Chufi

Most of them are in the kitchen in a big Ikea bookcase (not Billy, but Ivar ) Then there's always a pile upstairs, by the computer, for reference on anything that I'm writing about at that time. And a pile next to the bed for late night reading. Another question. How do you organize the books on the shelves? Mine go by country - starting with France, Italy, Spain, then England, Ireland, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Scandinavia, Russia, Hungary, Austria, the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America, USA, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, India. To me this is a completely logical sequence.. Then single subject books, but only if they are really about one subject (a whole cookbook about tomatoes, but not a book about baking or vegetarian cooking, they are in the next section). Then the author's cookbooks that are not about a specific cuisine (you know, the Nigella's ..) Finally, food history and other food related books. And finally finally, on the bottom shelf, all those big books that theme-wise, should be on another shelf, but they just don't fit.

please explain what that is Kristin.. to me it looks like scallops covered with sand... and the second one.. some kind of root vegetable with sesame?

oh, please do! I'm thinking I should post a picture of that chocolate stuff. It would certainly give new meaning to the much debated words Food Porn.

Why would you want to try to make food look gross? It's bad enough that it happens by accident (as this thread can testify). I suppose it's meant to be funny.. It reminds me of a stall at the Albert Cuyp market here in Amsterdam where you can buy chocolate boobs, asses and male genitalia. Really. Always a big hit with the tourists.

welcome to the thread Brad! Sounds like a wonderful dinner especially with the bubbles I had my last night of "trying to cook with anything left in fridge & freezer". Made spaghetti with roast tomato sauce (sauce from the freezer, jazzed up with lots of onion rings sauteed in olive oil). I also used up some spinach and green peas from the freezer and made these cakes: they were good and the dinner was ok, but I'm tired of being creative with leftovers and can't wait to get to the farmers' market tomorrow!

happy anniversary Kevin! That cannellini bean soup is one of my favorites too, but it has never looked as beautiful as yours, with that swirl of liquid gold on top.

lots of stuff in the freezer and fridge and not much money in the groceries bank account, so it's time to eat the leftovers Tonight we had leftover chicken pie and left over coq au vin from the freezer. Then a friend came by and I invited him to dinner and to make our leftovers go further, I made a gratin of the last bit of kabocha squash that was lying around in the fridge, potatoes, garlic and cream. Crunchy parmesan topping. Delicious! The one really fresh part of the dinner (I think you should always have one crunchy fresh item when you're having leftovers) was a green salad. There was gratin left over but I made my friend take it home with him otherwise the chain of leftovers in my fridge will never end... better transfer it to him

Fascinating blog! I was wondering how eating this way affects your appreciation of the food? Do you still eat to enjoy or do you think of the food primarily as a way to gain weight? I know that when you are trying to lose weight, enjoying your food can become an issue... just wondering what that's like when you're doing it the other way around.. Another question, I guess connected to the first one: don't you ever grow out of ideas about what to eat? That's a lot of meals you eat everyday, where do you find the inspiration to keep it exciting?

As for the puff pastry, you're on! And that gives me time to buy a pastry scraper - something I can't believe I don't own! ← I think I will join you. (if that's allright )

My favorite for zucchini is mint. And because the flavor of zucchini is quite delicate, I think parsley is also a good match.. or a kind of gremolata-like mixture. For squash, rosemary and thyme or any of the wintery spices.. nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves.. Also very good: chipotles.

Mefarka. It's a recipe from Claudia Roden's Book of Middle Eastern Food: ground beef and fava beans, spiced with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and chili. A couple of eggs are scrambled into it so you get a creamy sauce. She says to serve it cold but today I served it warm.. but it's delicious either way. Very unusual with the spices. With it, roasted jerusalem artichokes. Unfortunately the chocolate stash is almost gone.. so only a tiny piece for dessert

More comfort food.. pasta bake with kabocha squash and blue cheese, with a crunchy leek & pinenut topping. Lots and lots of chocolate for dessert.

I got these tomatoes at a farmers market... Yesterday I cooked them down with nothing but olive oil, salt and pepper, and simmered until it was a thick sauce. Today I took a couple of tablespoons of that sauce, thinned it with water, and cooked some pasta in it. At the last minute I added some frozen peas. This has to be the simplest tomato soup I ever made.. no garlic, no onion, no herbs, nothing. Just tomatoes, olive oil, salt & pepper, peas. But it was gooood.. thanks to those tomatoes I guess Little bit of parmesan on top and eaten with melted cheese toasts..

I do understand that ambivalency (being an ambivalent person, about many things in life, myself ). But, oh, how I would love to go shopping at a store like that even it was only once a month. There just isn't anything even remotely like it over here. Sigh.. I am so jealous. (about the Asian markets you showed us, too. The sheer variety of the produce!)

welcome to the dinner thread Sottise! That salmon looks very good.. Over in Amsterdam, I'm coming down with a cold so I made comfort food.. Sauteed green cabbage with lots of bacon, onions, and fresh chestnuts. Finished with cream. The ultimate comfortfood to go with it: garlic-mustard-olive oil mash. Big bowl of pecan ice cream for dessert. Large piece of nougat filled dark chocolate as a second dessert.

thanks for the museum tour.. wonderful. You are really taking your blog-responsibilities very seriously and it is much appreciated! one more word about your daughters.. yes Bebe is cute.. but Lulu.. is just beautiful! I loved the pics where she is helping you with the Mexican dinner...

Dinner last night we started with filopastries with pumpkin and goatscheese. The recipe is from Claudia Roden's Tamarind & Saffron.. I used Kabocha. No pic.. Then chicken red wine stew flavored with bay and orange, with herb dumplings. I also made oatmeal rolls and it was served with buttered cabbage Dessert: quinces in vanilla syrup, they were served with (store bought) pecan icecream.

while we're on the subject of chocolate, when you're in that area, also visit Unlimited Delicious. I love their stuff as far as other recommendations go. There are a number of threads in this forum mentioning various restaurants in different price ranges; here here and here and yes even more here if you tell me in what area you're staying, and what kind of places you're looking for, I might be able to give you more specific recommendations.

Spinach & mushroom. Dry-fry the mushrooms to get maximum flavor. Leek & mushroom works good together too. Slices of eggplant & tomatosauce - think melanzane parmigiano with layers of pasta added to it.

simple.. very old, cheap digital camera.. room lit by candlelight and only 1 lamp.. switch off the flash on the camera.. camera adjusts to the low light and the shutter stays open for a very long time.. add 1 impatient husband who can't wait to dig in.. and voila!

congratulations!! will there be a special celebration dinner tonight for us to witness? Do you usually celebrate anniversaries and such with food-related things?

Sounds lovely -- a recipe? Do you first braise the kohlrabi (in milk? stock? water?)? Do tell, Klary! ← I blanch slices of kohlrabi (in salted water) until almost tender. Make a cheesesause - either a bechamel with lots of grated cheddar or something like that, or I just heat up some cream and melt chunks of blue cheese into it for instant blue cheesesauce. Add nutmeg. Pour over kohlrabi. Bake until bubbly. Maybe flash under the grill to give a nicely browned top. Also, bacon goes very well with kohlrabi.. can you tell I love kohlrabi

ok so I basically did everything wrong.. did not mix it all up.. ate with chopsticks instead of spoon.. I'm embarrassed. But it tasted so wonderful, I'll have it again real soon and then do it the right way.

that soup looks great. Kale & chorizo is such a wonderful combination.. Kohlrabi gratin. Especially good with blue cheese. Also good in a gratin with half potato/half kohlrabi.

well, I never had bibimbap in a restaurant before, so I did not really know what to do.. but we did the obvious thing.. just break up the egg yolk and mix it with the rice and some sauce, then eat alternate bites of everything. Don't know if that's the right thing to do but it made the most sense to me.. it looks beatiful so you don't want to mix everything into one big mess.. also it's nice to have bites with contrasting flavors and textures.. But maybe now an expert on Korean food will tell me that indeed you are supposed to mix everything up?