Solids!!

I know you are all waiting for the wonderfully delicous and final saga of Sinfully Simple Sweets with its culmination in Chocolate sausages . . . but you'll just have to wait. I've been busy with highchairs. Can you believe we're almost at the sixth month mark??? Saphira has been interested in what we are eating and drinking for awhile and when we are all at the table - her favorite toys are a spoon and a sippy cup. No food yet, that will come this month - but she so loves playing with the means for food that food itself is going to be fun by my reckoning.

The problem - How to give her a space to eat? Our kitchen is small. Not as small as some - but small enough for something extra to be in the way. Second, not only is our kitchen small, but our table is small, so I wouldn't trust those clip on chairs to support her weight without the whole table tipping over. Third - we don't have chairs with backs, only stools and a bench - neither of which can accomodate a strap on booster.

The contenders:

So, originally I was all sold on the amazingly small Concord Spin. Marketed as the smallest highchair in the world, it has positive reviews with the main complaint being that the tray had no lip to stop items from falling to the floor as easily. We were all sold on it and about to buy it - but fortunately I actually found a physical store and was able to go check it out - small and compact though it is, the Concord is a PAIN in the B to fold up. What is the point of being small if you can't make it small? Not only did I need two hands to collapse it - I could have used a third! The store assistant had to help me at each step because I just couldn't get the darn thing to collapse.

#2 The next smallest item we found in the store and on the internet was the Graco TeaTime it also had positive reviews and the next smallest footprint that we found. It was also handier as the tray had a lip and 3 adjustment settings, where as the concord was basically an airplane tray with a big gap between it and the baby. Most important, I could collapse the Graco one-handed and though it was only a vertical collaps - at 18 cm it was still small and we decided we would just have to store it on the balcony. I was all set to buy it - BUT the store didn't take creditcards, there were no change kiosks AND all the nearby banks were on there lunch break. And I just didn't get around to ordering it from the internet.

#3 - Enter "Accidental" choice number 3 - I had to go meet up with the registration Lawyer to get my passport back and we happened to to meet at the Metro near a place called "children's world" where not only is there a huge children's department store - but tons of other stores and kiosks selling nothing but children's things. It was saturday morning (9am) and most places didn't open till 10, and I had Saphira so I wasn't going to wait around, but there was one Kiosk nearby and I thought - might as well ask . . . At first I only saw the ones that are chairs that stack on top of a table - which theoretically is also great - multifunctional and all that - but it CAN'T fit in our kitchen (at least not if you want to USE the kitchen)- Then she showed it to me - the Geoby Y 280 it is absolutely amazing!!!! not only can you unfold and fold it up with one hand, but it is basically the same dimensions as the concord and only 1 kilo heavier. Not only that, it was cheaper than both of the other options. The only downside is that the tray is fixed, but we'll cope.

So now for some fun - can you spot the highchair?

There it is!


Saphira trys out a spoon - and her new highchair!


Here it is collapsed from a front-on view - at only 6 kilos - we can even take it with us for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner!

Superbly Simple Sweets - part 3

Part three of my no-bake dessert series

I've never thought it was quite honest to have no-bake cookies and then have a lot of on the stove work. For some reason I think no-bake should be no-cook. So I'm going to be honest with you these Costa Rican Galletas are totally created on the stove top - and you handle them while they are hot - so while they are a no bake cookie, they aren't the coolest option.

I also struggled over what to call these - I first tasted them actually when our Brazilian exchange student made them in 1995 - but it wasn't till I went to Costa Rica in 2000, saw a variation of them made and read a recipe that I remembered them and added them to my own repertoire. Secondly - they aren't really a cookie - they are more of a caramel - but this is what they were called in the Costa Rican cookbook and so this is how I pass it on to you.

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 - 2 cups coconut (if you don't like coconut - leave it out! The Brazilian version uses cocoa powder)

butter - as needed

ice water

In a large saucepan - add 100 grams - or about 1/2 a cup of butter, add the sweetened condensed milk and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to bubble. KEEP STIRRING. If you have a candy thermometer - you are basically going to bring the temperature of the mixture up to soft ball stage. If you can't be bothered - have a cup of ice water handy and occasionally drop portions of the mixture into it and see how it reacts - you want a ball that is still soft and malleable - but not sticky and stingy. Add coconut or cocoa powder and stir. remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. put butter on your hands and quickly form small balls out of the mixture and place it on a parchment lined tray to cool. If you use cocoa instead of coconut - you will need to roll the ball in cocoa powder, ground nuts, or caster sugar, to help it have a bit more substance and retain it's shape. Refrigerate when done and enjoy.

Superbly Simple Sweets - part 2

And so continues my no-bake recipes. The eastern part of Croatia is well known for its desserts. One, the madgarica, is a small "cake" bar cookie that if made domestically and totally from scratch consists of 7 thin layers of white biscuit and 6 layers of chocolate filling, topped with a dark chocolate "glaze". When made completely from scratch - it is a bit more time consuming but very yummy. This shortcut version was taught to me by one of my grannies. It tastes and looks just as good but is made in a quarter of the time.

Easy Croatian Madgarica

1 or 2 boxes of graham crackers or tea biscuits - preferably square

Chocolate pudding or custard filling - the more chocolaty the better. When you prepare the custard, make it more liquidy than normal (for an extra zip and to add that more homemade touch - try adding a tablespoon of liquor to the mix-works best if you have the stove top pudding mix so the alcohol cooks out).

2 bars (200 grams) dark chocolate

Butter

milk

Prepare the pudding as directed on the box. Take a 9x12 pan and line the bottom with the cookies. Apply a generous portion of the custard and smooth evenly over the cookie layer. repeat this process 4 - 5 times till you reach the top of the pan - you should have at least 4 and maybe 5 layers of cookie and your very last layer will be a cookie layer. If your pudding mix was a stove top mix, put it the pan in the fridge to cool. Take the chocolate bars and melt on the stove in a double boiler, adding a small bit of milk and butter to make the mixture more spreadable. Remove the pan from the fridge and spread the chocolate glaze over the top. To finish- try to spread the chocolate as smooth as possible - or take a fork and make straight lines down the length of the pan. Refrigerate overnight. Cut into thin, finger length pieces and serve.

Superbly Simple Sweets - part 1

With the heat - and no air conditioning - I decided to make a no-bake lemon cookie recipe that a friend gave me while in Northern Ireland (Thanks M!). I served them with this and the whole meal was easy and a hit. ( I really wanted to make this but Alister said it was too strange for Ukrainian guests - I'm making it tonight for us ;->)

So I decided to share my collection of four super delicious no-bake desserts that I've picked up on my travels. To come: Costa Rican Galletas de Coco, Easy Croatian Madjarica, and Ukrainian Chocolate Sausage.

No-Bake Frosted Lemon Bars - via Northern Ireland

For a 9x12 pan
1/2 cup (100 grams) butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 lemon, juiced and zested (may add more juice and zest if more zip is desired)
1 1/2 cups (250 grams) crushed cookies (Graham crackers, tea biscuits, or animal cookies)
1 cup flaked coconut ** optional - but add more cookies if you leave out

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt together butter and sweetened condensed milk, stirring frequently until smooth. Stir in crushed biscuits, lemon juice and zest, and coconut (if desired); mix well. Press evenly into pan and refrigerate overnight.

Frosting:
1/2 cup (100 grams) butter (softened)
250 grams powdered sugar
lemon juice

Mix powdered sugar and butter together - add lemon juice to make it into a smooth, spreadable consistency - spread on top of cookie bars. Slice and serve. Store in the refrigerator.

Books

Currently listening to Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. You know you're enjoying a book when it sends you to look up the author or some info about the story. (A Golden Age - interestingly another debute book - also sent me seeking info).

Hotel was a very pleasant surprise - some books with a lot of hype are just here today gone tomorrow - I haven't finished this yet - but it seems to surpass that. But - maybe I'm just biased because the story is set in Seattle :- )

Weather Update

The weather here continues to be hot and awful. We also have smog and smoke - but nothing like what you might be reading about for Moscow. Still, today I woke at 4:30 to a sky that should have been dawning but was instead dense with smoke. We closed all the windows and sweated through the rest of the morning - we learned later that it was from fires in the exclusion zone. Great. The sky still looks gray - but I don't smell smoke anymore and my nose is has stopped sneezing and running - so we opened the windows. i don't know what it will do to any crops - but i'm personally praying for rain just to break the heat and clean all this noxious stuff out of the air.

Pistachio Ice Cream

During my pregnancy - I didn't really have a lot of cravings. On a normal day I have cravings, so I'm not sure that pregnancy really affected me much in that way. As with most cravings that I have, there actually isn't much I can do about it - as we live in Ukraine - except put it on my list of things to have in back in the states. Currently this includes eating a Reuben sandwich, having a regular roast beef sandwich with Arby's sauce from Arby's and consuming a pint of Ben& Jerry's "Pistachio Pistachio" Ice Cream.

Even during our trip to the UK, i stayed alert and checked out each and every freezer section and Ben & Jerry's ice cream machine we passed in the airport - hoping that Pistachio might be among its number. Alas, it was not to be.

BUT . . . The Ukrainian frozen food company, The 3 Bears, must have cued in

on my craving as they have just released a new flavor - Pistachio. While the flavor is not as richly intense and zingy as the Ben& Jerry's - the ie cream is incredibly creamy and delicious. Three bears was already a winner for their tasty "royal sherbert" (vanilla ice cream with chocolate flakes and your choice of dried cherry or apricot bits) - but adding pistachio makes them a definite winner for pint ice cream. Rud still wins on individual cones - especially their Empire Series featuring the Tortufo and Apricot yogurt cones.

While there aren't really ice cream parlors here - (and the ones that are here feature Italian style ice cream) the prefabricated cones are delicious (always advertising that they are made with real milk (what other type of milk is there???? they never fail to be extra creamy), accessible (every street corner in the summer) - and affordable (less than a dollar for the Empire cones - but a plain vanilla or Chocolate will only put you out 25 cents) Summer in Ukraine is HOT but yummy.