloured paper (originally sold for decoupage purposes) and a modern-look ribbon.

And now... can you think of all the infinite versions of Nutella we can experiment with? Other than a Tahinella (no explanation needed here), I am thinking of cashews and macadamia nuts, maybe using only dark chocolate and icing sugar, with a drop of honey, for the sweet taste. I have already found out that people tested different versions, but I'd rather stick to my recipe and use a mix of chocolate and cocoa powder instead of cocoa only. However, I find the idea of using nuts oil quite attractive and I happen to have a small can of pistachio-almond oil that I got as a present from Italy. Sounds good, no?
I'll keep you posted.

Decorative paper: Action
Ribbon: Hema (set of five)

Multiple ideas cake

 This cake is the result of a rainy Saturday morning with too much time on my hands and too many rain showers outside.
I was at home, quite bored and disappointed as normally I would have gone to Dappelmarkt to find a nice cut of fabric I have been looking for (projects projects projects!) but the weather was too unstable and, in the very end, me too tired after a rather stressful week at work.
The same morning I had been reading my feedly where I keep the best list in terms of inspiration: BLOGS. Many. Blogs. They are mostly food blogs, but I also have a couple of lifestyle ones in my top 10. Also, I have my bunch of favourites that I haven't changed since years. Sadly some of the girls behind them are currently taking a break from their respective blogs and they don't post stuff that often anymore, but their legacy is on the web for us to enjoy. I am sure that there will be occasions to mention my sources again in the future and, since many of them are Italian, I will happily sacrifice myself to translate their recipes whenever I feel that they are particularly interesting.

So I was needing something to fill up my day and I decided to try the trick I read about the same morning. It was about a certain crumble Nutella cake, and the trick itself is simple yet quite ingenious: freezing the Nutella in the same tin we will use to bake the cake, in the shape of a flat disc, and later use it frozen to create the filling between two layers of crumble cake. What for? The frozen Nutella would melt in the oven, but keeping the creamy texture it would normally lose after being baked. Not bad, right?

Too bad I had not a single drop of Nutella at home. We are no big Nutella-eaters, and I usually fall more easily for real chocolate. For a moment I considered the idea of going to the closest supermarket and quickly get a jar of the magic cream, but again rain showers put me down and I gave up.

Instead, I thought of that excellent organic chocolate bar we had purchased a few weeks back: is there maybe a leftover bit I can use for my cake? Well. Was I really serious when I believed that a chocolate bar could last so long in our house? Or, rather, in EVERY house? Ahem.

It ended up with the easiest solution but all in all it was a win-win.
I simply made a dense custard cream using 500 ml of milk, a couple of spoonfuls of granulated sugar, grated lemon zest, a spoonful of flour, mixing it well with a whisk on medium heat until it became thick enough (from the moment it started to thicken up I boiled it only a minute more).
While the custard was cooling down, I made my crumble dough, just use your favourite one.
Compose the cake over a parchment-lined tin (mine is 22 cm) by layering the dough with the custard: reserve a handful of crumble for the top. Bake until golden, let it cool down, and enjoy a well-deserved slice with a cup of tea.

Autumn inspiration

One of the things I am very glad about is the fact that this year I am finally experiencing a proper autumn, exactly the way it should be. Ideally, autumn calls for comfortably warm afternoons spent on a sofa, sipping from a cup of cinnamon-scented tea, accompanied by a slice of freshly made appeltaart, under our favourite fleece blanket. Can't be farther from what it actually is in Rome - too warm to even think of the idea of comfort as described above. And in Dublin, around this time of the year, summer was leaving to grey, depressing days.

On the other hand, Amsterdam has offered amazing autumn days recently. Crisp air, sunny days, blue sky, make a nice contrast with the warmth of the reds and the yellows that are decorating the city with their powerful nuances.

I feel especially lucky because the legendary Dutch summer 2016 with its warm days and so little rain has left to an even better autumn atmosphere. I personally prefer cold weather over hot one, therefore I welcomed the fresh autumn breeze with a smile.

I would never get tired of filling my eyes with such a beauty and I took a couple of occasions to grab my camera and visit places where I knew the colours would have been at their best. The shots are taken in Amsterdamse bos and in Appeldorp, in another bos I can't remember the name of.

 Pictures have been taken over a couple of weekends in different light conditions in October 2016.
All pictures are taken by me with an Olympus PEN E-P3.

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Dodism is my little space of mine where I express thoughts and opinions about things I see, I read, I can't stop thinking of.