Xkunvat

Xkunvat knot

It all started with a project...and a book.


The project: a presentation for my Maltese Culture class about our ideas on modifying a traditional recipe.

The book: The way we ate a wonderful book about traditional Maltese recipes by Matty Cremona.

Inside this lovely and insightful book, I met a recipe I had never seen before. Xkunvat - a traditional, festive pastry which was prepared for carnival and the 'quccija'  (a baby's first birthday party). It is actually a pastry, prepared with Anisette liquer and deep fried... then drizzled with honey and sprinkled with hundreds & thousands.

Xkunvat pillows

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Eggs Florentine

I know! It’s been ages and ages and ages! But I’ve been busy with school and trying out recipes. It's going really well at school. Learning soooo much, and I'm gaining more confidence in the kitchen... paying more attention to the end presentation. It's great!! All I had hoped for.
I often post pictures on facebook about whatever I’ve been cooking, and I often get asked for recipes. I sometimes send a link, but more often than not, I’ve modified the recipe… or taken bits from here and there, so it’s not that easy. So here is my first try at providing a recipe, taken from here and there, with my modifications and all.

Now this recipe… it’s not quick... if you want to do everything from scratch. But there are alternatives… shortcuts, a quicker way of doing it. Let’s take the Mornay sauce part below: skip making the Bechamel sauce yourself and use a store bought packet, add an egg and some cheese, and voila! Don’t have fresh spinach? Frozen spinach is a great substitute. Still… here’s the full recipe below, split into the various parts required for this recipe, with shortcuts thrown in when possible.
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My First Ever Market Stall - Patches!

It's today! It's today!! I am sooo excited, I can't wait!! Everything is ready... 80 Brownies, 60 Cookies, 80 Biscotti and 31 cards, to be exact. Hope I will manage to sell some stuff at least :)

Pictures of the stall will follow soon... YEAY!

Patches Market Event ◦

Going to school & some Biscotti

Oooh! What fun! What excitement! I had my first 2 days at school this week. Granted, they were just 2 half days of induction talks, but still... a preview of the good things to come.

My favourite part was the talk about which knives we need and information about the various knife makers. I was really looking forward to buying the knives, but I have to admit... deciding on what to buy, is terrible confusing! Japanese? German? French? Trying to get a clearer idea by reading some articles. Cutting Remarks by Travis Neighbor Ward  has been a good start.

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A fresh start... and lots of hard work :)

After 2 years and a few months in Dublin, we've decided it was time to go back home! We were missing the little ones too much, and they grow up sooooooo fast!!

This last month back on the rock (Malta) has been spent catching up with family and friends, planning our appartment's refurbishment and loads and loads of baking, because (apparently) my sweet treats have been missed more then I have!!!!

 I can't say I'm sorry though. I have been enjoying every minute of it, except the heat of the maltese summer. Maybe we should have came back in winter, where it would have been raining even more then in Dublin :)
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