Best Blog Award

Dear friends of the HsB, I am so proud to tell you that I got appointed the Best Blog Award! For it I must thank Anja from Meine Torteria. I am so so so so so SO happy, thank you!!!

How does it work? The nominated blog - me - writes a post presenting the award - tada! - and the nominating blog - the lovely Meine Torteria -. Then the nominated blog - me - has to answer the 11 questions and nominate other 20 blogs with less than 200 followers. That´s all!

Here are the Q&As:

1. How do you prefer your meal to be: hefty dishes or dessert? What an obvious answer... dessert !!!

2. What is most important to you in another person: the looks or the personality? The personality of course, because beauty fades with time. But I would be hypocrite if I said that I do not appreciate a good looking person ;)

3. When did you start your blog? 11/10/2011

4. Who has inspired you till now to start something new? My friends Teresa, Michi, Romina, Nils, Anna, Sarah, my boyfriend Giovanni, my mom, and my brothers.

5. Do you follow many blogs? Yes! But only the ones I really like or the ones where I can see that someone really puts all his/hers efforts.

6. Do you prefer cooking or being the guest? Both actually.

7. Which book are you reading right now? Harry Potter 5 from J.K. Rowling, Il Gattopardo from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, and Life, the Universe, and Everything from Douglas Adams.

8. Which piece of clothing has survived the most in your closet? A pair of Winnie the Pooh underwear I received from my friend Emily when we were in junior high, so about 10 years ago!

9. Which is your favourite dish? Italian focaccia alle olive.

10. Which characteristics in a friendship are important to you? Respect, honesty, the ability to listen and to never ask, but to be patient, and of course the laughter.

11. Which is your favourite movie? I love a theatre script which has been turned into a movie in more parts titled Il Giornalino di Gianburrasca. It´s an old production in black and white with Rita Pavone, an actress and singer I really like. I also like the James Bond series, and the movies with Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe.

Who am I nominating?

100 Minuten bei 160 Grad

Aleglodomorek

Apfelstrudelkuchen

Assaggiarte

Azucar y Canela

Backe, backe, Kuchen

Cake Project

Coccole di Dolcezza

Cup and Cake

Delicious Inspiration

Everyday Flavours

Fabulous Life of a Vegan

Liebe geht durch den Magen

Nicole Marie

Pane Dolce e Cioccolato

Paris Breakfast

So Domesticated

Save my Whallet

Sunday Bake

Vivi in Cucina

Enjoy ♥

Martina

Pistachio dessert variation

The weekend is approaching and so is Easter! Finally I can start bringing colour into the house and... onto the dining table!!! So which better ingredient then pistachio? Green, delicious, versatile, and Sicilian. So here are some tasty ideas for you (I have tried them all already):

To start with here are some pistachio cupcakes with buttercream icing. An easy combination of vanilla cupcakes dough with some pistachio grenadine inside and outside. Crunchy and creamy all at once.

And now pistachio-vanilla pudding with Sicilian "pasta di pistacchio" and pistachio cream. "Pasta di pistacchio" is basically  nothing other than pistachio marzipan and is typically Sicilian.

Third on my list is this lovely pistachio sponge cake with sugar glaze, shortbread bunnies, and candied roses and violets. This cake is not from me, but from the very talented Annalisa, whose cakes and sweets I adore (I will soon write a post about her baking).

Last but not least this amazing pistachio cake with pistachio cream filling and pistachio grenadine. Pistachio cream is soooo good! It is like Nutella but green. To make it yourself is very expensive, so I suggest you buy it; take a look here.

I like baking with pistachios, they are a wonderful (also expensive) ingredient, and I am "jealous" of these recipes, but if I did inspire you and you would like to have the ingredients and steps for the preparation one of these desserts just leave a comment and I will post! Promise!

Enjoy ♥

Martina

Banachoc muffins

Hey all! Did you have a nice weekend? A nice, intense, and sunny weekend? I did!

And to fill my belly... banana and chocolate muffins! For the dough simply follow this recipe with half the ingredients. Well of course you can use the same amounts if you plan on making many many many muffins, but remember that bananas have to be eaten within a couple of days. For the icing I smashed one banana and mixed it with icing sugar, a spoon of butter, and cocoa powder. And there you are: a very easy recipe which doesn´t look to pretentious but tastes delightful. By the way the way the cases I used are from the Spanish brand Lekue, they are made of silicon, can go in the oven, can be washed in the dishwasher, plus they are really cute, and useful. 

Enjoy ♥

Martina