Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes

Today I was on a mission to find some reasonably priced cupcake essentials. Baking shops failed; I was able to find extremely fancy cupcake liners for a billion dollars each or extremely crappy white ones.

After an hour I finally found some pretty ones at a reasonable price in a computer shop!? Then I found a cupcake tin I was happy with at a kitchen shop. Unfortunately there was an elderly couple buying a wedding gift for their grand daughter. They were not happy with their grand daughters gift registry choices; "a travel mug, what kind of stupid wedding gift is that!". I actually have to agree. So I waited forever to buy my silly cupcake tin.

The ridiculous amount of time I spent buying a tin, and some coloured paper were made up for by these cupcakes. This recipe is from New Yorks Magnolia Bakery on Bleaker street. It's their famous vanilla vanilla cupcake recipe which came to fame in the 90s; velvety vanilla sponge and sherbety vanilla buttercream icing . I found out about these from Alex who works at the amazingly sinful Sherbert cupcake shop in Perth. They use the same recipe. It is also very important to point out that these cupcakes were featured on Sex and the City!!! If they're good enough for Carrie and Miranda they are definitely good enough for me.

Click more for the recipe and more photos

More giant seagulls plus some pigeons

Street Stavanger: week 2

Perfect late afternoon light on the neighbours house, Stavanger's crazy bike lady (pretty sure every town has one), a yellow door, the Queen Mary 2 taking up the whole Stavanger harbour and a yellow flower.

A real Norwegian Sunday

Yesterday my Aunt, two of her friends and myself went for a walk known as 7 nutsturen or the 7 hills walk. It's a 17km mountain walk up 7 different hills. We packed ourselves a sandwich, some hot chocolate and some cookies and set off into the woods. We encountered hail, rain, serious wind and some lovely thick mud which managed to coat most of my legs and the insides of my shoes. Although the mud and the slippery rocks weren't my favourite the views and the nature were beautiful, I would happily do the walk again. It was however a luxury to go home, have a hot shower and eat a big bowl of moose soup for dinner. 

Saftkveld på dagen fjelltur edition :)

Pålegg

Sandwiches. Bread with topping. Probably the worlds most famous convience food. They can range from super simple to ridiclously complicated. What I love is that everywhere you go in the world, you will find a  different version. In Spain I ate potato omlette "tortilla de patatas" on crispy white baguette and in Australia my favourite was chicken, cheese, avocado and cranberry on rye bread. In Norway you simply can't go past crackers "knekkebrød" with raspberry jam and brown cheese, as you can see modelled by Alex and Sigrunn is the photos above. The strange Norwegian combinations don't stop there.

Nico with his " manwhich"

Chicken liver paté, pickles, beetroot and mayonnaise 

Johan and his "manwhich"

Here are some of the new sandwhich topping combinations which I have been introduced to while in Norway.

My new favourite: Chicken liver pate, pickled cucumber, beetroot and mayonnaise
Ingrid's favourite; Tinned mackrel in tomato sauce
Sigrunn's favourite; Brown cheese and jam on knekkebrød
My grandmother's favourite; Cottage cheese and jam
Nico's favourite: The "manwhich"- every topping on offer in a sandwich
The average Norwegian's boring favourite: cheese, ham and paprika (lame if you ask me)

Giant seagulls

One of my first observations of Stavanger was that the seagulls are flamin' enormous. These photos don't even really show how big they are, but they are at least twice the size of Australian seagulls. Probably because they eat reindeer meat instead of fish and chips. Seriously they're bloody monsters! 

Taleggio

Let me introduce you to my new friend taleggio. I first came across this cheese when I was working at the Greenhouse in Perth. I had never heard about it but was instantly intrigued by it's name and it's taste. As soon as I got home, I read everything I could find about it on the internet. I was in love. When I stumbled apon this glorious cheese again at Food Story a café in Stavanger, it was time to write about it.

So Ta-leeee-ggio. First of all the name. It rolls off the tounge like a drop of olive oil rolling off a sexy Italian mans chin as he eats bruchetta. I think the name is beautiful, I could easily name my son Taleggio. Second attraction of taleggio is its history.... It is named after an Italian valley, and has been produced in the rolling foothills of Northern Italy since the 9th century. Taleggio is made from the milk of tired cows in late autumn and winter. The cows of Northern Italy traditionally spend the summer walking across the alps into different pastures. By winter they are totally exhausted, but their milk is nice and fatty and acidic; perfect for making taleggio. In 1988 taleggio received a "Presidential Decree" which sounds fancy and means that the president recognised the cheese as have an own entity. Like champagne having to be made in the the Champagne region of France, a true taleggio it must be produced in one of seven Northern Italian provinces.

But most importantly; it tastes like heaven. It's not quite as soft as brie, but is has a beautiful full milk (48% fat), earthy, yeasty flavour. It's perfect for using in toasted sandwiches, on crackers or fresh crusty bread. It melts nicely into a creamy cheese, so it would also work well as a fondue, souffle or melted over a grilled chicken breast. It's flavour isn't overpowering, it's buttery and melts in your mouth. It's just bloody delicious. Eat it with a glass light red wine.