Thursday 24 December 2015

The one about smashing pumpkins



I have this thing for pumpkin. It started when I got myself a pasta maker. I was absolutely craving homemade ravioli, with a delicious and rich pumpkin filling with sage. And of course some sage butter. And then there was pumpkin puree. Made out of the remaining pumpkin filling, combined with grilled lamb chops. After that followed the idea for a pumpkin cake - pumpkin puree, all spice, ginger, brown sugar, orange zest. Everything. Although it never happened, I'm pretty sure it would be a good idea. And since pumpkin season isn't over yet... You see where I'm going with this one.

Wednesday 23 December 2015

The one with the Asian invasion


 Mmm, just thinking about the pink red insides of the meat and the charcoal grill marks, makes my mouth water.

I was fed up with it all. The pizza, the pasta, the polenta, the parmigiano. Mamma mia! So this weekend we mixed it up. We took it all the way to the east and went for Thai beef salad and Chinese massages. Wait, what...

Tuesday 22 December 2015

The one about the coulda, woulda, shoulda



I don't want to be the next blogger to write about expectations, and hating them, and wanting to do something different with life. However, I guess that's exactly the post I'm about to write. There's so many things in life you're expected to do: studying, working, relationships... And it's not good enough to do just that. No, there's expectations about how, when, where, with who, how fast, how good, how long, how every single thing there is to determine about it, needs to be done. But what if you feel like "blugh"?

Monday 21 December 2015

The one with the trust issues


The plan was pretty easy, as you could read in my last post: I just had to nail appetizers, starter, main and dessert. In case you don’t know what sarcasm is, the last sentence was an example. However, as I love every single, little thing that has to do with food (especially eating it), I was looking forward to it. A whole day dedicated to the one thing I would like to define my life, who minds about the rest then?

Sunday 13 December 2015

The one without food

I had an amazing post set up for tonight. A glorious description of last night's triumph. It was all I could think of for the last couple of days. I had envisioned the menu in my mind at least two times a day over the last week. Until yesterday. Just saying: a spotless preparation doesn't prevent unexpected events. So what happened?

Wednesday 9 December 2015

The one where I got served


A meal that is. The great beginning to a lovely night. A small picnic at the port of Antwerp (don't ask), coming home to a glass of wine and the boyfriend preparing the best dinner for a cold Wednesday evening. He made me a lovely pea - mint soup, with bacon and a slice of oven baked Turkish bread. What else can a girl ask for? The recipe of course!

Monday 7 December 2015

The one where I fell in love


Still not the best at making pictures - scuzi!
 

This is an easy and a hard post to write at the same time. I have so many posts dangling in my mind, but this one just needs to be out there tonight. And that's for an easy reason: I fell in love. With a chef, with a book and with a recipe. Several recipes for that matter, all by the same chef. I've tried three of his dishes over the same amount of days and they were all equally delicious. But tonight's recipe stole my heart in quite a special way.

Friday 4 December 2015

The happiest I've been




Not in forever, but in a long time. You might ask "when?". Well that's pretty easy: when I was preparing these beautiful shallots in order to caramelize them. At that moment (which was tonight), there was nothing more peaceful to me than looking at them and nothing else. I love how food can make me forget about ... Well everything. When I'm thinking about recipes, when I'm basting shallots (not the correct term for shallots, I know - at times I just like to talk like a posh motherf*****), when I'm thinking about what to pair with what, that honestly is the most important thing to me in the world.

Thursday 19 November 2015

The one without pictures

Guess that no pictures are better than bad pictures. Even in a negative way: a picture tells a thousand words. Don't want to put you off of the recipe I wanna share with you today! Sad enough my phone is still 100% dead and I didn't get my hands on a new one yet. The past weekend was quite the weekend... Wanna know why? ps: kinda late for a past weekend post... but probably the best way to start looking forward to the next one!

Thursday 12 November 2015

Friyay!



Short introduction: really sorry for the decreasing quality of pictures - but my phone died (not as in "battery needs to be charged", but completely DEAD). Hence I need to take pictures with my laptop, which pretty much sucks, until I get a new one.

I know I'm a tad early with this friyay post. However, I've had a week with two Monday mornings up until now, so allow me my disorientation. As if it wasn't bad enough to go through Monday morning when it was actually Monday morning, we had a bank holiday yesterday so I had another Monday morning today. Sidenote: I hate Monday mornings. Good thing Monday morning was immediately followed by Thursday evening cause that means time for wine (and cheese)!


Sunday 8 November 2015

Don't judge a soup by its...


Although the pictures might suggest otherwise, dinner was delicious last night. We made an easy pumpkin soup, pita bread (not homemade, I'll do better next time - I promise!) and black bean dip. I know it kinda looks disgusting: something about bad lighting, kitchen issues and being in a hurry. But trust me on this one, it tasted pretty neat. And best part: it's actually prrrretty easy!

Thursday 5 November 2015

I hum, you hum, we hummus

 
There's two kinds of people in life: those that like hummus and those that hate it. Or scratch that and make it three: lovers, haters and those that never tried it. I definitely belong to that first group. Hummus is so good as a snack, a small appetizer or even as a dressing (especially over oven grilled broccoli with extra sesame seeds on top). I love it with extra garlic and lemon juice - guess I like strong flavours.

A meal without wine is called breakfast



As you probably got from last week's post: I'm a breakfast aficionado. I love everything about it.
Today I'd like to show you some breakfast inspiration. To me there's honestly nothing better than a cosy Sunday breakfast or brunch (or both).

Tuesday 3 November 2015

New endings and new beginnings



I come from a family of bakers on my dad's side. Whether it's by blood or flour, I'd like to think the baking gene is part of my identity. However, there's more that runs through my veins than cooking. For example: a lack of perseverance or self esteem when it comes to going for what I really want. That's why I pursued a business degree, instead of figuring out what could have been a better choice. It was an easy choice.

Sunday 1 November 2015

I've been figging about you



Don't you just love it we're in the middle of fig season right now? To me there's often nothing better than a really juicy, firm, fresh fig. I love them in yogurt, with some goat's cheese, just on their own or on a delicious sandwich. And that last thing is exactly what I tried a couple of days ago.

Saturday 31 October 2015

Mamma mia!



I've got a newfound passion... Making pasta! Simple but delicious spaghetti, luscious tagliatelli and ravioli or tortellini with the richest of fillings. Not saying I'm any good at it yet, but boy, I love the way I can just focus on the dough and what to fill it with without thinking about anything else.

Friday 30 October 2015

Nothing better...



than an awesome breakfast. I mean: look at these colours! I've been feeling kinda blugh the last couple of days, so I went to the doctor's yesterday. She told me to take some medicine but more importantly: to rest. And nothing better to re-energize than kickstarting your day, with a vibrant, delicious and healthy breakfast.

Thursday 29 October 2015

On the booket list

Plenty of space for some more books, right?

Not a bucket list, but a booket list this time. Inspired by the Antwerp book fair and the fact I've been carrying around a cookbook all week (if anyone knows why, please let me know), I've drawn up a list of the cookbooks I'd love to add to my small collection. Mmm this list makes me greedy. And hungry.

Tuesday 27 October 2015

Never trust a skinny Italian chef



Thank God I'm not Italian then, but only pretending to be. Last Saturday night I had the plan to make homemade pasta. Had never tried it before, so of course I was pretty determined to nail my first ever batch of tortellini. Gotta say: homemade pasta, pumpkin/sage/parmesan filling on fleek. And then it hit me.

Monday 12 October 2015

What happened to Indian summer?



I feel fall in the air! And I can't only feel it: I definitely see it as well. Feels as if summer's already ages ago, and I have no idea what I've done in between. Might be because I was in Portugal the week when Indian summer decided to call it quits. Can't hear me complaining though. Wanna know what I love about fall?

Tuesday 1 September 2015

You say 'Tomato', I say 'Tomato'


No better song to start of this post, than this one (click!). Why? How much as I do love black and white movies and am kind of a grammar nazi (in Dutch, wouldn't say my English is at the level to be correcting anyone), those aren't the reasons why this is the perfect introduction to this blog post. No, it's all about the tomatoes.

Sunday 30 August 2015

Lazy sunday love


Hey hey, nothing special today. Just wanted to share with you this delicious and healthy snack. I had it this afternoon, when I was binge watching a "Say yes to the dress" marathon. Best choice to kind of keep me from feeling disgusting, as I was chilling in sweatpants all afternoon. Or at least a better choice than a bag of crisps. And best part of all? It's so easy peasy that it's barely any more effort than getting a package of Oreos from the cupboard.

Friday 28 August 2015

A girl's gotta do...

sorry for the bad quality of pictures!

A girl, a boy, Paris and food. There's three love stories here, that all started way before this moment: the girl and the boy, the girl and Paris and the girl and food. Which one plays the lead? Sorry to disappoint, but this one is not about the girl and the boy.

The girl had a couple of days to spend in Paris, while her boyfriend had to be there for work. So what does a girl do besides acting à la Parisienne, trying to look intellectual while reading a book at a café or strolling around her favourite quartiers? Yes, she looks for food.

Wednesday 26 August 2015

GHotspot: Romain Roquette

As you might know (or not): Ghent is my hometown. There's (almost) nothing I love better than strolling around the city and discovering new places for food, drinks or anything else that strikes my fancy. It's clear I might be biased when saying that Ghent is a pretty amazing place to live. That's why I came up with this GHotspot (Ghent + hotspot) section in order to let you make up your own mind about this awesome city.

Monday 24 August 2015

Well hello there



Hi guys!

What's up? Since this is my first post out here, I think I am supposed to talk about what this blog will be about. Well the answer to that is quite easy: everything. With a focus on food and all the other random awkward stuff that makes up my life.

So I guess there's nothing else left to say then: welcome! Hope to see you again soon!

Love,
Julie