the calm before and after the storm

London before and after the olympic opening ceremony felt like London during Christmas - the airport and the streets were quiet. The Hyde Park at noon was peaceful and the Tube was exceptionally empty. Every now and then you would spot a crowd of olympic games visitors, a uniformed London 2012 volunteer, some related street artists or buses of athletes. 
Much more often, you could embrace the city almost by yourself!

Ps: Christoph Niemann at Abstract Sunday Blog is covering the olympic games.

a food club for esthetes - Madklubben Vesterbro, Copenhagen

Madklubben Vesterbro is an affordable restaurant among a series of innovative eateries in Kopenhagen (Madklubben means "eating club"). It is one of those flawless eateries where you feel that the people running the business as well as the serving staff love what they do.

Seasonal menus (including Danish dark bread to die for) is served in a cool Skandivanian interior, warm lights and with on gorgeous table setting. Every detail is so pretty that you can hardly take your eyes off. 

Madklubben Vesterbro, Vesterbrogade 62, Copenhagen.

Opens every day 5:30 pm - 0:00 am.

Price for a 3 courses vegetarian menu: 150 DKK.

Make a reservation in order to sit at the table. No reservation needed to be served at the bar.

If you have Danish speaking company, let him / her translate the restaurants manifest. Just for fun ;)

sunset bbq

A fast and simple bbq at the coast in Copenhagen during the endless summer sunset was the best invite that our hosts could make for us visitors. Now I have at least the faintest idea of what this "nordic light" is all about ;)

summer fruit salad

Cherries, strawberries, blackberries, blue berries, peaches, cantaloupe melon & a ripe mango macerated in lime juice, flavored with crushed mint leaves and lime zest. That made up the prettiest, most luscious dish during the heat of July. As much as I hate hot weather, I adore summer food. I am a July kid.

The dish is inspired from here.

diner en blanc and a salad for june

The only but hopefully not the last picnic of this summer turned out to be magnificent! Thanks to dear friends who kindly organized a table for a bigger round (which basically was the only challenging part of this dining flashmob), we could join the third Diner en Blanc in Berlin (a coverage of the previous dinner found here). The road below the renovated railroad between U Station Eberswalder Str. and Schönhauser Allee served as a perfect roofed location on a partly rainy day. The white dress code and the candle light during twilight ensured a festive look as far as the eye could see.

I brought the salad that I devour throughout the month of June: a dish to celebrate the beginning of summer and to anticipate the glorious fruits and veggies that are about to follow from then on.

Strawberry and asparagus salad with shallots and raspberry vinaigrette: works with either white or green asparagus. No herbs needed. When taking white asparagus I like to add green leaves.

 
The moral of the table pic: disposable dishes and Tupperware are THE mood killers at picnics. Cut flowers and candles are THE warrant for a beautiful outdoor dining experience. Find some style ideas here.    

spring herbs salad

Coming home from the last market stand and unpacking everything, I was shocked: only a cow eats so much green leaves. I couldn't possibly have bought that all, so once again, the dealers seem to have put more into the bags than told. That happens quite often: I guess they didn't want to toss the remaining goods so gave an extra portion for free. Or they were grateful to find such an undemanding buyer in me - may the leaves be as giant as palms, I take all without complaints (yet).

Washing the leaves was the only time-consuming part and I realized that I might not be mature enough to grow an own garden (contrary to my boasting with friends during Easter ;)): to find a tiny snail, a tiny worm and some insects alive and kicking in the salad spinner was quite tough for a city girl.

Out of the wild garlic I will make these pancakes. The garden cress and sorrel will be turned into these pancakes.

The smallest leaves made up a fine salad together with spinach leaves (the saved heart part of big spinach bands), arugula, radish green, spaghetti of a very sweet apple, little crumbles of goat cheese, an orange dressing (fresh orange juice, zest, fleur de sel and olive oil, no pepper) and toasted hazelnuts.

sweet-pumpkin-curry or goodbye-winter-soup

Pumpkins are (next to aubergines, leeks, onions and carrots, closely followed by porcini, chard and celery :)) my most beloved veg. Like Nigel Slater describes in his book, just looking at the vivid color of a pumpkin puts you in a good mood. Throughout the cold seasons I keep at least one on hand and store it as long as possible. Cooking with the last pumpkin of winter even provokes little wistful sighs yet looking at the new spring greens, it is nonsense ;)

Since learning to make this delicious paste, I don't buy Thai curry paste from the groceries anymore.

A goodbye-winter-hello-spring-meal: not consistent but to my liking :)

1. Sweet Pumpkin Curry Soup

Sweat some onions in a huge pan. Add water and pumpkin cuts. When the pumpkin is cooked through, puree the soup. Add 2-3 tbsp curry paste, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 kaffir lime leaves (optional), potato and carrot cuts and let all cook gently. Add one chopped red onion (for additional color :)) and a handful pre-cooked chickpeas. Turn off the heat and add fresh spinach leaves. They will cook in the remaining steam and heat. Serve with fresh coriander (optional).

2. Rhurbarb Crumble Tarte according to this recipe: 
the vanilla cream filling is great but even better, add lemon juice and lemon zest (rhubarb demands lemon juice for a round taste - I don't remember from whom I learned this but this is for sure). You can leave out the breadcrumbs when you pre-bake the tarte crust for 10 minutes.