Cooking: Halloumi with spiced Spinach & Apricots

Once in a while, not very often, I don't have appetite for meat at all, 

especially when it is warm outside and we don't do a BBQ. 

So I found a pack of chili-seasoned halloumi cheese and some frozen leaf-spinach. 

I started to roast some onions and garlic in olive oil, added some fresh 

chili peppers, eights of fresh apricots and the spinach.  After cooking it for 10 minutes 

I seasoned it with salt & pepper, a dash of fresh lemon juice I left it aside. 

Then I fried the cheese in a pan, and topped it over the spinach - easy peasy! 

What you need for 2 persons:

200-300g Halloumi Cheese (if it is pure, season it yourself with 

chilies, bell pepper powder and some olive oil)

350g frozen leaf spinach

8 fresh apricots

1/2 chili pepper

3 garlic cloves

1 medium onion

olive oil, salt&pepper, 1 dash of lemon juice

Cooking: chocolate maccarons with lemon zest and olive oil

Ok, first of all I must admit that I used a baking mix - but only because 

- I never made maccarons before

- It was 11pm 

- And it was a souvenir from France

So I made these for my Mom as a little birthday surprise.

I just wondered what I could add to make them more special and because it is summertime

 I tried extra virgin olive oil and organic lemon zest, that I put into the dough and into the cream.

Conclusion: Olive Oil remains subtle and intesifies the dark chocolate 

while the lemon zest gives a mediterranean perfumed flavor. 

Next time I will use a forcing bag to get them rounder and make the dough and cream all by myself! 

I promise...

Inspiration: Art with Food at La milkfactory Paris

If you are or going to be in Paris up to 18th May you should visit this exposition!

Talented food artists made wonderful landscapes out of diary products and 

little human figures. Observe mini-cows grazing under a yoghurt-reservoir and be 

part of the butter-village flea market or visit the funfair made of cheese. 

I love to see what beautiful and fun things can be made out of food, 

concerning this thought, I recently made a little project designing fine jewelry out of 

colorful fruits and vegetables. I will share this with you soon ;)

If you don't have the possibility to visit the exposition, 

grab a piece of good cheese and a glass of wine and be inspired:  

http://www.lamilkfactory.com/galerie/expos-en-cours/

Location: Bake House in Prague

First of all, sorry that I have been away for such a long time. 

I was occupied 24/7 with a freelance job that comes now and finally to it's end. 

Now I have a lot to catch up with you. New locations, recipes and a whole 

bunch of inspiring ideas dealing with food.

For today, i'd like to present you the Bake Shop in Prague. 

An ideal place for relaxing on a  sight-seeing trip or for a very long and cosy afternoon 

with a friend, indulging in wonderful bakery and patisserie. They offer a great 

range of breads, cakes, tartes, cupcakes and hearty pastry. Freshly made  and presented 

in a retro environment, flooded with daylight. 

http://www.bakeshop.cz/en/contact.html

Inspiration: Fat and Furious Burger

A funny and inspiring Blog: they present fantastic burger ideas in a wonderful way. 

Watch and try the recipes with your friends! My favorites are 

"The fart and the furious burger", "The End Burger" and "Neil Armstrong Burger"

http://fatandfuriousburger.com/

Location: VAU

Entrée: wild hog in puffy pastry & chestnut cappucchino

Dessert: soufflé & sorbet of sour cream with blue elder coulis

Finally and thank to the lovely agency members of BBDO Berlin (advertising) 

where I made a 6-month intern, I was able to eat in a One-Michelin Star Restaurant. 

VAU in Berlin (Gendarmenmarkt) by Kolja Kleeberg. I took my boyfriend to share 

this event for lunch on our two-and-a-half year jubilee and it 

was - who would doubt it - fantastic!

Now for the most important facts:

Amuse gueule: 

Piglings cheek with canola mayonnaise

Entrée: (as in picture)

wild hog in puffy pastry & chestnut cappucchino (for me)

Medium deer filet on parsley-pearl barley (for him)

Main course: 

Crispy char (heavenly) with apple and parsnip (for me)

Duck breast (so soft!) with sweet potato mesh and wild mushrooms

Dessert: (as in picture & for both):

Soufflé & sorbet of sour cream with blue elder coulis

Some of you may think that this is a quite traditional and ordinary menue for 

a Michelin-Star restaurant,but I have to remark that it was only 

the lunchtime à la carte, that is usually not that exceptional. 

We could have had afford a dinner too, but only with one course 

- so we decided that diversity is more interesting for us than flamboyance. 

Conclusion: The interior could have been not so 90's, but it's nice and welcoming.

Service was vey good and not sniffy, food was perfekt.

http://www.vau-berlin.de/

Inspiration: Rachel Khoo

Warm Potato-Apple Salad from "Little Paris Kitchen" by Rachel Khoo

By accident I found a new book in the cooking section of a big book store in Berlin: 

Rachel Khoo's "Little Paris Kitchen" and instantly fell in love with it. A young woman who 

studied Design, (like me), loving food and cooking, who passed the honored education 

of Paris' Cordon Bleu Institute in Patisserie, driven by her passion for good food and 

fantastic taste. I admit that she kind of became a role model for me: my biggest wish is to 

study Food Design in Nantes / Brussels or Rome for a long time.... 

She shows us the traditional french cuisine with her own twists and some new and easy ways 

to enjoy it. And she shows me, that a person, that is acting according to his passion and his 

instincts can achieve a lot. I do not want to become the same, not even to cook particularly, 

but I want to work with excelent food in a creative way, by inventing, composing and designing 

new products, concepts and combinations for tasteful high-quality meals. 

Now it seems that I talked so much about this book, that I got it twice as a christmas present 

from family and friends... 

Take a look for yourself and be inspired:

http://www.rachelkhoo.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hun_yj5u4S0