.com

Dear readers, I have now learnt a few more things about the internet (^^) so you can now follow me on my website! Come and check it out :

toomanydishes.com

2nd stop: Warsaw

On my first trip to Poland in 2005, I remember eating all sorts of things while not knowing what much of it was made of nor what it was called. Now I have finally learned a few things (!) and I can now say that my favourite polish food is baked pierogi, thanks to Kasia!

I have actually never made them myself so I have been looking for recipes on the internet and will try it next time I have access to a kitchen! I am going to attempt this recipe that I found on the internet.

PIEROGI RECIPE

3 c. all-purpose flour 1 egg 3/4 c. warm water 1 tbsp. butter 1/4 tsp. salt Work egg into flour with fork. Add salt, warm water, and butter; mix well. Knead until firm and soft. Cover with a slightly damp cloth and let stand for approximately 10 minutes. Roll dough to about 1/8 inch thickness and cut into 3 inch circles. Spoon filling on one side of round and pinch edges firmly to seal. Drop Pierogi into salted (optional) boiling water. When they rise to the top, lower the heat and cook for approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Drop into cold water and drain. Pour a little melted butter on Pierogi to prevent sticking. FILLING: 8 potatoes 4 tbsp. butter 1 onion, chopped fine 1 c. grated Longhorn cheese Salt and pepper to taste Boil potatoes. Saute onions in butter until transparent. Mash potatoes. Add sauteed onions, cheese, salt, and pepper immediately to mashed potatoes and mix well. To serve, saute onions in butter and pour over Pierogi. (If Pierogi are cold, add Pierogi to sauteed onions and heat slowly.) Other fillings to consider are sauerkraut, cottage cheese, prunes or lekvar.

First stop: Berlin

I visited my friends Jelena (left) and Naomi (right). Jelena used to be my tandem partner when I was an exchange student at Potsdam University in 2005-2006. Naomi studied at Plymouth university and later moved to Potsdam university for her PhD. Naomi and I shared this flat for a few months in 2006!

Curry Wurst is a common snack in Berlin and can be found at any train station. It is a simple sausage, usually cut into pieces and served with ketchup sprinkled with curry powder. It doesn't look nor sound very apetizing but trust me it's well worth trying!

2011 travels

Since I have left university with no serious life plan for the coming months except visiting a friend in Berlin, meeting 2 friends who were working in Tokushima with me in Spain in April and moving back to Japan by the end of the summer, I decided to take it easy and travel for a while.

I had thought about staying in Berlin for a few months but after a week there, the winter blues crept in. So when my friend Jelena told me about a cheap train ticket to Warsaw, I jumped on the occasion! I have decided to go explore Eastern Europe and will do most of my travelling by train. Here's my rough itinerary for the coming months:

New Year's Fondue

I spent the week between Christmas and New Year with my friends from Plymouth university in La Clusaz, a nice little town of Haute Savoie. Michi, my former housemate picked me up in Annecy and smuggled me in late at night. The guys sharing the same room thought he had picked up a girl at the bar so they were quite shocked to find out it was me in the morning!On New Year's eve, we made a fondu, a common dish in the Alps which consists of 3 kinds of cheese mixed with white wine, melted on the stove for a while and put on the table in a heated pot in order to prevent it from setting.

Guests then dip pieces of bread and twist cheese around them! There is a tradition that says that if you lose your piece of bread in the pot, you should run outside the house naked. Since this dish is mostly eaten in the winter, you better be careful!

Recipe:

Ingredients (for 6)
- 400 g of Comté
- 400 g of Beaufort
- 200 g of Emmental
- 300 ml dry white wine
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp corn flour
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 salt and pepper

(1) Cut cheese in small bits.

(2) In a thick pot, rub garlic and pour 250ml wine. Heat up.

(3) In a small container, mix 50ml wine, corn flour and nutmeg.

(4) As soon as the wine is warm, start adding cheese gradually and mix well with a wooden spoon. Keep it on low heat.

(5) Add the nutmeg mix to the cheese.

(6) Season with pepper and serve hot!

5 months in the Great North (Norway)

In August 2010 I joined the university of Tromsø master program in Indigenous studies. I quickly started doubting it was the right program and the right place for me but I decided to give myself at least a semester to try it out.

Tromsø in winter

I didn't cook half as much as in Naruto because ingredients were much more expensive and my kitchen wasn't as nice. I did try to make a few specialities like Fiske kaker (fish cakes in béchamel with curry served with boiled potatoes) and Bolle (sweet bread rolls with cinnamon) with my friends. I can't say I am very fond of Norwegian cuisine though...

I spent the majority of my time at the international café Bodéga, conveniently located between my reading room and the lecture rooms. It became my social hub and favorite place for lunch: a waffle a day keeps the doctor away as someone once said!

Norwegian waffles are lightly perfumed with cardamom and can be eaten with Norwegian brown cheese (which tastes more like caramel than cheese) and wheeped cream. My favorite combination was half with cheese, half with chocolate spread. No wonder I gained 5kilos there!

However, even my love for waffles couldn't keep me in Tromso so I have decided to leave.

Brunost and Waffle

Brownies

I got this recipe 10years ago from a friend in high school. I made it so often back then that I got fed up, but I made it for my New Years Eve and fell in love with it again (^^).

Ingredients (for 10 hungry people)

-400g chocolate

-200g butter

-8eggs

-160g flour

-110g sugar

(1) Melt the butter and chocolate together

(2) Mix the egg yolks and sugar

(3) Mix (1) and (2) together

(4) Add flour. Mix well.

(5) Beat the egg whites until firm and add gently to (4).

(6) Bake for 20-25min at 200°c.

You can also add nuts and a table spoon of instant coffee.