I am happy to announce that the season for black cherry is officially open! It is sweet and lovely, and when it is served on vintage Uzbek pottery, I like it even more!
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Black Cherry is Here!
I am happy to announce that the season for black cherry is officially open! It is sweet and lovely, and when it is served on vintage Uzbek pottery, I like it even more!
Monday, March 9, 2015
Life Saving Carb Bomb: The Easiest Chocolate Banana Recipe Ever
...I have just saved my own life.
No, seriously. Here I am sitting at home, working on a very boring report - and I cannot even complain about its content because it is so secret - and suddenly realising that I am starving. And I need not just any food, but a large amount of hydrocarbons. I had a couple of rather nervous meetings today, and it is cold outside, and I haven't slept well at night, and obviously all that combined led me to the feeling "I am going to die right now if I do not eat something sweet!".
I contemplated bananas but realised they would not be enough. Cheese would be slightly better but it is not sweet. Chocolate would be perfect but that means I would have to get dressed and go out, and I do not want that. I am dying, remember? And certainly no energy and time to bake a cake (remember, there is also the report).
So, I was thinking for several minutes and had this brilliant idea - Chocolate Bananas! I know this is nothing new, but I haven't done this before. I remembered a recipe of chocolate icing which I knew for ages, and here you are! the Life Saving Carb Bomb! I consumed it in a moment and immediately felt better. Please bear in mind that I am nothing as a food photographer, so it might look terrible, but it tasted delicious.
The recipe is extremely simple, I guess everyone knows it, but I will share it just in case you do not.
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
Cocoa Powder - 4 tbsp
Sugar - 4 tbsp
Butter, Melted - 4 tbsp
Milk - 6 tbsp
Process:
Put sugar and cocoa in a deep bowl and mix well, otherwise you will get clumps in your icing. You need to add 2 or 3 tbsp of milk into this mix (taking them from the total amount of 6 tbsp). Mix this well into a uniform paste.
In the meantime, put the remaining milk and butter into another bowl which can be heated, and heat them until the butter melts.
After that, add your chocolate and sugar paste into that bowl with milk and butter. The fire should be very low. Mix that until you get uniform chocolate cream.
Take a banana, peel it, slice it with trembling hands. You can put the slices in the bowl and pour the icing on top. You can put the banana slices on plate, and then have the icing in a deep bowl, and dip your banana slices into that bowl. You can... you can even eat the banana and drink the icing! Whatever you feel comfortable with. Enjoy!
No, seriously. Here I am sitting at home, working on a very boring report - and I cannot even complain about its content because it is so secret - and suddenly realising that I am starving. And I need not just any food, but a large amount of hydrocarbons. I had a couple of rather nervous meetings today, and it is cold outside, and I haven't slept well at night, and obviously all that combined led me to the feeling "I am going to die right now if I do not eat something sweet!".
I contemplated bananas but realised they would not be enough. Cheese would be slightly better but it is not sweet. Chocolate would be perfect but that means I would have to get dressed and go out, and I do not want that. I am dying, remember? And certainly no energy and time to bake a cake (remember, there is also the report).
So, I was thinking for several minutes and had this brilliant idea - Chocolate Bananas! I know this is nothing new, but I haven't done this before. I remembered a recipe of chocolate icing which I knew for ages, and here you are! the Life Saving Carb Bomb! I consumed it in a moment and immediately felt better. Please bear in mind that I am nothing as a food photographer, so it might look terrible, but it tasted delicious.
The recipe is extremely simple, I guess everyone knows it, but I will share it just in case you do not.
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
Cocoa Powder - 4 tbsp
Sugar - 4 tbsp
Butter, Melted - 4 tbsp
Milk - 6 tbsp
Process:
Put sugar and cocoa in a deep bowl and mix well, otherwise you will get clumps in your icing. You need to add 2 or 3 tbsp of milk into this mix (taking them from the total amount of 6 tbsp). Mix this well into a uniform paste.
In the meantime, put the remaining milk and butter into another bowl which can be heated, and heat them until the butter melts.
After that, add your chocolate and sugar paste into that bowl with milk and butter. The fire should be very low. Mix that until you get uniform chocolate cream.
Take a banana, peel it, slice it with trembling hands. You can put the slices in the bowl and pour the icing on top. You can put the banana slices on plate, and then have the icing in a deep bowl, and dip your banana slices into that bowl. You can... you can even eat the banana and drink the icing! Whatever you feel comfortable with. Enjoy!
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Eat Fruit, Not Candy
Tashkent is full of sun and heat; bazaars are bursting with cherries, raspberries, apricots and small semi-wild mountain apples.
These days I am trying to teach my daughter to eat more fruit and less candies, explaining to her how fruit are useful and healthy and good for our skin, hair and overall well-being.
She is not the worst audience; she nods and diligently eats whatever green or red goodness I give her. As for industrial sweets, I just stopped buying them. I need to limit my own consumption, too - it is never too late. And, strangely, I have noticed long ago that the less sweets I eat, the less I want them - as if I am cleaning myself of their presence in my body and it stops calling for more.
Madina loves traditional Uzbek pottery and always demands that I serve fruit "in that beautiful sea-like bowl". I agree with her: the bowl is indeed lovely. Traditional Rishtan pottery (made in Rishtan valley, Ferghana Valley, Uzbekistan) is beautiful. I love the rich colors and tribal feel.
I have a big serving plate which is also made in Rishtan: it is perfect for watermelons or melons. In the meantime, we used to serve the first melon we bought this season - a small and fragrant "cantaloupe" melon.
"Mama, why is the melon so small? Is it because this is a baby melon?" - "No, the melon is ripe and delicious; this is just... just a smaller breed of melons. Called "cantaloupe". And then in the autumn we will have huge melons, like spaceships...". I told her that cantaloupe contained a lot of A and C vitamins essential for our functions such as eyesight and immune response ("you do want your body to be able to resist nasty microbes, do not you?", and we ate the delicious slices feeling like doing the right thing.
I hope I succeed in my cold war against refined sweets: I just need to persevere and refrain from buying them. I am also looking for simple recipes of home made sweets without sugar (or at least with a small amount of unrefined sugar), and will appreciate if you share some.
These days I am trying to teach my daughter to eat more fruit and less candies, explaining to her how fruit are useful and healthy and good for our skin, hair and overall well-being.
She is not the worst audience; she nods and diligently eats whatever green or red goodness I give her. As for industrial sweets, I just stopped buying them. I need to limit my own consumption, too - it is never too late. And, strangely, I have noticed long ago that the less sweets I eat, the less I want them - as if I am cleaning myself of their presence in my body and it stops calling for more.
Madina loves traditional Uzbek pottery and always demands that I serve fruit "in that beautiful sea-like bowl". I agree with her: the bowl is indeed lovely. Traditional Rishtan pottery (made in Rishtan valley, Ferghana Valley, Uzbekistan) is beautiful. I love the rich colors and tribal feel.
I have a big serving plate which is also made in Rishtan: it is perfect for watermelons or melons. In the meantime, we used to serve the first melon we bought this season - a small and fragrant "cantaloupe" melon.
"Mama, why is the melon so small? Is it because this is a baby melon?" - "No, the melon is ripe and delicious; this is just... just a smaller breed of melons. Called "cantaloupe". And then in the autumn we will have huge melons, like spaceships...". I told her that cantaloupe contained a lot of A and C vitamins essential for our functions such as eyesight and immune response ("you do want your body to be able to resist nasty microbes, do not you?", and we ate the delicious slices feeling like doing the right thing.
I hope I succeed in my cold war against refined sweets: I just need to persevere and refrain from buying them. I am also looking for simple recipes of home made sweets without sugar (or at least with a small amount of unrefined sugar), and will appreciate if you share some.
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