Mousse-like apple cake

 Overloaded with apples? No idea about the others, but in my house we tend to exaggerate a bit when it comes to apples. It is mainly because they are so versatile: they can be puréed and served with roast meat, diced and poached in wine and spices, or even eaten fresh for a crunchy break. In the Netherlands apples are sold in big batches and they are small in size, mainly because their purpose is to become an afternoon snack for kids at school. Normally they are sweet and have a pleasant texture, but it occasionally happen to be so unlucky to have a whole batch of tasteless, old, no refreshing apples. What to do? Why a cake, obviously!
And this is seriously one of the best, unusual, unexpected, elegant apple cakes you'll ever have. Promise!

 And so what's so special about it? First of all, it's a concentrate of fruit and vitamins, as you'll need 1.5 kilos of apples to prepare it. And I'm talking about prepared apples, so free from their skin and seeds!
The procedure is also a totally different one. Forget about fluffy yolks beaten with sugar; first, deseed, peel and roughy cut your apples, put them in a saucepan, add a good 60 grams of butter, 100 grams of sugar, and cook the apples until most of the water evaporates and they become a custard-like, creamy, dense compote. Resist to the tempting smell of butter and sugar; put the mixture aside until it cools down, add then 2 eggs (no need to beat them up!) and seven heaping spoon of all purpose flour. Mix well. Baking powder was also mentioned in the list of ingredients but I found it basically useless or so, however, it can be an idea to try with self-rising flour and see how it goes. A fee drops of an intensely scented vanilla natural extract complete the cake. Ready to go in the oven for 45-50 minutes at 180°. The cake will rise but collapse right out of the oven. No big deal though, as the creamy texture was perfect the way it was, it would have not been the same if it had been airy or fluffy.

 I also sprinkled a bit of granulated sugar on top to caramelize the surface of the cake and it turned out to be a success: the crunchy top was a real delight, beautifully contrasting the soft custardy texture inside.
All considered, I would not serve this cake for breakfast. It is a great pudding that finishes up a rich meal, perhaps a solution when you feel that you need a compromise between an easy cake and a creamy mousse.

This cake is a unique inspiration and I would be curious to try it with pears, or maybe enrich it it with a handful of raisins and pinenuts. Happy moussy apple cake to all of you.

Carpenter Brut in Amsterdam - and 2 hours in Hilversum

Sunday night of an eventful weekend sounds even more cruel than normally does.
I spent the Saturday morning sick and complaining at home (for the bad cold I caught is -reasonably- an opportunity to spend the whole day at home... although I cannot stand spending time at home when I know there are so many interesting things to do outside!) and what saved me was the concert we had the tickets for, the same night.
The artist is called Carpenter Brut and he played at Melkweg.
My boyfriend aka The Frenchman found out by total chance that Carpenter Brut would have played two  Saturdays ago just a few days in advance. He knew only a couple of songs thanks to his passion for videogames - this artist has composed the soundtrack for a couple of games that became quite popular among the fans. Me, apart from these few notions, knew basically nothing about him and had no expectations whatsoever.
And well, it was a great night. Music, electronics, visual effects, eighties, electropop and heavy metal all mixed together, if that sounds possible. It is! I love when art mixes up different experiences and I believe that the real artist is the one that wakes up all your senses in a truly multi-sensorial experience.

Talking about art, the Sunday we were off to Hilversum to grab the chance to see this year's World Press Photo exhibition. It's ages that I chase the exhibition year after year and in multiple places - I have seen it in Tokyo, Rome, and Dublin before. It is probably the most inspiring photographic exhibition and every year it doesn't stop to amaze me.
Extremely talented photojournalists depict reality behind a lens. They catch the right moments, the right people, the right light, only like photographers can do, and the way life looks in their eyes is even more realistic and authentic, like you think "yes, it can't but be this way". It's surprising how a simple sky, a poor house, a basketball match, an insect, a city wrapped in its thick cover of smog and pollution look strong, their colours so bright, their appearance so decadent. Whenever I am out of this exhibition, I feel that I love this world a tiny bit more.

Do it myself Xmas wreath and star balls for Xmas 2016

People who know me well know also the passion I have for creating things with my hands.
It started first with cross stitch, continued for a short while with knitting, and ended up with sewing.
I am now in the sewing phase and something tells me that it's going to be longer than the other two, as I find more and more pleasure in using the sewing machine.

At the same time, I also love to build up easy things with paper and whatever my mind gets crazy about. One day it can be a homemade birthday card, another one small felt letters for newborns (first seen here - and please, if you also are into sewing, please take a look at this blog!). And I aim at posting some creations here to share ideas and opinions with fellow DIY lovers.

I am aware that the things I make are not as beautiful as many others you see on the web, but I
decided to show them to the world even to prove that you don't need to be talented, nor to be extremely precise, to achieve a decent result. I am actually quite approximate and so whatever you see on this pages has proved to be an easy job. Also, believe me when I say that there's also plenty of room for corrections and it's not difficult to cover up small mistakes and imperfections.

Today I show you what I did to decorate our Xmas table for Xmas Eve and Xmas day when my family came to Amsterdam to visit us. I am not a huge Xmas tree fan, and I prefer to find alternative ways to recreate the right atmosphere. Additionally, I tend to avoid flashy colours and I rather go for something simpler and discrete.

I bought a pre-made wreath naked support and a few decorations to experiment with. I was not entirely sure about how to make it, so I purchased a few items such as tiny balls, cork-like stars, pines and faux leaves. At first my idea was to use the whole box of stars on the wreath, but soon I realised that I simply could not as there was literally no space. I tried with few and covered part of the leaves but it not worked as I wanted. Therefore, I ended up with a lot of leftover stars and balls.
I simply glued the back of the stars on the balls and, once the glue was dry, I kept them in a box wondering about how I could use them. Well, you know what... in the end I didn't really find any use for them. I just scattered them on the table around the wreath and the effect on the dark cloth was super nice!
My silver-navy blue Xmas table was a great success... with a tiny effort and few euros spent.