Sunday, 30 June 2013

Kanelbullar - rollos de canela suecos

Hace tiempo que prometí que colgaría la receta que yo hago servir de kanelbullar, unos rollitos de canela suecos que están de coña y que son las delicias de la gente cada vez que los hago. De hecho me han pedido que haga kanelbullar de propio ya en varias ocasiones. Hoy, que hace un año y un par de días que volví de allí, creo que es un buen día para colgar esta receta. Así que si queréis quedar bien, y conocer un poquito uno de los postres más típicos de Suecia aquí la tenéis.

La receta creo que está escrita para tontos como yo... pero bueno, es que si os contara los desastres que hacía gente en Suecia cada vez que intentaban cocinar esto, la verdad es que yo me siento muy orgulloso del resultado. Es combinación de un par que encontré por Internet en su día y algún detalle que puse yo a mi gusto.

Ya de paso, os hablaré de una muy buena costumbre que tienen los suecos: el fika. Básicamente consiste en quedar tranquilamente a charrar un rato mientras toman un café o equivalente y el pastelito dulce de turno... el kanelbullar, en este caso. Así que ya sabéis qué hacer para sentiros suecos por un rato (guiño guiño). Recuerdo que los alemanes se reían mucho al respecto de esta costumbre, porque por lo visto su pronunciación es casi idéntica a "follar" en alemán, lo cual también me hacía mucha gracia hehe. Imaginad la primera frase de este párrafo en alemán y me entenderéis.

¡Ya contaréis qué tal salen si los hacéis! ¡A fikear se ha dicho! (y hacedlos, que no os arrepentiréis. Eso sí, yo acostumbro a hacer la mitad de las cantidades que están aquí indicadas, que ya salen kanelbullar más que suficientes para pasar un buen rato de gula. Aunque también podéis optar por congelarlos, que se conservan bien)


KANELBULLAR – bollos de canela suecos

*Fotos pendientes de incluir, las tomaré la próxima vez que cocine. Pero quedan algo así:



INGREDIENTES: (para unos 40-60 kanelbullar) (depende de cómo se corten)
Masa:
- 150 g de mantequilla o margarina (sin sal)
- 500 ml de leche
- 50 g de levadura fresca [sólida]
- 80 g azúcar
- ½ cucharada de sal
- 850 g (aprox. 1,4 l) harina de trigo -> sí, los suecos dan sus recetas en litros, lo cual a mí me despista bastante aunque quienes están más acostumbrados dicen que es más lógico.

Relleno:
- aprox. 200 g mantequilla
- azúcar
- canela en polvo

Barniz:
- 1 huevo
- perlas de azúcar (pärlsocker) -> en España es prácticamente imposible encontrarlas, lo mejor es reemplazarlas por azúcar normal

PROCESO:
-  Se comienza preparando la masa. Para ello, derretir la mantequilla en una olla y añadir la leche. Calentarla un poco (tampoco demasiado, si no luego nos quemaremos)
-  Por otro lado,  disolver la levadura en un pelín de leche.
-  Tomar la harina y mezclarla con el azúcar y la sal (yo lo hago en un bol grande o sartén wok). Añadir la levadura disuelta y mezclar. 
-  Añadir la leche poco a poco y mezclar. Comenzar a amasar durante unos 5’. En caso de ser necesario añadir más harina/azúcar.
-  Dejar reposar la masa 30’ cubierta con un trapo.

-  Tomar la masa. Dividirla en trozos razonables para expandirla con el rodillo en rectángulos (ojo que las esquinas estén bien marcadas y los bordes sean rectos, que luego hay que enrollar)
-  Untar la mantequilla (es más fácil si se deja derretir antes un poco) sobre la masa.
-  Añadir el azúcar sobre la masa. Añadir la canela sobre la masa.
-  Enrollar los rectángulos. Cortar los rollos en piezas de 2-3 dedos (dependiendo de lo que se quiera), cada uno es un kanelbulle. Ponerlos sobre la bandeja del horno.
-  Calentar el horno a 250ºC

-  Batir el huevo para usarlo de barniz. Con un pincel, expandirlo sobre los kanelbullar. Poner sobre el barniz las perlas de azúcar.
-  Poner el en horno hasta que estén hechos (deberían ser unos 9-10’, pero depende mucho del horno)
-  Smaklig måltid! (¡Buen provecho!)

Thursday, 27 June 2013

Comprehending the utility of white curtains

And I will explain myself.

What I feel like a quite stupid habit in Europe is not having blinds at all in the rooms of any building. I mean: in summer blinds do not disturb in any way (you just put them up and done), and while you sleep they help to make your room darker. Since in summer there are more hours of light but sleeping is not a very illuminated job, it kind of makes sense to me having blinds to darken your room. Doesn't it?

"Oh, but we have curtains to avoid the light to come in"

Hmm, I don't really know what to answer to that. Because what I'm experiencing is that a very common thing is that curtains in rooms are white, and I can say that I'm quite aware of the utility of white curtains: none. Why do I say this in such a radical way? Simple reason: because when I arrived last year to Sweden, I was waking up at 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 o'clock in the morning just because the curtains did not avoid at all the entrance of light in the room. Therefore finally I went to Ikea (the independent republic, you know) and bought one curtain with one of the darkest tones I found. Every night I unfolded such a curtain and put it over the white curtain I had. Then in the morning, I folded it back again and... done!

My Swedish room, one random morning. With the dark blue curtain still protecting me from the evil light. And a cool Swedish flag, just in case you didn't realize about it.
 Now I'm back in Spain, living in a city as Barcelona. And I have blinds, yes. Which do not work very well, there are some spots where the light can come in. So I have to use the curtain too. And guys, guess which kind of curtains I have to use.

White white, pure white. Peeeeace!
You were brilliantly right! How the hell can this be understood? What should I do now?

Very deep dilemmas haha. I'll try to take a piece of advice from my bed. If the white curtain lets me sleep, of course.

*It's not that I don't like light, on the contrary! But what it's true is that I like darkness when it comes to sleeping.

Sunday, 2 June 2013

Stockholm memories - Amaral

I'm alive. Though you may not believe it. I'm having a very busy but cool month living with my cousin, her husband and their three 8-10-12 year aged boys. Very very cool. In a few days I'll be moving to a new place, and there I guess I will settle a little bit and start writing here one more time. One never knows though.

But today I'm feeling like "I miss Stockholm". So let's rewind a year! Do you mind?

Sorry, can't listen to you happy readers haha. One of the cool things of Stockholm is that it is a big city, with all the events associated that such a condition implies. So, the thing is that around a year ago, on June 1st, we went to an Amaral concert organized by the Spanish embassy in a pub in Stockholm, Södra Teatern. Don't know if you know Amaral, she's a very famous Spanish singer who composes lyrics which go deep into your heart, and that I really like (at least is among my most beloved Spanish singers). Particularly I recommend "Son mis amigos" (They're my friends), "Revolución" (Revolution), "Toda la noche en la calle" (All night long in the streets) and the most famous one, "El Universo sobre mí" (The Universe over me). She's from Saragossa, my hometown. The cool thing is that I knew about these concert of hers in Stockholm, but didn't say a word to anyone. And I remember that my beloved Lilianna, who didn't know Amaral at all, said about going to this concert. For me, it was like "oh wow, very cool" and "they're lucky"

The concert was great. Amaral didn't say a word in English, and just "tack!" (thanks) in Swedish. But it was great. I particularly remember one song Amaral played, the last song of the concert, the "extra" song. It's not the song I appreciate the most of Amaral. But... The lyrics totally made sense there in Stockholm. It was somehow overwhelming... and now that I've moved to Barcelona, these lyrics make again sense for me.

So here you have the song, and a translation of it. Hope you enjoy it!


If I were born again, if I could start over,
 I would search for you again on my time machine.
 Destiny is what leads and guides us,
 comes between us and brings us together throughout life.

 We said goodbye to each other and the years passed,
 we saw each other again one Saturday night...
 another country, another city, another life,
 but the same feline glance.

 Sometimes I'd kill you, and others I want to eat you up instead,
 little aquamarine eyes.


CHORUS
 What can I say, if every part of my mind is yours
 and if I can't find the exact word, what can I say.
 How to tell you that you've won me over little by little
 you who arrived by coincidence, what can I say.

Like a fire bird that dies in your hands,
 a sliver of ice melted on your lips,
 the radio keeps on playing; the war has ended,
 but the bonfires still haven't died down.


 CHORUS [repeats]
 What can I say, if every part of my mind is yours
 and if I can't find the exact word, what can I say.
 How to tell you that you've won me over little by little
 you who arrived by coincidence, what can I say.

you're taking away my life, what can I say...

This is me, by the way. With Eva Amaral.
EDIT: (June 8th) I've just found a video of the concert there in Stockholm. I link it here and here, with a very special Portuguese voice singing along haha. Very cool!

Tuesday, 7 May 2013

Thought of the week (IV): About names

Last week I discovered one amazing thing, while talking about Dick Cheney:

Have you ever thought your name to be "dick"?

In Spanish, we definitely don't have that. We can make awkward sentences by combining names and surnames, but... no, we don't have such a direct name as "dick"

You can imagine my astonishment when I realized about this. But happily, I investigated (it was too bizarre that anyone could name his son "Dick" and that be accepted as normal) And I found out that "Dick" actually is a nickname. Dick Cheney real name is Richard "Dick" Bruce Cheney. Why its sobriquet is "dick", do not ask me because I don't know.

But look to his face...

I'm too sexy for myself (too sexy for my body, too sexy...)

Thursday, 2 May 2013

Barcelona

Still have to look for an appartment, but I guess I'll say something like "David, welcome to...

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Shorts

I've always said that one of the wonders of writing short stories is that you can cause a bigger impression in the reader, the unexpected is easier to create. At least to innovate. I'm not quite a big fan of shorts, but I guess that it happens the same than with short stories.

Today I've seen some of them, and I liked them all, particularly "The butterfly circus". So, if you have time, I guess it is worth it to watch these short movies: (the links go to Filmaffinity)

- The butterfly circus: 20', English (with Eng "youtube" sub). The best I'm linking. Talks about overcoming and being positive. Very cool.
- L'Accordeur (The piano tuner): 11', French (with Eng sub). I really like the effect that achieves. And I'm not gonna say anything else, you'll have to check it on your own (wink, wink)
- True. Paris, je t'aime (faubourg saint denis): 7', English and French, no sub (the French is easy to understand... I've understood it at least! And although I have some idea, I really suck at French, so if you have some knowledge, it's not hard!! Otherwise look for the subs, I've not done it hehe) It's about love, but in a different way.

THE BUTTERFLY CIRCUS


L'ACCORDEUR (THE PIANO TUNER)


TRUE. PARIS, JE T'AIME


And well, I finally will say that some of you might like "Schneckentraum (El sueño del caracol) (Snail's dream)" (German, Spa sub... but look for it) I found it VERY typical and not surprising, but it's sweet. Particularly the Amaral music part it's just awesome...

Be happy!

Sunday, 21 April 2013

The "give back 1 €cent" news

Quite a messy week... but since I'm moving to Barcelona, I guess quite understandable!! Anyway, as I don't know if you're quite interested about this, I will be quite direct from now on: do you like non sense news?

Because I loooove (love love) absurd news. They provide a funny topic to talk about, and allow you to break a bit the speaking topics routine. Who doesn't know the Belgian driver who went to Zagreb by error? (REALLY, if you don't know it, the story is completely worth it,  WAY FUNNIER than it is this [great] blog post in fact)

When we Spaniards travel abroad, we many times see things well done. In such cases, we tend to say something like "Spain is different", because here these things are done differently. Normally when we see well done things, ye. And now, I'm gonna cry for a minute, wait.

Done. So. This news I'm gonna talk about today (Spanish URL, srry) will allow you to understand this "different Spain" (you can put again this post in the category "spot the differences" I'm doing lately) Because dear readers, this news I'm gonna translate you today is the "1 eurocent story"

Visualize it, ok?
Spanish state claims for a cent which had been overpaid to unemployed woman

In the claim letter, she was reminded that if she didn't pay to the bank before a month passed, she would have to pay an extra 20% fee

A young woman from Tortosa has been involved in a bureaucratic mess because she had been paid one extra cent than corresponding to her unemployment benefit.

Following the common procedure in such situations, she received a registered letter claiming the devolution of this extra cent. "When I read it, "- she says - "not only I discovered the state requiring me this cent that, btw, I hadn't realized; but I also was said that if I didn't pay it back in one month, I would have to pay an extra 20% fee over this cent"

The letter also explained her that after this voluntary refunding period she hadn't done it, it would start the enforced recovery process as stated in the article 32/2 of the royal decree 625/1985.

But this wasn't the end of the process for this cent, because this woman had to go to the employment office to give evidence that this debt was already paid off.

"But once there, I was said that without a previous appointment, I could not give any receipt nor do anything", so she had to come back other day to solve the problem.

"I guess this is the normal procedure for this matters" - she concludes - "but something must not been working right in this system if they need to spend a probably higher amount of money for asking back a sad cent"

Asterix and the 12 tasks. Do you remember this one?