Contemplating the classic columns you might think … No – it’s not Athens – it’s the church La Madeleine in Paris! We made a spontaneous trip to Paris to greet the New Year 2018. New Year’s Day morning on Place de la Concorde: Well, now it’s mid of summer … but I just noticed some photos on Instagram of a rainy Paris! (Although it’s summer at more than 30° C in Southern France & Northern…
Potato salad is down-to-earth … so down-to-earth … Time to get it dressed to kill by adding an avocado dressing! Potatoes are year-round vegetables & avocados are on their way. What do you think of replacing mayonnaise and/or double cream and/or sour cream by a real heap of mashed avocado? This was my vision when creating this very special potato salad some years ago. We are still in the South aka Mediterranean area … having…
When we started our trip to Southern France, end of 2022, we made a stop-over in Montpellier. If you like details: we arrived in the afternoon of 30th of December, stayed in Montpellier for New Year’s Eve and restarted to Carcassone on 1st of January. I remember that it was rather cold and rainy … except of New Year’s Day when suddenly the sun appeared on a blue sky. We then enjoyed a lazy coffee…
My standard information nowadays … We are still in Southern France resp. Northern Spain … It is hot, really hot … & for dinner it’s most of the days a cold affair: fresh bread, ham, cheese … & some dip (or more than a single dip!). So I remembered my aubergine dip … In the past: Aubergines (aka eggplant) & I – we did never become close friends. I’m fond of beautiful aubergines, but coming…
When living in Athens for about 5 weeks in 2017, during our last weekend we made a trip to Hydra, one of the Saronic Islands. It was only for the weekend, but it was an experience in relaxing & unwinding, chilling & … frankly: sweet idleness! Hydra is a harbor is a harbor w/ a fortification, a small natural harbor … w/ a sprawling promenade … lots of cafés, restaurants, bars … lots of small…
My last post was a resumé about our stay in Athens – for about 5 weeks – in 2017. It was then when found the ultimate recipe for tzatziki. Tzatziki was always one of my favored dips, but then for a start based on my experiences during our stay when I was able to do a deep dive into different versions of tzatziki and as well recreate it at our home in Athens. So now…
We – my better half & I – went to Athens (Greece) in 2017 for work & pleasure as well as exploration & enlightenment. Our adventures – we’re dealing now w/ exploration & (maybe) enlightenment – started w/ approaching the Acropolis of Athens, the centre of classic Greece. „Approach“ means coming near to the Acropolis, walking around the Acropolis … & taking a lot of photos from afar. Next step on our agenda was to…
We are still in Southern France – and sometimes I reinvent a recipe from my blog. This time … Do you imagine that in Southern France there are lots of types of frying sausages? Honestly, I was surprised at the variety. There are thin sausages, thick sausages, short & longer than a meter … also gentle seasoned as well as really hot – and all spicy variations in between. So we often bought some sausages…
We made a trip to Agde. Agde is a small town in Southern France near the Mediterranean Sea at the mouth of the river Hérault. The city was founded about 550 BC by travelling Greeks broadening their zone of influence. Later came the Romans … and then all the others dreaming of conquering the area and establishing a new empire. Finally in the 5th century Agde became a diocese and in 872 a cathedral was…
It was cold. It was March & it was cold. So my better half & I set off to Algarve in order to escape the bone freezing temperatures at home. We found a breathtaking, endless, wide-stretching beach, blue skies & happy white clouds … & temperatures of about 15-20° C. (Of course the sea was far to cold w/ 14° C or so for any swimming … we don’t originate from Arctic regions!) … and…
It’s hot outside – the sky is blue – the sun burns like hell: it’s ice-cream weather! Some years ago I tried to prepare homemade ice-cream in a very simple way & it worked: a creamy & refreshing lemon chocolate ice-cream was my very 1st creation. (In fact I never was eager to produce homemade ice-cream. Maybe because an ice-cream machine didn’t sit on my kitchen desk – no way of churning ice-cream manually. Even…
This is the well, the source of cold water – today at the very same place as about a millennium ago. We are in the labour courtyard of the Abbey of Fontfroide (fontfroide meaning cold well). Once this was the area for producing everything the abbey and its inhabitants needed for independent living – if food processing, livestock depot, butcher work, blacksmith services … In 1093 some monks decided to live in this spot, a…
Summer & Stockholm – the best combination to dream of!Imagine a classic Europen city w/ beautiful buildings & houses from the last century – all neat & restored, a city on islands w/ water all around & hundreds of ships moored at the waterside … We went to Stockholm as tourists & did all things tourists like to do – under a blue sky & a warming sun. We did quite a lot of planning…
The sky above Béziers is blue – really blue. Deep blue. With some nice fluffy white clouds … We are now living in Sérignan, a village near Béziers, and one of our first trips we made to Béziers. We found a beautiful city – whatever you imagine when dreaming about Southern France. There are some Grands Boulevards as I like to call them. The photo above shows the impressive buildings that line up along the…
Imagining it’s happy hour: chilled white wine (or rosé wine) & smooth red wine are awaiting their destiny, gin tonics & vodka tonics are mixed or whatever else – in the very middle of all the drinks sits a plate w/ crispy crumbly cheesy spicy shortbread cookies … We are still in Southern France enjoying happy hour at times … so I started to make some savoury shortbread to enjoy w/ the wine – instead…