Happy, happy

It doesn't take much to make me happy. Don't ask MDH though, he'll tell you otherwise hahaha. For some odd reason, he thinks I'm high maintenance.


A happy day for me is having the time to linger in our kitchen, try out some recipes while listening to our fave songs or listening to my boys' jokes and getting the big okay for the new recipes from them. And then take some food shots just like the one below.

I made these Linzer Cookies

Another happy day for me is having an unplanned trip and not have to worry about the details. Something like we did last Sunday....

We went for a quick trip to Montreal over the long weekend. It was just MDH and me. And this time, we agreed not to plan ahead the places we'd go other than our first stop which was at St Joseph's Oratory. Oftentimes, the planning thing stresses me out which I thought would be counter-productive and undermine the reason for this quick trip.

So where did we end up going? Everywhere but the places we've been to many times in our previous visits especially the "must-see" touristy spots. It's where we usually bring first-time visitors on the few occasions when we play "tour guides." We made 3 discoveries (well, not exactly our discoveries because I kind of sourced the info from here):

1. The Underground shopping - I don't know why we didn't learn about this. Apparently anyone who likes to shop for clothes and stuff knows about this place. I didn't so I guess I don't qualify in the 'anyone who likes to shop...' category. After an hour of walking inside, I wanted to get out. There was hardly any store that I wanted to linger in. But I didn't get out empty handed. I got a $9.00 scarf. Quite a bargain if you ask me.

2. Habitat 67 - I love how the units are strategically stacked on top of each other and managed to have sufficient number of windows for each unit.

One side of the building faces the St Lawrence River (where the big ships are moored). The downtown city skyline can be seen from that side as well, so overall, it's not too bad a sight for anyone on that side.

3. The sculptures in Rene Levesque Park - We didn't get to see all 22 sculptures because by the time we got there, it was already raining and it was just too wet to walk around. MDH was kind enough to hold a big umbrella so I can still take a few pictures.

4. Pâtisserie de Gascogne - We had the most delicious chocolatine (also known as pain au chocolat) and a piece of almond pastry here. We brought some pieces for MDK to sample.

5. Les Touilleurs - What can I say, it's a candy store for someone who loves kitchen gadgets. Of course, I didn't get out empty handed.

My loot: a smaller and lighter rolling pin; small loaf pans; sets of teardrop and flower cookie cutters in different sizes; candy thermometer (my old one broke when I made peanut brittle last week); dough cutter; and shortbread cutter

The following day, I took out my new cookie cutters for a spin and made some Linzer cookies. The cookies turned out pretty and tasty. And like usual, here's the recipe in case you want to try it out at home -

 Ingredients:
 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
 1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted, plus extra for dusting
 4 large egg yolks
 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
 3/4 cup ground almonds
 3 cups cake and pastry flour
 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
 1/4 teaspoon salt
 Jam
   
Directions:
1. Beat the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks and then add the lemon zest, vanilla and almond extract. Beat in the ground almonds.

2. In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder and salt and add this to the butter mixture, stirring until blended. Shape the dough into 2 discs (the dough will be soft), wrap and chill until firm, at least an hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 375 F and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

4. Knead the cookie dough a little to soften it (this will help prevent the dough from cracking when rolled). Roll out the first disc on a lightly floured surface and cut out cookies using a 2-inch teardrop or flower cutter and place these on one baking tray (the dough can be re-rolled). Roll out the second disc, cut out cookies using the same cutter, then cut a hole in the centre of each of these using a cutter a 1/2-inch smaller and place on the second tray. Repeat with any remaining dough, keeping track so you have the same number of tops and bottoms.

5. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, letting the cookies without holes remain in the oven an extra 2 minutes. Cool the cookies on the tray before filling.

6. Sift icing sugar over the cookies with the holes. Stir the jam to soften and spread a teaspoonful of it over the bottom of the base cookie. Gently press a dusted cookie on top and continue to fill the others.

Let them set for about an hour before storing in an airtight container.