SPOONS

SPOONS

The magical world of spoons was the title of the exhibition in Vigevano that I missed.

I was able to retrieve the images here but I would like to chat about spoons with you.

First of all, I admit that I have stopped using spoons since I do not put sugar in my coffee, although in doing so I violate the rules of bon ton that requires that the spoon is always served.

Not only that: I’m also wrong because I don’t follow the advice of experts who say that espresso should be stirred anyway.

Do you use a spoon?

Do you have a favorite spoon?

There are some really fancy spoons actually, here for example the New Wave by Villeroy & Boch

or the Alessi set, again we are outside of the Etiquette though, which requires that the spoons be equal to each other

 

And had you ever seen Lavazza’s ESpoon?

 

There is even a “cream-saving” spoon.

Then if the cream is matched with this choc… spoon, isn’t the result sublime?

 

What spoon do you use?

Among the spoons we have I prefer the white and yellow checked ones, which are not elegant, but are very nice.

Would you believe it if I told you that I managed to lose two of them?

Who loses them, who drops them … Salvador Dalì made the spoons symbol of his research on the oneiric.

Have you ever woken up during a dream and felt the desire to memorize the images in your head the instant they vanished?

Salvador Dalì used to fall asleep after lunch in his armchair with a spoon in his hand, knowing that when his sleep was deep, his fingers would drop the spoon, and expecting that the thud of the spoon would wake him abruptly allowing him to remember.

Undoubtedly he gave us dream works, if you will allow me this pun.

 

Incidentally, spoons are also a symbol of good luck: the tradition of giving silver spoons to new babies still continues.

This custom comes from the Middle Ages: when newborns of noble families received a silver spoon as a gift as proof of wealth from birth.

Born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth.

What did yours look like?

I didn’t get any silver spoons, but I consider myself equally lucky, and I can always fill my empty spoon with a nice dose of Nutella, can’t I?  🙂

Have a good coffee then, perhaps inspired by Liz’s elegance to stir it, what do you say?

 


LIVING THE SWEET LIFE

LIVING THE SWEET LIFE

Living the sweet life these are words that came to my mind when I discovered this incredible find.

Honestly, I didn’t really believe it right away, but in fact it was really communicated by an official source.

Galina Georgievna Fiódorova, an artist-restorer of the Hermitage Museum from St. Petersburg, while she was working on a dress of the Grand Duchess Ksenia Aleksandrovna Romanova Ксения Александровна Рома, noticed that one of the sleeves had been sewn for some reason, but the stitch was light enough, so she decided to remove the thread.

At that point something pink fell on her hand, it looked like a pebble.

Many have talked about chocolate.

A chocolate no less than 118 years old!

It is true that I have always maintained that chocolate cannot expire … laughing but here we would be over !!

Actually I would say that it is more of a candy.

Sugar.

The ubiquitous sugar.

Also long-lived …

The funny thing is that Ksenia took a bite and then, not knowing how to get rid of it, is supposed to have hidden the candy up her sleeve.

But there is something even more absurd: Galina declared that she had the instinct to… taste it !!

Here’s how she realized the sweet taste.

Some ancient instincts have probably been triggered

Infants actually study what happens in their hands by bringing it to their mouths, but honestly I would never have the instinct to “taste” an unidentified object.

What about you?

I know, it’s incredible, yet here you can find the video published on the official profile of the museum.

Galina and Nina Ivanovna Tarasova, curator of the costume fund of the Department of History of Russian Culture, talk about the restoration of the dress created for the famous 1903 costume ball and explain the unexpected discovery.

One of the sleeves was sewn for some reason, but the stitch was light enough and the restorer decided to remove the thread …

I know it’s a who cares news of the most extreme kind, but because of its absurdity I thought it should be told, above all to understand, have you ever hiding food in an unusual way? I know a slice of salami in my pocket, a sandwich in the leg …

And what could you have up your sleeve?

Better the classic “aces” perhaps, or not?

COFFEE SABLÉ PASTRY COOKIES

COFFEE SABLÉ PASTRY COOKIES

Luciana asked me for the recipe and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jaya and Salvo too for their pasta recipes, and to answer Maria: Kefir tastes good to me, but consider that I don’t like sweetening … it is actually acid with a very slight slightly “alcoholic” tip so Jaya’s advice to add fruit smoothies (or simply fresh fruit) or to make other types mixing using fantasy is more than appropriate for someone who is not much for “raw” things like me laughing

But let’s get to Sablé Pastry: the first time I tried it was when I was looking for a recipe for something sweet that was egg-free since my father couldn’t eat them.

To tell the truth, many recipes, starting for example with Il cucchiaio d’argento, include eggs in the preparation, but they seem perfect to me even this way: sablé means sprinkled with sand, a concept that can be associated with the idea of a certain amount of friability, otherwise I miss the difference with the shortcrust pastry, but you correct me if I’m wrong.

Ingredients:

150 g of flour

100 g of butter

50 g of sugar

20 g of coffee

a pinch of salt

The coffee must not be hot and you can also dose it by eye according to the consistency of the dough: so that the resulting paste is smooth and elastic.

Before being worked, the dough must rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, after which you can indulge yourself with the shapes.

Who has cute stencils?
For example, I obviously have a weakness for wings

Transfer to baking paper and bake at 180° for about 18 minutes, to keep an eye on and evaluate also based on the thickness of the cookies.

I don’t know about you, I would then dip the edges in melted chocolate or pair the cookies with a generous layer of Nutella in the middle laughing too much? Come on, with the first coffee it fits …

DALGONA COFFEE

DALGONA COFFEE

While here we demonstrate to be more a people of bakers, expressing ourselves in pizza, bread, and cakes of all kinds, in other countries the Dalgona Coffee Challenge goes crazy: it comes from Korea, where both the quarantine and the challenge started first.
What does Dalgona mean?
The name comes from Korean street food, more precisely a lollipop-shaped snack called and Ppogi. This Ppogi / Dalgona is made with caramelized sugar and baking soda, which gives a spongy texture. The melted sugar is spread in a rounded shape on a plaque. Then made to solidify by affixing molds with designs of various types, to which the classic stick is fixed.
How does it associate with Dalgona coffee? I would say for the creaminess.
The base principle could be associated with the cream that our grandmothers made with the first coffee that came out of the coffee maker and with sugar.
The mixture obtained, in many of the various ways of execution with instant coffee and electric whisks, is placed on top of the cold milk.
Perhaps here we would not associate the final result properly with the name “coffee”, but the appearance is certainly very inviting.
Have you already tried?
If you want to try:
two teaspoons of instant coffee
two of sugar
two of water
and then mix

the “keep calm” version also includes a pinch of cinnamon 🙂

RED PILL OR BLUE PILL?

RED PILL OR BLUE PILL?

We use to divide the generations: Millennials, Generation X, Boomers and so on; despite the common path, each one has a particular vision on different spans of time obviously marked by the events that characterized them.
Many of us perhaps had never had a concrete experience on certain types of emergencies, and the general test of panic, which we are witnessing in these days, certainly opens up various new scenarios or at least never seriously considered.
You hear and read everything and the opposite of everything and the questions burst like an uncontainable quantity of corn kernels exposed to heat.
Yet I observe, as always, correct me if I am wrong, that most people continue to lock matters up between the four corners of their garden. Behavior from which, for example, the race to flour and sugar in supermarkets. As if having a spare in your pantry could be enough to shut everything else outside the door.
Question: what can be the reason?
Is it really enough to wash hands?
And, beyond the specific, even in a context of normal routine, don’t you think that in general people prefer not to face reflections that could lead to uncomfortable or unwanted conclusions?
It is inevitable to remember the famous example of the free will Matrix format:

“You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.
Remember, all I’m offering is the truth – nothing more.

Among the countless interpretations and dissertations there is also the hypothesis that blue pill is the choice of the dogmatic, but I would like to remain at the most basic concept: how many would choose the red pill?

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