For the Love of Food

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Now, I have hosted many parties in my short life: impromptu dinner parties, lunch parties, brunch parties, garden parties, winter solstice parties, children’s birthday parties, Thanksgiving parties…I could go on for quite a while.  But, I’ve never hosted a luxurious dinner party.  So, when Foodbuzz challenged us to host a luxurious dinner party I hit the web to get ideas on how to host one.

To my utter surprise, there is not a lot of information out there on how to host a luxurious dinner party – needless to say a small intimate dinner party.  There is plenty of information on how to throw huge and elegant wedding bashes, but since I cannot seat 100+ in my home, I had to turn to other sources.

I quickly emailed the two people I knew would have detailed thoughts as to what a luxurious dinner party would entail.  Could I hold it in my home since my dining table is in my kitchen?  Would I need a server?  These are just some of the questions I had.  Surprisingly – well, maybe not – I got quite different answers from both sources, but good advice none the less.

So, what do you need to put together a luxurious dinner party?? Continue Reading »

Have you noticed anything different here…or rather the same? Yes, this is the same bowl from the last post.

As many of you have read in previous posts, I have been in the middle of a move since February because the renovation company working on our apartment (Pravexx GmbH) is “a bit” behind schedule. Not to get anyone’s hopes up (including my own), but it actually looks like we could be moving in sometime in the next 2 weeks….I actually have flooring in the kitchen and if all goes well the new parquet will be delivered today and the walls painted tomorrow. And, my brand new kitchen is being delivered on Monday!!!

So, what does that all have to do with these awesome light turquoise bowls from Ikea (IKEA 365+)? Well, since ALL my things have been packed away in storage since February and I had been eating off of the same 4 plastic yellow pick nick plates and using tuperware as a cereal bowl (our temporary situation was only supposed to last a few weeks…not 4 months!!) I decided, on a recent trip to Ikea, to pick up some decent bowls. So, I walked out of Ikea with a big smile and 4 really pretty bowls. And, since they’re currently the only 4 bowls I have, they are going to pop-up in a lot of my food photography until we finally move and get the kitchen all squared-away.

On to the food…

I really enjoy bulgar. For some reason I don’t like couscous as much, but they are very similar. I buy instant bulgar which is ground up and only needs some boiling water poured over it and waiting about 3 minutes before you can consume it. It makes for a great, quick, and healthy meal – oh, and it’s pretty cheap here in Germany.

The one “down-side” to this bulgar salad is that it’s so good you will need a HUGE bowl to make enough for your family if you want to feed it to them for more than one meal (I only cook once a day for two meals).

My recipe is partially inspired by this bulgar salad recipe on Kayln’s Kitchen and partially by the great tips I received from my local Turkish grocer. Both recommended that I use fresh mint leave..and believe me I would love to..but I am still breast feeding, and nothing will dry up your breast milk like eating mint! Continue Reading »

Being sick for a whole month I completely forgot that the Super Bowl was this weekend! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to watch it being here in Germany and not having satellite TV, but no worries. I will find out who won tomorrow and be just as happy.

For those of you who are looking for some last minute delicious Super Bowl party ideas, I have 30 great recipes for you! No matter if it’s just you and your best friend or your entire neighborhood block, I have a recipe here for every party size. Going it solo? No problem. Vegetarian/Vegan? No problem. I have something for everyone.

Bellow are links to all the pictures above and their recipes: Continue Reading »

Happy 2009 everyone!

I decided to analyze my blog from January 2008 – December 2008 to see what you like.

Why?
I want to see more of you around my blog more often. And, that means finding out what you like.

How?
I looked at all my posts and saw what you commented most on and I learned quite a lot.

What? Continue Reading »

I have been meaning to try to make falafel for quite a while now. A few months ago I came across a really cool blog called The Hummus Blog. So, I knew any recipe they had in regards to falafel would be good.

I was so surprised how easy it was. Why did they say it was easier then making hummus??? I find making hummus soooo easy. And, while hummus may take longer to make, I think this falafel recipe is equally as easy.

We all loved these. And all my son could say was “mooyyy” (toddler for: “more”).

So, if you love eating falafel, but thought they would be too complicated to make, please try this recipe, it’s just so easy and good. Continue Reading »

The other day I came across this yummy-looking recipe on A Life (Time) of Cooking, so I thought I’d give it a try.

It was fabulous! We all loved it, and my son (who is almost 1.5 years old) was trying to drink it out of the bowl. It was so cute. Continue Reading »