BonVivant

The simplest things often bring me the greatest joy, such as my dinner today. There are actually 2 different kinds of 'farmer's breakfast' in the pan. Half has eggs and Sauerkraut, the other half not. Potatoes were thickly sliced, as well as cubed, however they were not mixed together. One can make it however one fancies. The idea is to use up leftovers. The smoked bacon provides most of the taste, the blood sausage is a nice bonus.

Finally it's sunny and warm enough to make photos in my back garden. Uruguayan beef tenderloin, minced by yours truly.

Ranz, thanks. Must be nice to have access to good meats. -------------------------------------- I have reasonably good access to northern European seafood. The prawns (Crangon crangon).

Quick midweek dinner with a big piece of salmon belly. Green stuff in jar is pounded fresh dill and olive oil.

Fish stew.

Greekness, thanks a lot. I'm having a one week Chinese cooking lark.

Easy dumplings. I made 3 different sorts with lamb, half fat pork and half fat pork with whole prawns. I also used preserved vegs in the mince. First dozen was steamed but the rest was cooked on the table hot pot style. Half of the batch Steamed I used these in the mince (minus the Sichuan chili mix)

Move over, Dunlop. Here comes Prawncrackers! Your food takes me back to Chengdu (have been there 3 times for the food and more)!

Some recent meals. Squids with green peppercorns. I like Thai food sometimes. Gutted the squid myself, this way I get to keep the tentacles and ink (if there's any of the latter). I've decided to make Chinese (style) food everyday this week in anticipation of Chinese new year. My other half likes rice more than I do so at least one of us is happy for days (me, rice once a week is enough). Took us 2 hours to eat all this food and could only finish half. - Scallops with Sichuan black bean sauce with chilies. Cleaned the scallops myself, only had to remove gut sac and digestive tract. - Steamed turbot with Shaohsing wine, light soy sauce and sesame oil. - Steamed eggs with roe and preserved turnip bits (as well as the usual wine, soy and sesame sauces.). I left the roe sac whole for this one. - Steamed eggs with roe and (Sichuan?) preserved vegs (as well as the usual wine, soy and sesame sauces.)

Got the curry flavour one for the other half who doesn't mind curries. I tried one and went to brush my teeth soon after. Can't stand curry anything. Butter flavour is too mild. Not good enough. Tomorrow I go get the beef stew one again. Let's hope it's not all gone ('limited edition')!

One partridge and one pigeon. The poultry stall at the market had only one partridge left... Brushed with olive oil and browned all sides, together with the garlic. NZ Sav Blanc was next to be added, followed by chopped Moroccan salted lemons, and many big rosemary twigs. The lemons were salty enough I didn't add any seasoning. Normally I eat this with pasta but this time I had quinoa for a change. Red wine for the other half and white for me (I prefer white with poultry).

Lovely fluffy tortillas! I'm happy to eat lima beans, carrots and parsnips.

From Netherlands: beef stew flavour. Very nice!

Kim Shook: the amount of fat on pork belly I get is different every time. ------------------------------- Normal food for me in the early months of the year. This time I first poach the sacs, then fried in lard with lots of ginger, garlic, sherry and tamari. I also made a dipping sauce with tamari, grated ginger and a few drops of sesame oil.

Ann_T, on 30 Jan 2015 - 07:11 AM, said:

I have been making various foods with smoked pork belly (about 2.5kg) brought back from Swabia where I recently holidayed. Since split pea soup has no looks I just photograph the rest. In Netherlands this soup is eaten with pumpernickel bread topped with a type of smoked pork belly (not like the chunk seen next to it in the photos). Btw, the German smoked pork belly and smoked sausage are enough for 3 substantial meals of split pea soup. They were cooked together in the soup, I removed and sliced them before eating. (@Ann_T: thank you!)

It's Tirolese hash. A clever way to use up leftovers! In Germany they also have a similar version called 'farmer's breakfast', albeit without horseradish. Doubly yummy with smoked Speck. @NinaGlück: Einfach lecker (auch mit Blutwurst mit Speck) und ganz schön clever. (translation: 'simply delicious and clever')

An easy and flavour packed meal: Red-legged partridges and parsnips. The creature is from Norfork, UK. Birds were marinated in tamari, merken, sherry, olive oil and seasoning etc. Tamari makes the crust look dark but it really is not burnt. Just before going in the oven The marrow

I didn't see the blowing version but I really liked this way of making the animals using only a bamboo skewer and spatula-like tool. Pics of it I made (can't grab the image but do click on links to open): making it (board with faded animals on his left). Happy boy. I was struggling with buying some berries from a shoulder pole street vender and then out of thin air this same boy -who spoke good English- appeared...

NM, it was my first sparkling riesling and it was a lovely one.

^^ Maybe you roll the Maultaschen differently? There are lots of recipes on the web but I think the rolling technics are are sometimes hard to follow. I have this book, bought it on another trip to other towns in this state.

It's my final day here and I have been eating Swabian food (and drinking Swabian wines, too.). (Where is Swabia?) Two recent meals made in my simple lodging's kitchen: Swabian filled parcels (eaten with fried onions and bread crumbs fried in Schmalz). Schupf noodles with Sauerkraut and Speck (smoked pork belly).

Mine (pictured). I am not good at baking but I do want to have a go at it again this year.

NM, Nice pork chops. Where is the asparagus from? Peru? It's in season in southern hermisphere right now.

Two cuttlefish right after being gutted, weighing 2.5kg in total before that. The big one I braised in tamari and other things. The colour is from annatto powder. It was super tender I actually cut it with a spoon on my plate. Next time I shall try braising for 1 hour instead of 2. First photo is dark but otherwise I like the composition. I left the membrane on so that the camera has some texture to focus on. Membrane peels itself off during cooking. (Braised aubergines in the background in one photo)