creative cook
I don’t know about you guys, but man, I do hate plain plane food. You know, the food they serve you when flying? For years, I’ve been refusing to eat it, getting the looks. But hey, the food I bring myself usually is much better, so I don’t care at all. On my recent trip to Europe* I had the best food ever. I made this Quinoa salad with radicchio and nuts and definitely will make it the next time I have to eat high in the sky.
When I tell people in my cooking classes that probably the most difficult thing of cooking is to decide what to cook tonight, I’ll get a lot of smiling faces and glances of recognition. Because that IS the hardest part.
Also for me.
I also have those days that I really don’t know what to cook.
Every day again I’m making THE decision. What shall I cook tonight? What would I like to eat? What am I in the mood for?
If you’re tired of this answering this question, or would like to know how I stay inspired to find an answer on it every single day, read on.
>> Here!
As a cooking instructor I like it when people listen to me. Follow my guide and instructions. At the same time I tell them not to listen too much to me. It has not really something to do with this recipe for the Turkish classic Imam bayildi, but in a way it does.
Imam bayildi is one of my all time Summer favorites. Ever since I learned to make these vegetarian, damn, vegan even, stuffed eggplants in 2006, I make them multiple times per Summer. They’re that good!
I like talking about food, and about cooking in particular.
Actually, this became my main premise for meeting new people after immigrating: I guessed that when they’re interested in food, there is a big chance that we might like each other! So I really hope my new Italian food friend will approve of this Oven roasted tomato sauce with bell pepper that I served over pasta.
French fries or bright yellow beans?
What? … Do you think this is a difficult choice?
But what if I tell you that they both these long yellow stalks (!) led into this recipe for Watermelon Tomato Salsa?
How one word can tell a life story. And its ending.
It gave me enough reason to reconsider my usual recipe for Baba Ganoush, the famous Mediterranean eggplant spread.
>> Curious how one let to another?
Are you going to start a veggie store?
Yep, I answered Mr. Eats, and I mixed all veggies together for this great Lunch salad with thyme infused spelt.
I’m not good at throwing food away. I always have looooots of little pots and cups in my fridge with small amounts of food and halved veggies in my drawer. Next to that cabbage of lettuce that seems to live forever there. With all the condiments that surround them, I invent new dishes. That’s also how this recipe for a crunchy and mild spicy couscous salad with mustard seeds came into existence.
How to keep track of all those recipe(-idea)s you want to try? Finally I found a solution for that, tested it out and made up this (vegan) Lunch spelt salad with cucumber, nori and home made tofu-yogurt.
This illustration of carrots was the first I made, and finally have a recipe to use it with. It’s a lovely Summer-ly Buckwheat salad with peach and roasted carrots.