Papaya Carrot Salad

Recipe to follow :-)

Kvæfjord cake

Kvæfjord cake is the Norwegian national cake. This cake is also known as Verdens Beste Kake in Norwegian which literally in english means The World's Best Cake and it is indeed heavenly!.

I have looked on the internet and i saw 2 different methods of presenting this cake, one with sponge to sponge and the other sponge on top of meringue. Either way it tastes the same but for me i think it looks best with sponge to sponge.  


Kvæfjord cake
Adapted from the book Vårt Norske Kjøkken with a little change from me

Cake:

100 gr Butter


100 gr Sugar


4 Egg yolks

100 gr Flour, sifted

4 tbsp Milk


2 tsp Baking powder


1 tsp Vanilla 

Meringue:

4 Egg whites

200 gr Sugar

100 gr Chopped almonds

Filling
:

1 portion rum cake filling

1/3 liter double cream 

Method:

Warm the oven for 180 degree Celsius

Mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time and then add vanilla. Mix baking powder with flour and add alternately with the milk. 

Spread evenly in 20 x30 cm cake pans lined with baking/greaseproof paper.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Add the sugar a little at a time until forms a stiff mass.

Spread meringue over cake batter and sprinkle with chopped almonds. 

Bake the cake in the middle rack for 20 to 25 minutes. 

Remove from pans carefully and let it cool.

Prepare rum filling. whipped the cream and then combine with rum filling. 

Slice the cake in two. Place one cake on nice serving plate, spread with filling and place other cake on top.  

sponge to sponge

sponge on top of meringue

Greek Islands Sailing

Captain D's Yacht

Sea sick and darker skin were the things i had in my mind when hubby told me that we will spend a week sailing in the greek islands. 

It was Captain D, hubbys friend who invited us onto his yacht and we spent 1 week sailing from one island to other in Greece. Hubby had been there before but not me. It was my first time sailing and visit Greece.

It was an early start (again), we had to wake up half past stupid in the morning in order to catch the flight. After 4 hours flight we finally arrived in Preveza. We were welcomed with nice warm wheather, i would say its the same temperature as in Indonesia :D.  
Captain D picked us up in the airport and we went direct to a town called Nydri in Lefkada where he moored his yacht.

We set sail as soon as we arrived. It was 28,5 degrees C in the sea and around 37 air temperature. For the first part of our trip, Captain D streered the yacht however after a short while he handed over responsibility to hubby and me. Captain D took us to many different places and explained about many things. He was not just a skipper, he was also a tour guide hehe.

The week went so fast. We really had a great time there, sailing, swimming, sea fishing (we didnt catch any) and sunbathing (not me). Yes i got a darker skin and no i didnt feel sea sick. Another checked list on countries that i have visited yay!!!

Spartochori Meganissi



Kioni

Atokos

Pea Sized Hail

I have been living here for almost 2 years and now experienced hail raining down for the first time just a few days ago. I was at friends house when i heard a loud noise caused by pea sized hailstones, I noticed the sky was pretty dark and i tought it would be just normal rain. 

Its always nice to experience new things  (good one's of course). Luckily the hail didnt cause any damage. I cant imagine if the size of the stone is bigger :-).

Hokey Pokey

I was intrigued when i first heard of Hokey Pokey. It is a candy popularized by Nigella Lawson which also means honeycomb in Cornish terms. There is no honey in the ingredients but you can see why its called honeycomb from the texture :-). I find it too sweet but hubby likes it very much. 

Note: Please be very careful when working with boiling sugar.

Hokey Pokey
Adapted from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson

Makes 125g

Ingredients:  
100 gr Caster sugar
4 x 15 ml tbsp Golden syrup
1½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda

Method:
- Put the sugar and syrup into a saucepan and stir together to mix. You must not stir once the pan's on the heat, though.
- Place the pan on the heat and let the mixture first melt, then turn to goo and then to a bubbling mass the colour of maple syrup - this will take 3 minutes or so.
- Off the heat, whisk in the bicarbonate of soda and watch the syrup turn into a whooshing cloud of aerated pale gold. Turn this immediately onto a piece of reusable baking parchment or greased foil.
- Leave until set and then bash at it, so that it splinters into many glinting pieces.

Asian Shops

Is there an asian shop in Kongsberg? that was the first question to hubby when i decided to move here. It's just nice to know that there's an asian shop close by, eventhough i only started to cook few weeks after i moved :p.

Now there are 2 asian shops in Kongsberg, one is on the corner at Thornes vei

and the other is at Storgata close to the train & buss stastion.

They both open 7 days a week and have spices, fresh fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, neither has many varieties of fruits & vegetables from southeast asia. If we want these, we have to drive around 45 minutes to Drammen to one of the asian shops below.

 2 of my prefered asian shops in Drammen

Update: Both of asian shops in Kongsberg now sell more vegetables from southeast asia :D. even though the amount of stock is less but its something ^_^.