sweet delights

lemon cake & moving … & winter blues

This winter we had an especially grey & dull time (my private experience). The sky was so grey (most of the time), the days were grey & filled w/ rain (too often), it was cold & humid about 5° C (… & sometimes below zero) – and we had some snow (for about 3 days!). I felt winter blues … In addition … after living in the Mediterranean area for most of 2023 I missed…

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savoury delights

the long story of hummus & me

It was on a birthday party night when I tried hummus for the very 1st time … everybody seemed enthralled by hummus, the new star of dip paradise. Well, hmmm … I wasn’t fond of hummus at all. It was tasteless & mealy. Okay: it was many years ago … the hummus era had just started. I always give any innovations in food universe a 2nd go – or even a 3rd go, or a…

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salads savoury delights

green peas & green spinach leaves

It’s mid of November: all over the internet food blogs indulge in Xmas cookies, Xmas cakes, Xmas whatever – Xmas dinner suggestions didn’t surface until now. I’m not so ready for this Xmas business at the moment … I think some fresh & easy to prepare weeknight dinner is also appropriate. I also didn’t start any Xmas baking so far. I’m not in Xmas mood so early in November – although everywhere in food stores…

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just pasta savoury delights

it’s summer: lemon pasta … also in the south …

Pasta & summer: it’s an excellent combination because pasta is an easy dish convenient for all these warm summer nights when sitting outside w/ a glass of wine longing for some easy, but substantial food – which wouldn’t keep you in the kitchen for too long. It’s also one of my favourite pasta dishes in the south if Southern France or Northern Spain (where we are now!). The main challenge sometimes seems to be to…

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sweet delights

i scream … ice cream … in southern france

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…

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savoury delights

happy hour salmon in southern france

Happy hour is on the agenda … what about some homemade salmon paté? We are still in Southern France, in Carcassonne … Also in France there is a happy hour & sometimes we enjoy a leisurely happy hour in front of our current home, sitting in the spring sun & having a glass of wine. I found this easy approach to salmon paté in Rachel Allen’s cookbook, worked then with the ingredients available at the…

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savoury delights

from avocado to guacamole

Avocados are very popular w/ us. I think we are no exception. Especially since we are in Southern France we like to create some avocado mess & indulge w/ fresh baguette for our dinner. Afterwards we may have some cheese … for the finish. As I already told you there is only a tiny kitchen in our home so preparing excessive meals for lunch or dinner, requiring cooking & frying & preparing a sauce &…

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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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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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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

apple cake & a new toy

Since Xmas I have a new toy: a new baking tin. It’s a classic one concerning the size, however, there is no non-stick coating. So I studied the instruction & decided to work exactly as recommended – meaning to use butter generously for the baking tin & finish w/ flour. (To prevent becoming this last step a mess I worked over my sink when adding the flour, shaking the baking tin & turning it upside…

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sweet delights

january jam

Last year I wasn’t in the jam business. (It’s mainly because the year before, i. e. 2020, I was a real big jam cooker during summer working w/ strawberries, apricots, raspberries, red currants … So I had a lot of jam jars waiting in my pantry to be opened.) When starting in 2022 I realized that there was no more home-made jam – so out of a moment I decided to cook jam. Which jam?…

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sweet delights

the square cake

Dieser Beitrag enthält Werbung – advertising. I bought a new baking tin. Of course I already own some baking tins … you’ve met them whenever I’m baking (springforms & loaf tins, a Bundt cake pan, tart forms …), but nevertheless you always stumble across a new product. Since several months I’m intrigued by simple flat cakes – rectangular shaped – which can be cut into nice small pieces. A baking tray is too big &…

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