Cranberry clafoutis and first school day

When I was at school I used to feel very nervous after summer holidays, before the first school day. Why? Actually, I don’t know))
It seemed to be nothing out of the way, the same school, the same teachers, the same classmates. Everything was as usual.
But the last day of summer holidays always made me nervous. All the day I could not find any peace and in the evening could not just fall asleep.






























A long time has passed, I graduated from school and now autumn does not mean the end of holidays anymore!
But this year I felt a little bit nervous at the end of summer again. Do you know why? My niece was going to school this year!

I felt restless all the evening: I checked my camera, my SD card, I wondered if I should take one lens or another one and tried to guess when I would return to work.
After all I got tired of all that stuff and went to kitchen.

"I need to cook something", - I thought.

Cooking always calms me.
Few days ago I bought some buckwheat flour and felt like trying to make clafoutis with it. So I took some buckwheat flour, cornstarch, grounded walnuts, cranberries and some cardamom – it goes well with walnuts and with cranberry – as it turned out.
Well, it was pure improvisation but I liked it very much!







































What about first school day –everything was just wonderful! Everybody was joyful and happy – even my niece, who had to spent some hours at school;)


Buckwheat flour, walnut and cranberry clafoutis






























for 4-6 serves:

butter, for the ramekins
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup grounded walnuts
1 tsp cornstarch
3 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
4-5 cardamom beans, seeds scraped out and crushed
4/5 cup cranberries

1. Preheat the oven at 350 F. Butter 4 or 6 ramekins and set aside.
2. In a bowl combine buckwheat flour with cornstarch, sugar, walnuts and cardamom.
3. Add eggs one by one and mix well mix.
4. Add the milk and the cranberry, mix until just homogeneous.
5. Divide the batter between the ramekins. Drop some more cranberries in each ramekin.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve clafoutis lukewarm.

Fig day

I’m looking at the gray clouds gathering over the sky and can’t belive that on Saturday it was still real summer! Bright sun light, blue sky…

But stop. I’ll tell you about that step by step.
Saturday morning my mum and I were on our way to the farmer’s market.

- I wonder, when will figs appear? I’d love to buy some!
- Well, I guess I saw some not long ago.
- Really? –I closed the car door and we passed to the market.

Indeed. We saw them at the first counter. Tidy small baskets full of irregular shaped violet fruits.
I felt in love with them immediately! How much will I buy? Dozen? Two?
I don’t even know why I love figs so much but I’m really crazy about it!
Soft velvet rind, colorful pulp, incredible smell… Well, I guess if you had tasted them once you surely felt in love with them too!



“What will I make with them?”

I took the little basket and was going to put it into the fridge. While I was thinking, my hand took one fig herself – and I felt the pure taste of fig in my mouth.
A little bit later, when my husband Y. came home I realized that it’s almost dinner time. But we were not really hungry – because of the hot weather. Suddenly I remembered about the figs – wonderful! We’ll have alight summer dinner!
Fresh figs, flavoured honey, some cheese and some boiled eggs – for Y., to make his dinner a little more nourishing. Y. ate eggs and a cheese sandwich while I was preparing a dessert –yoghurt with some honey and figs.
The dessert excited our appetite and we decided to eat some cheese dipping it in honey.



Well, after such a dinner it will be quite good to go for a walk.
We took our cats and went to the forest.
In autumn the sun set down quite early so the forest was full of strange shadows and rays of light were beautifully illuminating the leaves.
Our cats were smelling the grass watchfully but then grow bolder and began to explore the nature. While me and Y. just enjoyed the last summer days.




Fig, yoghurt and honey dessert



2 serves:
250 ml plain yoghurt
2 tsp clear honey
2-3 figs

Cut figs into 8 pieces, put in a glass add yoghurt and honey.

Of cause, the recipe is quite simple but Y. and me really enjoyed it!