Inspiration | February 2015

While I’m struggling with an awful cold I caught a few days ago and daydreaming about the day I get my taste back so I can eat my favorite fruits and cupcakes (that's what I'm craving these days), I realized it’s been a while since I shared with you some sources of inspiration. So, here they are. There’s a few of them so make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and sit comfortably.


Movies:
• Loved this movie.
• This one too.
• I look forward to watching this one.

Music:
• This.
• Listening to a lot of Fiona Apple lately. This is on repeat and can’t wait for this to be released.

TV:
• Loved the first season of this series. Now waiting for the second season.
• Also, Louie. Nuff said.

Illustrations:
• Salvador Dali’s illustrations of Alice in Wonderland and of the zodiac signs.
• These food illustrations.

Food photography:
• Here.
• Here.
• And here.
• I’m intrigued by cinemagraphs. Here.
• And here.

Food:
• “Fire and cooking meat is very fragile, tender and feminine”
• 2015 food trends? Will you be embracing them?
• How to eat sushi.
• I love a good bakery and pâtisserie and I want to visit each and every one of these. Well, a couple of them I already have. Any others you’d add to the list?
• Health food for foodies.
• What grandmothers cook around the world.

Girl stuff:
• Lisa Eldridge’s make-up tutorials are the best. I love this one in particular.
• DIY skincare.
• If you’re a fan of the cat-eye.

Words:
• I usually don’t like quotes, but this and this are good ones.

Dance:
• The A toZ of dance.
• This photograph.
• This documentary.

Various:
• Old loves.
• Dutch ingenuity.
• I love Paris as much as the next person but I wouldn’t live here. Would you?
• This room, full of light.


Have a happy weekend!

The cupcakes I made the other day.

Cooking in a heat wave i.e. staying sane in the kitchen

These past few days, I feel like I’m melting from the heat. It’s 37°C in The Hague! This is the Netherlands, temperatures like these aren’t suppose to happen here. I can’t believe it, and frankly I can barely stand it.

If you too are battling some type of heat wave where you are, and can’t possibly be in the kitchen for more than half an hour or so, let me remind you, or introduce you if you're new here to some of the easiest summer recipes I’ve posted over the past four and a half years on this little blog of mine that are delicious, foolproof and sometimes overlooked in favor of the shiny new ones I post each week.

Fish, meat, pasta, vegetables, salads, lunch, dinner, dessert, refreshing drinks, for you, for your friends, for your family. If you’re looking for quick, easy and delicious summer cooking inspiration, here it is:

Tartines of Grilled Peaches, Beetroot and Blue Cheese with Walnut and Garlic Spread

Tartines with Kalamata Olive Paste, Coeur de Boeuf Tomato and Feta

Poached Eggs on Buttered Toast / Greek Barley Bread with Avocado and Boiled Egg

Pastourmadopitakia (Greek Individual Pies with Pastourma) / Greek Fried Potatoes with Crumbled Feta and Dried Oregano

Greek Fava (Yellow Split-Pea Purée)

Summer Green Salad with Cherries, Jamón Serrano and Goat's Cheese

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Mint Oil, Feta and Kalamata Olives

Young Swiss-chard and Mint Salad with Cherries, Olives and Feta / Cantaloupe, Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Goat’s Cheese and Feta

Greek Fried Whitebait (Marides Tiganites) / Greek Fried Red Mullet (Barbounia Tiganita)

Greek Baked Mackerel (Kolios) with Olive Oil, Lemon and Parsley / Greek Baked Whole Tuna with Ladolemono (Greek Olive Oil and Lemon Sauce)

Grilled Tuna Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce and Mixed Greens

Marinated Roast Chicken with Tomatoes, Olives, Lemon and Herbs

Keftedakia (Greek Fried Meatballs) / Sikotaki Politiko (Greek Fried Calf’s Liver with Onion and Parsley)

Lamb Chops with Herb and Garlic Sauce, and Tomato and Onion Salad

Entrecôte Steak Sandwich with Dijon Mustard and Rocket Leaves

Tagliatelle with Fresh Figs, Goat's Cheese and Prosciutto

Spaghetti with Courgette, Olive Oil and Garlic

Cold Strawberry Drink

Rosewater and Honey Lemonade / Orange Juice, Mango, Banana and Ginger Smoothie

Watermelon Daiquiri / Watermelon Margarita

Coffee Granita with Coconut Whipped Cream

Raspberry Sorbet Popsicles

Mango Sorbet Popsicles

Fresh Berry Tart with Puff Pastry

I’ll be back soon, well, as soon as this heat permits, with a new recipe. Till then, stay cool!

Coconut love

What a difference a week makes. Last week it was cold, dark and raining almost every day and now the sun is shining, with the occasional rainstorms of course because this is the Netherlands after all, and it’s really hot. It’s proper summer around here and what’s better to have during days like these than a cold dessert in the form of round icy scoops of coconut deliciousness.

S and I have declared this the year of the ice cream. We have been indulging in homemade ice cream for more than a couple of months now, through rain or shine, warm or cold weather, and we have officially become addicted.

One of my latest obsessions is coconut and I’ve been using it in many of its forms in every type of dish. Coconut oil for pan-frying fish and steak, coconut flour and sugar for waffles and cakes, coconut milk for smoothies, desiccated coconut for ice creams.

I have tried several coconut ice cream versions with various results, yet I always return to this one. It’s a keeper. It is pure, authentic ice cream, with no nonsense ingredients but the stuff proper ice cream should be made off; eggs, milk, cream.

It’s rich, smooth and creamy and it coats your tongue with its velvety texture while the full flavor of exotic coconut lingers on. But you know me, I always need my chocolate fix, so I had to pair the ice cream with a chocolate sauce. Not just any chocolate sauce though, a chocolate sauce that once you pour it onto the cold ice cream, it hardens and becomes a beautiful shell that cracks with the touch of a spoon.

It’s like those shells that store-bought ice creams have and that you think you can never recreate at home. It turns out, you can, and it can also be healthy and ridiculously easy, with only two ingredients: dark chocolate and coconut oil. It takes five minutes to make and it is spectacular. Frankly, I wanted to pour it over everything but I restrained myself. Even if you don’t end up trying this heavenly ice cream, which you would be crazy not to, you should at least try this insanely delicious chocolate sauce.

PS 1 A little while ago, the site New Diaspora asked me for an interview (ooh that sounded fancy!). If you're interested in learning a few more things about me, then click here to read it.

PS 2 I changed the blog’s header, sidebar, social media buttons and text font and I’m so excited because I have wanted to do this for a while but never could find the time. I made all the changes myself, and being a total novice on matters of design, it makes me even more proud of the outcome. I felt my little space here needed to be rejuvenated and a picture of chocolate sorbet with berries for my header did the trick. By the way, you can see it on this post.

Hope you like it, tell me what you think!

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