Rhubarb Mascarpone Bites and Leftover Muffins

Once upon a time, I had a lot of rhubarb and surprisingly even mascarpone - yeah, yeah, I should switch to a different type of cheese and I really do use other types as well but mascarpone makes everything fancier. So feel free to substitute all the mascarpone in my recipes for a different cheese because I've certainly tried and the results were satisfactory. 

You'll need:

dough

•  3 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 table spoon sugar
• 1 1/2 table spoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups cold butter
• 1 cup buttermilk

cheese filling

• 1 cup mascarpone
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 yolk
• 1 tea spoons lemon juice
• zest from 1 lemon

rhubarb filling

•  2 big rhubarb stalks (about 400g)
• 1/3 cup sugar

assembling 

• 1 egg
• 1 table spoon water
• sugar

1) Spill all the dry batter ingredients into a food processor bowl and pulse to mix them. Cut the butter into smaller pieces and pulse again in the processor till it is very small but still visible. Add the buttermilk last and pulse again till it is combined. Remove from the bowl and knead. Wrap it in foil and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.

2) Peel the rhubarb, chop it to pieces, put it in a pot with the sugar and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat. Then turn the heat up and keep stirring till its very thick. That should take another 10 minutes or so. Let it cool down.

3) Combine all the cheese ingredients.

4) Remove the dough from the fridge and work with it on a floured surface. Cut it into desired shapes - for one piece you need two same shapes but there should be a hole in one of them. Take one, put it on a baking tray, smear it with beaten egg to which water was added, add a tea spoon of cheese and a teaspoon of rhubarb, cover it with the piece with the hole in it, gently press the sides. Smear it with the egg and sprinkle some granulated sugar on top.

5) Bake for about 20 minutes at 200°C.

And since I had a 1/2 cup of mascarpone mix and a 1/2 cup of rhubarb mix left, I decided to put it into muffins to make them moist. They turned out very yummy with the subtle sour note.

You'll need (18 muffins):

• 1/2 cup mascarpone mix from above
• 1/2 cup rhubarb from above
• 400g flour
• 12g baking powder
• 200g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 120ml sunflower oil
• 200ml milk
• as many chocolate chips as you want

 1) Just combine everything (adding the chocolate last) and bake at 180°C for about 25 minutes.

Tina Folsom: Samson's Lovely Mortal

Phew, I'm totally destroyed. Not only is it like gazillion degrees outside but I've just finished reading something I didn't know would turn out to be on the porn side. I never read what's on the cover I just buy stuff with vampires in it - that's all I need to know. Based on the cover I knew it would be a romance but I expected more action from it. Not just the sizzling heat. See, I expected a beach read not this.

It is a typical romance where the predator has to fight a little bit to get his girl but on the other hand, she isn't making it difficult for him. I'd appreciate more obstacles because those create action which is always nice since it gives you a break from the lust-filled lines you read. This is entirely up to you, if you want a fast hot read, the book is for you. If you need more build-up before the couple actually hits it off, you won't like it.

This is definitely something you want to read during the cold winter time because your body temperature will rise. Read at your own risk.

GENRE: romance

FANGS OUT: hooooot
FANGS RETRACTING: predictable with a few twists
TOTAL SCORE:

Black and White Cake with Coconut Balls

This one seems difficult because of the layers but trust me you won't regret making it. The batter is on the dry side but then you bite into the coconut part which is not and together with the runny topping it somehow creates such harmony you won't want to eat anything else for some time. 

You'll need:

batter

• 200g butter
• 150g sugar
• 3 eggs, 1 egg white (you'll need just the yolk in the next step so in order not to waste anything, I add the white here)
• 300g flour
• 250g sour cream
• 3 table spoons milk
• 15g baking powder
• 2 table spoons cocoa powder

balls

•  200g curd cheese
• 3 table spoons sugar
• 1 yolk
• 7 table spoons shredded coconut

topping

• 200ml milk
• 1 egg
• 150g sugar
• 5 table spoons tapioca powder

1) Let's make the balls first. Combine everything and make balls from it. Put them on a tray and put the tray in your freezer for a couple of hours.

2) Combine everything from the batter part with the exception of the cocoa. Start with beating the sugar with butter first and then just keep adding the stuff as you want. Divide the batter into two bowls and add the cocoa in one bowl. 

3) Put the white layer in your baking tray first. Smear the brown layer on the top of the white layer. Try not to mix them. Take the frozen balls and push them in the batter. 

4) Bake for 45 minutes at 180°C.

5) Combine everything from the topping section and bring to a boil. Cook for about two minutes and remove it from the heat. Set aside to cool. 

6) When the cake has cooled down too, smear the topping on it and put into the fridge where the topping will thicken even more. Serve after a couple of hours.

Malta Experience

One day my boss announces that there is a chance of us English teachers getting to a teachers' training course abroad if we are swift enough and the next thing I know is I'm packing my bags for a fortnight in Malta. Just like that. 

So, Malta in July is deadly. The sun burns your skin and you better stay covered or you'll turn into a toast. Your daily walk to school around a chemists which has a neon sign telling the temperature doesn't help in the least. I mean when you walk BEFORE eight in the morning and it is already 36°C you start to get summer depressions, trust me. They are a real deal. But that's not all. There are also the humid days during which you'll take several showers a day and once you leave the safe confines of your shower stall, you'll need to take it once again. To say nothing of the dense air which makes it difficult to breathe and carries all kinds of unpleasant smells. 

Really, you'll just have to reconcile with the fact that you'll be sticky 24/7. A local bitter sweet soft drink Kinnie helps. Swimming in the rough sea sometimes helps too but the rocky beaches are deadly and the sandy ones tend to be crowded and polluted. You will also start asking yourself why the heck would such hell be a strategic point and why would so many nations want to inhabit this small freshwaterless piece of rock since you can't really grow anything in there. 

I'll tell you. The local people who have been hardened by the terrible living conditions are total sweethearts. They are friendly, open and always helpful. There is very low percentage of crime which makes it super awesome when you don't have to watch your belongings all the time.

Then there's the food. Pastizzi are a very good choice of snack (though everyone warns you they'll make you fat if you eat them too often - like I care!) and since there are no cows or pigs around the diet is much tastier and healthier than back home. The cheese was mostly goat or sheep - I just love them. Oh, I just kept stuffing my pie hole with fish and vegetarian stuff and never wanted to stop.

Since it seems everyone goes to Malta to study English, you -as a teacher on holidays (I know, I know, I was studying but I was doing it abroad and that counts as holiday)- will have to take into account that not only adults go there. Even loud teenagers go there. So some parts of Malta are better not to wander into. Paceville my ass. Never going there ever. I'm supposed to take a break from them! But since the bus system runs around the whole tiny island, you can actually take a break from those screamers and find your inner peace in the city of Mdina. They also serve the best chocolate cake there. Not that such a small thing would sway my opinion or anything... Or you can visit that lovely fish market in Marsaxlokk and stare at the colorful boats for a change. Or, if you are into churches, you can choose one of the gazillion they have in Valletta. Really, they are on every corner. Or you can take pictures of all the door knockers you find - that should take a while.They are beautiful and together with colorful doors they break the boredom of the city.

Speaking of change, it's good to visit Gozo, the sister island of Malta. Malta is crowded and, well, dry and yellow. And looks almost homogeneous - that is one town blends into another without you noticing it. At least around Valletta you can't really tell you left one town and entered another.  Gozo, on the other hand, is a little bit greener. Green helps my summer depressions, I found out. :-)= There is one mystery, however. All the native dairy products I'd consumed during my stay mentioned milk from Gozitan goats. Where are they kept?! During our tour we saw almost the whole island and they were nowhere in sight! Do they live underground? And are they really goats? :-)=

Don't get me wrong, I had a really nice time in Malta it's just that I am not a summer person and I felt like I was turning into liquid.  I didn't like that. I like my present state alright, thank you very much.

But the people I met and the things I got to know were worth almost dying for. ;-)= As my Belgian flatmate would say: "Malta Experience!" -> this sums it up. In Valletta they show a short film about the history of the island called Malta Experience and basically it is all about one conqueror coming after another. So whenever something bad happened to us, we called it Malta Experience. It became a catchphrase of ours. But just like the brave people of Malta, we survived and even had a blast. 

Blast... the festas they hold every weekend almost made us running for a shelter the first weekend we were there. We could hear the cannons and after watching Malta Experience we thought the island was under attack again! ;-)= Just joking. But blasting sounds do cut through the silence quite often since the Maltese love to celebrate and boast about their fireworks skills. 

So bye bye Malta, hope to see you again but in winter or spring. :-)=

Strawberry Basil Drink

It sounds weird but actually tastes great. The basil is noticeable in the drink but it doesn't turn it into something undrinkable, as a matter of fact, it underlines the sweetness of strawberries. I recommend this one for hot days because it is very refreshing. Also, you can add your favorite alcohol to it, like rum or vodka, but since it's the school year again, I tried to steer clear from alcohol. But you don't have to ;-)=

Ingredients (4 cups):

• 1 1/2 cups mineral water
• 1/4 cup basil leaves
• 1 lemon (peeled)
• 6 big strawberries
• 4 table spoons agave syrup
• 1 cup ice

1) First, peel the lemon because you don't need the skin in here. You may dice the lemon to make the process faster. The strawberries shouldn't have the stem either.

2) Put everything in a blender and bled till only small particles of everything remain. 

3) Pour into glasses and enjoy!

Laurell K. Hamilton: Obsidian Butterfly

Don't judge the book by it's cover my ass. The reason why I keep buying these Anita Blake series is more about the really beautiful covers than about the plots in the books. Quite a long time ago I decided not to read it anymore because the protagonist started to be one horny bitch with way too many moral struggles and the books started to be more about her libido than about some serious supernatural action. I wanted to quit. But how could I when I got some more books in the series?

I must admit that Obsidian Butterfly is the best so far. It goes back to the beginning when gruesome murders are investigated and the protagonist's sex life goes into the background. Thank goodness. One can finally take a break and focus on the pure horror and action. I mean, sure, the protagonist still has that inner fight with her sexuality, but is is not as annoying as in the previous books. That's basically what they were about. But here the tables finally turned and we can enjoy supernatural investigation of one of the most horrible murders the protagonist has ever encountered. 

The plot has a lot of twists, the narrating doesn't skip anywhere, so you get the facts as the protagonist gets them which makes it both a little bit boring when it comes to form but unpredictable when it comes to the plot. 

According to this book I am a little hopeful when it comes to the next books. But since the protagonist has to come to terms with her two guys, I'm afraid the next book will be just as obnoxious as the ones before Obsidian Butterfly. But I can't tell until I've read them, right? So, I'm buying the next ones in the series. Because I need to investigate where this is all going... it's not because I love the covers ;-)=

GENRE: action/horror

FANGS OUT: entertaining
FANGS RETRACTING: the horny protagonist is being repetitive and bothersome
TOTAL SCORE: (but only for this particular book, not for the series in general)

Rhubarb Muffins

Well, it's the rhubarb season (yup, posting this in September will make you hungry for rhubarb and you won't be able to find it anywhere, I know... so wait till May) and I have to make something from it, right? Muffins are the easiest way. 

Ingredients (12 muffins):

batter:

• 180g sugar
• 200g flour
• 1 tea spoon baking soda
• 1 tea spoon baking powder
• 1 rhubarb stalk ( I actually weighed it and it was 200g)
• 1 tea spoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 130ml buttermilk 
• 2 table spoons sunflower oil
• optional: you can add 3/4 tea spoon mascarpone in each cup  

crumble:

• 50g butter
• 50g flour
• 50g sugar
• 30g oats

1) This is easy: just mix the dry ingredients first and then start adding the wet ones when making the batter. Finish with putting in the peeled and diced rhubarb when the batter is smooth.

2) Then combine the crumble ingredients with your hand. 

3) Prepare your muffin pan and preheat your oven to 200°C.

4) Fill the muffin cups halfway through, then put in 3/4 spoon mascarpone and finish off with another layer of batter so that the cups are 3/4 full.

5) Sprinkle the muffins with the crumble. Press it into the batter gently so that it all doesn't fall off when the muffins rise.

6) Bake for about 20 minutes.

Catherine Jinks: The Reformed Vampire Support Group

There are vampires in Australia. Who would have thought, right? With the ever-present sun one would say they rather steer clear of this continent. But on the other hand, everything in Australia wants to kill you (the sun, spiders, snakes etc.) so why not add the vampires, eh? ;-)=

However, the undead from Oz actually suffer and need weekly group meetings to keep going. See, they have a condition. They feel ostracized from society. They battle fatigue, sores, bleedings and much more. They are unlike most vampires we've heard about. All they can do is sit around and watch telly or eat their medication.

As you can see, they are basically a bunch of losers. They can't do anything but whine about their plight so when faced with a really deadly situation (a slayer going after them) they decide to find him before he finds them. Which is the most exciting and terrifying thing which happed to them in the last thirty years. 

The book reads fast and I must admit that I liked it. It was adventurous and even though the humor in it was too subtle for my liking, I enjoyed it. Because I got the visuals - if you imagine these vampires fanging their guinea pigs and cleaning the bathroom afterwards, you must smile at it all the time. Because they are not ordinary heroes who, despite all odds, rise to the occasion. 

GENRE: unlikely action

FANGS OUT: refreshing after the tons of omnipotent vampires
FANGS RETRACTING: could be more complicated plot-wise
TOTAL SCORE:

Strawberry Cupcakes

Strawberries are everywhere and it would be a shame not to put them into everything we eat or drink, so let's get these moist babies done. I'm hungry and I get really evil if I don't get my fill of sugar in the morning. I mean, a morning which starts without sugar means a day which shouldn't happen - you know, one of those days when you should stay in bed instead of going anywhere. But the new school year has begun and I need this energy more than ever so let's make a treat!

You'll need (15 cupcakes):
Batter:

• 1 2/3 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup chopped strawberries

Frosting:

• 40g organic vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 mashed strawberries and a couple of them for decoration

1) Mix all the batter ingredients and fill 3/4 of your muffin pans with the mixture. Bake at 180°C for about 20 minutes.

2) Heat up 1/3 of the milk and mix the pudding in the rest. Once the 1/3 starts to boil, pour in the rest of the milk with the pudding mix and bring to a boil again. Once it boils, you can turn off the heat and just keep stirring for a minute or two till it thickens. Let it cool down.

3) The pudding and the butter should have the same temperature to incorporate them successfully, so wait for that and then mix everything from the frosting section till well blended. Refrigerate it for at least an hour. You can leave it there overnight and put it on the muffins before serving. Decorate with more strawberries.