Food – Page 2

A Piece of Growth, A Piece of Hope

On Saturday you got to know our imaginary third roommate. Today, you get to know my actual roommate: Hanna! We’ve been living together for two years and it’s been such a blast! So many late nights talking and creative thinking, but mostly cooking. Our #Dachlounge nights and #roomiedinners have actually been quite known around town.
Hanna is a phenomenal cook and baker – and today she tells you why.

Continue reading “A Piece of Growth, A Piece of Hope”

[#write31days] Day 30 Bacon

Welcome to Day 30 of #write31days!
For more information check out the series’ page.
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Well, it’s the last Friday in October and once more we gather at Kate Motaung‘s place to write on a prompt. For this month all the prompts were voted by the bloggers themselves. If you’ve never read anyone else’s writing in this challenge, you’ve missed out on funny, inspiring, and encouraging people!
So it is no surprise that for this challenge they would vote the prompt BACON.

In the light of the latest findings that meat consumption causes cancer I don’t really feel comfortable writing about my ‘affinity’ for bacon.
I don’t eat it often, but sometimes I have this craving.

Smelling freshly cooked bacon takes me right back to sweet memories.
Like the many birthdays when we would cook bacon as a treat. My mom would put the bacon in the pan, turn up the heat. And leave. A few minutes later you would find all of us at the breakfast table eating crumpled, slightly burned pieces of meat and Mom going, “I don’t really know what happened here, guys.”
Like that one time when I spent a weekend with friends in Raleigh, NC and they wanted to introduce the German to the art of bacon cooking. It took a while, but now I know and actually enjoy cooking it. Whenever I smell bacon in my kitchen I immediately remember this fun weekend.
Like that one time about two years later with the same people in the same place. We hadn’t seen each other in two years, but cooking bacon together, stuffing our sandwiches, and pouring some coffee felt as if we hadn’t been apart at all.

I have always been fascinated how memory works.
It often doesn’t take much to trigger a film in our mind.
Smells, objects, sounds are the conduit to our memory and I am glad that they interrupt me in my busyness once in a while.
Then I sit back, let the images flash by before my inner eye, and smile.

What are some of the smells or sounds that trigger your memory?

[#write31days] Day 25 Sabbath

Welcome to Day 25 of #write31days!
For more information check out the series’ page.
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Setting healthy boundaries also means taking care of yourself. This also includes taking time off, making time for the things you enjoy. Things that restore your soul.
Luckily, God has set an entire day aside just for us. A whole day with lots of time to spend with Him, refresh our spirits in His presence, relax and restore. Restoration looks different for everyone; it’s just important that you find something that gives you energy, joy, and peace.
One thing that restores me is cooking. During the week it’s mostly just quick and simple, but on Sabbath I actually take time to find a cool recipe (or tweek with an old one), invest time in the kitchen, and have people around me to enjoy it with. So the Sundays of October will be filled with recipes – and if you enjoy cooking, too you might want to cook along! And if not, just give it a try, you might actually like it!

Lemon Ginger Syrup
It’s October and slowly it’s getting colder. Fall and winter also mean cold season; not the most pleasant thing to wake up with a sore throat, right? Last year I stumbled upon this recipe and this syrup has become my secret weapon against a cold. Why not try it some time?

Ingredients for 2 bottles
1 cup of freshly cut ginger
1 cup of sugar (or more, depends on your sweet tooth 🙂 )
2 cups of water
4 lemons
2 limes

Cut the ginger into small pieces and the lemons and limes into slices
add sugar and water and bring everything to boil in a pot
let it simmer until it thickens
let it cool over night
fill syrup into bottles, squeeze the fruits for some extra juice

25d

serve either cold with sparkling water or add to hot water

[#write31days] Day 18 Sabbath

Welcome to Day 18 of #write31days!
For more information check out the series’ page.
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Salmon Avocado Pasta

Ingredients for four people
4 salmons, washed
500 g Spaghetti
2 avocados
1 tomato
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tsp white yoghurt
parmesan
salt, pepper, chili

boil the spaghetti in lightly salted water
season the salmon with salt, pepper, and chili (you can always add herbs if you feel like it)
fry the salmon pieces with butter/oil in a pan until soft and well-done

carve out the avocados, mash them
cut tomato and onion into tiny chunks and add them to the avocado
crush garlic and add to the mixture
add yoghurt and season with salt and pepper

arrange everything on a plate and sprinkle it with parmesan
serve with white wine

[#write31days] Day 11 Sabbath

Welcome to Day 11 of #write31days!
For more information check out the series’ page.
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Stuffed Aubergine

Ingredients for four people
two medium/large aubergines
150g parmesan cheese, shredded
250g shredded cheese
one pack of ricotta cheese (you can also use white yoghurt)
3-4 tomatoes (or canned tomatoes)
salt, pepper, a bit of garlic, oregano
olive oil

Wash the aubergines and cut them into thin slices, put some salt on them
Spread some olive oil onto a baking pan
Put them in the oven at 160°C for about 12 minutes until they’re soft

Mix the ricotta cheese/yoghurt with the parmesan cheese, garlic, and spices
When the aubergines have cooled off a little, fill them with the mixture

Dice the tomatoes and season with salt, pepper, and oregano (or simply use the canned tomatoes)

Fill the baking pan with the tomato mixture

place the filled aubergines into the pan and cover it with the shredded cheese

Bake in the oven at 160°C for another 12 minutes until cheese and stuffing is melted

Serve with baguette or potatoe wedges and a bottle of good wine

[#write31days] Day 4 Sabbath

Welcome to Day 4 of #write31days!
For more information check out the series’ page.
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Setting healthy boundaries also means taking care of yourself. This also includes taking time off, making time for the things you enjoy. Things that restore your soul.
Luckily, God has set an entire day aside just for us. A whole day with lots of time to spend with Him, refresh our spirits in His presence, relax and restore. Restoration looks different for everyone; it’s just important that you find something that gives you energy, joy, and peace.
One thing that restores me is cooking. During the week it’s mostly just quick and simple, but on Sabbath I actually take time to find a cool recipe (or tweek with an old one), invest time in the kitchen, and have people around me to enjoy it with. So the Sundays of October will be filled with recipes – and if you enjoy cooking, too you might want to cook along! And if not, just give it a try, you might actually like it!

Carrott Coconut Ginger Soup
It’s October, so the days are shorter and the evenings become longer. This means it’s time to bring out the socks and the candles…and new soup recipes. Nothing can battle a rainy Sunday evening like a bowl of soup and a good movie. 🙂

Ingredients for four people:
1kg carrotts
150 ml coconut milk
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 piece of ginger
olive oil
salt

Cut the onion, the garlic and the ginger into small pieces pieces. Frie them in a bit of olive oil.
Peel the carrotts, cut them into slices, and add them to the pot.
Add the chicken or vegetable stock and let it simmer until the carrotts are soft.

Add the coconut milk and let it boil for a short while.
Take the pot off the stove and blend the soup with a hand blender until it’s creamy.
Add salt if you like.

You can modify the soup with adding a bit of white wine or potatoes before you blend the soup.
Serve with baguette or croutons.

[Waiting for Him] Eat your way to Christmas

This month I am doing a series on Advent and preparing ourselves for Christmas. You can find more info on the series here. Come and join us for a month of getting ready and waiting!

In diesem Monat gibt es eine Serie über Advent und wie wir uns auf Weihnachten vorbereiten können. Hier gibt es mehr Infos über die Serie. Komm und sei dabei bei den Vorbereitungen und beim Warten!

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On Friday I talked about preparing yourself and your surroundings for Christmas. And I mentioned baking Christmas cookies as my first step towards Christmas.
This year I had quite a bit of time on my hand (this is what you do after graduating from university, haha), and so I could experiment with recipes a bit. These pictures should not make you jealous or hungry, but rather inspire you to bake some deliciousness of your own?

Cognac Cookies
(all measurements in grams and celcius – it’s a good exercise for the Americans 🙂 and yields about 50 finished cookies)

for the dough:
200 g flour
125 g butter (cold)
1 egg
75 g sugar
1 lemon, peel

for the filling:
100 g butter
100 g powder sugar
1 egg yolk
1-2 table spoons cognac
50 g ground almonds

decoration:
200g chocolate
75 g almond slivers

Instructions:
mix dough ingredients until well combined and cool for 1 hour
preheat oven to 175°C

roll out dough and use cookie form (stars, hearts, whatever form you like or have) to cut out individual cookies
bake cookies for ca. 10 minutes, let them cool

mix filling ingredients until you get a creamy filling

take two cookies, brush one cookie with the filling, and put other cookie on top

melt chocolate in hot water bath and brush cookies with it, decorate with almond slivers

What are your favorite Christmas cookie recipes?

Cognac Plätzchen

für den Teig:
200g Mehl
125 Butter
1 Ei
75 g Zucker
1 Zitronenschale

für die Füllung:
100g Butter
100g Puderzucker
1 Eigelb
1-2 EL Cognac
50 g gemahlene Mandeln

zum Verzieren:
1 Tafel Schokolade/Konfitüre
75 g gestiftelte Mandeln

aus den Zutaten einen Teig machen und ca. 1 Stunde kühlen lassen
Ofen auf 175°C vorheizen

Teig ausrollen und Plätzchen ausstechen
diese ca. 10 Minuten backen, dann kühlen lassen

aus den Zutaten eine Creme herstellen, jeweils zwei Plätzchen damit bestreichen und zusammenkleben

Schokolade im Wasserbad schmelzen, Plätzchen damit einpinseln und mit Mandelstiften verzieren

Was sind deine Lieblingsplätzchenrezepte?

[31 Days] Day 7 Taste

It’s Day 7 of the 31 Days in the Life of a TCK series! Welcome! You can find more info on the series here.

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You haven’t lived in a country until you have tasted its food.
It shows you how people eat, cook and live.

When we used to go out in Uganda I normally ordered posho.
People would look at me, it was the food of the poor. But I just loved that white tasteless bloc of maize meal.

Until today food is one of the main things that sets off my memories of Uganda.
The smell of pineapple, the taste of fresh mango.
The feeling of rice and beans in your fingers, the ground nut sauce.
And no matter how hard I try I just can’t get the taste right in my own kitchen.

South Africa wouldn’t be the same without its legendary braais.

Fire at the beach, boere wors, tons of meat, and amazing people. No better way to celebrate Christmas.:)

In the midst of fast food madness the US has some great things to offer.
Like a bagel for breakfast or some biscuits for brinner (yes, Americans sometimes have breakfast for dinner).
Like the thanksgiving richness or Christmas deliciousness.
I am so grateful for wonderful friends who let me tag along for these experiences!

What are your favorite recipes from around the world?
Please share so we can all satisfy our food cravings! 🙂