Only half?

Today after gym,me,pauline,sam n jason went to bulanje.Wow, this is my 3rd apple strudel in bulanje. But,today I ordered extra stuff-expresso. As you can see the picture above,my goodness,when the waiter brought me my expressso,..hmm, perhaps,i could understand expresso is served in such little tiny cup..as most people regards it as coffee shot, but never in my life I would think it is only half a cup of the little small cup. My friends then try to be funny,asking me to bring along my water bottle next time, so that I can add in my water,at least I could have a full cup of expresso. Anyways,it has been an awesome day to me. My sheep text me and ask how's my saturday? Well,all I can say,my sat is great and so much blessed and I want to thank God for this day. Praise the Lord!

Eating alot...!!! is it because of winter??

I've been eating a lot lately, especially at night. Is it because of the changed of the season- to winter, that i easily feel hungry? or simply wanted to have a bite. Anyways, those are a few of the junk that i eat, eating them for breakfast, for lunch sometimes, for snack, and now supper.
I like eating the biscuits with чай с молоком -tea with milk ( or back in Malaysia, also is name as teh tarik).
Russia has their own nice biscuits. Here in Kursk, those ( in the picture) are the biscuits i always buy in the supermarket...there are others too that i like,perhaps shall take a snap of those biscuits that i meant the next time i buy.
Back in Malaysia, there are various type of biscuits you can get in the supermarket. I know one of them, which is my youngest sister's favorite - chipsmore.



One common thing you can find among my siblings - we like to eat biscuits.

Буланже Apple strudel

Today my sister,amelia and I went to bulanje for apple strudel. We had a very great time there,fellowshiping and enjoying our favorite dessert together.I thank God for such beautiful evening with my sister.

Apple strudel (Яблочный штрудель)

What is an apple strudel?
Apple strudel is an Austrian pastry of apples, sugar, raisins, spice, etc in thin strudel dough or filo pastry . Apple strudel (Apfelstrudel) is a traditional Viennese strudel.

Recently, I've been visiting many restaurants in Kursk that sells apple strudel. Among them are, AMALFI, BULANJE, EVROPACHESKII, and also the ITALIANCHESKOE CAFE. Each of the restaurant presented the apple strudel in their own special ways.
I haven't got the chance to take any pictures of it, perhaps, i will go again and try again, and will take a snap of it.
It seems like there are still other restaurant in town, that are selling the strudel too. Me and my sister, Amelia, had make a point to taste all strudels in town. This shall be one of the plan of the year before i leave Kursk for good, next year.


I surf through the net on apple strudel, and found ways of making apple strudel. Some of the recipe seems easy, while others are kinda complicated.
However, i found one site on how to make apple strudel, and it is easy.

Ingredients

For the dough

• 2 cups of sifted flour
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 small egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons of oil (not olive oil)
• 3/4 cups of warm water

For the apple filling

• 1 cup of melted butter
• 4 medium cooking apples, washed
• 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons of white sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon of Allspice
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 cup of finely chopped walnuts
• 2 teaspoons of grated lemon peel
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• ¾ cup of fine dry bread crumbs (you can make your own from two slices of bread)
• 5 cups of raisins (optional)
• 1/3 cup milk

Steps

Make the Dough

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and dig a well in the center.
2. Add the egg and oil to the flour and mix well; you can either mix with your hands or use an electric mixer.
3. Add the water to the bowl, while stirring continuously; keep mixing until soft dough is formed.
4. Turn the dough, which will be sticky at this point, onto a lightly floured pastry board.
5. Hold the dough 20 inches above the board and slam it on the board about 100-120 times. As you progress, the dough should become smooth and stretchy.
6. Knead the dough and shape into a disc. Brush the top of dough with some oil.
7. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a damp towel, then leave it to rest for 30 minutes as you prepare the filling.

Make the Filling

1. Core and pare the apples. Cut the apples into slices about 1/8 in. thick and put in a bowl with Vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar; toss lightly to coat. Set aside for half an hour.
2. Mix the white sugar, cinnamon, Allspice and the remaining brown sugar together in a bowl; put this mixture to one side.
3. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and toss dry bread crumbs in the butter, until they are coated properly.

Stretch the Dough

1. Cover a table (around 48 in. by 30 in.) with a clean cloth, letting the edges hang off.
2. Sprinkle the cloth with about ½-1 cup of flour, keeping the majority of it in the center.
3. Place the dough in the center of the cloth and shape into a square (if needed, sprinkle more flour under the dough so it doesn't stick).
4. Brush off any flour left on top of the dough, and brush the top with some cooking oil.
5. Reach under dough to it's center (the dough should rest on backs of hands) and lift slightly, being very careful not to tear the dough. Gently pull arms in opposite directions, and lower dough to table as you walk around table, pulling each side evenly (do not pull too much in one area). Keep stretching dough until it is as thin as tissue paper.
6. Cut off the thick outer edges of dough with some clean scissors, and allow the stretched dough to dry for no more than 10 minutes.

Roll and Bake the Strudel

1. Brush the dough with ¼ cup of the melted butter.
2. Sprinkle the buttery bread crumbs in the center of the dough, making sure to keep the sides free so they can be folded over the filling.
3. Place the seasoned apple slices over the crumbs, and then sprinkle the lemon peel over apples.
4. Spread the chopped nuts and raisins evenly across the dough. Sprinkle the spiced sugar mixture over the fruit and nuts, and then drizzle the filling with ½ cup of melted butter.
5. Fold the dough on three sides so it covers the filling.
6. Roll the dough over filling, starting at the narrow end; the strudel should now look like a large jelly role.
7. Cut the Strudel in half, and gently roll both halves onto a baking sheet.
8. Brush the excess flour off of each roll, then pinch the ends of each strudel together, so the filling won't ooze out while it's baking. Brush the top and sides with melted butter.
9. Bake in the oven at 350° for 30-45 minutes, or until golden brown. Baste and brush about 4 times during baking with melted butter.
10. Place the strudel onto a cooling rack. Once cool, cut in two-inch slices and serve warm.

delicious!

Here are a few desserts i wish to eat once i reach home....emmm yummy yummy~

there are more... ....

french toast on mama's day!

Yesterday I made French toast.
French toast was one of the delights, where my mum likes to make for us during the weekends.
As I’m now in another land, so far from my mummy, and it so happen that yesterday was mother’s day, I decided to make French toast, and share it with my sis as well as my dear.
You can also try to make; especially when you have the left over bread ( I mean before the growth of the fungi) and don’t know what to do with it…all you need is:


Ingredients:

Bread 72 chasa/ eropa.
eggs
oil
sugar

Methods:

heat the pan with a little bit of cooking oil
beat the eggs in a big bowl
add in sugar
dip the bread with the beaten eggs + sugar ( front and back)
put into the hot frying pan
Take the bread out from the pan when both side of the bread is light brown in color.


You may then serve it!

Here’s another recipe from my friend Ruth Charles and Steven.

Chicken chop.

Ingredients:
chicken ( drumstick, remove the bone)
eggs ( beat)
salt
pepper
flour (add a pinch of salt with the pepper)
oil
Gravy:
chicken cube
potato flour
water
sugar

How to prepare?

take the chicken and dip it into the egg, then, dip it into the flour ( which is added with a pinch of salt and pepper), dip it into the beaten egg again and deep fry it
boil half mug of water
add the chicken cube and the potato flour till it thickens
For those who like the sauce to be sweet, add sugar, if not, no need.

Finally, put the chicken on dish and pour sauce on top!

Bon appetite!!

char mee in kursk??

Char mee = fried noodles.

Let me share the recipe here with all of you.

Ingredients:
Spaghetti noodles.
onions ( mince)
crab stick & sausages
mince meat ( can be pork/ chicken)
vegetables ( long bean, carrots, mushrooms, olives if you like)
You can make it more simple by just buying the packed-vegetables in the supermarket.
Eggs (fried)

How to prepare?

Boil the spaghetti in a pot of boiling water + a little bit of salt + a little bit of cooking oil. ( not to long of boiling, coz, it will soften the noodles and you’ll find it hard to fry in the pan later)
Meanwhile, fried the onions in the pan till fragrance.
Pour in the mince meat and crab stick and sausage and fried them together.
Pour in the vegetables and fried for a while
Fried the eggs ( can mix or fried separately)
When the noodles are ready, take them out from the boiling pot, and rinse them with cold water.
Now pour in the noodles to the pan and mix the noodles with those ingredients that you had fried
Pour in some black sauce and some drop of soy sauce + a pinch of salt.
Sprinkle some pepper and fried for another 5 mins.
The char mee is ready to be served.

Isn’t it simple? I love to fried noodles for my dear as he enjoys it so much.

Have a try…