oh-so-quiet

5 months.

white + grey

Today I thought I’d share with you my favourite cookbooks. As is pretty obvious by the amount of food-related posts, I love cooking, trying new things and, well, eating!

The first on my list has to be Nigella Lawson’s “How to be a domestic Goddess“. I own a couple of Nigellas books, but this tops the list. I’ve baked more than a hand full of things and they all worked out really good. My favourites are the pizza recipe, that I swear by and make on a weekly basis, chocolate brownies and the almond cake.

And we move on to my newest adition: the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook! Pedro gave it to me last Christmas and I’ve only had the chance to go through a couple of recipes, but all of them were so tasty and delightful that I want to recomend it.

I had been meaning to bake something with pumpkin – contrary to the USA, in Portugal we use pumpkin mainly for soups and in a couple of Christmas desserts – so I was really curious to bake a pumpkin pie. It was good,  with a great texture and not too sweet. Perfect for winter days!

This was my first cookbook.

It is a classic portuguese cookbook, huge and filled with all kinds of recipes – from pastry to bread to traditional portuguese dishes. I have only managed to go through a couple of them, but one has become a favourite: the american-style mousse. And, yes, it is the best mousse ever.

What are your favourites?

little things that make a difference.

peaceful + joy.

So, we’re spending the weekend at my parent’s house, and it is raining so much we barely left the house.

And after my last post, where I talk about is food, it seems pretty apropriate that late last night my brother e-mailed me these photos of his dinner.

Yup, it reaaally runs in the family!

As a New Year’s resolution, I wanted to make the effort of trying new recipes and different flavours. We take great pleasure in thinking our meals together, so here are a couple of recipes we’ve tried in February.

Apple, Goat Cheese, and Honey Tartlets

I saw this recipe at Serious Eats, and this week when friends came over for dinner and I was too tired to bake a proper cake, I took the puff pastry out of the freezer and very quickly made these little treats. They are tasty and pretty simple to prepare, so ideal to end a weekday dinner.

Tagliatelle with lemon and parmesan

As a pasta lover, this really caught my attention and it made a delicious and warm friday night dinner. i am a lemon lover, and cannot have enough of that tangy flavour, and paired with cheese it makes for a exciting combination. This is a keeper, and I see a lot of lemony pasta meals ahead.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

On Valentines Day, I tried this recipe, after a previous not-so-sucessful experience a couple of months before. I first tasted a Red Velvet cupcake a few years back, in London, at the Hummingbird Bakery in Portobello Road. I hadn’t heard of them before, but was attracted to their voluptuous colour. We were in love. It is sugar heaven and I couldn’t resist them!  So, since that day, I’ve been looking for the right recipe to reproduce that experience.

So, full of faith, I cooked my way through Whipped’s recipe and it was good. Not oh-my-good- it’s-London-in-my-kitchen good, but good.

They are tasty, soft and moist and make a pretty dessert for your sweetheart.

With February ending, along comes March and, hopefully, a handful of recipes to share.

A couple of weeks ago, on a Saturday walk in our neighbourhood, we found a small vintage sale.

We were particularly interested in old cameras, as both of us collect them, but then I came across this stall that was selling this set of vintage kitchen containers. They are in fairly good conditions and so we brought them home!

We were looking for a set like this for a long time but hadn’t found anything we truly loved. These really bring back memories from our childhood as they were quite popular at the time.

They look pretty good in our kitchen scheme colour and I’ve put them up in our kitchen shelves!

kitchen magnets + weekend shopping

We found Cox&Cox when going through Elle Decor UK, one of my favourite magazines, and really was pleased with their broad selection of items for the home and also for wedding parties.

I’ve ordered a few items in the last year, and became a loyal costumer after such a fast&easy process – we own the Christmas cookie cutters , the think sign (above) and the LOVE pillowcases.