tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20052192164007798872011-07-07T22:42:25.706+02:00Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-63474721133799471392009-09-11T11:56:00.001+02:002009-09-11T16:07:13.965+02:00

This is a food blog, as I'm sure you've noticed. And while a food blog is great fun and does serve a purpose, let's face it. Food blogs are kinda shallow compared to some of the other things that are out there. Which is okay, you gotta have a place to go and forget your problems for a little while.But today is September 11th and since this is the first year I have a blog, I can't resist writing

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-46345938252760873192009-08-12T17:09:00.021+02:002009-08-13T01:36:55.491+02:00

Remember I blogged about the awesome vanilla beans I ordered a few weeks ago? Well, apparently, the nice folks over at Vanille Shop found my post and wanted to thank me for the pimping ;-)So they sent me the sweetest letter and a little package containing a tube of their vanilla beans in addition to their new products to try (they are currently working on expanding their product range).I received

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-30904398095432487142009-07-24T00:30:00.031+02:002009-07-26T13:45:09.804+02:00

I love sprinkles of any kind. I already have a pretty nice collection of them and I'm always happy to find new ones. There's just one problem. Germany is a little bit behind when it comes to cake decorating and there really isn't much to choose from. Of course, rainbow and chocolate jimmies and nonpareils are widely available, but that's basically it in the sprinkle department. If you want more (

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-63207987740955361792009-07-23T22:31:00.004+02:002009-07-23T23:38:02.054+02:00

I'm usually very eager to please. I hate to disappoint people (and yes, I realize that's unhealthy), and I almost take it personal when people dislike something I've made. Therefore, I always pay attention to people's individual taste. I know exactly who of my friends will devour anything with peanut butter, who doesn't like lemons, who won't eat anything dense but loves airy mousse pies. Of

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-50356916599893749942009-07-21T17:10:00.009+02:002009-08-12T21:14:34.223+02:00

See this?I got them in the mail today. 42 perfect vanilla beans.Fourty-two! That's a lot of vanilla, let me tell you. I don't think I've used that much vanilla in my entire life.And the best part? These cost only a fourth of what you would normally pay at the grocery store. And they are better! Bigger, juicier, and the aroma is beyond words.I did a little sniffing right away and they definitely

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-89720517882540695232009-07-16T18:51:00.021+02:002009-10-07T18:20:44.954+02:00

Why, yes, the cake was for a girl. How did you know?So my friend S.'s baby was baptized last Saturday. If you've ever been to a Catholic baptism, you know it's a pretty dark ceremony, what with all that talk of Original Sin, crucifixion and going to hell. I sat through a whole year of Catholic liturgies when I lived in California (I went to a Catholic private school and it was mandatory) and

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-80709232076061425862009-07-07T11:59:00.001+02:002009-07-07T21:40:38.501+02:00

This is a picture of the Vanilla Pudding Mousse Pie. I'm sorry, but I didn't take one of the Milk Mousse Pie - it was gone too fast. It looked the same, though, except that the mousse was a pure, snowy white.You don't know this about me, but I almost always manage to screw up easy things. I have no explanation for this. I did it with this cake, for example, which I salvaged by turning it into

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-8115020440087141442009-07-06T18:43:00.014+02:002009-07-07T21:09:41.038+02:00

I learned two things today.First, making lemon curd is easy.Second, I HATE lemon curd (yes, the capitalization was necessary). And I don't mean that I ate some and realized I don't really care for it. No, I dipped my pinky in the curd, licked it off - and gagged.I've mentioned before that I never eat eggs on their own and only use them in dishes if I'm sure I won't taste them (exception:

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-50618620228089482792009-07-04T23:29:00.012+02:002009-07-05T01:46:30.003+02:00

I came across this post over at Israeli Kitchen, which asked what people were having for Shabbat. I left a comment and Mimi expressed interest in my Grießnockerl recipe. Of course, I'm more than happy to comply.This is probably the dish I eat the most. Well, not quite, buttered bread comes first, but this hearty soup with fluffy semolina dumplings is a very close second. I eat it every Friday.One

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-5788776074803682472009-06-17T19:34:00.009+02:002009-06-19T03:33:49.339+02:00

I like to plan elaborate dinners sometimes, but yesterday, I just needed something to warm me up. I know, it's the middle of June, but the weather has been horrible and I'd had a long day at school. Some emotional warming was in order, in addition to physical warming.I really just wanted to go to bed, but I was also hungry. Plus, we had a whole bunch of vegetables that were threatening to go bad

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-3418120250874616842009-06-10T18:42:00.007+02:002009-06-19T03:39:50.746+02:00

I was inspired by this recipe over at Good Things Catered when I needed something to go with a piece of chicken the boyfriend wanted to make for me. He doesn't much care for vegetables, so if I want something healthy with my meat, I inevitably have to take care of it myself.I love carrots and these just looked so good, I had to try them. Unfortunately, I didn't have many of the ingredients, and I

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-37574923218934749652009-06-09T18:29:00.007+02:002009-06-16T12:44:04.908+02:00

The boyfriend wasn't home tonight, so it was one of those nights when I didn't feel like doing a great deal of cooking, while still wanting to treat myself.And once again, there was food that needed to be used up (are you starting to see a pattern yet?). There was sheep cheese, part of which I had used for these filled puff pastries, leftover arugula the boyfriend had bought for sandwiches, some

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-91356848775158149422009-06-04T00:04:00.011+02:002009-07-06T01:00:17.517+02:00

Can I just say one thing? Making these cookies was hard. I'm serious.Wanna know why?You can't bake them right away. That is, you can, and I certainly have (for research's sake!), but you would be cheating yourself. These are just so much better if you let the dough rest.For at least 24 hours, to be precise. I know. But the NYT said so and who am I to argue. I didn't use their recipe, but I

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-9818247140515388662009-06-02T23:34:00.005+02:002009-06-16T12:44:44.901+02:00

Sometimes, I enjoy finding a recipe, shopping for it, and then spending hours following dozens of steps.And sometimes, I like to look through my refrigerator and pantry and design a meal around what I have on hand.This is one of the latter cases.I had a bunch of leftover asparagus spears (minus the heads) from this recipe, I had frozen puff pastry that was almost past its prime, and I had a

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-2913784593689422002009-05-31T23:36:00.005+02:002009-06-16T12:46:37.118+02:00

My parents and I cooked on Sunday. We do that sometimes and it's always fun, although we do seem to create quite a lot of chaos whenever we make a new dish.We almost always make something we haven't made before and since we're running out of cookbook recipes we'd like to try, we started searching online.I usually like Jamie Oliver's recipes and even own one of his books, so when I ran across this

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-67998983181676014742009-05-26T20:32:00.009+02:002009-06-01T00:29:22.056+02:00

This is the country of bread, so we have a lot of kinds to choose from (in fact, there's a wonderful organic bakery across the street from my apartment). Bread has been a staple in my home ever since I can remember.Bread, yes. Bagels? Not so much.Actually, bagels only became available around here about 5 years ago. You still hardly find them in grocery stores, let alone bakeries. There are a few

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-69638843225413957482009-05-26T20:08:00.021+02:002009-05-27T04:02:20.526+02:00

This week's theme seems to be What in the world can I do with this??In some cases, this question leads to a great result, in some cases, you look at your finished product and all you can think is "What the...?!"That's exactly what happened to me when I tried to make this Swedish Visiting Cake. I had picked it specifically because I had leftover almonds, a lemon whose juice I had used for cooking

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-57271604490740297022009-05-20T14:49:00.026+02:002009-05-27T00:34:04.814+02:00

I have always been taught never to waste any food. My grandparents on both sides, having survived harsh times here in Germany and the territory which is now known as the Baltic Republics, were very efficient in making use of whatever they had. I never saw them throw out food that could still be eaten (e.g. stale bread was frequently turned into some kind of bread soup).While this is certainly a

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-67451342247373824832009-05-18T21:58:00.038+02:002009-05-20T18:35:55.546+02:00

I love choumous to death. It's creamy, but dairy-free, filling yet somewhat light and it's healthy. Above all, though, it's just yummy.If it's done right, that is.Living in Berlin, I probably have the best access to non-German foods in this country, but I have yet to find a store-bought choumous I like. Most of the stuff you get here is Turkish or Lebanese and so full of spices that you can't

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2005219216400779887.post-50616849120832275312009-05-18T16:46:00.004+02:002009-05-18T18:21:07.101+02:00

So... this is my new blog. I'm not so sure what I'll do with it, now that I have it, but one thing is for sure: It will definitely be a food blog (like there aren't enough of those already). Maybe with the occasional kitty picture thrown in. ;-)I've always liked to bake and cook ever since I got a working little kids' stove for my 7th birthday. I would frequently cook Pfannkuchen (German

Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190395062558831393noreply@blogger.com0