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Spring Cleaning Monster Windows

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Kay and I have been in our flat for nearly two years now and have yet to have washed the windows and shutters that face the street. We cannot just set up a ladder outside on the balcony like we do for the other windows, so I was putting these off for, well, about a year to be honest. But look how dirty they were!Bleach!

It was easier to maneuver in the bedroom and bathroom to get to the windows, but for the office, I had to squeeze the ladder in and out between the desks. We can open the windows easily, but they don’t exactly have a lot of room around them for bulky, heavy ladders that I do not care for at all. (Somebody wants a new step ladder, can you tell?)

For the windows and shutters I cleaned them in phases.First I wiped them down with damp rags, then I soaped them up, then I washed them off with water. Then for the windows, I cleaned them with glass cleaner and a towel and then another round with my special glass-cleaning cloth that has two sides.

After six rounds of wiping split in two sections for the ladder portion, these babies were as “done” as I felt like doing. I mean, let’s be honest here, it’s going to rain and continue dropping pollen down for awhile, but I’m not going to eat off these windows.

They look nice enough now that I don’t feel ashamed to open the curtains and I’m not so worried about the curtains getting dirty if we leave the window open and they blow against the banister.

What’s your big spring cleaning project that you avoid?

Food

Healthier Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

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I had been meaning to try these “healthy” Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes from Elana’s Pantry for awhile. We had some cashew-based pancakes in Thailand that were delicious and knowing that they are a celiac-friendly option makes them perfect.

The ingredient list is pretty short with only seven ingredients, including the coconut oil you fry them in.

I whipped ours up in my Kenwood Cooking Chef food processor attachment to grind the cashews first before adding the other ingredients.

Bananas and heaps of vanilla? This has to be good!

…annnd the chocolate chips.

Unfortunately for me, I still have not gotten the knack of cooking gluten free pancakes. They set up OK and the mix was a good balance of liquid to dry, but I just couldn’t flip them before they burned!

As hard as I tried, any time I knew they were bubbly and should flip, I couldn’t get my darn spatula under there. The whole pancake would just slide away on the pan, mocking me.

In the end, I was only able to flip them when they were already kind of burning. Man. If that’s not depressing on a Saturday morning, I don’t know what is.

Still, since I doubled the recipe (yeah, we eat a lot!) it made heaps. Too much for us really. I think one recipe would have sufficed.

And even though they are a little burnt, don’t you think they look tasty? They still were… but they definitely need some practice. Although, we are in serious need of some more syrup before new pancakes can be made. Kay is a bit sad because the imported maple syrup is extremely expensive in Switzerland and not the best quality.

Do you have any tips for GF pancakes? Friends are telling me I should reduce the heat a lot more next time. I wonder if it’s also possible that my pan is too oily?

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Pillow Time

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We bought our big Karlstad sectional quite awhile ago and I was always planning on brightening up the room with some throw pillows, but I never got around to it until now.

Some people are anti-throw pillows, but not only did my eyes want something to visually put my mind, and therefore body, at ease, I really wanted pillows to pile up behind me while I watch movies with Kay!

We had these two sad, sad looking (and feeling) pillows from Kay’s parents that I was using, but I wanted a mix of plumper pillows to tie in the green color from the kitchen.

Also, how sad looking is that leather couch? Now that we switched the sofas and TV around, we never sit on it and it looks so lonely and empty. It’s great for parties, but it’s a bit of a black hole otherwise.

I headed to our favorite store, IKEA, one day and decided to at least get myself started on a variety of pillows to fill the space up and make it look more homey and inviting.

For only 180-ish CHF, I bought 11 pillows and 7 pillow covers. I am really loving the new summer 2015 pear pattern from IKEA. It matches our kitchen green almost perfectly!

I just wanted to try out a mix of patterns, textures and colors. In the future, I might still make my own custom covers with more special fabric, but these’ll do for now.

See what a difference the TV area is from when we first moved in?

Even the change from where the TV was at the beginning was quite different, but I like which wall the TV is on right now.

We still plan to actually hang up some photos at some point. Kay and I have been debating for a long time about how to install a photo hanging system because we have cement walls and they are not fun to drill in. We’ll see what happens on that front!

Food

Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)

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After we went to Oslo and ate delicious pāo de queijo at the churrascaria, I thought it was high time that I check out this gluten-free recipe I had pinned awhile ago.

It did not disappoint!

Some of my breads had funny little holes from baking, but for the most part they were really light and airy. Even better than the restaurant ones! My Brazilian man was very happy with them and we happily gobbled up all the trays I made in a very short time.

Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)

Adapted from: RasaMalaysia adapted from Simply Recipes
Makes 42 | Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Bake Time: 15-20 Minutes

Ingredients:
1 egg, at room temperature
1/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup milk
170g – 1.5 cups tapioca (cassava) flour (often labeled starch)
120g – 3/4 cups grated cheese… I used Gruyère
1 tsp salt

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 205ºC (400ºF) and grease muffin pans. If your egg is coming out of the refrigerator cold, stick it in a cup of warm water while you put the other ingredients in your food processor first. I like to start with the oil to keep things from sticking to the side. If you finish with the cheese on top of the flour, it will also stop the tapioca from kicking dust up when you mix. Make sure to throw the egg in and blend well.

Pour mix into mini muffin trays around 3/4 full. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye on them and change trays around the 10 minute mark if you are using a small European oven like I am. When they are puffed up and browning, pull them out and let them cool for a bit before you start gobbling them down warm. Yum!

Store extras in tupperware. Tip: If you stick them in the microwave for 10 seconds, they are deliciously warm the next day!

Where to buy tapioca in Switzerland:
You can buy tapioca flour from health food stores like Reformhaus Müller, but the much cheaper alternative is to get it from asian grocery stores. We also use tapioca flour that Kay brings back from Brazil, but he said that it is not always easy to find there either.

Food

Schwarzwurzel – Salsify

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Awhile back, I ordered a trial box from Bio-direct.ch, which is similar in philosophy to CSCA in America. I’ve never ordered organic fruits and veggies online before and I was a little disappointed that I received bananas and kiwis, which obviously aren’t grown in Switzerland, but at the bottom of my box were these funny sticks. I actually thought they just packed some good old sticks in with the order for, I don’t know… an extra organic touch?

My coworker saw the box delivered and exclaimed, “Oh, those are Schwarzwurzel!”

Hmm…? What the heck is that? I really didn’t know the English term, even as I went home and looked up directions how to make it. I uploaded a picture on Facebook asking my friends about it and my brother humorously advised me to rub the sticks together to make a fire and then roast marshmallows over them.

It turns out in English they are called salsify. (I think!)

Following my coworkers and Google’s advice, I peeled the brown skin off like carrots and then threw them in a bowl of water before they turned brown/orange.

Peeling them was really weird. The bark-like skin is really gritty and dirty and when you peel them, they start oozing something like sap that gets all sticky and gummy over your fingers. Even with washing my hands, I ended up getting gummy bits all over my fresh kitchen towels.

I tossed them in boiling water for twenty minutes and then gave them a bit of salt and pepper.

Overall, I think they tasted OK and we were happy to eat them as our starch paired with hummus, carrots and fennel. Kay is only familiar eating this root vegetable from a can, where it is not very fresh or tasty, and he liked them better fresh, but I can’t say I’d be excited to buy them again and deal with the weird sticky, dirty peeling process.

Have you ever had salsify?