heavenly bisques

The discovery of exceptions to one's don't-like rules are always very pleasant. So from the same place as the I-don't-like-meringues but these are dreamy I give you - heavenly bisques.

They're ridiculously oversized - one third or possibly a half will do to tame the sweet tooth - the buttercream isn't very buttery (hooray) but tastes so very lovely and smooth of raspberry or pear, the almondy base is both crunchy and chewy in a grand way, it's covered in marzipan that isn't overly sweet.

The three layers compliment eachother so very well and that the buttercream - that I in general very much do not appreciate in pastries, cakes and cookies - is of a very reasonable amount in these delightful bisques.

The bisques fortunate enough ending their days in my residence - before they make some sweet teeth happy and end up in someone's tummy - they even get their own private colour matching guards. Fancy that for fancy bisques.

meringue heaven

Probably my least favourite sweets, desserts, pastries are things involving meringue. Far, far too sugary sweet, powdery, often with a very unpleasant tang of egg white, not to mention hardly ever as delightfully sticky as one expects and wants. While a well made lemon pie is lovely, a lemon meringue pie (or any other poor pie covered in meringue) is, in my opinion, an abomination.

Having said that, I must admit that I recently by accident - and no not in a long term quest for the perfect meringue, I've long ago given up on meringue and me being something compatible - stumbled over what can quite possibly be considered the world's best meringue. Namely the ginormous meringue, from bakery/café Schelins konditori situated in small town Sala (an hour's drive or so north of Stockholm).

I do love the look of over sized flavoured meringues and as the ones on display at this café looked splendid and perfect for my mother's sweet tooth - not as discerning as her daughter's - we opted for one pear meringue to take home as a treat for her.

As a sweet and caring mother she said I could have a sample, that it was quite lovely in pear flavour and unusually sticky. And, well, let's just say that was kind of an understatement... It was not only pretty cute, it was quite heavenly in bite. A distinct but still subtle pear flavour, reasonably sweet for a meringue, no egg whitey tang and a toffee stickiness that was... divine.

When we passed Sala some weeks later we popped by the bakery and bought two other meringues, one lemon, one raspberry. Both equally goody good as the pear one. Now I'm quite, quite glad we don't live close to a bakery with such meringues, because one might easily get addicted to their sticky sweet loveliness. A loveliness that hasn't at all turned me into a meringue lover. I'm just pleased to say I've found a hidden gem, I've discovered meringue heaven.

~ Oh, and Happy National Day ~

A happy birthday at Måns Ols Utvärdshus

The month of April is one of the busiest months when it comes to birthday-celebrations in my vicinity, both the fourlegged kind of parties and the twolegged.

I suppose the two most distinguished celebrations of the month are the birthdays of M and my mother. The later we celebrated a day after the actual B-day with a nice meal out today (and of course a cat-show comes before a celebration of an even numbered birthday...).

The outing took place at Måns Ols Utvärdshus (the name is a bit quirky to translate, Måns Ols is an old fashion name and the name of a dammwatcher in the 1800 century. Utvärdshus means OutInn, since the Inn is mostly situated outdoors) - a restaurant/coffeehouse close to the small town of Sala. (Sala was founded as a town in the 1700 century, most known for its famous silver mine).

A trip to Måns Ols in the summers with the cab is a pleasant way to spend a lazy day. And the food is pretty good, with quite a bit of inventive thinking when it comes to vegetarian alternatives.

Like this baked paprika filled with chanterelles and sundried tomatoes, served with potatoe wedges and garlic cream cheese. I did miss the minced quorn though...

They also serve some nice fish-dishes. Like the one some had today - salmontrout with lemonsauce and pressed potatoe.

Måns Ols Utvärdshus is quite scenically situated close to the (actually man-made) lake of Långforsen. And the best way to enjoy a meal is of course outdoors and close to the lake. And why not have a nice walk, before or after the meal, on one of the many promenades close to the different damms in the neighbourhood? Even if there's no road around the whole lake.

And having had a brisk walk you well deserve one of Måns Ols' often very nice sweets. Like this classical dessert of banana-cream pastry.

Today was far from an outdoorish day though, so we had to sit indoors. Which was pretty enjoyable too. The only real blemish of the whole experience was this lovely looking chocolate/passionfruit pannacotta with strawberrysauce I chose for dessert.

It was just a horrible lump of tasteless jelly and far from that smooth-melting-on-your-tongue experience a well-made pannacotta is suppose to be.

But I guess even the smallest sun has its faults, and what matters the most is that the birthday-mother enjoyed her celebration with family and friends! So a massive dose of happy birthday to her!!