As we were returning back home from our short winter escape to Sylt, basically crossing the country in a vertical line of about 800km, the progress of Spring nosing its way in couldn’t have been more obvious. The further south we got, the – for lack of a better word – juicier the landscape appeared to get. What started with miniature yarnballs stalking their equally fluffy mommy-yarnballs and merrily playing sheep-catch between blossoming heather shrubs in the northern regions, quickly turned into foresty areas sporting a first hint of green, violently colorful patches of crocus breaking up the still-dominant dullish brown here and there and, of course, the… well, juicy brown of freshly turned soil on the fields.
Continue reading “Warm Mung Bean Sprout Salad with Purple Cauliflower and Coconut-Leek Dressing”
It took me a while, but I finally managed to twist and tweak another classic dish to my liking! You might wonder how a menace to the world’s tomato population like me can sidestep the issue of a simple tomato soup for years… well, after quite a number of… not bad, but unsatisfying bowls and recipes, I had almost given up on the idea. Basically, one half would have worked better as a tomato sauce and the other half needed a stomach-turning amount of cream or butter to loose the air of a sauce and turn “creamy”.
As I’ve mentioned in 
I just had an ama~zing weekend! I’ve spent a good part of 3 days in the kitchen on a wicked inspiration-rush and emerged victorious, 5 new and absolutely delicious recipe hammered out for you guys – and that’s not even the really amazing part of it! Hubby and I had a long-overdue sit-down with our trusted travel agent this Saturday and booked our vacations for the year! Aaaand four days later, I’m still yay’ing in my head… an end to the joyous rush appears to be nowhere in sight.
Sometimes, a product you’ve bought with a specific purpose in mind, doesn’t match your expectations, becomes useless for that specific purpose even, and you might find yourself at a loss at how to salvage the whole deal. Just a few weeks ago, I had to deal with a major annoyance like that. A beautiful bunch of grapes I had bought with a spritzy Champagne jelly dessert in mind, turned out to be blessed – or cursed…? – with the thickest skins I have ever encountered around a grape.
In Tyrian recipes, my beloved Omnom- a.k.a. Cranberries are mostly used in a sweet’ish kind of way. Ever since I’ve settled on using Cranberries in place of Tyria’s Omnomberries, and by doing so, inadvertently opened the door for myself to twist, tweak and turn around the related recipes in all directions, I’ve been running haywire in my kitchen whenever I pick an Omnomberry recipe to play with. Let’s hear it for snap decisions opening up endless possibilities!
Dear Chef’s Guild of Tyria,
Every once in a while, I take some time to browse the menus of some Michellin-starred restaurants in the area – without any delusions of grandeur or urges to pay more for a dinner than a week’s vacation in a nice hotel on a remote island involved. The reason for this peek into these world-class kitchens is relatively simple: in recent years, a lot of those restaurants have made a habit of ditching the usual, descriptive menu in favor of a list of 2-3 main ingredients per course. An absolutely fabulous habit in my book, scrambling my neurons in exactly the right way!
Have you ever had that moment where you wish you could just share one of your favorite comfort dishes in a sophisticated, stylish manner, fit to wow a dinner crowd? I usually get that kind of If-only-I-could idea when I’m rotating around the kitchen, juggling three or more dishes, wishing I had remembered to pick at least one dish I can breeze through on auto-pilot. Well, during this past New Year’s Dinner prep-work, my tummy did a wonderful job of nudging me into the right direction~
You know, the Chef’s Guild has this, sometimes rather annoying, way to get under my skin in a slightly brainwash’y manner. That’s not really a bad thing, just really inconvenient at times – I suppose every foodie has a dish they can’t get out of their head to save their lives at times, though. Seeing all the tasty pizza recipes on the Tyrian menu has always bothered me in that way – sure, I usually go low-carb, low-fat and all that jazz, but even in a carefully monitored, healthy and balanced diet, there’s a time for everything, including a yummy, homemade – and still somewhat healthy! – pizza.
Nahdala's Kitchen 