mom's cakes

when my mom bakes, for a family event (well, a kid's birthday, precisely spoken), then it looks like this: a luscious dessert buffet. it's just the attempt to make her beautiful and delicious cakes (they're all eaten now) last a little longer.

yasai ramen soup

i have a deep fondness for vegetable noodle soups. and i dare say i'm an expert when it comes to various broths and flavoring, and i know exactly which ingredients make the soup fragrant - and which ones make it plain sour or "cabbagey".

this yasai ('yasai' meaning 'vegetable' in japanese) ramen dish was perfection. i'm afraid, since i relied on impulse, i can only deliver the rough recipe (you will manage):

for the broth, sweat some finely chopped ginger, a garlic clove and red chili in some sesame oil (i used a big wok for it). deglaze with some soy sauce, add 2 liters of water and some vegetable stock. for the flavor, add a handful of dried shiitake. simmer the soup until the flavors are in the broth. then drain the soup through a sieve to get rid of the excess chunky bits (you won't want them in your soup). pour the liquid back to the wok.

in the meantime, cook some ramen noodles in a separate pot, in salted water, according to instructions. chill under cold running water and put a handful in each soup bowl for later. prepare the ingredients of your choice. i used: fresh shiitake, a handful of young spinach leaves and cabbage, each, some soy bean sprouts and fried tofu (the one kind of tofu that is firm and does not taste dull at all) cut in thin, long stripes. you will want the vegetable to be firm, so not a lot of cooking is required (except for the shiitake, of course), there. i just stir them in the broth shortly before serving. or i place them raw in the soup bowls and just ladle the broth on top - and the heat of the broth will make do.

so just before serving, add the broth to the noodles and the veggies, sprinkle with some black sesame (which you briefly roasted to a nutty smell) and some chopped garlic chives. prepared with love. and to be served with a big spoon.

parisien platter prettiness

 

i was lucky to spend last weekend in paris with a close friend, yet again. we started our girls' trip to paris last year and have sworn to repeat it every year. so far, i've seen many a pretty place there already, but there is so much more to discover!

this year, i fell in love with airy, oversized (like, really huge) dessert-maccarons stuffed with rasperries, the colonial specialties store hédiard and it's contemporary competitor, fauchon, the food department grand épicerie at bon marché, great restaurants all the way from coste's ruc to the japanes shu. wait, you must be getting the impression that we've nothing but eaten! and it's true: you simply can not avoid all the many tempting parisien delicacies. it's a foodie's paradise. so, of course i had to buy the occasional black smoked salt, spices, chocolates, foie gras and mariage frères tea.

but the thing that really took my breath away was the fantastic astier de villatte store. they hold the prettiest collection of tableware, plates and platters i've ever seen. they're known for their signature vintage, shabby appeal that makes each piece look like a precious find from the antiques market. i so wanted to be rich to be able to afford one of their soupières (and only a few other things...), to add to my already extensive collection of tableware (as afore documented here and here). astier's pieces in one word? adorable.

roasted garlic love

whenever spring is here, i feel the urge to prepare fresh vegetable garlic. i'm almost mortifyingly crazy for garlic. quite an embarrassing confession, i know. here's a legitimate way to prepare it: cut in half and grilled or roasted to a caramelized, almost sweet taste.

this roasted veggies plate is very easy to make. take potatoes, portobello mushrooms and a fresh vegetable garlic. wash the potatoes, half the garlic and put them on a sheet. sprinkle with olive oil, sea salt and pepper and put some rosemary between the potatoes. grill in the oven for around 25 minutes. then, add the portobello mushrooms to the sheet, sprinkle with a little more olive oil and some salt and roast for another 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender and the mushrooms are toasted brown.

though the dinner lacks some greens it's still quite a balanced meal. apart from the fact that the garlic will give your significant other a severe reason to avoid your breath for the next 24 hours... not very balanced for your relationship. if, however, the pleasure of eating it is shared, then, of course, it's a balanced meal - and just plain delicious.

melanzane antipasto piles

melanzane alla parmigiana is the taste of summer - combined in one dish. it's something my mom brought to perfection. and it's something i love to cook, too. i love the different processes it requires. from assessing and selecting the best, ripe, aromatic tomatoes and melanzane. to salting the melanzane in order to restrain the juice from them. to grilling the slices slowly, with a lot of patience. to preparing the pesto al basilico. and - best part - to stacking each layer carefully on top of each others.

normally, i would bake the melanzane in the oven. layered, with freshly prepared sugo al pomodoro in between and parmigiano on top. this time, i thought why not make it a starter (antpasto, really). so i piled all the fresh ingredients to a neat portion, so that everyone got its one melanzane-serving.

first, salt the melanzane slices in order to dehydrate them (that way, it will grill / frie better). then grill each slice in a pan (or even better, on a real grill) in some drops of olive oil until slightly charred. for the pesto, use two bunches of basil (only the leaves), add a lot of olive oil (about 1dl) and chop with a mixer. season with two coffee spoons of salt, pepper, some green chili, some honey, a little organic lemon zest and juice. combine well.

to layer, start with a grilled melanzane, a slice of red tomato, some fleur de sel, a layer of mozzarella, sprinkles of green pesto and a few whole basil leaves. start another layer and switch the red tomato for a green one. serve with some baguette and enjoy.

currently coveting: whimsical

after so many (too many) summer seasons dominated by gladiator sandals, i embraced the new summer shoe trend: whimsical ballerinas. those stardust ballerinas would pimp the simplest look; for example a pair of worn in jeans and a crisp, white tee. imagine it with this pretty peacock purse... whimsical perfection, isn't it? the perfect look for a summer date...

purse: matthew williamson, star shoes: topshop

vanilla wedding

summer is wedding season. and oh how i love a romantic feast of love (unlike prince william and catherine's ceremony, which was just plain boring... that aside). luckily, i'm invited to several this summer, yet again. yays! for one or some of them i've already planned my outfit. namely a vanilla* dress from h&m (* note: i know how everybody always says that you're not supposed to wear white to a wedding. .. but it's not white, okay? it's cream. vanilla cream, to be exact. so i am definitely on the safe side there. and if you do not believe it, then please see this here. and i mean: royals really are a reference, hun?).

so the perfect accessories are still on my shopping list. i'm thinking about pairing the rather dressy dress with flats, in order to dress it down a tad. how do you like this assemble?

dress h&m, sandals bernardo, clutch r&y augousti, shawl bamford