Taco Rice

I only heard of Taco Rice last year and was really intrigued by it. Checked online to find out what it was and saw the video from Cooking with the Dog on Youtube and thought it was a must try recipe. It is a Japanised version of tacos and it's really delicious and easy to make! ^^ (basically, you eat it with rice). 

Here is the video: Taco Rice -Cooking with the Dog-

I did not follow the recipe/video step by step and I think it still turned out pretty good. Like for example I didn't make the salsa myself (I'm lazy like that) and just bought the jar :P

For the meat, I added the salsa and some soya sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce. I placed the rice in the bowl, lettuce pieces, meat in the middle, tomatoes and sprinkled some grated cheese AND added cheese blocks. Then the avocado and tortilla chips, and added some sour cream (made the whole dish a bit creamier hehe).

Anyways, very good recipe that I should make more often! 

So many colours! 

Rendang

Today I will be writing about an Indonesian recipe, a first! It's called Rendang and it's a kind of meat stew. My boyfriend made this for me and my parents and it was absolutely delicious! His mum (who's Indonesian) gave him the instructions! According to him, this is a simplified version of Rendang! It's a very easy recipe with lots of different flavors. A must try if you like spicy food :P 

Recently I have been discovering Indonesian cuisine (thanks to my boyfriend's mum, thank youu ><) and absolutely love it! In Holland, it is relatively easy to find Indonesian products. What you need here the Boemboe Rendang mix is easily found (in Holland and England at least, check picture below next to ingredients :))

Ingredients:

Bag of spices

• Boemboe Rendang mix, the roux
• 1 big onion
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 500g beef 
• 2 sticks of lemon grass
• 3 bay leafs
• 4-5 cups of water
• Coconut milk
• Basmati rice

Preparation:

1. Cut the onion into strips. 
2. Cut the beef into bite size pieces (we had the already cut ones hehe)
3. Cut the garlic into small pieces
4. In a pot, add a little bit of oil and cook the onions. When they become transparent, add the meat and garlic. 
   
5. When the meat is almost cooked, add the Rendang spice mix. Mix thoroughly. Add the 4 cups of water (you can also add more if you are not so good with spicy food like me :P)
   
6. Dissolve the rendang spices and add the bay leaf and lemon grass sticks. 
   
7. Add the coconut milk. You can also add some more water if you're afraid it will be too spicy (but make sure not to add too much because otherwise there is less taste ><)
   
8. Boil on medium heat for 20 min. It's done! Yey! 

Let it sit for a day and then it's done! Its best to do this as the flavours are intensified and really enter the meat. It's absolutely delicious! You can also eat it with sticky rice but Basmati rice or other non-sticky type is best! :D

I made this before but without the lemon grass and bay leaf and it was good but definitely nothing comparable to this one. You should really add them and make it the day before to fully enjoy this dish! 

:3

Carbonara a la Rithuu 1

Today, I would like to post about how I make Carbonara. I have different ways of making it and this is the first one which would be the closest to the traditional one. Some people might accuse me of misusing the term Carbonara but this is why this post is called 'Carbonara A LA RITHUU' :P And its number 1 because there will be another post about my Japanized Carbonara in the very near future. Very exciting, I know.

I actually think Carbonara is quite difficult to master (I think it took me 3-4 years to become confident about how I make it) but do not be put off! Maybe I was just an extreme noob :P (high possibility hihi)

This recipe is very easy and fast to make! It's extra creamy and garlic-y and I think Carbonara is one of the best comfort food evaaaa! 

Despite not being the traditional recipe, I hope you still enjoy this post and try making it at home! :)

Ingredients (for 2 nomsters):

• Spaghetti (approximately100-120g per person) AL DENTE
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons of milk + half a cup of milk
• One pack of bacon (some people like to put a lot others not so much so quantity is up to you :))
• 1 Onion
• LOTS of garlic = 1 tablespoon of mashed garlic
• 1 tablespoon of white wine
• 3-4 table spoons of Parmesan cheese (or any other type of hard cheese)
• Grated Emmental cheese or any other kind of grated cheese (optional)
• 2 teaspoons of flour
• Salt and pepper
• Parsley (optional)

Preparation: 

1. Boil the water for the pasta
2. In a bowl, add the egg yolks, mashed garlic and 2 tablespoons of milk. Mix well. Then add the parmesan cheese and a little bit of salt and pepper. 
3. Cut the bacon into bite size pieces. Cut onion into stripes. In a large pan, (large enough to contain your cooked spaghetti afterwards) add the bacon. I don't use any oil or butter as the bacon already has plenty of those! When the bacon starts to get cooked, add the onion. 
4. When the onion starts to become transparent, add some white wine. At this point you can also add extra garlic ;)
5. When the alcohol completely evaporated, add the flour. This will help the sauce become creamier by just adding milk. Let's be honest, cream is delicious but also really fatty... This will help making this recipe a little healthier! :D Mix the flour evenly on the bacon and onion and add the milk.
6. Let it simmer and you will see that the sauce will start to thicken! At this point you can add emmental cheese (around 2 tablespoons) and mix well. At this point everything will look like this: 

Hi, I'm creamy. 

7. When your spaghetti are cooked, drain them well and add them to the bacon and onion pan. Lightly mix and add the egg yolk mixture and mix well again! You should still have the stove on at this point so the egg yolks are lightly cooked, making the sauce thicker. But make sure it doesn't over cook and become clumpy >< (it also shouldn't be too liquid)
Aaaand it's done, YEY! You can add some parsley as decoration. Now, just enjoy this delicious comfort food.

Oh and little warning, since it uses A LOT of garlic, best not to make this when you have date? ;) Or reduce the quantity of garlic hihi

Quite a lot of bacon

Add some pepper! :D

Gateau Breton

After being healthy with just a soup, I think now it is time to get onto a non-healthy recipe hehe.
This is a cake my mum makes and that I requested ^^ I made it myself before but as everyone knows, no matter how many times you make something the one your mum makes is always a bizillion times better. Yes, this is a fact ;) So yes the pictures of the cake you see here was made by Mama Rithuu! Mercii!

In any case, it is a pretty simple recipe and absolutely delicious as long as you like butter and the sweet and savory combination! :) This recipe is from my mum's region in Brittany and it's very similar to dutch boterkoek (also really delicious by the way). So if you like boterkoek, you will definitely like this recipe! A must try at home! :)
Recipe also available in French at the end of this post!

Ingredients:

• 300g of flour
• 240g of butter 
• 240g of sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 pinch of baking soda

Preparation:

Little advice: best to use Breton salted butter for this recipe like the one on the photo below. If it's not available where you are, just use salted butter (very important that it is salty!)

1. Melt the butter and mix the sugar. Then add the egg yolks (make sure the butter isn't too hot so it doesn't cook the eggs ><)
   
2. Add flour and mix well until it becomes dough-y.
   
3. Butter your mould and flatten the dough into it. 
4. Lightly brush with egg yolk so it becomes golden brown when baked! :) Use a fork to do the little design as shown on the photo and bake for 30min at 180 degrees!

And when it's ready... nom nom nom

So yeah as you can see it's a pretty straight forward recipe! It's really tasty and super delicious to have for breakfast or just as a snack :P or just anytime... hehe 

Just remember, it is important to use good quality salted butter for this recipe!

Hope you try making it! :D

Recette en Francais:

Ingredients: 

• 300g de farine
• 240g de beurre
• 240g de sucre
• 3 jaunes d'oeufs. 

Preparation:

1. Faire fondre le beurre et y ajouter le sucre. Ajouter les jaunes d'oeufs.
2. Ajouter la farine et mélanger le tout
3. Mettre dans un plat beurré. 
4. Dorer le dessus au jaune d'oeuf.
5. Faire cuire pendant 30minutes a 180 degres. 

Voila! :D

Pea-Leek Soup

Since it's still officially winter I thought I could add another soup recipe here! :D Today it's a pea and leek soup! I got inspired looking at some soup recipes and adapted to how I make soup myself. 

So here we go!

Ingredients: (for 4-6 servings)

• 4 leeks
• 10 spring onions (less or more is fine too)
• 4 cups of frozen green peas
• 4 cups of water 
• Chicken broth/bouillon (one cube or 3-4 spoons if in powder)
• 4 cups of milk
• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Cut the leeks and spring onion into small to medium pieces 
2. In a pot, add the leeks and spring onion with 2 cups of water and cook on high heat (You can also use some vegetable oil to cook them but to make it extra healthy, we will just poach them in water :))
3. When the vegetables start getting cooked, add the remaining 2 cups of water. 
4. Cut the bouillon cube into small pieces and add it to the pot and mix well. 
5. Add 2 cups of milk and add the frozen peas. Let it cook a bit.
6. At this point you can add some salt and pepper to taste. 
7. Use the hand blender to create the soup. Make sure it becomes all liquid-y (this can take some time especially if you are a perfectionist. But don't worry not more than 8 minutes :P)
8. Add the remaining of the milk (you can also keep it this way, depends how thick you want it to be). And then it's done! :D

I really like this recipe, it's very tasty! And it's so easy to make (soup in general are really simple as long as you have to hand blender ;))As usual, have a nice salad on the side with some chicken, turkey or ham and you will have a healthy meal!

Tiramisu

Ok so maybe the picture does not look super appealing but I can reassure you this recipe is very good. It's the one my mum makes and it's so yummy and very simple! I've made tiramisu many times when we had big gatherings for birthdays with my friends and I think everyone liked it :)
Hope you try making it!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs 
• 300g mascarpone (sometimes they only sell 250g ones and that quantity is also ok. Makes the mascarpone mixture more liquid)
• 50g Sugar
• Salt
• 250-300g of lady fingers
• Lemon zest/lemon juice
• 1 dl of very strong coffee 
• 3 tablespoons of Amaretto
• 5 tablespoons of rum
• Chocolate powder

For this recipe you will need 2 large bowls and an electric mixer! (very important!)

Preparations: 

1. Prepare some instant coffee (add lots of it so it's very strong) and a teaspoon of sugar. Add the amaretto and rum and set aside so it cools down. 
2. In 2 large bowls, separate the egg yolk from the white. 
3. In the bowl with the 2 egg yolks, add 50g of sugar. Mix with the electric mixer until it becomes white/beige-ish. Add the mascarpone to the mixture (best here to just mix with a spoon/fork and not the electric mixer. Might make it a little too liquid-y). 

   

   Mascarpone mixture!

4. In the bowl with the egg white, add a pinch of salt and use the electric mixer to beat until they form peaks. As you mix, add a table spoon of sugar. It will become pretty compact and you will be able to turn the bowl upside down (and the egg white should not fall. If it does then it's not ready :P). As the cake noob that I am, I have messed up the recipe one time because I was lazy and did not wash the electric mixer (after using it to mix the sugar and egg yolk) before beating the egg white... It will stay all liquid-y so make sure there's no yolk or anything else before beating the white! (Just don't be lazy like meee! :P)

   

   fluffeeeehh

5. When it's done, add the egg white to the mascarpone mixture very delicately. For this you can either use a spatula or a spoon and mix in a circular motion not to destroy the egg's white fluffiness. 
6. Place the coffee into a bowl and dip each lady finger generously and place them in a mould (I usually use an oven dish ^^). Create one layer and add one coat of mascarpone mixture. The repeat this process (lady fingers dipped in coffee-rum-amaretto) and coat with the rest of mascarpone (ok I always have a problem here, I always either use too much in the beginning or not enough so try to make it equal unlike me :P). You may also realize that you just don't have a perfect amount of lady fingers.... (like me) so just YOLO it up. 

   

   Make it work :P
   
   
   

   

7. When you're done, cover it and refrigerate it for half a day or 24 hours (24 hours is usually better) so all the flavors sink in the lady fingers! 
8. When you are about to eat it, cover it with some chocolate powder and it's done! :D

You can cover with dark chocolate powder but I've used Nesquick as well and it works :P

Hayashi Rice

Hayashi rice is a delicious Japanese stew! I used to buy the roux in Japanese stores in London and in Holland but after the tsunami, it either just disappeared or the prices went up.... So finding the recipe online was perfect to solve the problem of non-availability or high prices!

I got the recipe from Cooking with the Dog on Youtube! :D It's a super good recipe and even if it looks a bit of a hassle, I would really recommend you making this! The fact that it's a video also makes everything easier since you get a visual of how to. To watch the video click here! Follow all the instructions and success is guaranteed :D

The most annoying thing is making the roux but you just need to be patient and thorough with it. Made it quite a few times now and I never burnt the roux (maybe I jinxed myself now nooo). Maybe my problem is that it doesn't become as brown as in the video (since I am always so scared to burn it).
Also don't be discouraged by the amount of ingredients! Most of them are common ingredients (ketchup, honey, soya sauce) and for the not-so-common ones I just skip them! (like bay leaf and Worcestershire sauce) and it still tastes very good. To make a liiiiittle healthier, I also skip the whipping cream at the end...

I also used fresh tagliatelle once because one of the guests I made it for was not a fan of rice ;) And I think it was a really good combo! So if you are not a fan of rice, or just don't have any, pasta also goes great together! :)

Tuna Mayo Spaghetti

This is a recipe my dad makes and it's soooo. guuuuud. As usual, it's a very easy recipe and I made it myself (Of course, it will never be as good as my dad's T.T.). There aren't many steps and the ingredients are pretty easy to find even in Europe!
It's a wafu recipe, meaning it's a fusion between Europe and Japan (more specifically Italy and Japan here)! I love these kind of wafu recipes, especially when it involves spaghetti :P Oh and wafu pasta is always made with spaghetti... Don't ask me why :P I'm sure it's still delicious with other types of pasta but for me it has to be with spaghetti...

Anyways, hope you try making it!

Ingredients (3-4 nomsters):

• 400-450g of spaghetti
• 1 can of Tuna (no oil no nothing)
• Couple of spring onions 
• 1 onion
• 4 table spoons of Japanese mayonnaise
• Somen/Soba tsuyu
• Wasabi (Optional)
• Sea weed (Optional)
• butter
• salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Boil the water for the pasta
2. In the meantime, cut the spring onion as thin as possible, you can use the photos as guide line :P Place them in a bowl in the meantime as you will only need them at the end.
3. Cut the onion into large stripes. In any case, you don't have to be super thorough with the cutting ;) Yey!
4. Before cooking the onion, open the can of tuna, and place it into a bowl. Add the Japanese mayonnaise (you can use normal mayonnaise of course, but the Japanese Kewpie Mayo has more flavour I think.) and mix well. I put 4 table spoons but you can also put more or less. It's up to you :). Add some pepper and a little bit of salt. Make sure not to add too much salt as the tsuyu is already quite salty. Set aside. 
5. In a large pot, add a little bit of butter and cook the onion. 
6. When the water is boiling cook your spaghetti. When they are cooked, drain them well and throw them (not literally... water might splash everywhere and you might burn yourself/make a mess) into the large pot that contains your onions. At this point, add somen/soba tsuyu. Just add enough so that it coats your spaghetti and mix well. 
7. Place on to a plate with some onion. Add a spoon or two of the tuna mayo sauce, add the spring onion. Rip some sea weed into small pieces and wasabi! On the picture, the wasabi is in the middle but usually I just put some on the side of my plate and add some to every bite I take ;)
8. You mix a little yourself and ready to nom nom nom....

I recommend using Japanese sea weed for this recipe (Korean/Chinese sea weed is also nice but they have a stronger smell/taste). 

Enjoy! :D

Courgette Feta Quiche -Recipe-

Once you know how to make one quiche, you will be able to make a billion of other ones. This is a recipe of mine that I tried making last night.  As usual, it's easy to make (too lazy to make complicated stuff anyways :P) and I think it was pretty tasty too :P Hope you try this at home!

Sorry for the bad lighting... No natural light in London T.T

Ingredients:

Shortcrust Pastry:

• 200g plain flour
• 100g melted butter 
• a pinch of salt
• a medium egg 

Filling:

• 1 Courgette
• 1 medium sized onion
• 1 tomato (optional)
• 1 block of feta cheese
• some garlic
• 50g of grated cheese (I used emmental)
• 200-250ml of creme fraiche
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks

Preparation:

Shortcrust Pastry:

1. Add the flour, salt and butter and mix well. 
2. Beat the egg and add enough of it to bring it together and it becomes a dough
3. Make a little ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for at least 30min or in the freezer for 10-15min before placing it in the mold.
4. Using a rollin pin, flatten the dough (More or less 1cm thick. First time I made dough it was so thick it was basically raw... Nasteeh. So make sure it is thin enough!)
5. When already placed in the mold, use a fork to make little holes all over the pastry. 

If you are lazy like me you can also use already made shortcrust pastry and just place it in the mold hehe

Filling:

1. Cut the onion into small pieces and cook it with garlic. When it's cooked, set aside and let it cool down
2. In a bowl add the 2 whole eggs, the 2 egg yolks, and mix well. Add the cheese, salt and pepper. I prefer not to add too much salt because cheese is already salty. But quantity is up to you! :)
3. Cut the courgettes into very thin slices (as thin as you can and try to make sure they are the same size) and cook them with a bit of oil and garlic without breaking their shape.
4. Cover your mold with the dough of the quiche. 
5. Cut the feta into very thin slices as well and cover the entire bottom of the quiche. 
6. When the onion has cooled down, add it to the creamy mixture and mix well. You can then empty the bowl on to the dough (make sure the onions are spread out equally)
7. With your hands, take each slice of courgette and starting from the outside, line them one next to the other until reaching the center (maybe easier to check the photo :P).
8. Optional step: when I made it, I was feeling creative (haha) and I added thin slices of tomatoes in the center. My idea was to create a 'tomato flower' or something... Anyways, you don't have to do this of course :P Another way to use tomatoes is to have one circle of courgette then the next is diced tomatoes etc. I think it's a nice combination of colours, and taste wise tomato goes great with feta and courgette ^^ 
9. You can sprinkles the left over feta if you want or keep it for salad :)
10. Bake at 180C for 30-40 min depending on your oven! :) If your oven does not bake equally everywhere like mine, turn your quiche around every now and then so there isn't just one side cooking... 

Enjoy! :)

Maapo Harusame

As a massive noodle fan, having learned how to make maapo tofu, my next step was to make maapo harusame (maapo with rice vermicelli). I actually don't know if they eat this in China since I always had the Japanese version (from already made packs). Rice vermicelli are very thin, transparent noodles and I think you can easily find them in local Asian grocery stores :)

In an earlier post I explained how I made maapo tofu. If you mastered this already then you will be able to make this dish too! It's a pretty easy recipe and you just need to replace tofu with a bag of rice vermicelli and buy a pack of shiitake mushrooms (this was not in the maapo tofu recipe).

Ingredients (for approximately for 4 big nomsters):

• 3 teaspoon of chicken stock diluted into 500ml of water
• 2-3 teaspoon potato starch (to thicken the sauce)
• 4 teaspoon soya sauce
• 3 teaspoon sugar
• a drizzle of sesame oil
• 3 cloves of garlic or 4 teaspoon of mashed garlic
• 4 teaspoon of minced ginger
• 8 green onions (white parts and green parts)
• Doubanjiang (chili bean paste; you can easily find it in asian supermarkets)
• 400 g of minced beef (you can also use minced pork)
• a bag of more or less 250g of rice vermicelli (available at local asian grocery store)

Preparation:

• In a bowl, mix the chicken stock, potato starch, soya sauce and sugar. 
• In a deep frying pan or a pot, add a drizzle of sesame oil and add the garlic, ginger and white parts of the spring onion on medium heat. When it's cooked add the minced meat. Try to make sure to break the clumps of meat with the spatula :)
• When the meat is almost cooked, add the shiitake mushrooms (I cut them into very small bits but you can cut them bigger of course)
• In a pot, boil the water for harusame (rice vermicelli). 
• When the meat is cooked, add the doubanjiang. I did not put a specific amount in the recipe because I always just randomly add the paste. I just keep adding until the meat is evenly covered and becomes red-ish.
• Mix the sauce that you kept on the side one last time before adding it to the pot. 
• Let it boil until the sauce thickens
• When the water in the pot is boiling, add the rice vermicelli. Check the package to know how long you need to boil them (mine were 5 min). When they are done, drain them and rinse them with cold water. This is to ensure the cooking stops completely. Drain them well and add them to the sauce. 
• Serve with fresh rice (optional) and sprinkle the green part of the green onion as decoration. 

As you can see pretty straight forward preparation! My only problem was the rice vermicelli... I didn't want to use the entire pack at first but it was impossible to cut them. Tried with scissors, knife... I put the entire bag and there were some left overs. 

Luckily, this dish was still good to nom-nom the next day. If you have leftovers you will see the vermicelli will drink up aaalll the sauce and they will look a bit fatter than the day before. But no worries the taste will still be the same! :) 

Enjoy!

Chives dip

Dip, cheese and champagne for NYE!

As I am more of a savory nomster than sweet, I LOVE chips. And what do I love with chips? DIP. OOH YES. I made this dip many times and its super fresh and goes perfectly with lightly salted chips! When you see the ingredients you will understand that it is a pretty fatty preparation so it is important to consume with moderation! :P

Super easy and fast to make, you should definitely have this for a nice chill movie night at home or when you have guests over for a little nibble before dinner!

Ingredients:

• 200g Philadelphia cream cheese (normal or light)
• 200g of creme fraiche
• 25g Chives 
• Tabasco
• lime juice
• Salt and pepper
• Garlic (optional)

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, mix the philadelphia and cream fraiche. 
2. Cut the chives into small bits and add it to the mix. 
3. Add salt, pepper, lime juice and a little bit of tabasco to taste.
4. Sometimes I like to add a little bit of mashed garlic for a stronger taste, but this is optional. 
5. When everything is mixed leave it in the fridge for half a day so the chives and garlic scents the dip. Serve with some salted chips (best not to have flavored chips so you can really feel the dip).

The photo does not reflect the yumminess of this dip T.T 

Enjoy! :) 

Nutella Cake

For this year's Christmas cake we decided to make something new: Nutella cake. I think everyone is a big fan of nutella and most people would probably enjoy this recipe. As a baking noob, this recipe was still quite easy to make (even for me). I found the recipe on a French site and the link in French can be found at the end of this post! :)

Ingredients for 4 nomsters

• 6 spoons of Nutella
• 150g of flour
• 120g of sugar
• 1 yoghurt (plain yoghurt)
• 3 eggs
• Half a pack of baking soda

Preparation

1. Pre-heat your oven at 180C and butter your mold and cover it with flour so the cake doesn't stick. 
2. In a big bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar (you can use an electric mixer for this). Add the yoghurt, melted butter and mix well. Once it becomes smooth, add the flour and baking soda while mixing. 
3. Finally, add the Nutella. It didn't say in the recipe but we used the electric mixer (Nutella is quite thick so it was quite a hassle to mix. It was just faster!). 
4. Once the Nutella is incorporated, add it to mold and bake it for 30 min! 

Yeeey, so easy! Ok so this cake was pretty good. One minus point, it did not taste like Nutella as much as I thought... A little disappointed with this but it was very soft and spongy. It was also nice that it wasn't too sweet. If you add more Nutella it might be a little too intense... But yes, I think you should definitely try this out! We ate it with creme anglaise (vanilla flavoured *recipe coming soon*) and it was absolutely delicious! 

Nutella cake with creme anglaise

We made it Christmassy by adding powdered sugar (kind of like snow hehe) and some little decorations as you can see on the photo :)

Can you tell how spongy it is? :)

Recette en Francais --> http://gateau.com/gateau-au-nutella-facile.htm

Enjoy!

Vichyssoise Soup

Finally, a soup post for cold days! I personally love soup since it makes you feel so warm inside and it's sooo comforting somehow :3 Anyways, today I will be writing on vichyssoise soup, basically a leak-potato soup!To be honest, I'm not really sure where this soup is from but what I know is that I found this recipe from a Japanese cook book my parents have. So here it is, in English :P

Vichyssoise soup in traditional Breton bowl

Ingredients (4 nomsters):

• 2-4 leaks (depending on the size of the leaks)
• 1/2 or 1 onion (depending on the size)
• 4 small potatoes or 2 big ones
• Chicken broth (1 cube or 3 teaspoons) in 2 cups of water
•  4 cups of milk
• Salt/pepper
• Nutmeg (optional)
• 1 cup liquid cream

Preparation:

1. Cut the leaks into small pieces and the onion into stripes. If the potatoes are small you just have to peel them and throw them in the pan. If you have big potatoes just cut them into medium pieces. 
2. In a pot, heat a little bit of oil. Add the leak and onion. When they are starting to be cooked, add the potatoes with the chicken broth. Add salt and pepper and let it slowly cook.
3. When the potatoes are cooked (I usually poke them with a knife) add half of the milk and use the mixer. Make sure to get all the potatoes! 
4. When your soup looks like a soup, add the rest of the milk. 
5. At this point you can also add the liquid cream but I always skip this step to make the recipe healthier. And even without it, it's just as nice :)
6. You can add some nutmeg on top but this step is optional.

Usually, this soup is eaten cold but having it hot on cold winter days is also very nice :D This soup is very tasty and healthy and a perfect dinner would be the soup and a salad. It's very light and refreshing for maybe the day after a heavy meal? 

Xmas chocolate chip cookies!

Fresh out of the oven :3

Ok so this recipe is not reaaally a christmas recipe but more that christmas is a perfect reason to make some nice chocolate chip cookies :D
I found it on a french cooking site and it was super easy (although as a huge baking noob I did make a mistake the first time I baked them -____-) and fast to make... And it was delicious! What I liked about this recipe is that it was not too sweet or too greasy. I will definitely make them again!

So here is the translated recipe and the original one in French at the end :)

Ingredients:

• a bag of chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate ones)
• 100g of melted butter
• 1 bag of vanilla sugar
• 1/2 bag of baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 100g of brown sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 250g of flour

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat the oven at 200 C. Prepare a tray with some baking paper on it.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, brown sugar, vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt. 
3. In another bowl, mix the eggs and the butter. In the original recipe it said softened butter but I completely melted it in the microwave and it was totally fine (it didn't make the cookies greasier as I had read on other sites). When I mixed the room temperature butter and egg, my butter was actually not soft enough and it made nasty clumps and had to throw it away... Anyways, best to use completely melted butter to be safe and lightly mix with a electric mixer! 
4. When it's mixed, add the egg-butter mixture and the chocolate chips (I put an entire bag of them :P) to the flour one. Mix well. You will obtain a pretty thick dough.
5. Use 2 spoons to make little balls of more or less 5 cm of diameter and place them on the tray with baking paper. Once you place it, I would recommend flattening the dough a bit (the first time I made them, they were very yummy but maybe a little too thick. As you can see on the pictures they were FAT cookies. Not for amateur cookie nomsters). Make sure there's enough space between each cookie! 
6. Place them in the oven for 9 min (I actually left them in a little longer, around 12 min but it depends on your oven). When they are done, they will be super soft inside :3 Make sure to keep them in a Tupperware if you like soft spongy cookies (like me) or leave them in open air for drier ones! 

Overall, this recipe was super easy and the outcome was amazing! It's perfect for a little snack with your family during this time of the year or to leave them next to the xmas tree with a glass of milk for Santa! :D I also gave some to my dad as an afternoon snack at work as it can be easily be put into a box or even wrap it with aluminium foil. 

Recette en Francais ici! http://gateau.com/cookies-facile-et-rapide.htm