Cologne (Köln) July 2011

 

On the way to Holland, we made a one-night stop in Cologne.  Most of you who have been to Cologne will recognise this landmark - the DOM.

Black Cumin (Nigella sativa)

The flower of the Black Cumin is decorative in the garden.

Summer Festivals - Schützenfest 2011

A swabian festival - Schützenfest  (German "marksmen's festival") is an traditional annual festival or fair.  Here are photos of the Historical Parade.

If you are curious or interested, you may view more  here

Playing with food - Kohlrabi

I saw this miserable looking kohlrabi, neglected and sad.  So I decided to give it a beauty makeover.   Similar to cosmetic surgery but for vegetables -  You know what I mean.   Afterall, I have not done any carving for months. 
       

Holland - Schreveningen

Crazy weekend !!  Spent half a day in Schreveningen and then 1 day in Dordrecht.   Don't worry, there will not be any windmills :-)

This is Schreveningen.

Maultaschen (Schwabian Ravioli/Pasta)

The Maultaschen (Swabian ravioli) is a kind of pasta filled with seasoned ground meat and boiled in a broth.. The origin is from the Swabian region - rumour is that Swabian monks invented the Maultaschen as a way to eat meat during Lent (A 40 day period, begins on Ash Wednesday and ends a day before Easter).  It would be undetectable since the meat was concealed in pasta. 

Corgettes

Somehow, there are only yellow corgettes growing in my garden this year.   Why?  Blame it on the freaky weather.

Cooool corgettes :-)

Fill them up with  mincemeat, bake for an hour at 180°C.   There was abit of mince left so I filled it into a red pepper to bake as well.  

Viola !    Serve with rice and it's own sauce.

Lillies

Was away for 3 days, came back and what a surprise in the garden.

They were HUGE !

Goats Cheese (Fromage de chevre) with figs

Creamy goats cheese with succulent ripe figs, accompanied by organic black olives preseved with orange peel and chilli flakes - sprinkled over with garden fresh thyme.   Humble dressing of balsamic cream and cold pressed pumpkin seed oil.

Vegetable Omelette - Daily Menu

It was simply too warm to go outdoor and the idea of driving into town to do some shopping is OUT !! For lunch family wanted something light without carbohydrates. Dug into the fridge and found a wrinkled red pepper, a corgette, a slice of smoked ham.  Plus the 'never run out of' items like onions, carrots and eggs. 

Result.....Vegetable omelette with carrot salad

Garden - Lillies & Co

Dabbling with camera in my garden

It's a good time of year now as many flowers are in full bloom - roses, geraniums, lillies, etc. Here is one of my favourite - the Lily.  The lily makes an excellent cutflower, alone in a tall vase or arranged with other flowers.

Casava/Tapioca Cake (kuih bingka ubi kayu)

The casava /tapioca is  a root/tuber, popular and versatile food in asia. It is also well known in Brazil, parts of Africa, in Polynesia and Sri Lanka by the name of manioc/maniok, yuca, kappa, singkong.  We eat it steamed and boiled like potatoes, fried like fritters, grated and steamed....every way but raw.  The young tips/leaves are also wonderful, stirfried with a spicy sauce.  Not only is the tapioca good for eating, it has other uses.  The tapica flour is used as organic glue, as sauce thickener (glutenfree) and starch for laundry (have you seen a shirt which stands on its own?) and in various food industries.

I went to town to pick up some sprouts in the Asian shop and spied the frozen grated casava in the freezer.  YUMM ! An image of casava cake/pudding, flan, cream brulee and caramel all in a package came to my mind.  One of my favourite afternoon snacks, eaten plain or with a palm sugar sauce.

Here is what I made with the grated casava ......

Banana Cocoa Cake

Once again, 2 brown bananas lying in the fruit basket, attracting fruit flies.  Once bananas start to brown they are not attractive to many people.  When there are brown spots, they are at their sweetest but most people think there's something wrong with them. If you throw them out, you'll be throwing out Vitamin B6, Vitamin C and Potassium. 

Tricolour Paprika (Bell Pepper) Chicken with Lentil Rice

Earlier this week, I conducted a beginners'course to 6 teenies - teenies who swore they're diehard vegetarians but by end of the day, they ate up all the meat (chicken and pork) and left most of the vegies untouched.
Anyway, what to do with 6 paprikas - 2 red, green and yellow.  Either put them under the grill or cook gulash.
IMO gulash is autumn or winter food. So I decided to cook 'something' like gulash but a lighter version.