Flavours of the World ~ Italy Part Three

Despite my wonderfully good intentions, I was unable to access the internet this past week to post the third and final part of this series... 

The recipes I am sharing with you today are for Tiramisu and Italian Pastry Twists – both so delicious that they are guaranteed to delight the taste buds of every guest seated around your table!

I am saddened to think this is the end of the Italian part of my ‘Flavours of the World’ feature – but I’m excited to look ahead and imagine what the next country we’ll be studying might be...:-)

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 TIRAMISU

{Recipe Courtesy:  Easy Italian in Minutes}

175ml (6fl oz) Strong black coffee

3 tbsp Marsala or sherry

3 tbsp Brandy

8 Trifle sponges

250g (8oz) tub Mascarpone

300ml (½ pint) double Cream, lightly whipped

4 level tbsp icing sugar, sifted

25g (1oz) Cocoa powder

Mix together the coffee, Marsala and brandy.  Place 4 trifle sponges in a serving dish and pour over half the coffee mixture.  Mix together the mascarpone, cream and icing sugar and spoon half over the sponges.  Place the remaining trifle sponges on top, and pour over the remaining coffee mixture.  Top with the rest of the mascarpone mixture and smooth the surface.  Sieve cocoa over the top and chill for at least 2-3 hours before serving.  Note:  We spread a thick layer of whipped cream over our tiramisu, and then sieved over the cocoa powder before serving.

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CROSTOLI ~ ITALIAN PASTRY TWISTS

{Recipe Courtesy:  Food and Home Entertaining, June 2008}

240g Cake flour

2 Eggs

30ml Butter

Zest of 1 lemon

80ml Dry white wine or grappa

A pinch of baking powder

10ml Vanilla extract

40ml Sugar

Oil, for deep-frying

Icing sugar, to dust

Combine all the ingredients for the dough in a bowl, pour out on a lightly floured work surface and knead well for a few minutes.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Take a little of the dough and roll it out as thinly as possible.  Cut with a fluted pastry wheel into long narrow strips and twist to resemble bows.  Heat the oil in a heavy-based pot and fry turning them, until they are golden, about 2 minutes.  Drain on paper towel and cool.  Repeat till all the dough is used.  Place the Crostoli in a bowl and sprinkle generously with icing sugar before serving.

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“Arrivederci, dear friends!”

 

Beautiful Blog Designs by Tangerine Coding & Design

Hello dear readers, I hope you are having a very blessed day...

As you may have noticed, Beautiful Girlhood has undergone a rather thorough change over the past few weeks!

My dear friend, Tane, from Fifth Out of Ten, very kindly agreed to redesign my blog for me...

She recently began Tangerine Coding and Design which she currently runs from her blog.

 I love Tane's designs – I think they're both professional and pretty, and that is exactly what I had hoped for...

Hop over to her blog to see the packages available!

She charges a very minimal fee for lovely designs, only to cover the time and effort she puts into creating them...

Do contact her if you like what she has done for me and the other bloggers she has designed for!

I would rate Tane's service 4/5 stars. 

Thank you, Tane, for creating a design that reflects my personal blogging style!

Have a beautiful weekend, friends!

Thoughtful Thursday

 

“The time to be happy is now.

The place to be happy is here.

The way to be happy is to make others so.”

~ Robert Ingersoll

~ Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ~

Series Review ~ Larkrise to Candleford

I am sure you will enjoy this beautiful and inspiring series about life in rural England in the days before progress and war changed everything...

  

Larkriseto Candleford is a gem of a series – I was thoroughly impressed and entertained by each episode and would highly recommend it.

There are four seasons of Larkrise to Candleford, based on the semi-autobiographal works of Flora Thompson.

 Set in the years before progress really began to gain momentum (somewhere in the1890's), Larkrise to Candleford tells the stories of a great many different people from the poor, yet happy hamlet of Larkrise, and the bustling little town of Candleford and its surrounding areas... 

The lives of these folk are strangely intertwined, although neither Larkrise nor Candleford would readily admit it...

The costumes were wonderful in this series – they were neither too frivolous or too plain, and I appreciated the fact that the characters often wore their costumes over again instead of constantly donning a new wardrobe! 

I think this helped to show that the people in both Larkrise and Candleford were actually simple people and perhaps not that wealthy, which I enjoyed.

As for the scenery and sets – well, they were perfection!  I loved the area in which this series was filmed and I think the filmmakers really captured the unique essence of life in those days through the various sets they used throughout the feature.

With such a cast as Julia Sawalha (remember her from Pride and Prejudice and Cranford?), Brendan Coyle (North and South), Dawn French, Claudie Blakley (Cranford and Pride and Prejudice 2005) and others, there was just no likelihood of failure!  The actors and actresses were splendid and really appeared to live their different characters!

One of the main reasons I would so highly recommend this series to you, is because I feel there are valuable life lessons in it which are good and decent and definitely well-worth seeing...

And for those of you whose hearts are nestled somewhere in the country, you will definitely enjoy the Larkrise scenes of the series!

A word of caution, though – personally, I would not recommend certain episodes for children  under the age of 10...  There are a few which deal with issues that are not entirely appropriate for children. 

I would recommend parents or guardians view each episode first, as there are more than enough good ones which are 'light' enough for children to enjoy!  My younger sisters thoroughly enjoyed the episodes they were allowed to watch!

 

Another word of caution – there is a smattering of superstition in this series which was unfortunately so common during those times. 

But I'm certain you will love the simplicity of life portrayed in this series... 

I love the long gone and now, quite old-fashioned neighborliness and hospitality and how everyone worked together in order to achieve a goal... 

You will love how, although each character experienced many difficulties and made more than their fair share of mistakes, they always made amends and there was always forgiveness. 

There were plenty of disagreements between friends and family members, just like the disagreements we have today, yet they were sorted out and people moved on...

This is really clean, wholesome entertainment which can be enjoyed by a large audience!

~ Blessings ~