Updates from the kitchen: oatcakes, basil, flowers and mushrooms

Here is the weekly highlight of small and happy updates from my kitchen and my windowsill. First of all, Scottish oatcakes! A friend of mine has relatives in Scotland and regularly brings back these crunchy savoury snacks, that I enjoy alone or with cheese. As the package runs out super fast, I finally tried baking some at home, and it ended up being surprisingly simple. I followed the instructions from Penny’s Recipes. For the next batches I would put the oven to a higher temperature so that the oatcakes get cooked faster and don’t dry out too much, but still I am proud of my first attempt 🙂

On the windowsill, the basil is growing happily and making beautifully curved deep-green leaves. I try to trim it so that all leaves get sunlight, I gave it a stick of mineral fertiliser and it seems to appreciate it. I bought this pot of basil as a discounted, sad-looking thing – with the slight but marked sense of guilt that no one would buy it – and I am relieved to see that its condition is improving a lot.

In the larger flower container I planted the seeds of various edible flower species, given to me as present from a dear friend. After a few days of regular watering and careful observation, many of them are sprouting and are enjoying today’s rain.

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Last picture for today’s post is the side dish of mushrooms from yesterday’s lunch, following the Italian recipe called “funghi trifolati”. It’s a quick and tasty recipe that starts with stir-frying garlic, then add mushrooms in dices or stripes, and when the mushrooms are soft add salt, pepper and parsley. This time I added a bit of ginger. I forgot to stir at some point and some parts got a nice crust, so my note for next time is to forget to stir again 🙂

There are a few knitting updates that will get their own post. In the meanwhile, take care and enjoy the weekend!

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Baking, cooking and knitting updates

Hi there! It’s two weeks since last post, so there are a few updates from the kitchen. First of all, breads #120 and #121:

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  Bread #120

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  Bread #121

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  Soft and fluffy

Then a fluffy simple cake with coconut and cocoa. The recipe is super simple and has no egg, so it comes out a little chewier but it also keeps longer:

And last but not least, a surprisingly tasty lettuce soup! I got a huge head of lettuce from a friend and I looked for recipes where I could cook part of it. I went for Epicurious’ lettuce soup and I was very surprised by the round taste of the result. I was afraid it would taste bland or slightly bitter, but instead it came out as sort of spinachy and full of flavour! I enthusiastically recommend it and I will surely cook it again, especially using lettuce leaves that lost the original crunchiness.

And last, some knitting progress… I started knitting Panda Sky Cat Socks from Mary the Hobbit, and despite some challenging moments while deciphering the instructions, I’m very happy with how they look. Maybe the self-striping yarn is not the best for a non-symetrical sock (the heel is knitted separately and it messes up the stripey pattern), but it still looks good:

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  Spare ribs pattern

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  Cozy fit!

The linen sweater is sort of on hold, I am halfway of the first arm, but the 3 DPNs setup is not very comfortable. The stitches slide off the needles too easily. Maybe I will go for a mix of magic loop + 1 DPN and see if that feels easier to work with. I bought some more mixed pastel yarn and I plan to make this same pattern again, maybe with large stripes. More to come in next posts, likely when I will finish the Panda socks 🙂

Take care and stay healthy!