Duvel

That alone is not sufficient information to assess the danger you are in: was it more of a Mars bar or rather a piece of sashimi ?

Please wait for future installments 🤭

Pinsa & movie night … My conclusion is that Pinsa is „just another flatbread“ and not some groundbreaking new product, using a dough made from wheat flour, rice flour and soy or chickpea flour (I used the latter), long cold ferment (48h) and they recommend sourdough (I used a preferment). Everything else is pretty normal. It is stretched more oblong than round (probably to differentiate it more from pizza), which was tricky for me because I am very OCD about round pizzas. But luckily, it was a Pinsa 😜 Mushroom and crispy bacon Artichoke and anchovy Chicken, chorizo and mushroom Crust was airy, chewy and a bit crunchy. Taste was good, yet the chickpea flour was noticeable (but not in an unpleasant way). The other two were not noticing there were not eating pizza, but that was also the fault of the exciting movie based on Michael Ende‘s „Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13“ …

The next day was intended to hike around the Glencoe National Nature Reserve. Emphasis on nature. A visitor on the camping grounds, seen on my way to brush my teeth in the morning … There was a bit of rain. Good for seeing spectacular waterfalls … Or spontaneously formed rivers … Or the impressive Three Sisters … Buuuut … with the right attitude, even rainy days can be sooo much fun ! Did I share that it was a constant 13 oC ? In August. Day and night … but hey - holidays ! Im the afternoon it cleared up a bit … Upon returning the tent was still standing and still dry inside, which I found to be a big plus. There was a kind of shed on the premises, that I decided to use for making dinner … Little one picked burger (lucky for me) and enjoyed the smell and most likely the heat emitted by the burner … “Glencoe Highland Burger“ 😝 No complaints, but with a little treat for the cook 🥳

Ok, let me fill you in on our “equipment”: The latest fashion are tents with inflatable beams. You attach a special pump and basically inflate the sceletal structure (I amsure there is a better English term for that) and the tent builds itself. Pretty cool. Disassembling is equally quick, but rest assured you won‘t get it back into its back … The tent withstands days of ceaseless rain. Guess how I know 🤭 Even better than the tent are the air mattresses. I was dreading sleeping on those, remembering the uncomfortable ones of my childhood. Boulderdash. Technology in this field has made so much progress, it is unbelievable. I bought two self-inflatable mattresses, each 1.40m x 2.00m x 12.5 cm. The basically have a foam core and when you unroll them, the foam expands and sucks in air through a valve which then you close. Thus, you have two cushion systems and I tell you (and everyone else) that I slept better on those mattresses than 90% of the hotel beds. No kidding. Plus - with the two mattresses our sleeping area was 2.80 m x 2.00 m, which is pretty good for two adults and one kid …

Ahh … Loch Lomond. Pretty much every German knows the melody of the namesake song it its most popular form by Runrig. However, the German version is the club anthem of the soccer club 1. FC Köln (that has a cult following), its lyrics sung in the local dialect of Cologne by the even more popular band Die Höhner … We headed to Truss, on the western shore of Loch Lomond to take a cruise and explore the little islands in the lake itself. The weather was changing rapidly and the scenery looked very different with the changing patterns. After returning to shore we drove further north into the highlands. The weather deteriorated with every mile … This was the last picture before it started pouring. We arrived at Glencoe National Park around 17.00h and the first time we had to assemble our tent was in the pouring rain. I got the feeling that the family was not up to a minimalistic meal from the camping stove, so I took them to Glencoe town and we went into the only restaurant open. It was crammed. After a relaxing drink at the bar, we got our table … Mr. Duvel: Fried Stornoway black pudding … Mrs. Duvel: Roasted salmon (very moist) with veggies … Little Duvel: Ribs ! Followed by the “rib flash” 🤗 It rained the whole night. Truly enjoyful when the Guiness forces you to a biobreak (and the toilet being like 500 m away …).

Leaving Edinburgh behind the following day, we headed towards Stirling Castle. A vast complex, difficult to capture in its entirety … I think that pink chandelier was on offer at IKEA once … Cannonball ! Castle with a view … My crest 🤭 And my job … Walking through the halls makes one feel like a king, so little one got his royal moment in the great hall … After the visit we continued our trip towards the Loch Lomond National Park and stopped in the town of Callander. Little one was famished and we decided to head for a fish and chips shop. Haddock - fresh and delicious … Squid - equally nice There were also some battered shrimps that somewhat didn’t get their picture taken. Maybe because little one inhaled them … After that we enjoyed a small hike through the surroundings. I felt a bit tired and we decided to stay overnight. Much to my surprise I learned that the local camping grounds do not allow tents to be pitched. You either come with your caravan or mobile camping unit, or rent a “barrel”. Luckily, they had a cancellation and we snatched it up.

The next day I overslept. The other two were kind enough to let me sleep and headed out to the city center aline, leaving me a message and some more relaxation time 🤗 I joined them just around 13.00h. The city center was bustling, certainly helped by the unusually nice weather … We looked out for a nice lunch option and found “The Last Drop” at the Grassmarket … First pint on the island … Oatcakes with smoked salmon Stovies And for @Shelby: Haggis, neeps and tatties … Little one wanted extra garlic bread 😋 After lunch we enjoyed the city center and little one was allowed to pick up a present for the holidays. He picked a Axolotl (from Jellycat - I love their toys, too) Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to see the castle (but will do so on our way back home) At night, nobody felt really hungry, so we made do with snacks again: couple of cheeses, bread & oatcakes (not pictured) and onion bhajis. And - for my first time: Irn Bru, the Scottish national soda.

That is correct. The ferry has a capacity of some 160 cars and because it is overnight travel (17.00h-9.00h) you have a cabin with bathroom. There is no kitchenette inside, but we heated the (homecooked) pasta in a heat resistant plastic bowl in the sink with very hot water …

The ferry ride was smooth, as was the arrival in the UK. First night we wanted to “ease in” and had found one of the elusive hotels in Edinburgh. This was helped by the fact that a week later the Edinburg Festival Fringe would begin, so naturally everyone wanted to be there at that time, leaving a few options for us. On the way to Edinburgh we passed Dryburgh abbey … And the nearby statue of William Wallace, looking over the countryside, searching for a decent actor to play him in biographical movies in the centuries to come … We arrived at the hotel and my day was done. Literally. The rest of the family - after enjoying the indoor pool - walked to a nearby supermarket to organize our first “dinner” in Scotland … there was definitely room to improve 😝 Assorted snacks … Cullen skink …

2 weeks before our departure the little one brought Covid home from school. Three days later my wife caught it and exactly one week before our departure date I got sick as well … Everyone recovered and my test showed a negative result the morning we started to drive to Amsterdam to take the ferry. I won’t lie - I was exhausted. Even driving seemed to tire me out. At the same time I was happy to be able to recover the next 2.5 weeks, which kept me going. We arrived on schedule, checked in and moved into our cabin (next to the life boats - safety first 🤗) … For the night - instead of exploring the giant ferry - we confined ourselves to our room, enjoying some homemade pasta with meat sauce and played some games before having a very quiet and relaxing time en route to Newcastle …

Prologue: With the decline of anti-Covid measures in Europe and the lift of travel restrictions, this summer looked like the perfect opportunity for a nice holiday. Little one insisted on going to Spain (which we declined because that was the only thing we’ve actually done in the last two years), I wanted to go to the Provence and my wife suggested Scotland. It took us quite a while to come to a conclusion (“happy wife, happy life”) and by mid of May we had finalized Scotland as our destination. Unfortunately, flight were rare and very expensive. Rental cars were not available (except for some options ~150 €/day, which wasn’t an option either. The destination Scotland seemed to drift away … Duvel to the rescue: as we usually drive to Spain, why can’t we drive to Scotland ? We found a car ferry from Amsterdam (4.5h from here) to Newcastle (2h to Edinburg) and would just use our own car - problem solved ! Happiness last for a few days, when I got my wife’s distressed phone-call in the middle of a meeting “There are no reasonable hotels outside of Edinburgh available in August in Scotland” … It was true - everyone seemed to go to Scotland this summer. Quitting was not an option anymore, so the next weekend we drove to the closest camping store and got the finest equipment available. Finally, everyone was happy: my wife got to visit Scotland (and took several “Outlander” novels with her), little one got an adventure trip with sleeping in a tent, and I got camping cooking equipment to enjoy the trip by doing what I like best …

Of course … Weeeeell …

Where to spend the real first summer vacations after the Covid hiatus - definitely not an easy question to answer. For reasons that might be disclosed later the Duvel family opted for Scotland. It was not an unanimous decision … Nevertheless, there is sufficient food content that makes me feel comfortable to share some parts of this trip with you 🤗 Stay tuned …

… aaaand how to get those beautiful pictures online 😜

Now we are talking - fantastic 🥳

The characters on the picture (though incomplete) say qiézǐ pídàn, the first word meaning eggplant, the second century egg. I have not found a recipe specific to this, but for the aubergine maybe you could have a look at the (usually cold-served) steamed aubergine dish called liángbàn qiézǐ (凉拌茄子), and then top it with the century egg ?

It’s in “Compendium of Chinese Hospital Cooking, Vol. 9”, page 844f.

I think if it heats up to and is able to hold 225-250 oC, has some heat coming from the top in addition to the bottom and a suitable surface (e.g. by putting a pizza stone in), you should be fine. Make a medium hydration doug and give it a try. After that it's tweaking time to your desired outcome.

Thanks, will certainly do. So good to see you back, @heidih 🤗

You are right: venison is quite lean. It has, however, sufficient connective tissue (shoulder/legs) to make it suitable for stewing. 90 min (to max. 2 h) does the trick; it produces a nicely soft result.

Is this a theoretical question, or do you really own an oven of that build to shell out some 13 kg of potatoes per hour ?

Back to the German food portfolio, or - to quote Jimmy Carr - “Venison’s dear - isn’t it ?” … Leg of venison stew with wild mushrooms, Spätzle, duchess potatoes (commercial product), red cabbage and pears with lingonberry jam. Very good (if I might say so) and of course “no complaints” 🥳

I had a lot of uni. In Japan. Was not thrilled at all. Then, on our last visit to Tokyo I invited my then girlfriend (now wife) to a very special dinner. One if the dishes was uni, freshly flewn in and opened in front of us, still filled withnsea water and half digested kelp. The flavor was so unbelievably good - I have never ever had uni again like that. So - yes, uni can be divine, but … in real life in mist probably won’t 🤗

Something odd happened today: after requesting more German food a few days ago, my in-laws hinted at the possibility that their need for meat products has been satisfied. At least that’s what I could get with my limited Catalan … So, tonight we had some vegetarian fare, Indian too be precise. Palak paneer … Pumpkin tikka (with some chickpeas thrown in to up the protein content) … Some sort of of leavened wheat-besan flatbread, brushed with salted garlic butter after griddling … No complaints ! Yeah 🤗