I really like making cakes. Although I have a really sweet tooth, I could venture to say that it is the making of the cake that I enjoy the most, eating it is just an extra :) Carrot cake is one of my favourites, and really easy to make, I guess it could be labelled "fool proof". Initially I used to make it without the icing - I would simply sprinkle icing sugar on top. Yet, I must admit that the icing definitely gives the cake the finishing touch, and fantastically complements the flavour. For the cake you need: 3-4 large, sweet carrots (the quality of carrots is crucial here - they can really spoil the cake if they aren't sweet enough) 1 apple 2 large cups of flour (250 millilitres) 1 large cup of sugar 1 large cup of oil 4 eggs 2 teaspoons of baking powder 1 heaped teaspoon of cinnamon Peel and finely grate the carrots. Mix flour, sugar and baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl, add the eggs and oil, stir in grated carrots. Mix all the ingredients we...

I am an absolutely untreatable chocoholic. I always crave chocolate - any time night or day. Recently, pampering myself with choccy has gone beyond the edible chocolate, thanks to a cosmetic line discovered in a local shop Natura (I know that Body Shop has recently released similar line, a bit more pricey, yet not quite what I like - can't put my finger on it, but to me it lacks something). I think the first time I bought the chocolate cosmetics as retail therapy when it was getting all grey, wet and horrible outside. As I remember it worked miracles :) The entire line is based on chocolate with a slight note of orange scent. Divine! And it is just as addictive as eating chocolate is :) I would have my morning bath religiously every weekend - is there anything better than a room filled with chocolate scent, with a bubble bath? On a cold, winter morning - certainly not! The first item I bought was a bath essence, and fell for it immediately. A small amount of it fills the bath ...

My husband surprised me yesterday bringing me a present, a cookbook based on a TV series that I've been watching recently. The programme is situated in a restaurant and generally features the so-called "trendy cooking", rather than traditional recipes, thus I was a bit surprised to find a recipe for tomato soup. When it comes to soups, it's not a secret that they are rather easy to prepare, yet I didn't quite expected a recipe that doesn't require either chicken or vegetable stock! I knew I had to alter the recipe a little, as following the proportions given in the book we would obtain water mixture with a faint tomato flavour - not exactly what we want :) To make the soup I used: 10 large, ripe tomatoes 1 litre of water 3 bay leaves 4-5 allspice berries a pinch of dried dill 1 tablespoon of dried vegetables 1 table spoon of butter salt and pepper to taste cream or yoghurt a handful of pasta (farfale or other) Put tomatoes into a bowl o...

Every now and then I feel a need to make fuss of a meal and go for a three dish dinner thing. Today was one of those days :) The whole meal was prepared in Italian style, however after the main we were so full that  dessert comprised only of Italian espresso, still delicious though! I got the idea for the starter from one of the Italian places we frequent for lunches and dinners - bread balls (made of pizza dough) served with pesto genovese (basil based pesto), pesto rosso (pesto with sun dried tomatoes), and salted butter. For the starter you need: about half a cup of flour a pinch of yeast salt lukewarm water or milk a splash of olive oil Mix all ingredients and knead the dough well until it's soft and playable. Sprinkle olive oil onto it place it in a bowl, and leave in a warm place to grow for about half an hour. Then form small balls and place them on a baking tray, leave some space between them as they'll grow during baking. Preheat the oven to about 180C ...

The last Thursday before the Ash Wednesday is called "Fat Thursday" in my country. It is the last Thursday of carnival, and it used to symbolise the end of the period of fun, partying and feasting, as Lent, the period of somberness and fasting was about to begin on Ash Wednesday. Long time ago, our ancestors had savoury doughnuts, made with pork fat and bacon and would consume them with large quantities of strong alcohol. The tradition of eating doughnuts on "Fat Thursday" has prevailed till this day, and there is even a superstition that if you don't have a doughnut on Fat Thursday, the rest of your year will be full of misery and misfortune! Thus, all diets have a "day off" and everybody indulges themselves in doughnuts, faworki, carnival roses and other sweets. There are long queues outside cake shops (they take orders for doughnuts a week or so in advance) and every grocery will have a good supply of doughnuts and faworki on this day. The only...

Call it a cliché, but there is no Valentine's Day without hearts all around! Though, I'm glad that the school days, when wearing red on Valentine's Day at some point become compulsory, are over! Today, however, I couldn't totally resist the spirit of the day and decided to make a heart-shaped pizza for lunch. As I mentioned in my earlier posts - weekday lunches must most of all be quick to prepare -and today was no exception. I've heard from many people that making pizza takes lots of time, but mine was ready in less than 30 minutes! I didn't leave the dough to rest too much- only as long as I needed to peel and slice the mushrooms and prepare tomato sauce (though here I took a shortcut :). The dough: All you need for is flour (probably slightly less than 0.5 kilogram, but my pizzas are made so intuitively that the proportions are nothing more than an estimate), a bit of yeast (I used dry to save time) - probably 1/4 teaspoon a dash of olive oil a pinch ...

Every now and again the day comes when I hear the question 'Could we possibly have some real meat?'. "The real meat" being something else than chicken, which for some reason tends to appear in a great majority of my favourite meals. So, every now and again I back down, buy some pork or beef to later ask myself why I don't do it more often! Beef, after all is actually the king of meats - not only is it tender, soft and flavoursome, but it is also filling and amazingly simple and quick to prepare. The idea for this meal has been following me for a few days, and finally today I got around to making it. This beef-based dish is great for lunch or dinner, and in my opinion gives plenty of energy to keep warm, thus it's ideal for this time of year. The simplicity of preparation and short cooking time are just a bonus here! :) I used about 250-300g piece of beef, which I sliced, seasoned with pepper and put thinly sliced garlic on each side of the chops.The thin...

Although I really like cooking and could spend ages in the kitchen preparing, tasting and 'bringing the meal to perfection', on an average day time is of essence so lunch must be tasty, but  most of all quick. It took us a while to fight the temptation of takeaways or fast food bars (old habits! :) as an option for quick lunch, but by now, I've developed quite a selection of quick and tasty meals. The luxury of 'slow cooking' is reserved for the weekends and actually, the first time I prepared this meal was indeed at the weekend, as I expected the preparation to be much longer than it really is.  I was quite shocked how quickly the parcels were ready to be served (only to disappear from the plates even faster!). The meal combines the necessary requirements for a 'weekday lunch' - it is stunningly easy to prepare and truly delicious - could one ask for more? Depending in the imagination they may be square, triangular, or circular shaped. I usually go for ...

One of the advantages of living in Poland is the fact the Christmas period here lasts as long as the beginning of February. However, with time flying as it does, not only did I merely notice Christmas at all, but I have just realised that the time has come to remove the decorations.Well, I guess it's high time to do so, as I've read that they're taking down Christmas lights in the city today. It's a bit sad, as I love walking down the Royal Tract covered with snow and beautifully illuminated. On the positive side though, I have to think about a suitable replacement for the Christmas tree in the corner - guess I shan't be bored!