Twinkle Cakes

Life has changed since a week ago here, in a better way 😊.

Christopher Roman Arjuna Smal has filled in the gap in our heart and we are so in love with this little one 💙💙💙💙

A one fine birthday cake ❤️. It's been a while since I baked such cakes. Glad I still can do it, though it's a bit rusty on the side!

Sunday's brunch with friends and kids 😋😋. We are stuffed with fresh homemade pancakes, vegetarian sausage rolls, fruits and veggies platter, homemade cookies and many more.

Happy birthday Ibu! If you were still here, you would have enjoyed a piece of blackforest cake, your only favorite! I still remember when we only ate this cake once a year on your birthday, because back then, this cake cost us a fortune! I wish I could bake for you now mom.

Merry Orthodox Christmas!
To continue my husband's tradition, today we celebrated the orthodox Christmas eve with 12 traditional dishes. We invited our neighbors to experience this cultural and religious event. In the end everyone was happy with the full tummy, including our little boy!

Happy new year 2020. Thank you for all your continuous support. Without you, I'm nothing.

Let's enter the new year with wiser menu choices. This time we served Apple pie with less sugar, vegetarian Olivye salad, vegetarian piggy in a blanket, risotto with various vegetables, and some other extra snacks.

I hope you had a blast and I wish you a wonderful year full with joy and happiness. Let's have fun!

@ Rotterdam, Netherlands

To all our lovely friends and followers, we wish you a wonderful Christmas! Have a great time with your loved ones. Let's celebrate togetherness with a heart full of warmth and happiness. Merry Christmas! 🎄🤶🎅😍🎉♥️⛄☃️

That's it! The last potluck this year. Today we celebrated togetherness with good breakfast at the preschool of Oliver. We brought our old time favorite, the buckwheat croquet! Easy to make, and they stay good for couple of days. Really handy if you want to make big batch in advance!

I got the recipe from , I really love the way she cooks and bakes! From all of the ukrainian food bloggers, I found her the most outstanding. 😍.

Happy holidays!!!

@ Rotterdam, Netherlands

Call it pre Christmas dinner, annual dinner, whatever it is, we call it a happy time with friends. A quick view of our homemade dinner last weekend. We made grilled chicken, vegetables with honey and clementine glaze, potatoes seasoned with dill, fries for the kiddos, and other antipasti 😋. We had fun and the kids enjoyed to the max.

@ Rotterdam, Netherlands

Another this week. This one is also one of our favorites. We often make this one, and it's definitely and .

Olivye salad (potatoes salad) can be made in so many different ways. For my husband, this is one of his festive meals. This salad is usually served on a special occasion, including Christmas and new year. We like to make the vegetarian version. if you want to try one, you will need :

- A few of potatoes (I usually use roughly 5-6 potatoes, depends on the portions you want to make)
- A few of carrots
- 3-4 eggs
- green peas
- pickles
- spring onions
- Dill
- Mayonaise
- (vegetarian) sausage, if you prefer
- Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes, carrots and eggs. Let it cool.

Cut them into small cubes. Add the peas, chopped pickles, spring onions and sausage if you use.

Mix them together, we usually like to mix in a big pot, by shaking carefully the pot with the lid closed.

Add dill, mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste, mix them once again. And then you have Olivye salad.

If you want to make big batches for a few days, it's better to add the mayonnaise before serving.

Enjoy! Приятного аппетита :)



@ Rotterdam, Netherlands

It's that time of the year again, potluck here, potluck there! Everyone wants to gather as the year almost ends. It's so nice but sometimes preparing a homemade treat can be tricky, especially when you are busy with many other things. This is one of my to-go desserts. It's quick, it never fails, and people always love it. These brownies are just the right one. If you want to make your own, then you will need these :

300 gr good dark chocolate
175 gr unsalted butter
150 gr castor sugar
5 eggs
200 gr flour
25 gr cacao

Melt the chocolate and butter together au Bain Marie, add sugar, stir until everything dissolves. Add the eggs one by one, add flour and the cacao. Mix everything together with the wooden spoon.

Pour into the lined baking plate, put in the preheated oven 200 degrees celcius for 12-15 minutes. Stick a wooden stick to check, the brownies are ready when you get a little bit of batter on your stick. It should not be baked till dry because then you will get a dry brownies 😉

Have fun baking!

Mix it all fried rice! That's what I usually say to my husband when he asks "what's for dinner?" when I have barely ingredients in the fridge. Today was that kind of the day. The fridge was almost empty. The only thing I could find was a few of spring onions, tomatoes, 1 piece of carrot, and bell pepper. When I don't know what to do with them, I usually just mix everything into one pan dish. Besides, there is no one perfect fried rice recipe. Each home makes it differently. As long as it's yummy, everything can go in there 😋.

What's your favorite "crisis home meal"?