BonVivant

OK, just chill. I got this. Anna N, the beer jelly is new to me. Glad I decided to give it a go. Will be experimenting more with different types of beer.

Bad weather this weekend for photos but the food makes up for it. Wobbly beer jelly, made with a Belgian IPA. Goes well with fatty, strong tasting foods. I've tried using different ingredients for the salmon but decided I like this combination the most: whisky, juniper berries, dill, and grated beetroots. My partner suggests another marinade with Sichuan peppercorns for next time. Dried tuna roe (brought back from Spain). Plastic "crust" must be removed before eating, btw. More on the board are Iberico sausage and giant seedless Turkish lemon. The beer jelly is great for cleansing the palate. Not only that, it's also cool and refreshing. The cheese in photo above is also from this weekend --- Also from this weekend: Half of the salmon was eaten with asparagus There's a thick layer of asparagus mousse between the bread and the crab meat. Unfortunately, I realised later that the tiny white crab bits became almost invisible on top of mousse.

Thank you, OC! Give it a go someday. Look up "Gua Bao". ------------------------- Simple dinner today: Uruguayan tenderloin. Mostly just slicing, shaving, and assembling. Sharp mustard cress provides a taste contrast First 4 chive flowers from the garden Left out egg yolk on purpose

Lunches this cold, very windy, sunless long weekend: Bread with Tirolean ham, asparagus, egg. I got thin asparagus especially for this and the mousse below. Asparagus mousse (with cream, chopped dill and gelatin added). Nice to spread on bread as is. Also goes with cooked prawns or what I have made, cured salmon. Cured some salmon again with lots of whisky and crushed juniper berries this time. These strips are from the flesh around the cavity. There's still the loin, for something else.

Waiting for the buns to rise Buns were easy to make, just needed time to rise (twice). Meat was braised the day before, when buns were ready I stuffed them and used the same bamboo basket as a "plate" for the photos. Here is an overhead shot of the basket:

Temperatures plummetted this Pentecost long weekend. I made a cheat cassoulet with tinned duck confit. The legs are big Lurking in there are beet greens and leeks.

Had a BBQ today but you have already seen it all so I just made a photo of the aubegines. The sauce is quark, has dried thyme. And pomegranate seeds.

Salmon from Faroe Islands. What gave the salmon its new taste: grated beetroots, lots of dill, juniper berries, whiskey, curing salt, sugar.

Lunch this weekend. Gorgeous weather again today but I couldn't sit in the garden to avoid angering blackbird fledglings and their parents. Steamed razor clams. Green sauce has parsley, garlic, capers, olive oil. More clams I like steaming a lot of things. These potatoes were also steamed. 2 kinds of ham. Darker kind is beef and smoked.

Yes, you are correct I usually do tell something about the meal. The razors are small and sweet. The asparagus come in several sizes but I prefer big ones due to ease of peeling. Prawns are red and come from either Argentina or Chile. I pounded some fresh turmeric, capers and garlic then mixed it all with olive oil. Brushed this oil on everything on the grill, save for the clams (due to laziness yesterday). The green stuff was minced parsley. Not sure if I was going to use it but put it there just in case. I used it today at lunch as a sauce for steamed razors. Hope your dishwasher get fixed soon!

My third BBQ on this gorgeous sunny day in this normally sun deprived part of the world.

Finally it's warm enough to have my first BBQ. Octopus tentacles were first boiled then later threaded on skewers. Brushed with some oil, sprinkled on some thyme and that's about it. Simpler than last year's first BBQ but it's still nice and I have waited long enough for this perfect temperature (20C).

Sometimes only a few ingredients are needed.

I let the fishmonger do the deep-frying and I put the rest together at home myself. Quark with garlic, dill, parsley, cucumber, capers. Sauce and more cod

Hardly any real cooking today. I think the steamed asparagus brought out the minerally dry and softly floral flavours of this otherwise standard Riesling.

Third weekend into the season, 3,5kg so far. With sweet/spring onions Onions used in the Flammkuchen above

Exactly 1kg (eur. 17, sale price today.) It's in the oven as we speak.

Today was national day off, it felt like a Sunday... miserable weather, empty streets, we took our time eating and drinking. - Munich "white sausages" with sweet mustard. - "Potato cheese", literally. Basically it's mashed potatoes with cream, minced onions and chives. The whole lunch

Not much cooking today. I simmered the sauce (5-spice, tamari, "Peking duck" sauce etc) then warmed the meat in it. Made a salad and sliced the ciabatta. Didn't even bother to toast the bread this time.

Some lunches (after cheeses). A kind of meat paste. Leftover roasted meats to go with a simple soup made with leftover roasted duck bones.

No imported asparagus for me. This is a small asparagus farm near my house (2.7km) . This machine is called "asparagus spider" . The wheels go on both sides of a aspargus row. Inside the sorting shed. It's a small shed. Look at the last photo inset on left and you see the entire width of the room. Machine with glowing blue light is a peeler. You can get your asparagus peeled and packaged for an extra euro more.

My ugly steamed buns made me happy on this wintry day. Ran out of white flour so I threw in some light rye flour at the last moment. Added more cooked Peking duck marinade/sauce to the pork for a more intense taste. We ate the steamed buns with a salad.

OC, what a fantastic feast! -------- Mine is really really simple: first asparagus of the season (officially started last saturday). Asparagus is from a farm 2.7km from my house (15mins on my bicycle). Exquisite, sweet asparagus... I was emotional eating it! Yesterday...

Three meals to be had from these. First one is the duck, today.

TFTC, the layer closest to the surface looks a bit dry, yes. I quickly pulled out mostly the top layer for the photos. Below this layer it was fine. I kept adding beer to the tray the whole time. Of course, I need more practice to archive perfection one day. Not an awkward question at all and thanks for asking.