Algo acerca de mí (Something about me)

Este mes para el reto fotográfico de "La vuelta al mundo"*, Jackie nos propuso compartir algo acerca de nosotros: "Quién eres? Qué sueñas? En qué trabajas? Qué cosas te son inolvidables? Qué te hace llorar? A quién amas?"  La única condición era incluir un pequeño texto... así es que aqui vamos. Ah, y aqui está el link a Casi en Serio para conocernos mejor con la cadena de posts.
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This month for " La vuelta al mundo*", Jackie invited us to share something about us: "Who we are, what we dream, our work, unforgettable things, what makes you cry, whom we love". The only condition was to include a little explanatory text. So here we go...

*Remember, this group is open to anyone who wants to participate, you do not have to be a professional, just do your best and try to learn. There are people all over the world playing this game every month ! Come join! Here is a detailed explanation on how to start ! Also, do not forget to visit Casi en Serio for the chain of posts. Happy personal travelling around the world.

I am a vet, and I love cows, they are such curious animals !

 El librero azul turquesa dice mucho de mi. / You can tell a lot from me by taking a look at the turquoise bookshelf.

a. Una imagen de nuestra boda. / A snippet of our wedding.
b. Viajar me vuelve loca / I am crazy about travelling.
c. Colecciono recortes, fotos, envolturas recuerdos... / In this box I keep scraps, photos, souvenirs, memories....
d.. Julio Cortazar, una entrada gratis a un mundo mágico aqui mismo. / Julio Cortazar a free ticket to a magic world, right here.
e. Aprender idiomas siempre me resultó fáci,y  útil !! / It was always easy (and useful) for me to learn new languages.
f. Desde que aprendí a leer siempre estoy buscando nuevas aventuras, historias, cuentos... / Ever since I learnt how to read I am always looking for new adventures, stories, fairy tales...

Me encanta encontrar nuevas recetas, hacer experimentos, descubrir nuevas combinaciones. Y el proceso de prepararlo todo, de ir viendo como los ingredientes se transforman en otra cosa me relaja. Lo mejor es cuando los otros lo prueban y les gusta !

Cooking is therapy for me. I love to find new recipes, experiment, discover combinations. The process of making everything ready, to see how the ingredients mix and transform into something else calms me down. The best part is when people love the things I cook.

Little sister's wedding: of cartoons and colors.

The excitement is growing... we are all packed, all the boxes in my to-do list of last minute errands have been ticked, and now is when I get to tell you how all the inspiration went from Mexican-outdoor-party to Lilac and Turquoise. It turns out that my sister and her fiancé (well mostly my sister) are big fans of Disney movies. Early in their relationship, she started calling him Sully (from Monsters Inc).

So it was only natural for them to use the colors of the film for their decorations and cake toppers.  (I will show you those when the time comes, but it was an adventure to find them. We went to all kinds of toy stores and Disney shops but in the end the rainforest saved the day).

But if Sully was supposed to represent the groom it was a bit weird to use little Boo as the cake topper so we had to find a princess, or some other character to pair it with. We wanted someone wild and fun loving, not your regular syrupy girl. First we thought of Kevin, the crazy bird from Up, but it was impossible to find a little figurine. And then, we thought... well Rapunzel ! She is adventurous a rebel, and up for anything, and her dress happens to be lilac, so it was perfect. Also, she has a camaleon !

Anyway, I already showed you the dress I will be wearing. Well, my sister in law will be wearing a similar one in the same fabric. Have you read this article on how to coordinate mismatched bridesmaids? Since everyone is far away we decided to let everyone do their thing, sticking to a general palette.

 As for the accesories, I will be wearing lilac shoes, that I already had, and the boys will use these turquoise ties.  I am so happy. I literally can't hardly wait. And yes, I know details are not important and clothes and fashion and earrings and necklaces are irrelevant, but it is fun right ? And we have to wear something!

First images, in order, from here, here and here.

An Ukrainian kind of breakfast

 The other day, when I asked you for recipes involving ricotta, a few of you gave me your input. (Thanks so much, I love to try new things). Anna started talking about some kind of Ukrainian pancakes and I was sold. So, I followed the instructions carefully, and wow. Syriniki are truly delicious. They reminded me of a scone, except they are creamy, cheesy, inside, without being too liquid. We ate them with powder sugar, honey, and lemon curd. But I can see how the clotted cream and raspberry jam or fresh fruit can add to the flavor. Also, they were super easy to make. I am usually *afraid* of messing up food that has to be fried (deep or not) since I am always burning stuff. But these were a piece of cake. They are a traditional breakfast or dessert in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland where sometimes quark is used instead of ricotta. In Russia they are called tvorozhniki (творо́жники). And you know how I love to know the origin of words, so here you go:  

"The name syrniki is derived from the word сыр in Russian or  сир in Ukrainian  (pronnouced: syr), meaning "cheese" in both languages. Although the modern meaning of the word сыр (syr) in Russian is hard yellow cheese, the original word in Slavic languages stood for soft white cheese (similar to today's quark cheese, which is still called сир in Ukrainian but metamorphosed into творог, tvorog in Russian). Thus, the word syrniki, derived from the old meaning of syr, came to designate pancakes made from soft white cheese."*

 So now comes Anna's recipe. I just adjusted the quantities to what I had (250 gr. Ricotta, 1 egg, 2 spoons flour, pinch of salt, 1 spoon sugar, raisins).

Ingredients:
2 lb (~1 kg) ricotta cottage cheese
3 eggs
sugar, salt (to taste)
4-5 spoons flour (in my experience, you need more like 7 spoons, but start with 4 and see how it goes)
raisins (soak in hot water to soften, then drain).

What you should do
Mix together ricotta, eggs, sugar, and salt. Add flour one spoon at a time, while stirring. Add raisins.
On a large frying pan, heat up some oil (canola oil works well, but any kind will do). You will need a lot of oil for this recipe, as the pancakes are almost deep-fried. Using a table spoon, dole out mixture onto frying pan into pancake-size portions. Make sure they don't stick to each other. If the pancakes seem too liquid (they spread out too much, or fall apart when you try to turn them over), then you need to add more flour. But don't add too much because then they will be too heavy. Fry pancakes on one side till brown (but not burnt, which sometimes is hard to distinguish), and flip them over. Add oil as necessary between batches.

Best served with sour cream. I like to eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and as a snack. In other words, this recipe comes highly recommended!

* Source

Of flying books

This post by the smitten immigrant had us discussing about how I am really into sharing books. How I believe that books are not made to rest in shelves gathering dust, but should be made alive, read, again and again. Because of  that, added to the the fact that we don't have a lot of storage, I find myself giving books away to friends and relatives. Sending them to my best friend, who studied literature and now lives in Chile, or just randomly leaving them in places where they can be found and picked up by others (I hope). So when I found this short animation, I knew I had to share it with you.

Tea love

What to do with ricotta?

 You know how I made spinach ricotta lasagne around Christmas ? Well, my mom sent me the recipe in her own words, calling for equal quantities of spinach and ricotta. And asking for 2 kg. of spinach. So there we go for 2 kg of ricotta, which is a lot. I omitted to take into account the fact that the spinach would be cooked and that plants are 80 % water if not more. So now, we still have some ricotta left and I do not know what to do with it anymore. We used some over pasta and vegetables to make a creamy kind of concoction, and I made this zucchini cheesecake (which was delicious for me, but to lemony for the boy, so if you  are not a fan of citrus, use a bit less zest). But I am out of ideas now. And I am sure you all have tricks under your sleeves. Do you have any recipes with ricotta ? We have to use it soon...

* Photo via 101 cookbooks . I had made my own photos but our external hardrive just fell to the floor and it is broken. I have tears in my eyes stupid technological gadgets, and I am fighting against myself not to yell at someone sitting by me because he is obsessed with keeping things clean and thus erased the pictures from the camera and the other computer in which we had them.