BonVivant

"Half-cooked" is perfect on this very hot spring day.

SV Octopus. Potato goulash, Tyrolean style. Chilled "smoked" salmon mi-cuit. Crunchy salad.

Pentecost long weekend lunches. SV rhubarb compote. Austrian pancakes. Spicy sausage I ate with quinoa and asparagus soup. The half Bresse chicken lasted 3 meals, this is the third one.

I eat around 14-17 kilos every season. A few ideas for you here (click on an image to enlarge, hit "escape" key to return to grid view and so on).

Last skrei from the freezer, with mustard-butter sauce. Supposed to be "broad beans with Speck" (and cream) but I didn't have any broad beans so I improvised. Ate it with boiled potatoes. My Ascension long weekend ends with this. Small but good and lasts 3 meals because it's Bresse. Still haven't found chicken that's better than Bresse yet.

Ascension long weekend here. Smoked herring and scrambled eggs. Burrata Going through charcuterie I brought back from Austria. People be like "nobody knows your age because you have no wrinkle*". I tell them "Omega-3 fatty acids!". (*Not true. I found my first 2 wrinkles last year...) This is supposed to be Labskaus, a typical northern German light meal, with mashed potatoes mixed with beetroots and herring. I prefer mine crisp-fried with onions. Austrian dumplings with eggs and Speck. I used rye flour here and made it Japanese -esque with sesame seeds in the batter and tamari-sesame oil for dipping.

Austria meets Netherlands, via Japan. Just an idea I got from a Japanese dish called "unagi donburi" (eel and rice). I've got nice smoked herrings and the rest came together easily. Glaze for the smoke herring: Riesling, tamari, ketcap mannis, liquid smoke. Things that give the wheat taste: Tyrolean Speck, onions, garlic. Confit yolks make the whole thing creamy and rich.

Knock knock... I have brought sparkling Riesling. ______ Sunset dinner. SV pork belly. Red things are gochujang, doenjang and crispy spicy salted radish. Not a big fan of typical white wines but am a massive fan of (German) Riesling. I was walking through the vineyards in Neef a year ago... (Look at the label in photo above.)

A little love letter to spring. Japanese-esque. There's liquid smoke in the marinade and sauce.

It was a long weekend. Aged Comté (3 years) and sourdough. Borage and Tyrolean Speck alongside. You almost never see spring onions in my food. Chives are as much as I can manage. You can imagine how hard it was for me in Korea. Spring onions in e.ve.ry.thing and in copious amounts. Buckwheat pancakes with Speck. Kumquat compotes (with Riesling and Aberlour/scotch, a lot!). Maple syrup satisfies my inner Canadian.

Autumn has returned. But a creamy gratin is good anytime . SV lamb.

^^ Shain, try Austrian version also. Similar but in a different shape, has scrambled/torn eggs hence the name "Eiernockerln"/dumplings with eggs. This simple meal is a happy childhood memory of most Austrians. (My versions: plain, with beetroots, with crown prince pumpkin) ------------------------ It's a holiday long weekend here. SV duck legs.

My fish was glad it swam 3 times today: in water, in Speck-butter and in wine.

First asparagus at home. It comes from an asparagus farm in the countryside only 15 mins by bicycle from my house. Tyrolean Speck. Spring elixir number one. Korean-esque. Cod ceviche (with Korean pepper flakes) and herring. I almost never add something to my oysters but today I made an exception. Korean pepper flakes and scotch bonnet chilli paste (just my standard pulsed scotch bonnet chillies and olive oil). As you can see here, harvesting asparagus is real back-breaking work. Each and every spear is cut by hand. The machine which goes down the rows is called "asparagus spider" in German (and is also manufactured in Germany). The workers are from Poland. It's a very small farm, I saw 4 workers in the field that day. They return every year. My bike parked in front of the sorting shed/farm shop with view of the field.

SV French quails.

I missed eating something spicy after 10 days of nice Austrian food. Razor clams with ginger, salted black beans and Laoganma. So nice to be back in my tiny kitchen again. I hate using someone else's knives and things. I always have to sharpen people's knives on the edge of a sink otherwise it's impossible to cut anything. With my knives I have to be very careful because they are so bloody sharp. The Austrian ramps survived the flight home.

Back in (food) hell now. Sichuan meets Tirol. Heaven-facing atheist! Sichuan bean paste, Lao Gan Ma and heaven-facing chillies I got in Chengdu years ago (still OK, I pulse them later for something else). Some Speck in this food comes from one of these. I had to open my bag and took everything out so they could see the Speck and book were not explosive blocks. Happens every time when I bring back Speck, so annoying to repack I will have to check in my rucksack from now on. Yesterday's last dinner in Austria was thoroughly Tyrolean but the presentation was all mine, had to use up the last bits and pieces. Tyroleans love their dumplings and it goes way back. Alpine regions were historically poor, the food was starchy and simple. Cheese dumplings in a broth. White ones are filled with spinach, green ones with grey cheese. Spinach dumplings with crisp-fried Speck and ramps.

Some recent Tyrolean meals. Tyrolean-style hash. You have typical Austrian hash and you have Tyrolean hash. The salient difference is the addition of beef. I even used Tyrolean organic beef to make it thoroughly Tyrolean. ______ Wild Austrian ramps. Tyrolean grey cheese premium blue. Found only 1 cheesemonger at the expensive market who has it. I like it but might be an acquired taste for some. My slice came from this. The rest of the meal: Riesling, rye dumplings (now with all the cheese mixed in), crisp-fried Speck and rhubarb. What it looks like in my bowl. ___________ It was a cold and wet day. Sunset wine. __________________ And after another long day hiking. Tiny dumplings with smoked sausage and grey cheese.

Still in Austria but not for much longer. Some lunches this week. More Speck from Speckland. This kind is loin Speck. Had to try it, never had it at home. Goat's cheese. Yesterday. Alpine hay milk cheese. A co-op product of farmers on German and Austrian sides of the Alps. Had some pastry in Stubai valley. Apple strudel and poppy seed cake. If you put poppy seeds in something I hate I would probably eat it. Owner of my lodging knocked on the door one day and handed me this plate. A pensioner who lives well and still cooks on most days. Not to mention she is well-versed in baking, as do many Austrians. These are some decadent chocolate slices.

It was a long day hiking. Poached trout, crisp-fried Speck with boletus. From the other day: Tyrolean grey cheese. The rind A seasonal Tyrolean home-style meal.

Went to Augustiner beer hall for Augustiner beer and ended up checking out some Tyrolean home-style dumplings. Even my home-made Austrian dumplings are far more superior. The difference in the quality is so stark. It's been many years since I had Augustiner beer in Munich. Their beer halls and cellars there are spectacular. Three different Tyrolean dumplings (Speck, spinach, cheese). At my lodging: the big stinker lives up to its name. Checked out the "expensive market hall" in Innsbruck the other day and got some charcuterie for this lunch. Steinbock also means Capricorn in Germanic languages. Feels like I'm "home" here in the Austrian Alps. Excellent charcuterie, cheese and bread, the mountains, valleys and the silence. Especially the silence.

I'm staying in a village in the Austrian Alps. Have been making meals with what I can get and what I can use in my not very well equipped kitchen. The best things here are Speck, mountain cheeses and wines from all over Austria. Austrians are hell-bent on local and quality Austrian products. This is my first Austrian beef. Asparagus is so tiny there's no need to peel. Well, you can't anyway. Got a piece of lard for cooking. It's meant to be eaten with bread, thinly sliced. Torn pancakes with crisp-fried Tyrolean Speck, my savoury version of Kaiserschmarrn. I used rye flour here. Let's face it, besides the hiking, I'm actually here for the Speck! You take my meaning when I say I'm here for the Speck! In no country is the "Speck culture" so strong as Austria. Gonna throw out all my things to fit this in my bag to take home!

At the moment I am in a village in the Austrian Alps. The only place to buy something basic to eat is 1km walk downhill. The few things one can rely on here is Speck, all kinds of Speck. And mountain cheeses. My first lunch here. A 20 min bus ride takes me to the Tyrolean capital Innsbruck where I had lunch again. Dough parcels filled with cream/cheese and asparagus. One of Tirol's typical dishes. When one is in Austria... An old coffee house. No one can sit at the table next to mine. A small sign on the table reads "regular's table", that means you F. off. Coffee houses in Austria are more than a place to go drink coffee. Nothing to eat or drink in the village where I'm staying but I have this all to myself whenever I look out the window.

This one. Cheap and good. I have several different ones.

Big flakes. In a savoury coat of Speck.