Fragrant cookies with cinnamon and orange peel - Biscotti profumati con cannella e buccia d'arancia - Mirisni keksi s cimetom i koricom naranče

Even if holiday baking should be over since some time, after a few very lazy weeks and a lot of sweet stuff of any kind, I would have never said that I could still desire something sweet. But it happens over and over again, especially in the evening, when the daylights fade and I just need to relax with a cup of steaming tea in my hands. I close my eyes, because I don't want to see that we still miss so many things to be done in our renovated apartment and I begin to dream about my next cookies. I didn’t bake much this time, but my mother did it instead. I was to busy running here and there trying to finish all commitments before the year ends and catching the final deadlines. While all the rest of blogosphere has been so active around holiday season, I was just observing all those beauties and thinking about my messy December. It all remembered me how good it is to be back home…it’s the best place to calm down and to forget for a while the craziness and the haste of our lives.

Sweet blueberry marbled buns - Panini dolci marmorizzate ai mirtilli - Slatko mramorno pecivo s borovnicama

I like to capture memories of my time spent at home in Croatia and each time I come back to Italy, to my second home, I write down few words combined with a simple recipe and some pictures. Since some time all my efforts to put down some words were vain. There were other, more essential requirements in these last months that continue keeping me busy and there is a kind of psychological interruption inside of me. Probably my brain took a break trying to minimize all commitments me and Mr. M. are facing at present. Indeed my brain took a long break and it's still not giving signs of any kind of willpower to start running again. I’m afraid it will go on like this until all works in our home will be definitively over.

Yes, we will have bigger home and all our efforts will be rewarded! Now we are demolishing some walls, opening spaces and imagining how will it look like when all the dust and the dirt will disappear. Our tiny home is already full of light, can you imagine how much light will enter in our home when there will be three times more door windows!

Sweet cinnamon buns - Panini dolci alla cannella - Slatko pecivo s cimetom

During those days the sky was so crystal clear and high like in Nordic. It was full of big, foamy and white clouds traveling fast towards ovest...After the rain the nature appears neat and pure and I adore feeling the perfume of wet ground and roads vanishing in the air. The best thing to do during long and wet summer days is to bake some soft and flavourful buns, like the ones I did and very similar to "Kanelbullar". When I prepare my kanelbullar I feel in heaven. I like to touch the soft and perfumed dough..

These small buns are full of flavours, you can hardly resist to the temptation to devour some until still warm.  Last time I've baked sweet buns was few weeks ago and I was at home in Croatia with my parents. My mother continued saying that she was never able to do the dough like I do it. She forgot that I should have probably learned this art from her...so I smiled and continued making my buns without speaking. I wanted them to be nice, almost perfect, better then usually, I wanted my mother to be proud of both of us! It's so good to be at home!

Each time I want to bake something I use the same recipe. After reading so many cookbooks and magazins I've decided that my basic recipe is the one I like most of all other recipes I've ever tried. From time to time I only change some spices to get the dough with slightly different taste, but only when I desire something particularly flavourful...and it's almost always!

Tarte tatin with pears and cardamom - Tarte tatin di pere e cardamomo - Tarte tatin s kruškama i kardamomom

I'm still craving for winter flavours! Because I love winter and I love when it’s raining in summertime. I love the nostalgic atmosphere during summer storms and the perfume of water all around in the air and evaporating from the moist ground.

These last days were absolutely crazy, no rest, no breath, no sense of time passing by. The only thing that remained in my mind are powerful storms and heavy rain and thunders. It always happen so suddenly, the sky gets grey and blurry. No time to search for the shelter, only the desire to run away!

Now I’ve finally finished what I’ve started few weeks ago. Even if I’ve promised to myself to slow down, I’m not keeping my promise, I’m still exaggeratedly fast, but I must admit that I feel the weakness and fatigue. Thanks to heaven it’s weekend again and I will recover, because I need time, more time to be alone with myself!

Tarte tatin is my favourite cake, I bake it often, me and Mr.M. enjoy its spicy taste. This time I’ve changed completely the recipe, I wanted to try something new, fresh and full of flavours.