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Merry Christmas DarkMatters 2019!!


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On 12/20/2019 at 10:06 AM, chattius said:

In evening we will do the Plätzchen for x-mas (x-mas cookies) and dried fruits. Want to show our au-pair what our local traditions are. Making own x-mas cookies is a must have.

Our local ones are not as colourful as in movies. Mainly because they use easily available contents from landside away from supermarkets.

Sour cream, buttermilk, flour, eggs, rough sugar and sugar mellasse, butter, honey, nuts, marmelade milk  ... But no food colour, colourful sugar pearls, chocolade, ....

 

One made with Schmand/Creme Fraiche for a small sour note and rough sugar topped to counter it.

rezeptbild-schmandplaetzchen.jpg

As colourful as it gets. But often we don't dust them with fine sugar but use egg yolk to have a nice shine.

weihnachtsplaetzchen-mit-marmelade-33313

 

 

 

These look amazing Chattius! I do not have a teensiest bit of festive charm...

I have been absent on the forum for a while. I have started a new job and moved... All in 4 weeks. We are finally settled in, have had to buy some household pieces and have unpacked all but one box. (It has blankets and duvets in, we are in summer). I got my pay out from my previous job (it was a lot more than I thought) and I splurged a bit... Le creuset, Xiaomi robot vacuum cleaner, kenwood professional chef stand mixer with 4 attachments, Catan with 2 expansions, new terrarium for Dexter( he outgrew the old one 6months ago), and my fiance got a washing machine, 2 new shelves, a new 100 bottle wine rack(that we mostly filled), our festive season has been busy... And my laptops one fan has decided to "smash" (it makes a funny sound when I switch it on, like pieces are stopping the fan while another pieces is still stuck and *rattling"(for lack of a better word).

Just wanted to let you know I am fine and alive. Just unfortunately I have been absent and had to deal with "real life problems" for a while.

Missing DarkMatters terribly much!

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Linzer Cookies

The second are called Linzer Plätzchen, Linzer Cookies. My grandgrandma was from the alpes and we use her old recipe. We use currant gelee for filling. And special cutters we have for decades in family now. But honestly, using a beer glas with a thin wanding and the cup of ball pen is enough as a form for the beginning ;)

31kQ2Q2KbBL._SL500_AC_SS350_.jpg

English recipe here. Since its an old recipe and lot of Germans living in Brasil there might be sites with a Portugese recipe.

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/linzer-cookies-recipe

Dusting the top of the cookie before or after putting together both has advantages. Dusting sugar on the top cookie before putting together you have no sugar on the gelee but you have to be careful with the fingers to not remove the sugar. I prefer more round shaped forms so I can turn the upper half to spread the gelee. Bet there are thousands of variants. Replacing some sugar with golden syrupe from sugar beets makes the cookie browner and it is not so sweet, thats what I do.

 

 

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The first was

Schmandplätzchen

A local cheap countryside recipe with easy access to Schmand, lard, sugar melasse,...

 

For around 100 pieces:

500g flour

200g butter (room temperature)

bit salt

100g sugar (or 80 and 4 spoons golden syrup from sugar beets to have browner ones)

150g Schweineschmalz (room temperature)

400g Schmand

...

Coarse sugar for decorating

Flour on table for rolling the dough

 

Mix butter, Schweineschmalz, sugar, till creamy.

Add 8 spoons of Schmand, salt and slowly the flour wile mixing.

form a ball and wrap it with plastic or linnen and cool it for some hours in the refridgerator.

Preheat oven to 180C

Dust the table with flour, roll the dough, cut forms, paint the top of the forms with the remaining Schmand and pour course sugar on the top of the cookies

bake for 10-12 minutes, depends on oven

 

Schmand, smetana is a sort of sour creme /creme fraiche. It has around 24% fat.

small_4904_M_Schmand_EP_250g_Pur_07_web-

Schweineschmalz = lard, le saindoux

reines_Schmalz.jpg

The cookie is relative low on sugar and not as sweet as the Linzer.

Golden syrup is the step before refining the sugar. Since a sugar fabric is not far away we can buy it in 10l buckets and not the golden syrupe 250g cups from supermarkets. The disadvantage (if it is one) is that it is not filtered yet, more brown and still having tiny plant pieces. The non filtered variant is more rich on calium, ballast, ...

 

Our area used cows as a replacement for horses for pulling plows and wagons and they were rarely slaughtered. Wool pigs were half wild and fed in the regrowing forests. So Schmalz (from schmelzen, to melt = releasing fat from fatbacks) was from pork. Using lard from Beef works as good but wouldn't be the original. 

 

 

 

 

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Another recipe from my grandgrandma for x-mas

Black nuts / walnut truffles

Tasted our selfmade black nuts today. They are a cheap truffle replacement for some x-mas time recipes.

Fear it is very complicated and tricky to make them. You have to harvest green very unripe walnuts. You pierce through the green still soft scale with an awl a few times and cut away the ends. You take a sieve with the nuts and place it in running water. In our case it is the small spring running to our fish ponds. After around 3 weeks in the water it is time for the next step. (you can put them in a bucket and replace the water two times a day for a month tp remove bitter acids).

Make a mixture of caramalized sugar, water and spices like cinnamon. Place nuts in a pot and pour the hot sugar mix till they are covered amd let them stay covered till next day

The next day you sieve the pot, catch the sugar liquid, place nuts in pot again, boil the sugar mix and pour it into the pot with the nuts....

Repeat this daily for 10days.

Day 11: sieve,

Boil the nuts in lightly salted water for 2 minutes for sterilization

put the nuts in glasses with a glas top (like for mixed pickles). Boil the sugar mix a last time and cover the nuts with the sugar mix. Close the glass and wait, wait, wait, 4 month at least, 16 if you are not so impatient .... We have 3 glasses with 28 month old.

Since we harvest the unripe nuts 4 month before x.mas they are done just in time;) 

And they are a lot of work so they are saved for special days.

 

The black nuts used to be an emergency recipe in the afterwar years. If people saw parasites thrilled holes in the unripe ones - black nuts could rescue the harvest to an extent.

Also if a tree is overful of unripe nuts you can harvest some so the rest grows bigger. And if the result is tasteful, the better.

 

You can use the black nuts for desserts like ice cream, or for main dinner as truffles replacement, ...

Delta cluld like this: sadly in german, but the pictures should ne enough. Black rose from blacknut slices placed in a cup around a ball of icecream.

https://lamiacucina.blog/2012/12/03/schwarze-rose-eingelegte-schwarze-nusse-mit-gewurzeis/

 

 

o.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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On 12/21/2019 at 1:30 PM, Delta! said:

These look amazing Chattius! I do not have a teensiest bit of festive charm...

I have been absent on the forum for a while. I have started a new job and moved... All in 4 weeks. We are finally settled in, have had to buy some household pieces and have unpacked all but one box. (It has blankets and duvets in, we are in summer). I got my pay out from my previous job (it was a lot more than I thought) and I splurged a bit... Le creuset, Xiaomi robot vacuum cleaner, kenwood professional chef stand mixer with 4 attachments, Catan with 2 expansions, new terrarium for Dexter( he outgrew the old one 6months ago), and my fiance got a washing machine, 2 new shelves, a new 100 bottle wine rack(that we mostly filled), our festive season has been busy... And my laptops one fan has decided to "smash" (it makes a funny sound when I switch it on, like pieces are stopping the fan while another pieces is still stuck and *rattling"(for lack of a better word).

Just wanted to let you know I am fine and alive. Just unfortunately I have been absent and had to deal with "real life problems" for a while.

Missing DarkMatters terribly much!

Bravo Theuns, and good seeing you back home here, we missed you! :hugs: Moving's always been so stressful for me.  I'm happy to hear that you've moved into yours with a packet of lovely goodies courtesy of yer old job... woot! I was eyeing that vacuum cleaner...does that work well? do you have to do small cleanups after or is it really thorough? And I had as a gift from a friend a looooooooooooong time ago a huge collection of creusets... they were given to her as wedding gift, like three or four pans, cooking pots a dutch oven  all with that fiery orange color... the thing is I dont cook so much at home (dang wish I did :D) and most of the set got dusty.. still use the biggest pot for spaghetti sauce and if yer ever in town and can carry what may seem like a few hundred pounds of pots :lol: 

Happy to hear that you're back, we have your charm for Christmas... always awesome!

:hugs:

gogo

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On 12/20/2019 at 8:35 PM, gogoblender said:

I'm hooked on Crusader...this is new.. Schot updated the drivers on my old Video card and all of a sudden I could play games with animation again :lol:   Is there a particular build you were using? I'm hooked on speed run build using the steed set.  I can finally do Great rifts 95  - 100 with it.. speed is so much more fun for me than stodgy tanks...

going full Thor here

:viking:

gogo

I'm sorry but I can't recall. I haven't played Crusader since the Necro DLC was released. Can you view the build of dead toons?:blush2: All my Crusaders died in end game. I don't know if Necro survives better or if I finally learned enough humility.

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Sometimes I wish old times back, but I think it's better to walk straight forward and don't look back.

I wish, I had more time to write more stuff or to read all the great topics.

But it's always a pleasure to come HOME and see all the guys that I miss so much.

And that is all for you guys:

Merry X-Mas to all and your family:christmastree:

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Merry Christmas everybody! Celebrate with your family, your friends and neighbours. Eat and drink, have a good time, forgive and forget.
I wish you a rich and plentyful life, health and the strength to endure the burden, Fortuna forces upon you at will. Walk upright and tall, don´t bend, be a person of integrity with a good and kind heart.  
Merry Christmas to all of you, wherever you are!

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3 hours ago, Dax said:

Merry Christmas everybody! Celebrate with your family, your friends and neighbours. Eat and drink, have a good time, forgive and forget.
I wish you a rich and plentyful life, health and the strength to endure the burden, Fortuna forces upon you at will. Walk upright and tall, don´t bend, be a person of integrity with a good and kind heart.  
Merry Christmas to all of you, wherever you are!

Merry Christmas dear Dax! Ill remember to stand up extra tall after a few sips of my trademark christmas punch :devil: 

Cheers mate, may your merry be merry!

:hugs::

 

gogo

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58 minutes ago, chattius said:

Merry Christmas to everyone

Last post till after x-mas, have to drive to Frankfurt to pick up some guests for x-mas.

 

Happy Christmas dear Chattius... drive safely and remember where all the good stuff is ^^

 

:devil:

 

gogo

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4 hours ago, TornadoX1 said:

Sometimes I wish old times back, but I think it's better to walk straight forward and don't look back.

I wish, I had more time to write more stuff or to read all the great topics.

But it's always a pleasure to come HOME and see all the guys that I miss so much.

And that is all for you guys:

Merry X-Mas to all and your family:christmastree:

Tornado, you've come back home to us! Happy Christmas and... have you checked out whats happening down the Sacred Pipeline... some members here have reverse engineered the MP system... we can finally return to Sacred and celebrate properly for the holidays all together!

:dance:

 

gogo

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10 hours ago, lujate said:

I'm sorry but I can't recall. I haven't played Crusader since the Necro DLC was released. Can you view the build of dead toons?:blush2: All my Crusaders died in end game. I don't know if Necro survives better or if I finally learned enough humility.

hahhaha

are you still playing the necro now? I just bought the expandion pack ... cheap...less than ten bux... and got the full game for my nephew... which build for necro are you playing now... I' looking at skeleton singularity..it just melts down everything

:drool:

gogo

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52 minutes ago, Timotheus said:

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope everybody will be able to spend these cosy times with their loved ones in good health and good spirits!

Enjoy my dudes and dudettes :christmastree:

 

 

Merry Christmas Timo to you and your wife!

:)

 

gpgp

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12 hours ago, gogoblender said:

hahhaha

are you still playing the necro now? I just bought the expandion pack ... cheap...less than ten bux... and got the full game for my nephew... which build for necro are you playing now... I' looking at skeleton singularity..it just melts down everything

:drool:

gogo

Yes I'm still a Necro main in D3, although I'm currently on a gaming hiatus.

 

Necro

L70(91)

Siphon blood, purity of essence

Skeletal mage, singularity

Corpse lance, blood lance

Command golem, bone golem

Leech, cursed ground

Blood rush, metabolism

Swift harvesting

Final service

Extended servitude

Draw life

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16 hours ago, Flix said:

Merry Christmas DarkMatters!

I should have taken pics of the spread at the family's gathering today.  My cajun uncle is the dedicated cook for our holidays so we had shrimp creole and seafood etouffee. I like this more than the usual holiday fare.

The desserts were numerous but my favorite (seriously I look forward to this for weeks) is my mom's homemade Christmas tree cake. It's just a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, but it is the best. I managed to take a picture before I demolished it:

cake.jpg.9b29cf1f386c75f042d114d86de56009.jpg

Flix,I've never had cajun for Christmas, but now you've got me interest piqued! And I do completely understand how good a Mom's desert can be... works on so many levels and completes your year.

Man, we are just stuffed!

:)

 

gogo

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we just got back after three days of Christmas Partying with the family... man I'm so bagged :lol: ... tommorrows actually a work day and I"m kinda looking into just sinking into it... Cool thing is The Witcher's is what to watch and looking forward to catching up on some of the eps tomorrow!

Hope ye all had a Merry Christmas Folks!

 

:dance:

 

gogo

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Hope everyone had a nice x-mas

You know that it was x-mas when you look at the refridgerator. Not that it is full with rests from the x-mas goose or carp, or half emptied wine bottles, ...

Its front is covered with a big paper sheet holding an organigram. The original printed paper has lot of rework with different coloured pencils. Who is where, when, why and with which car. Kids visiting grandparents, parents of au-pair girl who came for a one week visit to Germany, parents of the husband from our oldest who work as diplomats and came for 2 weeks to Germany, second daughter invited a friend from university, ...

Today I have some extra work as mayor of our 120+ people village. An old lady decided to sell her house and move to a nearby senior resistance. I have to do the paperwork for the buyers who plan to move till end of January when new half year in school starts. They want to use the x-mas holidays to clean the bought house and move new furniture already.

 

The relaxing x-mas time is over, back to chaotic routine ;)

 

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