Guacamole sandwich.

(Em português)

Well, people. Forgive me for not posting the panettone pan origami like I promised in the previous post.

Truth is I haven't taken the step by step pictures yet.

But come on, you can forgive me, since the reason for that is I'm spending time with my family, in vacation.

In one of these afternoons, I prepared this sandwich for us. It's so quick, so easy, so light.

It's also great substituting the tuna for a nice salty cheese slice.
I wish you all great holidays and parties! In a week I'll be back to São Paulo, and - I hope - starting a year of hard work.

Party time! - Panettone.

(Em português)

Well, since christmas is around the corner and panettone is a tradition, here it goes.

In my opinion, it makes for great gifts.

I made it a bit different, but used Susan's recipe as a guide.

Real fruit jelly. In this case, mango.

    (Ignore the fork in the first picture. The breakfast table was set, so there was a spoon nearby          as well...)

(Em português)

About 300 years ago I bookmarked this recipe in Patricia's blog, and I really wanted to test it.

Ana Elisa posted another real fruit jelly, and I started to like the idea very much.

People say jelly is good for many things, and it's quite easy to prepare but, honestly, those boxed jello flavors can't be appealing.

So the other day I stumbled upon the agar agar package almost expiring in the back of the drawer, I looked at the overripe mango crying for help, and I knew what would I have for breakfast. 

And why agar agar instead of regular jelly?

Well, because it's hard to stop myself from buying cute packaged things  in the grocery stores of Liberdade. Anyway, I try to keep those purchases down to things that might be useful, even though they're not necessary in my life.

Confessions set aside, let's get to the recipe.

Bee hives.

(Em português)

This is a family recipe, which we never knew where came from.

I don't know if the whole thing was my grandma's idea, or if she saw something like it and made up her own version.

What matters here is that ever since I remember existing, bee hives is a treat present in our christmas, which sometimes she would also prepare in random afternoons.

It's been a couple years since my grandmother passed away, and since then we hadn't cooked the dishes that she used to make. But before I came to Santa Catarina this year (yeeess! I'm here already!) my brother wrote me asking if I could bake the bee hives, because he missed it.

I've tried, and it worked out. So here goes the recipe in case someone feels like having a new christmas tradition. This test-hive was devoured as a snack while still warm. The only thing they said was not the same was the glaze, so except for that the treat was like the original.

Soup for sad stomachs.

Traditional baguette.

(Em português)

Well, who doesn't like a challenge sometimes, huh?

I saw this recipe from Annie and got excited.

It takes three days for the bread to get done, but - oh boy! - it's so worth it.

Ginger tea for this freezing weather.

(Em português)

It's unbelievable how the weather can be like this, being November in São Paulo.

But in the past days the temperature has been around 10oC, and we are all starting to catch cold,

despite the number of coats and scarfs being worn.

I was thinking about making some ginger tea, before the cold really catches me, and so I remembered

Maria Sorokina's post, since her version is different from our healing tea of every winter.

Cinnamon cake, filled with dulce de leche and peanut crispy.

(Em português)

So, what do we have here?

A boyfriend's birthday, a huge jar of dulce de leche from Minas (I think it was 500g, maybe more), and some great peanuts.

For me, it seemed like a good idea to turn it all into a cinnamon cake filled with a peanut crispy and dulce de leche. I adapted this recipe for the cake dough, which came out a bit too dry, but even so it tasted nice, and the result was the cake in the pictures.

Oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies for a picnic at the park.

(Em português)

Here am I, returning to the blog after many (nice) happenings which kept me busy

for a couple days.

Today I bring you a cookie recipe that got the approval of my friends on the last time

we went to Ibirapuera park together.

Well, who would have thought of that?!

(Em português)

Working out of town for a couple days (in a place where I had no access to the internet),

I didn't quite know what's been happening around the world.

Today, quickly passing through São Paulo, I read a comment from Sandra here in the blog,

telling I made it into a list from saveur magazine.

Geez, it's so unexpected!

Be welcome new readers! :)

Before I rush out of the door again, I leave some pictures of posts I owe.

See you soon!

Homemade natural yogurt.

(Em português)

Well, people told me that the probability of things going wrong are relatively high, but I wanted to try even so, because I consume a lot of yogurt and granola, and if I prepare it at home it's cheaper, wastes less packages, wonderful.

I've been doing this for weeks, and I'm loving it.

Biscuits to serve with coffee or tea.

(Em potuguês)

This recipe is repeated, except for two details: the flavor and shape.

These are made with the same dough used in alfajores, and are good

to serve with tea because they're very light.

Why use essence? Enjoying an orange to the peel.

(Em português)

It's been quite a while since I read this post at the kitchn, and I liked the idea.

These are suggestions of what to do with citrus peels, instead of throwing them in the garbage.

The one I liked best was the idea of letting the peel dry, so that I can use it later (in teas, risottos, meat, baking, roasted vegetables, and everything else I can imagine).

My method is to use a vegetable peeler before I squeeze or actually peel the fruit,

because that way I will only take the aromatic part of it, and the white part won't come along.

Generally I will let it air dry in a dish for one or two days.

If the air is too humid, then I can help it with a little bit of oven heat.

When the peel becomes very dry and breakable, I store it in ziplock bags or glass jars.

Grinding it with a pestle and mortar is a good way to free the fruit's aroma.

Whole wheat flour and olive oil quiche - to the changes.

(Em português)

In the next posts, probably I'll increase the quantity of all natural food lunches.

I'm making an effort to improve eating habits, and this quiche was the first attempt.

I was successful!

I took the recipe from here, and made up the filling, based in a couple of recipes I read.

Dona Benta and the fantastic banana waffles.

(Em português)

My mother called me about two weeks ago, and at some point in the conversation she said "when I come to visit you, I'm bringing a surprise".

The damage was done. Miss Curiosity here spent this whole time forgetting and remembering to think

whether it would be something to eat, something for my home, to dress myself, if it had something to do with cinema...

She arrived at last, and what a beautiful surprise!

It was that huge book "Dona Benta - Comer bem". The best selling Brazilian cook book in the country ever since it's first edition - in 1940 -, according to the foreword. 

It comes with many traditional recipes, the ones that might end up forgotten once in a while.

The ones that feel great to be reminded of suddenly.

As soon as I could, I spent hours browsing the book and reading recipes.

To start it up, I cooked these waffles this morning.

Gooood! :)

Pasta over garlic, oil and mint.

(Em português)

I think that lazy and/or tired people do have the right to a nice little dinner after a long work day.

So I just decided to get a bit off the beaten track by adding ground fresh mint leaves to the oil in this classic pasta.

Pouched eggs.

(Em Português)


For a robust breakfast, pouched eggs work like a charm.
They are fast, can be served over a nice toasted bread and green salad, and we're good to go.
Different from what I thought, they don't necessarily result in a runny yolk. To test, I poached one egg for a longer time than the other.

White yogurt cake.

(Em português)


This is a basic everyday cake, so so fluffy.
The recipe is quite a bit adapted from here.

Kanelbullar - cinnamon bread, Swedish version.

(Em português)

It is a fact that there are many versions of cinnamon bread out there.

Why should I start with the Swedish version, you might ask.

Well, simply because. I think the Swedish breads and cakes I've seen

on internet are really good-looking. And I also think Sweden must be the

thrift store paradise. I bet I would find everything pretty if I visited that country.

Also, the recipe I chose promised to be light and not too sweet.

And it's true. To it!

Gnocchi for life.

(Em Português)


This is the - best - gnocchi - recipe - of - my - life.

It will never be exchanged or abandoned, never more abstract gnocchis.

It is so simple, so tasty, so light, and so versatile.

I would say I am in love.

Onion soup.

(In Portuguese)


Lately I was making an effort to post at least once a week, but in the last few days it
simply wasn't possible. Thankfully, for good reasons.
And even without recent posts, without many frequent readers, I was very glad to know
- through blogger's statistics - that some readers showed up from places I hadn't imagine,
from faraway countries such as Turkey or Estonia.
Be welcome, everybody! Tell me about you. Leave comments about the ways you eat and cook, or about something else.
Everyone, Brazilians, Americans, Spanish too! Tell me what you think of what is in for today. :)

I adapted this recipe from Jamie Oliver, and it fits perfectly for a cold night.

I don't really think it is very much like his recipe, but it tasted good and cozy.

Unlike the famous chef, I put potatoes in the soup and left the bread out.

Soooft pizza, Chicago style.

(In Portuguese)

Think of an extremely soft, fluffy pizza.

Filled with a lot of grated cheese and sauce. With browned edges.

I took from Annie the recipe that leads to it.