Ending 2012 – Surprise of Snow

December 31. Felt the grace of snow today, cold crisp air was twinkling with ice particles. Peace and quiet was everywhere… Could not help but admire it and take these photos.

Soon we leave 2012 behind and enter 2013. The snow slowed the hustle and bustle of our crazy, commercialized, self important, overly busy days a little bit – reminding us what’s truly important.

We will remember this year for many events, and surprises. Also 2012 will always mark the year we dared to surprise ourselves and started our blog. We thank you for reading and sharing us with others.

We, at Surprise Saffron, wish you all an amazing 2013 – may it be filled with fun surprises. You can count on us to surprise you. But most of all… remember to surprise yourself !!

Who Likes Chocolate?

Here you go finally as I promised I’m sharing another organic delicious taste from the Oliv & Te Delikatesser shop in Sweden.

If you have never tried organic chocolate you must; it’s really different from regular chocolate it is very pure and healthy in texture. I love dark chocolate it’s rich with antioxidants and this one had unique combination with ginger & lime which I like it so when I took this picture the box was empty — I ate all of it !! It has a gentle heat of ginger during this cold winter days. So I taste every corner of this single square and now I can recommend to you as well 🙂 I feel little guilty for not taking the picture before eating it all, please forgive me.

Holiday special bread

Perfect for holiday breakfast and for the bread lovers.

A Delicate Surprise

This Christmas I received a surprise gift from my friend Julie. She gave me a bundle of foods she made herself. A cute tub of chicken liver pâté, bacon jam, accompanied with herve mons blue de sassenage cheese and a whole wheat baguette.

I dare say they are gourmet quality if not better and fresher. What a great gift to give someone… I can taste the care and love she put into making these goodies. By the way there should have been a warning: this bacon jam is addictive, and I don’t happen to be a bacon lover. The pâté is delicate and velvety, a smooth delight; great with a little cheese and bread, organic strawberry and crisp cubes Asian pear. A slightly chilled glass of Pinot Grigio and some sparkling water completed my food journey.

We have a saying in Turkish that we use when we really like someone’s food – ‘ellerine sağlık’ roughly means health to your hands.
So I raise my glass to you my friend… Ellerine sağlık!

The Art of Cards

As I received a few holiday cards, I could not help but admire how some cards were so thoughtfully crafted. I was surprised only because at this digital age where people break up via texting – we don’t expect to really receive cards. Grateful that I still know people who care to handwrite a lovely card.

Pictured above is a card that I just received, hand made by a friend; a simple stitch across the card and few snow flakes. This is the kind of card I will keep for a few years. I admit I occasionally write cards these days – but it’s due to being more selective. No need to send cards to people who will not care. That is a waste of good energy only to get sucked into a black hole. One of the paper companies I admire is the Winged Wheel. Just love their process, design, service, and quality. Wish I had more reasons to write cards so I would keep buying their paper works of art.

I hope you also received at least a few cute and thoughtful cards this season.

Holiday Treats: Mandel Bollar

Mandel Bollar, a Swedish favorite cookie is perfect for this time of year. So easy to make, delicious to eat, and looks great. Reminds me of snow and represents the magic of the season (pictured above the peanut butter cups). Here is the recipe – make it and enjoy it with your loved ones!

200 grams mandelmasa (sweet almond paste

200 grams butter (room temperature, soft)

1 1/4 cup flour

1 egg white to brush on top

almond flakes to roll the balls in

Mash the butter until it is smooth. Grate the almond paste (medium sized side of grate). Mix the two ingredients, add the flour and mix further. Roll the dough as a log – chill in the fridge for an hour. Cut the log into 40 equal pieces – roll into balls. Brush the tops with egg yolk, and roll in almond flakes.

Preheat oven to 175 degrees and bake the almond balls for only 10 minutes. Do not overcook.

Bon Appetit!

Weather’s surprise… & end of the world

A business trip to NY turned into a brief nightmare when weather turned bad at our destination. Flight cancellation had me and 2 coworkers scrambling to find a way to get home. As other people are worried about the world ending tomorrow and hunkering down in Sirince, Turkey here we are flying to a weird destination and driving. As we made alternate plans started accepting the fact and mother nature’s surprise for us we started relaxing. We are now experts in Laguardia airport, booking and rerouting flights, hotels, rental cars, finding chargers for devices and anything you can think of. This picture I took at Bryant Park became my reminder of ‘all will be OK’. In a funny way despite circumstances we are now enjoying ourselves. We even said ‘what an adventure!’. Now that’s what I call good attitude.

Flowing with life is better than swimming against it!

Organic Liquorice anyone!

I would like to share new tastes that surprised me!

This is yummiest liquorice I have ever had and I was very surprised that it was also organic; this is for sure healthy. I can’t stop eating and eating. Knowing that it’s organic makes me feel ‘guilt free’ or at least it sounds better. I wish I could visit Oliv & Te Delikatesser shop in Sweden — it’s little heaven for organic, fair trade delicious things but I will share more delicious things that I had from this nice Delikatesser.

Holiday Surprises – make some real memories!

This holiday season make some real time with people you really care about. That is the best gift you can give yourself. I baked the above dessert with my dear friend Melanie – and even took this picture together. We surprised ourselves at what a good time we had. Truly being in each other’s presence, baking and laughing, sharing stories from 2012. So stop running around from store to store to buy more stuff that probably you or others don’t need. Spend that time to connect with people in your life – and I don’t mean messaging them on facebook. I chose to bake since its an activity we both love – choose your own activity, whatever that is. What we all really need is to make real memories that nourish our inner being.

So go ahead give yourself a gift of time and a real memory this holiday!

(Recipe coming soon – Graham Cracker Almond Coconut Delight)

Sultan’s Favorite

This recipe beyond to be Sultan’s favorite it’s one of the yummy-easy+healthy recipes.

Here is how to make it

1- Peel and slice 1 medium size banana in to 1 or half inch slices. Put it right in to your plate.

1- 1 orta boy muzu soyup 1.5 veya 2 cm kalinligida dilimleyelim. Servis tabagimiza alalim.

2- Drizzle on top of them 1 tbs of honey. You can use the honey type you like I use regular organic honey.

2- Uzerleine 1 yemek kasigi bal gezdilerim. Sevdiginiz cesit bal kullanin ben organik normal bal kullandim.

3- Put on top of them 1 tbs of diced walnuts.

3- Uzerlerine 1 yemek kasigi iri cekilmis ceviz ici serpin.

4- Put on top of everything 2-3 tbs of pomegranate seeds.

4- Hepsinin uzerine 2-3 yemek kasigi nar tanesi serpin.

 

That’s all bon appetite!

Hepsi bu kadar afiyet olsun!