hot’n’sweet’n’hot again

they say a perfect meal should always combine all components of flavor… bit sweet, bit sour, bit hot, bit salty.. yesterday seemed to be the day where we combined all off it – twice in one day!

as a light lunch we had a lovely salad with my new favorite dressing: honey & mustard dressing. as my friend p said it’s supposed to be made with dijon mustard which ran out, so we took whole grain mustard instead. actually i like it even more with the nice little grains… hmm…. mix it with some honey, olive oil, aceto balsamico, some fresh lemon, sea salt and pepper and you’re ready. what makes it even more special is some balsamico glace at the very end which gives a lovely sweet note which came perfect with the salty feta cheese and pumpkin seeds….

after a very cosy and chilled out afternoon, a wonderful lemon meringue at café juliani and some wonderful relaxing yoga at my most favorite yoga studio in malta (http://www.yogaintentions.com) we wanted a quick, healthy and light dinner… as it’s rainy and stormy, soup season starts again! so we made a quick’n’easy minestrone with lots of fresh veggies….
fry some onions and garlic in olive oil, add the veggies such as carrots, courgettes (the maltese ones are round btw!), peppers, some celery, tomatoes and whatever your fridge offers… add herbs & spices like bay leave, some juniper  berries, oregano, basil, some mint and – if you also like it hot,  like me – some fresh chili!
deglaze with yummy red wine and some veggie stock, add salt and let it cook for a little while (not too long, so veggies don’t get too soft)
finally add some freshly grated parmeggiano, some basil – serve with crusty bread – buon appetito!

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Chocolate for breakfast. The real, Ausrian Sacher Torte.

Fresh delivery from Austria!!
I just love it when friends come to visit us in Malta.. so much to talk about, so much to share… and also SO MANY NICE THINGS they bring as presents!! Yesterday my dear friend Pazzi arrived from Vienna and brought us a fresh Sachertorte!
Just divine, with some cream and just a bite of fresh fruit… hmmm… Austrian heaven 🙂

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If you don’t come to Austria soon and want to try it yourself, then go for a real, authentic recipe like this one:
(Adapted from http://www.austria.info )

Ingredients:
150 g butter
150 g sugar
150 g chocolate, melted
8 eggs, separated
120 g flour
butter
dry bread crumbs
apricot jam

Icing:
150 g cooking chocolate
1 tablespoon oil
200 g  sugar, divided
1/8 litre water

What to do…
Beat the butter together with half of the sugar and the melted chocolate, adding the egg yolks one at a time, until thick and foamy. Sift the flour over the mixture. Beat together the egg whites and remaining sugar until stiff and mound on top of the flour. Fold everything together carefully. Pour the mixture into a springform pan that has been buttered and coated with bread crumbs and bake at 180°C (350°F) for about an hour.

To cool the cake, turn it upside down onto a wire rack. After about 2 hours, remove it from the pan (you may want to cut the top side to make it level) and place it on a platter with the smooth torte base on top. Spread with a very thin layer of apricot jam and glaze with a chocolate icing. For a special treat, serve the Sacher Torte with whipped cream!

Chocolate icing
Melt the chocolate in bain-marie and stir in the oil. Bring the sugar and water to a boil. A spoonful at a time, stir the cooled sugar solution into the melted chocolate until you have a smooth mixture.

Enjoy 🙂

bad weather? nice food!

it’s windy? starts to rain every second? how nice to just cuddle in the sofa and read some chick lit… til you get hungry. very hungry! nothing is more tempting than staying at home? so why not try someting new and start to cook?
after a look in my fridge what to use, i made my decision:
risotto it will be. with celery, celery green from the veggie man, some mushrooms, prosciutto, loads of white wine and parmesan, olive oil and butter and loads and loads of love & time ❤ (and a cute assistant…)

what do you say, i’d say – it was worth it 😉

A hidden bakery gem in Sliema, Malta

i’m outing myself. i’m very much in love. with dark bread of every kind. big loaves of sourdough, little crusty ones, crispy south tyrolean ‘schüttelbrot‘, i just can’t get enough of it.. since in malta i started making my own and furthermore all our friends and family who visit us in malta have to bring us a loaf or two of dark bread (next to elderberry syrup to make my hugos), so i don’t get totally crazy without it. like most southern countries, malta doesn’t really have any proper dark bread BUT…

… check this out, it’s not that bad either 🙂 i found this in a tiny little bakery, hidden in the narrowest alleys of sliema, one of the main hubs in malta.  i promise you: just the smell in this bakery makes you fly…. i tried out some maltese bfast delights, all white but every now and then we feel like something naughty too and that’s ok! ever heard about the 80 -20% rule? i’m a strong believer in it! so pick your little (occasional) treat, eat it with some butter and home made jam & some nice morning coffee! hmmmm.. delicious! 

how to find it?
go to sliema ferries where the ferry leaves to valletta. go to the opposite of the road where you will see a black cosmetics shop called inglott. walk there and turn right up a street called st. piju V. walk up and then turn at the first on the left. there is not even a sign outside but the smell will guide you 🙂

so as always i try to make the most out of what you get wherever you are 😀

thanks for reading!
love & sunshine,
nadine

there’s always a first time!

who says that girls can’t use a power drill?! ha – today i  had a the hugest adrenalin rush  as i used one for the first time in my life. with perfect instructions from my hubby i made it, and now we finally have a wardrobe in our maltese flat (we didn’t make it in vienna till the end – haha).

as a little reward i made us another, much better version of my affogato al caffè (easy and simple = espresso + vanilla ice cream)

 

 

… this time with more brown sugar and a hint of cinnamon in it and accompanied by stroopwafles (dutch caramel waffles) which i brought from my trip in amsterdam. ooooohhh how i love them 😉

enjoy the simple things.

still recovering from our cold and not yet going out of the flat, means one great thing for me: more time for food! even if you don’t  leave the house to get fresh ingredients, see what wonderful things you can make out of the simple things you find in the fridge…

check out the photo captions for more info…

My MALTA culinary delights so far…

malta has a lot to offer. great sea, loads of sunshine, nice people and also lovely food. after the first six months i put together some of my favourite places so far…

• mint ,sliema
  what can i say? if anything comes close to my most favourite place aroma in munich it’s mint. it’s an easy nice place, super yummy home made food, different dishes every day, nice service staff… i like a lot!
• zest, st. julians
  bit more expensive but it’s worth it. very stylish interior design, extremely nice service staff, guarantee for a good night out!
• café juliani, st. julians
  same building like zest this café is part of the lobby of hotel juliani a lovely boutique hotel in spinola bay. huge cosy sofas, nice athmosphere and a divine lemon meringue…
• zen, st. julians
  the interior could be much better, also quite pricy but the food it delicious. go for the teppanyaki.
• hugo’s tapas, st. julians
  close to malta’s nightlife zone paceville this place not only looks cool, but unfortunately also IS cool temperature wise (they have a strong AC so take a scarf with you if you easily freeze like me)… but try the tappas there, they are really really nice!
• la favorita, marsaskala
  our first recommendation from our landlord’s dad… a real insider tipp, down in the south, perfect for a huge reasonable seafood platter in an easy, unpretentious athmosphere
• the haven, sliema
  a little secret from my dear friend elizabeth. very hidden, very basic but really nice simple food… and really inexpensive! somehow reminds my of my grandgrandma’s cooking..
• lo spago, st. julians
  best fish soup ever! pricy, interior not really hitting the price level, but super delicous food cooked by the nice italian paulo.
• vecchia napoli, sliema
  busy crowed place but the place for a genuine pizza
• cuccagna, sliema
  very crispy and nice pizza, not that crowded but also very busy with locals
• piadina café, valletta
  cute little café/bar in the beautiful oldtown of valetta.. run by my dear friend oana a great place for fresh smoothies, nice coffee and yummy piadiane (my fav is with grilled veggies & cheese… hmmmm…)
• pippa mattei
  not a restaurant as such, but a great culinary experience was a midday cooking course with pippa and her lovely husband john.. can’t wait for another one and also to wanna try her handsome son’s cooking course too…
• café cuba, sliema
  if you can’t get banoffee pie at mint, try out café cuba at tigne point. my beloved sis and me were looking for an alternative and found a nice cosy lounge in the uper floor as well as banoffee pie!
• barracuda
  posh place, accordingly pricy but lovely fresh fish food.. also fresh oysters!

…….and there are still SO MANY THINGS on my list!!!!
if you have any recommendations, please let me know….

you never know what it’s good for. some natural remedies against a nasty cold.

actually we should be in gozo now. some days off, in a nice yoga retreat, enjoy being together with my boyfriend and get some good energy..

instead we got both sick and had to cancel it. typical, many would say?! it happens very often to me that i get sick when holidays are about to start. but is it really that bad? staying at home, have a rest, do things you never have time (or you never take the time) to do them..? apart from the head ache and the sore throat it’s really nice to have some time… time for yourself..time to enjoy your home, time to flick through old photos and time to look outside the balcony and just have nothing on the programme… not that bad i would say 🙂

i guess sometimes the body gets itself what it needs. and you never know in the end what it’s good for. my get well soon tipps:

• loads of vitamin c
  i’m not a big fruit person so i better have lots of lemon water and salads with fresh greens, peppers, carrots etc.
  important is: the more the better!
• sea salt
  once dissolve it in water and gurgle against sore throat & also to inhale with hot water (at least 10min/day)
• ginger tea
  add fresh ginger to your ginger lemon tea and add fresh honey (only when it’s not boiling hot anymore, otherwise the good parts of honey get destroyed). ginger gives your body heat (against the ‘cold’), you sweat out the bad stuff and it also boots your immune system as well as digestion.
• echinacea or bee propolis
  you can believe in it or not. i do.
• home made chicken soup
  better take a huge pot to be served for the next 3 days. buy a whole freeland chicken, put it on the oven with cold water. we add loads of carrots, celery, leek, onions, pepper, juniper berries, bay leaves – let it cook, the longer the better. only add salt at the very end. yummy! also when you’re not sick.
  watch out! don’t take away the fat on top, it’s the best of the soup and exactly the part which gives you energy & makes you fit.
• and finally….
  loads and loads of resting & love ❤

some days are just good. especially with a plate of fresh & easy pasta.

do you know these days where everthing goes wrong? you get up and just feel bad and grumpy? well.. maybe we need those days to be able to experience the total opposite, too! a day which is just good.. without anyting particular being the reason.. everything normal, but you’re in a good mood, you smile, feel comfortable and enjoy being with yourself.

today i have such a day. i enjoyed waking up with my boyfriend. i enjoyed my morning coffee. i even enjoyed work. and i now enjoy my afternoon lazing around at home.one should understand a woman’s feelings!

today i enjoyed this yummy treat on my little, sunny balcony:

pepperoncino pasta with pimped pesto sauce.
more and more shops offer fresh pasta. it’s not only cooked faster, it also tastes better! this time i tried out fresh pepperoncini tagliatelle and pimped my pesto with olivi (le nere toste – the dried are the tastiest ever!), sundried tomatoes and added some red whine. fresh grana and basil – simple as that 🙂

buon appetito!

heaven sends you whats good for you…

how does it come that where ever you go, doesn’t matter how long it takes…suddenly, out of the blue, when you expect it the less, you feel those moments where heaven sends you what’s good for you. some people may call it good energy, positive karma, maybe it’s only a chemical reason the some parts of you match to some parts of somebody else but however… it flows. and suddenly you bond.

i’m always very grateful and happy to experience those moments, especially on days like today when i actually thought i am grumpy and in a bad mood.

photo from http://bravegirlsclub.com/

so my today’s recipe is not a real recipe. it’s just called ‘let’s be good to each other‘. because being and believing in the good makes heaven send you what’s good for you.. and like a recipe you can share it with other people. also here in malta it works. and that’s soooo great to know 🙂