Banana - Matcha Buttermilkshake

In springtime (in my opinion more than in others seasons...) everybody tells us about how to get more healthy and to get in shape for the summer. So of course we hear also that one should eat enough fruits and drink green tea, especially Matcha Tea (green tea powder that is normally used for teaceremonies) has the reputation to be a radical-catcher. And also milkproducts are good to get energy and ...... So quite everywhere we can buy Smoothies, Milkshakes, Tchai Latte, Coffee Latte and so on... everything of course to go... in fact I often forget that it is so easy to do a smoothie or a shake at home. Looking into my fridge some banana waited to be employed and as a real tealover I have of course also some Matcha Tea at home. The sun was shining bright and I was in the mood for a healthy :), savoury Milkshake...

I used (serves 1 - 2 person)

1 ripe Banana (broken into pieces)

250 ml Buttermilk

1 tsp Matcha Tea

3 tsp vanilla sugar (take more or less, depending how sweet you want your shake)

Put all the ingredients in a mixer and turn to high speed to get a smooth and fluffy texture for about 1 minute. Pour in a glass, decorate to your taste and ... Yummm...

Jasmine Tea flavoured Panna Cotta

Panna Cotta! For a long time I had, let´s say very reserved feelings about this dessert. You can find it on quite every menu of any italian restaurant. But it is very often from poor quality. Even if this dessert is more than simple to do it is obviously not so easy to get a really good tasting one. Very often it is in my opinion to hard and not creamy enough. I don´t know what is the reason for. Perhaps they use to much gelatine or the Panna cotta is not fresh... Whoever. Since I have tried it once for a Dinner with friends, I felt in love with Panna cotta. It is simple, readily done, delicious and needs only small time for preaparation. Sounds great no? Ok there are some obstacles: you need special forms so called Dariolforms (this are small cups made of stainless-steel that you can get in good household ware shops; little bit similar to puddingforms...but smaller and looking a bit different) and you have to prepare it some hours before you intend to serve it (the easiest way is to prepare it the night before savouring it..)

To prepare it you need for 4 small Forms (50 ml content):

- 250 g liquid heavy cream

- 3 tbsp. sugar

- 1 little dash Vanilla paste (I continue loving the vanillapaste from Nomu) (or 1/2 tsp. vanillasugar)

- 2 tsp. good Jasminetea (or 1 teabag of a jasminetea)                           - 2 gelatine sheets (= 3,2 g) (if you have bigger forms or more guests just augment the ingredients respecting amount / relation..)

- First give the jasminetea in a teabag or use a readily filled jasminetea-teabag and hang the bag in the heavy-cream that you have poured in a pan. Add sugar and vanillapaste and heat the cream up until it simmers and boil together with the teabag for about 5-6 minutes. Stir from time to time so that your cream want get scorched...

- Meanwhile soak the gelatine in

some cold water

- After the cookingtime from the Cream, get the teabag out and mix the well drained gelatine sheets into the hot cream until dissolved.

- Pour the Cream in your prepared dariolforms (wash them with some cold water before pouring in the Cream)

- Get the Panna cotta in your fridge for at least 5 hours.

- To serve them you have to get them out of the forms.



To get them easy out of the forms: 1. put the Dariolforms for a few seconds  in a bowl with some hot water. and 2.  get around the edges with a sharp knife.

And now "slip" them out on a plate. Yeahh here they are....

 I serve the Panna Cotta with some sliced fruit as decoration

  

A good cup of Tea and life looks already much brighter....

I think it is obvious that I drink Tea on quite any occasion. But it is really a sort of ritual only to make the Tea and so, one get simple and easy quiter and stress decreases instantly... No? When I am in the mood for something sweet but without calories I brew a pot of this delicious "Milky Oolong Tea". It becomes its special, mild and warm taste during his production by beeing dried over Milksteam... (thats what

I understood when my teaseller explained me the exceptionality of this Tea...), 

However this Tea tastes great!
And as I had to listen to some boring Details about accountance System today I really had to recompense me in the evening.....

Litchi - Strawberry Muffins

The first strawberries appearing in our supermarkets. Ok there still imported. But they look so delicious and are a sort of Springtime "precursor ", aren´t they? I also found a new tea that smells extraordinary! It is a white tea flavoured with litchi aroma and taste great , beside his fragrance.

So I combined the tea and the strawberries for some Cupcakes. (Basically the recipes from my cupcakes refer to the recipes from the hummingbird bakery cookbook)

To start you flavour 150 ml lukewarm milk (that you will use for the muffins as well as for the frosting) with litchi tea by giving about 2 teaspoon of litchitea in a teastrainer and hang it in the milk (as if you intend to make tea; instead of water you use milk..). Let rest for about 2 - 3 hours (depends of the intensity of  your tea).

Moreover you will need for the cupcakes (quantity for about 8 normal sized Muffins):

1 Egg

120 g Wheat Flour

140 g sugar

40 g butter

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Sugar

120 ml flavoured milk

150 g Strawberries (washed and chopped in small cubes)

For the Frosting:

250g icing sugar

25 ml flavoured milk

80 g soft butter
(food colouring powder) and paper cases for the muffin tin
1. Start preparing the cupcakes by mixing flour, baking powder and sugar with butter until you get a sandy consistency.
2. Ad 120 ml of the milk until everything is well combined
3. Add the egg
4. Put the paper cases in the muffin tin and fill them half with your mixture. Disperse about 1 teaspoon of your chopped strawberries on it and fill on top with some more cupcake mixture
5. Bake in the 170 C preheated oven for about 25 minutes.

6. Meanwhile the cupcakes bake you can prepare your frosting:

Beat the icing sugar and the soft butter until the mixture is well combined. Do not get frightened as at the beginning you will think that these mixture will never come together! I would also recommend to start mixing on slow speed and gradually augment to medium speed. It takes some minute to get all well combined. Then incorporate the milk slowly in your mixture (add food colouring if you want) and continue beating until the frosting gets fluffy. Be patient: the longer you mix, the lighter will be your frosting (it takes at least about 5 minutes).

7. When your cupcakes have cooled down spoon your frosting on top with a knife or a spatula and decorate with some fresh chopped strawberries

Teatime - is every time!

I confess: I have a butler.

The only problem: it´s a wooden one :)

 Nonetheless I adore him, his name is Friday and he serves me my tea.

He was a gift for Eastern years ago...

Teatime for me is quite on any daytime and on any occasion. I drink Tea for Breakfast, for Lunch, for Dinner, when I feel sad, when I feel happy, when I feel stressed....

 So over the years I developped something like a teapotcollection and I use quite all of them. Ok some of the pots I use more often then others but also because some of them looks pretty good but are´nt very usefull as they drip horribly while serving the tea. But quite every Teapot has a little history....

This one is one of my oldest one. It was part of my wedding gifts...quite a long time ago... the Teapot remained always faithful... Unfortunately Rosenthal stopped to produce this decor and the number of my cups decreased over the time....

The white one is a classic designed from Gropius (one of the founder of the great Bauhaus).


I have also the black variant that I use rarely to not get in danger that it breaks...Silly! This danger is not given with the small iron teapot. The blue is beautiful in my opinion. But I also do not use it very often as he is very heavy..but cute, no? 

The hanging one seems impressively useful with the integrated teapot-warmer..still I am not conviced..and we´ve been together for a long time.. Instead the little pot with the treefoils is a gift from a friend of mine and I use it very often. She brought it from Ireland to say thank you as I was looking a little bit about her growned up childrens during her holidays...

The small glasspot is intended for teablossoms. They are quite expensive and I find their taste not so great..so he is also not often in use. Meanwhile the pot called Salam from Guy Degrenne is one of my quite daily used. It is a combination of a porcelaine pot with a steel cover lined with felt to maintain your tea hot..very tricky and useful!

So I could continue for a while because these is not my whole collection... But I have no more time. I have to make some Tea :)))

My beloved Teapot....

My english Teapot that I found at 
Portobello Road Market in London




Some Tulips from the Market