London Fashion Week

As it is fashion week Amy wanted to participate and show us all the new trends in fashion for 2015 in the Canziani- Chiesa household:

and this is how you wear it:

Una sorpresa, un gioco e del cioccolato ( a surprise, a game and some chocolate)

"Vorrei... vorrei

Una sorpresa, un gioco e del cioccolato"
( i have tried to find the video on youtube, but it is almost impossible :( )

this is a sentence that meant a lot to me for many years;
it was part of the Italian spot for Kinder eggs .... we all loved kinder eggs,kinder chocolate bars ( con piu' latte e meno cacao); they were a staple of every body's merenda.... they are pure genius, you open, you eat and you get a game, plus in those ingenuity filled years we got the game container which could be used to shoot stuff around the playground....

Sadly Mr Ferrero died this weekend leaving all of us childern of the 80s ( and not only) with a bit of a knot in the stomach.....

without him no ferrero rocher, no nutella and no kinder eggs, in other words a very sad childhood....
( it was a very sad childhood in the USA where kinder eggs were banned as the toys inside were a choking hazard... but that's ok they could go to the local walmart to get stuff that shoots other stuff around ... )

So although today is Shrove Tuesday, pancake day, martedi grasso today in the canziani-chiesa household we celebrated Mr Ferrero...
With Amy's first Kinder egg....

Amy demonstrated why this man was a genius...

so thank you Sig. Ferrero...

we will make sure that another generation shall carry your flag...
and while we are at it we shall celebrate Pancake day with some light and totally fat free (:P) Nutella pancakes...

Ingredients

• 250 gr, flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp Nutella
• 1 large egg 
• 340 ml buttermilk ( if you do not have it, use the usual trick add some lemon juice to the milk, wait 5 minutes and there you have buttermilk substitute)

How to make it

---

• Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and sugar. In another bowl, whisk together Nutella and the egg. When smooth, beat in buttermilk. Combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.
• Heat a non stick frying pan over high heat until a drop of water on the surface skips around. Grease it with butter ( the more you use the tastier they will be... stuff the diet, we have lent for that) and drop batter into 3-inch rounds. To check that they are ready check for bubbles on the surface and check that the edges are dry. Turn over and cook for another minute or two in the other side.
• Serve immediately, with more Nutella.

Eat warm with gusto, no regrets and a sprinkle of icing sugar for good measure.

shifting paradigm: "sensory activity and educaltional play"

There is a moment in every mum's life when you realise that being Nigella is not nearly enough, so off you go on the quest on how to be the perfect mum, the one that on 5 hours sleep still has the energy to do fun activities with her kids and whose family looks like the "Mulino Bianco" one...

This week was my turn to be "that" mother, the one with the twigs in her hair trying to get everything to fit in like in a Tetris game, the one that juggles the washing machine that beeps, the cat that demand food, the husband that nurses an hungover in bed (when it is 11 am on Sunday and you have been up since 6am) and due to the beautiful English weather ( could it just snow for once instead of boring rain???) a very bored toddler.

Not considering the idea of Amy running back and forth in the sitting room shouting "PASTA PESTO AaaaAHHHHHHH" the most fun and skills developing activity to do with her  i got to my favourite pastime .... the internet .... and this is where I discovered this wonderful amazing website: "Fun at home with kids"

It is wonderful and although it is so Mulino Bianco it does almost hurt, it is full of wonderful activities and really cool things you can do with Amy.

And it is so cool that it has gone totally viral ( you know that when several of your "normal mums" friends on fb post picture of the same amazing activity at the same time) ... so here is OUR attempt at the amazing RAINBOW FOAM experiment:

In order for the experiment to be successful you will need the following:

• water
• liquid dish soap
• food colouring
• food mixer
• big container ( like a baby bath, you know the one you keep in the attic as a memory? yeas, that one!!!)

The procedure is quite complicated so please read carefully ....
Put water in bowl, add soap and food colouring, insert food mixer in the bowl, turn on to warp speed and wait ( yes yes i have a celebrity chef mixer, please mock away)

Repeat the procedure several times according to how many colours and how much foam you want to "make".... add delicately into the container ( baby bath between me and you) and this is what happens:

( green did not come up too nicely as i was stingy with the food colouring...)
Proceed to march your toddler to the bathroom ( unless it is summer than stick her outside and lock the door so to squeeze in a up of tea or a chilled Pimms)....

and wonder of wonder observe:

She truly loved it even if i must say at the beginning she looked puzzled for a bit and even asked what was she supposed to do with it.... but 3 minutes in and we were away with foam gloves, foam noses, foam dresses....







So thank you Ms Asia Citro for having opened a door to many more crazy rainy Sunday morning .... after all we can all be the "Mulino Bianco" perfect family

....
and if you want to see how it is really done do yourself a favour and check this out
"Rainbow Soap Foam"

Sunday Breakfast

... best thing about Sundays is that we can all have breakfast together, I always liked preparing big, lazy, prolonged brunches and now I have a little helper it even more enjoyable than before...

Today we had the usual eggs,bacon, tomato English breakfast, pancakes, coddled eggs with salmon and Parma ham and asparagus and a lovely  cup of tea with pain a chocolat...

when making Pain au chocolat you have 2 option, the first is restricted to pure and real domestic goddesses ( ie people with a cook, a cleaner, a nanny, and an unhealthy obsession with some cat charity)

Pain Au Chocolat (Prep Time: 180 minutes)

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons instant dried yeast
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water for 5 minutes. Add the bread flour, milk, sugar, melted butter, and salt to the dissolved yeast and water and mix the dough on medium speed for about 2 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add 1 tablespoon of extra flour at a time, until the dough is just firm enough to fold a shape.
Shape the dough into a ball and loosely cover it with plastic wrap. Allow it to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Roll the dough into a 10-inch by 15-inch rectangle, and then cover it loosely and allow it to rise for 40 minutes.
Brush the rectangle with the softened butter and then fold the dough into thirds, like a letter. Roll the long, thin rectangle back into the original 10-inch by 15 shape. Fold the dough into thirds, again, and then cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Repeat this process one more time.
Using a sharp knife, cut the dough crosswise into 12 rectangles. Arrange 2 teaspoons of chopped chocolate across one of the short ends of the rectangle and fold that third of the dough over the chocolate, toward the center. Repeat the process on the opposite side of the dough, folding it over and tucking the end under to create a cylindrical shape. Arrange each finished brioche on a lightly greased baking sheet with at least 1 1/2 inches between each pastry. Cover them loosely with plastic wrap and allow them to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until they are nearly doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 200 grades centigrade.
Whisk the egg and 2 tablespoons milk together to make an egg wash. Brush the egg wash across the surface of each pastry.
Bake the pan au chocolate for 12 to 14 minutes, until they are puffed and golden brown.

if you do this you will be rewarded with something that looks like this:

Should you otherwise not have 3 hours to dedicate to baking while sipping tea from your favourite mug, but craving the sugary rush needed to survive yet another 5am start ( a perfectly acceptable time for your loved toddler to demand you watch Ponyo together) you could do this:


Open the fridge and see the light:

( i strongly suggest you have several of these stacked in your fridge, they are a life savior solution and they also come in croissant, cinnamon swirl variety and they work a treat) ( thank you jus-Rol )


and get your toddler to help, they love it, you have a perfect treat and your husband is none the wiser and still think you better then Nigella :P, and they do look like this:

Here is Amy showing you all how easy it is: