I haven’t been able to get to Sviniṭa this year to get figs. I was glad, though, that the figs came to Braşov. It was short-lived, however. It rained over them on the terrace and I wasn’t able to process them, so Marcel saved precisely 

350g figs

I also needed—

90ml water

175g sugar

the juice from half a lemon

How to make the preserves?

Boil the water and the sugar in a pan, on low heat, until the sugar dissolves.

Meanwhile, wash the figs and cut their tails. Add them whole in the already hot liquid.

After 20 minutes, squeeze the lemon half, all the while removing the foam from the mix as often as possible. 

Boil the preserves for 20 minutes more. Turn the heat off. Let the preserves cool a bit and pour it into a 300g jar. It’s all I got.

I was still grateful for my first fig preserves and its deliciousness! ♥

April 1^st was indeed Fools’ Day! From repeated failures in the supply of power, our refrigerator broke. Dad came to help and we tried to solve things. The solution was to take the food to our terrace (it also snowed the following day).

It was tougher with the frozen berries. We stored what we could in my father’s freezer until the new refrigerator was delivered. What to do with the remaining berries? ’Syrup!’ was Marcel’s idea.

Syrup we made, our version of it! Juice the berries. Let the juice boil with the sugar on low heat for half an hour. When it cools, transfer it to bottles. You will get 10% less liquid in terms of amount.

It is a wonderful daily treat, either with still or bubbly water!

P.S. We used—

3.5 kg raspberries

3.5 kg sugar

&

1 kg blackberries

1 kg sugar

175g rhubarb

130ml water

75g sugar

orange zest

a drop of vanilla extract

As I am crazy about rhubarb, I couldn’t fail to use it in my recipes this year.

Clean about 3 rhubarb stalks and cut them into small pieces; then, boil them in the water mixed with the sugar and the orange zest (must be organic!), on medium heat.

When the rhubarb starts disintegrating, remove the mix from the heat and add the vanilla extract.

The rhubarb sauce keeps well in the fridge and can be served with other desserts, like this homemade vanilla pudding.

...and I’m craving it now! J

For 500ml

200g almonds (soaked and peeled)

400ml water

I discovered some delightful Romanian almonds last week. Given our lactose intolerance, we decided to try and make our almond milk. We’ve tried that before, in 2015, upon returning from Sicily, but it turned out even tastier now.

We soaked the almonds and left them overnight in the fridge. We noted that they doubled their size. And then we peeled them.

In our version, A, we added the water and the almonds to the juicer and squeezed them. We also obtained some almond meal, which we dehydrated/dried in the oven.

If you don’t have a juicer, but you have a powerful blender, so version B, blend the water and the almonds and sieve the milk when you’re done.

I like it without added sugar – this way, I can feel the taste of the almonds.

The almond milk is in the fridge now. I bet it’s going to be perfect at breakfast, too, reminding us of a lazy morning in Noto.

110g almonds

90g butter (at room temperature)

90g sugar

2 small eggs

What is frangipane? It is an almond cream resembling crème pâtissière, with an Italian twist.

On my birthday, I wanted to bake a special tart (in the end, it was a frangipane/pear/fig tart). How to make frangipane?

Chop the almonds – I used my blender – and mix the butter (at room temperature) with the sugar. Add the 2 small eggs, stirring slowly, and then mix in the chopped almonds. Cook on medium heat until it thickens.

And it’s ready! You can now use it to fill the tart and tartlet shells... you’ll love the added flavour.