Obscure Journey

Blogmas In January? - days 17 through 24

Publié le 31 Janvier 2022 par Charly C.

Catégories : #blogmas, #blogmas 21, #adventures, #customs, #traditions

Hello all.

I thought I should finally end the Blogmas 2021 "saga," thing. Let's go!

Day 17

On this day we had the chance to win another premium account, by participating in the contest on Facebook.

Since I already won, I didn't participate again, even though I want and need one for my review site. But don't worry, there's still time in the future. And at the time i didn't have a good use for it. And others also want and need it, maybe more than me.

Day 18

On this day, we were supposed to complete our Christmas gifts. I'm going to half-ass the description for this day. I can't really remember what i already said about the gifts i prepared.

We did find this pig statue with a feather collar. We bought it for Anna's mom. She loved it!

Anna received mostly items decorated with a pink flamingo or red birds. But this piglet statue is fabulous and i can't say anything anymore. :)

Day 19

For this day, we were supposed to have a positive attitude the whole day.

What can i say? since i started taking my antidepressants, having a more positive attitude or mindset is far more easy than before.

However, i don't think on this particular day my attitude was too positive. It's silly and ridiculous to think people can have a certain state of mind on command. Actors might be able to pull it off, as this is their job.

Day 20

On this day, we were supposed to wear or showcase a Christmas sweater. The platform also offered a 50% sale for its premium account option.

We don't have Christmas sweaters, but we have many pairs of seasonal socks. Mostly received as Christmas gifts. You can see one of these pairs in this entry.

We still have and use it, along with any other we will still receive in the future.

Day 21

On this day, we were supposed to talk about cooking for the holidays. I feel this topic is redundant at this point. I feel as if we already talked about holiday foods twice already.

One of the stuff to be cooked on this day is the cozonac. We actually ordered ours this year. We also ordered one of the next beauties for Anna's parents.

Apparently, it was delicious! The place where we ordered it from usually sells ice cream and it's super popular in summer.

Day 22

On this day, we had another chance to win a premium account. No more comments here.

Day 23

On this day, we had to make the life of another better, by donating stuff we don't need anymore.

I'm actually a member of a local free-cycle group on Facebook. We donate there various items quite often. We also took many things others had no more use of. It saves us quite a bit of money, and people scratch one another's back rather often.

The variety or value of the items being donated is rather high at times.

Day 24

On the last day of Blogmas, we had to share good resolutions. And I'm not sure what this means.

This means i don't have much to say to begin with. And the result is that i finally finished last month's daily challenge set by my platform, Over-Blog.

I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year's Eve. :)

I think the next entry will be in the first 7 days of February. Until then, check out my site with reviews. At its current URL, the posts appear twice per week, on Mondays and Thursdays!

Until next time!

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Learning about your tools

Publié le 29 Janvier 2022 par Charly C.

Catégories : #Cooking, #cooking tools, #haul, #life lesson, #tips

Hello everyone!

Back in 2015, i wrote a blog entry about knowing your tools. That blog entry was related to cooking tools and i used a picture of the knives I had at the time.

I will repost it along with an image or 2 with my current selection of knives. I wrote a blog post where i gave some tips to someone who just starts to sew. The blog entry i will repost here

We all know we need some sort of tools to be able to cook. One of the chefs' most important tools are his knives. Clearly, nobody can prepare food without a knife. And owning a good knife is also important.

[current thoughts? WOW, wai deep, LMFAO, but, ok, past me, carry on!]

cooking tools knives — My knives in 2015

I wonder how many of us use all of the knives they own when they cook, or when they eat? If you're not a chef or a butcher, you probably have a couple that you use every single day. You probably use the sharpest of them daily - I know I do.

Speaking of which, which knife do you think is sharpest here? Well, the one in the middle is - the flowery one. That's a santoku knife with a ceramic blade. I recently bought it and ever since then I'm wondering why did I wait for so long to buy one.

The santoku knife is a Japanese all-purpose knife. Japanese and Western knives are meant to be used in a different way, especially when butchering. When slicing, you probably use your knife as if it was a saw, going back and forth with the blade. If you ever buy a Japanese knife, NEVER try do to this.

Instead, place the blade on top of whatever you want to cut, and press down. Alternatively, place whatever end of the blade on the meat/ fruit/ vegetable, press and slide the blade through until you reach the other end of the blade and the cutting board, all in a single move! It's really that easy!

The black knife and the little knife to the left of my santoku, are the next sharpest knives I own. I use the little one for carving and peeling. I like to cut cheese with the black pointy one. It can cut really fresh bread much nicer than the bread knife - the large serrated one [the one looking like a saw].

The knife with a long blade and wrapped in the tape is one of the least sharp knives.. along with the butter knife {the blunt one with a light blue handle]. Kind of sad thinking that's supposed to be a chef's knife. The knife with a transparent handle cuts relatively good and I use it constantly for various tasks.

The knife I use the least is the one made entirely of steel. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with it. Its blade is serrated on one of its side. I occasionally cut cheese with it. The knife with a red handle a wavy blade, on the extreme right is the one I use to make "curly" french fries and potato chips. I also use it to slice cheese and cucumbers. It's used like the santoku: press down on the food item you want to cut. Makes the food look fancy for a party.

Now, that's all of the past entry. Let's bring this post in the year 2022. My current selection of knives is much smaller. At some point i realized i don't use the serrated bread knife much. I mean, we rarely buy bread that needs to be cut by hand, at home. Yes, we buy already sliced bread, or we slice it in the store, or just break from it at home.

knives kitchen and cooking tools chopping board — My current selection of knives

I'm uploading this image straight from my iPhone, and I'm not sure why is it upside-down. The knife with a brown handle is relatively new to the house, but it was used by my mother before. I was also used by someone else before that.

The flowery knife remained. Then, in the middle, i got what appears to be a cleaver, except it's not. it's very light-weight, has a sharp blade, and I believe it's an all-purpose one in China and some other East Asian countries.

The knives i use the most these days is still the flowery one along with this butcher-like knife. The one with a brown handle gets used quite often as well. Its handle and weight feel wrong in my hand, therefore i don't actually enjoy using it.

I can't remember when i last used the knife with a waved blade. You might want to know I also have some fancy-looking butter knives. I found them as a treasure back in 2019.

The 2 small knives are for cutting or peeling vegetables or something of the like, i think. The one with a black handle is sharper than the IKEA one. I use them pretty often, mostly for fruits and various vegetables. Sometimes for slicing boiled eggs.

What's even better these days, is that i can sharpen my knives whenever i feel like it. :D

I don't know if you can really tell this knife sharpener has 3 ... "slits?" each "slit" is different. The one closest to the red handle is the roughest. The middle one is medium rough, and the one furthest away is the smoothest.

I usually pass the knife through each "slit" about 10 times. This gives me a very sharp blade that can cut through anything almost like through soft butter. I don't sharpen every time i need to use the knives.

I obviously can't sharpen the waved knife. However, i can sharpen the small knives. It's been a few years since i got the small ones, and i can't recall needing to sharpen the one with a black handle. I can't say the same about the one with a red handle.

Want to learn how to sharpen a knife a home? watch this and this video!

How much do you know your knives?

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Blogmas In January? - days 12 through 16

Publié le 13 Janvier 2022 par Charly C.

Catégories : #blogmas, #adventures, #bucharest, #customs, #life experience, #traditions, #blogmas 21

Hi all!

Let's continue with Blogmas in January. Well, if you were living in Russia, you'd be celebrating Christmas in January, actually. At least there's that, i suppose.

Once again I'll batch a few days together, mostly because i failed to post it in December, as I mentioned in the previous post.

Day 12

On the 12th day, we were expected to mention or make a list of our favorite Christmas movies.

Just like with seasonal music or the wreath, I'm not a fan of such movies.

I can't remember if we watched any movie in December. I did watch Star Trek The Next Generation. And yes, I'm more of a Trekkie, and definitely not a fan of Star Wars, sorry. :( Currently, I'm watching the Deep Space Nine series.

Day 13

On this day, we once again had the opportunity to earn a premium or business paid account for our blog or site.

This time I participated and ....

I actually won!!!! YAAAAAY!!!!! I'm really happy about it! :D

Nothing more to talk about for this day.

Day 14

Today's challenge was related to the food we planned for Christmas. If you remember from last year, i may have mentioned we usually have traditional foods we eat for certain celebrations. This link may refresh your memory.

One of the dishes you can expect to see Salad a la Russe. While the recipe is the same year after year, the design will always be different. This is the recipe I use, in case you haven't seen it yet.

I made probably 3 plates and a casseroles of salad. The casserole went to Anna's parents, as her mother was sick and couldn't stand or sit for too long. As such, we offered to make the salad for them.

Blogmas In January? - days 12 through 16

These are most of the plates i decorated for this Christmas. I'm surprised to see just how clear and crisp the image and colors are. Well, If I'm not mistaken, these were taken with my new iPhone 8, so maybe this is why.

For this salad, the carrots and almost everything should be cooked or pickled, including the carrots and pieces of red bell pepper. My carrots are boiled, and the peppers are raw. The salad is better with these 2 decor pieces as pickled.

As a side note, the last image is the salad for Anna's parents.

Day 15

I don't think I have much to report for this day. The admins of the platform said today's international tea day. or something along these lines.

They asked if we prefer tea or coffee. Well, i prefer coffee, though I drink quite a bit of tea as well. If you want to know more about tea in Romania, this link can help you out.

Day 16

On this day, we're supposed to go to the Christmas market. Last year we didn't have one. This year we did something organized, but it was disappointing.

For starters, there was an entry fee, we needed proof of being vaccinated, to wear the mask, and it was MUCH smaller. Furthermore, it didn't even really have the usual stands with traditional Christmas food.

And there was also no Kurtos Kalacz, or chimney cake, either.

Here are some of the pictures I took at the event:

Actually, it seems i lost the pictures from the actual market. These stalls are an "unofficial event" taking place in the heart of the city, in Union Square.

The picture with a few chimney cakes being cooked, is from a several-year-old event happening at yet a different location.

This year, we didn't buy anything from the Christmas market nor from these vendors.

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Blogmas In January? - days 7 through 11

Publié le 13 Janvier 2022 par Charly C.

Catégories : #blogmas, #adventures, #customs, #traditions, #blogmas 21

Hello all!

Today we continue with the blogmas for 2021. As you can see, I'm a month late with this. I was very busy back in December, and i couldn't finish it on time :(

I'll try to catch up now, in January, as I'm not inspired to write about anything else.

Without further ado, here they are!

Day 7

Giving a second life our entries. Hmm, this is something I'll need to think about and possibly write a separate entry.

I guess, revisiting the entries and re-editing them to sound closer to our current writing style, yes?

I probably should do this with some. This action is good when considering re-branding. Speaking of rebranding, this entry will tell you more about some other things to consider if you want to re-brand your blog, site, or whatever.

Day 8

For the 8th day, we had to create a wreath. If you remember from 2020's blogmas, on December 15, we had to do this. Except I'm not doing that sort of thing. We don't really care about Christmas in this house, except the gifts.

Instead, I arranged some magnets in a circle. Of course i repeated what i did the year before. This year I have different magnets I found at the dumpster (next to it). I got rid of the old ones, except for 2. The little doll with blond hair is not a magnet.

magnets Dutch clogs Colorful Ladies San Francisco green house blond doll

My favorite magnets are the pink Dutch clogs, the green building, the flamenco dancer, San Francisco Colorful Ladies, and the blue door from Morocco.

Day 9

For the 9th day, we had to enter a contest for a premium account.

I didn't win because I ddin't even enter. I checked the challenge too late. The next day, late.

There's nothing more to say about this event.

Day 10

For this day we were asked to write about "zero waste." I wrote something similar in July, called "why isn't all single-use plastic banned" or something among this line. You can read it here, if you haven't seen it yet.

I do want to say that i can't see "zero waste" being possible, at least not yet. The idea is actually to reduce the amount of waste we produce daily or weekly. Additionally, we should also reduce the amount of stuff we buy, and buy only if:

we really need it
we really like it

Buying less means less waste and more money in our wallets. This is great!

Day 11

For this day, we were asked for Christmas gift ideas. We could also share what we bought to give away as gifts.

Obviously, back then, I couldn't post what i bought. But now i can. Well, everything i bought was decorated with birds. The majority of the birds i got were flamingos.

The most spectacular gift was the paper gift bag itself. This is red, with some sparkles. Then, I also got a set of 2 plates. These are also red, decorated with some flowers and birds. I think these 2 were the

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Making an American Apple Pie and Recipe

Publié le 9 Janvier 2022 par Charly C.

Catégories : #Cooking, #dessert, #baking, #food, #recipe, #sweets, #tips

Hello World~~~

Happy new year as well!

It's been a long time since I last shared a recipe with you. The last recipe i shared here is from June '21.

In fact, i haven't made this pie in a very long time. This recipe was originally posted on my cooking site/blog in 2014. That's where it all this obscure blogging journey started.

This recipe was first shared in May of 2014, but now i re-share it in mid-winter, aka January 2022.

Sure pies are best enjoyed in autumn with fresh, local fruits. However, I find it a shame not to enjoy an apple pie at any time of the year if you think the apples are affordable enough. Plus, a homemade pie is better than any other sweet, isn't it?

If you want a Romanian apple pie, you might be disappointed. I know I am, unless some relative of somebody I know makes it.

I knew the recipe for some time now, I even tried it out a few times before posting it. Why didn't I share it? To be honest, i have no idea why. my original reply was due to its square shape. This sounds very silly right now.

I'm not sure why many places sell squared apple pie slices, most likely because they bake rectangular pies. I asked my friend to take a picture of a slice of pie, so I can share "my own" picture.

I'll have to make this pie again, to take more and better pictures of it.

apple pie slice with cream on top on a white plate

Brown sugar is rather expensive here, and I didn't have it on hand. Maybe I will in the future if anyone will ever want me to cook for them and to pay me. ;) I may have altered the recipe a bit, but in my opinion, it only added to its taste.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Kg apples
150 g caster sugar
1-2 pinches salt
1-2 teaspoon(s) lemon juice
1 spoon of (all-purpose) flour
145 g (1 cup) raisins
some cinnamon
pie sheets (or crust)
1 small to medium egg

EXTRAS

any type of whipped cream
some vanilla sugar

METHOD:

Peel and remove the core from each apple. Slice them. Mix them with the raisins.

Mix the sugar, salt, flour, cinnamon, and lemon juice well. Include some vanilla sugar for more flavor.

Preheat the oven. Prepare your baking tray, however, you are used to. Place the pie sheets or crust onto the tray. Make sure you have some left to cover the top of the pie.

Pour the mixture over the apples, or the apples on top of the mixture. Make sure all slices get well coated with a sugary mixture.

Nicely place the coated fruits on top of the pie crust in the baking tray.

Beat the egg. Pour the egg on top of the pie and spread it well to cover the top using a kitchen brush. Sprinkle some sugar or some more vanilla sugar on top.

Place the pie in the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. I baked mine for some 37 minutes on really low heat. When it's done, remove it from the oven and let it chill. When it's chill enough put it in the fridge till you're ready to serve.

When you serve, decorate with some whipped cream or ice cream, maybe some cinnamon, and whatever else you think might taste good. And, of course, don't forget to slice it up as well.

NOTES:

I use a gas oven, with real fire. The fire was on its lowest, but I preheated it for a longer time than I intended.
I used whipped cream powder that I had to beat with milk. Water is also good, as it makes the cream lighter and less nauseous.
For me, many sweets and foods taste better when they're cold. The pie is one of them.

Bon Appetit!

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