Disney Themed Birthday Party

Hello everyone !

Today's post is about well... My 22nd birthday that I had this week ! As a massive Disney lover I decided to throw a Disney themed house party for me and my closest friends. As I was very busy with school work as well as with party planning it took me a week to decorate the place and cook and bake everything. I painted most of the decorations myself (with some help from my lovely friend) and also I challenged myself in the kitchen. I decided that I wanted everything from pasta to chocolate be done by me.

Invited people had to turn up dressed up as given at random sidekick characters from Disney movies. We had Pain and Panic from Hercules, Meeko and Flit from Pocahontas , Gus and Jaq from Cinderella , The Pink Pegasus from Hercules that Pain and Panic turned into to seduce Pegasus, Zazu and Rafiki from The Lion King and I was suppose to be Cri-Kee from Mulan but as I got stuck in the kitchen trying to finish everything on time I didn't manage to think of a costume. Looking at how busy I was I consider myself excused !

I decorated the apartment with my favourite Disney movies : Beauty and The Beast, Pocahontas, Little Mermaid and Tangled. I wanted to throw a couple of more movies in but they didn't make much sense together. Unfortunately I wasn't taking many pictures (it kept slipping my mind) so I'm posting the only ones I've got so far. Hopefully you'll be able to get at least a tiny bit of what the whole thing looked liked.

Food wise I made everything inspired by food in Disney movies. The menu consisted of : 

- Apples fresh and in Carmel (Snow White) 

- Watermelon (Aladdin) 

- Bananas (Jungle Book) 

- Cherries (Pocahontas) 

- Chocolate Chip Cookies (Tangled) 

- Cupcakes (cause they're awesome) 

- Sushi (Monster Inc.)

- Pizza  (Carpet from Aladdin) 

- Homemade Pasta with Meatballs in a Tomato sauce (Lady & Tramp) 

- Chicken Drumsticks (A lot of Disney movies)

- Ratatouille (Guess from which movie... And not exactly the same as in Ratatouille) 

- Corn (Pocahontas) 

Of course because I have friends who a) don't eat pork b) don't eat vegetables c) are vegetarians I had to make two Pizzas (one with no meat, second one with just meat and no pork) and also two different types of Sushi (some with prawns and some with a carrot instead of prawns). 

We played Disney music, we played a Disney game for children which is call "Headbanz", I opened up presents I got from my friends and we simply had a blast ! 

Here's a short video of how everything looked when first guests started arriving. Sorry for chaotic recording. I was in a rush. 

I hope you enjoyed that post and I hope it inspired you in any way :) 

Have fun !

Butterfingered Chef 

Butterfingered Chef Bag !

Hi everyone !

Today's post is short and, weirdly, not about food ! I've spend a day after Christmas having fun connecting my hobby (this blog and food) with a course I'm studying at university (costume design, which is mostly sewing).



 I made this 'Butterfingered Chef' bag ! I am so proud of it ! Hand made and hand-painted, nicely finished on the inside, has a lot of space and a zipper. I use it everyday !


In the future I'm thinking about trying to sew oven mitts and an apron and maybe some other things. I was also thinking about maybe trying to hand-paint wine glasses and plates and making some kitchen decorations etc.


 For now I am happy with just the bag cause I have too much other work to do but I have a lot of ideas for recipes, sewing and decorations ! I am so inspired !

Hope you had great Christmas ! 

Butterfingered Chef

Red-Capped Scaber Stalk and Penny Bun

Mushroom-picking. Depending on how one looks at it it can be a relaxing exercise or a family competition. For me it's a hobby. My grandma took me to the forest since I was very little. She would put me in my stroller and go for a walk while looking with her hawk eye for mushrooms. Each an every year when September hit the calendar me and my grandparents woke up early in the morning before the sun fell on the eyes of all the other mushroom-pickers. We dressed up quickly, drank tea, grabbed a knife and a plastic bag, put hats on our heads and rushed into the forest. Because my grandma saw how much fun it was for me to find mushrooms she would sniff around and call me saying that she can smell one around her but she can't see it. Obviously it was right there in front of her. Each and every year I got better and better at it, knowing more and more kinds and learning how to differentiate edible mushrooms from tricky poisonous ones and soon a fun walk around the forest with my grandparents changed into hobby which I could practice only once a year and for the rest of the year just eagerly wait. Unfortunately at some point the forest around my summerhouse became very dry and stopped producing a great amount of mushrooms so September walks became quite sad when we were coming back with only a couple of mushrooms in our bags. This year we've been lucky. The weather brought the forest to life. I decided to start writing about mushrooms but in sections because writing about all of them at once would be difficult.

  

 

Penny Bun belongs to the family of Boletaceae mushrooms. It grows in North America and Europe. It is often found in mountains, less often in low pressure zone. It is loved by all mushroom-pickers because of its flavour values. It is edible raw, marinated and dried out. It can grow from 5 to 20 cm tall. Young Penny Buns have a white or sand colour of the cap. The older mushrooms are light or more often dark brown. The cap is matte and the texture of it can be wrinkled. When it rains the cap becomes sticky. 

One of my favourite mushrooms Red-capped Scaber Stalk. It's stem is white with black dots and a cap is ginger/orange-red. It belongs to a mushroom family called Boletaceae. It can grow 10-18cm tall. The flesh of the mushroom becomes very dark when cooked. They have to be well cooked otherwise they may cause vomiting. 
It can also be dried and used later on during the year. It is quite common in Poland but in Germany or Holand it's on a list of endangered species. It lives in harmony with Aspen tree and can be often found under them. 

Till the next post !

Butterfingered Chef 

Sweets That Made Me Die and Go To Paradise

Can you find those delicious sweets I'm writing about today ? 

I've seen it a lot of times but I never wanted to try it. My friend had a dirty keychain that looked like it and I think that was one of the reasons why it was on a no-no list. Besides, it looked like food made out of Pokemons. I always thought it would be squashy and sweet beyond boundaries but... I was wrong and it became my favourite sweet with a first bite. 

Yes, I am talking about macarons. 

The term 'macaron' is derived from the Italian word 'macarone' which means meringue. 

It should not be mistaken with macaroons. Macaron's main ingredients are eggs whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, ground almond or almond powder and food colouring while macaroon's main ingredients are just almonds and egg whites. 

Macarons were brought to France by Catherine de’Medici. She was a daughter of a Duke of Urbino and a brief ruler of Florance, Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici. He died from syphilis 21 days after Cathrine's birth at age of 26. Her mother was Madeleine de la Tour. Catherine married King Henry II of France in 1533 at age of 14 and brought with her Italian pastry chefs who introduced macaron to France. 

Just a few days ago I tried my first macarons which after today I don't even consider a macaron but a "wanna-be". Macarons are very popular all over the world but it is difficult to find the good ones. A lot of macarons are just different colours but do not taste like what they are suppose to be made of. A lot of them do not have a flavour what so ever; they're just really sweet and no matter what colour you're going to buy it will not taste like anything else than just sugar. Also a lot of them don't even have the right consistency. The good macarons are unfortunately really expensive. 

Btw, the beautiful earrings you see in this photo are made by Horsecka Jewelry

The macaron we know today (so called double-decker) was created by Pierre Desfontaines of Laduree in 1930's. His grandfather, Louis-Ernest Laduree, founded  a french luxury bakery, Laduree,  in 1862 which thanks to his grandson's invention became famous all over the world and till today is still one of the best known makers of macarons. 

Everything from Laduree's paper bags, through the packaging to the macarons is classy and sophisticated. The small box of 6 macarons costs 15 euro. A box of 8 macarons 17 euro. The price says it all. 

Rose - at first I just felt its amazing texture, not the flavour. The almond meringue discs are crunchy at first but they really quickly melt in your mouth. The inside is really soft with a creamy, delicate texture. Just when I completely forgot that the macaron is suppose to have a flavour it hit me with such strength that I behaved as if I ate something really hot. The strong taste of a rose appeared first on my tongue and within seconds it was all over my cheeks and then nose. While the aroma was spreading in places I never thought have taste-buds (and I'm still sure they don't) I completely forgot about reality and the fact that I was sitting with my parents in a living-room. I was miles away in my grandparents summer house picking up petals of a wild rose from a garden which later I would mash in a small kitchen with lemon juice and sugar to create rose jam. Surrounded by the aroma of the rose I was 10 again. 
Now I know what I would say if somebody asked me what would be the last thing I would want to eat before I die. Rose macarons because they move my whole body and mind to what I consider my heaven and paradise. 

Pistachio - The creamy inside contains small pieces of nuts which gives a nice crunch to the whole macaron. After I ate it I looked at the notes I took while tasting it and I realised that within two sentences I used the word "pistachio"five times, which should give you a really good idea about its flavour. It tastes more like a pistachio than a pistachio itself. 

Pure Origin Chocolate From Venezuela - it tastes like a Polish Prince Polo chocolate bar (dark chocolate version) with a  creamy inside. If you never tried Prince Polo before I bet you can easily find it in Polish shops and if you're from Czech, Slovakia, Lithuania, Ukraine or Iceland you should have no problem in getting one as apparently those chocolate bars are quite popular in those countries. In Iceland it's called "Prins Póló".

Chocolate - Because of this little macaron I literally started screaming asking my mom "What is this chocolate ?! Where do they get it from ?!" because I never ate a better chocolate in my entire life. 

Salted Caramel - Really strong taste. Even though the name of this macaron suggests that the filling was made with an enormous amount of sugar and some salt I didn't taste carmel whatsoever. Instead of that I felt like eating a less sweet version of condensed milk. It reminded me of wafer-cakes my grandma used to make. It also tasted the way a honeycomb smells when taken out of the beehive (at least that's the way I remember the smell of it). 

Raspberry - After the first bite I felt like having a handful of raspberries in my mouth. After a whole macaron I felt like I ate at least 60 raspberries at once. The aroma is really strong and what I like about this macaron are the seeds that I could feel in my mouth and which gave me an illusion of actually eating a raspberry. 

If you ever ate a cheap macaron from a nearby bakery and it wasn't very good or it was just really sweet without any specific flavour please do not think all of them are like that. It can take time to find the good and real macarons. If you'll ever find yourself in Laduree store buy a small box. I know it's expensive but I'm sure you won't regret spending those 15 euros. Just don't get addicted to them! 

Take care sweet-tooth comrades! 

Butterfingered Chef

Everything's best when everything's fresh !

Remember those days when you felt sad, angry, annoyed and because of that you physically couldn't cope with anything and everything you did fell apart ? Add to that being kept in a small cage with others like you and being forcefully fed with the worst possible food around.

Well, the last sentence may not apply to you but it sure does to a hen. As humans we know that it's difficult to do anything right when the environment isn't suitable. Most of us can't study maths while being at the death metal concert (I doubt anyone ever tried it...) At the same time unhealthy diet will damage our health which will also affect the quality of work we produce.
Why would a hen react differently to those obstacles ?

A hen that lives in a tiny space with lots of other hens and is being fed with chemicals can't be healthy nor happy so her meat and eggs she lays aren't very healthy. Most of the eggs and chicken meat that we buy at the shop are from unhappy hens and chickens which means that their meat and their eggs aren't as good as we could think they should be, but there are some places where chickens run around happy and hens lay their eggs in peace.

My dad has a cousin who has well... let's call it a farm. He has ducks, hens, three massive dogs and goats. He also has a garden in which he has his own vegetables. He says there's nothing better than your own vegetables that you cared about so they could grow big and tasty, fresh milk from a goat that you milk every morning, and eggs that you have to look for in a grass because the hens can run around and choose the layer for themselves.

Well, he sure is right. I don't know about vegetables but dad brought back home goat milk, eggs and goat cheese from his cousin. Now I wish I had my own farm so I wouldn't have to drink anything from the shop.

The milk has a silky texture, sweet taste and aroma of freshness. The eggs differ even in their looks. The yolk is much more yellow than most of the eggs bought in a shop. When we got them they were covered in faeces and that's actually better than perfectly washed eggs. As far as I know you should never wash eggs. They have pores in the eggshell which allow air inside. Normally nothing should pass through them but when you wash the eggs the water can sometimes go through and with it all of the bacteria from the shell. Also me and my family had a funny surprise when we opened the box with eggs. One of them went completely mad and decided to be a completely different shape than others. I guess if this chicken was born it would be a chicken Lady Gaga.
The goat cheese is amazing. Delicate, creamy, it melts in your mouth. I would imagine that's how it feels to eat a cloud. Great for breakfast, gives you a lot of energy, it's light. Goes perfectly with honey and dry fruits.

The hens are locked up for a night to protect them from foxes. 

Goat is a wonderful animal. Gives you milk and you can feed it with practically everything. You don't have to worry that something is going to waste anymore ! 

Great breakfast. Fresh milk, scrambled eggs and goat cheese with dry fruits, honey and nuts. 

I wish I could have it every day.... 

Butterfingered Chef