Eggs in Lemon Curd

Two weeks ago, when I was supposed to write my paper and just could not bring myself to type one word, I spend hours pinning ideas for Easter baking. My board was bursting but everything I could find had to be made fresh. Since Easter was still half a month away I needed something I could make right now (to distract myself from writing) that would keep till the holiday. Then I found these wonderful meringue nests and I knew I had it. They are originally filled with lemon custard but to make custard is such a delicate thing that I blew it completely and it ended in a disaster. After some sulking I replaced it with curd and it worked out great. The nests keep for a long time and look just adorable as little surprises on the Easter plates.

Lemon Curd Easter Nests

Since the recipe for the meringue nests is already explained at the original post I will only provide the Lemon Curd recipe here.

You Need:

2/3 cup butter 

6 organic lemons

6 eggs

2 cups sugar

lemon zest from 2 lemons

Squeeze the lemons until you have around 300 ml of juice. Melt the butter in a pot. Add the juice, the sugar and the zest and mix them thoroughly. Whisk the eggs until stiff and add them to the mixture in the pot. Use low heat and stir until it becomes a thick creme. Do not let it cook!!

Now wait until cooled down a bit and fill into the meringue nests. Add little sugar eggs and 

Voilà! 

Bunny Season

When I was younger I loved Easter a lot. My grandparents used to come to our house and bring a whole trunk full of the most wonderful things and in my mind the holiday will always be connected with birds singing, fresh and warm air and tons of sweets that you were allowed to eat without feeling guilty. Now it is more about having some free time with the family than it is about sweets but I'm still very fond of the holiday (and of bunnies in general :)). 

Though the season provides a never ending source of creative potential I personally feel that it is a challenge to find Easter decoration that isn't tacky. So except for felt eggs and some tulips I keep it simple. This year I decided to be a bit more creative, though, and tried to bring the bunny feeling in form of funny Easter cookies. 

Traces of History

This Sunday my sister and I decided that we needed to get away from the desk for a few hours to breath some fresh air. Forest and fields are not far, but we were in the mood for a change of scenery, so we decided to try something new. We had planned for some month to visit a near memorial place. It has  been built as a reminder of a Second World War labor camp for Hungarian Jewish women. They were forced to work there to produce weapons for the German army. Though we live very near we never visited it before, because we knew that nothing more but a memorial plaque has remained. All the buildings are long gone and only an empty field reminds you of the former camp. But though there is really nothing left to make you aware of the former significance of the place, to know about it was enough to feel sad. Places like this have this strange aura of history and it made us feel quite uneasy.

So we decided to take a walk in the nearby woods to get away from the distressing place. Little did we know, we were about to discover something really interesting. After we had walked for about 10 minutes we noticed a small and old abandoned bunker at the roadside. We were really excited and explored the (sadly empty) inside. 

The bunker alone was quite impressive but after that we decided to leave the forest track and just go cross-country through the woods. And after a while we came across another old building between the trees. And the further we walked, the more buildings we found. The whole forest was filled with them. It was really exciting. We were all alone in the silent woods with these old and decaying buildings. We guessed that they were also remains of the war, but wondered why we had never heard about these ruins in the woods. After all, we were only about 8 kilometers away from home.

 We discovered about 20 buildings and some really large old bunkers that were embedded in the earth. Some of the bunkers had completely crumbled away over the years, some had been sealed by city authorities (I guess) but at the end we finally discovered one whose doors were open.

I have to admit, it was a bit scary to see this dark open door in the middle of the quiet woods with the huge empty dark hole behind it. But we had the dog with us and because she remained calm we knew that it was probably empty. It was a very speculiar feeling to be inside this old bunker. There were even bullet holes in the doors (strangely enough they went from the inside out ...) 

 We spent about two and a half hours in the woods exploring the old buildings. It was exciting, adventurous and a bit scary. When we came home we immediately googled the place (of course...) and found out that the buildings are part of a very large blasting explosive factory from the II Word War. Overall there had been more than 600 buildings in the woods and now there are about 60 of them still left. 

Next Sunday we want to go back and explore some more. After all, it is not everyday that you can find remains of the war outside a museum.

Looking Back

Christmas seems long gone by now. But since I forgot my camera charger at home -  and just got it back today - I hadn't been able to sight this year's pictures before. Now I did and here are just a view moments to remember the wonderful time. 

The beautiful Advent calendar my mother made for me this year.

Under the tree at my grandparent's house.

My Holiday nail polish with (elfisch) silver sparks.

Raised pastries  - we eat them traditionally before the gift giving.

Picturesque

A cute little bird sitting in a tree in front of my house the other day. 

Winter Wonderland

Ok, winter wonderland might be a bit over the top, but it's what I had in mind when I bought the decoration for my little living room table. It ought to be pure, calm, white and glittery. I think that's pretty much how it turned out and I am pleased with the snowy look. My sisters hated the glitter deers, though. But since I happen to love them they will stay right where they are :)  

Season Decoration

Two weeks ago I started to decorate for the (by then...) upcoming Christmas season. I have been so busy since, that I never really finished. But today I finally got to buy the last missing piece for my

kitchen table - a winter rose. I love winter roses, they are so simple and yet so beautiful and they literally scream Christmas.

I feel that it can be really challenging to create a Christmassy atmosphere in your apartment (or house) when you don't want to overdo it with the knickknack. It's easy to feel like you're living at the North Pole when every inch gets plastered with deco stuff. It's not so easy, however, if you want to decorate selectively. Don't get me wrong, I would love to clutter up my whole space with Christmas decor, but unfortunately I neither have the time nor the money to do so. Instead, I want to keep it simple. But I still want to feel the Christmas sparkle when I look around in my apartment. (That's why I think that a red star light for my living room window will be essential, and I saw one at the local Christmas market that I am going to buy within the next days. Furthermore, I created my own little Christmas tree with tree branches, but I will show pictures of that another time.)

The one place that needed to be decorated the most is my kitchen table, because  - with the exception of my bed and my desk ( which would be difficult to decorate) - it's the place where I spend most of my time here. But, as it's only a small table, I don't like to put stuff in the center. It just looks wrong and takes away my space. So I decided to use only one corner. 

The decoration itself is simple but it suits my personal taste very well. Red candles and little gnomes - like my favourite Tomte Tumtetot in the card - is basically all I need for Christmas. Throw in a winter rose and some candy and I am perfectly happy :).