WHB# 179 - Rose Vinegar

ciao and welcome to this week's herbal blogging!

this week we are in kitty's kitchen

thank you kitty for hosting! :)

this brilliant and very interesting idea is kalyn's,

and now kept by haalo.thank's both of you :)

if you would like to join, please read the rules
to know the order of hosting please read here

last week I didn't participate...

we had Easter at my mother-in-law's and stayed there

all day...eating, talking, playing.

it is nice when all the family gathers :)

we were very lucky with the weather..

on Easter Monday I had some dear blogger friends with family at our place.

we should have had a pic nic in the garden...but when we had put all on the blanket..

it started to rain..so we moved on the terrace :))

after lunch...lorenza, cristina and I relaxed talking...

obviously hearing our small talk made alessio and marco fell to sleep!!!

:)))) (criii's and looo's companions)

we tought that if we had stopped talking they would wake up...but they keept on sleeping!

it doesn't seem very comfortable does it??? :)))

sooo..we three went walking in the vally behind our house..

the men didn't even notice we were gone! :))))

Valsorda...

in the evening it started raining again..

so we sat very close, talking, loughing and looking at the stupid photos we had made during the day.

sometimes real friendship can be born on the web!

I'm very happy to have come to acquaintance with crii and loo :) thank's girls!! :)))

the recipe this week is very simple, and yet very special..

here in April and specially in May...

all the roses begin to flower.f

or this recipe you should use some very perfumed one.

Rose vinegar

you need:

80gr of rose petals

1 liter of white wine vinegar

put the petals in a big jar and pour the vinegar over.

let marinate in a dar and cool place fot at least 10days.

then, filtrate (once or twice as you wish) with coffee filters

pour in bottles and let rest for an other month.

Brigidaa_te:

it could be a very nice gift.

use it on cooked vegetables, perfect with boild potatoes for. ex

see you next week at my bloggeraid rachel's place

Culinary tour around the world - Corn Bread, Creole Rosted lamb, Creole black beans

sooooo..this is it!

we are back almost were we started.

I must thank my bloggeraid friend Joan for this wonderful tour.

I've learned so much, it has been very stimulating..

visting and tasing food from countries I only read about..

just think about mongolia...very strange, very interesting, very strong.

and I'm sure my family will miss all the strange experiments...

but I must say that they have been great!!

as a matter of fact I had some difficulties with this stop in the deep south...

I asked niki (son n°2)who was in San Diego 2 weeks, some years ago..

I asked gokki (dougther n°3) who was in Florida one month 10 years ago...

"what do you eat in the deep south?"

they answered french fries and hamburgers!!

It can't be! :)))

so fortunately Joan posted a very illiuminated post on Sunday..

wow, that really helped!!

then I stopped by at Rachel's and saw a recipe site that could also help me..

then..today arrived 2 new guinee pigs to try everything out..

so here I am...

creole dinner!! :)))

and do you know what??? we all really liked it!

oh yeah! :)))

Creole roast lamb with

Creole black beans...

let the lamb marinate all the night, it helps cooking.

I did the black beans without sausage and rice...(sofi is vegetarian, remember ? :))

I suggest to make the rice the day before and let rest over nigt, it get's even better!

I used a pressure cooker (2 hours very slowly, starting from dry beans)

if you use the crockpot, i think it is even more tasty!

glenn's Southern Corn bread

here I some difficulties with the units..so I followed my intuition.

haha...the bread turn out to be super! I'm very satisfied :))

I used cream of tartar instead of chemical yeast, I prefer the taste.

(and saturday I was visting a distillery and when I learned that the cream of tartar is nothing else but wine waste...wow..I like even more! :))))

we had a great fun in the distillery...my dear friend Rosa got drunk only from smelling the aquavit! :))) a tip, from my new friend mister carlo....a good grappa is transparent..if it is coloured..it means that some chemical colour has been added)

sorry Joan..I got out of track. silly me!!

I wish to thank all particpants that have followed joan in this fantastic culinary trip!!

WHB #177 - Rosemary jelly and Rosemary tea

ciao and wellcome to this week's herbal blogging.

this week we are hosted by my dear friend Ivy!!

thank you Ivy for hosting!

this brilliant and very interesting idea is kalyn's,
and now kept by haalo.
thank's both of you :)
if you would like to join, please read the rules

to know the order of hosting please read here

finally here it has stopped raining...I don't mind the rain..but I wanted to do a flower dish for Ivy..

but the weather worked against me..

weeeell...what does a blogger do?

does she give up??

does she forget about it?

does she skip the WHB??

nooooo...she comes up with something else! :)))

fortunately..my rosemary bushes doesn't care for the rain..noo...the even enjoy it.

in our garden we have a lot of rosemary..they can grow over 2 meters large and high..

the good thing also, is that they spread by themselfs, if they like the place.

they don't need any special care, just a very sunny place and good earth.

even chalk ground will do (please avoid acid substratus).

so dear Ivy, this jelly is special made for you :)

rosemary jelly

750gr water

6 small branches of rosemary

2 lemons

1kg of sugar

put to boil the water with the rosemary branches, and let boil for 3min.

it is important not to boil any longer, the jelly will get very very bitter.

(trust me :)))

take out the branches, and chop the rosemary needles very small.

add the choped needles

add the squeezed juice from the lemons

let cool, and the add the sugar, whisk and let boil again.

very high heat.

let boil for 5-6min and the pour in clean glasses.

close the lid and roll the jars until cooled.

this to distribute the rosemary equily in the jelly

(if not, they will all float to ther bottom or remain on the top)

brigidaa_te:

were tasty together with pork!

rosemary herbal tea

try this herbal tea in the evening after dinner. it is very digestive, and easy drinking..

the perfume it spreads makes you very relaxed...

I suggest two cups on Sunday evenings :))

1 flowered top of Rosemary

1 piece of orange (organic) peel

boild water.

pour the boiling water over the rosemary and the orange, close the lid of your cup

and let it rest for 20min.

then pick the rosemary and the peel, add honey if you wish (it is perfect without)

drink, and enjoy. :)

see you next week at Chriesi