i am so going to buy this!

the yummy kitchen community device! (via techie diva)

"Yummy is a kitchen community device. It connects the kitchen to the cooking network and food blogosphere. It recommends you a good lunch, according to your food supply, current diet and receipes from the web. Yummy is specially designed for the kitchen. No waste of space : it fits on the wall. It is designed to enhance standing interactions (fast and simple operations) in the kitchen."

it recommends recipes based on your food supply, your diet, and recipes on the web. You can update your recipes by adding comments on the blog using the touchscreen and taking pictures from the plunging camera. It can also scan bar codes on products to add them to your house stock. yummy can also access media such as podcasts, video blogs, music, webtv, and skype.


it would be totally awesome to have a tool like this in the kitchen ...

sauer macht lustig

the old german saying sauer macht lustig literally translates into sour makes happy. that does not make much sense in english, right? it does not really make sense in german either, and i never understood why. in german we rarely distinguish between sour and acidic, so this even contributes to my confusion ...

apparently this weird saying where nobody really knows what it means derives from "sauer macht appetit" ... and if i may translate this loosely as "if you eat acidic food you will beg for more!"

yes, i totally second that!

there'd be enough for two if you follow my recipe below ... but i ate it all up myself. bring me the pot, i even want to lick every little rest out of there! and i am not even particularly hungry today.

so sour / acidic does indeed make you happy!
that dish certainly made my day :D

recipe # 5: sauerkraut roux soup (adapted from this recipe)

200 g sauerkraut
0,5 liter vegetable stock
150 g potatoes (4 really small ones)
1 bayleaf
1 juniper berry
1 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 small onion
1 tbsp of butter
1 tbsp of flour

1. put the vegetable stock, the peeled and diced potatoes, the bayleaf and the juniper berry in a pot and cook until the potatoes are tender
2. in the meantime heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a pan and fry the diced onion (if you want to add meat or saussage, you can do that here ...)
3. cut the sauerkraut a little if necessary and add it to the potatoes in the vegetable stock as soon as the potatoes are tender
4. add the fried onions as well and take out the bayleaf and the juniper berry - if you manage to find it :D
   
5. make a roux in the pan where you just fried your onion by melting one tablespoon of butter and sprinkle in one tablespoon of flour. you will get out all those delicious flavours if you use the pan from before
   
6. add the roux to the sauerkraut soup and bring to a boil
   
   
   
7. if you like your soup really sauerkrauty, save some of the juices from the krautpackage and season the finished soup with it - i like mine only mildly acidic, so i don't do that
   

no abstinence, no soup

not that i consider that daily dose of soup as "abstinence", but since there is no fasting on sundays during lent i thought that i should also pause my soup quest on sundays. i am totally craving some sweet biscuits instead. maybe with tea? yes, i'll make myself a decent pot of earl grey tea that go with the ...

anzac biscuits (i used this recipe, here is another one)

1 cup of oatmeal
1 cup of coconut shreds
1 cup of flour
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup butter (120 g)
1 tbsp syrup (the original recipe requires golden syrup, i used agave syrup)
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp water

1. mix together oatmeal, coconut shreds, flour and sugar
2. melt butter and syrup in a saucepan
   
3. mix baking powder with the water and add to the butter and syrup
4. remove the saucepan from the stove and pour the mixture over the dry ingredients
5. make flat cookies and put them on baking paper. didn't exactly know how shape them evenly so i pressed them into a cookie cutter
   
   
   
6. bake at 150° - 160° for about 20 minutes
   
7. let cool on a rack
8. store in an airtight container (or in your belly)

makes exactly 69 (small) cookies ... they all may miraculously disappear in my mouth over the next few days ...

i first though anzac was a turkish word - it sounds really turkish to me anyway - but i quickly disovered that in fact this is australias national biscuit! how cool is that - i am such a huge fan of anything remotely connected to australia or new zealand!

the anzac biscuit seems to be perfect to satisfy my itch for something sweet. i don't have any fancy ingredients in stock at the moment, so i had to go with a pretty basic recipe. they taste lovely and will be the quick fix for my cravings on lazy sundays from now on!

yes, and i finally got myself some nice little imperial tools (thank you, ikea). converting measurements back and forth all the time is just not worth the fuss ... though i prefer metric over imperial - i just can not visualize imperial units! while i never had troubles with the old kids joke "what is heavier? a kilo of bricks or a kilo of feathers?" - a kilo is a kilo is a kilo, you stupid kids! stop thinking about volumes! (and yes, i was a bit of a geeky wise ass as a kid) ... but somehow i can not visualise "cups" in front of my mind's eye - weird, huh?

it's not easy being green ...

i have never been too fond of peas. whenever they are on my plate i push them aside. it is not so much the taste, i actually like that. it is the shape that i don't like. that may sound weird, but i just can't stand to put a spoon full of peas in my mouth and i end up chewing half an hour on the membrane ... silly, i know. but i just don't like that.

somehow it seems to make sense to make a soup out of peas though ... i totally like this soup and it is virtually the only way that i allow peas in my house :)

recipe # 4: pea soup and wiener würstchen
1 onion
1 tbsp vegetable oil
300 ml vegetable stock
250 g drained peas (one can)
200 g crème fraîche (i take the lean rama cremefine)
one or two wiener saussages (hot dog saussages will definitely work too)

1. sautée the onion in one tablespoon of olive oil
2. add the vegetable stock and bring to a boil
3. throw in the drained peas and cook for about 1o minutes
4. mix as smooth as possible with a hand-held blender
   
5. fold in the crème fraîche / rama cremefine
6. you could eat it like that, but in my oppinion the soup tastes better if you remove the floating bits of the peas by pouring it through a sieve
7. for an extra something cut up a wiener saussage and cook it in the strained soup for about 5 minutes

here in austria we actually call the wiener frankfurter würstel

my favorite colour

... is yellow!

so why not have a tasty yellow soup? allright, allright, you convinced me.
so curry, coconut milk and chickpeas it is!

recipe # 3: curry + coconut milk + chickpeas - soup

1 tbsp vegetable oil
leek
250 ml coconut milk
150 ml water
150 g chickpeas
curry powder
salt
pepper

1. soak the chickpeas in water overnight
   
2. heat one tablespoon of vegetable oil and saute the finely chopped leek
3. add one tablespoon of curry powder and keep stirring
4. add the water
   
5. add the coconut milk and bring to a boil
6. throw in the chickpeas and reduce the heat
   
7. let simmer until the chickpeas are tender (i guess that took about 45 minutes)
   

i should try a soup with meat one of these days

yes, gluten-free

taking an interest in my nutrition and being more aware of what i stuff in my mouth has one neat side effect: i now realise how diverse my diet has become over the past few month. i started to enjoy vegan and gluten-free food without even knowing it. i hold that accountable for a general improvement of my wellbeing. while i might not have the stamina to become a full-blown vegan, it is always delicious to try out new cooking methods off the beaten track (my beaten track, that is). i am such a huge fan of the gluten-free girl, by the way!

i started my food blog with buckwheat back in 2005. i ate it for the first time then and i fell in love with it right away. i even made a buckwheat pic my signature shot of my food-ography photoset over at flickr, and i never felt the need to change it, because i still think buckwheat is so incredibly delicious and versatile.

recipe # 2: clear buckwheat soup with veggies

3 tbsp buckwheat
1 tbsp vegetable oil
onion
leek
one carrot
500 ml water
salt
pepper
bay leaf

1. dice the onion and cut the vegetables
2. in a pot, heat the oil and sautée the onions
3. stir in the buckwheat and add the water (vegetable stock should taste fine too)
   
4. bring to a boil
5. reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes (i like my buckwheat firm to the bite, if you like it softer, just increase the cooking time here)
   
6. take out the bay leaf
7. add the rest of the vegetables and let simmer for another 10 minutes
8. when the vegetables are done season to taste and serve
   

same soup, different year?

i am not really a religious person, but being raised roman-catholic, ash wednesday marks the beginning of lent and i have always followed the rule to not eat meat on that day (plus i don't eat meat on good friday). a meat-less diet is not a sacrifice for me and so i decided to not smoke today. i am not a confirmed smoker, but damn, it hurts to not have my cigarette with my coffee. but you are right, i definitely should skip this nasty habit for good. i smoked my first cigarette when i was 25 - seriously: how stupid do you have to be to make it through your teenage years without a single drag and start in your late 20ies? i have been an occasional smoker for the first few years only smoking on weekends, but somehow i ended up on a pack every day. i quit every once in a while (haven't smoked for 4 month in 2005), but somehow i don't seem to be able to stop at the moment ... i desperately need a challenge to distract me from the nicotine ...

last year i challenged myself during the 40 days of lent to cook a different soup every day. yeah, i failed with flying colours ...

soups have always been a favorite of mine, and while i often cook soups somehow i rarely blog about them. so i will renew my soup vow this year and once again try to cook a different soup every day during lent. i tried some rather interesting recipes last year and most of them really where keepers.

do i think that i am up to the challenge this year?
will i be able to really come up with 40 blog posts of soups?
i don't know yet.
we'll see.
i certainly will try harder this year.

recipe # 1: savoy cabbage and anchovy soup

about 300 g savoy cabbage (one small cabbage)
1 small onion
500 ml water (take vegetable stock if you like)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 table spoons of crème fraîche (i prefer lean rama cremefine)
salt
pepper
nutmeg
1 tbsp cress
a few anchovis

1. cut a savoy cabbage in quarters and remove the stalk
   
2. roughly cut into fairly large stripes (about 3-4 cm)
   
   
   clean them if necessary (rinsing should be fine)
   
3. dice the onion
4. in a pot, heat the oil and stew the onion and the cabbage for a little while
5. chop up two or three anchovis and add them to the cabbage
   
6. remove some of the cabbage stripes for garnish and add the water
7. bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes
8. mix it all with a hand-held blender until smooth
   
9. fold in crème fraîche
10. season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg - easy on the salt, the anchovies usually are very salty!
    
11. pour in a soup bowl and garnish with cabbage stripes, cress and another anchovi if you like
    

makes about 750 ml of soup

we are friends, right?

here's the thing:
i really like you.
you leave comments.
you send emails.
hey, we bond! we connect! we share!

while comments on me going all organic lately are the virtual pat on the shoulder i can't help but wonder why i only see well photographed and mouthwatering recipes in food blogs and i myself strive to only show you pretty dishes too. shouldn't we be able to share the not so successful things as well? why is it that i am so obsessed with only showing off my good side here? shouldn't i be able to tell you about the terrible food i eat? the unhealthy stuff? the recipes i fail at? well, i certainly should!

but i don't want to show you recipes that don't photograph well.
and i don't want to show you the mess i made in the kitchen.
i certainly don't want to show you humiliating shrink-wrapped food!

why is that?

because i want your approval.
i want to look good here!

so in an act of confession i will lower myself into the catacombs of convenience food and i'm going to show you the dinner i just ate.

i have been a fan of texmex-food for a while now and i have never even attempted to cook it from scatch. never made tortillas myself, never bought spices for seasoning, i believe the only ingredient i add is the minced meat, the cheese and the avocado. i don't even know how to fold those babies, i just wrap them up as tight as humanly possible, throw them in a little dish and stick them in the oven for a few minutes. i believe every texmex fan would slap me in the face for that.







shouldn't we share our failures as well? in real life that's the part where you learn something: you make a mistake, you try again, you get help and guidance from friends and you become better in what you do. and you most likely never make that mistake again.

hey, somebody should really invent a food blog event that deals with failures in cooking.
like: "the worst accident in my kitchen" of the month for terrible flops or "the dish that tastes great but looks like sh**" of the month for improving photographical skills ... readers could leave comments to help you on!

but on the other hand: do i really like to see a gazillion blogs with terrible photos of uninspired tv dinners? i doubt that. i have my hands full with all the blogs i want to follow, i couldn't possibly handle hundreds more.

we could make a compromise, dear friend, shall we? i am really bad at asking for help. like really really bad. i am too proud, i always want to do things on my own. so in order to loosen up a bit i could write my food questions on my dinner for one table here. because i often have questions and i almost always lack the resources to have them answered. not many of my friends are obsessed with food. and i never dare to ask if something does not turn out the way i expected. as i said, i am really bad at asking for help. but you could be my kitchen aid (pun intended!). i think i feel comfortable enought now to ask you for help. i think i should even make a whole new blogger label for that.

just needed to get that off my chest, sorry for interrupting.
thanks for listening, friend.

ps: being really new to the foodblog scene at the time (and having no idea what a food blog event is), here's an interesting challenge from november 2005. rachel at fresh aproach cooking hosted my blog went up in flames back then - thank you for drawing my attention to this, sam!

memory lane

my grandfather cooked for me this week!

ever since my grandma passed away two years ago he really had to change his life. he always assumed he was the first to go, and he always said that it would be a disaster for the whole family if my grandmother would pass away first. and somehow we found ourselves in this situation - and my grandfather was probably right. my grandmother was the perfect homemaker. the whole family had to adapt to this unfamiliar situation, and we often failed in "recreating" her spirit. she is still missed every single day, and everything in my grandparent's house still reminds us of her.

in a very traditional way she always considered everything inside the house her stomping ground - especially the kitchen.

and while it has always been bit little of a passion of my grandfather to cook, my grandma was a very sassy and feisty woman. she rarely let him make a lunch for the family, and only if the grandchildren or their children insisted hard enough she would finally give in and let him make one of his famous (and very traditional) dishes. really, who could refuse a request for opas brotsuppe if a grandchild would stare at you with big sheep's eyes? as a matter of fact, my grandma would also keep my uncle the chef off her patch! as i said, she was a very feisty woman :D

however, my grandfather was not used to doing stuff around the house at all when my grandmother died, and he still needs a lot of help from his seven children and their spouses. they take turns in doing the laundry, cleaning and clearing up. some of the grandchildren take care of him too, playing cards as a diversion and keeping him company in the evenings. my brother is my hero for doing that almost every night! most of the grandchildren live in the area (i guess i am the only one living more than 50 kilometers away) and they often drop by with the great-grandchildren to cheer him up.

while he needs a hand on all the household stuff, as far as the kitchen is concerned - this has really become his territory now! i am somewhat relieved to see that and he still lightens up when somebody requests a special repast. and i am impressed that he does not only make the staple pot roast, bread soup or smoked meat, he also succeeds in making slow roasted and marinated game (i can not believe that is the english word for "wild")

so when we told him i was coming home and i'd really like to have lunch at his place i believe he was looking forward to that as much as i was. cheerful moments around the family table are rare these days, i guess both our lifes have become very similar as far as eating alone in front of the tv is concerned ...

he cooked geselchtes mit kraut und knödel for us - smoked meat (cooked) with dumplings and kraut. very traditional, very rural.

most of the meat is pure fat, and i have to admit that i am not really turned on by that. my plate usually does not see a pure junk of fat meat. i prefer the lean bits, and it was the same here: i only ate the lean meat with lots and lots of kraut and dumplings. as always, my grandpa would state that i was a picky eater and sneak the bits i didn't want off my plate.

always a must when i am home, even if it is just for a few hours: having coffee with grandpa while the big old dog is stretching under the table. and wow, the milk tastes so differently! i really love fresh milk (virtually straight from the cow!) although i am not a big fan of milk in general (lactose intolerance?) so if i bought a liter of cow milk from the farmer down the road it might only go bad in my fridge - i only need milk for my coffee.

i tell you, this is the look, feel and taste of my childhood! food-wise i've come a long way, but sometimes it is a blessing to just go back and eat the traditional peasant food of my home.

a love story

must ... make ... mini chocolate cakes ...

90 g chocolate
90 g butter
3 eggs
3 tbsp of caster sugar
4 tbsp of flour

1. preheat oven to 220 °c
   
2. melt chocolate and butter over hot water
   
3. thoroughly whisk eggs and sugar and add the melted chocolate/butter-mix
   
4. whisk in 3 teaspoons of flour
   
5. spoon into cups
   
6. bake for 20 minutes

if you dare you can bake them for 10 minutes only and get a soft centered version. the best way to eat them soft is with whipped cream or ice cream ... yummmmm-mmmiee!

as i watched ainsley's gourmet express the other day i remembered that they once made those soft centered chocolate pudding things ... i could not find the recipe online and i did not remember all the correct mesurements for the ingredients, so i made up a recipe on my own. i had such a craving for chocolate pudding, i just couldn't wait!

after some more research (and with chocolate smeared around my mouth) i found a similar pudding on the bbc homepage. this recipe is by ben o'donoghue, a tv chef i've come to really like - i don't know much about him, but i know his sensational recipes on the bbc2 show "the best" with paul merrett, silvana franco & ben o'donoghue.

i love that show so much, i could marry it ... or eat it!

and while i am really glad that i can get a decent cooking channel via satellite here, i really really really could move to london again just for all those mouthwatering bbc cooking shows. i might even do that - i can spend a semester abroad (all expenses paid) before i finish my masters degree, so i might as well go back to london ... stupid austria, i'd even have to pay twice as much for the books of my favorite cookery shows here. that's really unfair.

so you see, i just have to spend some more time in london!
a girl can dream, right?
*wipes the chocolate off her face*

winter deliciousness

i was used to go shopping four or five times a week, i'd always buy exactly what i needed, then i went home and i prepared my meal. i almost never bought convenience food, i bought my ingredients and did the cooking at home. i hardly ever had leftovers, and i did not throw away much of my food either. i figured i was making really good economic sense this way.

it never really occured to me that i was actually spending a lot of money that way too - untill i was getting interested in organic food and local produce last summer. i always thought that this is something a single person just has to deal with. i have no room for storage, i have no freezer, i can not buy cheaper family sized packages. i just have to go with the smaller packages and spend a little more money. well, that little more obviousely piles up over the days, weeks and months! but really, insted of buing single portions for my dinner, i could have easily spent money to buy quality food instead of the quick fix.

and while i always had a good example for an economical lifestyle in my mother and grandmother, i am really living a rather urban single lifestyle that is not always combinable with stockkeeping and accurate planning.

with my attention towards organic food it suddenly became very clear to me that i was actually wasting my money because all this short-term planning was more convenient. i'd always make an excuse for the easy, single & urban way out (remember? i am a cheater!).

leaning towards a more organic and more balanced diet did not exactly make me a nutrition expert, but now i spend much more time thinking about what i eat, where i buy my food and - yes, now i plan ahead! because i would never want my farm box deliciousness to go bad - well, it happened a few times, sure. but i am getting better at the whole planning. this does not really require a lot of effort but the results are very surprinsing, acutally!

i was looking through my finances the other day (i am a very accurate person when it comes to my records) i noticed something really interesting. i always figured that i just shifted my budget from expensive single portions to expensive organic food. but i was wrong! it just so happened that i now spend only about 75% of the money i spent on food before. how did that happen?!? i buy all that expensive organic stuff now, i go to local markets, i go to organic supermarkets, i buy a lot of treats (like a pack of oreos every now and then, and they are actually quite expensive here in austria and you can only get them on like ONE supermarket in town), so how on earth could my expenses drop?

it must be all the planning! i think i am really a far-seeing person now, just like my mum is and my grandma used to be! i took some getting used to, but now i think i am finally there! it might only be a little thing, but ... i am actually really proud of myself. pad me on the shoulder please!

(well, you don't have to. i did it myself already)

see that, i am rambling again :) i always do that when i talk about stuff i care about. i acutally wanted to show you my delicous winter salad! it contains things from this weeks and last weeks farm box, and everything's still crunchy and fresh and nothing is rotten (so far) ...

• lettuce
  
• radicchio (soak in warm water for a while to remove the bitterness)
  
• carrots (different colours again!)
  
• a tomato (i only started eating tomatos last summer, now i even add them to my salad)
  
• an apple
• feta cheese
  
• balsamico vinegar
  
• pumpkin seed oil
  
• salt
  
• pepper
  
• parsley
  

a pink elephant in the room

dammit!

after my thoughts about vegetarianism the other day i noticed that i might not be cut out for it at all: for one, if i was a vegetarian, i figured i would clearly not choose this path for animal rights reasons. i would choose it for health reasons - my health, that is. i want to be healthier, i want to be fitter, i want to avoid all the the junk, the bad food additives and the e-numbers . i want to go organic with everything i eat, actually. including meat. i want to support local agriculture, local producers and i want to enjoy the harvest of my home soil.

being a vegetarian takes a lot of passion and devotion i guess. something that i lack most of the time, because i am a lazy person. i cheat. if i work out for 24 minutes i tell myself that i exercised for half an hour. see? i cheat! i totally lie to myself and i even believe it! i could never be a devoted vegetarian - i would always be a cheater. and not eating meat that often does not make me anything else than a person that does not eat meat that often.

thinking about banishing meat from my diet triggered a weird string of events: barbecue lunch invitations, very special bargain offers of various meats in my supermarket, delicious left overs from a party ... suddenly i see meat everywhere!! and i crave it every time! pork, that delicious pork!

it is almost like there's a pink elephant in the room and i am not allowed to talk about it because i made those remarks about turning into a vegetarian.

oh well.
self-awareness is a good thing, right?
so there you go.


i can not be a vegetarian.
i just can't.

and i will have pork pockets tonight. i have not eaten pork in years and suddenly my body (my mind?) demands it. and i will totally give in. just like oscar wilde said: "the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it ... i can resist everything but temptation." yes, i know exactly what he meant by that.

i am weak, and i like it.

3 mini steaks
a knob of butter
two carrots
a bell pepper
a tomato
100 ml of cream (i used rama cremefine)
salt
pepper
fennel seeds
275 g of puff pastry

1. season steaks with salt and pepper
   
2. in a pan, melt a knob of butter and briefly brown the steaks
3. in the meantime preheat oven to 180 °c
4. take the meat out of the pan
   
5. dice the vegetables and fry them in the same pan
6. add the cream and the fennel seeds and let simmer for a while to reduce the liquid
7. season to taste
   
8. cut the puff pastry in 3 big pieces, place the mini steak in the middle and arrange the veggies on the meat
   
9. fold together and bake at 180 °c for about 30 minutes. increase temperature to 220 °c and bake for another 15 minutes
   

is it a bird? is it a plane?

why no! it is a blogger postcard around the world!


what a lovely surprise today as i went downstairs to my mailbox! lovely jen did not only send me a postcard, no, she sent me two postcards, a valentine's card and recipes!! i am totally smitten, thanks jen! i taped the cards to my fridge and as far as the boston related recipes are concerned ... you can be sure you'll find them here pretty soon!

have a great valentine too, my newly found blogger friend :)

three kinds of wonderful

i have not been cooking at all in a while.

in a desperate attempt to save the remains of two farm boxes i found a lovely surprise today ... a violet carrot! i've never seen one before and i did not even know i had some delivered this week (stupid me, i am in such a hurry these days that i don't even read the bill of delivery in my farm box).

the violet ancestor of my regular (and much loved) orange carrot is indeed very pretty, but i had no idea that there are still so many colourful versions around!


and with the yellow carrot still in my fridge from last week i figured i'd make a carrot soup. simple, quick, plain old carrot soup. but three times as delicious as usually!

1 leek
3 carrots
olive oil
0,5 l
water
salt

1. cut the leek and fry it in a tables spoon of olive oil
2. cut carrots into cubes, you can leave some dices for decoration
3. when the leek starts to brown add half a liter of water and bring to a boil
4. throw in the carrots and boil for about 10 minutes
5. fish out the dices you'll need for decoration
6. with a handblender, mash up the soup
7. season to taste (i like salt only, but you can of course use what ever herb you like)
8. ladle onto a soup plate and decorate with the colorful discs. i also decorated / seasoned the soup with pumpkin seed oil

not only very pretty, but very yummie as well!

off you go, little postcard!

technorati tags: bpw, blogger postcards around the world

i might become a vegetarian

in fact, only a part time vegetarian. i think i could never entirely live without meat (and i don't plan to do so), but over the last few years i voluntarily and somewhat accidentally narrowed down my intake of beeves.

i have a friend who claims that he's a vegetarian but sometimes, about once a month at least, he eats meat - when he's at a party and they have really great meat on the buffet or when his girlfriend cooks a really delicious meat dish and he just can't resist to try.

i always bug him that i think it's pretty phoney to call himself a vegetarian because i think he only does it for image-reasons. he likes to draw attention to the fact that he is taking good care of himself. and being a vegetarian totally proves his point there. i always tell him that's really lame and he should try to buy organic food instead.

i never brag about the fact that like 75% of my groceries are organic and from local producers. sure, you can not always buy locally grown stuff, but i really like to pay attention to where my nourishments comes from. it's a really big deal for me and i probably should wear a shirt that says "buy organic food, dammit!" to raise awareness about this issue that has become more and more important to me.

but back to becoming a vegetarian. i often go without meat for several weeks (very often totally unnoticed) and i 've asked myself why i do that. i think i am generally leaning towards a more balanced nutrition and wholefood these days. i simply became more aware of how my diet influences my general wellbeing. and ever since i ordered my first farm box i've discovered so many beautiful new flavours that the taste of plain meat just is not enough anymore.

lamb?
can't stand the taste (and the smell). i never could, and that probably won't change.
beef?
can't even remember if i ever bought beef and prepared it in my own kitchen. maybe some mixed minced meat for burgers every now and then, but that is about it.
pork?
the food of my childhood was all about pork, we had schnitzel or pork roast every sunday. i think i've had enough :)
seafood?
i hardly ever buy seafood. only if a recipe specifically requires shrips, for example. but scallops? nope, never had scallops. the very thought of slurping oysters gives me the creeps. and i can not imagine eating caviar either. how can you eat something destined for procreation? gosh, don't even get me started on the weird (and not seafood at all) rocky mountain oysters ...
fish?
i eat it less often than i wish i would. maybe once a month, and then often as a quick take out of the local nordsee. as a child i was addicted to fishsticks but i think i've never even ate fishsticks since i had my own place. (damn, now i am craving them!)
poultry?
it looks like turkey and chicken are about the only meat i buy and prepare myself. even if i buy processed meat, saussage and stuff i am always choosing poultry over beef or pork.

let's face it. a viennese schnitzel plus potato salad just doesn't do it for me anymore. it's good every now and then, but let's be honest, it is also pretty dull. in fact, at times i don't even crave the odd wurstbrot. i much rather grab a piece of fruit or vegetable.

not eating meat at all is always just a phase, a phase i usually have during summer. but the only meat i had so far this year was the szegedin goulash. it seems that i even try to make my goulash vegetarian these days :) !

it really is time to include some more animal products in my diet, or i might start calling myself a vegetarian for no reason too, just like my sassy old friend :)


so i'll have some lovely green beans and shrimp with a light sauce. nothing special really, just my monthly dose of fish/seafood.

winter, finally

allright, so we finally have some snow over here! it makes me want to go to a christkindelmarkt and eat some schokofrüchte (chocolate covered bananas and oranges) ... hey wait, as far as the second craving is concerned, i can easily fulfil that desire!

székelygulyás

i just love all the influences of various ethnicities in austrian cuisine! my country used to be a multiethnic monarchy under habsburg rule until 1918, i believe you all know that from history class (or, maybe not). it expanded eastwards starting out from the teeny tiny austria i live in today and included parts of the czech republic, slovakia, poland, hungary, italy, slovenia, croatia, serbia, romania and the ukraine.

up to the present day we have so many diverse dishes, so many flavours and textures and so many regional specialities still influenced by eastern europe and the former duchies, counties and kingdoms of the austrian empire. history around the globe teaches us that it's not exactly easy to manage a large empire with diverse ethnicities and austria inarguably has had a large share of a very dark moment in history.

still, i grew up to not only tolerate but embrace diversity in beliefs, religions, traditions and above all food! i value that highly.

when i was little it never really occured to me that i was so incredibly influenced by eastern european cuisine. i always believed that the dishes i grew up with where typically austrian and only found out about their history when i grew up to be a food loving teenager. bohemian pastry, mediterranean and balkan meat dishes, and not to forget the comforting eastern european stews are all a staple in my diet.

i just adore topfengolatschen (bohemian) with a nice cup of coffee in the afternoon.

minced meat ćevapčići (balkan) where my favorite fast food snack as a child and still are our traditional family christmas dish today. forget the turkey, my family has eaten ćevapčići for at least 20 years on christmas eve. i often get a "what?!? where is the roast pork?!?" when i describe our luscious feast with ćevapčići and a wide range of side dishes, sauces and various breads.

when i think of comfort food from my childhood - cheap, easy, quick, filling and delicious - i always think of the hungarian goulash. it still is the most comforting food i could ever eat.


this will also be my contribution to the brandnew foodblog event waiter, there's something in my ... stew, because goulash really has always been comfort food for me. my mama makes like a gazillion versions of this hungarian speciality and szegedin goulash (or as we call it: szegediner gulasch) has always been my favorite. when we have regular goulash i usually push the meat aside and drown white bread in the sauce, but when szegedin goulash is on the menu is finish off the whole plate, i request seconds (and often more) and i always feel the urge to lick the plate when i'm done eating ... oh yes, and then my pants pop :) ... when i've eaten too much i can always sip a little slivovitz (eastern european) ... indeed, sweet relief!

400 g diced goulash meat (pork)
500 g sauerkraut
vegetable oil
1 onion
3 tsp paprika powder (you can take as much as you like, even up to 2 tsp)
1 clove of garlic
about 150 ml water
salt
bay leaf
2 tbsp flour
150 ml milk

1. in a pot, gently fry diced onion and diced garlic in a little vegetable oil
   
2. add pork and continue to cook until the meat is turning brown
3. add the sauerkraut. some people like to drain or even rinse it, but i prefer putting it into the pot with all the juicy liquid. i also like to rinse the package with a little water (about 150 ml), so there's enough liquid in the goulash later
   
4. bring to a boil
5. now add the paprika and the bay leaf
6. reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes
7. mix flour and milk and add to the goulash to thicken it
8. bring to a boil again
   
9. serve with plain bread or cooked potatoes
   

i have never made this goulash myself, so danke für das rezept, mama :)

my siblings and i gave my parents "the internet" and a laptop for christmas and my mother is slowly losing her fear of technology. she can even skype me now, she can check and send emails and she is also beginning to discover those mysterious things called "weblogs" ...

technorati tags: wtsim, waiter theres something

so i kick back with my goulash and listen to the strong wind outside ... a storm warning has been issued yesterday for central europe, and i am kind of worried about that. though i have always been fascinated by thunder and lightning i have never witnessed something like that before. it's really a very unusual weather situation and the storm is expected to hit the northern part of the alps (where i live) in two to three hours with 150 km/h. i honestly don't know if i should be afraid or excited.


i am just watching the news where they have live coverage of various locations in austria preparing for the storm - everyone is on red alert. that really is a weird situation right now ... i better prepare a few candles and matches, i don't want to be surprised by a power blackout ...

update

it is 23:30 now and various things, odds and ends are tumbling around on my neighbours terrace ... why didn't he put that stuff in the shed? he'll probably find his patio furniture and his plants in the danube tomorrow, a few kilometers downstream ...

now the light starts quivering, that definitely feels weird. thank good i am in a solidly built house and i don't have to be afraid that the roof gets blown off ... but the loud wind and the noise from all the stuff that gets blown away outside is definitely giving me the creeps!

another update

so how did you other europeans survive this stormy night? the hurricane was gone when i woke up and though there still are rather strong winds, neither myself nor anybody i know was harmed during the night. my sister could not get to work in time this morning and there still is a blackout in the remote village where my grandfather lives, but my mama is taking care of him and bringing coffee and warm food until the broken wires are repaired.

apparently upper austria was hit very hard (137 km/h in linz-hörsching) and with lower austria and salzburg the most damage was done along the northern side of the alps. we had a peak of 216 km/h in the alpine upland in salzburg. that sounds really scary!

i will skip university today and i'll take a walk around my neighbourhood later to see if anything is heavily damaged. but it looks totally quiet outside right now, there might be some damage on the current building site near the danube (they are errecting a protective wall to prevent flooding of my neighbourhood). there are no warnings about flooding in linz right now, but its raining heavily and we might have to expect something over the next few days ...

pirogi, pierogi, perogi, perogy, piroghi, piroshki, pirozhki, pyragai, piroghi, pirogi, pyrohy, пирог and пирожок

while the classic pierogi are of eastern european origin these semi-circular dumplings are no strangers to the regional cuisine here in the bohemian forest in upper austria. there are some well known regional varieties in austria like the schlutzkrapfen in tirol or the kasnudeln in carinthia. in germany, or more specific in swabia, they have the famous maultaschen. that's what we call them too. pierogi are really big north america where immigrants added them to the cuisine. i did not know that either.

i don't make them that often and i never made them totally from scratch, but i mostly make them savory and stuff them with minced meat or cabbage. i also like to drown the pierogis in tomato sauce ... mmmmmmh ...

the other day i came across another interesting variation of the pierogi, the karjalanpiirakka from finland and i decided to give it a try. so here we go!

(makes 6 pierogi)

75 ml water
50 g rice (originally puuroriisi or grötris, i used risotto rice)
salt
150 ml milk

50 ml cold water
1/2 tsp salt
50 g flour (wheat)
25 g flour (rye)
12 g melted butter

butter
water

1/2 egg
25 g butter

1. boil the rice in water and a dash of salt until all the water has been absorbed
2. add milk and cook for another 30 minutes on low heat
3. mix water, salt, flour and butter until well blended
4. roll out the dough into circles on a lightly floured surface. make sure it is thin enough
5. place a spoon full of the rice on each circle and fold the edges up
6. bake 5-10 minutes at 275-300°c
7. melt a knob of butter in some water and brush the freshly baked perogies with the mixture
8. serve warm with an egg-butter mixture (dice one hard boiled egg and mix with butter)

actually, i have no idea how the karjalanpiirakka are supposed to taste and i can only imagine how they should look like ... well, my version seems to be totally bent out of shape *ggg*. making a dish you don't even know can be some sort of a blind flight, but this recipe just sounded too cool not to try. it tastes pretty good and bearing the fact in mind that i really have no idea about the real taste of this dish, i think i did a good job with this version of the pierogi.


ps: i have seen this picto broswer in a few blogs lately. i thought i'll try it too. if you want to know more just click here.

oh behave! and bring me the crumpets!

after a couple of lazy days without grocery shopping this morning i unfortunatley had to discover that i was all out of bread! oh god! there is not a single slice of toast left in the freezer and with all my no knead creations consumed ... what is a girl supposed to do on her lazy morning without anything for breakfast?! now i am not a big breakfast person, but if i have to starve on my lazy tuesdays (probably the only lazy mornings left, including weekends) i get totally cranky. sure, i could eat weetabix with milk and honey, but i am so not in the mood for a dusty brick when i want to indulge in a gorgeous toast and jam orgy before i head to university.

trying to find my zen again and trying to chase away that terrible mood of mine (because i just can't stand myself when i am totally pissed!) i remembered something: i've always wanted to make crumpets ever since i found a recipe over at the real epicurean.

so there you go. i am no longer angry, i am british now. or at least in my little make-believe kitchen i am recreating an authentic (and perfect!) au-pair 1996/1997 breakfast. minus the baked beans and the saussage, of course!

lacking the fresh yeast to try the recipe mentioned above i googled "crumpets instant yeast" and found a lovely little recipe. i adapted my version from here.

1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2/3 cup water

1 cup of flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup lukewarm milk

butter

1. mix 1/2 cup of flour and 1 teaspoon of instant yeast
2. add 2/3 cup of water and mix together until smooth
3. cover and leave to stand in a warm place for about 15 minutes
4. sift a cup of flour and 1/2 tsp of salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre
5. pour in the yeast mixture and 1/2 cup of lukewarm milk
6. beat the batter for 5 minutes to incorporate air
7. cover and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour
8. melt a tiny knob of butter in a frying pan over medium heat
9. grease the inside of cookie cutters (or crumpet rings, if you are lucky enough to have some!)
10. ladle the batter into the cookie cutters filling them about 2/3
11. cook the crumpets for about 5-10 minutes until the are nicely browned underneath
12. turn once and continue cooking until browned

oh, i just love the spongy texture of those lovely little things! i have missed them dearly because you just can't get crumpets here in austria ... it is good to know that i can recreate them at home :) why haven't i tried that before?

now, i definitely need to make another batch, freeze it and thaw the crumpets whenever i am hungry for british breakfast. that's probably gonna be every day from now on.

day seven, finally done

01 coffee
02 bread and jam
03 water
04 cauliflower with a cheese and garlic sauce
05 water
06 cafe latte
07 kiwi
08 a wurstbrot
09 water
10 hot chocolate
11 a tiny tangerine
12 wasabi coated peas, i think i am addicted!
13 water

well, i am finally done with photographing my food and my drinks. and i tell ya, it honestly has become some sort of a pain in the ***. i was really discouraged at times because my daily routine is really really dull. that never occured to me.

when i started this thing, i really thought that i had something to show this week. and honestly, i also wanted to show off a little and cook all those delicious and pretty things for you to see. as far as that is concerned, things did not work out the way i planned and the list of things i ate is rather pathetic.


so instead of showing off i better stick to the things i like and know best in the future: cook a little something and take a few pictures for you to see ... on the other hand i also learned something (of course, you always learn something in every experience!) ... my diet is really monotone. i might want to try out something new every once in a while!

and another thing: i want to include my friends a little more by not always cooking for one but making regular size meals and share them with them. i am known to be sort of an eremite, and they all respect that. but i have four of my lovely friends living right here in my building, and sharing some time (and food!) over the last week made it all the more clear that i need to have them in my life more often. so that's another resolution i want to make for 2007. serve them something nice maybe once a week? that would be cool.

yeah, this week was not so bad :)

day six

01 cinnamon and sugar toast
02 herbal tea
03 coffee
04 water
05 some toasted dark bread with gouda
06 water
07 a hand full of wasabi coated peas. burns! like! fire! but totally worth it!
08 more herbal tea
09 stir fry: instant noodles and asian veggies - momofuku ando died yesterday :(
10 an advantage if your friends live in the same building: the come over with tiramisu ...
11 ... and apple tea to spontaneously chat the evening away!
12 after that luscious sweet treat do not need anything else. well, maybe water!