Inspiration | February 2015

While I’m struggling with an awful cold I caught a few days ago and daydreaming about the day I get my taste back so I can eat my favorite fruits and cupcakes (that's what I'm craving these days), I realized it’s been a while since I shared with you some sources of inspiration. So, here they are. There’s a few of them so make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and sit comfortably.


Movies:
• Loved this movie.
• This one too.
• I look forward to watching this one.

Music:
• This.
• Listening to a lot of Fiona Apple lately. This is on repeat and can’t wait for this to be released.

TV:
• Loved the first season of this series. Now waiting for the second season.
• Also, Louie. Nuff said.

Illustrations:
• Salvador Dali’s illustrations of Alice in Wonderland and of the zodiac signs.
• These food illustrations.

Food photography:
• Here.
• Here.
• And here.
• I’m intrigued by cinemagraphs. Here.
• And here.

Food:
• “Fire and cooking meat is very fragile, tender and feminine”
• 2015 food trends? Will you be embracing them?
• How to eat sushi.
• I love a good bakery and pâtisserie and I want to visit each and every one of these. Well, a couple of them I already have. Any others you’d add to the list?
• Health food for foodies.
• What grandmothers cook around the world.

Girl stuff:
• Lisa Eldridge’s make-up tutorials are the best. I love this one in particular.
• DIY skincare.
• If you’re a fan of the cat-eye.

Words:
• I usually don’t like quotes, but this and this are good ones.

Dance:
• The A toZ of dance.
• This photograph.
• This documentary.

Various:
• Old loves.
• Dutch ingenuity.
• I love Paris as much as the next person but I wouldn’t live here. Would you?
• This room, full of light.


Have a happy weekend!

The cupcakes I made the other day.

Cooking in a heat wave i.e. staying sane in the kitchen

These past few days, I feel like I’m melting from the heat. It’s 37°C in The Hague! This is the Netherlands, temperatures like these aren’t suppose to happen here. I can’t believe it, and frankly I can barely stand it.

If you too are battling some type of heat wave where you are, and can’t possibly be in the kitchen for more than half an hour or so, let me remind you, or introduce you if you're new here to some of the easiest summer recipes I’ve posted over the past four and a half years on this little blog of mine that are delicious, foolproof and sometimes overlooked in favor of the shiny new ones I post each week.

Fish, meat, pasta, vegetables, salads, lunch, dinner, dessert, refreshing drinks, for you, for your friends, for your family. If you’re looking for quick, easy and delicious summer cooking inspiration, here it is:

Tartines of Grilled Peaches, Beetroot and Blue Cheese with Walnut and Garlic Spread

Tartines with Kalamata Olive Paste, Coeur de Boeuf Tomato and Feta

Poached Eggs on Buttered Toast / Greek Barley Bread with Avocado and Boiled Egg

Pastourmadopitakia (Greek Individual Pies with Pastourma) / Greek Fried Potatoes with Crumbled Feta and Dried Oregano

Greek Fava (Yellow Split-Pea Purée)

Summer Green Salad with Cherries, Jamón Serrano and Goat's Cheese

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Mint Oil, Feta and Kalamata Olives

Young Swiss-chard and Mint Salad with Cherries, Olives and Feta / Cantaloupe, Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Goat’s Cheese and Feta

Greek Fried Whitebait (Marides Tiganites) / Greek Fried Red Mullet (Barbounia Tiganita)

Greek Baked Mackerel (Kolios) with Olive Oil, Lemon and Parsley / Greek Baked Whole Tuna with Ladolemono (Greek Olive Oil and Lemon Sauce)

Grilled Tuna Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce and Mixed Greens

Marinated Roast Chicken with Tomatoes, Olives, Lemon and Herbs

Keftedakia (Greek Fried Meatballs) / Sikotaki Politiko (Greek Fried Calf’s Liver with Onion and Parsley)

Lamb Chops with Herb and Garlic Sauce, and Tomato and Onion Salad

Entrecôte Steak Sandwich with Dijon Mustard and Rocket Leaves

Tagliatelle with Fresh Figs, Goat's Cheese and Prosciutto

Spaghetti with Courgette, Olive Oil and Garlic

Cold Strawberry Drink

Rosewater and Honey Lemonade / Orange Juice, Mango, Banana and Ginger Smoothie

Watermelon Daiquiri / Watermelon Margarita

Coffee Granita with Coconut Whipped Cream

Raspberry Sorbet Popsicles

Mango Sorbet Popsicles

Fresh Berry Tart with Puff Pastry

I’ll be back soon, well, as soon as this heat permits, with a new recipe. Till then, stay cool!

Inspiration January 2014: Audiovisual

Today, I made this loaf.

I haven’t shared my sources of inspiration in a while, since March 2013 to be exact, so let’s kick it off for 2014.


• Minimizing food waste, Copenhagen-style. Impressive idea.

• This documentary.

• This movie. And this.

• This spoke so deeply to me you cannot imagine.

• A different kind of dance.

• A cappella.

• Buttermilk and cream scones.

• Little people tasting things for the first time.

• I don’t know if this works, but I want to try it.

• Cheese soufflé*, from the shepherd to the oven.

• Listening to this. And this.


*My own cheese soufflé recipe here, if you’re interested.



Have a good weekend!



Previously: Inspiration November 2011, March 2012, July 2012, October 2012, March 2013.

North Euvoia, Greece in pictures

It feels like I have been back in Holland for months yet it’s only been ten days. It’s weird how perception of time changes as soon as you get back from vacation.

The weather has been awful, it’s cold and it’s been raining non stop since last night, and the only sunshine I get is emanating from the photos of my vacation in Euvoia, Greece.

I’m in love with this place. My uncle bought and restored an old stone house at a dreamy little mountain village with the most amazing view of the surrounding mountains and the Aegean Sea, and whenever I go there it feels like pure heaven.

Euvoia is the second largest island in Greece after Crete and by many Greeks, especially Athenians, it is strangely not even considered an island because of it’s proximity to Athens. The north of the island though is a completely different area filled with trees as far as the eye can see. Pine trees, firs, and lots of fruit-bearing trees. The apple trees were laden with tiny apples, a variety called "firikia" in Greek. I couldn’t walk the cobbled streets of the village without stepping onto them. I was looking for figs but the trees were bare. Instead, I found grapes dangling from the vines, in all colors, and the smell of freshly-made moustos (grape-must) from the producers of the village filling the air. I found pomegranates beautifully crimson and plump, mushrooms hiding in the forest, walnuts, chestnuts.
I didn’t go foraging because it’s a dangerous adventure if you don’t know which mushrooms to pick, but I enjoyed the view from the mountain.

And then, only ten minutes by car from the mountain, you end up straight to the sea. The glorious Aegean Sea, with that blue color that makes me swoon whenever I see it. The sea was warm and the time we spent at the beach was treasured. We had such a peaceful and wonderful time.

Below you can see photos from our trip in Euvoia. From the village we stayed and from the nearby village of Limni (Greek word for lake) where the sea is so serene and beautiful it almost feels like a lake. I hope you enjoy them.