Sensual Delights

Torrijas

2010-11-06T16:39:00.006Z

Mmmh, an old time favorite, brought back from Tenerife (Spain).
You need 6 or more thick slices of stale white bread (use a dense bread - not something to fluffy). Spread the bread slices on a plate (or deep dish) and heat 500 ml milk with some sugar (and vanilla). Pour warm milk over bread and let it rest for 30 min, until all milk is soaked up. Heat up 500 ml of olive oil (or a little more, the deep pan should be filled with 2 cm of oil). Beat up 2 eggs and turn the bread in them. Only when the oil is really hot bake the bread slices (in batches) until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and turn in a sugar and cinnamon mix. Enjoy hot or cold (although warm is the best ;o).

Und die deutsche Fassung:
6 daumendicke Scheiben Weißbrot (altbacken) in einer tiefen Platte auslegen.

1/2 l Milch mit 1 El Zucker + Vanille o. Vanillezucker erhitzen und über das Brot geben und ca. 30 min. ziehen lassen.

2 Eier verquirlen und die Brotscheiben vorsichtig darin wenden.

Währenddessen 1/2 - 1 l Olivenöl (ca. 2 cm Öl in Topf oder Pfanne) erhitzen und Brotscheiben nacheinander darin ausbacken.

Auf Küchenpapier abtropfen lassen und in 5 El Zucker-Zimt-Mischung wälzen.

Heiß oder kalt servieren.

Flan Casero / Flan Caramel

2010-03-03T16:48:00.015Z

We are just back from Patagonia and finally I tried one of our most favorite 'postres' from Spain and Southamerica. This time not the stuff from Royal, but the real 'casero'-style. I used the following recipe:

Heat 1/3 cup (75 g) sugar with some lemon juice (just a few drops) until caramelised.

Fill 5-6 cups (ramequins) with the caramel.

Heat 2 cups (500 ml) milk with some lemon zest and mark of a vanilla pod until boiling, then put aside to cool a bit.

Crack 4 eggs and beat until smooth. Stir in the hand warm milk, mix well and fill the cups (ramequins) to the top.

All the ramequins should fit into a pan/oven dish that you fill with a bit of water (some recipes say it should be hot water, I used cold one). I found a recipe that said you should cook the flan at 150 °C for 20-30 min, but I found out that this is not true, as you need nearly 60 min with that temperature. So next time I try it at 180 °C and see how long that takes. However, I also found out that the higher temperature will increase the risks of getting air bubbles in the flan (as I like it smooth, but also with bubbles I wouldn't care to much.)

Leave the flan in the oven to cool down and store in the fridge for a day or two (if you can wait that long) to let the caramel soak into the custard.

OK, we couldn't wait and tried the first flan 2 hours after coming out of the oven. 1 h at 150 °C gives a brilliant very creamy, smooth result. Yummie...

And now the German Cheesecake 'Käsekuchen'

2009-08-29T16:44:00.003Z

Yuppie, I will get a cheesecake today ;o)).

Make a pie-pastry from 200 g Flour, 125 g Sugar, 1 tsp Baking Powder, Vanilla Sugar, 130 g Butter, 1 Egg and put in the fridge for at least 30 min.

Roll out to a thin crust and fill a round form with it. Bake at 175 °C for about 20 min.

For the filling: Mix 3 Egg, 180 g Sugar and 100 g Butter until creamy. Add 5 tbsp Flour and mix into the cream. Add 750 g Quark (curd cheese, fromage frais) and 200 g Sour Cream, Juice of 1 Lemon and a handful of Raisins stir until smooth,

Take the crust out of the oven and fill the Quark-mix into it.

Bake at 175 °C for another 1.5 hours.

Cake w/ Raspbeeries

2009-08-17T20:22:00.006Z

Another 'cup'-cake, it seems I can't stop baking at the moment ;o). This time it's a cake with buttermilk and raspberries.

3 Eggs, 1.5 cups Sugar (1 cup white, 1/2 cup brown), Vanilla Sugar, 4 cups Flour, 2 cups Buttermilk, 400 g Raspberries (I justed frozen ones - warmed up at room temperature), 1 tbsp Baking Soda, 100 g Butter Flakes, 1 cup Almond Flakes

Beat the eggs with sugar until it's creamy. Add the flour, mix slowly into the egg-mix and pour in the buttermilk. Mix well together, at the baking soda for the last view moments.

Fill the cake in a deep baking tray (greased) and bake for 20 min at around 180 °C (depending on your oven). Get the cake out and sprinkle with the butter and almond flakes. Bake for another 20-30 min at 180° C (if it gets to dark use some kitchen foil - the silver one - to cover the cake).

Quarkkuchen m. Kirschen

2009-08-09T18:15:00.007Z

And another cake. After getting this brilliant new baking tray, I decided to try a new cake. It's with Quark (or Fromage Frais) and cherries.

6 Eggs, 150 Sugar (I always mix white and brown sugar), 300 g Butter (liquid), 400 g Flour, 1 tsp Baking Powder, White Chocolate Flakes, 2 handful of Cherries (or other fruit), Juice from 1 Lemon, 500 g Quark (Fromage Frais), 150 g Sour Cream, Rasperry Jam.

Beat the eggs with the sugar until creamy. Add the butter carefully and afterwards put in the flour, lemon juice and baking powder.

Divide the mixture in 2 portions and pour one half into a baking tray (greased). Sprinkle with cherries and chocolate flakes.

Add quark and sour cream to the second portion and mix well. Pour onto the cherries mix.

Dig some small holes into the mixture and fill with rasperry jam. Use the back of the spoon to make some nice design with the rasperry.

"Cup"-Cake with Hazelnuts

2009-08-02T14:02:00.012Z

Originally, I was hoping for a real German cheesecake baked by my better half (as he is making the best one), but getting Quark (or even Fromage Frais) in Ireland is not an easy feat, and mostly can't be done without a proper shopping strategy. So, no cheesecake this weekend.

But after having a wonderful Tassenkuchen at my aunt's while visiting Germany two weeks ago, I decided to try my luck as well.

Tassenkuchen (literally translated to cup-cakes) is just a way to describe a cake baked using cups as measurments instead of putting it into grams or mililiter as I think most European countries do. However, this easy (American?) way to bake cake has become quite popular in Germany and therefore we have Tassenkuchen and although it literally translate to cup-cake it's not a cupcake ;o).

As I didn't ask my aunt for her recipe, I just browsed the internet to get some ideas. And here is what I did:

Beat 4 eggs with 1/2 cup of sugar (1/3 cup of it white sugar and the rest brown sugar - I like the flavor).

Add 1 cup of oil, 2 cups of ground hazelnuts (about 200 grams - in Germany you get them ready prepared to buy), 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sparkling water, 1 cup of chocolate bits (I love the Dutch hagelslag from De Ruijter), 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 tablespoon of Rum and 1 almond essence and mix together.

Bake at 180 °C for about an hour or so.

Not sure, if I am happy with this one. Although it tastes lovely, I think it didn't rise enough...

I'll try again. Just checked some other recipes (German only) and they use 2 cups of flour, might try this next time.

Kedgeree

2009-06-01T14:00:00.006Z

work in progress...

Although, not as breakfast (my better half didn't want to start his bank holiday without porridge) we had Kedgeree today. I used Jamie Oliver's recipe as a starting point and then did what I want anyway (that's my usual way to do things, not just when cooking ;o)).

So here is what I did:

First I boiled 2 eggs and cooked 1 cup basmati rice. Next time I won't cook the rice sperately, as I think you can just add with the other ingredients. So for the following recipe, consider that the rice isn't cooked yet.

Finely chop 1 onion, 1 piece of fresh ginger (garlic clove size) and 1 clove of garlic.

Heat 1 tbsp sesame oil in a deep frying pan and add the onion, ginger and galic. Stir for a couple of minutes until the onions start to get golden.

Add 2 tbsp curry powder (be careful - that was a mistake, but I liked it that spicey) and

1 tsp mustard seeds and stir again for a couple of minutes, add 1 tomato and the juice of 1 lemon.

Pour in 1 shot of vodka (I like a shot of vodka in some curry rice, as it will get even hotter) and 1 cup of basmati rice - stir for 1 min and add enough hot water to cove the rice. Stir for about 10-15 min, add more hot water when necessary. A couple of minutes before the rice is done, add 1 good handful of smoked salmon chunks (in Ireland you can by them pre-packed for sandwiches) and finely chop some parsely (or cilantro/coriander if you prefer). Cut the eggs in quarters and mix them into the rice, together with the parsely.

Next time - when I do it properly - I will add a picture as well.

Filled Chicken Breast w/ Lentil No-Mash & Kinda Greek Salad

2009-05-31T16:31:00.008Z

I love bank holiday weekends, as we have enough time to shop around and try something new. As my current favorite food are lentils and I try to get them at least once a week, I adopted the following recipe from The Low GI Diet Cookbook. It was my first go at their recipes and I really love the outcome.

Filled Chicken Breast

For the filling take 8-10 sundried tomatoe halfs, around 50 g Feta cheese, around 75 g fresh spinach, some oil (we used a bit from the sundried tomatoes as they come in oil) and if you think it is not smooth enough you can add some creme cheese (we didn't) and put in a food processor to make a smooth paste.

By the way we found out this makes a lovely spread for bread or crudites as well (as we had more than enough filling for the chicken breasts) and so we had an appetizer while cooking - yummie. However, I don't know how long it will keep in the fridge.

Slice some pockets in 3 chicken breast (as my better half was afraid he might not get enough ;o) and stuff with the filling. Put some olive oil in an oven dish, the filled chicken breast on top, cover with kitchen foil (this silver stuff) and bake in the oven for around 30 min at 200 °C. If you like you can remove the foil at the end of the cooking time (as we did) and put on the grill to give it a nice crusty look.

Lentil Not-Mash

This was supposed to be a lentil mash, but we decided against it ;o). So here is what I did:

Chop 1 onion in little cubes and fry in a bit of oil until golden (you can use a casserole or a deep pan), add a good handful of green lentils and water to cover the lentils. Cook for about 30 min or until lentils as soft as you like them. Season with 1/2 tsp turmeric (kurkuma), 1/4 -1/2 tsp cumin, salt, pepper and some chili flakes (if you don't like it to spicey, leave the chili out of it).

Spinkle with more chopped parsley and mint ;o) - I just had a lot of herbs this weekend.

Kinda Greek Salad

From the rest of the spinach (we mainly got it in bunches of around 200 g), 1 red pepper, 1/2 cucumber, the rest of the Feta cheese blog (again mainly sold in 200 g chunks here) and some parsely and mint leaves I made a salad.

Chop the pepper and cucumber little cubes, crumble the Feta cheese on top and season with finely chopped parsely and mint, drizzle with olive oil and vinegar (I used cider vinegar this time).

I can say it was too much for the 2 of us, we have a chicken breast and some salad left for a midnight snack (or let's say a later tonight snack ;o).

Banana Bread

2009-05-31T12:15:00.019Z

I am so excited - my first banana loaf is in the oven. I had my first banana bread when I was in Vancouver, Canada and LouAnn told me about her childhood, when her Mom used to make it. For years I haven't thought of it, but a couple of weeks back I had a slice at my local coffee shop and found a recipe in my latest 'Cook yourself thin - quick and easy'* book. So, I gave it a try - I am really curious how it turns out, as I adapted the recipe and used only half amount of sugar added some spices and was unfortunate enough to not have enough very ripe bananas, so I needed to add some semi-riped ones, so I expect some banana chunks in it.

Let's see....

Love it! It's so fluffy, nutty and yummie....

So here is what I did:

Beat 2 eggs with around 100 g (or 1/3 cup) of light brown sugar a food processor (it needs to get creamy and fluffy), add 50 g very soft butter, (keep beating the mixture), add 200 g flour (or 2 cups), 1 tsp. baking powder, a pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp. of German Christmas spices (Lebkuchengewürz)**, 1 good handful of slightly crushed walnuts, and 2 very ripe and 2 not so ripe mashed bananas. Put it in the oven at 180 °C for an hour (maybe a couple of minutes more).

A word of advise, as I don't like my cake too sweet so I nearly cut the amount of sugar in half, the original amount is 175 g brown sugar.

And now I will eat it. Ok, I will ask my better half to make some cappuccino first ;o).

And here the version for my lovely family in German:

2 Eier mit 100 g braunem Zucker schaumig schlagen, 50 g weiche (oder geschmolzene) Butter unterrühren, 200 g Mehl hinzufügen, 1 Tl Backpuler, 1/2 Tl Zimt oder Lebkuchengewürz und eine gute handvoll grob gehackte Walnüsse einrühren, 2 sehr reife und 2 weniger reife Bananen zermatschen und das ganze gut verrühren. Bei ca. 180 °C eine gute Stunde backen.

Footnotes:

*Cook yourself thin was an entertaining series from Channel4 in the UK that lastet only 1 round. However, I got both books (yeah - interesting how this always works ;o)...) and already adapted and tried some of the recipes from them and found them very tasty.

**Lebkuchengewürz: is a mixture of different spices. I found this recipe on the German Wikipedia: 35 g Cinnamon, 9 g cloves, 2 g Piment, 2 g Koriander, 2 g Ginger, 1 g Kardamon, 1 g nutmeg (or macis). Grind everything to powder and mix it. I also have a white mousse a chocolate recipe for Christmas that includes a bit of this mixture - I might do it around Christmas again ;o).

Mezze Feast

2009-05-30T15:50:00.024Z

Finally, today I thought about making photos (or rather got my better half to do it) while cooking. First, I made a mixture of an Arabian Salad and Tabbouleh (from the recipes I got while attending a class at Petra Kitchen in Jordan - I still remember that evening, we had so much fun). Second, I tried a recipe for baked Falafel if found at a Vicarious Foodie's blog and made some Meatballs with Mint and Tzatziki.

My Arabian Tabbouleh Fusion:

For my fusion salad I chopped 4-5 tomatoes, 1/2 cucumber, 1 red pepper, 1 piece of garlic, 1 cup parsely, and a few mint leaves very finely, seasoned with fresh pepper, salt and a bit chili and a lug of olive oil and lemon juice. Lovely.

Falafel

As I said I looked for some falafel recipes that I could bake in the oven instead of frying and decided to try the one from Vicarious Foodie, I just changed a few ingredients to suit my taste and just saw that I forgot the onions (buaahh):

1 can of chickpeas (small one), 1/8 cup minced onion, 1 glove minced garlic, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp ground coriander, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/3 cup pasely, coriander and mint leaves (together not each), 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 spritz of lemon juice, 1 tsp tahini, a few crackers to roll the falafel in.

The taste was lovely, but they were a bit crumbly, so next time I firstly will include the onions ;o) and roll them in a beaten egg before rolling in the bread (or cracker) crumbs.

Meatballs

1 lb minced lean beef, 1 lb minced lamb, parsely, mint, coriander (there was enough left from the salads ;o), 1 finely chopped onion, pepper, salt, chili flakes.

Mix all together and fry in some olive oil until golden or as brown as you like.

Tzatziki

1/4 cucumber finely chopped, normally I use lot's of dill, this time it was (who would have guessed?) mint, garlic (to your taste), olive oil, salt, pepper and 4 tbsp of greek yoghurt.

This time I made a rather small amount as we only where 2 people and I didn't want to eat tzatziki all week (altough I really like it). Mix it all together and enjoy.

Lentil and Veggie Salat - Yummi

2009-05-23T20:09:00.012Z

Currently, I am looking for some healthier recipes and I am absolutely delighted with this one. I found it at "Cook yourself thin" and adapted it a bit to my taste and I think you can try it with many different veggies.

1 Aubergine, 1 Zucchini, 3 Peppers (red, green, yellow), a few Tomatoes, 1 Onion (red or white), 1-2 cloves of Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Chili powder (or fresh Chili), fresh Parsely a bit of fresh Mint, a handful of green Lentils, Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Goats Cheese (if you like)

Cut all vegetables in slices (tomatoes and onion in quarters), put in a deep baking dish (like a lasagna form) sprinkle with olive oil, salt, pepper and chili and bake in the oven for around 30 min at 200-220 °C. Stir once or twice to get veggies evenenly brown.

In the meantime cook lentils in little water with a tabelspoon of balsamic vinegar (takes about 20 min.)

Mix veggies and lentil and season to taste with more balsamic vinegar, parsely and a bit of mint.

You can let it cool down to eat as a salat or put some Goat's Cheese on top and grill for it for additional 1-2 min.

I will include a photo as soon as I make it again. Can't be too long ;o)

Teneriffe, Spain

2009-05-15T19:49:00.003Z

Oh my, I haven't posted in ages...

Our latest holidays have been to Tenerife, Spain and we brought some very nice new culinary delights home.
My biggest love is Pescado estilo Canario, the better half can't get enough of Torrijas and if I just wouldn't have changed my diet I still would like to eat Quesillo ever day ;o).

Pescado estilo Canarias
For this recipe, the whole fish is cooked in seafood or fish broth. Put the fish on a plate and rub the plate with chili, pour olive oil over plate and fish, afterward pour a bit of aceito balsamico into the olive oil on the plate (not the fish). Drizzle with a bit of the broth and eat with papas arugadas or bread. Lovely.

Torrijas
The idea is similar to "bread and butter pudding" or "Arme Ritter" in Germany, however it is deep fried in olive oil. In Spain it is eaten around Easter, and we love to have it at breakfast, but it is evenly delicious cold in the afternoon. But let's start from the beginning.

Get a white bread that is not to fluffy, wait until it is a good day old. Slice the bread ~2 cm thick. Heat 1/2 l of milk and soak the slices into it. But on a plate for some time to rest. Beat up 2 eggs and pour in a deep plate. In an other plate, prepare a cinnamon and sugar mix. Heat a deep pan with a very good amount of olive oil and roll the first batch of milk-soaked bread in the eggs. Ensure that the olive oil is really hot before putting the slices in. Fry until golden from both sides and drain on a paper kitchen towel before turning it into the sugar mix. Enjoy!

Quesillo
It's a flan - very similar to flan caramel - and I haven't found a recipe yet to try.

San Francisco - Again!

2008-07-13T13:36:00.011Z

I love to go to San Francisco and this was my 3rd trip so far. Ok, it was business and I haven't had enough time, but I enjoyed it anyway. We stayed at the InterContinental Hotel at Howard Street, very nice and very friendly staff.

A huge thank you to the concierge who recommended the Lark Creek Steak Restaurant to us. We probably would have missed out on that restaurant as it is located in the Westfield shopping center at Market Street and we didn't expect such a good steak restaurant in a shopping center. Looking at the menu we soon enough decided to take 3 different kind of steak to find out how got they are, and all three have been fantastic. We tried the filet mignon, the New York strip steak and the red wine marinated angus hanger steak, all premium quality, with different side dishes, like fries, spinach and mushrooms.

As usual we also went to the Cheesecake Factory, where I finally tried some strawberry cheesecake as my friend loves cheesecake and let me take a bite and I must say it was one of the best cheesecakes I ever had (beside the German cheesecake).

Yummi, we will be back!

Wroclaw, Poland - A beautiful city and so yummi

2008-06-13T10:06:00.003Z

A while ago I have been to Wroclaw, Poland. It's a beautiful city, especially in June, when you can sit at the 'Rynek' (the market place around the town hall) and get lovely traditional food and very good beer. At the picture you can see the entrance to 'Karczma Lwowska' a nice local restaurant at Rynek.

When strolling around town you should definitely watch out for the little gnomes, they are busy, rolling stone balls, offering flowers, eating piroggi, resting in a pizza pan at Pizza Hut, taming pigeons, climping laterne posts. Some are in prison or at the swimming pool. So don't miss them. Go to www.krasnale.pl for latest updates where to find them (Polish only) or look up beautiful pictures of them and the city here.

Why are there so many gnomes in Wroclaw?

They say the gnomes are in town since 8th November 780 and only speak German, Czech, Latin or French. However, the ones you can see are sculptures by Tomasz Moczek. The gnomes have a serious background connected to the Orange Alternative movement in the 80s.

2 nice walks through town

Check out the Wroclaw website. Sightseeing the oldest parts of Wroclaw and Around Old Town.

Here is my alternative (not visiting all the sites at once).

Starting at the Rynek/Ratusz (Market Square) walk up North taking the Kucnicza street to the University, turn right to Uniwersytecka street and walk until the end, cross the tram line and you will find the Market Hall (Hala Targowa), built in 1907 (open Mon-Sat). From here you can take the tram to Jahrhunderthalle (Hala Ludowa / Hala Stulecia), buit in only 20 month, finished 1913, the building from Max Berg is now listed as a UNESCO world heritage site and afterwards take a nice walk at the Japanese Gardens.

Or you can stroll to the Cathedral Island, the oldest part of the city. When leaving the Market Hall turn right over the Piaskowy bridge, on the island turn right again over the Tumski bridge to Ostrów Tumski the Cathedral Island. From here you can easily visit the Botanic Gardens via Henryka Sienkiewicza street.

Another route leads you South of the Rynek. Take the Swidnicka street, see the Opera building and pass the Kosciuszki place,walk further down and you will find the Anonymous Pedestrians, a memorial for the people who dissappeared in the middle of the night on 13th December 1981, at the junction Piłsudskiego and Świdnicka.

If you walk further down the road, passing some very plain concrete buildings, built to accomodate lot's of families, long lasting and cheap, but very hard to demolish as I have seen once in a documentary, you will come to a roundabout, take the Sudecka street (left) and walk up until you see the Water Tower, built between 1903 and 1905, that also hosts a restaurant.

Getting hungry after all the walking around town?

Try some of the following dishes while in Poland:

Pierogi: a deep fried or cooked kind of ravioli, filled with meat or sauerkraut or quark (light cheese).
Bigos: Sauerkraut with meat and potatoes (cooked together).
All the yummi meat dishes, often with seasonal mushrooms, where I forget the names, but they can easily be spotted at the menus of the restaurants around the Rynek.

But don't worry, if your are not into traditional cuisine, there is a very good Greek restaurant at Pl. Solny called Akropolis. You also can get Sushi, my colleagues say the best place to go for it it is Sakana. Although, I haven't been there myself I trust their judgement as the have a weekly Sushi dine out and probably tried every place in town. I tried Maru restaurant at the Rynek, where I tried a Korean dish of beef marinated in a sweet soy sauce with rice with kimchi. I loved it. And if you fancy some ice cream (like the ones you get in Germany at an Italian Ice Cafe) go to the top floor of Galeria Dominikanska a shopping center and enjoy ;o) or try the Ice Cafe at Solny place.

When going to Wroclaw, have a look at InYourPocket Guides for the latest reviews. You can download them beforehand or get them at your hotel.

Enjoy your trip.

Jordan - A surprise

2008-05-13T14:16:00.015Z

In May we where invited to a wedding in Jordan. While I was looking forward to the wedding, I wasn't sure about going to Jordan so I searched at Google. The first idea was just to go to the wedding and then stay for a week or so at a nice resort at the Dead Sea. Boah, what we would have missed out if we had done this. Second idea was to find a group travel around the country. I am sooo happy we didn't do this either.

After a lot of searching, negotiating and calculating, we choose to travel alone with a driver/guide, as it is highly recommended not to drive on your own through the country ( I absolutely agree as they drive like maniacs with a strong death wish). Jordan Direct Tours customized a perfect trip for us, including hotels in Amman, at Dead Sea, Petra and Aqaba, a cooking class at Petra Kitchen and Petra at Night excursion etc.

The day after the wedding we went to Ajlun to visit the castle. Unfortunately, I got sick after lunch on the way to Jerash (a Greco-Roman city) and we decided to go straight to the Dead Sea. Arriving at the Mövenpick Resort (beautiful) the only thing I did was going to bed and die a little, while my partner had his first dip in the Dead Sea and took some shots of the sunset. Beside all the sickness (my partner was bitten by the same bug later on) we enjoyed our stay and I also had a short dip in the Dead Sea the next day. Very funny feeling, it feels like a thick soapy bath and you really can't swim.

The next day should have been a trip to Madaba, Mt. Nebo, Kerak but again (this bug was mean) we decided to cut it short and went straight to Petra, where we stayed at the Mövenpick Hotel (you can't get closer to the entrance to Petra) and took our Petra at Night tour. Could have been wonderful, if we would have been on our own, but they put so many tourists through it, who where chatting along the way (although the guides have asked for silence), that is was merely a walk in the dark with a chatty school class, illuminated by some lights and a smell of thousand year old camel and horse dung.

But apart from all that we enjoyed it anyway ;o) and went back the next day to get a real view of Petra. Although the smell stayed the same and after a while there are lot's of tourists again, so we went early in the morning. Petra is amazing and if you have ever seen the last scene in the 3rd Indiana Jones movie, you get an idea of what the Treasury and the Siq. But believe me, that is nothing compared to the real thing. Petra is a Nabatean City entirely craved in stone and was hidden to the Europeans for centuries.

In the evening we took our cooking class at Petra Kitchen. We like to cook and although we didn't learn so much, except for the upside down dish, we loved it anyway and had a great time with the the staff and the group of Americans we met there. All the best to Laura and friends in San Diego.

The next day we went to Wadi Rum for a jeep safari in the desert and amazing place, with lots of red! sand, stones, and a spring. Laurence of Arabia has been here and the movie was made here.

In the afternoon we drove to Aqaba, the only access Jordan has to the Red Sea. As it is the only harbor for Jordan, it is mostely business or travel that brings people here. However, if you are not into diving or snorkeling and not there for business, I wouldn't go there.

Back on the road to Amman, our last stop. In Amman, we decided to go to Mecca Mall first, to find out if we could find some bargains. We didn't really find some bargains but lovely food, kebab style and so yummi. The next day we had our city tour, visited the Citadell and the Roman Theatre.

Although we catched a stomach bug, probably due to a lot of stress and being at the wrong place at the wrong time, we loved our stay and the food we got in Jordan and we are looking forward to go back. I tried dried figs for the first time in my life and loved it, we tried grapes that where pressed/dried and spiced up with anisseed and other spices in a flat layer (a bit like chewy gummi bears), yummi, we ate salad that tasted so good, you can't get this quality and taste in Europe, we had tea at a Beduin tent in Wadi Rum, lovely food and Arak at the wedding (be careful with the Arak, it is strong!), great fun and very good food at Petra Kitchen and Kebab (although it was called differently) in Mecca Mall and many more...

Jordan - we will be back to taste and see the things we missed out on this time!

Multicolored Coleslaw

2008-02-10T17:27:00.008Z

We have been shopping today and I remembered the recipe from Jamie's latest book (Jamie at home) for coleslaw. Luckily, I could get lots of crunchy veggies for and gave it my own twist. Unfortunately, I don't have a food processor yet, so it was pure manual labor (took me probably 1 hour) but it was absolutly worse it.

Here my version of it (and you can at least feed 4 people with it): 1/2 small red cabbage, 1/2 small cabbage, 1 fennel bulb, 1 red onion, 1 shallot, 1 parsnip, 3 carrots, 250 g yoghurt, 2 tablespoon mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon honeymustard, fresh chives, parsley, mint, fresh black pepper, salt

I loved how the mint and fennel works in it, amazing.

Cut (or process) everything in julienne slices, mix it together and you are done. We made same oven-baked potato wedges to go with it, that we spiced with some mustard seeds, chili, pepper, salt etc.

Yummi - I will buy a food processor next weekend - you bet!

Favorite Places in Germany

2008-01-29T14:03:00.004Z

Hamburg - Most beautiful city in Germany

One of my favorite places to go out and find some interesting restaurants in Hamburg is the 'Schanzenviertel' close to the U-Bahn Stop 'Sternschanze'. You can choose between Portuguese, Persian, Turkish, Greek, Spanish restaurants (just to name a few) and they are all good.

Whenever you are hungry on your way out of town (heading North with the S1) stop at 'Rübenkamp' and visit the Schach-Cafe. It's set in an old train station has a wonderful 'Biergarten' in as soon as it's warm enough, serves hearty food in huge portions and has very long opening hours (all around the clock on weekends). Try 'Bauernfrühstück' a huge omlett with potatoes, or 'Debbies Texas-Pfanne', or whatever their treat of the day is - yummi.

Rhine / Mosel / Ahr - Fancy some good wine?

If you are visting the Rhine / Mosel area, for wine tasting or walking, don't miss the Höreth-Alte Mühle in Kobern-Gondorf (close to Koblenz). They resently added some rooms, so that you can try their wine without regret or sorting out who will drive you home. The Höreth's restorated an old mill. You can either eat in the front or orleander garden or in a cozy niche. Its beautiful and romantic and the hosts give you a very warm and friendly welcome. It feels like coming home after a long journey.

You haven't had enough wine yet? I highly recommend some tasting along the river Ahr, especially if you like red wine. Try the red wine hiking trail so you don't need to worry who will drive you home ;o) and visit the old towns of Ahrweiler or Bad Neuenahr. In August and September/October there are lots of wine festivals in the wine regions, where you also can try Federweisser and Zwiebelkuchen (be careful, Federweisser tastes like berry juice but you will get tipsy at least).

Tired - you can stay here at this little gem. A cute apartment, where the hosts speak English and a bit Spanish. It is also a good starting point for a visit at the Nürburgring or the Monastry at Maria Laach or the cities of Bonn, Koblenz or Trier. (Sorry, a few links are in German only).

Eating out in Dublin

2008-01-29T11:21:00.015Z

No holidays in sight - so I tell you a bit about the restaurants we have visited in Dublin, Ireland (not all in Temple Bar though ;o). For traditional Irish Food you can try nearly every pub or go for a cavery lunch. If you just want a quick bite, the vegetable soup and the seafood chowder is always a good choice. Yes, the quality or style differs depending where you go, but I never had a really bad one. And don't leave without having tried an Irish Breakfast - I think it is a very good start for a long day in Dublin.

Thai
We have just been to 2 Thai restaurants recently and they couldn't be more different. We loved Baan Thai in Leopardstown (there is also one in Ballsbridge), as it has a nice atmosphere, very friendly staff and exeptionally great food, with lots of flavour (even when you only stick with the medium hot level), spicy. If you like Duck, try it here, it was fantastic.

A week later we have been to Siam Thai in Dundrum. While conviniently located at the shopping centre, and very comfy seats and posh atmosphere, the food (at least what I ordered) was bland. My partner had a bit more luck, when he choose the Chicken Satay and the Beef Salat dish, but the Spring Roll and the Sweet & Sour Shrimps was kind of boring.

Seafood
I like seafood and I don't mind some good Fish&Chips, that you can nearly get everywhere in town, just ask some locals where to go. The travel guides will send you straight to Beshoffs Bros. or Leo Burdock, you can't go wrong with them, but don't worry to try the others as well.

If you are in Howth, try The Oar House, I loved their Surf&Turf with Shrimps, and the dishes I saw at other tables looked delicious as well. It can be a bit crowded so book in advanced or go early on a rainy day ;o).

Pizza/Pasta
When I came over to Ireland, I really missed some decent pizza (Italian not American style, the last one can be found everywhere). Back then I didn't know about Milano's - a chain you can find at different places in town, who do a good job. One of the best places for fresh pasta and very good pizza is Pasta Fresca, just off Grafton Street. Just try the Agnolotti (Pasta filled with red pepper and goats cheese in a creamy spinach sauce) or the Pizza Pasta Fresca - lovely (as the Irish would say - awesome for the Americans ;o).

A little update on the Agnolotti at Pasta Fresca - they just changed the menu and they are now filled (boringly in my opinion) with cheese or spinach (can't remember) and served in a mushroom sauce - not the same as it has been.

Chinese/Korean
There is a new place in Stillorgan, where they serve Korean and Chinese dishes and let me tell you it is delicous. Go to Gong and you will experience a very nicely decorated place, friendly staff and dishes full of flavours. I love Kimchi, so I tried the Kimchi Pancakes and wasn't disappointed. I also tried the Spring Roll my friend ordered, delightful. As a main course I sticked with Korean and had a Seafood platter while my friend choose some Chinese Chicken dish with Garlic Sauce - everything was just yummi.

More updates - Gong is only serving Chinese food now, that's a real pitty as the Korean food was so delicious.

Lebanese
I was very happy that a friend told us about the Lebanese Restaurant in town, Byblos. We went there on a Saturday for lunch. As we weren't that hungry, we sticked to the Lunch menu, they have great mezze platters and we will definitely go back for more.

Moroccan
Two weeks ago I was at El Bahia, a Moroccan restaurant in town. The food was very good. I had the Chicken Bastilla, chicken with different spices wrapped in filo pastry. All the others in our groups were happy as well. However, there are some downsides on the service or let's say business policies they have. First, everybody needs to order a meal for at least 16 Euro, I found that astounding as we have been a group of 14 and not everybody was super hungry, the next thing they told us, that the room we booked was only available until 9:30 and when the time approached they rushed us out. So don't hope for dessert there, you might be rushed out well before that.

Japanese
My personal favorite is Wagamama (altough Yamamori my friends say is good as well). I love Ramen dishes at Wagamama, particularly the Chili Chicken Ramen. Their noodles are also good, I often go for the Yaki Udon or Yaki Soba here. And to drink I always get one of their fresh juices. Afterwards you feel like new from all the 'positive eating' ;o).

Nepalese (not Indian)
Go to Monty's of Kathmandu, their Naan bread (I like the one with garlic) is to die for and goes well with every starter. You can't do wrong with any of their main courses either, we mostely go for something with lamb and/or chicken. Yummi.

Spanish
I love Salamanca, not because it is most authentic, it is probably not, but it is pretty close and very good. My favorites here are Pimientos Rellenos (oven baked peppers stuffed with minced lamb), and berenjena Gratinada (Aubergine layered with rocket salad and goats cheese). You defenitely can go with two dishes to have a full meal, my partner often chooses three, but then you are really full. I am not a fan of there dessert though, I love crema catalana or creme brulee, but their version is way to heavy with lots of cream in, a bit more like cheese cake than crema catalana.

Come back for more or just try these:

Indian: Saagar, Maloti,
American: Elephant&Castle, Bad Ass Cafe
Georgian: Nikala
Steak: FXB and my friend says Roly's bistro does a mean steak too
Malaysian: Langkawi (a bit pricey but nice)

If you are in Cork - try Cafe Mexicana - cute little place to go to.

Don't forget your Wellis, it can be wet ouside ;o)

If you have tips where else to go, just send me a line, where and why we should try it out. Thanks!

Spain - Seafood, Paella & Tapas

2008-01-28T22:06:00.002Z

Barcelona
What a wonderful city! Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the restaurant we (stupidely enough) had only a small bite. Stupid, because when I saw the huge plates of Langostinos or Paella the Spanish guests had I was very disappointed that I haven't been hungry enough to try their 7 course Christmas menu for nearly no money at all. If you ever come to Barcelona, try the restaurant that you can find at the corner of Carrer de Guiter and Carrer de L'Almirall Cervera, I will definitely when we go back again. The place we have been twice was El Posit, what a way to indulge in seafood, we had paella, assorted seafood for starters and some traditional seafood dish that was cooked in a broth (I can't remember the name). Yummi.

Madrid
What should I say, I can't remember being to a great restaurant there (oh, sorry, I forgot the hotel restaurant at Bauza's - especially remember the chocolat with olive oil dessert - sounds strange, but works very well). For me Madrid is a great place for tapas and churros con chocolate at some traditional breakfast bars.

Ronda
Andalucia in Ronda, we stayed at the Alavera de los Baños, a bit tricky to find at the beginning, but a beautiful place to stay and if you like Morrocan influences dishes, definitely go and eat there. Ronda has many nice restaurants and tapas bars, especially when you are not in the main city, but going through the gates of the town towards the lower level. If you can't get a room in Ronda or like to taste something different, try Molino del Santo, not in Ronda itself but close enough with a great garden and also fantastic food. I could die for their 'leche frita' dessert and the 'creme catalana' with raspberries, lovely. I just found this very nice blog digging into a bit of food history Andalucia. I really need to go on holidays soon...

USA - and they can cook as well

2008-01-20T15:07:00.003Z

Whenever we travel I like to try something new, love to go to restaurants and sometimes I even read the menu pages of restaurants in the area we will visit, just to get an idea what to expect (works very well for the US).

So let's start with the USA:

Some people say the Americans don't know how to cook, I beg to differ: I love their breakfast, they make mean steaks and burgers (not at McDonalds or Burger King) and are influenced by a lot of different cultures, what makes going to a restaurant an experience in itself.

A couple of years back we have been to New England and could dive in Lobster. What's not to like about that? Very easy but ooh so tasty, especially at the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound before the bridge to Arcadia NP. And just thinking of the Mexican restaurant we went to in Bar Harbor makes my mouth water. Or the time we had breakfast at Jeannie's Breakfast Cafe - to die for. And when it's really hot - some Ben&Jerry's.

Then last year, we have been to California, driving along coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco. We had a fantastic seafood dinner, with great wine at Pismo Beach at the Pelican Point, when we stayed at the Shore Cliff Lodge. The next wonderful experience I still remember was at Ragged Point Inn - what a spectacular point to stay and again fantastic food and breakfast.

I could went on and on and on. So talking about steaks....
I know it's a chain and most people go there for cheesecake. And you know what, I never had a cheesecake at a Cheesecake Factory, just seeing these huge monster cakes makes me sick (maybe I should ask them if they could do them in a mini size), but there Steak Diane and the mashed potatoes or the Cajun Jambalaya Pasta - yummi.

If you ever come to Navato, north of San Francisco, stay in the Novato Oaks Inn (very good and very friendly staff) go to the Wild Fox and try the steamed mussels with coconut curry sauce and for sure the steak or the fresh catch of the day (I want to go back just thinking of eating there).

And there are so many places to go in San Francisco, we even missed to try some Sushi there, although my colleagues brag about how good they are, we also haven't managed to go to get some Mexican food at the Mission.

Just reading all the restaurant reviews at yelp.com makes me want to go back.

Next time we might try New York, or Florida, or Boston again....