Happy World Nutella Day 2010: Nutella Olive Oil Cupcakes

It's World Nutella Day everyone!! It's been declared by Bleeding Espresso and Ms Adventures In Italy that February 5th is the day we celebrate Nutella! It is also the Italian's sisters birthday so Auguroni L!! Here is my contribution to World Nutella Day:

Nutella Olive Oil Cupcakes

Makes 12

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl, mix well and set aside.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the egg, yolk and sugar until thickened and lightened to a cream color, about 2 minutes. On low speed, mix in the oil and vanilla until blended. Mix in the sour cream and Nutella well. Mix in the dry ingredients until incorporated well and the batter is smooth. Fill paper cupcake cups in the tin 3/4 full. Bake 20 minutes, or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool before putting on the icing.





Nutella Icing:

1 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup creamy Nutella
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon Madagascar vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup whipping cream
toasted hazelnuts for garnish

In a large bowl combine the confectioners sugar, Nutella, butter, vanilla, and salt with an electric mixer on a medium-low speed until creamy. Add the whipping cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

And this is the result!



Check out www.nutelladay.com

How will you celebrate?

A Change of Plans

I've really been neglecting my blog. It's not on purpose, really. I've been working a lot of overtime and by the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is stare at a computer screen. Usually afterwork I play tennis or go to the gym, so by the time I make dinner and sit down, I'm pretty much spent. I don't even have kids yet! That's going to be interesting! I don't know how you Mamma's do it. Kudos to you!

The Italian and I have been talking about his coming to Portland and his plans were to come here with plenty of money since it will be 4 or 5 months before he can even apply for work. Unfortunately, he is the latest victim of this global economic crisis and has not been paid by the University since September of last year. I don't understand how they expect people to survive! He won't leave until they pay him otherwise he'll never see that money. He even took a second job just to keep himself afloat but even that has been hard because it is a commission based job. I'm pretty bummed out because usually around this time of year I am preparing for his arrival. Not this year. Long distance relationships really aren't for the faint of heart. I like to see the glass as half-full so I am just seeing this as another bump in the road. Fortunately, I have some job security so we decided that I would go there for Christmas and New Year. This way I could meet his family. The last time I was there we had just met and he is pretty traditional in that he doesn't bring anyone home unless he intends to marry them. So, I will be the first woman he takes to meet his family. I have to admit that this is a little strange for me, having been raised in the states. It used to be that way in Mexico, but those are things of the past. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. According to the Italian, southern Italian mothers really scrutinize their sons choice for a wife. Maybe the fact that there is a language barrier will work in my favor!! I would like to learn some of her recipes and I am sure she wants me to keep her son well fed, so I think this may be a way to bond if we can understand each other. I'm thinking I might take some Mexican ingredients and show her a few of my dishes. I doubt there are any good Mexican restaurants in Milano.

If any of you out there have some tips for me, please, I need all the advice I can get!! I think I am more worried about saying the wrong thing and offending someone. I am going to be there from December 23 thru January 8th so I hope to learn as much cooking as I can while I am there. I am soooo looking forward to all the wonderful dishes the Italian's mom makes for Christmas. He has described them to me over the phone and I am left salivating everytime. She makes capitoni but he doesn't like it. I like fish, so I think I might like it. I hope these next 5 months fly by because I am so anxious to see him. At that point it will be a year and a half that we haven't seen each other. Too long! I am hoping that once I come back he will follow me here shortly thereafter. My first Christmas in Italy!! I am soooo excited!! I better lose a few extra pounds in preparation because if it's anything like the culinary extravaganza that goes on in Mexico for the holiday season, I'm bound to pack a few pounds on!

I have more to write about the situation at work, but I'll save that for another day. I hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer.

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It's not really a holiday because we don't get the day off and nothing closes, but it's fall and the beginning of the holiday season and I love it!! I have already admitted my addiction to Mellowcreme Pumpkins, because you know, it's all about the candy! But I also love the costumes that people come up with. I have many great memories of Halloween. I remember going trick or treating in San Marino and South Pasadena, some pretty affluent neighborhoods of L.A. (well, at least the closest ones to my neighborhood) Some of these people would actually put out a bowl of money and we would reach our little hands in and grab as much as we possibly could. At one of my former employers, on Halloween we had a contest. Each department was given the task of coming up with a theme. Well, I jumped at the opportunity and orchestrated the whole thing. I turned our department into Skid Row. There was trash everywhere, newpapers, cans. Even plastic rats and little houses made of cardboard with graffiti. It was great! Everybody dressed like bums. I blacked-out a couple of my teeth, ratted out my hair, put make-up on my face to make it look dirty. I even had a plastic booger. Ew! Then I had to take a little something from Eddie Murphy in Trading Places and rolled myself around the office on a crate with wheels. It was pretty hilarious. I'm proud to say that we won first place! Second and third place were the 70's and the jungle.



So in honor of my favorite pagan holiday, I'm going to post some funny costumes. First is a costume designed by some medical professionals, who almost always have a sick sense of humor. I couldn't help but laugh the first time I saw this:



Next we have the dirty old man, retired Hooter girl costume:



And how about a little Magnum P.I.



This next costume had me in stitches. I dressed as Wonder Woman when I was a little girl. Lynda Carter was my idol. I even had the Wonder Woman Underoos! Remember those?



Well, I hope I didn't look like this when I wore them!



And for the cutest/funniest costume, a character from a movie that I found funny, although the Italian didn't particularly like it, we have little Nacho Libre. Isn't he soooo cute!!







I'd say it's a pretty good rendition, don't you think??



One more cute one that I just couldn't resist posting. Isn't that just the cutest little lobster you've ever seen??!!



Where ever you are in the world, whether you celebrate Halloween or not, I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend. Now go have some candy, guilt free!

El Grito 16 de Septiembre

Last year I wrote about the Mexican Independence Day celebration in Portland here and this year was much of the same, except that this year it was held on Monday the 15th, instead of on the 16th. Boh, wait, that's Italian. In Spanish we would say, "Sepa la bola". Good food, good margarita's, good music, good entertainment, good networking going on, and I had a really good time with my friends.



We have the same colors as Italy, except the Mexican flag has that really cool eagle with the serpent in it's mouth. Viva El Tricolor!!



J was super extra happy to wait in line for her margarita! Ahoooaahhh!!



The obligatory photo with the Mariachi's. I have always been the whitest Mexican on the block. In elementary school my nickname was Casper



J and I reminisced about our days as Ballet Folklorico dancers. Ah, those were the days where we had not a care in the world. All we had to do was dance, go to school and play. How times have changed.



This part made me feel like I was in Mexico, except for the Nordstrom in the background.



And last but certainly not least, my friends, the Spain's. Isn't their baby so cute!! She was bopping and dancing along to the Mariachi's. It's in her blood.

Rosca de Reyes

Tonight I was invited to my friends Javier and Belinda's house for "Rosca de Reyes". This is a Mexican tradition for Epiphany.

The Rosca de Reyes, "kings ring" is a crown-shaped sweet bread decorated with pieces of candied orange and lime resembling the jewels of a crown. It is often filled with nuts, figs, and cherries. Into this bread is baked 6 small plastic dolls symbolizing a secure place away from Herod´s army where the infant child could be born. As each piece is cut with a knife, symbolizing the danger in which the Baby Jesus was in, everyone carefully checks their slice, hopping they didn't get the figurine as they will need to host (I found 2 in my piece!), Candelaria or Candle mass day. This day, February 2, is exactly, 40 days after Christmas when the Virgin Mary was purified. The nativity scene is put away and the baby Jesus, in the form of a porcelain doll, is clothed in his christening gown and presented in church.

Traditionally in Mexico, Three Kings Day was the gift-giving time, rather than Christmas day. In some rural regions of Mexico it is customary for children to leave their shoes out on the night of January 5, often filling them with hay for the camels, in hopes that the Three Kings would be generous. Mexican children would awake on January 6 to find their shoes filled with toys and gifts. Today many will write a letter to the kings (or choose one king as their favorite) asking for their special gifts and will leave the letter on the eve of Three Kings Day in an old shoe, under a bed.

What are your traditions?