You guys might remember that pesky Annual Cold Snap during February I mentioned 2 weeks ago. Well, this year it brought a friend and the two of them really went to town. The usually relatively short cold front freezing the dress choices for Valentine’s Day into non-existence recently teamed up with a Siberian cold front nosing around our neighborhood.
Continue reading “Steamed Duck & Plum Dumplings with Szechuan Duck Broth”
Last weekend, I found myself in one of those seriously annoying and unsatisfying “I want… something. I’ll know when I see it” kind of moods. A mood for something sweet… maybe? While I was digging through the contents of my kitchen, I couldn’t find anything even remotely interesting to the “Gimme!” Monster throwing a hissy fit in my head, but at one point, it’s radar actually gave off a small beep when I picked up a couple of leftover bananas.
Continue reading “GW2 Black Cherry & Banana – Maple Syrup Layered No-Bake Cheesecake”
Mid-February, Valentine’s Day to be precise, somewhere in south-western Germany. Just like every year, your’s truly is peering out of the window, briefly considering using the day’s dinner plans as an excuse to throw on The LBD… but no. There’s not much fun in wearing a dress when you need to cover it up in at least 4 more layers of fabric in order to survive a 20-minute-walk without frostbite~!
Continue reading “Roasted Parsnip Soup & Caramelized Apples”
Romantics, lovers, chocoholics, rejoice! Valentine’s Day is nigh~! While basically everyone I know is firmly rooted on the rather jaded “It’s just a holiday for the greeting card / flower / chocolate industry” side of the matter, exactly the same people also spend the exact same holiday trying to hide the fact that they’re doing something of the exact same shape, size and color the “hopeless victims of the ad-powered machinery” do for their loved ones.
Being a notor… ah… well-known regular at your favorite farmer’s market stalls really has it’s perks. Sometimes, the same perks – in the sense of wrong place, wrong time – can put you between a rock and a hard place. When you realize you’re stuck however, the best escape, at least in a food-related thought-spiral kind of scenario, is down. Confused yet? Ok, here’s what happened.
Continue reading “Jerusalem Artischocke Salad with Apples, Beets and Sunny-Side-Ups”
Alright folks, I think it’s time I made good on the promise I made in my loosely Crystal Dessert-related Spicy Chicken Wrap & Tomato Hummus post and get down to business with the whole Crystal Desert Cuisine shabang. After being reminded of the existence of Red Lentils by the vendors and food stalls keeping us well fed and happy on our adventures through the Crystal Desert, I rolled up my sleeves and tackled the topic of “Red Lentils” on this side of the screen~!
Like I’ve mentioned last week, Winter, capital W and all, has arrived. While that’s generally a questionable blessing in our parts, it also means the time for our annual escape to a cosy, reed capped cottage just peeking over the top of the dam out onto the crashing waves of the North Sea on Sylt has come. Goodbye cold, miserable, grey, constant drizzle, hello North Sea!
Continue reading “Seedy Power Crackers & Dried Fruit Chutney”
All right, so the “real” winter has nosed its way in – the one without the sparkly decorations, festive mood-inducing drinks, foods, gatherings and all that jazz. Not that I’m particularly downed by the holidays being over, but I have to say, the great outdoors in all its grey-on-grey splendor is looking a lot more gloomy than it did just a couple of weeks ago. Oh well… as I’ve mentioned before, there’s one surefire way – at least for me – not to succumb to the general greyness of days like these:
Continue reading “Saffron-Lemon Chicken with Apricot-Rosemary & Barberry Chutney”
Happy New Year everyone~! I hope you all had a blast taking the first step into round 2018. As always, with the first couple of days of every year, quite a number of well-deserved hangovers and well-intentioned new years’ resolutions have probably gone out of the window for a lot of people already – which reminds me… time to get working on my “treat yourself with a breakfast worth getting out of bed for more often” resolution~!
Continue reading “GW2 Apple-Buttermilk Pancakes & Blueberry Compote”
Aha! Once more, the Chef’s Guild has nudged me to venture into new lands with a batch of mussels in tow. Like I said in my Red Curry Mussel Soup post, it took some time for me to take a step out of my rather mediterranean-colored comfort zone when it comes to mussels – and even though I still return to that style on a regular basis, I have no qualms about rolling up my sleeves and get to work when a new idea takes root in my head.
Nahdala's Kitchen 