Category archive for: Recipes + Menus + How to's
Back homeElder flower syrup recipe … basic stuff
Elder Flower Syrup Recipe / Basic Stuff (makes 3,5 - 4 liters of syrup) You will need: 5 liter jar 3 kilos sugar plus 1 kilo for later 3 liters water Elderflowers a'plenty, plucked, unwashed, bugs and all The flowers: Fill a 5 liter jar - 2/3 -full with elder flowers. Flowe... Read more
Posted on June 6, 2012 18:36
Cheerfully sipping from the
petri dish of life
A symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast (aka SCOBY) fermenting a jar of sweetened tea into a healthy drink called kombucha. Recently my possee and I attended a party at the opening of an Amsterdam design event. Free drinks were flowing because the party was heavily sponsored by a distilled bev... Read more
Posted on February 4, 2009 19:10
Water kefir is like
Fresca for hippies
Water kefir brewing in the weak, mid-winter sun. Maybe it started because all this New Austerity had me peaked to produce bubbles outta thin air. Maybe it's because I just kick on growing stuff, even if that stuff is only a colony of yeast and bacteria. As a whole foods enthusiast and professio... Read more
Posted on January 27, 2009 15:58
Lacto-fermentation, and you?
Fermentation is a correlative of life and of the production of globules, rather than of their death or putrefaction. Also sprach Pasteur... Instead of using ceramic sauerkraut pots, I used my Grams' old Bauerware, covering the shredded/salted cabbage with plates and whatever weighty ma... Read more
Posted on November 10, 2008 1:14
A Kimchi Sunday
Turnip and turnip leaf kimchi in a pool of sauce shaped like the silhouette of a kimchi-lover Community/Communaut Choucroute is one of my proposals at the City Eco Lab in Saint-tienne for the Design Biennial this November. Designing resilience into urban food systems is essential, and one way... Read more
Posted on October 27, 2008 11:49
A Light Year
In the past year, interesting projects that would yield so much content for Culiblog occupied me such that it was difficult to find time to write about them at all. Thankfully it's the very first days into the New Year, a time for a resolution or two, one about more frequent and lighter blog pos... Read more
Posted on October 6, 2008 14:33
Rampsterdamned
Culiblog author caught plucking and nibbling in an abundant field of ramps in Amsterdam I'm a bad to the bone, flower plucking, fruit stealing, mushroom picking, herb snatcher that simply cannot walk by food growing in the public space without tucking in and filling my basket. And I wish that m... Read more
Posted on May 12, 2008 13:42
Butterflies in my stomach
The date and milk-based cocktail 'representing' the Afrikaanderwijk is not pictured here because although scrumptious, it was not photogenic. That's always a problem with dates. Kruiskade Blossom Cocktail - chrystanthemum tea drinks in tetrapak - organic chysanthemum flowers - sour cher... Read more
Posted on May 8, 2008 6:10
Cinnamon & cardamom meringues
kosher for Pesach
I heart pareve desserts. One of this year's Pesach innovations was a sephardic-style seder dinner which more or less cancelled out last year's innovation, the Pesach Ultra-lite. Whatevs, now that we've made these recipes our own, we can teach ourselves to make light of them. It's about liberati... Read more
Posted on April 22, 2008 14:52
Imagining Kate
="Come Back Kate film still by Quirine Rack and Helena Muskens used entirely with permission The Kate Bush Party at Mediamatic this Friday evening promises give-us-a-twirl dress-up, lighters-in-the-air sing-a-long and a generous format screening of Quirine Racké and Helena Musken's poignant art... Read more
Posted on April 9, 2008 23:36
Citrofiliac
The Composer called me a citrofiliac! And though he seems to appreciate my cooking, he thinks I should use less citrus. Whatevs, by the time he gets back from his massive stint in the Old Country it'll be strawberry, soft fruit and rhubarb season. In lieu of citrussy freshness I'll show him ever... Read more
Posted on April 4, 2008 9:12
In situ
Seitan innovation
Dutch Seitan Designers at workshop Last Sunday was the final day of Platform 21's Cooking and Constructing exhibition, and amidst the fiery debate and seitan design workshop, no one expected that any true innovation would take place. But due to the emphasis on show and do, I had to rush through... Read more
Posted on April 3, 2008 20:53
Glutinous Maximus II,
Seitanic Lab Meat recipe
Loaves of Seitan during steaming process Like the soybean, like bread, like fish, like wine, like salt, seitan is part of the utopian food group, foods laden with morality, infused with ritual, oozing with culture, drowning in history. Seitan is desperately in need of appropriation from its ass... Read more
Posted on March 28, 2008 17:59
Gastarbeider Dating,
the Hungry Man’s
recipe 4 luv
Suggestive profiling image from Mediamatic's Gastarbeider Dating Site (now in beta!) and used entirely without permission Because 2008 is about solving all of life's little problems, one of my New Year's slash Tu Bishvat resolutions was to start dating. Now I always like to throw in a little bi... Read more
Posted on February 6, 2008 1:34
Recipe for sweet pea hummous
A vat of sweat pea hummous warms itself in the bleak winter sun just south of the Polar Circle Recently, democratic presidential candidate hopeful Barack Obama was reported as saying, 'Ooh Mama, lay yer hummous on me!' I know, that's just preaching to the converted. Gawd knows few things are mo... Read more
Posted on January 26, 2008 16:37
Speaking of pomegranate
Last year I did my utmost to eat food that was grown and produced locally. But because Amsterdam is excruciatingly far north, more or less deep inside the Polar Circle, this meant that my diet didn't have much in the way of citrus fruit, bananas or mangos. At first I didn't think this would be a... Read more
Posted on January 16, 2008 10:05
Subjective Atlas of Palestine
and also of food
Just another beautiful picture of Palestine by Majdi Hadid, used entirely without permission Say 'Palestine' and the first thing that pops into your head probably isn't an image of undulating hills speckled with date palm oases and creased with a babbling brook, or an image of lush olive orchar... Read more
Posted on January 13, 2008 20:37
The Knödelist
Son of a bakerman, keeping up the family tradition I am blessed with a goodly many friends who, feeling my temporary loss of Heim, have been inviting me over to dinner nearly every night of the week. Dear Friends, please pace yourselves but keep up the good work and continue to rock the kitchen... Read more
Posted on September 1, 2007 13:28
Birthday Cake ultra-lite
When you've inhaled enough buttercream for one life... So would your life be any less fab if you never ate birthday cake again? What is worth more, satisfying 1000 desires or learning to control just one? Birthday boy John B. & buddy Betty D. & basking cake In lieu of the same 'ol same... Read more
Posted on August 9, 2007 15:15
Tomato marmalade
la Tal who is
back in the Old Country
Tal taught me how to make this most delicious tomato marmalade. Actually, when Tal makes it, it's tomato jam. When I make it, it's tomato marmalade. He uses bay laurel, I was about to and then decided on rosemary. Tal's jam is wetter, better to serve with a chopped liver pat that will blow your... Read more
Posted on June 19, 2007 20:56
Nasturtium shots
A toast, "To a nasturtium leaf holding a pearl of vodka" What a pretty shot. The nasturtium leaf tastes like horseradish and is a perfect pallet cleanser after the wodka di buffalo. And because it's just a drop, you can keep on drinkin'. Read more
Posted on June 14, 2007 8:58
Capture the yeast within
That's a chopstick for stirring, not a straw for slurping. My girlbud and twisted lifecoach K'tje has been baking bread for hoards of guests and is in desperate need of yeast. Fresh yeast. Down in Occitania it seems that many a masterbaker is in fact a boulanger truqué. Dang faker bakers don'... Read more
Posted on June 5, 2007 21:21
Glutinous Maximus,
Grow yer own dang protein!
It may be beige, but it sure is some good eatin'... There are days when in one go, we can be inspired enough to shrug off one hella lotta ballast of preconceived notion. Last night was one of those days, when in an ad hoc workshop at the cooking studio of Marlein and Inez, Tomoko taught us to e... Read more
Posted on June 2, 2007 13:12
Left leaves
Author with 36-point fresh kill Yesterday it occured to me that it's only because the garden was neglected for such a long time that we're able to enjoy these spring flower salads and everything-but-the-squeal brassica eating experiences. The romanesca shown above was at one time a compact lig... Read more
Posted on March 25, 2007 11:08
Spring salad bouquet
After 6 months of neglect and a rather substantial flood, I really didn't expect to find much in the Occitanian kitchen garden. But in fact, we will have trouble eating our way through the sheer amount of over the top, beautifully bolted brassicas, flowering mizuna and rucola, brussels sprouts a... Read more
Posted on March 22, 2007 12:18
So, uh,
what are you doing?
M: mostly alcohol, occasionally a teensy bit of coke. T: weed, coffee and cigarettes, definitely no coke, recently recovered from a Tony's Chocolonely addiction but now I'm into the Euroshopper alternative. It tastes just like slave-free. P: I don't normally do chocolate, but I went throug... Read more
Posted on March 19, 2007 20:56
Psycho-gastronomy
and the
‘Honey, I’m home from Delhi’
breakfast
The kimchi chapati breakfast What could be a more obvious combination than the ubiquitous flatbread of India flavoured with a dash of pro-biotic pickle juice from the Heimatt? Rolling out a kimchi chapati breakfast seems just the ticket to remind me that I'm home from Delhi. It's been a whirlwi... Read more
Posted on March 9, 2007 10:49
Dark side of the moon soup
1000 year old egg, in a puddle of kefir and onions I'm in love, in-loved and love my beloved as much as the next gal, but I couldn't give a rat's ass about Valentine's Day. (Schatje doesn't read my blog, thank gawd!) February is the month where the novelty and exoticism of winter's dreary da... Read more
Posted on February 14, 2007 0:00
Wild Fermentation
My friend Anita Lozinska made these pickles last summer in Poland, where they know a thing or two about pickle making. These are perfect pickles. A few weeks ago, a friend asked me if I believed in the theory that we should eat foods according to our blood and body types, according to our ethni... Read more
Posted on February 12, 2007 20:28
Chirashi sushi
chaotic and unbound
Chirashi sushi as served at Martin Butler's the Girlfriend Experience Chirashi sushi is ‘casually mixed’ sushi, unbound, informal, slightly chaotic. For Martin Butler's Second Life-emulating, audience driven Girlfriend Experience at Mediamatic, I'm calling it DIY sushi. Chirashizushi (ち... Read more
Posted on February 10, 2007 11:33
Dang Freegans, eatin’ our trash, stealin’ our women
See what I mean? Used entirely with permission Actually, Freegans don't so much steal our women as eat our trash. And, not so much our trash, but perfectly edible food and produce that shops and restaurants end up throwing away because the products have passed their sell-by dates. As of tod... Read more
Posted on January 1, 2007 2:39
Micro-green restaurant officially open
Jeanette likes sprouts because they're seed-related Roqn-ass opening btw. Merveilleuse! The dear friends showed up, the food was devoured, folks asked for seconds (and got them without a wince) we danced our tocheses off until 4ish and the whole thing ended sloppily with bottles of bubbles (cav... Read more
Posted on November 4, 2006 18:56
More mushroom foraging and gloating
In the woods near Amsterdam, culiblog covergirl Marlein O. takes a break from mushroom hunting to relax into a moss covered chaise and carve at a piece of clove-studded cheese. Just one hour into the hunt, and the basket is half-full. Back home we marvel at the abundant harvest. Let the ... Read more
Posted on October 21, 2006 20:17
In Praise of Shadows
In Praise of Shadows by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, cover art by Yukio Futagawa used entirely without permission "The sun never knew how wonderful it was, until if fell on the wall of a building," said architect Louis Kahn. I didn't expect to bump into him so soon, having just returned My Architect to... Read more
Posted on October 19, 2006 12:31
Make yer own dang
weed butter
The fresher the better, but this ball of dried leaf, brought home from the friends' Friesche farm, will do just fine. Remerçi, Madame! Of course you can substitute any old weed in this weed butter recipe, but I'm old fashioned and just like to use weed. The culinary reasoning behind making but... Read more
Posted on October 13, 2006 2:51
What, you don’t like my not cooking?
The only thing that bothers me about this Soil Association press release is that the 'mums' are getting the lion's share of the blame. Surely in 2006 both parents are responsible for feeding the cubs? 18 September 2006 - for immediate release Soil Association Dinner Lady, Jeanette Orrey an... Read more
Posted on September 19, 2006 14:55
Ziggizagna, pasta folds of summer harvest
Julie Upmeyer puts her face in a bunch of freshly picked purple basil and miraculously sheds 16 years! Normally mid-August is time of change in the Occitanian weather; no more highs in the 40's and we can start expecting violent thunderstorms. But this year Mama Nature has heralded an abrupt an... Read more
Posted on August 16, 2006 11:50
A recipe for Terrine Geologique
Although June is internationally recognised as the month of striation and I've been determined to pay hommage, I'm starting to feel like a 1980's Romanian dictator, force-feeding nut-cheese recipes to her people. Maybe it's because I'm feeling guilty about taking so long to write that entry abou... Read more
Posted on June 27, 2006 23:17
A nut cheese nut case
On the left, homemade pine nut paté with borage flowers. One the right, walnut paté with raw cocoa nibs. Normally this sort of food preparation is reserved for vegans, hippies and raw foodists. I am none of the above, a red-blooded porkatarian, I am. One of my readers disclosed that ... Read more
Posted on June 25, 2006 12:06
Catchy, but not contagious
It was recently revealed in an offical report out of the Kimchi Nation that there are exactlly one zillion sorts of kimchi. Kimchi is a falsely generic term for the Korean national pickle and katchi is the mustard green variety pictured here. Catchy Tofu recipe described vertically, from bottom ... Read more
Posted on June 23, 2006 3:12
Spring cabbage and
cashew cheese terrine,
not just (but also) for
raw food freaks,
vegans and hippies
Not counting nut loaf and enema, does an uglier word exist than cashew cheese? Overexposure to Cheech and Chong while growing up has affected my sensibilities such that I can't even hear the word loaf without chuckling silently like an eleven year old. And the word cashew cheese makes me think o... Read more
Posted on June 17, 2006 17:10
Master cleanser, for juice fasters and thirsty people
If you just think of this as lemonade, you might actually drink it. Master cleanser is the unfortunate name for a cayenne-spiked ginger lemonade, sweetened with maple syrup and sprinkled with sea salt. When you fast or do sports or simply exist in warm weather, it's wise to drink liquids that don'... Read more
Posted on June 14, 2006 16:49
Juice fasting recipes, start with forgotten vegetables and then forget them again
I'm the kind of gal that likes to pad her New Year's resolutions with seemingly achievable ambitions like, 'Improve handwriting' and 'Find ways to enjoy ancient root vegetables', but 5 months into the year, I haven't exactly achieved success in integrating parsnips and burdock into my winter diet ... Read more
Posted on June 13, 2006 11:08
Here as the Centre of the World, in terms of food
Here as the Centre of the World banquet with local food from Twente and Overijssel. Guests getting giggly on the bubbly. A week and a half ago, my colleagues and I at the Dutch Art Institute (DAI), were in the throes of an international symposium on 'all things periferal' for artists and mediat... Read more
Posted on June 3, 2006 14:35
If you like fresh leafy greens and pork, you’re going to love kruudmoes
First impression: I may have taken an overly Californian approach to making kruudmoes this time, but although I should probably increase the gooeyness to make it just the way the natives do, kruudmoes is just crazy delicious. If you're like me and: - love to chomp away on all sorts of lea... Read more
Posted on May 14, 2006 22:31
Sugar and tea
A smokey lapsang souchong, my favourite afternoon tea, served with plain and saffron flavoured sugar crystals from a Persian supermarket in Amsterdam. Growing up in my family, sugar was called white death. Until recently I didn't have much of a taste for sweets or sweetend things. Even one year... Read more
Posted on April 16, 2006 14:59
Not cooking with flowers and leaves, a raw food recipe for marinated shitake mushrooms
If I want to eat with my friends, I can't just serve up vegetables with the dirt still clinging to the rootball, the way I like it. I have to engage in some refining. Hibiscus flower and green tea leaf marinated shitake mushrooms (work: 7 minutes, wait: 1-4 hours) - dried hibiscus flowers ... Read more
Posted on March 21, 2006 14:14
New Year’s resolution No. 12: Make a good recipe for yoghurt ravioli
Ever since I've been back in the city, all I do is act like I'm not busy at all and that these short, dark days are endlessly long. It feels like I've got all the time in the world, which I'm guessing is a sign of mental health. Please don't let the Languedoc wear off. In between all the oth... Read more
Posted on January 17, 2006 22:40
Beets in hibiscus salt crust
Preheat oven to 220°c/475°F. Mix in just enough water with the salt to make sandcastle-style sand. Add dried hibiscus flowers to the mixture in a few swift turns of the fork. On a baking sheet covered wtih baker's parchment, pack the beats in the salt. Bake for 20 minutes. Crack open and serve t... Read more
Posted on November 22, 2005 19:10
Just experimenting with raw cruciferous vegetables
It would be absolutely no problem for me to go on and on about the conceptual and nutritional inconsistencies of the raw food (culture) diet, but I have to admit that this raw food culinary experiment has seriously increased my intake of *cruciferous vegetables. And that's good a thing because all... Read more
Posted on November 16, 2005 14:20
Audible gasps caused by morphogenetic fields
I was perusing my daily share of food writing, food photography and food porn, when what should I spy with my little eye? An aged eGullet entry about Grant Achatz' tasting menu at his much praised restaurant, Alinea. I know, I know, everyone's been eating honeycomb since time immemorial, but honey... Read more
Posted on November 15, 2005 12:50
And now for something completely simple, honeycomb cocoa nib bonbon
Images r to l: bonbon prototyping, the box it came in Recipe for Honeycomb Cocoa Nib bonbon Cut a piece of honeycomb into desired shape. Place the dripping honeycomb on some raw cocoa nibs. Alternately, place some raw cocoa nibs on the dripping honeycomb. Serve. Read more
Posted on November 14, 2005 14:02
Food Subculture Club visits a raw food (un)cooking workshop
When cooking with meat or dairy, it's always easy to create foods that are delicious, rich and complex in flavour. By combining processed grain flours with an oven, or brown rice and a rice maker, it's simple enough to make comfort food. But I have always been curious as to whether a diet of raw... Read more
Posted on November 13, 2005 20:31
Chef Thor, Croqueta d’Amor, Medaille d’Or, Cultural Sectór!
images top to bottom: Croqueta d'Amor in process, the chef formerly known as Thor, Chef Croquette works on a Croquette Japonais At a top secret location in Amsterdam's PostCS cultural hub, Chef Croquette and the Croquette Family get to work on the hundreds of croquettes ordered for a weekend ... Read more
Posted on November 4, 2005 23:31
All I really really want is locative food
That is, food that tells me where I am and where it's from by it's very name and nature (without the use of an RFID tag). And all I really really want is to have one major train station and one major airport in one country that sells food that is not created by food product designers but by loca... Read more
Posted on October 1, 2005 9:53
How to feel a food mile
If it takes me eleven days to really feel at home, just imagine how a piece of fruit must feel after travelling under much worse conditions and for a far greater distance! No wonder one must go to great lengths in the urban environment to find tasty fresh food. My head finally adjusted to being he... Read more
Posted on September 19, 2005 10:00
Today’s fig-related transactions
Went to bum a cigarette from my kitchen garden neighbour AlGouche, and was invited to sit around eating figs and play with Abel's toes for awhile (Abel is 3 months old, so it's OK). Received a fig tree as a present from Abel's parents, Amad & Lila, and gave them some leafy greens. Gave som... Read more
Posted on September 1, 2005 0:23
Sushi Occitania
images from l to r: sushi occitania, messy kitchen, pantry chef making tomato chutney It's a chic-free zone and we're not fussed about what we wear in the kitchen or anywhere else for that matter. Sushi Occitania yaki nori brown rice prepared in fresh gazpacho (aka homegrown bloody mary mix) co... Read more
Posted on August 10, 2005 14:19
So except for the vodka…
We thought that homegrown bloody marys would be an appropriate drink to celebrate his 44th birthday and to give the yurt a proper yurt-warming. All of the ingredients except the ever-important electrolytic enhancors were homegrown or grown within 2 kilometres of the yurt. Thankfully more homeg... Read more
Posted on August 6, 2005 12:48
Terrine du terrain
This will be a recipe after the busy party days end. Mille pardons, but I find cooking for 14 and 60 still quite difficult to combine with self-actualisation in other areas of my life, yurt set-up, being a warm friend and hostess, kitchen garden ownership, and going to watch to Tour de Franc... Read more
Posted on July 15, 2005 11:50
It was an accident
Puffed quinoa is delicious and has a surprising texture. I heated it in an a lightly oild pan but a paint stripper will do a better job in the future. The plan was a chapati with a puffed quinoa 'layer'. That plan still needs a bit of work and I'm hoping that Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking wil... Read more
Posted on June 29, 2005 23:41
Sometimes I’m irreverent and I take the easy way out. Here’s how…
Granitas shown clockwise from 10 'o clock; duoi uoi nuoc hot e (let's just call this, banana and acceptably gelatinous seed drink), ice coffee, green tea tofu, lychee soda, passion fruit&juniper berry&ume boshi, mango tofu. Center; guava disk. View image The motivation behind this granit... Read more
Posted on June 15, 2005 14:30
Hibiscus flowers
One million years ago, when I was a little girl, I had a piano teacher called Miss Pierce. She was an elegant and graceful woman, and ancient, as far as I was concerned. She was the secret girlfriend of Mr. Greenjeans, from the chilluns' TV show, Captain Kangaroo! We lived in a university town f... Read more
Posted on June 12, 2005 14:25
Fortunately the food was slow and dry
When the 'slow' is the Slow Food Movement and the 'dry' is Dutch design collective Droog Design, the combination of slow and dry is a good thing. In Dutch, droog means 'dry', and it refers to the dry humor of many of the collective's designed objects. Droog is celebrating their Amsterdam Staalst... Read more
Posted on June 10, 2005 0:17
Art is, art was fluid last Sunday
Due to the good company and delightfully engaged audience, artist initiative Artis in Den Bosch showed this Sunday (05.06.2005) that they really know how to throw a happening. Margriet Kemper opened the salon with a presentation of her book, Speak, Image! (unfortunately only in Dutch) in whic... Read more
Posted on June 8, 2005 9:57
Recipes without words
Image: olive oil, green tea powder, ume boshi vinegar, © Debra Solomon 2004 The images above and below are from a cookbook of mine in-the-making titled Recipes without words. Or rather, with very few words. More later. I’m about to do a presentation about culiblog in the ‘s Hertogenbosch ... Read more
Posted on June 5, 2005 15:19
Pasta that is pasta
(more...) Read more
Posted on May 27, 2005 11:01
Pasta that is not pasta
Finalement, Pasta that is not pasta. In this recipe I use thinly sliced raw courgette/zucchini as spaghettini, and courgette/zucchini and beet slices as ravioli. The main ingredient of the sauce is Turkish pickled and roasted peppers, a product I love because of the bits of charred skin still s... Read more
Posted on 9:01
Play with a mandolin
The original recipe for Pasta that is not pasta is coming. But first you need to own a mandolin. Orange rubber bangles, model's own, courgette rings and bangles, model's own. Read more
Posted on May 14, 2005 13:30
Garlic and beetroot
Sliced garlic, marinated with beetroot, lime zest, lime juice, fleur de sel and extra virgin olive oil. (more...) Read more
Posted on May 13, 2005 13:23
Pepesan sans pep, don’t let this ever end
The first time that I tasted Pepesan I couldn't believe that something so delicious had come to me in the July of my years. Such a strange group of ingredients combined into something so perfectly perfumed that one often hears the first-time-eater utter the words, 'Don't let this ever end.' It's t... Read more
Posted on May 11, 2005 11:12
Which one is the fish skin wedding anniversary?
5th Wedding Anniversary Menu for John and Kristi Pasta that is not pasta - courgette spaghettini - courgette ravioli - roasted and pickled pepper coulis - rocket emulsion - even creamier cheese in a can Pepesan sans pep - grated coconut tamale with - smoked mackerel marinated in tama... Read more
Posted on May 9, 2005 10:19
Paan virgin spits like a girl
Everywhere in Old Delhi, on every cornerpost of every building there is a terracotta haze. For a while I thought it was just the build-up of iron oxide dirt and dust - and so much of the architecture (for example the Jantar Mantar observatory) has this colour. But after a few hours of walking arou... Read more
Posted on March 15, 2005 6:57
Black Beauties, wafting truffles from Occitania
It wasn't a conventional Valentine's Day gift, but I do think it should become one. I am lucky enough to have dear friends that live in a part of the world where these elephant-skinned nuggets grow underground. Fortune would have it that 2 days before their arrival up here in the Polar Circle a l... Read more
Posted on March 7, 2005 21:42
Lacking and craving
Supposedly craving a certain food is your body telling you that your diet lacks a certain something. But what is it that my diet lacks if I get cravings for 1000 year eggs with Cheese in a Can Soup? Could the lack of light and earthy outdoor fun up here in the Polar Circle have made me wood ash an... Read more
Posted on February 8, 2005 10:23
Cooking Challenge, Pôts de Crumble
In French that's pronounced poh and the term can mean everything from a pot to piss in to a pot to plant some blood orange apple crumble in. Recycling fool that I am, these pôts originally contained storebought creme caramel but serve as excellent ramekin substitutes. This past weekend was ... Read more
Posted on February 7, 2005 10:05
I hate bread
Except sometimes and some breads. I love cornbread and I love my little cornbread iron. Maybe because it's bound up in a possibly made-up memory or maybe it was something that really happened. But I believe that I became covetous of my Auntie S's when she dished up some cornbread 'ears' for Thank... Read more
Posted on February 4, 2005 22:37
More raw beets for the neighbours
Raw beet ravioli. Delicious, beautiful and here I am hybernating. It was time for all of my vegetarian architect neighbours to meet over dinner. Click below for recipe. (more...) Read more
Posted on January 31, 2005 23:36
Gullet Girl
This is the correct Dutch way to eat a herring. By firelight. (more...) Read more
Posted on January 24, 2005 9:31
Keeping one’s vows
Remember in October when I had just bought Roxanne Klein's R A W and I reported how it made me homesick for Laurel's Kitchen? And then upon rereading Laurel's Kitchen I made a vow to 'take cashew cheese seriously' from now on? Well, I have been taking cashew cheese making very seriously indeed, a... Read more
Posted on January 19, 2005 17:09
Like raw beans in a hippy’s beard
In less than 2 months I will be heading off to India again and as I prepare the Indian version of the Nomadic Banquet Workshop I find myself hunquering for Indian food. I'll be writing about the Nomadic Banquet in future culiblog entries. Hippy Beard is the nickname I gave to the Southern In... Read more
Posted on January 18, 2005 19:01
Enough with the raw food already
We just couldn't eat them all so they've been in the fridge in a wet tea towel since the 31st. I wouldn't have guessed that after so much time you could still eat them raw, although upon opening more than 2/3rds of them were perfectly delicious looking, smelling and tasting. Those deemed not perfe... Read more
Posted on January 3, 2005 17:10
La Peche qui brule
That was the title of the smoldering peach course on that eventually sultry August evening. We placed the carmelised peaches on the pôts de creme au chocolate brulée. You can't eat one without eating the other. And that's exactly what a French speaker would say, 'You can't heat one ... Read more
Posted on November 16, 2004 17:59
The Banquet Years
Guess what we did last summer... we had a banquet! Maybe because my last entry looked so pitiful, the colourful cakes and the leaden November sky. I thought it was high time to upload some images from this summer's culinary activities - and not just to some dank place in the culiblog archives. ... Read more
Posted on 17:44
Sunday Tea, Fruit Boom
We can all use a bit more para so a visit to the Witte de With Paraeducation Department was the order of the day, this Sunday. The salon-format programme titled Facts of Chance (authored by artists Anne Schiffer, Marcel van den Berg, and Frank Koolen) was satisfying, like when the cookie tin stay... Read more
Posted on November 14, 2004 19:44
The Wild Boar Thing
It was the leitmotif, right down to the marrow. For the 5th annual Museum Night (Museum N8 and pronounced Museum Nacht) Mediamatic hosted a salon including presentations by Esther Polak (locative media MILK), MIT's Kelly Dobson with her Blendie, (a blender that grinds to the gutteral), Henk Boverh... Read more
Posted on November 7, 2004 14:22
Hash Shakes are sooooooooo passée
Well, what were You eating one and a half years ago? Bhang Shake (serves 3) Aditya and Arjun (not their real names) dosed me with the vivid high of this sublime hash milkshake one and a half year's ago. What were we THINKING!!! (more...) Read more
Posted on November 5, 2004 20:58
Taking Cashew Cheese Seriously This Time
In my October 6th entry I report on buying R A W and how it made me nostalgic for the vegetarian classic, Laurel's Kitchen. I said I was going to take cashew cheese seriously these time and I am a woman of my word. Roxanne Klein's recipe calls for 'fermented bean water' but I just used kim chi (pi... Read more
Posted on November 4, 2004 9:28
Poppyseed Mustard
It tastes just like it looks, dark and musty. Even though I mixed this batch with a roasted garlic clove I still think it would taste great with chocolate! Poppyseed 'mustard' makes me long for strudel and as soon as I am done with this juice fast I'll develop a savoury strudel with poppy seeds a... Read more
Posted on October 26, 2004 22:46
Autumnal fasting has begun
Today I started the Autumnal Fast. I'll be recording my menus and recipes (!) here. If you always thought fasting was a torture read here to see that the opposite is the case. SO far it is the first day and I'm not interested in juicing, very interested in cooking - so I made some cashew cheese an... Read more
Posted on 21:58
Cook ‘em with Dirt and All
A Norgwegian harpsichordist once taught me an easy way to peel potatoes, a way that preserved precious vitamines. You dump them in a pot, dirt and all and boil them up good. When they're soft enough, you drain them (and the mud) and plunge them into cold water and let them sit a bit. They'll stay ... Read more
Posted on October 18, 2004 10:53
Possible Epiphany
She's going to try one of my recipes. And I'm scared. What if she doesn't understand and makes a dog's breakfast of the thing. She might stop trying my recipes forever. Although I have cooked since I was a child, I am new at writing recipes for other people. I am new at explaining cooking to peop... Read more
Posted on October 5, 2004 10:11
Changes
This recipe for Chalupsie has been hybridised to the hilt. Pronounce it however you like, it's just Stuffed Cabbage or Chou Farci and up here in the Polar Circle we need hearty winter fare like this. C H A N G E S : It was my Gramma's recipe from the 'old country', from HER mother, but Grams ... Read more
Posted on October 4, 2004 11:15
Google Recipe Finder
The fabulous R.vT. came up with this Google Recipe Search link. http://theory.stanford.edu/~amitp/recipe.html Forget typing in turkey, or wild boar. It's just a search engine, go crazy and try tofurkey + lemon curd or monkey + banana + camenbert! Suddenly nothing seems wierd anymore. (Does this me... Read more
Posted on October 2, 2004 22:35
Autumnal Juice Fast Experiments
On top, a mixture of opal basil, spearmint, and apple juices. On the bottom, beet and red pepper juices. I'm getting ready for a culinary juice fast in three weeks time: apple + mint = great apple + opal basil = great apple + beet = great apple alone = great apple + red pepper = yuck, (hollow, wo... Read more
Posted on September 28, 2004 10:41
Tomato Brains
It usually takes me 2 weeks to get back into cooking once I have arrived home in Amsterdam from being away. Funny, because when I'm travelling I want to cook all the time. I think that it has to do with the scarcity of diverse ingredients and lifestyle here in Amsterdam and not the fact that it is... Read more
Posted on September 20, 2004 12:53
Leafy Greens
Up here at the Chateau there is no shortage of appreciation for leafy greens. Tonight we eat our salad with rapt attention as Kristine sings the praises of yesterday's salad, plucked by a visiting chef. Claire and Valerie recount that their Grandmere not only goes mushroom hunting but salad green hu... Read more
Posted on August 16, 2004 11:56
Peach Lessons
Janine Digout is going to give me peach lessons tomorrow. We ate these for dessert last Wednesday and I have to say I have never in my life eaten either a peach or a nectarine as delicious and perfumed as than the ones that she served us that night. And I used to live in California! And we had a p... Read more
Posted on August 2, 2004 9:20
Regime Change
Now that the Tour de France is over we've decided to cut down on our calorie intake. Gazpacho for lunch. Blend ingredients, chill and serve. (more...) Read more
Posted on July 28, 2004 13:07
42 looks good on you…
Today Kristi has turned 42. She wants to keep a low-profile today which is why I have posted this image of her low-profile brunch in my blog. I always fake sour dough pancakes by using joghurt, lemon and lemon peel. Read more
Posted on July 27, 2004 11:58
Will Weed for Food
Ikea's new packaging strategy. Actually this is part of an elaborate sneaky garden design by Kristine and Fred. We're looking forward to the recipes but by the looks of these leafy babies we'll only be making weed butter. (more...) Read more
Posted on July 26, 2004 11:53
Surf and Turf
The results of our adhoc fish and sausage fry, on a private beach along the shaded banks of the Vis. It was a perfect summer's day, a wonderful and unusual conglommeration of people, each one more interesting to me than the next. The day unfolded from pleasure to pleasure, the compa... Read more
Posted on July 24, 2004 12:30
Aligot
Aligot is melted Aubrac cheese, chunky mashed potatoes, and coarsely chopped garlic stirred and stirred and stirred in a special p�t d'Aligot until it gets nice and stringy. (more...) Read more
Posted on July 22, 2004 9:24
My thick and luscious…
A few days ago Kristi proudly returned from market with 2 white tupperware tubs. "This is the best joghurt on earth. I eat at least two of these per week, you simply must try it." One bite of the thick and luscious white stuff and it became clear why Kristi had suddenly become a joghurt fan. The ... Read more
Posted on July 20, 2004 15:27
Presentation is Everything
I feel like this little raisin. (more...) Read more
Posted on July 14, 2004 23:38
No Rest for the Rugged
There you are, a pre Iron Age chef and you want to whip up a fine bouillon for tonight's f�ete. It's easy as pie... read on. (more...) Read more
Posted on July 13, 2004 10:42
If it Bleeds, it Leads
That's was one of the more memorable lines in Michael Moore's, 'Bowling for Columbine'. Moore is speaking to a TV producer, asking him to explain why there are so many fear evoking images on the US nightly news. The TV producer replies self-evidently, 'If it bleeds, it leads'. I thought the line ... Read more
Posted on July 12, 2004 13:28
I love smoking: tea-smoked salmon and a dessert borscht fit for a foot massage
In 6 steps from upper left; 1. Line a wok with aluminium foil and place a handful of any sort of rice on the bottom. 2. Place a goodly amount of delicious loose tea on top of the rice. Earl Grey is the best choice. You are about to create a smoker in which the rice and the tea are the smolder... Read more
Posted on July 11, 2004 16:14
Moralist hangups
It's a day for raucous rejoicing when an immigrant to the Netherlands can help the natives remember their culinary traditions. Hangop is a Dutch summer dessert. It is simply yoghurt hung up in a wet tea towel until all of the whey has drained out of it, thickening the yoghurt in the process. 'Wh... Read more
Posted on June 20, 2004 16:35
The Breakfast of Champions
Breakfast Menu for when the Champion has a hangover. - 2 fried eggs over HARD with crumbled canned fromage brebis - 2 delicious cups of coffee - 1 red pepper eaten from the fist (more...) Read more
Posted on June 19, 2004 15:44
Carrot Caramel with Poached Peaches
Sometimes you make something so tasty it just boggles the mind. Carrot Caramel with Poached Peaches Have ready at hand: - peaches: poached, peeled and portioned - fresh carrot juice - juice of one lemon - a great deal of white sugar - a big sheet of baker's parchment laid out on a heat resi... Read more
Posted on June 14, 2004 16:52
Comfort Food
Since I was 14 I've been a huge fan of kimchi (korean pickled cabbage). And lately not a day goes by when I don't eat it. And lately I eat it with noodle-cut tofu, 'white cheese soup', black sesame seeds and wasabi peanuts. I love the way the different textures of cabbage and daikon radish feel ... Read more
Posted on June 12, 2004 16:11
Rhubarb Marmalade Terrine
Because I grew up in a California household in which the sweet granules were often referred to as 'White Death', I sometimes encounter a little psychological barrier walking 500 metres to the market and dishing out 1 euro 40 to buy some sugar. Meanwhile, I seem to be the only one in my family to h... Read more
Posted on June 1, 2004 21:10
KimChi Monkfish Papillot
On a piece of parchment place 6 cloves of roasted garlic, a hunk of monkfish, fresh kimchi, butter, scatter with fermented salted soybeans, and drizzle with beer. Fold and staple the parchment to form a sealed package. Place in preheated oven at 200� for 15 minutes. When it smells good, its rea... Read more
Posted on May 31, 2004 9:53
Nature’s Bouillon Cubes
Roasted cloves of garlic thrown into salted water seem to work as nature's bouillon. I roasted the cloves for about an hour in a hot oven (200� c) and had been adding them to soups like bouillon cubes, but now I'm just popping them into my mouth and eating them like raisins. (more...) Read more
Posted on May 18, 2004 8:42
Juice fasting, Soup fasting
In preparation of my trip to PRChina I am fasting this week. Liquids only� primarily fruit and vegetable juices, but also broths and froths. It is exciting to present myself with the opportunity of creating new juice and soup recipes as well doing a survey on rice, soy, and barley 'milks'. I ha... Read more
Posted on March 20, 2004 22:32
Recipes for Geese and People
and Jeremijenko’s OOZ
2nd course of the dinner for geese and people was called Vegetable Matter Underfoot, (salad carpaccio) visually references the trampled vegetation at the sides of ponds and lakes where waterfowl like to hang out. Natalie Jeremijenko is developing a zoo without cages, and she's calling it 00Z. T... Read more
Posted on March 2, 2004 17:50
Culinary experimentation dream
Culiblog dot org was launched in October 2004 from a series of entries written since May of that year. This entry was originally sent as an email to friends and was later added to the culiblog collection. Last night I had a very long and vivid dream that I won't get into just now, (because it was l... Read more
Posted on September 29, 2003 15:12
