HANDZ by Patz

Rye & Seed Soda Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:04:00 +0000

Seeded Rye Soda bread

8 months! That's how long it's been since the last time I posted. We've moved from one tiny island to a slightly larger one... so we're now living in Southend-on-Sea in England. Who would have thought! It's a pretty seaside place and once again we're looking forward to having family and friends visiting us in this part of the world!

Rye flour, spelt flour, salt and seeds, before mixing

One thing I've been doing recently is bake our own daily bread. I'm pleased to say that the last time we ate store bought bread is at least 3 months ago. There's been a lot of experimentation involved, so we didn't always eat the best of bread loaves. We've eaten some stodgy bread, undercooked bread, dry bread and even bread with bits of brown paper stuck to the bottom, when someone (not pointing any fingers here) mistook the brown paper for baking paper.

This is how the dough looks after a light kneading

The upside is that we've also eaten some of the best bread we've ever tried. The smell of freshly baked bread is something I can never get tired of. Bread with no preservatives and no additives. I think that's enough to keep at it.

Dough, cut into 6 wedges

The Rye & Seed Soda Bread is a staple loaf in our home. It's the quickest loaf to whip up, no need for kneading or resting, no need to let it rise and bakes in 20 mins.

Soda bread is a type of quick bread which uses bicarbonate of soda instead of yeast, as a leavening agent. You need to use an acid which reacts with the baking soda, which will create tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide, causing the loaf to rise. Traditionally buttermilk is used, however I do not always have it in my fridge whereas I always have yoghurt, so this recipe uses a mixture of milk, yoghurt and lemon juice. You can easily substitute this for 285ml of buttermilk if you prefer.

Lovely seeds sprinkled instead

Do not expect this loaf to be light and soft. It's a dense, wholesome loaf with a distinct nutty taste, thanks to the rye flour and the seeds. It tastes great and is perfect with thick soup or with stew. It's a firm favourite, and not just because it can be on the table in less than 45 mins ;-)

Click for Recipe

The Fig Project - Fig, Balsamic and Peppercorn Jam

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:26:00 +0000

A few of the figs taking part in this project

I thought I'd be posting more frequently now that school is out. But as usual, life is full of surprises... and not always good ones at that! As some of you might know by now, M. was in a motorbike accident a few weeks ago. He's doing fine... a broken nose, a broken knee and torn ligament. Nothing that won't be fixed eventually. It's not THAT bad. I'm grateful that he's home and wheeling himself about.

Figs - Trimmed and ready for action

After abandoning my kitchen for a while, this week I was back at it, getting another surprise (this time a good one) by being gifted a nice big bag of organic figs. We ate a few but I knew that unless I did something with them, they might go to waste. All in all, I have till now ate, cooked with or somehow used around 15kg of figs. I will attempt to document all the ways I have used/will use the said figs, starting with the first fig jam I made - Fig, Balsamic and Peppercorn.

My favourite mixture of pink and black peppercorns

Actually, as my cousin L. correctly pointed out, jam might not be the correct name for what I made first. By definition, jams should be smooth, not chunky. Preserves, on the other hand are chunks of fruit, suspended in a syrup base. Not sure whether that qualifies either. It's possibly more of a chutney, having a combination of chopped fruit, vinegar, spices and sugar all simmered into a chunky mix, balanced in sweetness, tartness and spice.

Figs- added sugar, balsamic vinegar, crushed peppercorns and lemon

I love this jam. Although I am a huge fig fan, fig jams were not my favourite, due to them being too sweet. But this jam is so balanced, you might want to eat all of it straight out of the jar. And I can already see it being used in tarts, pancakes, salads or over some home made galletti (water biscuits)... but more on that later. :) For now, I'll share the recipe...

The first batch of yuminess

Click for Recipe

And finally...Macarons!!

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:16:00 +0000

My First Successful Macarons - With chocolate Ganache filling

It's been almost a year since I last posted. I do feel the shame! But at least, this time I am posting as a free woman.

I'm no longer a student. School term is finished and my days at ITS are over. My time is now divided between making cakes and desserts for customers, and testing recipes (as well as cooking for M. and cleaning... but who wants to think about that?). If that's not happiness, I don't know what is! :)

One recipe I've been wanting to test is that for Macarons. Ever since I tasted them for the first time at Ladurée in Paris, back in 2009, I have often craved for them and have been toying with the idea of making these beauties myself.

Pretty little Pink ones

It was our last day in Paris and were were supposed to visit the Louvre. We got there at 5:00pm and the museum was closing down for the evening, so we could not get it. But did I care about not seeing the La Vallette sword or the Mona Lisa? I forgot about them as soon as I caught a glimpse of the prettiest display of confections ever. Ladurée!

Deciding which ones to choose... now that was a difficult task. But I left the shop with 10 different Macarons in hand. Such beautiful colours! I savoured them slowly, marvelling at the sheer delicacy of the taste and texture, whilst sulking a little because I had to share. That's when the love affair started.

Macarons: Thin crispy outer shell, chewy inside, creamy ganache

Maybe you wondering why it took me so long to try making them myself. Maybe the ingredients were difficult to find? Maybe they're too time consuming? No & No! The only reason why I have been stalling for 3 whole years is that I have been reading about them... in books, on food blogs, everywhere! The list of troubleshooting tips is huge! Something ~~could~~ would obviously go wrong, wouldn't it? And I'm a coward that way...

The thing is, I just had to try. I pencilled them into my to do list, for next week. Right between "fix the magimix" and "pester M. to update my website". And less then 2 hours after they were in my list, a customer called. She wanted a cake, with macarons stuck on the side, and could I do it for tomorrow please?

Mini-Macarons on a Chocolate Gateaux

I was about to say no, but I knew that I could do them. So why postpone? Why not get it over and done with? I had just got a gentle nudge in the direction I wanted to go, and what perfect timing!

So I went shopping, armed myself with enough ingredients for 6 batches of macarons and by the time everyone was in bed, I was prepared for a long night of trial and error in the kitchen.

Don't they look gorgeous?

It actually took 2 tries to get them right. The first time I had too many holes on top and no feet. A little research revealed that it was a problem which was easily fixed just by tapping the bottom of the baking tray and bursting those pesky little bubbles with a toothpick. I also needed to wait a little longer between piping them and baking them, for a shell to form. I had no patience the first time round, even though I knew I should have.

The second batch was just what I was looking for! They were perfectly round, with thin smooth shiny shells and they had FEET! And they were chewy too! Oh the excitment! I was so pleased, I just had to wake up M. to show him, even though it was 2:00am :) (He was slightly less pleased, but hey! I had to share...)
Click for Recipe

Of vintage China and (almost!) impressing the hubby

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:28:00 +0000

Barratts Vintage Tea Set

I've been bad recently! And for a number of reasons too... For one thing, I haven't been updating this blog at all. My only excuse for that is that I started my summer internship, working 6 days a week in a restaurant. Not a very good excuse I know. Still, I'm sticking to it. I'm hoping it will get better once I'm back to school in a month's time.

Wedgewood Enoch and Adams Coffee Pots

I'm also using the same excuse for the second thing. I have not been taking any photos of anything I've cooked so far this summer. Moreover... the fridges are bare, the cupboards empty. I simply have no time or energy to go shopping. The hubby ain't too happy (more on that later!).

Royal Grafton Favourite trio

One thing about working in a restaurant till the early hours of the morning is that on getting back home you can't really go to sleep. Everyone else in the house is asleep. I had to find a way to pass the time... and I came up with online shopping.

That's where I've been awfully bad. No apologies either. I've been buying some beautiful vintage china. Complete sets, mismatched sets, teapots, coffee pots, cake stands. And today I received the last delivery. They're all here. My beauties :)

Some of the purchases

M. was as excited as I was... opening boxes and exclaiming on the beauty of the items. We took a few photos and then we got hungry. That's when problems began. I took out some noodles and M. gave me the "You're-a-chef-and-you're-feeding-me-packaged-noodles" look. I knew at that point, that reminding him that I'm still a student would be futile. I needed a better plan. So out came the grill pan and some chicken breast, the lonesome spring onion sitting in the bottom of the fridge, the tired carrot, two beautiful bowls.

Turkish handpainted bowls

With not much of a selection of items, I chose to stick with the packaged noodles. I first dry rubbed the chicken and grilled it together with the spring onions. The noodles were cooked in a miso soup and I then added the chopped grilled chicken, the onions, carrot shavings and some frozen peas. One minute later we were eating a faux sort of ramen.

Grilled onions and sweet carrot shavings

For such little effort and for such a quick fix-up, this result was surprisingly good. I could see that M. was almost impressed, but not quite. I had still fed him packaged noodles, after all!

Maltese Sausage & Prune risotto

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Wed, 04 May 2011 21:17:00 +0000

Maltese Sausage & Prune Risotto

Last week C.S. presented me with 4 sausages... Something between nicely spiced maltese sausages and salami. Her brother makes the Maltese sausages himself and then hangs them to dry, giving them a wonderful texture. We ate one straight away, then forgot about them in the pre-Patches madness, until today. I saw the package when I opened the fridge as soon as I woke up this morning and I must guiltily admit I ate a whole one for breakfast. YUM! I know my blood pressure will not be low for a while now :)

Dried Maltese Sausage

I was wondering what to do with the rest of the sausages... (lest I be tempted to finish off the remaining 2 all by myself) until I remembered another forgotten ingredient: Vialone Nano rice, kindly given to us by Eatmania at the end of the Rice Degustation event, a few weeks back. Photos of the event here.

The Rice Sample we were given by Eatmania

Since that event, my mind has been mulling around ideas of how to best use this special rice, and today I decided that combining it with another special ingredient (the sausages) sounded like a good idea. Which, may I humbly say, it was!

Chopped Sausage

Maltese sausages are all made to the same basic recipe, however each butcher will spice it to his own liking... these had a definite taste of cumin seeds and I decided that they would pair up nicely with prunes. So here it goes: dried Maltese sausage and Prune Risotto. Delicious!

Ps. I noticed that the Vialone Nano is actually much creamier than any other rice I tried before... My previous favourite was Carnarolo, but I believe this might change. The rice also remained nicely separate, despite the creaminess, and retained a nice bite.I might need to get myself a good stock of this rice!

Chopped Prunes

Click for Recipe

The "30 minute Mini Cafe" experience @ Patches

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:38:00 +0000

Just a quick blog to let you know that Handz by Patz is presenting the "30 minute Mini Cafe" experience, next Sunday 1st of May at the Patches Market. Join us for a cuppa and a selection of mouth watering delights.

Click here for more info!

Thanks :)
Patz

Tiny figolla bites... with recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:54:00 +0000

Anyone taking a look at my hands might think I've been dipping my fingers in paint of something of the sort... but all I've been doing is baking and decorating "Figolli"

Nice rows of "figures" ready to be popped into the oven

"Figolli" are a traditional Maltese pastry eaten at Easter time... apparently the name come from a corruption of the word figure (or figuri in old Italian) and usually in the shape of a lamb or something of the sort. Figolli are usually also large... about 7 to 10 inches in lenght (or width, depending on the shape :p )

So what's different about my figolli? Well they're small... tiny actually. Not more than 1 inch across. One bite and they're gone!

I made them by preparing two pieces of dough, on top of the other, separated by the almond filling in the middle, then used cookie cutters to cut out around 250 small figolli.

It did take some time... and patience... but the upside was that I had loads and loads of off cuts, which I baked seperately and we enjoyed even before the "pretty ones" were iced. YUMM!

I packed the figolli in packs of 3, a little ribbon and a home made tag and star.. and off they go, my little ones, on their own into the outside world.

The recipe I used for these figolli was given to me by one of my teachers, Mrs. Nathalie Barbara. I have to say I was not disappointed with the results. I particularly liked the dough, which resulted in a softer figolla than usual.

I made the dough by hand, and it was easy. I love rubbing the flour and the butter together... the smell reminds me of happiness. Maybe it's because it reminds me of my mother, making figolli, when I was a kid... and how happy and excited we were to eat these goodies.

Recipe is below. Let me know if you make it and what results you get.

In the mean time, Happy Easter to all!

Click for Recipe

Strawberry festival & a recipe for a chocolate cake with strawberries!

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:10:00 +0000

Last week was a hard week... and on friday I was at school till 1:30am, whilst I woke up at 5:30am on Saturday morning, to bake goodies for the evening's "Cuisine, Cultural & Artisan Festival", which was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Brownies & Kwarezimal at my stall

Despite the interesting exhibition and the varied amount of stalls displaying their wares, attendance to the event was very sparse, which was also positive, because it gave me time to speak to some very interesting people. Sales weren't too bad either. It seems that wherever I am, the brownies will be grabbed up immediately. So were the kwarezimal. Most of the pudina was sold to my family and friends who came over en masse and spent the evening chatting around my stall. Some locals bought some of the pudina too, and said they liked it. (They might have been trying to be polite though... :p) On Saturday night I fell asleep much before my head hit the pillow!

My version of the traditional Pudina (bread pudding)

So it was with great effort that I woke up early on Sunday morning, in order to beat the traffic and the crowds attending the "Festa Frawli" (Strawberry Festival). I made it a point to go, because I had heard good things about it, on previous years.

Festa Frawli: Waffles with strawberries and ice cream

But oh! What a disappointment! The stalls were few, the traffic was terrible, even at 10:00am and there was only a single point from where you could buy fresh strawberries!

Festa Frawli: Mqaret with strawberry sorbet

Festa Frawli: Strawberry lolipops

It wasn't all bad... the strawberries I managed to buy from there were sweet and tasty, the goodies prepared with the strawberries looked nice, and the onee I tasted were also good. There were really beautiful displays of strawberries and flowers and some interesting, cultural entertainment.

Festa Frawli: Strawberry and flower displays

Unfortunately, the small bottle of "imbid tal-frawli", a strawberry liquor of sorts, I bought for €4.50 from one of the stalls, wasn't too good. 2 sips of it (the second sip was to confirm that it was complete and utter rubbish) gave me a bad case of heartburn and the rest of the bottle went down the drain. All in all I'm not sure the whole trip was worth it at all!

Festa Frawli: Entertainers in traditional maltese dresses

Festa Frawli: Entertainers holding traditional instruments

Apparently there were other things going on in the area, other than the stalls, but I did not see any signs anywhere so we must have missed all of them!

Talking about strawberries, here's the recipe for last week's pictured chocolate cake with fresh strawberries. It was a huge hit and altough I baked it at 7:00pm, not a crumb remained for the next day! So I guess it's worth a try. Recipe adapted from Larousse Gastronomique.

Click for Recipe

Cakes I baked this weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:16:00 +0000

Just a quick post today, to share with you 2 cakes I made this weekend. The first one was for a twins Christening party and the second one was for welcoming back C. who was away on work for the last 2 months or so.

Both cakes have a chocolate base (click here for recipe) with a chocolate frosting centre. The chocolate frosting was especially lip licking good! The twins cake had a layer of rasberry jam whilst I put fresh strawberries in the plain chocolate cake.

Spent the whole day baking and decorating... and absolutely loved every minute of it :-D

This week is an especially busy week. Apart from working at the ITS restaurant, in the bar area, during a theme night next Friday evening, I will also be participating in a Cuisine, Culture & Artisan festival on Saturday evening... so I will be baking all day. Bring it on!!

A Rabbit Burger Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:46:00 +0000

Rabbit burger topped with pancetta

For the benefit of my foreign friends, let me start by saying: Yes, we do eat rabbit in Malta. No! It is not a cheap substitute for chicken! No! It's not like eating "Bambi" at all! (Bambi tastes more gamey :p ).

Raw peeled beetroot

Now that I've taken that load of my chest, let me state that I did not always love to eat rabbit myself. Maybe because when I was young, the rabbits themselves were too old and therefore the meat was tough. Maybe it was the cooking method. I did love my father's rabbit stew though.

Sliced mushrooms & courgettes... later dipped in tempura batter and deep fried

And the garlic fried liver! I have quite clear memories of Sunday mornings, when I was woken up at 6:00 by the smell of garlic and liver wafting through the house. Running to the kitchen I would find three plates, one for each of us kids, laid out with the rabbit liver equally divided between them and a slice of freshly baked maltese bread on each.

Shaped rabbit burger

My dad would then proceed to fry the rabbit in garlic and then stew it. Being an impatient man, he probably never let the stew simmer for long enough (therefore the tough meat). Still the resultant stew was delicious and I keep striving to make my stews taste the same, knowing it will never happen since my dad always threw in random amount of all herbs and spices he had at hand!

Rabbit burgers on the grill

These days, I buy rabbits which are still young, from a trusted supplier and altough rabbit stews start to smell good a short while after they are left to simmer, I usually manage to restrain myself until the rabbit starts falling off the bone.

Beetroot Aioli

The recipe here is not for my dad's rabbit stew. I am not ready to share it yet, because it's still not perfect. One day... maybe soon. Instead I am sharing one of my favourite recipes for a moist and tender Rabbit mince burger. Serve with sweet potato wedges and tempura mushrooms & courgettes. Recipe after the jump

Click for Recipe

A wonderful sunny Sunday!

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 21:17:00 +0000

It's late, on a school night and I'm dead tired... but I was really excited to share the day's activities :)

The location

Today, I went to Gozo with M, C.S, and two friends, together with around 200 other people from my husband's workplace, to visit Ta' Mena's Agriturism in Gozo. Agriturism is something I was always interested in and Ta' Mena is a first in Malta... so I was really looking forward to this day, with some trepidation, lest it was a let down.

I was also dreading the fact that I had to wake up at 6 in the morning, on the day when the clocks moved forward! WAAAAAAAAA!! I am NOT a morning person. I love my bed and my sleep, but I have to say it was worth disturbing my sleep pattern for a day like today.

Orange picking, squeezing and drinking

After crossing over to Malta's sister island, Gozo, and arriving at Ta' Mena, we were greeted with gozitan coffee, pastizzi & qaghaq ta l'ghasel. We were soon on our way to pick oranges from the trees which were then squeezed for us to drink the incredibly sweet juice. It was great watching a little boy throw out his crisps in favour of oranges and tangerines! Maybe showing our kids where their food comes from might help them make healthier choices?!

Strawberry picking

We were then led on for a 15 minute walk through the country side, to a lovely orange grove surrounded by cane, were we ate more oranges and some tangerines... and then went on to an area where we were instructed to pick strawberries. I don't know whether it's because of the effort I put in to find ripe strawberries while feeling incredibly hot... but I believe that those strawberries where sweetest ones I have ever tasted. During the walk, Joseph, our tour guide for the day, was very forthcoming with information about the locality and about farming methods.

Focaccia making

Back at the estate we were offered a much needed cold drink together with bruscetta made with their own olives and sundried tomatoes, together with a romesmary focaccia baked in a woodburning oven, prepared in front of my very eyes. What fun! The method of preparation was also explained for whoever was interested :)

The winery

After a particularly large and delicious meal, we were invited to take a tour of the estate, but we declined... opting instead to lounge in the garden and enjoying a very nice breeze. Later we were given a tour of the winery. Incredibly interesting especially the part where we were allowed to enter the store where french oak barrels are maturing some very lovely wines. What a wonderful smell!

My companions in adventure :)

One thing to complain about - 200 people was just too many to really get involved... so we're planning to return with a group of no more then 30 people. I am sure it would have been that much more informative! Still... a day to remember and we left the estate laden with their home made "kunserva" (tomato concentrate paste), olive oil and liqueur.

Joseph was continuosly, enthusiastically, explaining everything we wanted to know!

What got me thinking was that Joseph was telling us how he used to work in a bank for a number of years, but then quit to help set up this project... He did say it's hard work and that he must be crazy, but at the same time it is quite obvious how excited he is when talking about nature and how happy he looks. I can't help wondering whether this will be the trend in the years to come. More people leaving their 9 to 5 jobs to do what they really want to be doing. More people thinking more about sustainable living and being happy. I really do hope so!

Anyway... good night! I'm off to sleep with a smile on my face!

PS. I am in no way related to the Ta' Mena estates and this is in no way a paid advert...I am a person who usually complains a lot about the products or services being offered, so I'm always very happy to find something I can't really complain about.

Zeppoli (or "Sfineg ta San Guzepp")

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 21:41:00 +0000

My first thought, as I woke up this morning was: "I'll make Zeppoli today".

It's my friend J.'s fault. He's been going on and on all week about how he's looking forward to eat Zeppoli. Because today is St. Joseph's feast here in Malta, and it is tradition that on this day, people eat sweetened deep fried pastry balls, filled with Ricotta.

Zeppoli

J. ~~asked me~~, ~~forced me~~, threatened me until I accepted to go out and buy them for him... He even called and sent messages in order to remind me. Which I did... I bought a couple for him. But then made some home made ones for the rest of us.

The recipe calls for candied peel and since I did not have any, but did have an orange and some sugar, I started the day by boiling the orange skin in water to make candied orange peel. I added some bay leaves and a handful of spices (cloves, cinnamon, juniper berries) just to make the house smell better.

Homemade candied orange peel

I made the filling by mixing ricotta cheese with finely chopped dark chocolate, the orange peel & almonds. To the choux pastry I added grated rind of an orange and a lemon.

In the afternoon I went to see my bro & his friends' mare Lady IV. She's just 9 months old, a real cutie and very sprightly.

Me & Lady IV

Back from the visit, I finished off the Zeppoli by deep frying the batter and then drenching the pastry with a honey/homemade marmalade mixture and sprinkled them with chopped almonds. Eaten immediately, the outside shell has a nice crunch with a soft, creamy interior. Eaten later, the shell had softened but the chocolate bits and nuts make for a nice bite. YUMMY!
Happy St. Joseph's day! Recipe after the jump...

Sfineg ta' San Guzepp

Click for Recipe

What I bought from Patches market

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:41:00 +0000

Just a quick one! The following pics should have been included in yesterday's post, but I was too tired (read lazy) to get up and start photographing.

Note also, that they are mediocre compared to the usual pictures in this blog, cause this time round I took them, rather then M. who is a much more dedicated photographer :)

So here they are... photos of the items mentioned in yesterday's post, starting with Amanda Gustafsson's Cookie table:

...Rachel Robinson's Jewellery (the bartered ones :-D )

Click for Recipe

Patches 5th Edition: A Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:11:00 +0000

The Patches Market has come and gone... leaving behind memories of such a lovely day. I was actually surprised at how busy we were, since it was raining and very bleak :)

Luxury Nut brownies

Once again, the brownies were a huge hit, together with the cookies. The baked lemon cheesecake, topped with pistacchios and a homemade marmalade-honey sauce was also a great success - loved watching people drool over it :)

Biscotti, Cherries in Chocolate & Profiteroles

Yippeeee!! Couldn't have been happier! My wonderful nephew D. was as usual an enormous help, as was my better half M. Both helped man my stall while I sprinted around buying stuff on offer from the talented artists :-D.

Kwarezimal, & cookies displayed on the new cookie stand

Click for Recipe

Handz by Patz @ Patches this weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 21:22:00 +0000

Paper cubes - for decorating my stall

It's been nice & hectic these past few days. I've been getting ready for the Patches market which takes place this Sunday, 13th March.

I've been printing out flyers, and labels... description sheets. I've also been making origami to decorate my stall... My friend C.S. took me out to a flea market, where we prowled for odd pieces of china... Love my new purchases... Have to scrub them well, before laying them out with the delicious sweets I'm baking next Saturday.

Authentic milk bottles found at a flea market

Click for Recipe

Imbuljuta and an Imbuljuta-inspired brownie

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:33:00 +0000

Imbuljuta tal- Qastan

The Maltese culture presentation is tomorrow, and today (yes! the night before :p) I made the last recipe to finish it off - a brownie, inspired by a Maltese traditional chocolate-chestnut soup - the imbuljuta.

This soup, which is traditionally eaten at christmas time, right after mid-night mass, is a thick & hearthy drink, flavoured with tangerine & orange peel, cinnamon & crushed cloves. I also like to add dark chocolate to the mix for an even more decadent drink.

The last time I drank the imbuljuta, the chocolate-ness of it reminded me of my favourite brownies... and when doing the above mentioned project, I thought of incorporating these two, excellent recipes to produce a brownie using chestnuts, orange zest & spices.

Imbujluta Brownie

I am happy to say that the result is a brownie, as fudgy and as soft as the nut brownies I usually make with an awesome citrusy, cinnamony flavour. OH YUM!!

Click for Recipe

Xkunvat

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 09:46:00 +0000

Xkunvat knot

It all started with a project...and a book.

The project: a presentation for my Maltese Culture class about our ideas on modifying a traditional recipe.

The book: The way we ate a wonderful book about traditional Maltese recipes by Matty Cremona.

Inside this lovely and insightful book, I met a recipe I had never seen before. Xkunvat - a traditional, festive pastry which was prepared for carnival and the 'quccija' (a baby's first birthday party). It is actually a pastry, prepared with Anisette liquer and deep fried... then drizzled with honey and sprinkled with hundreds & thousands.

Xkunvat pillows

Click for Recipe

Eggs Florentine

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 09:12:00 +0000

I know! It’s been ages and ages and ages! But I’ve been busy with school and trying out recipes. It's going really well at school. Learning soooo much, and I'm gaining more confidence in the kitchen... paying more attention to the end presentation. It's great!! All I had hoped for.
I often post pictures on facebook about whatever I’ve been cooking, and I often get asked for recipes. I sometimes send a link, but more often than not, I’ve modified the recipe… or taken bits from here and there, so it’s not that easy. So here is my first try at providing a recipe, taken from here and there, with my modifications and all.

Now this recipe… it’s not quick... if you want to do everything from scratch. But there are alternatives… shortcuts, a quicker way of doing it. Let’s take the Mornay sauce part below: skip making the Bechamel sauce yourself and use a store bought packet, add an egg and some cheese, and voila! Don’t have fresh spinach? Frozen spinach is a great substitute. Still… here’s the full recipe below, split into the various parts required for this recipe, with shortcuts thrown in when possible.
Click for Recipe

My First Ever Market Stall - Patches!

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:11:00 +0000

It's today! It's today!! I am sooo excited, I can't wait!! Everything is ready... 80 Brownies, 60 Cookies, 80 Biscotti and 31 cards, to be exact. Hope I will manage to sell some stuff at least :)

Pictures of the stall will follow soon... YEAY!

Patches Market Event

Going to school & some Biscotti

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 06:23:00 +0000

Oooh! What fun! What excitement! I had my first 2 days at school this week. Granted, they were just 2 half days of induction talks, but still... a preview of the good things to come.

My favourite part was the talk about which knives we need and information about the various knife makers. I was really looking forward to buying the knives, but I have to admit... deciding on what to buy, is terrible confusing! Japanese? German? French? Trying to get a clearer idea by reading some articles. Cutting Remarks by Travis Neighbor Ward has been a good start.

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A fresh start... and lots of hard work :)

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:25:00 +0000

After 2 years and a few months in Dublin, we've decided it was time to go back home! We were missing the little ones too much, and they grow up sooooooo fast!!

This last month back on the rock (Malta) has been spent catching up with family and friends, planning our appartment's refurbishment and loads and loads of baking, because (apparently) my sweet treats have been missed more then I have!!!!

I can't say I'm sorry though. I have been enjoying every minute of it, except the heat of the maltese summer. Maybe we should have came back in winter, where it would have been raining even more then in Dublin :)
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A beautiful Thank You!

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:22:00 +0000

Design, Print, Trim, Glue, Trim, Glue, Trim, Glue and some more Trim and Glue... that's how the past few days have flown by!! That's because I've had my first large order for 50 cards! Yippeee!!

I know it's been a long time since I last blogged, and I'm sorry :| But I couldn't resist sharing this great news.

It all happened during a very fortunate encounter (fortunate for me, and not for my maltese friend who was stranded here due to the volcanic ash)...
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..And we're back!

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:58:00 +0000

5 days since the last blog post. Was having sooo much fun in London with the girls and didn't have much time for work. The "We will rock you" musical was awesome. Thanks go to the gals for all the great craic! :)

But here I am, ready to go again. Today I'll be posting preview pics of some baby congratulations cards I'll be selling on Etsy later on this week.

The card below was a custom order for a baby named Sean (Isn't that obvious?! haha!) and can be customized with any baby's name or I can just write BABY using rhinestones. I think it's really cute.

This one featuring 2 embossed baby shoes with 2 crochetted baby flowers and rhinestones. Altough not in pink, I think this is a really original and pretty girly card.

And this is a neutral card, featuring 2 hand drawn baby feet and powder embossed in bronze. A proper work of art, isn't it? :)

Last one for today is this cute animal card. I drew the animal faces on the PC, then printed each animal face twice on texturized card stock.then cut stuck together to create a 3D effect. A neutral card, but i definitely would prefer this to be for a baby boy :)

Enough! Will be back soon with some Wedding card pics. In the mean time... enjoy the Christmas season :)

Hugs to all!

Patz

Posting & Packaging

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Hello all! :)

I have just passed a pleasant morning, happily writing away thank you notes and packaging my orders. Ohh it's all so exciting!

A couple of weeks ago I bought some twine from swannandsmerlin and I've ben using it in the packaging of my items.

Not only that, but have also included it in some cards, for example

Now, buying the twine, really got me thinking about my own packaging. Not only because of the twine itself, but because of the very lovely packaging I received the twine in. Unfortunately I did not take any photos to share with you, but it was the sort of package that makes you feel happy and special.

On me, that package had a very different effect. It sent me into panic mode! Oh no!! I had not even thought about the packaging stage yet. Wrapping? Address stickers? Shall I go for recycled envelopes? Business cards!! Groan!

I realised I had not only bought some twine, but also a lesson in making people happy just by packaging the items in a special way. And when I say "just", I am using the term in a very loose way. Cause there was nothing "just" about the packaging! It was pretty and well thought out and later, when I had calmed down a bit, I got the warm fuzzy feeling of a good buy. So here's a huge thanks to Odette! Keep up the great work!

Now off to start packing for tomorrow :)

Good evening to all!
Hugs,
Patz

Playing around

noreply@blogger.com (Handz by Patz) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:54:00 +0000

It's Tuesday! I have 2 days left before I leave for a long weekend in London to meet my friends, and before doing that, I have to finish all my pending projects! Orders to fullfil and dispatch, new cards to design and 2 special cards for the friends I'm meeting, both of whom have their birthday at this time of the year.

Apart from throwing away my husband's best (and new) jeans, by mistake (he didn't kill me yet, but he might be planning something cruel...) this week has been going very well. I sold a few Christmas cards and I've been crochetting some snowflakes to put on some of the cards. They look lovely on the card and can also be hung up as an ornament. And what's more...I enjoy making them soo much!

Patterns for these are on Crochet Pattern Central.

I've also been playing around with wire... and came up with this sort of Christmas tree like thing, but unfortunately I did not like it enough for it to make it into any of my cards, for now...

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