Duvel

I love Zimtsterne … the perfect Christmas cookie. This year, a hip German smoothie brand even brought out a Christmas smoothie with Zimtstern flavor …

Yeap - blood sausage. Chunky bits are pork fat and onions …

I do not care in general for German winters - cold, dark & wet. Had to do a plant inspection today and felt more than ready for the few good parts of the German winter: Grünkohl with copious amounts of pork products. Sooo … pork belly, blood sausage and Leberknödel, all accompanied by onion-bacon dumplings and Grünkohl that had been boiled into submission over 2.5h … The blood sausage was from my local butcher and literally melted in your mouth. Outstanding 🤗 All enjoyed with an Austrian “autumn” brew - bit sweet, but worked well with Grünkohl … Family is not fond of that type of German cuisine, so they got chicken baked with cream and mushrooms and steamed string beans … Definitely no complaints. Eyeing a digestif right now …

This one‘s for @rotuts: Shepherd’s pie, cleaning-out-the-veggie-crisper edition … Comforting & tasty, as always 🤗

It‘ll be a leisurely 20 min drive once you‘ve moved in 🥳

Epilogue: Slightly toasted tummies require: 1. Salt 2. Carbs 3. Umami 4. Something acidic The respective owner of said toasted tummy required something easy to make. Soooo - Linguine Puttanesca … Worked like a charm 🤗

Damn … I‘ll be going next March. We need to better align, @weinoo 😉

Since there is no „linner“ thread … First Sunday of Advent marks the time the Duvel family ventures into the accompanying Christmas market season. Today we met with some friends at Heidelberg. We started with some quick Glühweins mit Schuss (mulled wine with a shot of Amaretto). This picture shows the process how to distribute 4 Glühwein between three persons (one of which values his privacy) … Plan was to get the little one (and his similar aged friend) tired out early, so we had then ice skating. First time 😉. He managed with a bit of help … Fueled by a lot more mulled wine (that makes you impervious to the cold) and some potato pancakes (dito), that were inhaled before any decent picture could be taken, we moved to the area around the market place … Kids got crêpes with Nutella & cherries, as they were in dire need of calories after 1.5h of ice skating. Older ones had anothr Glühwein. Or two. Moving on to the university square, where all the artistic booths are … Woodwork … Fur … Old timey stuff … The Christmas star shop (that has seen a lot of business from my side in the last decades) … And finally: the wild boat sausage from the hunter cooperative. Looks unspectacular, but is very, very good. Enjoyed with Düsseldorf style sharp mustard. I had two. For the dinner thread, of course ! Finally a round on the carousel and everyone agreed that the day was a success and that -4 oC were reason enough to head home … No complaints. Except a bit hungry …

I now feel somewhat inferior for just pressing a button …

Whipped up some fried noodles with pork belly and threw in (or on ?) some Gyoza for good measure. Enjoyed with a Yamazaki highball … No complaints 🤗

I think he refers to Chef Wandile …

Getting cold outside and as a result I am getting more indoor-sy. So, tonight we watched a documentary about the Permian mass extinction event*, that resulted in a brief evolutionary leap for the proto-mammals (before being all eaten by the proto-reptiles). What better way to celebrate that brief time of proto-mammal abundance than eating two of the latest members of their evolutionary tree in the form of a double bacon cheeseburger. —- * interestingly, they explained that the first couple of million years after the mass extinction, earth was dominated by fungi. I tried to explain to little one that that must have been the birth of his beloved pizza funghi with salami, but with 10 years he seems to be able to detect when my theories are not that plausible …

Well … my Google has it 😊 Part of the entrecôte with decent marbelling.

May I stand in line for those as well ..?

Why ?!

It comes out like a Semmelknödel … Until I read this thread I would not have imagined to have a loose bread filling in a roasted bird …

Dry cure with nitrate and make Lachsschinken …

No shortage here … 15%, 32% or 40% cream available. Couple of brands, all supermarkets.

Hahaha … no worries. It looks a little bit different every time I make it, so there could have been an underlying change in recipe 🙏

Still using this one, but upping the star anise, black cardamom and Sichuan peppercorns a bit …

Needed some comfort food tonight - but family was not in the mood for neither German not Japanese, sooo … „Sichuan“ dinner: Da pan ji (大盘鸡)- ok, technically more of a Xinjiang dish, but the flavor profile matches pretty well … Mapo dofu (麻婆豆腐)(with extra Sichuan peppercorn oil) … Hot & sour soup (酸辣湯 - suan la tang) … Yangzhou fried rice (揚州炒飯) … And finally - as per little ones request - bao zi (包子)… Perfect accompaniment 🤗 No complaints. Ohh - and we have sufficient leftovers for the rest of the week 😉

It might be a bit of a workaround, but look into baby milk warmers. They won’t boil your water, but they will allow you to warm/keep water at exactly 98.6 F in translucent bottles …

What‘s the logic behind that gradient ?

Eehm …