Nicolai

- Ohhhhhh. You did not mention anything about the Canapés and too late to order some. - It is the Moët & Chandon Impérial Magnum. Sure thing, always start from the top 😎 ............and this how you carry and pour a Magnum

Good idea. Do you think these would be enough to get her approval?

Me think you are perfectly right. We shall have a discussion tonight and as usual She will have the last word 😪

Yes. I know, I should change my shopping location hangout.................. 😎

While the Missus was flashing her MasterCard while shopping, I was taking pictures as I have been forcibly placed on a diet of Vegies and started feeling Rabbit like...... - Assiette de Crudités: Avocado - Green Onions - Cucumber - Red Bell Pepper - Potatoes - Egg - Beetroot - Tomatoes - Then I bought my favorite Walnuts Preserve for dessert. This time an Armenian Circassian brand. Green Walnuts (with no idea what to do with it) A jar of Walnut Preserve The new hoody fleece: Prosecco made me do it - And a lonely table just for one.............................momentarily

Pomegranate Molasses is indeed the Summum of Umami. We use two types in our home. One for cooking which is the Yamama bottle and the other artisanal one for salads and drizzling on Baba Ghanouj - Hummos....etc The Yamama is very nice with a more pronounced sour side which you need for cooking. We usually have the larger size bottle but I shot this one for comparison. The price is around USD2.00 The other one is the Artisan stuff which has a more pronounced mellow Pomegranate flavour while keeping the sourness alive. It is so good that you can drink it off a tea spoon and float with the clouds. The price is more steep around: USD20.00

Another Friday repeat of the other Friday. Again we went to an Aleppian restaurant for food and moved to another Sweets place for Desserts. But this time, the restaurant does not carry any Desserts on the menu for some weird particular ancient culinary traditions...... - Starters/ Appetizers (complimentary offering by the restaurant owner) 1- Hummos 2- Mutabal Aubergines 3- Aleppo Muhamara 4- Salad - Starters/ Appetizers as ordered 5- Aleppo Mortadela (meat loaf with pistachios cooked in vinegar broth) 6- Aleppo Yalangi (Walnuts and Pomegranate Molasses) 7- Esh el Bulbol (Bird Nest - Meat and Tomatoes and Meat Pomegrenate Molasses which disappeared by the time I took the pic) 8- Kebbe Mabroumeh (No picture as it was swallowed in around 30secs) 9- Salsijo (Aleppo Sausages - Pomegranate Molasses) - Grilled Meat - (charcoal open fire cooking) 10- Mixed Grill (Kofta - Meat cubes - Chicken) 11- Kibbeh on Skewers 12- Kofta and Aubergines Skewers 13- Drinks were the obligatory Sheep Yogurt drink (off camera) Dessert - Here the main point of discussion was the Statins level of each one in the gang........................ Baklawa Blow Out 14- 15- 16- 17- 18- 19- 20- 21- 22- We had four types and I forgot to shoot one and the other was devoured by the mad horde...... 23- . . . . . . . . Came back home and had a Rennie + Ginger Ale + Absinthe (green) for good measure........... Food coma in progress.......

The Lebanese gluttony way to have a proper Mezzeh of tens of dishes culminates at Dessert time before Sheshas and Turkish Coffee (which in fact should be called Syrian Coffee as it is a Syrian couple who traveled and brought coffee to Istanbul and started the coffee preparation way. The coffee is Mokha coffee named after the Yemen port of Mokha........ hence the name of Moka for coffee) The rub is by the time the Mezzeh is finished. The huge table is littered with empty dishes and serving plates. So, instead of clearing the table, we simply move to the adjacent table where the Desserts and Fruits are laid. But yesterday, we went one better and instead of moving tables for Dessert, we moved restaurants and I was blinked to another Arabic Allepian Sweets place where I had a dessert which I did not have for a very very long time and is purely and strictly an Allepian dessert called Haytalieh. My guess is that Haytalieh came into being by combining the original discovered Arabic Ice Cream and Cornstarch. The Cornstarch is cooked separately in rectangular pans using scalded milk and laid to cool before being cuts into cubes. This is served with some of the cooked milk and Milk Ice Cream. The one I had was even a step higher as the Milk Ice Cream was replaced by Clotted Cream Ice Cream sprinkled with Pistachio gravel. Yes, it brings you closer to your doctor and not recommended after a heavy meal. BUT it is refreshingly cold and creamy and crunchy and soft and pillowy and it has magic effect which makes you feel like a child sitting at a single table in an empty prairie enjoying a bowl of Haytalieh and the whole world can go Pfffft. I am not putting up the Mezzeh pics as I did not take any. But here are the Haytalieh pics for your enjoyment. Haytalieh as served Haytalieh re-shot to show the Cornstarch floating cubes

Ohhh. I missed these. Note to self, Do not ride a car with Rotuts on the wheel if tunnels are involved 😎

Ohhh. I forgot. What is The Graduate biggest flaw?

I must confess that Burma is still on the 1000 to eat list. Let me know which dishes to try? LoL. The Burning RedRoot festival had a libation deficiency problem caused by a rather potent Arak. By the time the food was served, people were rolling on the floor and photography was rather unwelcome. I can reveal that the Beetroots were so good that we had to do an "encore" the second day, same with the Aubegine salad. The mains were finger licking Beef Shawarma and oven baked Lemon/Garlic/Cinnamon chicken legs. Dessert was baked Rice Pudding (Pussers Rum Flambé) and an enormous Watermelon (Vodka Syringe Infused)

It's Friday......... Friday is spicy Malaysia day.... Malaysian food stand head and shoulders above all Asian cuisines. Although such statement might be subjective, however for my personal taste, I prefer the Malaysian spicing and today we were thrilled again with an explosion of Malay taste and spices. By the end of the meal, I had to leave the table to take a rather important phone call and took refuge in a corridor far from the diners. As I was busy with my phone call, a door opened to reveal the kitchen and to my pleasant surprise, the Chefs were three Malaysian ladies cooking their heart out. No wonder the food had a fantastic taste and presentation. We loved every bit of the place as well as their front/back house teams. By the end of the meal, I asked permission to congratulate the three lady Chefs in their kitchen and it went a blast, they even insisted to take a selfie with me to show it to the owners of the restaurant. It does wonders when you can find your humility and pay respect to the people cooking for you. They are the stars! 1- Popia 2- Satay Daging 3- Kangkung Belacan 4- Nasi Lemak Ayam 5- Mee Goreng Mamak Dessert 6- Keria 7- Seri Muka

Yes. These are the Butternut Squash..................roasted crispy on the outside and soft inside.

It's Tuesday................................. Carvery Gluttony - Always start a Tuesday with a Gin and Tonic (Gordon's) - A big and fat Gammon Ham - A big and fat Beef Roast - My beautiful wife's plate - My small Plate including the kitchen sink Double Yorkshire Pudding with Gravy - Roast Potatoes - Mushy Peas - Butternut Squash - Cauliflower Gratin - Rotkohl (Red Cabbage) - Carrots Gammon Ham and Roast Beef buried under the veggies. ...............and of course Dessert.............................. Apple Crumble with a bath of warm creamy and lip'smacking delightful English Custard ......... In the meantime ..............Colin was busy chasing Charlie

Saturday is Taiwanese light Bao's for a lighter dinner before hitting the heavy clubbing..... 1- Braised Pork - Peanut Powder - Fermented Greens - Coriander 2- Confit Pork Belly - Pork Sauce - Dried Shallots 3- Panko Braided Daikon - Daikon Pickles - Hot Sauce - Coriander 4- Obligatory Dessert back home...... Fresh Apricot Cheese Cake with a coulis of Mango Alphonso - Passion Fruit and Yuzu

It's Sunday......... Sunday is BBQ day at our Austrian friends garden..... 1- Corn on the cob 2- Veggies 3- Chicken 4- Blackcurrant Dijon Mustard (to go with the steaks off picture) 5- Halloumi Cheese 6- Cheese Cake Strawberries and garden berries Off picture Drinks: Austrian Wohlmutt Red and White BBQ: Steaks - Portobello Mushrooms Others: Roast Potatoes and Salads No bread in sight

It's Friday................... and we went for a Polish dinner in the garden with some very tasty Varenyky but in this case theses are Polish Pierogi........ although I prefer Pelmeni. Clockwise: Pierogi (Potato and Cheese) - Smietana Polish Sour Cream - Pickled Baby Beetroots - Polish Cucumber Pickles (Dill and Mustard Seeds) - Bresaola. Off picture: Pinot Grigio which is too fruity for my taste and the dessert was a Cheese Cake with Graham Cracker base and a choice of Limoncello Gelato or Sicilian Blood Orange Sorbet (I opted for the Sorbet but don't ask why Sicilian cause I don't know).

It's Thursday for Englanders. Although I very much like Yorkshire Pudding but this is the first time I try a Giant Yorkshire Pudding......... Filling: Beef Steak - Potatoes - Carrots - Peas and the gravy is Guinness based. It's big and messy and fulfilling and succulent........for big appetites only.

Here you go: Bacon - Nutella - Peanut Butter - Maple Syrup

Open your mind, your tummy will follow. T'was another Manic Monday.......

It is Blueberries indeed....... that's what you get when people like Heston Blueintheface serves Bacon and Eggs Ice cream. The door gates were open for others to dish out dishes like Buttermilk Chicken with Blueberries........... I even personally came up with sarnies of Bacon with smooth Peanut Butter, Nutella and Maple Syrup. Want a pic? Hey, don't forget our Scotland came up with the Fried Mars Bars 🤣

It's a manic Monday on the river bank....... - Buttermilk Chicken - Double Cheese Burger and Bacon - Fish and Chips - Samphire and Wild Garlic Butter - Dessert: Plum Spelt cake............... Best ever combination of Plums and Spelt flour

Monday is light dinner day......so we picked up couple of Cornish Pasties to enjoy in the garden....... This was accompanied with a salad and the dessert was a repeat of yesterday with fresh Strawberries and Jude's Vanilla Clotted Cream Ice Cream

Sunday dinner in our English garden somewhere in leafy London suburb with French style nibbles........ From the top: - French Baguette - Endives with sliced green Apples and crushed Walnuts (French's Yellow Mustard Lemon and EVOO dressing) - Pâté de Foie Gras and Bresaola - Cheese plate: Mature Manchego - Mature Gouda and Fromage de Chèvre Bûchette affinée - Arugula and Tomato salad (Sauce Vinaigrette Balsamic) Off picture: Chablis and for dessert: Brownies with fresh Strawberries and Clotted Cream Vanilla Ice Cream

Well, it's Saturday, time for a full English overlooking the river Thames Clockwise - 2 slices of brown bread - Grilled Tomato - Fried Mushrooms - 2 fried Eggs sunny side up - Shredded Cheddar cheese tumbler - English Herbs Sausage - English bacon - 2 Hash-browns - Tumbler Baked beans