fish and chips? { codfish burger with cilantro and red saffron }

Are you up for something different this time?

As you may have read on my 'about' page, I have always been fonder of cooking than of baking. But ever since I've started this project, baking has been earning its way into my heart, up to the point that in less than two years living in Germany I have felt the need to buy over half a dozen different cake pans, two pie pans, two dozens muffin tins, a candy thermometer, a couple of baking trays and deep dishes and my (several) pantries have seen countless amounts of flour, sugar and parchment paper. I always keep eggs, butter and milk on the fridge, different sorts of flour and sugar in the kitchen cabinets and I don't feel good knowing that I'm running out of baking powder or yeast. Oh yeah, I've become a baker. Some of you even know me as "the baker" already!

Yet here I am, trying to bring back the foregone notion that I go the extra mile when it comes to cooking - I do... more than ever!

what's all the fuss about ramen? { portuguese style ramen }

 

I have always had a hard time picking favourites. As a kid, I used to feel like I was the only one who couldn't name a single favourite dish. You know, steak and fries were not really on the top of my list. I'ld go for seafood rice, grilled fish, tagliatelli with a bold tomato sauce, loads of salad, lasagna, maybe roasted meat... but no, fries were never on my top, and it felt unfair to me to select a couple favourites when that totally depended on my mood - and I could be attracted to such utterly different things!

As I grew up, I came to the conclusion that I just had very eclectic tastes. You know, you can catch me listening to Bob Dylan or Johnny Cash in a minute, then it can easily shift to Pink Floyd or Guns and Roses, crossing Dire Straits in the way, Ed Sheeran, The Strokes, Lykke Li, Junip, Arctic Monkeys, Lana del Rey, Tina Turner, The Black Keys, Chet Faker, Daft Punk, Imagine Dragons or even some Chopin, and my latest love, Hozier. I don't like them all the same - it's just that at times one just fits me better than the others. I have musical cravings.

I realized that being able to tell your favourites is actually important - at least to a certain degree. You know, I don't like Alt-J the same way I like, for instance, The Black Keys, neither do I like Lana as much as I like Lykke. I realized that picking favourites was about knowing yourself better. For instance, for as good as the music can be, I am the most moved by witty lyrics - they take a good sounding music to a whole other level.

In the end, favourites were not that hard to pick. I kind of just had to admit what I already knew.

Food wise - and currently, - my favourite foreign cuisines are likely the italian and... sushi! I love sushi, and we have a lot of great quality restaurants in Portugal, with delicious fresh fish.

I say sushi because there is a lot more to the japanese cuisine - that I was yet to try.

And here begins the story of this recipe...

food is sexy. { beef wellington }

yesterday, while scrolling down my facebook feed, i read something that made me feel home at heart.

it was the title of an article about an upcoming book by Nelson Carvalheiro - a portuguese blogger, - about Portugal, food and travelling. as one could there read, the author believes that, especially in the north of the country, the portuguese say 'i love you' by setting food on the table and inviting you to eat it.'

this couldn't have been said better.

-

um risotto herege... { an heretic mushroom risotto }

(finally back from the thesis ermitage!)

There is something that I really like to cook but rarely take pictures of.

Usually I have no time to take nice pictures of it, because I really want it to be served right away.
And, truth to be told, you just need the perfect plating and light to shoot this - and this is something quite not attainable when you are just in a hurry to put it on the table.

I'm talking about risotto.

Today the sunlight was just right, so I had to shoot it and bring the recipe here. This is a recipe that changes all the time... I usually use white wine, preferably sparkling one, and I usually use other kinds of cheese, I change the seasonings and herbs all the time, so I just brought the exact (odd) recipe I came up with today - it is really odd, you'll see...

Because today was a lazy holiday day, sleeping in, doing nothing, and eating a bowl of this in a sunny balcony suited it just perfectly.

30 Minute Meal { poached eggs over a vegetable bean stew }

Poached Eggs on vegetables, be it peas, beans, lentils... a wholesome comfort food that is really quick and easy to prepare. Plus one can get rid of all those vegetables that have been sitting for better not to know how long in the fridge.