Archive For The “Bread” Category
It’s been snowing in the Netherlands. You know what happens in the Netherlands when it snows? Chaos happens. On the first day of snow, the traffic jam in the country reached a record combined length of 1003 km, the railway company cancelled half the trains and the other half was delayed. Our internet was down [...]
I’ve never had the “retro classic” Black Forest gâteau. That, I decided last summer, had to change. I was going to make one and it was going to be totally authentic. I have a German cookbook, which dutifully provides a recipe for the country’s most famous cake and since it’s German, I trusted it would [...]
So, after having confessed to my limited gardening success as far as growing tomatoes is concerned, I came back from vacation to … an ample tomato harvest. Though most of the varieties have suffered just as I expected, the partially blight-resistant “Losetto” did not. After finding out there was nobody around to keep them in [...]
Last time I wrote how long I had to wait to make the cherry tomato clafoutis. But that really was nothing compared to waiting to make these rolls. Somewhat by accident, I watched Jamie Does Sweden, where Jamie Oliver made beautiful buns filled with mashed wild Swedish blueberries and I wanted them immediately. I have [...]
When I teach a gardening course, it always includes lunch. I serve a freshly picked mixed salad from the garden to show off the variety of greens that you can grow. This is especially impressive if the course is in March/April or November as people often don’t realize that with a little planning and the [...]
Do you grow broccoli rabe (also known as crimi di rapa, broccoli raab, turnip broccoli)? If you don’t, but have a veg patch, however tiny, please, consider it. In Joy Larkom´s classic `Grow your own vegetables` that makes most other gardening books redundant, it´s given three stars in “value for space” rating. It’s very fast [...]
As I mentioned before, the holidays of my childhood were rather different from today. We celebrated International Workers’ Day (compulsory) and International Women’s Day (ditto) but I hardly knew anything about, say, Halloween. I was however aware that in other countries they had a holiday called Mother’s Day, thanks to reading Stephen Leacock’s “How we [...]
I am sad. This week we heard that we will lose our allotment. The land is on lease and the owner wants it back. After 40 years that it had been used by the organic allotment association (during which the soil has been greatly improved), she decided she wants it back – not to use [...]
The way Easter is traditionally celebrated in the Czech Republic frequently shocks feminists from foreign countries. This is how it goes: guys go out and cut young, soft branches from willow trees and braid them into a kind of whip, decorating the top with colorful ribbons. Then they take a basket and go around the [...]
A vegetable, a fruit, nuts, grains and seeds – sounds like a breakfast designed by a dietitian, doesn’t it? Well, let me assure you: it’s not what it tastes like. Because it’s a recipe from the first Ottolenghi cookbook and apparently Mr. Ottoleghi thinks eating healthy is just fine -as long as the food tastes [...]
