Our New Year’s Eve tradition is to begin and end the evening with champagne. But not without having an array of appetizers within reach or we won’t make it until midnight. These are some of the appetizers we’ll have this year, all easy to prepare: Warm Marinated Olives, Parmesan Crisps, and Goat Cheese with Cranberries […] Read more…
Christmas Stollen
Dresden, a two-hour drive from Berlin, is the hometown of the real Christstollen (Christmas Stollen). It’s serious business: about 130 bakers make these famous breads every year. There is one more or less secret basic recipe, but all bakers make their own variations. Traditionally, you should buy a stollen two to four weeks before Christmas. […] Read more…
10 of our favorite cookbooks
Could we imagine life without cookbooks? Probably not. Each time we tell ourselves: no more cookbooks, enough is enough. None, not even cheap and used books. Not on the e-reader either. But we fail, every time. We read cookbooks at our desk, on the sofa, in the kitchen, in bed, when travelling. Sometimes we send […] Read more…
A great weekend in Rotterdam by Wim de Jong (map included!)
Rotterdam, Rotterdam! Even international newspapers and magazines agree: it is the best city in the Netherlands, maybe even in Europe. We can’t deny it, Rotterdam is indeed a great city, but since we live abroad we don’t visit it as often as we used to. So we asked Dutch journalist Wim de Jong, an old […] Read more…
Ulla’s Glögg & Ginger-Licorice Cookies
My Danish friend Ulla, who opens a coffee shop in Berlin next January, is a great cook and also knows how to bake the most delicious cookies. For her traditional Advent Party she made eight different versions, among which these crispy ginger cookies with raw licorice powder. Cookies with licorice? It may sound odd, but […] Read more…
Meatless Shepherd’s Pie
It’s time for Shepherd’s Pie again! This is an old recipe from a vegetarian cookbook we wrote together a few years ago (nope, we are not vegetarians, just don’t want to eat meat every day). It’s made with brown lentils instead of meat and mashed potatoes with mustard. Very comforting! It’s still one of our […] Read more…
BLT Avocado
Every now and then I make everybody in the house very happy with this BLT. It’s one of the easiest sandwiches to prepare and absolutely in my top 10 of favorite American dishes. Provided, of course, the sandwich is properly made, ‘cause sadly enough I’ve had a lot of lousy BLT’s in my life: wonder […] Read more…
Advent Cookies: Thumbprint Cookies with Oats & Hazelnuts
I just love the Advent season in Berlin! In a way, I find the four weeks before Christmas even nicer than Christmas itself. Every Sunday, we celebrate together with friends, drinking the inevitable Read more…
Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Pomegranate & Walnuts
We’ll celebrate this Thanksgiving with our dear American friends, just like we did last year. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate this explicitly American holiday! This year my friend Maren and I decided to cook some of the dishes together, like the turkey and her mother’s delicious cranberry chutney. She will take […] Read more…
Maren’s Cranberry Chutney
What I like about Thanksgiving is that people start cooking several days in advance. The day before yesterday my American friend Maren called me and invited me over to prepare some of the traditional dishes with her. There’s nothing better than cooking with friends! We made one of her mother’s recipes: a delicious, spicy cranberry […] Read more…