Show me your kitchen and I tell you who you are. Well… maybe it’s not exactly that obvious, but I totally love to get a glimpse of other people’s kitchens. How messy, how organized, how stylish is it? Is it kept in grey, red, white colors, a rather dark place or totally bright room; big, small, perhaps connected with the living room? If nothing else, it quickly shows, if you’re having fun in your kitchen and treasure the act of cooking!

Funnily enough, the new “this is my kitchen-movement” originated from two different sources. One of them is tracked via Food Blog Scool and Technorati , the other one was triggered by Cenzina from Rome, Italy, who passed on the stick to 3 other fellow food bloggers from different countries including myself. So, this is about our kitchen:

No doubt about it, the kitchen is my most beloved room in our apartment. The house which we live in was built around 1898, which entails two things: the walls and the floor are anything but straight and the rooms are pretty high, almost 4 meters (~13 ft), which leaves a really spacious impression including huge windows, allowing lots of sunshine to pass through. The kitchen is of a decent size; you could gather eight people around the table and still have enough room to twirl around. What’s better than preparing a feast while having your friends around, helping and sneaking in every pot and pan?

When we moved in, there was no kitchen in the apartment, so we could somewhat (with certain budget constraints ;) start from scratch, which was great. What became quickly apparent, was that no matter whether you’d be shopping for clothes at a boutique or for an entire kitchen at various kitchen stores in Munich, customer service wasn’t good at all…they showed no flexibility and willingness to give advice whatsoever. So we finally ended up buying it in a small furniture store near Regensburg (an hour drive); they had exactly what we wanted (the fronts reminded me of my grand-grandma’s enamel oven) and their service was perfect. They took care of all the measuring (absolutely essential when having askew walls and floors), delivered and set it up in a heartbeat, too. With it being our first own kitchen, we had to face all kinds of questions and decisions, but they guided us very well and pointed out potential issues when we didn’t see them.

I’m still totally happy with our choice, a pure and contemporary design in black and white, with country-style wooden cupboards, shelves and table, that add to the coziness of the room and make people sit around the table way past midnight… Yet there are some aspects or wishes I’d like to realize the next time we move and have to buy a new kitchen (which is pretty likely to happen over the next one or two years…), like e.g. a retro looking fridge and a closeable “waste hole” in our worktop (as we generally don’t have comfortable sink waste disposals here in Germany).

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty – what’s on my cupboards: Here is evidence of the passions I pursue to the max. Flea markets, tins and retro design. While the enamel coffee pot and the (still on duty) toaster now do look shiny and new, I bought both in rather bad condition, but nothing that couldn’t be squared away with some curd soap, water and rough scrubbing…

When it comes to porcelain, I’m probably super predisposed due to where I grew up: Weiden, a charming small town in the east of Bavaria, situated right on the crystal and porcelain road. Famous crystal and porcelain producers like Rosenthal, Hutschenreuther, Thomas, Nachtmann, Seltmann and Bauscher can all be reached within half an hour. Living there or visiting means direct access to their industrial sellings or – even better – flea markets specializing on porcelain, where they not only sell antiques, but also brand new “1B products” (the writing underneath may be blurred, etc.) The best deal I ever got was at the flea market in Donaustauf in the mid 90s. I had happily discovered a stand from a lady working at Rosenthal who sold the very same deep pasta dishes which over the last years have gotten so famous by the German cooking show “Alfredissimo”. For the six plates – which only had a tiny wrong marking on the bottom side – I paid 30 DM (around 15 EUR/$18). That’s about the price you’d have to pay for ONE of them in a regular shop! Getting up early sometimes does pay off, doesn’t it?

The more chaotic areas are well hidden… This is where I store all my different spices, at least the ones, we use on a regular basis. But it’s still much too messy and crowded, I stopped counting the times I accidentally pushed some glasses over the front edge trying to get to the ones cramped in the back. I yet have to find some time and muse for some sorting and re-arranging…

The cupboard where I keep glasses and porcelain, home of some really special – to me – glasses. Lead crystal, hand cut by my dear grandpa. By now, I gathered a pretty substantial collection of differently shaped glasses, all gifts from him. They bring back childhood memories of a dark basement, where I sometimes was allowed to watch him cutting the glasses – and both of us wearing very stylish *cough*, oversized safety glasses. While the above, colored glasses had been out of style for quite some years, you finally see them returning to trendy crystal stores in Munich again… In case you ever drink out of a hand cut lead crystal glass, don’t you dare toast with them making “full contact”! – my grandpa’s holy advice…

Thankfully we have a separate pantry, otherwise I would have trouble keeping all my favorite food stored. After I took the pictures above, I quickly realized, I had forgotten about so many things… Here’s my list of essentials, which can be found in our fridge and pantry almost any time:

In store, so to speak: Black pepper corns, coarse sea salt, olive oil, sunflower oil, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, sweet mustard, different spices and dried herbs, dried chiles, baking powder, gelatin, different sugars, flour, semolina, chocolate, cocoa, frozen raspberries, jam, tea, various nuts, honey, maple syrup, basmati rice, pasta, dried beans, dried mushrooms, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, potatoes, olives, anchovies, coconut milk, soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, curry paste, ice-cream, frozen pizza (for quick snacks)!

Fresh: Fresh yeast, butter, milk, heavy cream, creme fraiche, eggs, cocktail tomatoes, lemon grass, ginger, limes, parmesan, buffalo mozzarella, coppa, herbs, shallots

While our all-time favorite toy is featured here and the runner-up here, there are two other gadgets I realized I can’t live without.

The above KitchenAid blender we got at the same event and it has been useful in so many ways, most prominent I’d say for making pesto, smoothies and crushed ice for cocktails.

And finally here is the new kid on the block: The best (and rightfully much adored) grater we had so far, got it on our trip to CO. Now we tend to grate more than we need – it’s just so easy…

Bottom line, I think anything goes. Whether your kitchen has 25 square meters (270 square feet) or 10 (107 square feet), it’s all about how you use it. During my studies I had 35 friends over and managed to keep them food happy with my mini kitchen (5 sq meters/53 sq feet). Sadly, on the other hand there are fully equipped kitchens out there for $$$$ that aren’t even close to being used to their potential, if at all. What a shame ;)

What a funny – funny as in weird – Sunday! In reality, it all began yesterday, when the weather – after almost two weeks of consecutive sunshine – changed. I have never been meteorosensitive, well, before we moved to Munich that is, so I was curious, if the so much complained about “Föhn” (a local weather phenomena, that causes many headaches and other pains) would hit me, too.

Now after 5 years of living in this beautiful place, I have to admit to this one major drawback. Thank goodness it doesn’t happen very often, but for someone like me, who usually has a headache less than once a year, it is really odd. In the evening I finally surrendered and took a pill. Bad idea. Totally overlooked the fact that they also contained a good deal of caffeine: the headache was gone – so was my sleepiness. I tried hot chocolate at 1 AM, no success. Tried reading a book at 2 AM (I usually fall asleep when reading in bed after the second page…), to no avail. Watched an adorable sleepless Bill Murray in one of my all-time favs – “Lost in Translation” – at 3 AM. A little comfort I found in seeing light at our neighbors (across the street) at finally 5 AM when I was ready to try again falling asleep…

I guess it’s Murphy’s Law that after such a night, you find your door bell ringing its guts out at 9 AM? There was no way I was going to jump out and answer that, O. didn’t even hear the bell, so I simply buried my face in my pillow and ignored it. After was seemed obscenely long, the ringing stopped – ahhh, silence… – just to start afresh! It was a tough battle between a sleepy creature hiding under a pillow and a persistent whoever! I factored in the probability that it could be something serious, so I… made O. get up and answer :) It was our friend Kristin, wanting to drop of a bag of rolls and still warm croissants! Instant reparation, I’d say.

After the croissants I felt brave enough to lay my hands on this month’s IMBB “Soufflés”, hosted by Kitchen Chick. With a deadline set for today, there was no time for any fallback plans in the event they didn’t turn out… I thought about a savory and – of course – a sweet variation. The idea for the sweet one came from a new book “Zimt – Das duftende Juwel aus Tausend und einer Nacht” (Cinnamon…) by Wolfgang Hübner and Michael Wissing. I followed the recipe pretty closely, just added vanilla seeds, more cinnamon and served it with my favorite vanilla sauce and sautéed, caramelized plums. The result was pretty and yummy, I’d say this could be labeled the fool-proof soufflé recipe, it is that simple and really prepared in no time at all.

(With the leftovers I made some mini soufflés. They look a little askew, but tasted just as good)

Did I deserve such a perfect result with my first soufflé attempt? No, probably not. That’s why my second attempt drove me up the pole (and I probably deserved it, too): Firstly, I got a little too self-convident about my cooking skills. I looked up different recipes for savory soufflés and built my own out of them. That’s probably OK for your morning granola or lunch vegetable soup, but soufflés play in a different league, I guess. I was up for a variation with mashed potatoes, truffle or garlic oil and parmesan. I started panicking when in the midst of weighing the ingredients the digital scales battery died. Oh great, now what I thought!? And saw my savory entry going downhill fast. After a few clueless minutes, I remembered, that our body scales had the same battery (size-wise) and I was able to continue…

The outcome was delicious – taste wise, but far from being picture perfect. It had a pretty big crack at the top and I decided to serve it on a bed of sautéed yellow boletuses with oregano. Perhaps the consistency of the potatoes itself is to heavy to rise that much, I don’t know. As I still had Blue Vitelotte leftovers, I also tried some violet soufflé – unfortunately, it tasted bland and looked strange, nope, can’t recommend!

Sweet Cinnamon Soufflé

Thoroughly coat the sides of the ramekins with the molten butter, then with the sugar.

Briefly bring the milk and the vanilla bean (+scraped out seeds) with the butter to a boil, remove from heat, let infuse for five minutes (then remove vanilla pod) and add the flour, cinnamon and the salt. Stir well.

Put the mix back on the stove at medium heat and continue to stir the mass until it begins to detach from the brim. Again remove from stove, add the egg and beat thoroughly. Move the mix to the bowl and add the egg yolks, each by each.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the sugar (and a pinch of salt) until stiff and add one third into the soufflé mass using a whisk. Now fold in the other two-thirds very carefully, the mixture should become very fluffy.

Preheat oven to 225 °C (430 °F). Pour the soufflé mass into the ramekins (leave about 1 cm = 2/3 of an inch) and place immediately in a deep pan and fill the pan with boiling water about two-thirds high. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve immediately – you only have a few minutes before the soufflé collapses. And even if it does, it will still taste great!

Note: Optionally serve with vanilla sauce and/or sauteéd plums.

Savory Potato Parmesan Soufflé

Boil potatoes in a large pan of water for about 20 minutes (or until done), then drain, peel and mash (while still warm) to a smooth consistency. Add to a large bowl, then stir in the milk, oil, cream, butter, egg yolks, salt, pepper and the Grana Padano (which I used).

Coat the sides of the ramekins with the butter, then with the breadcrumbs.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the potato mix carefully. Pour the mixture into the ramekins and place immediately in a deep roasting tin (or pan) and fill the tin with boiling water (about two-thirds) high.

Put the tin or pan in the oven and bake for 25 minutes [edit: bake at 200 °C (390 °F)] and do not disturb soufflé while baking. Soufflé will be browned when done. Serve immediately.

IMBB # 20Souffle

O’s persistence made this post possible and added a delicious tart to my cake repertoire. He had been raving about this tart for days – ever since he had it for the first time at Harry’s coffee shop. Really the only way to make an end to his bugging, was to give in and attempt to recreate it. Even though I had never actually tried it, after hearing all the good things about it, I felt like I already have had a piece. On the other hand, anything baked by Kristin (Harry’s better half), that I have tried, has been a wonderful treat and finally with the original recipe in our hands (O must have sweet-talked her) I had no reason to not comply.

The challenge was to find good, well to find red currants at all. But turns out that it was much easier than thought – in spite of them being already slightly out of season…

Shortcrust: Mix all ingredients, sieve the icing sugar and knead it together. Quite tricky, because the dough obviously doesn’t want to stick together, that’s why I stopped kneading the dough with the KitchenAid – it just didn’t work. (I’m not very patient with “high-maintenance” dough, but this time the outcome was definitely worth the effort!) Things started to improve with hard manual labor. Form a ball, cover it with foil and let it rest in the fridge for about half an hour. Then roll it out about half a centimeter thick (dust board with flour as needed) and press into 12 cm (~5 inch) buttered flan tins (which I didn’t have, so I used my Crème brûlée forms). Repeatedly poke a few holes across the bottom, line with parchment paper and add pie weights (I used rice, dry beans work, too) and prebake them in the oven at about 175 °C (350 °F) for about 10 minutes. Take the crusts out, remove the baking weights and let them cool down.

Filling: Remove red currants from the stems, wash them and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Arrange berries on the dough. Combine eggs with cream and sugar, beat until you have a homogeneous mixture and pour over the currants (about two thirds the height of the red currants, because the mixture will rise a bit).

Bake at 180 °C (355 °F) in the oven for 20 minutes or until lightly browned, remove and let chill. Dust with icing sugar, if desired. Best eaten still a little warm or on the next day…

The crust alone was sensational and every reason to do it again – despite the extra manual work it takes…