Perfect Potstickers!

I found the "Perfect Potstickers {recipe} from scratch!" - including Dumpling Dough - on Pinterest and we were amazed by the result... they are excellent!

I am following the dumpling dough recipe to the letter and use my pasta attachment to roll the dough as thinly as I would dare (number 6 on KitchenAid). I understand that ideally you would roll them by hand in order to produce thicker middle where you need strength to support the filing and thinner edges where the dough is folded. But hey, I am happy enough with the uniformity of the pasta machine. I then cut circles with a scone cutter (hence the fluted look of mines). This dough is sticky enough that you don't need further water to make the edges stick together. I keep my bench floured with corn flour as it does not get absorbed by the pasta dough.

As filing, minced pork seasoned with ginger, shallots, soya sauce, teriyaki sauce and Char Siu sauce. Nothing precise; I am aiming for having salty + sweet + vinegary / rice wine components.

Cooking is easy: fry the dumplings in a couple of tsp of neutral oil until their bottoms are brown. Add to the pan about 100mL of water and cover immediately for 5-7 minutes. The dipping sauce is making them all shine and come together. Just oil, soya sauce, teriyaki sauce, Char Siu sauce and chilli flakes or powder. We love them!

Daily calendar that gets better every year!

Today I would like to share a calendar that I have been doing for the past years. It is a perpetual calendar that is reused each year and gets better the longer you use it! Each day one write the year and something that happened that day. The following years, I love being reminded of what I did on that day.

My inspiration came from this post. The author shows all the steps - but really it is just a matter of finding some lined cards and stamping the day on each of them. Then write something every day, including the year. 

I was also motivated by this video on TED where the author takes one second of video every day of his life, then edits them together into a montage that prompts him to think how he approaches each day. 

Like him, I was frustrated not remembering things I've done in the past and have no recollection of... unless someone or something brings it back up. Just a sentence (or for him one second video) is a key to trigger memories about the event.

I like to find something nice to remember about each day. Every day matters!

Looking for craftier calendar? You may want to consider the following project instead.

Happy New Year!

Joyeux Noel de Berlin!

A few pictures summarising our Berlin trip over Christmas.

We climbed up the dome of the Reichstag,
for a really enjoyable visit and view over the city.

Oberbaum Bridge links Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg boroughs,
previously divided by the Berlin Wall

The Holocaust Memorial, with pillars (stelae) reaching up to 4.8 metres high
(it does not look so as the ground is sloping down)

One of the exhibitions in the impressive Jewish Museum

A portion of the Berlin Wall
at the former Gestapo headquarters 

A portion of the Wall at the East Side Gallery

Dead Chicken Alley

The Astronaut by Victor Ash

Gendarmenmarkt, with its nice Christmas market

At the Christmas Market near the town hall

Paper tree ornaments

I put our tree up this weekend and I am really excited about the new ornaments I made from paper! 

I used the instructions from here and found that they could be improved... so below is my step-by-step protocol. 

It is really easy, which is good when you plan to make twenty! The principle is to have plenty of discs and alternate glueing them at the top then bottom to create a ruffled looking ball (like those collars in the mid-sixteen to mid-seventeenth century). I personally like the ball-shape ornaments but note that you can change it starting from any shape you fancy and obtain a really elaborate ornament like that.

1: Cut circles in paper (mine have a diameter of 8cm).

I chose two plain colours and (white and brown/craft paper) and distressed the edges with a walnut-stain ink pad (rubbing the whole stack works well enough, no need to treat them one by one!). The original instructions suggest using patterned paper. You can also use three different papers.

2: Fold each circle in half.

3: Arrange them in an order so that you obtain two consecutive papers of the same colour. 

a> b> b> a> a> b> <b <a <a <b <b <a 

4: Connect them all together, either by sewing at the top and bottom of the fold, or alternatively using a stapler. If you use a staple, make sure you fold the discs as pictured so that they don't crease or create too much of a gap.

Glue at the top (if you imagine it as a clock, from 12:00 to 14:00) and press together. On the following page, glue to the bottom (from 16:00 to 18:00). 

I cut a slit to pass some ribbon and voilà!