travelling

… rows of stones …

Coming back to our trip to Brittany in June … When cruising Brittany – at least a small part of it – we encountered remains from the Neolithic age. Generally we are talking about the period of 5800 – 4000 BC. All over Brittany there are stones arranged in straight lines, burial sites made of stones piled high, giant lumps of rock … My better half & I visited some of the sites. It was…

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sweet delights

a pie for the heat

During the last days summer was all over the place w/ temperatures of about 30° C – at least in the afternoon. It isn’t a time for cooking & baking. So for desserts I like to opt for fresh fruit or – even better – a fruit salad. However, it’s also always nice to prepare a sweet pie lounging in the fridge until it’s time for dessert. I posted a recipe some years ago –…

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travelling

enjoying early season in brittany #3

Early season in Brittany … early season in Normandy! We left Brittany for a short trip into Normandy. It isn’t as if Brittany is suddenly short of any fantastic sites, gorgeous beaches and cities w/ impressive cathedrals … My better half & I decided to visit Mont Saint-Michel which is just behind Brittany’s border to Normandy. So during our 1st week we made some preparations like the routeing, which ended up in deciding to spend…

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travelling

enjoying early season in brittany #1

June is early season for Brittany resp. the whole of France because in July & August all France goes on holiday. A trip to Brittany was on our holiday schedule for some years, however … Last year we finally set the scope on Brittany – only to learn that during July & August a trip becomes difficult: only very few apartments to rent at sky-high prices even if you look about 3-4 months earlier. Also…

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sweet delights

summer & heat … lemons & ice cream!

My better half & I: we are back home. So I’m back on my blog. For 3 weeks we lived in France – holidays in Brittany. While it was about 20-25° C as expected for beginning of June, temperatures skyrocketed up to 35° C during our last week. When back home – surprise! – the next heat wave approached … So I decided that we’ll need ice cream … to survive. I thought about a…

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sweet delights

italian breakfast lemon cake

I’m obsessed w/ lemon cake. (I’m sure you noticed my passion before …)Each time when I come across a recipe for some lemon cake I think about recreating it in my kitchen. So this time I read about a version w/ olive oil & ricotta. The result is fabulous: a soft & fluffy cake, lots of lemon flavor & a freshness from the moist consistence. I stored the cake on my kitchen counter, covered –…

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travelling

looking back … tuscany 2016

During May in 2016 we cruised Tuscany for almost 3 weeks indulging in the green rolling hills & their vineyards & olive groves, in the cities from the 1400s & 1500s  – and of course in Florence! (…not to mention lots of Italian food & wine…) For many years I wanted to visit Tuscany, but it never happened – always another destination seemed more important or the season seemed wrong. To be honest: except for…

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salads savoury delights

lettuce leaves & leaf salad

This is a very short post. First of all it’s mid of May & we’ve got some sort of a heat wave – it’s about 30° C! Therefore cooking or balking something for long hours isn’t so attractive. Secondly a heat wave cries for easy refreshing dishes – like salads. My better half & I are very fond of leaf salads. We like it not only during summer or heat waves, but throughout the whole…

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sweet delights

sweet … with raisins …

If working w/ yeast you need patience. In general I’m meticulous & patient, however, anything w/ yeast never had any priority in my kitchen. When in business & working for too many office hours, handling yeast – meaning to allow the yeast to work for some hours – isn’t so hip. (I think you get it: I’ve always been more the Jamie-Oliver-Nigella-Bill-Granger-Donna-Hay fan!) Nevertheless time & again … Recently I stumbled across a promising &…

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just pasta savoury delights

pasta & parmesan & pine nuts

It’s a simple & easy pasta dish.(To add some flavorful edge also quite a lot of lemon juice & lemon zest found its way into the pasta bowl.) Do we need a recipe? Is it worth a post?Yes, because there are these great soft roasted pine nuts all over the pasta – freshly roasted just minutes before added. There is also freshly grated Parmesan, fluffy & creamy at the same time, delivering a sharp edge…

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sweet delights

rhubarb – cream – sponge

We are now full in the rhubarb season … & I like to give you a recipe for an easy rhubarb dessert. (I admit that I posted this recipe years ago, but it hasn’t lost any of its deliciousness!) For this dessert rhubarb is transformed into rhubarb compote, which I often prepare in order to have 2-3 tablespoons together w/ banana & yoghurt for breakfast. Around the Easter weekend there is always a mix of…

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savoury delights

pizza w/o tomatoes

Is a pizza w/o tomatoes really a pizza? I think it is a pizza, because I didn’t intend to create any new type of quiche or tarte flambée. Except of the lack of tomatoes the rest fits in a traditional pizza creation. The tomatoes – if like a tomato sauce or tomato pesto or fresh tomatoes?I simply substituted ricotta for tomatoes. So the basic creaminess of the pizza remained & the ricotta mingled w/ the…

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sweet delights

rhubarb … & more!

Long time, no see – or better: long time, no post. What happened?As you may have noticed about mid of March my better half & I, we made a weekend trip to Maastricht (fine weather, sunshine, having coffee outdoors … a perfect spring weekend!). Beginning of April we made a weekend trip to Strasbourg; unfortunately it was very cold w/ rain and some fine snow. Yes – we had managed to pick just this weekend…

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