BonVivant

Bucatini 3 ways Mussels are in season at the moment

Pseudo Santorini "fava" puree. Santorini yellow split peas (Lathyrus Clymenum L.), nothing to do with broad beans, a variety that grows only on Santorini. Small-scale production, pricey and is the number one meze dish on the Cycladic volcanic island. Octopus on a bed of roasted aubergine salad Squid Nemea is one of the wine-producing areas in Greece Turkish tandir flatbread from my regular Turkish grocer. Made fresh daily in the shop. The 3 most important staples in Greek cuisine are bread, cheese and olive oil. A Greek saying goes "no mill - no meal". My imaginary Cretan gran would probably be proud of me. There's more, because "philoxenia". Seared apricots drenched in honey and quark with homemade port-infused cherries. The last thing is not Greek...

Goat's leg, Cretan-style (slow-cooked in olive oil in the oven with lid on- I also added white wine). Buckwheat with beetroot. Spinach and salad. Quick photo of the pan just out of the oven Other goat meals I have made in the past: I used this chilli oil I made, but you could use Lao Gan Ma.

Mung bean noodles with prawns and Vietnamese-style fish sauce. Carrot wrap/"tortilla" with broad bean-beetroot puree and fried egg. Tinned butter beans and lots of cheese Aguachile of raw scallops Same as above but with rhubarb and beetroot.

Ink I saved from cleaning cuttlefish. Steamed roe with pork mince. Mushrooms A tiny, almost weightless nest fell down in front of me whilst walking in the woods. It was a very windy day. And these feathers were also found in the woods on the same day.

Greek is great, but Turkish is terrific, too. Roasted aubergine-sweet pepper salad topped with lamb mince (kebab seasoning). Meatballs, dolmas, and buffalo's milk feta. Tahini-chickpea puree Quark wth honey An Arabic saying which refers to the bond that is built between people based on respect through eating together. Sunday afternoon coffee before Turkish dinner. Turkish honeycomb. Good to have a big Turkish community here. Love checking out all the mesmerising Turkish things in the supermarkets. A new batch of dumplings

SV-seared Turkish-inspired lamb (I used kebab seasoning/spice mix). Hard to find Chilean wine from Colchagua valley these days so I grab what I can find. Must be nice to be able to lounge around all day and sleeping during the day when you don't have to pay for food, rent, taxman and answer to your masters in Brussels. (Sleeping great tit juveniles/Parus major). I have a whole family of great tits and blue tits in the garden every spring. Great entertainment in the back garden.

No special method. Just a standard recipe and straight forward baking. My previous one was not a real oven so I avoided baking anything. The Miele is a proper oven and it inspires me to do a lot more baking now. https://www.miele.co.uk/e/handleless-microwave-combination-oven-h-7840-bmx-graphite-grey-11093760-p

I'm turning Greek! Recreated a lovely meal I had in Veria. A small local restaurant, was there between lunch and dinner and had the place to ourselves. Cook led me to the kitchen and showed me what he had. I pointed at some vegetables and some meat. What a got was a little feast. My version is based on the photos of the meal in Veria. I used pork (SV'ed then grilled), the restaurant version was chicken. In Veria it was a different meat. I used lamb mince. All the dishes the cook made were delicious but this one was my personal favourite, because aubergines. Thinking of Greece. (Btw, the Rilke quote sounds much nicer in German.) The original meal and train tickets. The feral dogs were so ferocious and there were many of them (bottom left corner). Just don't make eye contact whatever you do.

Not a big pizza eater. Before new Miele oven: Now I make pizza once a week/fortnight. Not only that, dough and sauce are from scratch, too.

"Parent-child"-style: poached prawns and freekeh mixed with roasted prawn roe. Cured salmon and roe Seared scallops (drenched in Korean soy sauce and sesame sauce). Several types of pungent cress On my 5th kilo of cherries. Matcha Dipped in 99% Lindt Prawns and oyters, but it's more about the beer.

No, I haven't joined any cult. Sometimes I like eating only vegetables in season. Damn glorious vegetables. One of the rare occasions in which solid egg whites and yolks are acceptable: salted duck eggs. Roasted king oyster mushrooms (now available year round) and blistered jalapeños. 10 years and 3 months ago... Chiloé island, Chile. One of the island's specialities is elephant garlic. After checking out the market I bought a small test portion of the 3 things I wanted to take home. Did the same whenever I visited a market. My rucksack weighed 5kg when I entered Chile, 4 weeks later when I left it was 10kg. The garlic, smoked goat's horn peppers, merkén and some araucaria pine kernels were the 5 extra kilos. Chile is such an unassuming country and is nobody's favourite. I love it. Never had a problem, was never hassled by anyone. This was my second visit but it sure won't be my last.

Fried creamy, mild feta. I drenched it in honey. Both stuffed with rice. (I didn't touch this because rice) Roasted aubergine & sweet pepper "salad" (right) "Tamaras" of salmon roe Based on Cretan "Dakos", toast with tomatoes and grated feta. People be like "why you never go out?" All my stuff is here, including my food. Yogurt Tahini pastry Cheesecake for me

Steamed soft tofu with pork mince. In the mince there's a salted duck egg (mashed with a fork). Leftover pork mince the next day. Spicy noodle soup. To each their own. I checked out many Kölsch breweries at the source before slagging off the style (not my favourite). Ended up enjoying Päffgen the most.

Sorry, I meant the crumbs. A tray under the slicer catches the crumbs and I get them for free. Baker thinks I give them to garden birds (but I buy bird food for them). But there are some ends/heels in the mix, too.

Marrowfat peas in frittata loaded with double-smoked ricotta (the cheese is common in Sicily). "Meze" again, but not Greek. Here they are again, glorious glistening new herring. Based on Swedish "midsummer" lunch but this is my version. Golden hour on a traffic-free island in the Wadden Sea.

Creamy pasta (worthless shape but I dislike most shapes, I am partial to bucatini and linguine) with some salmon roe. More cream and asparagus A batch of bread dumplings (I use only the crust of sourdough breads, free from a local bakery). These are already cooked and ready to go in the freezer.

If it were me.... straight up!

Lemonbalm from the garden Coarsely process with some peas Burrata & honey Forget the other 2 when I have Kaltbach Spring elixir is here again. Watched the fishmonger clean it and then I biked as fast as I could home. Quality deteriorates enormously once it's gutted. Butter from the sea "new catch Matjes"

From a new series "ShaiN's brief visit to Greece". My new favourite and it's very Greek: lamb's live in red wine Just broad beans that I left in beetroot liquid for a while before making the puree. Pickled peppers. Some are spicy. Even managed to find Griek Riesling. Lidl had a Greek themed week a few weeks back and I bought 2 bottles. Perfect for this lunch now. The only time I like airports is arriving there or departing.

Steamed whole cauliflower Spätzle with cream. Crispy-fried Speck with fresh garlic in a small bowl. Made a batch of "fauxjia" seasoning (no cumin in it!). Instead I fried fennel seeds in a dry pan then pounded to a coarse powder. What it looks like No meat in the house but I always have various tofu. "Fauxjitas" with a type of super dense tofu. Greek red wine. Not bad at all.

I hope you did walk all the way back down to Kalambaka at least once! I did it twice taking different paths down each time. The views seen on foot were nothing short of amazing. I saw tourists on big coaches trying to take photos through tinted windows. I took my time walking and making photos. Wild herbs everywhere along the path, no wonder their goats and lamb taste good (in your case, the cheese and honeys). I took the bus all the way up and walked all the way back down. Saw no one else walking both times. Late afternoon and near golden hour produces the nicest photos. Same monastery as above but from another angle and elevation. People and vehicles for scale. The most photographed monastery here. It's used on many printed and online adverts. It's said that Greek honeys are the best in the world. As soon as I crossed over from Albania I saw villagers' stalls along the road: How nice that you can travel. I'm not even inoculated.

Simple flatbread Very ripe tomatoes pulsed in the food processor. Can't eat Thai coriander but Turkish is very mild, and when I add oil, acidity and salt to it the soapy taste is gone. With balsamic vinegar and olive oil ---- Roe jackpot. Salmon skeins in 2 containers, a mix of mackerel/herring and other small fish's roe. 1,5kg in total. My smoked herring also had roe. Wish I could share this with @chefmd! Immediately ate some salmon roe with lots of butter (raw milk, from a dairy farmer in my area) and bread. The rest was cured so they could keep a bit longer. Ate it again the next day coming home from a 3 hour walk in the woods. Don't like Russian food? More for me, and chefmd. Asparagus harvested the same morning (from a farm 12 minutes away by bicycle) Curing the roe is time consuming. Much of it is removing the roe from the inner membranes and I don't have a tool (which resembles a mesh frame, on which you gently rub the skein up and down and the roe fall into a container underneath). I had so much time to think about the next holidays (if possible any time soon), I even learnt something new about myself! Salmon roe be like Hours later when I was finally done... (yes, that's my affectionate face!)

Meatballs (with cream and capers). Spätzle in place of boiled potatoes. Spicy octopus tentacles. I used a jarred Chinese sauce/condiment that has mushroom bits and chillies. Quickly stir-fried sliced calf's liver in the same pan. Some people take photos of churches, I take photos of airports. Looking forward to seeing certain 2 airports in some amazing places in a near future. Pretty sure I wrote "Sicilian capers. (They were) my absolute last", also brought home small capers preserved in coarse salt, which we don't have here (only in vinegar). I have a salt tooth. I can get caper berries here but they are not Sicilian. The touch pad on my laptop is too sensitive. It often select a bunch of texts accidentally (like slight brush) and when I start typing again it wipes out the selected texts without me knowing. Happens all the time. Only messy part is my hand. I have enough practise, me thinks.

My favourite Moroccan sardine brand ("Dura"). Fat fillets without scales. Cod's liver on left. I don't really care for cod but love the liver and roe. Marrowfat peas and other bits Crispy Tyrolean Speck Thank you. (I think you'll like this. And this.) Thanks again. Fresh croissant dough, brush with melted butter, cover with chocolate, chopped nuts, seeds or anything nice. Fold several times, slice right through the length of the dough a few times (the more strands the prettier the pastry). Hold the dough strands at both ends and twist towards the centre. Form a shape you like, brush with egg wash and bake till done (temp and time on the back of your package).