the red kitchen

Sugar trail

The trail of chocolate cakes, biscuits and other sweeties continues to flow from the Kitschenette household...

In previous weeks I have made bumper batches of chocolate chippers, biscotti and mailänderli. 
I made two double batches of christmas cake (slightly different recipe for each batch, one with nuts, the other without- see Nige's recipe for christmas cake here).
Yesterday I made a double batch of brownies.
This afternoon Max and I made chocolate fudge for all the kids at his kindy.
Just now two flourless chocolate and cognac cakes are baking in the oven (one for dessert tomorrow night when my lovely friends E and K are visiting, and oen for the staff at the Chinderhuus).
And I have yet to decide on what to make for dessert for Christmas dinner at Bruno's parents on Saturday night, other than fruitcake....

I've gotten to the point where I can't look another biscuit/guetzle, brownie or nibblet of anything sweet in the eye anymore. I've been craving salty foods, which is very unlike me. And I'd like my evenings back, please. As much as I love baking (and I DO love it), I don't want to do it every evening!

But, all our friends and neighbours have seemed to like their little bags of sweet offerings, wrapped up and tied with ribbon and signed personally by Max, so that I feel like my time has been well-spent.

Brownies by the dozen here at the Red Kitchen, anyone?

Early stages of flourless chocolate cake...

Oranges oranges!

On Friday morning I went with Lola and Bruno's parents on a mission to find the source of some supposedly fabulous organic, unwaxed oranges that have assumed near-mythic status in these here parts lately. Bruno's parents ate them for dessert at a friend's place; they were so fantastic that they vowed to hunt them down and secure themselves a supply.

So, on Friday, a freezing, rainy and bitterly grey morning if there ever was one, we bundled into the car and headed off to seek out these mythical oranges. A couple of suburbs later, down a tiny backstreet, into an old, unassuming house, up the back stairs and into a tiny office we went. Secrecy and furtiveness seemed the order of the day - we were given a form to fill out (oranges available in 9kg lots, but only one per person unless specially ordered beforehand), asked to hand over the cash upfront, then pointed in the direction of a storage room deep in the bowels of the house, where we FINALLY received a tray of glowing, crisp, round orange beauties. Oh, the smell! Amazing. I could hardly wait to get home and slice one open. And when I finally did, it was a kind of revelation. To my surprise, the oranges were almost crisp. I mean, when I sliced it open it had a crisp freshness that I've never seen in a store-bought orange. You know the difference between cutting a fresh cucumber and an old, wilted one? Like that. And the flavour - it was so strong, so essentially orangey, so fragrant, not watery and simply sweet like so many oranges. Beautiful. I fell in love with those oranges, I think.

Now they are almost finished *sniff*. I shall have to return to furtively buy more. Actually, despite all the secrecy, the place was packed, with many people carting off 5 or 6 trays (they obviously had pre-ordered).  Word gets around quickly, here.

Lovely lovely eggs

I bought these almost unbelievably beautiful eggs today at a local farm - smooth, brown, round and perfect. They are so lovely that it seems a shame to cook them.

I so love a brown egg, especially when cooked just the way I like it - not soft-boiled, not hard-boiled, but somewhere in between, with a sprinkling of salt, some thick, buttered toasty bread and a cup of steaming hot tea (or coffee if it's the weekend).

Remains of the day

Stealing time to blog when I should be working...oh, the fear of the deadline!

I'm so tired that all I want to do is crawl into bed. But, duty calls, so I've broken my cardinal rule of no coffee after dinner and stoked up the Bialetti for a quick and steamy cup of coffee. It makes staying up so late slightly easier to bear, especially when I can use one of my cute new coffee cups. They look a bit cheesy in this picture (I have the medium sized ones), but they are surprisingly nice to hold, kind of comfy, solid and smooth. Good for handwarming on these chilly days and nights.

The remains of Sunday's osso bucco were put to good use in these little pies, beloved by all the family.