Duvel

Being in Spain at the moment you can’t find a shop they don’t have it on offer. And for a good reason - sweet, orange-y, with cinnamon & vanilla: it tastes like Christmas. I do like it with some ice cold (lactose free, because it’s sweeter) milk. So good 🤗

Lunch on Christmas day in Catalunya is Escudell i carn d’olla (or soup and meat from the pot). Tradition in my wifes family dictates that every family of the 5 siblings of her parents takes over one festive day, and my parents-in-law have the first Christmas day. So I make soup … The escudella is a two day affair. You boil pigs ears, snouts, skin, beef short rib … Chicken carcasses … Salt bones, beef bones, ham bones … in a gigantic pot outside the house. Two days. The result equals a great ramen stock - salty, umami, a lot of body: it gels once it cools just a timy bit … Veggies … Once the stock is ready, potatoes, cabbage, blood sausage and regular sausages are boiled in it … After that, the pilota - a giant meatball, heavily spiced with garlic and parsley and star of the show - is gently poached. Meanwhile the guests arrive and start with pica pica. I prepared everything, but was too busy to take a picture of the prepared table. It is traditionally enjoyed with red vermouth or beer … Just before service, large pasta shells called galets (“cookies”) stuffed with meat are boiled and the soup is served with them as first course. Wines … Everyone happily slurping away … Second course is a sampler of all the meats, cabbage and potatoes from the pot, served with olive oil and salt. Third course is almost irrelevant, but consists of chicken poached in its own juices together with sweet wine-macerated dried fruits (plums, raisins) and nuts … … followed by a fourth course of stewed apples with savory minced meat filling). The dinner concludes with turrons (assorted sweets probably unchanged since the middle ages), cava (sparkling wine) and brandy. And some whisly for me 🤗 And the kids citing traditional Christmas poems and collecting money from everyone. Little one did well … Total duration was about 5 hours. Definitely no complaints …

Christmas in Catalunya … starts on the 25th. So, tonight just some friends over for pica pica. First a dirty martini for the cook … I prepared truita de patates … Some coca (flatbread) with roasted onions, peppers and aubergines, topped with sardines. And one with beixamel, goat cheese, honey, sopprasata and pine nuts … Some giant prawns with garlic & parsley … Cold cuts … And the usual suspects: crisps, olives, pickles, octopus, croquettes and strangely some freshly baked German rye bread … Nice new discovery: A relaxed evening before the big show tomorrow 😎

I didn’t buy it - for the same price I can get two Bresse rabbits … you know, I am a price buyer 😎

With a round of Reblochon from our journey yesterday I opted forTartiflette for dinner … Potatoes, onion, ham, (Catalan) white wine & crème fraîche, all topped with Reblochon - and baked until golden 🤗 Enjoyed with said white wine. Very good and very filling …

After a leisurely 11h drive, with brief stops in Bourg-en-Bresse … … and Avignon … … we arrived in the small village north of Barcelona that my parents-in-law call home - still in daylight. As usual, noone expected us, so we had to live from the fridge (which luckily contained cold beer) … We brought fresh goat cheese, Rocamadour and St. Maure from Avignon … Embotits (or cold cuts) from the fridge … … and pickles. Wine & brandy and a pleasant night sleep, too 🙏

May if you add some tuna …

Two days ago I made some xá xíu for little ones bánh mì. Of course there were leftovers*. So, today I took a huge chunk of Spiessbraten-roasted pork belly out of the fridge and started to shave off thin slices … Kewpie mayonnaise got mixed with the congealed jus**, elevated with a bit of Dijon mustard and spread generously over some toasted chiabatta*** A pile of shaved pork belly, some hefty dill pickles and I was all set**** … On a productive note: while all this happened I prepared a truita (a Catalan tortilla de patatas) for my wifes work brunch tomorrow. Her colleagues do like authentic Catalan food 🤪 —- *That’s what I tell my wife. Of course there were not leftovers of the xá xíu, but I bought 2.5 kg of pork belly and used only 600 g of it on Saturday. ** You know it must be intense if someone used jus instead of juices. Or the German word, whatever that might be. *** German chiabatta with the consistency of a sourdough rye, but made entirely from wheat and yeast (according to the lady in the bakery, telling me with a facial expression not unlike sourdough rye). **** Full disclosure: there was a Jägermeister involved. Small bottle, though …

Little one invited a sleepover guest and requested bánh mì for dinner ... Started by making xá xíu from a nice slab of pork belly … Our favorite place for bánh mì in Hong Kong always had some great squid fritters as a starter for their lunch menu. I replicated them successfully - much to the delight of the kids … Served with fresh lime soda … Bread came from a Turkish bakery - very light, very crisp … best substitute for Vietnamese bread I have found so far. Generously spread with paté, followed by mayo, Vietnamese hoisin with a dash of Maggi, plenty of xá xíu and topped with pickled carrot, cucumber and cilantro. A fried egg for good measure. Some (commercial) Baumkuchen for dessert & a nice Ghibli movie for kids & adults … No complaints 🙏

If I could get my hands on bergamot in affordable quantities, I‘d make both juice and syrup for highballs …

Sorry, couldn’t resist …

They didn’t … I like it a lot, too. Good & tart olive touch.

Abendbrot …

That‘s French pain d‘épice, and I made it from this recipe … It freezes well.

From a German perspective: you want to make an oversized Knödel … 300 g of stale bread, chopped up coarsly. Cubed would be great, but any hazelnut-sized pieces will do. (Optional) 100 g bacon cubes 100 g onion 50 g butter 250 mL milk Fry onions (& bacon) in butter until golden. Add milk. Pour the hot mixture over the stale bread pieces. Let it soaked covered for 30 min, mixing ones with your hands. Add 3 eggs, whisked 1 Tbs of parsley Salt & pepper & nutmeg to taste Let the mixture sit for 1h, then put into a buttered loaf pan and cover with aluminum foil tightly. Bake in a preheated convection oven at 180oC for about 30 min … Cool down, slice it up and enjoy 🙏

For Christmas, we are alternating between our families in Germany and in Spain. This year we will be in Spain, so we „preponed“ our German Christmas gathering with my parents and my sisters family to this weekend. My fathers as well a little ones birthday was just the week before, so we had a couple of celebrations together. As a added benefit we met at my parents in the North and had some icy nights & mornings to get into Christmas mood … I made classic holiday fare. Spice bread with whole foie gras … A chestnut „cappuccino“, made from roasted chestnuts, cream, five spice and topped with milk foam … Duck two ways: breast, dry cured and SV for 4h @ 54oC, then seared. Just perfect and served with a tart cherry sauce. Legs, also presalted two days in advance and SV 36h @ 70oC with thyme, butter, quatre épices and finished under the broiler. Classic dark duck sauce. Red cabbage, lingonberry jam and homemade dumplings from raw potatoes. In the heat of the battle, only little one made a picture of the mains … There was pear schnapps as dessert for the men, any other (solid) options were declined due to being completely pigged (ducked ?!) out … No complaints 😎

I don’t get it … You separate the content from the can before eating ?! How old fashioned … Think extra fibre 😎

@TdeV No, of course not … I had the nachos as dinner, and the puttanesca as midnight snack. And I didn’t even exceed my calorie limit 😎

And then … I watched some food shows. Including „Tucci in Italy“. Just the Tuscany episode, but maybe the Bulleit part in the vanilla coke acted up … I made some spaghetti puttanesca. Olives, capers, real sardines in lemon, fish sauce, olive oil, looots of garlic and tomatoes. Barillas bronze-cut spaghetti and looots of pecorino romano. Didn’t fit to Tuscany, but to my mood. Plenty of ripasso … Still no complaints 😝

With little one on a sleep-over and DW at a birthday party I was far too lazy to cook. So I raided the shelves and threw together some loaded nachos, plus dips. And enjoyed with a vanilla coke (in which strangely some Bulleit bourbon found its way) … No complaints 🤗

Not directed to me, but I do blood sausage, thyme & lemon peel … works every time 🤗

Rice paper „bagel“, filled with chorizo, egg and onions, topped with everything bagel mix and baked in the airfryer …

That looks pretty much perfect 🙏

Not sure whether this is a bad idea or - after the possible consumption of certain substances - the best thing ever …

I’ve visited Munich plenty of times and have been to all the major brewery outlets, with one exception: the Schneider Weisse brewery, focusing on wheat beer in all its glory … So, this was the day ! They have seven different wheat beer on tap (and some more bottled) … The beer house also specializes in variety meats, which was just up my alley. See those numbers behind the dishes ? That’s the wheat beer pairing they suggest. Don’t worry - we tested all seven options (plus a bottle) anyway … First some starters … I chose the braised heart in a mustard cream sauce … My friend took the boiled skirt steak with fresh horseradish, which was super tender … After sampling the tabs I had the sweet and malty Eisbock … simply excellent 🤗 After finishing it was still early and we headed out for the Pschorr, a solid choice for Helles from a wooden barrel … And tuning in the nose-to-tail theme from earlier I got some roasted marrow bones with a healthy side of beef tartare … There was some Schnapps afterwards and some beer somewhere on the way back to hotel, but my recollection is a bit fuzzy. Credit card statement also refers to an ice cream, but hey … No complaints - it was a very fun evening 🥳