Over the past years it has become a tradition to welcome our friends from San Francisco with a very informal get-together, a so called Brotzeit. The term is used quite loosely and open to all kinds of interpretations. Putting aside regional differences it’s essentially a cold snack, coming with all kinds of bread, sausages, pickles, radishes, cheeses and what not. And of course, sufficient supply of Bavarian beer!
Ok, we blew it, let our blog down. We had plans for our fifth blog birthday in March, big plans. We had talked about a major redesign, threw initial ideas and concepts in the air, hoping to see them fall on fertile ground, but somehow there was always something more important to do. A photography job, some design projects, and of course the new book. Yet, – bad conscience omnipresent – each time I visited our little foodblog, I could feel an increasing urge to revamp it from the ground up, to give it an opposite and distinct new look.
So odd. Despite this historical heatwave consuming us all alive, all I can think of is Tiramisu? Ssshh, I hate to know what that says about my personal craving profile. It was Sunday morning and neither the luscious cherries nor strawberries chilling in our fridge had a real chance of changing my mind. Tiramisu. Ahhhh, a small sound of relief, as I finally found the big cup of mascarpone, I had bought a week ago, buried behind half a dozen semi-emptied glasses of homemade jam (major recipe testing underway…). I had farm-fresh eggs and some ladyfingers in the pantry…, so I thought. But wait, didn’t I use them all up for a trifle?
What is the deal with Caesar salad?? I’ve ordered it in many different places from neighborhood cafes here in Munich, to stylish places in California or Budapest. If there’s no dish on a restaurant’s menu that coaxes me instantly AND the place happens to offers Caesar salad – plan B is an easy one. That, however, doesn’t automatically mean that all of my Caesar salad endeavors have been pleasurable ones. Quite the contrary, in fact I’ve had really bad ones. Either my expectations towards this very salad are way out of reach for most restaurants or serving this classic gives chefs a good excuse to put a perfectly good label on mediocre food quality delivered. Limp leaves, drowned in way too much dressing, over the top garlicy or Parmesan cluttered – all these things can quickly ruin an otherwise beautifully balanced mix.
