#8 Menu in PINK, second try

Menu

Pink Potatoes and Herring Salad "Oslo"

Petit Four

Raspberry Smoothie

Inspired by All I love's frenzy pinkness I thought I should give another try to Sophie Calle's monochromatic menus. Of course the PINK. The second try. Menus #1 to #7 didn't turn out so bad (even the black!), but pink so far has been an appetite spoiling, ugly fail.  So ugly that it didn't make it into my blog.

This one at least has been delicious!

morning // night

//

wintersun

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed a full day of bright sunshine in this fridge. Sun changes  it all: suddenly it becomes so easy to stick to my winter's resolution.

on the path from Moritzburg to Dippeldorfer Teich

weekend links

Next holiday destination? Oh yes!!! Giraffes, I'm coming!

Another travel adventure: here you can follow Jason's and Jeff's big eat gay love trip around the world! At the end of the last year they sold their apartment in Toronto, Jeff resigned from his job and Jason, the photographer, promised to keep us posted via twitter, instagram and his blog.  Hey guys, Dresden is worth a stopover!!

These hints on tipping might be helpful.

Craving colour and calories?

What a stunning Instagram photo of the day.

I love the idea of pairing food and fashion. The matches always make me smile!

Have a happy weekend!

#3 Grandma's Classics: Käsekuchen (German Cheesecake)

A good cheesecake is the pride of every German housewife and apart from the famous NewYork Cheesecake (which is made of cream cheese instead of fromage frais) it seems to be a signature cake of Germany.

The recipe in the cookbook requests 7 (SEVEN!?!) eggs for the filling. "No no no, that can't be true" I thought to myself, numbers and exclamation marks filling my head. The perfect cheesecake, one that satisfies the tastebuds and is still kind of healthy, wasn't to be found in the cookbook, but instead on the other end of the phone line (Grandma).

Cheesecake

Short crust
70g sugar
100g butter
200g flour
1 egg

Filling
1kg Quark (fromage frais 10-20% fat content)
150g sugar
3 ts vanilla sugar
1 ts grated lemon peel or a pinch of lemon myrtle
2 tbs flour
4 eggs

Prepare a shortcrust working together the sugar, butter, flour and the egg. Let it sit in the fridge for 1/2 an hour. Roll out the pastry with a rolling pin and place it in a buttered springform.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

With an electric mixer whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar and lemon peel until white and creamy.
Add quark (fromage frais) and flour and mix again until creamy.

Pour the cheese filling into the shortcrust lined springform. Bake it for 40 minutes at 180°C. It is finished when the surface turns slightly golden.

After ca. 20 minutes of cooling down outside the oven you may turn the cake upside down on a wiring rack with the springform still assembled. Now let it cool completely for at least 2 hours. The imprints of the wiring rack leave the typical "German cheesecake" pattern.
You can't see the pattern in my pictures? YOU ARE RIGHT!  Me neither, but I couldn't have turned the cake upside down without ruining the crust!

My samples "to go" before and after baking

Grandma's tricks to prevent the inevitable shrinkage of the filling once out of the oven

1) after 20 minutes of baking open the oven, cut gently with a knife between short crust and filling and continue baking

2) once baked turn off the heat and let cool down for 10 minutes in the open but still warm oven

teatime : The Fauchon Blend

A blend of China and Ceylon black tea, rose petals, lavender, vanilla and citrus peels. It's subtle and overall flowery. The first wave of flavour that hits the tastebuds is vanilla, followed by a quick burst of lavender and citrus.
For me, the strong base of black teas gives room for the flavours to unfold.
You can buy it here.

to read: Food Rules

First of all: apologies to Michael Pollan, the author of Food Rules, for cutting his name off my photo. I must have been distracted by Maira Kalman's terrific illustration!

Michael Pollan is also the author of five previous books including "In Defense of Food", "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "The Botany of Desire", all NewYork Times bestsellers.

I liked his idea of collecting our ancestors' wisdom about healthy and happily eating,which, in fact, is so much more helpful and more humorous than the recommendations of science or industry.
Food Rules is not a diet book, but a very enjoyable tribute to tradition and culture, to daily practice, experience and intelligence.

My favourites are

• Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food
• Avoid food products that make health claims
• Avoid foods you see advertised on television
• Buy your snacks at the Farmer's market
• If it came from a plant, eat it - if it was made in a plant, don't
• Treat meat as a flavouring or special occasion food
• Sweeten and salt your food yourself
• Eat all the junk food you want, as long as you cook it yourself
• Pay more. eat less
• If you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, you're probably not hungry
• Cook

• Break the rules once in a while!

Schafsmilchcreme by Adoratio

Childlike excitement for sheepmilk chocolate spread bread drives me out of bed in the morning, despite the cold and milky grey January ....

snow spook

Red cabbage with figs and chestnuts

Following my intuition rather than a recipe I broke my red cabbage routine. The original recipe contains apples and onions which gave the distinct savoury-sweet flavour.
This time I used dry golden figs and cooked chestnuts to add sweetness and body. I was happy to find that the cabbage was no longer merely a side dish but had been transformed into a filling meal.

Red Cabbage with Figs and Chestnuts

2 tbs butter
1/2 head of red cabbage, thinly sliced
4 dry figs, thinly sliced
100g cooked chestnuts, minced
5 splashes of Tabasco sauce
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbs paprika powder
1 ts thyme
2 cups of water
salt and pepper to taste
fresh greens to decorate

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the cabbage and braise until slightly wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the figs and the chestnuts and stir. Add Tabasco, vinegar, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper and stir again to coat evenly.
Add 2 cups of water.

Now reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the cabbage is tender. It takes about 30 minutes, but have a look from time to time and stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Decorate with fresh greens. Enjoy!

my breakfast today

Fruit salad with oranges, apples, kiwis and grated coconut

Green smoothie with apples, bananas, lamb's lettuce and coconut water

Desire to travel

venice, lido, 2012 by Vik

Immortal Venice: Harry’s Bar on Nowness.com.

little potato bags

After all the wonderful Christmas dining and overstuffing I celebrate to come back to the simple things of life. Like a little bagful of oven roasted potatoes. Together with some lemon and parsley dressed sardines and a nicely  smelling Chaumes they make for a delicious dinner.

Little Potato Bags

Fill  each square-cut piece of parchment paper with 4 small sized, clean scrubbed potatoes. Sprinkle generously with fresh parsley, thyme and oregano, add a piece of butter, a tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper.
Tie them up.
Bake the little bags in the oven for 40 minutes at 160°C.

Combines perfectly with a glass of red wine!

through a tourist's eyes

TIMES SQUARE

celebrate

The story of the Diamond Tree

First came the goose. The goose lamp.On my way to the basement in search for some bottles of wine I passed by a dusty little tree. Instinctively I picked it up, took it upstairs and set it down beside the goose.

The New Year's Eve table decoration was born. But, missing the element of mystery and wonder. With a look at my disapprovingly head shaking children I refrained from using the hot glue machine.

It needed to be sparkling, absurd and very very good. No cheap tricks..... the jewel case!

The Menu

Tortilla Wraps filled with lettuce, pepper, feta and rucola cream

Seafood with Thai spiced chickpeas

Vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate fudge