Christmas Bonus

What can I say, I like to pamper my guests with homemade goodies...

'Tis the Season (For Enjoying Chocolate)

...Need I say more, nudge nudge? A very merry Christmas from me to you.

Souvenirs of a Different Kind

My bad. Have neglected you like a zit-ridden stepson, who plays waaay too much WoW to ever experience serious human interaction. But that's all over now. Mommy's here. Anyway, just wanted to show you the kind of souvenirs I like to bring back from vacations. This time, 750 grams of beautiful self-picked chanterelles from Sweden. Now that beats the hell out of any miniature Eiffel Tower or brick from the Berlin Wall. Needless to say, the delicious souvenirs didn't make it past the border. But this photo did.

28 Years Later...

Normally, on someone's birthday, I would be posting a big fat sponge cake with strawberries, whipped cream squeezing out everywhere and candles galore. But since today's my boyfriend's birthday, I'd better do the cake Troels-style. That's why I chose this opulent seafood dish from a market in Nice. So happy birthday ol' boy and to the rest of you, let this be a reminder of how far you can get with a minimum of preparation and a maximum of delicious ingredients.

Just Teasing

I'm so sorry. Today's another one of those tease-days. I'm posting this photo and all the while I'm perfectly aware, that I can't follow it up with a recipe. That's because it sort of belongs to my employer (the tea salon), and I don't feel in a position to reveal their professional tricks. Instead, you'll have to settle for this photo or go buy an original cinnamon roll from Tante T;-)

Pizza with a Twist

I already introduced you to my thin-crusted pizza during a nervous rambling in an earlier post (July 21st). However, this time I won't get myself all wound up, honest. Only thing I want to say is, it tasted damn fine with serrano ham, plums and feta cheese too! An additional trick is to use the slow-cooked tomato preserve, I introduced in the post from August 30th as a base on the crust.

Nothing Beets This Soup!

Ahh, the splendour of a sunny day in autumn, where everyone is just sucking in those last rays of light before the bleak winter sets in! What better way to end such a day, than by enjoying a heartwarming soup? Yes, I'm in a soupy state of mind today and I want to share this delicious beetroot soup with you. As I understand, it's not quite a borscht as they make 'em in Russia, but a soup as the Danish film producer at Zentropa, Peter Aalbæk whips it up. So once again, I'm passing on a recipe with my own touches. I love the thought of someone else doing their thing with my recipe too, so feel free to inform me of your own improvements:-)

(Serves two people):

--------------------

2 large beetroots in small chunks

2 carrots (optional, and treated the same as above)

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

Small 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds - best buddies with beetroots!

1/2 litre meat stock (I use veal stock)

Chop up the onions and garlic and fry them in some olive oil in a large saucepan with the caraway seeds. Then add the beetroots & carrots and leave for five mins. Now you want some juice to enter the game, so add the stock and maybe a splash of water. Leave to boil for 20-30 mins. and check if the veggies have turned soft. If so, pour the whole lot into your blender and give it a good spin. When it's nice and creamy, return it to the saucepan and leave it on medium heat, while you prepare the trimmings: Almond pesto and goat cheese nibbles:

------------------

PESTO: Turn on the oven at 220 degrees. Blend up 1 decilitre of peeled and roasted almonds with 1 clove of garlic, a big handful of parsley, lemon juice & rind, grated parmesan cheese, olive oil and salt. You might need to add a little extra of this or that to suit your own taste. I like it a bit corse and dryish, not soaked in oil as many do.

GOAT CHEESE NIBBLES: Slice up some stale bread thinly, or as I do, stale rolls. Add a slice of goat cheese from a roll on each slice and give each "nibble" a bit of fresh rosemary, salt and olive oil. Crisp them up in the oven, take them out and sprinkle with runny honey.

Now you're ready to serve the sweet and caraway-spiced soup with your trimmings and a blob or two of ricotta cheese.

If that doesn't do it for you, I'm afraid nothing else will.

Because Apples Aren't Everything

Even though I've been busy getting to the bottom of my pile of apples, there's also been time for cooking real food, in this case: Spaghetti Speziale. Granted, that's not it's real name, but who can resist a reference to Disney's "Lady and the Tramp", when looking at this dish? The original inspiration though, came from a much less palatable corner of popular culture; the American day time show host Rachel Ray. Not that I mind the woman, no she's doing a great job trying to educate regular Americans in the kitchen. But it's kinda embarassing to admit that I've actually survived watching this type of housewife-entertainment. Anyway, I jotted down a few things but the sauce is the result of my own trial-and-error (this recipe serves 3 people):

Tomato sauce

2-3 red peppers (depending on the size) or 5 fresh tomatoes (very ripe)

1 can of tomatoes

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

1/3 decilitre balsamic vinegar

2 sardines

Some veal stock if you like

Assorted spices (I like to try different kinds: sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, chili...)

Olive oil, salt & pepper (s&p)

If you decide to use the red peppers, start by boiling them until the skin begins to loosen from the flesh, then put them in a plastic bag and leave them in there for 10 mins. By then the skin should come off very easily. Remove the seeds and blend the flesh into a light red paste with salt, one clove of garlic and some sage. Put a lid on the paste and set it aside. Then chop up the onion and the other clove of garlic and put them in an oiled and hot saucepan. Fry them lightly with the spices of your choice and add the balsamic vinegar, let it seduce, no sorry, reduce. Add either the fresh, diced tomatoes OR the red pepper paste as well as the can of tomatoes. Stir it, turn down the heat a bit, pop in the happy sardines and leave it to bubble away for 20 mins. In the meantime you can start preparing the meatballs (see below) and when you're done - return and finish the last few steps of this recipe=> Have a taste and see if the sardines have done their job or if you need a bit of stock and s&p. It might need a bit of extra salt to balance the sweetness of the red pepper paste.

Meatballs

400 grams minced organic beef

2 eggs

1 decilitre grated parmesan cheese

2 handfuls of fresh parsley or basil, finely chopped

3/4 decilitre of roasted pine nuts, roughly chopped

1 bread roll made into small crumbs

1 clove of garlic, crushed

s&p

Mix the whole lot and shape it into little meatballs with a tablespoon. Fry them up in a very hot, oiled pan while constantly shaking and moving it, so the meatballs don't settle for too long on one side, thus making them more round. When they're evenly brownish, put them carefully into the slowly simmering tomatosauce and make sure they're covered properly. Leave in the saucepan on low heat while you cook the spaghetti with plenty of salt. Serve on a platter with fresh parmesan cheese and basil, and make sure that Luigi plays "Bella Notte" on a banged-up old mandolin when you take your first bite...

Btw, sorry 'bout the not-so-homemade-pasta...

Bless Me Readers For I Have Sinned...

...it's been nine days since my last confession and that's a long time to go without food. Sorry. Since I didn't have much luck gathering apple-advice in my former post, I had to dust through my archives and find this ancient recipe book known to Danes as Karoline's Køkken (~kitchen).

Underneath a heavy layer of spider webs and those greasy spots that make windows on every page, I actually discovered a recipe that wasn't half bad. A perfect way to finish off apples that are ready for the nursing home:

Apple Pie with an Almond Lid

1 kilo sliced apples

A bit of sugar and lemon juice

150 grams butter

1 decilitre sugar

1 decilitre plain flour

2 decilitres ground almonds

1 teaspoon cinnamon or cardamom

Turn on the oven and set it at 200 degrees. Place the sliced apples in your round baking tin, sprinkle with sugar and lemon juice. Stir the remaining ingredients together and spread the

mixture over the apples. It's perfectly okay to let them peep through the lid here and there - it just looks kinda homely. Cook for 30 mins. & serve with whipped cream and a board game.

Applemergency

"Now we have apples galore" my boyfriend said the other day, when his sweet parents brought us heaps of home-grown ones. Now, apart from being a lovely gesture towards a food-loving couple, this was definitely a huge challenge: How does one dispense of such lovely and plentiful goods before they perish? So far we've had a whole lot of freshly made apple juice, desserts with
apple sauce and one round of oven-baked apples as a side dish for a pork roast. But there are still some left. What shall I do, my dear readers? Do I stuff my pillows with them or do you have some more respectful ideas that will also please my taste buds?

Suggestions,
suggestions,
suggestions.

The lines are open!

(btw, the pic was taken at a bountiful apple plantation on Fynen called Nybro. Just look at how the red delights are practically bursting with juice -what a wonderful sight!)

The Recipe for Zucchini alla Carbonara

Ever since leaving out the recipe for Jamie Oliver's zucchini alla carbonara in my 20th August post, a nasty guilt has been nagging me like crazy. So I finally found a link for the recipe , which was soon removed from Jamie's site. Luckily I had copied it to my computer before posting
the link so here goes the text that was conscientiously jotted down during "Jamie at Home" by "the bikeman":

I have posted this recipe on another thread, but justin case you have problems finding them, I havetranscribed the recipe below. 4oD is great, I downloaded the episode and took notes, pausing Jamie in mid stream. Bon appetit. The bikeman.
Zucchini alla Carbonara - Jamie at Home; Episode 2
The recipe is for 2 very generous portions
Ingredients
5 slices of Pancetta or thickly cut bacon - chunkilysliced
200 gm of Penne
4 small courgettes (2 yellow if you can get them).
Lemon Thyme
Mottled Thyme
Ground Pepper
Olive Oil
Parmesan cheese, grated
2 Egg yolks (one egg yolk per person)
50ml Full Cream (25ml per person)

Splash olive oil in the pan, drop in thePancetta/bacon and let the fat render out. Toss it every now and then. Whilst the Pancetta is cooking put the Penne into a pan of boiling water and season with salt. Cut the courgettes into quarters lengthways and then remove the seed core (the bit that is in the middle of the courgette). Then slice the courgette at an angle.The pieces should resemble the Penne when cut. Add the sliced courgette when the Pancetta has gone golden and crisp. Give it all a good toss (if you're able to like Jamie, but for mere mortals a spatula would do equally), add a large pinch of pepper and then the Thyme. Toss and then
leave to cook whilst making the Carbonara sauce. Put the two egg yolks in a bowl and then the cream. Add a large handful of freshly grated Parmesan. Mix using a spoon. Now drain the pasta and pour straight onto the courgette/pancetta and toss. Allow to cool a little before pouring in the Carbonara sauce, toss (or mix) continuously whilst pouring. (Wait for the frying sound to subside, failing to wait will mean the eggs cooking, making it look like scrambled eggs!). Spoon some water from your pasta water, again tossing, to get a silky sauce, perfectly covering the pasta. Garnish with fresh thyme and then a glug of olive oil and serve on a large plate.
Happy Days!

Do Try This at Home

I was making a cake for a party in our apartment building and decided to do a remake-over of the popular Victoria Sandwich, I've already shown you (see post from the 24th of July). Here's the good stuff I stuffed into it: stewed pear and cinnamon whip (for the lack of a better word).

The "how-to":

Dice up four pears (it's okay if they're rather hard) & one apple and boil 'em up in three decilitres (dl.) of water, about 1/4 dl. of brown sugar and 1/2 dl. of regular sugar (or more, if you like it sweeter). Add one star anis, the rind of 1/4 lemon and the juice of 1/2 lemon. When it

starts boiling turn it down slightly and let it simmer for about an hour or until the fruit is transparent and the juice is nice and thick. The star anis and the brown sugar are absolutely essential if you want that velvety caramel flavour and a distinct pear taste. Uhmm, and then a dollop of crème fraiche gently folded into some whipped cream mixed with cinnamon and a tiny bit of icing sugar. It's pure happiness in a silver spoon.

Day Six: Lamb Chop Chop

If you too enjoy a good lamb chop now and then, I can really recommend getting it at a Hallal butcher. It's very fresh and you definitely get a lot more run for your money. This little lamb chop was dolled up with the classic accesories: garlic and herbes de Provence. Always works for me. Here I served it up with creme fraiche&mustard potatoes and a no frills salad. Nothing much, but certainly enough for me!

Day Five: Preparation Always Pays Off

Another way to have an easy and yet satisfying dinner is to cook something in advance. Luckily I had caught a glimpse of Camilla Plum, the Danish kitchen-mamacita per excellence, while she was making preserved tomatoes on telly. The idea was so brilliant and easy that I simply had to try it out. Here's how you do it:

Take two big jars with tight-fitting lids (just no patent lids with those rubber thingies) and fill
them up with sliced tomatoes and herbs or, as I did, add sliced red peppers and roughly chopped garlic. Make sure you stuff the glasses as much as possible, as the mixture will reduce quite a lot (see picture). Add a splash of olive oil, whole pepper corns and salt and finally close the lids tight, but then un-screw the lid slightly so the heated air can leave the glass during the cooking time. Leave it in the oven on 110 degrees for four hours [sic!] or until the content has reduced approximately 30% and you can see it bubbling slightly. Then close the lid completely. These last steps ensure the preservation because the boiling kills off the germs and the lid seals it all in (well, duh!). So far, my glasses have survived on the shelf for 10 days without showing
any signs of old age (Mrs. Plum says she keeps hers all winter, though the sheer attractivity of them makes them last for a much shorter while). Must admit though, that I'm so much of a disbeliever, that I simply have to check the status from time to time anyway...which takes us back to day five of my food journal. I just heated the preserve in a saucepan and didn't have to change a thing. The tomatojuice in the sauce had such a deep and sunny flavour and the red
peppers almost tasted slightly smoked, so all the work was done. I recommend just serving it as it is with pasta and a bit of parmesan cheese. Nothing else to ruin the sweet simplicity of slow-cooked vegetables in season.

Day Four: Ready-Made Food Art

Yup, Wednesday was another lazy day where curiosity was the only thing stirring in me besides hunger, of course), which made me want to try these sort of ready-made entrees from Irma
(Danish quality supermarket): Carpaccio and vitello tonnato. You get the meat packaged and sliced with the parmesan cheese and tuna sauce on the side and then you just have to arrange it
innocently on a nice platter. Naturally I'm too proud to actually do that with visitors, so we just had it on our own, with virtually no guests (or rather, only virtual guests). We both agreed that the "tonnato" part was done a bit too creamy and we therefore voted for miss Carpaccio 2007. I mean, all she wanted was World peace and who can resist that kind of selflessness dressed in olive oil?

Day Three: No Time For Cooking

Please don't get too excited by this bagel -it's stolen goods! Tuesday evening way so busy that

I simply had to have take-out and if I hadn't stuffed the real bagel into my face with such greedy (and, I dare say dangerous) speed, I could have taken a real picture of it. Instead you will have to settle with this random photo. Will try to be a good girl tonight, I promise.

Day Two: Pulling a Copy-Cat

Though I quite like Jamie Oliver and his whole rescue action towards the pasty English youth raised on baked beans, I've never really used any of his recipes. But somehow, today was

different. I had seen him doing this irresistible zucchini alla carbonara on telly the other day and I simply had to try it. This is how it turned out. After having followed my own notes from tv, I finally found the recipe on the web - only to discover that it's someone else's tv-notes. See recipe above under the post: "Recipe for Zucchini alla Carbonara" from September 5th.

Day One: Catering to the Needy

These days my poor boyfriend is looking more and more exhausted as he is toiling over the final bits of his thesis. I did the same thing exactly a year ago, but certainly haven't forgotten the very draining experience. That's why I decided to give his usual serving of cup noodles a day off last night, and deliver a real home cooked meal to his reading-room in town. Since most shops are closed on Sundays, I just tried to make the best of the leftovers I had and what better way to dress up all but stale food, than to turn it into a beautiful Frittata? Here's how to do it:

Set your oven to 250 degrees. Then fry 200 grams of sliced mushrooms in olive oil spiced with crushed garlic, fresh thyme and sage. Add salt and pepper (S&P) to suit your taste and set the pan aside. Meanwhile take about two handfuls of frozen spinach and heat them up in a saucepan with grated nutmeg, white pepper and salt. Set that aside too. Then mix up four whole eggs, a splash of milk, S&P and half a teaspoon of baking powder. Put a cast iron pan onto the heat, melt a knob of butter, then pour the egg mixture into it. Arrange the mushrooms, spinach and two freshly sliced spring onions in the eggs and leave to cook until it's slightly firm along the sides. Then sprinkle grated Emmenthaler cheese over it and leave it in the oven until the colour is nice and appetizing and the whole Frittata is firm. NOTE: only use a pan, that can definitely stand the heat. When it's done, leave it to cool and serve a slice with buttered rye bread (not in the pic above). Needless to say, my boyfriend was very pleased, but then again, I was only up against cup noodles...

Dear Diary,...

As of today, I'm responding to a challenge I was given by a somewhat patronizing guy, who thought he had all the answers, didn't quite and yet managed to come up with a good idea: why not make a food journal? Some of you may think that's what I'm already doing, but really, so far this blog has been more of a résumé than an actual honest account of all the food I eat, trashy as well as delicious. If you too like to browse food blogs and feel in awe of their high standards of eating, don't for one moment think they never experience moments of weakness or laziness. I for one am pretty darn sure it won't all be pretty what I'll be reporting to you during the next week. In the beginning I will restrict myself to dinner and see how I go. Then, if I find the time and nerve, I might even branch out to breakfast and lunch (oh the horror!). Will return later when I've had dinner and tell you all the gory details of me cutting culinary corners or cooking cutting edge food.

Flashbake

I recently had a request for the recipe for that apple-macaroon cake from my "Heureka"-post (12th of August) and so I finally convinced my lazy behind to get started with the translation bit.
If you also experienced some serious saliva-action when looking at that photo, here's your chance to spend it all on a real life cake. The recipe can be found in the "Heureka"-post and it's surprisingly simple.

Blog 'n Roll

To all of you hesitant cooks out there who prefer the comfort of a well known recipe, here's a way to renew the safe bet. I just tried to foccaccia-up my basic roll recipe (that I've already aired in my "Roll Over Beethoven" post) and it worked like a charm. Here's how you do it:

Make the basic roll dough and add a teaspoon of lightly roasted herbes de Provence. After it has risen properly, put a small tablespoon of the mixture into each muffin cup. Then take half a tin of preserved tomatoes and add the spices you like. I just used the pre-spiced kind and added one clove of garlic and a bit of salt. Squash it up until you get an even sauce and pour half a tablespoon onto each blob of dough. Top it off with grated Emmenthaler cheese and gently press the topping into the dough. When that's done just sprinkle some olive oil and oregano over them
and bake for 20 mins. at 225 degrees Celcius. And voilà, there are your old rolls in a new disguise!

Foodblogging for Dummies

Reading over other foodie blogs and sites, I've come to realize that it's a common problem for all of us to talk about ourselves (you've gotta wonder why we do this "meme" to ourselves). And seeing that so many others have experienced the same hesitation that I do, only they first experienced it years ago, I really feel like a total sophomore in the school of blogging. And on top of that all of those self-acclaimed "amateur" chefs in the foodie-blog-site-business never miss

an opportunity to advertise for their top selling cook books. Now that's high treason in my book. First they lull you into this false comfort with words like "amateur" and sentences such as "oh I

try to cook and learn from my mistakes" (yada yada...). When it's painfully obvious that they are pros. Equally painfully obvious is the fact that I'm just jealous and feel terribly alone in the realm of gastronomic midgets, so let me get this straight once and for all: I AM a real bona fide amateur

cook, so to all of you like-minded foodies whose abilities in the kitchen don't quite match your ambition (yet) feel welcome and understood on Eye Candy. Join me in deflating soufflées, oversalting stews and cooking fancy meat dry as a bone. Just look at my silly picture - I'm one of the real, if only slightly nutty, people.

The Gospel of Novi

In today's sermon I would like to talk to you about a slice of heavenly sin. It goes by the name of Novi and it's an Italian delight from the first surprising nougat sensation to the melancholy parting with the last piece. So if you're passing an Irma (Danish supermarket) and don't mind spending 25 kroner (~3,5 Euros) on 130 grams, I suggest that you treat yourself to this gianduia chocolate with hazelnuts. You won't regret it!

Heureka!

I wish this recipe were my invention, I really do, but sadly this stroke of genius happened to someone else. Apple and macaroon cake with almond slices. The crushed macaroons in the mixture render the cake perfectly chewy and the surface lovely and golden. Here are ten (a nice number however incorrect it may turn out to be) easy steps to making this delight:

4 egg whites
50 grams sugar
250 grams macaroons (in Denmark: the Karen Wolf type)
75 grams flour
125 grams melted butter
2-3 thinly sliced apples
Sliced almonds for the topping

Beat the egg whites and add the sugar just before they become completely stiff (merengue texture). Crush the macaroons, add flour & melted butter and mix it with the apple slices. Fold the merengue gently into the apple mixture and pour the whole lot into a greased regular size tin (22 cm * 6,5 cm) lined with paper BOTH in the bottom and on the sides as the mixture turns really sticky in the oven. Sprinkle with the almonds and bake at 160 degrees for an hour or until it turns golden and doesn't stick. Leave to cool and serve with a mixture of creme fraiche, whipped cream and a bit of cinnamon.

Roll Over Beethoven

[Drumroll and a couple of other noises, meant to build up an atmosphere of expectancy]: Finally the moment has arrived for you to re-create some of my food in the safety of your own homes. I hereby give you the very first recipe on "Eye Candy", one for The World's Easiest Rolls. And let
me warn you that everything is measured by the metric system, no "cups" or "ounces" here! The basic recipe originates from some ladies' mag, but this version includes my own alterations:

25 grams fresh yeast
500 ml lukewarm water
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
350 grams regular flour
200 grams corn flour

Stir the yeast into the water in any old bowl until it has dissolved completely, add salt & oil, stir again and then add both kinds of flower. By then the mixture should be quite sticky and fluffy, not like a regular bread dough. Now cower the bowl with Vita Wrap (cling film) and leave it to rise in the fridge for at least an hour -or preferably over night. When it starts pushing up the Vita Wrap, you know it's done. Then put 1-2 tablespoons of the dough into each cup in a muffin tray (I prefer the silicone kind), add a tiny splash of olive oil, sprinkle some coarse salt and fresh rosemary over each of them. Then bake in the oven (225 degrees) for 15-20 mins. Depending on the size of your muffin tray the recipe should make about 18 rolls. Enjoy!

This One Goes Out to You, AunTea

Admittedly, I didn't have much trouble writing yesterday's post, so maybe you'll soon find me blabbering on endlessly about more or less lethal topics, perish the thought! However this post actually has a purpose, as I am celebrating my first day at work in the charming tea place,

Tante T (~Aunt T) in Copenhagen. There I'll be testing my baking skills on a weekly basis as well as broadening my culinary horizons. So, this French chocolate and pear tart is dedicated to that quaint little oasis on Vesterbro, where it might even end up on the menu some day. Until then I'll refer to "Chocolate and Zucchini", from whence the recipe came.

The Mad Woman in the Pantry

When I first started this blog, I thought it would be the perfect outlet for my daily ramblings about food. Among friends I am known for talking with borderline crazy enthusiasm about everything from heartwarming red wine stews to fluffy mousses that evaporate all too soon from the tongue. But sadly, I have found it quite difficult translating this particular language into an

equally powerful text. Maybe there just aren't any satisfying written substitutes for those wild gesticulations and that certain twinkle of excitement in the eyes...? Or am I really more like Miranda in "Sex & the City" (sorry if I'm losing you with this one, guys!), in that episode where she suddenly learns to talk fluent dirty after a rather hesitant start? I sense a breakthrough around the corner... Anyway, today's slightly unfocused photo depicts the brilliant Danish invention: The Sarah Bernhardt cake. According to my favourite food magazine Mad & Venner

(March 2007), it was made by a Danish pâtissier for the famous actress' visit to Copenhagen in 1911. Since then, this beautiful combination of the crunchy-chewy macaroon and the luxurious chocolate truffle dipped in pure chocolate, has graced many a coffee table. These particular Sarah

Bernhardts were made on commission for a confirmation in May - with the added twist of fresh lime juice and lemon zest on top to spice up the truffle. Must admit though, that I had to buy the macaroons, because the recipe (or yours truly) seemed faulty somehow.

The Book of Revelation

In the spirit of openness (am trying to get this pen a-flowin') I decided to let today's visual kick in the groin be done by my alter ego: Gal Capone... Yup, it's official, I love to cross dress whenever I'm bored. (Please, no racy comments from you Rhonda, I told you, it's NOT a dating site!)

An Itching Pen

Ever since I started this blog, I've had this terrible itch in my pen, that I simply couldn't scratch.

Even my childhood diaries were always written with the utmost discretion. In the unlikely event

that anyone should want to peek in and discover which nondescript boy I fancied that week, I made extensive use of a kind of WW2 spy telegram-style with pseudonyms and secret abbreviations for all the parties concerned. So, I guess that's why I haven't managed to allow the ink to flow freely on this blog so far. I just have this strange feeling I'm being watched... Maybe this serving of blinis with sea weed salad, fresh herb dressing and lumpsucker roe will help. Will report back on that subject later...

Introducing: Kenners!

In the days before anyone was PC my Australian grandmother made this golliwog for my brother. Now the little fellow has moved in with me and I tell you, it's quite a challenge trying to explain to him that being depicted with a banana is a dangerous thing these days. But as it happens, Kenners has inherited some of my headstrong grandmother's spirit as well as a swelling cultural pride and so he insisted that I post this photo of him. Please don't judge him too harshly.

A Festive Alternative to Jell-O

Yes yes, Jell-O is an American phenomenon, but why shouldn't we have the pleasure of dessert-
jellies in Denmark too? And by that I mean a kind one can actually serve for guests. Elder-flower and raspberry. Nice!

Whoa Belly!

-said the actress to the bishop when she tasted this cake. However, what the bishop replied is a different story altogether...

Crusade Against Deep Pan Pizzas

I'm afraid today's post contains less sunshine and more war. I'm in the mood for removing that terrible invention called "deep pan pizzas" from the face of earth. I never understood the sticky dough and heavyness of that particular brand of fast food. Instead I suggest we travel light and opt for thin-crusted pizzas, Italian style.

A Bit o' Sunshine on a Dull Day

Severely in danger of seeming self important I thought this image would enable anyone to escape to a much brighter day, where the pleasure of this elder-flower sponge cake would not be destroyed by a heavy shower. Please let me know if it works for you...

It's Time For Some Serious Indulgence!

Here's my personal take on ye olde Victoria Sandwich, one of which the dear queenie was said to devour all on her own at tea time.

First Blog Everrr

Of course my blog turned out to be all about the sweet stuff in life as well as in the mouth (no dirty pun intended). I'm just naturally alert to delicious things, as was also the case when I visited Paris in 2006. Just look at these awe-inspiring French tarts;-)