Week-end cocktail: Strawberry margarita!

WP_20160804_20_02_14_Rich_LI (3)

Ingredients for 2

…or for one it’s also just fine if you are on your own!

  • 2 cups strawberries (2.5 if you like your margarita a bit thicker)
  • 1 cup crushed ice
  • 1/4 cup tequila (don’t be cheap on the margarita!)
  • 1/4 cup fresh lime or lemon juice
  • 1/8 cup sugar
  • 1.5 tablespoons Cointreau

Just put everything in a blender for a min and serve in a chilled glass.

Bugnes Lyonnaises !

Bugnes

I m playing lazy today without translating this recipe. But if I have a food childhood memory to pick, that would be me eating a entire bowl of these on my own.

You cannot prepare too many!

Ingrédients

Pour environ 30 beignets

·         250g de farine T45

·         40g de sucre en poudre

·         80g de beurre

·         2 œufs

·         2 c à s de lait

·         10g de levure fraîche de boulanger

·         1 c à s d’eau de fleur d’oranger

·         1 c à c de rhum ambré

·         1 pincée de sel

Cuisson et décoration

·         1 l d’huile de tournesol

·         Sucre glace

 

Préparation

Étape 1

La pâte : Coupez le beurre en morceaux dans un bol puis passez-le quelques secondes au micro-ondes afin de le ramollir légèrement. Diluez la levure dans le lait.

 

Étape 2

Mélangez la farine, le sucre et le sel dans un saladier. Formez un puits, ajoutez le beurre, les œufs, l’eau de fleur d’oranger, le rhum et la levure puis pétrissez à la main jusqu’à l’obtention d’une pâte homogène.

 

Étape 3

Couvrez votre pâte d’un linge propre puis laissez-la reposer environ 2 heures à température ambiante. Placez-la ensuite 30 minutes au réfrigérateur afin de la refroidir un peu.

 

Étape 4

Le façonnage, la cuisson et la finition : retirez la pâte du réfrigérateur, farinez votre plan de travail puis abaissez-la sur environ 5 mm. Découpez des losanges de 2,5 x 9 cm avec une roulette cannelée puis incisez-les au centre sur environ 2 cm. Attrapez une extrémité puis passez-la dans la fente.

 

Étape 5

Faites chauffer l’huile à 175°C dans une grande casserole ou dans une friteuse, plongez-y les beignets puis laissez-les cuire quelques minutes de chaque côté jusqu’à ce qu’ils soient légèrement dorés. Égouttez-les bien, déposez-les sur du papier absorbant puis laissez-les refroidir. Saupoudrez généreusement vos bugnes de sucre glace avant de servir.

 

Etiquette rules in airplane cabins

A letter to airline companies.

I travel 3-4 times per year internationally, especially between US and Europe.

Aside from the comfort of the seat, what I value the most is to be able to enjoy a relative quietness in order to pack a few hours of sleep or at least rest.

Screens at each seat have dramatically increased the peacefulness of the main cabin as children are busy watching the latest Disney’s (I have two children who have travelled many times across the Atlantic. I know how tricky it can be. I am not here to blame parents).

But despite the screens, it turns out it remains difficult to enjoy quietness because there is a minority of adults who have limited social awareness. They kick in seats, speak and speak and speak… loud enough that you know their life several rows away.

This would be my suggestion:

               Along with the security video, please add a courtesy one similar to what you can see in movie theaters. They are hundreds ways to make it funny. I mentioned seat kicking and loud voices, but I am sure you can come-up with a complete flying-etiquette (such as keeping the blinds closed!). A little reference page in the backseat pockets could also be nice.

 I believe that over time passengers will become more aware of people around them and respect simple etiquette rules.

 Thanks in advance for considering this suggestion,

Fabrice Frachon

PS: Don’t be cheap on the ear-plugs you provide (when you provide some). The ones I have used so far in several airlines are a waste of money.

Not your average sugar cookie

WP_20160221_14_36_22_ProI have this very fond childhood memory of seeing these “biscuits a la confiture” every time I would go to a “patisserie”. They are basically sugar cookies, but the addition of jam, their two layers and how fragile they are to eat make them absolutely delicious. I had never tried to make these myself until next week.

You usually find these cookies in a circle shape. I settled on making squares. It’s much faster to prepare as there is not as much “lost” dough that you have to keep reincorporating.

Enough said, let’s get started!

Ingredients for 20-30 cookies:

  1. 8 ounces of unsalted butter
  2. 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar for the dough
  3. Pinch of salt
  4. Two teaspoons of vanilla extract
  5. Two and 2/3 cups of flour
  6. 1 cup of your favorite jam

Tools:

  • Parchment paper to spread the dough
  • Parchment paper to bake the cookies on
  • Borrow some playdough tools from your children to make the squares and the circles in the dough.

Steps:

  1. Dough making
    1. Bring the butter at room temperature (optional)
    2. Cut the butter in small cubes
    3. Pre-heat the oven to 375
    4. Mix the butter, confectioner’s sugar, salt and vanilla extract
    5. Add the flour and mix for a few minutes. It will result in a fairly thick but still malleable dough.
  2. Dough shaping
    1. Split the dough in 2 or 3 batches to work on it in next steps
    2. Playdough time!
    3. Place a batch of the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and spread it until it’s about 1/8 of an inch thick
    4. It’s time to use your child(ren) playdough tools if you have some.
      Cut the dough in squares and for every other square make a nice little circle in the middle (I made mines quite big for more jam!)
    5. Re-incorporate the circles of dough your cut into the next batch
  3. Baking
    1. Place the cookies on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper
    2. Bake for about 12 min, depending their thickness (I would recommend to undercook a bit in your first try)
    3. Take out of the oven and let cool-down
  4. Sprinkle with confectioner sugar all the cookie pieces with the hole
  5. Jam filling
    1. Heat the jam in a saucepan at low heat
      Add a table of spoon of water if necessary
    2. Stir on regular basis for 3-5 minutes, or until you feel the consistence will be just right to lay in between the 2 layers of the cookie
    3. Use about one tablespoon of jam for each bottom cookie
    4. Place the upper layer cookie

The cookies can be easily kept for 2-3 days in a dry place, but I doubt they will last that long.

Enjoy !

 

10 tips for Windows Mobile 10

1. Customize the quick access buttons in your notification center

Windows Mobile 10 includes many improvements to its notification center. In particular, it’s the home to an extended set of Quick actions buttons.

If there is an action you use often and don’t want to have to expand the notification center every time, you can place it at the bottom. That’s the way I added the Connect quick action button below.

Steps:

  1. Open All settings
  2. Search for Notifications & actions
  3. Tap on one of the existing Quick actions button and replace it with your favorite!
Notification Center Quick Actions

Continue reading →

Last min cake for Christmas!

WP_20151223_19_02_18_Rich (2)Need a last min cake idea?

We all need a last min cake with not too fancy ingredients. Here is a two layers sponge cake that will please all the crowds!

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons of butter
  • ½ cup 2% milk
  • 1 ½ cup flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3 eggs at room temperature
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Confectioner sugar
  • Nutella and/or Jam of your choice

Tools

  • Two 9 inch round cake pans One will be used for each layer you are building
  • Electric mixer
  • Parchment paper (optional) You lay it at the bottom of the cake pans

Directions

  1. Pre-heat oven at 375F
  2. Melt butter with milk in a saucepan at low heat. Keep it aside for next steps.
  3. Wisk in electric mixer (medium speed)
  4. Eggs until they are broken
  5. Add sugar slowly
  6. Add baking powder
  7. Add flour slowly
  8. Add salt
  9. Add vanilla
  10. Wisk on high speed for 3-5 min
  11. Wisk in the butter-milk mixture at low speed
  12. Split the dough equally between the two cake pans
  13. Place in oven 20 to 30 min until golden
  14. Remove from oven and let cool for a couple of minutes
  15. On one layer of each baked cake add Nutella or Jam (I do half-half to please children and adults!)
  16. Place each layer on each other
  17. Powder with confection sugar and c’est fini !