Day on the beach

Before moving, I had a vision of life in Goa involving daily trips to the beach and staying unbelievably fit and thin. As it turns out, we are not the fit beach types after all and we spend more time exploring various Goan eateries than swimming. Running Airbnb gave us the push we needed to dig up our swimming suits and get our asses out of the house and into the ocean.

For years, Agonda was our little holiday (or weekend) paradise, but with its growing fame came the growing crowd and so we began the search for a place a little closer to home. Recently, we started exploring the north and spending more and more time around Morjim- Arambol stretch. I can’t say it’s a big discovery as Arambol is quite a touristy place. We did, however, manage to find few corners which aren’t too well known. Now, when we have few empty-ish places to choose from, I simply can’t wait for the next trip!

Cinnamon buns with apple twist

Is there anything better than a cup of aromatic coffee and a cinnamon bun straight from the oven? Why, yes there is! I discovered it quite accidentally by buying way too many apples. Every time I go to the kitchen, they are sitting there, staring at me, waiting to be eaten. I have no other choice but work them in whatever it is I’m making. So far it has proven to be quite a delicious experiment. After making some apple cupcakes with cinnamon frosting (which disappeared so quickly, I didn’t have a chance to take even one picture) I figured, what the hell… why not try it in a bun.

Turns out, it is exactly what cinnamon buns were missing. Don’t get me wrong, I love them in pure, apple-less for as well, but I can never make them at home. Out of all the yeast based buns, these are the ones that dry the fastest… One day you have soft cinnamon goodness and the next – unappetizing stone. Apples magically solve the problem! Plus, apples and cinnamon… it’s a no-brainer! 

Buns (makes about 12):

1 cup warm milk

3 tsp dry active yeast

50g sugar

100ml oil (or melted butter)

1 egg

500 g flour

Cinnamon –apple filling:

8 tbsp brown sugar

2-3 tsp cinnamon (or more – no hard rule here)

1 large or 2 small apples – grated

Handful of raisins

50g melted butter

Glaze:

½ cup milk

½ cup powdered sugar

Vanilla flavoring (optional)

Mix yeast, 1 tsp sugar and warm milk and wait for it to foam (5-10 minutes). Mix egg, remaining sugar and oil and add to the yeast mixture. Add flour and mix until blended (I did it by hand and worked just as well). Let it rise for about an hour.

Filling: in small bowl mix cinnamon and sugar, add grated apple and raisins. Pour the melted butter and mix well.

Glaze: mix sugar and milk until well blended. If mixture is too thick, add a splash of water

Roll out the dough into a rectangle (less than 1 cm thick) and spread the apple- cinnamon filling evenly. Starting from the longer edge, roll the dough tightly. Slice with sharp knife into 1 ½ inch slices. If they lost shape, you can “help” them a little, before placing on a baking sheet.

Let them rise for about ½ hour, then bake for 15-20 min in 180 degrees. Glaze the rolls while still warm.

cream puffs on thursday

Last year I locked myself in the kitchen to produce Fat Thursday’s classic: donuts. This year, however, I really wanted sth. more weather appropriate... Deep-frying even the most delicious pastries is the last thing I want to do in 30 degree weather. 

And so… I made the cream puffs. I simply love how cute and elegant they look. They always remind me of Marie Antoinette, though that’s probably Coppola’s fault.

The best thing about puffs: they really are a super easy to make. Pretty quick too, if you don’t count the cooling time. In fact, I have no idea why I don’t make them more often?

One important thing to remember: they do have the power to make even the most ordinary day feel special!

Puff shells:

½ cup water (120ml)

60g butter

½ cup flour

2 eggs

Bring water and butter to boil – it’s best to use teflon pot. Add flour and mix energetically for few minutes. Be careful not to burn it.
After the mass cools down, mix in the eggs until smooth. Using pastry bag (or a spoon) pipe the dough onto baking sheet.

Note – puffs will “puff up” in the oven

Note 2 – you can use this recipe for regular round puffs, éclairs, profiteroles, etc.

Bake 20-30 minutes (until golden brown) in 200 degrees.

When the shells are cool, cut them in half and fill with whipped cream, butter cream etc. You can add fruits, drizzle them with chocolate or cover in powdered sugar.

Note 3 – you can simply pipe the frosting into the shell without cutting it.

Whipped pudding butter cream:

1 cup of thick vanilla pudding

100g butter

200 g whipping cream

2 tbsp sugar

In large bowl whip the cream and set aside. Cream the butter with sugar, add pudding and mix until well combined and fluffy. Fold the mixture into the whipped cream – refrigerate for 20 minutes.

The Notebook ... DIY

Recently, I realized that I kind of miss painting. Sure, I doodle every now and then, make an occasional illustration, but I haven’t been painting for ages, and I’m fairly certain I forgot how…  

What I really needed was a nice sketchpad. I actually have a bit of a thing about notebooks in general. It’s hard to explain but they just have to feel right.

Getting one was a bit of a problem. I couldn’t find anything suitable in local stationary and I didn’t know any of the brands available online. Well… there is always Moleskine, which I love, but using it for some embarrassing attempts would be just wrong. 

In the end I decided to make my own sketchbook. I found sheets of decent watercolor paper in the tiny shop called Paper Mint in Mapusa, and few excellent tutorials on Pinterest. 

In the end I used this one for stitching the pages and this one for making the cover. My book would probably turn out a bit neater if I actually followed any of the instructions instead of just skimming it, but it does the job.

I decided to make it more of an art journal in order to overcome the “it has to be perfect” paralysis. I have to say, there is sth. very liberating in having a designated notebook for all the experiments, trials and attempts, no matter how horrible the outcome!