introducing: two new companions for winter

i've been a huge fan of moncler, ever since i was a little child. since my mom is very italy-oriented (not only when it comes to lifestyle and food but also when it comes to fashion) we were wearing those typical moncler down jackets (in navy blue, of course) with the matching lambs wool pullovers (very itchy) year after year. so, no wonder i'm kind of a moncler fan even nowadays. it's really one of my love brands of all times. but still, there has been such a flood of moncler down jackets (not only in bahnhofstrasse in zurich) in the recent years that it's not so much fun to wear anymore...

two or three years ago, on our yearly autumnal weekend trip to como to eat porcini and stroll around the shops for the latest italian fashion, we went, 'come al solito', to our favorite store, 'a.gi.emme', in via vittoria emanuele II (note: if you're ever in como, make sure you visit 'a.gi.emme', it's really inspiring). that's where i first discovered this really nice down jackets in the most spectacular candy colors by italian up and coming label 'duvetica'. duvetica's down jackets are just as shiny as some of the prettiest monclers (i love shiny, though i know many people don't), just as light (if not even lighter), come in the latest colors, and, last but not least, are affordable, too. and yet the best thing: it's up and coming, so it's not moncler uniform. so, yes, duvetica is definite to be a safe alternative for moncler and a pretty companion for this winter, for both, men and women.

1 duvetica forrest hooded down jacket
2 duvetica thia hooded down jacket
3 duvetica cirene black quilted down coat
4 duvetica deneb black down coat
5 duvetica azure belted down jacket

if, however, you are looking for the right companion for your alpine skiing slash après-skiing fashion moment, then i can highly recommend to you 'parajumpers', another up and coming italy-based label for down jackets. the parajumpers look is more sporty and with a functional appeal, however still city-qualified.

1 parajumpers brown long bear coat
2 parajumpers ground field parka
3 parajumpers adirondack long parka
4 parajumpers antique light long bear coat

isi's green asian noodles

yesterday my friend isi came over for dinner. isi and i got to know each other at the first day of university, while we were waiting in line to get our 'freshman package'. when isi introduced herself as 'isabel' i said 'wow cool, i always wanted a friend with the name isabel so i could call her isi' - and from this moment on we were friends (sounds kitschy, but it's true, actually). isi is not only a really good friend through ups and downs, but both of us really love food, too. i knew she liked asian food a lot, so i started to leaf through my cookbooks to find the perfect recipe. but somehow, all the asian recipes are never exactly right for me. i like a  lot of different vegetables in it - not just one or two. and i like it slightly spicy - but without a lack of taste, either. so basically i had to come up with my own wok recipe.

and here's what i created: isi's green (because there actually are many different green vegetables in it) asian noodles with five spices chicken on top.

and here's how you do it: you will need many different green veggies. i used broccoli, thai spinach, thai asparagus, thai chive flowers (at least i think it's called like that...), green beans, some chinese cabbage, some thai spinach leaves, spring onions, cilantro if you like it and mint leaves. pak choi would have been great, too, but i didn't have any. in addition, you will need all the basic aromatic asian cooking ingredients: chiles, onions, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, lemon, lemongrass and if you like a hint of garlic. i always use dried as well as fresh shiitakes, since they add a lot of taste to the broth. and cashews for a different bite.

to start, heat a little peanut oil in a wok, add sugar and caramelize it slightly. then add chiles, garlic, ginger, the chopped lemongrass, onions and cashews and stir fry for a few seconds. then add the veggies that take the longest to get soft first, in this case the broccoli and the green beans. stir fry for about a minute. then add the asparagus and shiitakes. deglaze with soy sauce, add enough water and a spoon full of vegetable broth to your liking, and add the kaffir lime leaves and the whole lemongrass to the broth. cook for about two minutes. spice with chile paste if needed. just before serving, add the rest of the ingredients: cabbage, thai spinach, herbs, spring onions and freshly squeezed lemon juice. serve with rice noodles or rice.

make sure to add a lot of the broth (don't be afraid to drown the noodles in it, it's really tasty). and i'm always surprised how many veggies are needed for wok cooking; they sort of seem to disappear in it. so if you think you have too many vegetables, it will eventually turn out just right.

to make it a complete meal, i quickly made some chinese five spices chicken. the five spices is a popular spice in china to go with fish or chicken. it usually contains: cinnamon, aniseeds, fennel seeds, cloves and pepper in equal quantities. since i only had each spice separate and as a whole, i put them together in a mortar and ground them first. add salt to the five spices powder, and cover the chicken breasts in it. sear on each side for 4 minutes, until the chicken has a lovely, dark crust. slice into thin parts and place on the noodles.

serve with a slice of lemon and chile on top. 

plenty of color to celebrate the start of a lazy week

last week i got this really great cookbook by yotam otolenghi, called 'plenty', from my dear friend sasa (and her mom, jane, actually). i fell in love with it in an instant, and after reading through it more elaborately i made a list of recipes that i want to cook. in my own words, i'd describe yotam's kitchen as: modern, vegetarian, no frills, market-inspired cuisine with a pinch of alternative sophistication. or in three simple words for you to follow my cooking passion slash obsession: plenty of love. and my mom, who ran over the pages briefly even declared enthusiastically that we were going to cook everything for our christmas dinner (which is quite a big deal in our family, and mom usually starts to plan it in september) after 'plenty'. so, there.

ever since i got plenty, i was longing for a spare afternoon or evening to try the first recipe. today i had the day off. and i realised that i seriously need a time-off, so i spontaneously took the rest of the week off, too. feels really good! and to celebrate the initiation of my lazy week, i decided to cook a little something for my parents. here's what i picked out of plenty: colorful winter salad* (*not sure if the recipe is called exactly like that, since my mom took the book with her when she left, however only on loan...). 

the salad consists of two sorts of cabbage, white and blue, mango and papaya slices, coriander and caramelized pecans (i skipped those since it was a spontaneous dinner idea and i didn't have any at home). i will use the dressing on other salads: lemon juice, honey, soy sauce, chiles and lemongrass cooked to reduce, then refined with a few spoons full of sesame oil. 

yum!
have a great week, everyone. i'll be sure to make a few updates this week, so do come back.
love
scarlett

weekend with the kids

the weekend with the kids was exhausting (i admit) but a lot of fun, too. if i ever get to have kids of my own, i would want them to be just as cool. we had on our schedule. but since the weather was terribly rainy on saturday, we just stayed indoors. but time flew with cooking- and baking-sessions, home cinema with pop corn, a walk across the fields where we coincidentally found some stranded balloons from a wedding celebration, playing games and ice cream heaven in the city. here is some photographic evidence of our activities.

i shall never grow up

i'm allowed to spend the weekend with three really cool kids i got to know this summer during the wedding escape. so, yeah of course i've been making plans all week, making my mind up as to what would be the ideal program for all of them (aged eight, ten and twelve). and, luckily, i've got the day off today so i can make all the necessary preparations (like packing). but since i regard myself somewhat still as a kid (as you might have read here), i guess we will all have a lot of fun.

here's a list of things i might or might not do with the kids (depending on their preferences and the weather):

1 bake plenty of cinnamon rolls
2 make home-made marshmallows (it's going to be such a m.e.s.s.)
3 visit the zoo and give each animal names
4 hit a few balls on the driving range
5 go running straight outside the house (they're all very sporty, so...)
6 watch movies and eat caramel popcorn
7 let the kids pimp my iphone with the latest must-have games (i'm so looking forward to that one...)
8 dance about the living room in socks (you don't want to see the evidence, i guess)
9 make a huge shared painting
11 dress up as pirates
10 play ping-pong (only if i'm forced to...)

week in objects: my true love, chabichou

surprisingly, my week was really okay. despite all thae drama inspired excessive muffin production... in fact, yeah, let's just refer to that, well, unhappy day as the 'muffin-day', from now on. okay? (ah, how i like euphemisms, they spare you so much shame...)

one of the hightlights: when my friend initiated our (this time actually real) girls dinner with the disclosure she brought 'my very good old friend' with her. let me tell you i was thrilled to find she was referring to our (mutual) love, chabichou.

1 this table full of pretty things 

because it includes flowers from the boys, lovely food to indulge in (neatly presented in a basket), sablés from hauser's in st. moritz, the cook-book and note from noodles and jane, lovely autumn morning sun-light, a la durée candle with my favorite scent 'fleur d'oranger' and last but not least some product placement (the bernies invitation, for which our agency is in charge). 

2 this view of the lake in zurich the other day

beacause for a second i've mistaken it for an italian sea shore. 

3 this tree bark

because somehow, the expected heart in it is missing, isn't it? what can i say, i can really feel you, tree...

4 this chabichou

because charlie and i discovered this cheese in paris and fell in love with it madly (despite or maybe for it's dramatic odor). we've actually got some kind of a relationship with that cheese. besides, i love the word 'chabichou de poitou' itself. i could say it over and over.

and that's already it. sorry, i've been a little self-obsessed this week, so there are only four pictures so far. 

but i will be spending all weekend with three really cool kids, from friday to sunday. i'm thrilled to be in charge of their entertainment, and i'm hoping it will inspire me as well. wish me luck!

happy weekend, already (as i've got a day off tomorrow, yay!), 

love

scarlett

the beautiful big black bag

a woman's search for the ideal companion is long and exhausting. constant, never-ending, interminable, even, some times. you know i've been on that search for the perfect 'beautiful big black bag' for quite some time now. without succeeding. how come a woman can have so many (not too many, just actually enough) bags, but still feel like the perfect one is still missing? because the perfect big black bag will make all other bags she possess redundant. i am a positive person; so i still believe my perfect companion is out there somewhere, and i know i will find it eventually. but until now, it's just missing.

here are a few good options, however, that i would like to call my own until the day when the perfect beautiful big black bag and i finally meet.

1 michael kors uptown astor large leather tote

2 chanel 2.55 black calf flap bag 

3 alexander wang darcy studded hobo

4 pauric sweeney python quilt overnight bag

5 fendy navy tote

6 tory burch carson messenger shoulder bag

7 mulberry mitzy leather hobo

note: they're not all exactly black-black, i know. duh! but black tenor, anyway... and yeah, so you have to be willing to make compromises and accept substitutes. okay? after all, you'll only find the 'real big thing' by experimenting with several back-ups. right? right.

girls dinner (with the boys)

only briefly now the spontaneous shots from last nights girls' dinner with the boys. to recap the dinner: flaky pastry pies with caramelized onions and goat cheese, freshly out of the oven. pumpkin soup with fresh sweet corn, popped pumpkin seeds and cress. risotto ai porcini e al tartufo. sorry again for forgetting to shoot the dessert, which would have been parfait de canelle on a plum sauce, together with these pumpkin muffins and these chocolate truffles (will try to cook and post that on an other occasion).

(note to self: will have to work on taking pictures while cooking, and vice versa. not very good at that, because i focus on serving the plates to my appreciated guests while still all hot... challenges, challenges...). 

still got some soup left-overs from last night... hmm, but i rather feel like pizza delivery today. have a lovely night, everyone! 

chocolatier-me with truffles

i've got a hard time working on this post, since i cut my finger very badly this afternoon while chopping some parsley (the nail is split in two... very pretty). not enough, i passed out over the cut. but no worries, i'm fine now. only sorry to my colleague who wanted to shoot my hands on monday for a work-thing. whoooops...

tonight i had some friends over for dinner. it was initially planned as a girls' night, but eventually turned into a girls' night with boys. really interesting.

here's what we had for dinner: as an amuse bouche, we were having flaky pastry beds covered with caramelised onions and goat cheese (all credits to my mum). as a starter pumpkin soup with asian spices, roast sweet corn and puffed pumpkin seeds on top. and then risotto ai porcini (one of my favorite dishes) - with a hint of dark summer truffle. as a dessert, we we're having a parfait de cannelle with plum sauce (which i forgot to takes pictures of... so sorry!), pumpkin muffins (...) and these home-made chocolate truffles.

so, for now only a quick and dirty update of my new obsession, chocolate truffles, which i produced last night until around 2am (yes, in the morning. no, you don't want to know...). i think they look so funny , and just like real truffles who have just been dug out of the soil.

thanks to my friends for the lovely sunday night, and for making it a promising start into the week, after all. and thanks for the flowers (boys... you shouldn't have, haha), the cook-book, the spirits (percentage wise), the sablés, the wines et.al... you're the best and i love you all (i heart my friends).

i processed one kilogramm (!) of dark chocolate for the truffles... crazy.

the heavy cream, which has to be cooked three times, in which the chocolate is melted slowwwwly to a creamy and shiny ganache (haste makes waste yet again).

the ganache. savour the word.

after one hour, shape little 'buttons' out of the cooled and thickened ganache. then freeze them for 15 minutes.

prepare more melted chocolate for the final coating, pure cocoa powder, a sieve, the frozen buttons and last but not least rubber gloves (yes, correct).

smear some melted chocolate on your rubber-gloved hand and turn the buttons one by one in it. then dip it into the cocoa powder, and after a while dig it out (chocolaterie was completely new to me - and i actually enjoyed the precision work as well as the smearing part).

really glad i've got friends to help me eat all the excess muffins and truffles (just imagine what i'd look like if i had to get rid of them all of my own...). baking orgies would be no good without anybody to take care of the output.

a girl's guide to being dumped (and soothing pumpkin muffins production)

i consider myself a pretty strong person. not physically (obviously) but mentally. not much can really make me keel over. i'm not a drama queen (most of the time, anyway), because i believe a lady should keep her composure at any minute. and i'm certainly not high maintenance, so that helps, too (what with expectation management and all that, as seen here). in short: i get along pretty well most days.

but i guess: every person has its weak point, somewhere. right? maybe somewhere deep down beneath. why not, even super-heroes have a weakness. so, you see, my weak point is definitely 'love'. just a tiny four-letter word, but so massive. love can really get me down and make me lose all my forces. it might even happen that i lose my composure, too. in short: love is to me what kryptonite is to superman. 

why do i tell you all this? because, you see, i've been dumped* today (* though that's probably not the correct term, since there wasn't even a beginning for anything dump-worthy, sad enough. but let's not be overly fussy here. after all, dumped is dumped)... sighs. yes, 'dumped' as in: 'ditched' or 'been written a dear john letter'. 'dumped' as in: 'he's just not that into me'. you get the picture.

no, it's never a nice thing to experience. for nobody. even super-heroes. at that, come to think of it, love rarely ends in harmony and happy ends. i mean: i've been on 'the other side' a few times, where i've been 'the one to dump', not the 'dumped' one (let me tell you that i think both sides suck equally). 

yes, i did, actually, (struggle hard to) keep my composure while being dumped today. but you should have seen me the minute i got home with my broken-heart... honestly, no... let's not go there! i won't elaborate how miserable i felt. everybody knows that nothing good ever comes from self-pity. instead, let me stress some positive elements, and point out the many things i'm happy about and thankful for in my life.

i'm thankful for love (although it's my weak point). and i'm thankful for the hope i have and keep up, and my strength to keep trying. and i'm thankful that i'm still (trying to be) a good person, despite all the disappointments. i'm thankful for my beautiful home, my amazing flat-mate and his very nice girl-friend. i'm thankful for my job and my lovely team at work. and, last but not least, i'm thankful for my close friends and my caring family (the poor ones, i really scared them today...). 

and then i'm thankful for distraction in weak minutes. and for the best distraction of all, which, to me, is baking. no kidding, i'm really thankful for baking and kitchen chores, that help me drown my self-pity with actionism, in order to prevent me from falling apart. 

so here's what i did today in my broken-hearted state, miserable and commiserating myself: pumpkin muffins.

(excursion: ...and only a few dozen chocolate truffles, too. the really rich kind, made of nothing but nothing but chocolate. although i can't really tell you just now how they turned out, as i'm still fighting with them... ah, the lovely distractions). 

the pumpkin muffins are okay. i'd probably even say they're nice. but considered they were just my distraction-programme, i didn't really have very high expectations, either. and now i'm really exhausted and should probably get some sleep... so just look at the pictures for further muffin-instructions, kay? 

ps: no, they're not burnt, okay? i just put some cinnamon and sugar sprinkle over some. anyway... all that matters is: yes, the muffins did work perfectly as distraction-programme. and tomorrow i am going to eat them... lol.