HOT TREAT FOR COLD DAYS: SALEP

Salep is a typical Turkish hot beverage which we consume during cold winter days. Salep is named by it’s main ingredient, salep, which is a flour made by the tubers of a plant of  orchidaceae family which grows up in Anatolia.

For preparing salep, mix 30 g ground salep with 80 g granulated sugar in a pan. Add 1 litre milk while whisking.  Cook ower low heat until getting thick (like a cream soup), meanwhile keep whisking.

Put in a mug and serve with ground ginger and ground cinnamon.

CINNAMON COOKIES

Delicious teaside treat for cold London days. We tried CafeRengigül’s cinnamon cookie recipe first time when we were preparing christmas hampers for our neighbours in 2011. Since then we didn’t make.

Yesterday, we wanted something sweet for our tea time but we used last granulated sugar for something else few days ago.  Nearby supermarkets sell only cane sugar and for not going to farther one to buy beetroot sugar in this freezing day, we were searching our recipe file for another option.

Then we remembered these cinnamon cookies made by confectioner’s sugar and suddenly, super easy, five minutes make/half an hour bake cookies were  ready to eat!  Here is the english recipe:

2 egg yolks

150 g butter

285 g flour

65 g confectioner’s sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

10 g baking powder

5 g vanilin sugar

for sifting on the top

confectioner’s sugar and ground cinnamon

Mix egg yolks, confectioner’s sugar and butter.

Add sifted flour, ground cinnamon, baking powder, vanilin sugar and knead all together. It will be a no sticky, compact dough.

Take small wallnut size pieces and make small balls.Place them in a tray covered by grease proof baking paper.

Bake 30 minutes at 190°C in preheated owen. (Do not let them golden brown)

When the cookies get cold, sift the confectioner’s sugar and ground cinnamon mix on the top.

And eat and eat and eat...

WARSAW COVERED BY SNOW

This week, we made a short trip to Warsaw and we enjoyed this beautiful city for four days. During four days it’s snowed and the temperature was –7°C but the feeling was –15°C during the day. It was cold but after our visit we decided that Warsaw is one of the best cities to visit during the snow. The christmas lights in the streets were still on and it was beautiful.

We stayed in Mercure Hotel in the heart of the city and we walked to almost everywhere. We visited the National Museum, the old city walls, the Praga district. We made several walks in Nowy Swiat which is most colorful street of Warsaw where are located lots of good shops, restaurants, cafés and patisseries. During four days we tried to taste every polish food we find in different places and each time we ended happy with the choice. We made more then one visit to A. Blikle Patisserie founded in 1869 for drinking white wine and eating paczki  -which is polish donut-. We tasted different types of pierogis -which are polish dumplings- in Zapiecek. We ate the best dishes in a polish restaurant named Przy Trakcie. Tuesday night was jazz night at the hotel’s bar and was another occasion for another bottle of wine.

We walked in beautiful Lazienki Park covered by snow and visited there the Palace on the Isle, Myslewicki Palace and Old Orangerie where is the Royal Theatre and Royal Collection of Sculpture.

For keeping the body warm and the mind healthy we drank lots of these: tea made by homemade raspberry juice, herbs, cloves, orange, lemon and vodka.

We brought home some delicious smoked polish cheeses.

We brought home also some Polish pottery. We love Polish pottery!

You know where is the best Irlandzki Pub east of Dublin?