Duvel

Not so sure if this was really lunch, but here we are … Thursday was Christi Hinmelfahrt (Ascension), or in our part of the world Vatertag ! Usually just an excuse for all the bachelors to head off into the woods and drink themselves silly, my friends and me observe this holiday since - well - bachelors times. Also this year a few friends from university met, and everyone brought food and drinks to share. Of course, these days kids and spouses are allowed to join and focus is less on drinking and more on eating (and drinking) 🥳 I prepared Yakisoba pan Tebasaki Ume & shiso pickled radishes plus some smoked sausages from my hometown … Upon meeting the kids had to assemble and test the wearibility of the liquor belts … … while first quality samples were taken. And off we went through field and forest … Until we found a suitable clearing with „buffet capabilities“ … The spread consisted of onigiri, fuet, more onigiri … Karaage & tsukemono … Eggs, meatballs, my stuff, cheese, more sausage, nut & fig bars … And of course refreshments: a variety of liquors, Schnaps & beer … After some digestive rest we continued through the forest, admired to local wildlife and finished the liquid rations, aided by some snacks I brought from my mancave … After some 14 km, one liquor belt, a small bottle of Marillenschnapps and a not accurately estimable amount of beer we all headed to Mannheim station, where we got a strong coffee and something for the train ride home … Froher Vatertag 🤗 !

Is there a better way to start a weekend ? Weisswurst, Brezn, Obatzda, Helles al fresco … (plus the usual suspects in the background’ and fresh garden strawberries for the rest of the family)

Is this the gyoza equivalent to @Shelbys salami roses ?!

Went to the Turkish supermarket for some aubergines, came back with a lamb shoulder instead 🙄 Lamb shoulder, marinated with rosemary, garlic, lemon and anchovy, slow cooked in the oven, with giant white beans added after some hours, served with home made zaziki and olives. Not pictured flatbread from my emergency dough … Noone missed the aubergines 🥳

Is it worth getting all the ingredients ? Reading the recipe it feels like a slightly overspiced Frikadelle, but I am inclined to give it a go upon your recommendation …

Little one and his sleepover guests were up a 7.00h this lovely Sunday morning, so I had to get up as well to feed the troops … „Sausage McMuffin“ (of sorts): Muffins toasted in the airfryer, Bratwurst patty, cheddar, sunny side egg and a dash of Tabasco. Assembled piping hot and just placed on the plate for the picture, because then they get wrapped in Butterbrotpapier (a thinner German version of butchers paper) to steam for some minutes. This gives essentially the right flavor and mouthfeel … Happy faces at 7.23h 🙄

DW had been summoned to a Spanish party, while I stayed home to „supervise“ little one & his two friends on a sleepover. But first things first: preparing a coca de recapte (Catalan vegetable flatbread) for bringing to the party. This version was meant to be sliced into fingerfood portions, so I grilled the eggplant to make the little slices with a aubergine tranche visually more appealing. At the venue, each slice was topped with a canned sardine. It was very well received 🤗 There was a bit of dough left, so a cooks treat for me … With DW out and the kids enjoying the third installment of the Narnia movies, dinner was quickly assembled. A huge batch of pulled chicken (which - despite using breast meat - turned out very juicy) … On a toasted brioche bun with salad, quickly pickled cucumbers and roasted onions … And McCain crinkle cut fries from the airfryer with the incomparable Joppie sauce. I prefer Iglo brand for the fries, but the kids enjoyed nonetheless … No complaints, except that I am getting old - seems I fell asleep before the kids as they were still partying in little ones room when DW came back from the Sangria front …

Not your authentic Bouillabaisse, but inspired by it: stock made from shrimp shells, mackerel trimmings, salmon skin, onions, tomato, shaved fennel, Pastis, orange peel, white wine and saffron. Squid, salmon & mackerel as protein. Roasted baguette, rubbed with garlic. Rouille. Little one wanted the baguette inside the soup, which turned out great … No complaints 🥳

Catalan comfort food (for the Catalan part of the family): pilotas amb pesols - or meatballs with peas in a tomato sauce. No fuzz, but happy faces guaranteed 🥳

Something quick & rustic for Monday dinner: Bauernfrühstück … Tasty.

Not sure where Whole Foods sources their berries, but at least in Europe the sloe bug or hairy shieldbug (dolycoris baccarum) is known to impart a bitter, astringent flavor to the berries it infests. Unsually you can sort the spoiled berries out, but one “surviving” berry per batch is enough to render the product inedible. My mom makes raspberry marmalade very often and every once in a blue moon a batch of her marmalade tastes off …

Not a pretty picture, but a pretty good dinner: Bouillabaisse - squid, shrimp, sea bass and anchovy in a stock with onion, garlic, tomato, saffron, Pastis, fennel fronds (and obviously potatoes 😉).

1.29 € (on offer … ~1.5 USD). And with ALL the shapes 🥳

That‘s excellent, @Dr. Teeth. These one pan dishes with barely cooked eggs (insert: shashuka, menemen, huevos rancheros, …) are very underrated. Happy to see such a nice and visually pleasing rendition 🙏

Ribeye with garlic & rosemary and a salad made from roasted carrot, onion, mozzarella & fresh herbs …

Got some nice Italian salsiccia, that I wanted to feature on our Sunday night pizza. Unfortunately, I realized yesterday night that I was out of yeast for the preferment 🙄 So, instead orecchiette con broccoli e salsiccia … not a bad alternative.

With little one on a sleep-over DW requested some “Italian nibbles” for a light dinner … To start: Negroni for the cook … It was a bit late to start the dough for a rosemary focaccia, so I decided for a scarpaccia instead. Thinly sliced zucchini & onions are salted, the resulting liquid is blended together with a bit of milk, olive oil, flour and fine polenta into a dough and spread onto a generously oiled baking try, topped with rosemary and baked for about 30 min … The works: scarpaccia di zucchine (Tuscan zucchini cake), marinated champignons and olives, roasted peppers with anchovy, cod roe with capers & garlic, heirloom tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella, baked provolone, fried squid and shrimp with allioli and a nice Primitivo. And some not soooo Italian churros (commercial product with excellent results in the airfryer) with chocolate sauce to finish … All enjoyed while watching “The Northman”. And no complaints (except for that lame movie 🙄) …

😉

As a non-native speaker of English this label confuses me … Either this means something entirely different or you chose a rather unexciting product. No “succulent anchovies” or “delectable anchovies” available ?!

First night at home after a week of business travels with restaurant food. Needed to cook something “homey” - and family requested pasta. Soooo … bronze cut spaghetti from Rummo. Sauce made from enough garlic to depopulate the night-active part of Transylvania, white wine, passata, anchovy, squid, clams and shrimp. Parsley. Served with a Valpolicella Ripasso … No complaints 🤗

Still Spargel season, still doing a lot of business trips to Eastern Germany … Soljanka, a soup of Russian decend with a nice refreshing sour note … Spargel, with classic Hollandaise, and the local add-on: tender cured & boiled veal tongue … Herrengedeck (“Gentlemens treat”), an espresso & a Schnapps … No complaints 🤗

Yeah … the English description might be too „specific“. German Sülze refers to anything jellied, and our headcheeses are more often than not made from Schwarte (skin) rather than head, simply because pigs have far more skin that heads 😉 A popular (zero effort) treat in Germany is cubed pork belly, skin on plus some spices and pink salt, stuffed in a glass with a minimum of liquid and then pressure-cooked for 2h. The result are tender cubes of belly in very flavorful jelly. Scoop out on same rye - heaven !

Business trip to the far east of Germany. A bit rural, yet with some lakes and interesting hotels. And while the colleagues went to the (slightly fancy) hotel restaurant, I decided to head out to the local butcher shop, had a fun discussion with his wife (who runs the front) and returned with … From the top left: A local cheese (Müritzer), blood sausage with toasted wheat kernels, cured & smoked turkey filet (who would have known - a popular Eastern German treat) and Tellersülze (headcheese with pickled Spreewald cucumbers and sweet & sour overtones). Plus a bread roll with mixed seeds & a nice whisky from room service 🤗 No complaints (and I got all my mails done, too …).

Roastbeef with a sweet soy glaze and a (unfortunately broken and dispersed by the time of picture taking) raw egg yolk …

The dutch pronunciation of „oe“ is what you would pronounce „oo“ (like in the word school) or „u“ in Bahasa (or German 🙃)…