Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla-creme cheese-frosting..

My sister Mirjam came to visit with Hector in the afternoon. And because it is so much fun, I baked vanilla cupcakes and decorated them with blue frosting.

You can find the recipe for vanilla cupcakes on the website of niner bakes.

FYI you can find the a lot of tasty recipes on the website of niner bakes.

Frosting:

3.5 oz butter

3.5 oz powder sugar

c3.5 oz reme cheese

a couple of drops vanilla-butter essence

turquoise food coloring

1.     Mix butter creamy and add powder sugar little by little.

2.     Add creme cheese, food coloring and vanilla-butter essence and stir until homogenous mass.

3.     Fill into a pastry bag and decorate cupcakes with it.

For the boys there where blue cupcake forms and deco with stars..

and for us girls red forms and flowers..

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Snow, spring, tulips and daffodils..

Now there is snow in Vienna too. Very much longed for around Christmas time, I don’t really feel like cold and snow anymore. So I brought some heralds of spring home, who lift my spirit a little.

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Doll clothes..

pattern for doll clothes

Now the doll has clothes.

She still doesn’t have a face, but at least she is not naked anymore.

You can find the pattern for the doll clothes at Verflixt und Zugenäht.

You can find the pattern for the doll clothes at Verflixt und Zugenäht.

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Bed and cabinet for Irma’s doll..

Irma and I were at Carla Mittersteig today. That’s a selling point for Caritas.

I like to go there sometimes, because you can be really lucky and find great things. Besides it is big and there is a lot to see for Irma.

This time we got really lucky. At least I was really excited when I found a little doll bed and a leather case with mirror, that I could convert into a doll closet. Everything for $6.

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Irmas first doll..

Pattern for rag doll

Sunday is my first free day. Irma has daddy day and I can do whatever I want.

This sunday I finished sewing a rag doll for Irma.

She doesn’t have a face yet, but that will take a little while, because I think that I did a good job on the doll - ok, I’m mighty proud of myself!

Now I’m a little nervous that I will mess up my piece of art with a crooked face.

I found the pattern for the rag doll at Verflixt und Zugenäht.

Because I find wool on a doll unappetizing, I think the idea with the jersey is great.

Just be careful when you buy it, that the jersey contains spandex!

I tried it with jersey made out of 100% cotton at first and that didn’t work at all.

Irma’s doll also should get bangs. But the cut hair just doesn’t want to hang down, instead they are pointing horizontally. That really doesn’t look pretty. So I hid the short jersey hairs under the ponytail hair.

Other than that I didn’t really have any problems. The pattern and the approach are explained very well.

Because most of the things are almost impossible to sew with the sewing machine, I had to sew by hand, and discovered, that it is extremely relaxing to sew by hand. Especially when a doll evolves from it and not just a button is sewed on.

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Hazelnut-cupcakes with pink vanilla frosting..

Today Irma and I were invited to an afternoon bee. With us also were two baby friends Lotte and Valea.

For the moms I brought some cupcakes, that I prepared during Irmas’ nap.

A while ago when I baked a hazelnut cake, I had some left over dough, which I filled into cupcake forms. I put the baked cupcakes in the freezer and those were to be used now.

Hazelnut cake:

0.7 Ibs of flour

0.7 Ibs of sugar

120 ground hazelnuts

1 pack backing powder

4 eggs

4 tablespoons chocolade powder

2/3 cup neutral oil (colza oil or sunflower oil)

2/3 cup milk

1.     Mix all ingredients together, stir and put on a backing sheet covered in backing paper. Spread out approx. 1/3”.

2.     Preheat oven at 347F and let bake for around 20 min.

Frosting:

3.5 oz butter

3.5 oz powdered sugar

3.5 oz cream cheese

a couple of drops vanilla-butter essence

red food coloring

1.     Mix butter creamy and add powdered sugar little by little.

2.     Add cream cheese, food coloring and vanilla-butter essence and stir until homogenous mass.

3.     Fill into a pastry bag and decorate the defrosted cupcakes. Some ornaments on it and done.

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Bell pepper, cabbage and beans..

Badnje Veče is a fast day and Mirjana, Vladimir’s mom, served Podvarak (a kind of Sauerkraut stew) and Prebranac (a kind of beans stew). She prepared both dishes without meat. So right now exactly my thing. I am not a vegetarian, but lately not really too fond of meat, especially if I don’t know where it comes from.

In addition to every meal in Serbia bread, Kajmak (a kind of cream cheese) and pickled bell peppers or chilli is served.

Lučene Paprike

On Božić Mirjana also makes Lučene Paprike, roasted bell peppers marinated with garlic.

The recipe for Lučene Paprike is very easy:

1.     The best thing is to take red pointed pepper (they are way tastier than the round ones, that are more common) and broil then in the oven or above the gas stove, so you can peel off the skin.

2.     Then you marinate them with water, oil and vinegar at the rate of 2:2:1 and season them with salt.

3.     At the end you sprinkle plenty of hashed garlic and parsley on it. Done!

Serbia is in general the land of paprika.

Pickled, broiled, marinated, sweet, spicy, filled, puréed, plucked …. eaten

Here is a marked stand with paprika galore, amongst others kisela paprika sa sirom (sour paprika with cheese).

 

The best thing to do is to buy vegetables, cheese etc. at one of many markets. The products are from farmers in the area, most of the time taste way better and are way cheaper than in the supermarket. You can also buy homemade Kajmak and Ajvar here.

The COC market in the morning ..

.. and in the evening.

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Božić in Belgrade..

Last week we flew to Belgrade, to celebrate Božić (Serbian Christmas) with Vladimir’s mom.

Because Serbia goes by the orthodox calendar, Christmas falls on January 7th.

New Years is celebrated on December 31st and Santa Claus comes. Therefor you decorate the christmas tree and all kinds of christmassy stuff you can find. In addition christmas presents are handed out diligently. This doesn’t have anything to do with the orthodox church though.

On December 6th the whole family celebrates at home, It is Badnje Veče (Christmas Eve).

The word Badnjak or Badnje originates from the word tree. Badnjak means oak and according to tradition a big oak branch is taken from the woods and in the evening carried into the house.

The branch symbolizes the wood, which the shepherds brought to Bethlehem, so Joseph could start a fire for the newborn Jesus.

The hay in the bag symbolizes the hay in the crib, in which Jesus was born.

Today these oak nests are sold everywhere on the streets in Belgrade. Some even decorate their cars with it.

Vladimir, who isn’t really into all these traditions, values these things way more. I’m really happy about that, because I know, that Irma doesn’t understand very little with her 8 months, but later on she will be ecstatic. After all for children most festivities exciting and fascinating.

So a tree was bought for our little one too and the next day, on Božić, Vladimir carried her first through the house door. Since as per tradition necessarily the youngest family member has to enter the house.

One greeted each other with “Hristos se rodi!” (Christ is born) and receives the answer “Vaistinu se rodi!” (Truly, he is born)

His mom provided us with Česnica for breakfast. In this christmas bread a coin is hidden and then everyone breaks off a piece. The one, who finds the coin in his piece will be especially happy throughout the whole year, thus says the tradition.

You can buy Česnica in Belgrade already with the coin in it.

Now the Serbian-Orthodox church celebrates christmas with the whole works and so many traditions would be a little too much for me.

But as I grew up with a mixture of Swedish, Austrian and invented christmas traditions, we will make up our own traditions with Irma. A little jul, a little Božić and a little fairytale. As long as we’re together.

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