Café, Caffè, Coffee, Koffie.

Coffee-break, I need a coffee, Let's have a coffee.

How many times a day do you think this word is said? How many cups of it do people drink a day?
Is it healthy or not at all? How many kinds are there? How do you drink it best? With what..?

So many questions I can think of when I think about this beverage which was introduced in the 15th Century. Originally from Ethiopia.

The English word 'Coffee' derived from the Ottoman Turkish 'Kahve' through the Italian 'Caffè'. The Turkish word came from the Arabic qaha, meaning 'to have no appetite' as it was supposed to stop you from feeling hungry.

There are so many ways of preparing this drink. The Turkish coffee, which is boiled ground coffee. The sediment needs to rest and sit at the bottom of the cup before you can drink it.
I always wonder how long this takes, and is the coffee not cold by the time the coffee sank down..?

Then their are all these cool looking machines and devices like the Moka pot, the French Cafetière, the perculator. And of course the Italian espresso machine, my favourite I must say.
The water is pressed through the freshly ground coffee with high pressure and creates a lovely creamy layer on top of your espresso, called 'crema'.

At work I drink a caffè latte every morning with a freshly made brioche filled with marmalade. Our barman Fiorello, yes that's his real name but everyone calls him Fiore meaning 'flower', makes the best coffees.
Sometimes when he's in a happy mood and I feel like a cappuccino, he makes me a flower or a heart in the velvety foamy layer.

This fall I discovered a new coffee type, the Marocchino. I had never had it before in my life and I love it!
They say every Barista (coffee maker) has it's own way of making their marocchino. I had one in Como which was made with a layer of chocolate creamyness, then espresso, then milk and milk foam and topped off with a dusting of cacao.
Then I had my next one in Milano, in a very crowded coffee bar. It was cold and I needed something warm and soothing. This one was made with a dusting of coco powder in the small cup, the espresso, then milk foam and again a dusting of coco....MMMmmm! Delicious. I added some cane sugar, cause this version was not sweet at all. I think it's my favorite new winter drink!

Marocchino in Milano

Breakfast at work, with cappuccino

Update..

Dear Reader,

I have to give you my sincere apologies... For not writing, for not uploading pictures of at least some nice food..For totally abandoning my blog for the last couple of months.

...Please forgive me, let me make it up to you, again...

Ok, that said, I would like to spent some of my energy, I have left over after a day of work or my spinning class on Tuesday and Thursday, on getting back to writing.
Pictures I have, enough to fill my phone completely so I had to delete half of my Itunes library...
If I upload them on my blog and actually write about them, so I digest and relive the experience, I can delete them from my phone and make some room for new stuff!

The big news is that we moved to a wonderful new place in Como! We're not anymore in the city centre. We left the noise of the hospital across from us, the cars and the smell of that always empty restaurant around the corner.
We moved to a more quiet place on the hillside along the lake...YES, with lake view!
The house was built in 1600, imagine haw that must have been! But is totally renovated by the landlord and we're the first to live in it!
We have our own little garden, a bath tub (to me amazingly luxurious as I only had a bath when living with my parents, which is a while ago) and a jaw dropping 5,5 Meter long (!!!) kitchen.
Can you imagine how my brain is going wild with thoughts of fragrant cakes from my oven on eye height. Or steamy risotto's on the hub! We even have a dishwasher so I can be lazy and my love too. As he will not have to clean up behind me so much.

I just wanted to show you some pics of one of our first meals here in the new house.
Risotto alla zucca with some flat fish I don't remember the name of. And our little aperativo plate with onions in vinegar, fresh goats cheese and date tomatoes.

Now I need to get up and going. I need to prepare a sofa bed for my first guest!

Ciao!

It's been a while...

Dear reader,

It seems that combining work with blogging is harder than I thought...

Since I started my work last may in Switzerland I have been mostly busy working and getting things back on track.
But also with enjoying the weekends and the great weather in Como...even though it has been raining for the last week and a half.

I have to say that my performance on the cooking front isn't what it's supposed to be. The kitchen at my work is so great! They make their own fresh pasta, fresh bread and all the vegetables are organic.
You can even take home dinner which they prepare for you in nice bags. And I must admit that last week I couldn't resist to bring home the Fajita, which I already had at lunch. My excuse was that my man at home had to try it as well. And yes, he loved it too.

So it's not that I haven't been experiencing any fun stuff lately. It's just the same old lame excuse that everybody uses when they don't do something they should do...too busy. (at least, I do)

From now on I will try to do better and pick up my cooking and writing again.

Here are some pics to make it up to you...

Wistaria wonder!

I think, well I know it's the biggest Wistaria I've ever seen. And I've caught it in the act! I'm house sitting at the moment, or let's say plant sitting at a friend of mine and that's where the blue wonder is happening.
Every day I return it's become bigger, bluer and more fragrant. And I can't stop making pictures of it.

I'm very happy to be there as I can sit outside, do some light gardening and have lunch on the balcony, in the sun. Today it's about 30 degrees Celsius in Como, you can feel that summer vibe hanging in the air....Mmm!

lunch on the balcony

oldy at our favourite tea place

flowerpots in Bellagio

It's starting to feel like summer here in Como and I'm so happy to be able to ride my bike without frozen hands and feet. Last weekend, after my Love came home from a 80 km ride, we cycled up to Bellagio together (another 60 km).
As soon as the sun shows it's face in this pretty little village the tourists start flying in. We sat down for a lemon soda and a piece of pie, as that's always much needed if you've only had breakfast before getting on your bike. I felt like a lucky girl sitting there next to my Love, overlooking the beautiful lake, wearing my new fancy cycling shoes...what else could you want?!
I spotted these nice flowerpots in the centre. They seem to put a lot of effort in keeping Bellagio look attractive, almost unreal pretty.
The next day my Love rode another 110 km while I did the housekeeping and prepared lunch. Which was a good thing, because as soon as he opened the door (when he usually says, 'Hi honey, I'm home..) he said without breath 'FOOD AND WATER'! It's obvious he's training hard for a race he's riding in two weeks.
He said it would be something I could also participate in but I think it's a bit too early for that. I've just started to become fascinated about cycling and I still have to train a lot to be able to ride a race... I'll be at the sideline cheering, Whoohoo!!!

almond cake and capuccio

bar San Remo, Bellagio

Friends & Food

Dear all,

I just have to apologize for not having posted anything for so long. Lets say I've been busy.

A while ago I met some great new people in Amsterdam, good friends of my love. He told me we had to meet and I would totally fall in love with them...and I did!
One of the main reasons for this is the passion we share for good food and cooking...
I think he is the best risotto-maker I know! We had a risotto with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. Super creamy and fresh! Then he made a raspberry bavarois which didn't set completely but that just made it much more creamy and delicious. YUM!
Last week, when we visited Holland, they invited us over again. Again, a stunningly delicious risotto with saffron and orange and a scallop on top. for dessert we had a rosemary cake with olive oil! I just made it myself and it's just as wonderful as it was there! Super moist and full of flavor.
I'll give you the recipe next time.

A few weeks ago they came to visit us in Como and it was our turn to invite them for dinner. It was a rainy sunday and there wasn't much in the fridge. I made my famous bruscette with tomato and apple , then a pumpkin soup with home made bread and lovely pecorino and gorgonzola with a Williams pear for sweetness.
As you might know I'm a bit of a dessert person so almost all the effort went into that. I made mini pavlova's with strawberries and mint.

Here's how:

you'll need for 4 pavlova's:
3 egg whites
180 gr of white sugar
250 ml of cream
500 gr of strawberries (ripe and red)
juice of half a lemon
2 tbls of cane sugar
a hand ful of fresh mint

For the meringues: preheat the oven on 100 degrees Celcius. beat the egg whites almost stiff, then add the sugar in three times and beat until stiff.
Put baking paper on a baking tin and shape 4 'baskets' of the egg white with a diameter of ca. 15cm. about 3 to 4 cm high. bake them for 1-2 hours until very lightly colored and crisp on the outside. They still have to be a bit gewy on the inside. Leave to cool.

Cit the strawberries in small cubes and mix with the sugar and the lemon juice and the finely chopped mint, leave to marinate.

Beat the cream until almost stiff.

Now build them up! Put a meringue on a dessert plate, put a good amount of cream on top. Then top it off with the strawberries, Don't take too much of the fluid on your spoon while doing this.

E voila! Don't they look pretty?!

Lanvin show

I love the new LANVIN show with the tree on the catwalk. Especially the last bit with the dresses made in the gazar fabric in beautiful colors. I just felt like drawing one...

Breakfast at Marie-Cecile

Last summer we drove from Como to the Cote d'Azur in the south of France to spend our holiday. We travelled from Bed&Breakfast to Hotel about every two days. It was hard to tell which B&B would be nice and which would be a bit of a disappointment, you never know if it's your first time there.

Our first two nights we spent at Villefranche-sur-mer where we stayed at the Hotel Saint Michel. We had a lovely little Ikea room with a tiny bathroom and toilet and some noisy neighbors. It's a lovely little town, very typical French riviera. Especially the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat is very beautiful, it's almost an island with pretty beaches and amazing views.

When we arrived at our next stop, we were happy to have booked 5 nights at this wonderful place called CaraProensa in Flayosc. We were warmly welcomed by Marie-Cecile and her husband Roland who showed us our cute, very french room with private terras. But it got even better at breakfast. She made us a different special something every morning...american pancakes, rice pudding, poached peaches...Mmmm! Delish! All this was accompanied by fresh croissants, bread, juice, tea and home made confiture. One night we were invited to join them and their friends for a piece of homemade apricot pie and a glass of wine to celebrate a guests birthday.
We had some good times in their pool and cycled in the beautiful area filled with wine chateaus. It's not too far from St. Tropez and other pretty places like Aix-en-Provence.
We're coming back there this may, looking forward to it already!

More about our summer holiday...(and some of the more unpleasant surprises we ran into with), next time!

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

Hot summers bikride!

Salad at Hotel Saint Michel

CaraProensa, Flayosc

Petit-dejeuner de Marie-Cecile

Rice pudding

Pancakes and honey-yoghurt

The area

My Rooftop Garden

My rooftop garden

When I was still living in Rotterdam, Holland, I had a Rooftop Garden.

I had about a square meter on the roof which I filled with small pots. And some space in between the two roofs where I could put some bigger pots in a row. All in all about two square meters...not really a garden you would say.

But you couldn’t believe what I grew up there. I started in March with buying the pots, the soil and the seeds (mostly organic). I couldn’t choose, so I bought many different things to be able to see what would grow best in the Dutch climate.

I grew:

• Tomatoes, small and normal sized ones. They grew pretty fast and gave lovely plump tomatoes in the summer. I had three small pots (20 cm diameter). They grow upwards so they need to be supported with a stick of bamboo for instance.
• Beans. They grew very fast and I got a small crop every few weeks during early summer. I grew three plants in a bigger pot (40 cm diameter). Which was a bit crowded...

• Potatoes. Just let an organic (or any kind you like) sit in the sun by the window for a week until it begins to grow roots. Then put it in a big pot about 10 cm deep, so it does not get to see the sun. It takes about three months to grow, but then you’ll have the most velvety, creamy young potatoes you’ve ever eaten! And one potato can make up to 50 new ones, if your pot allows it.
• Lettuce. I grew different kinds. It’s quite hard to grow outside, when it’s still chilly every now and then. But it works!
• Fennel in big pots. Mine didn’t fatten very well. But they still tasted lovely. It just takes a while to grow.
• Beetroots, which didn’t grow very well. They stayed small, but tasted great!
• Courgette, wow! That really worked! I had just one plant in a medium pot and it gave me lots of good courgettes. I also used the flowers of course!
• Pumpkin, unfortunately these didn’t do it very well. It grew a lovely curly plant which went all the way up to the roof. And it even made some tiny pumpkins but they fell off after a while. It could be that they weren’t fertilized properly by the bees (who carry the much needed seed on their bellies). Hopefully that will work better next time.
• Hot red chillies, they grew pretty slow and some flowers fell off. But the lovely looking red chillies tasted great! P.s. I just grew them from the seeds of a regular red chilly. 
• Strawberries, from a bought plant. What a great feeling to eat your own strawberries!
• Then I grew fresh herbs like mint (from the seed, which is difficult, but it worked), thyme and basil. And some flowers, just because I like them so much!

I grew everything from seeds and started them up in the house as it was still too cold outside. This rooftop garden lasted for only one season but I’m planning to get a new one soon. The veg should grow a lot better here in Italy, where it’s already starting to feel like spring....

look at the courgettes in the upper left corner!

Snoes loved to sit with me while 'gardening'

To the fair!

Last summer I went to the Pitti Filati in Florence with my boss. It was about the hottest day of the year.
We took the fast train from Como to Firenze and arrived in a hop and a skip!
We saw lots of pretty threads and a great trend presentation with knitted tops, dresses and trousers on little dolls using all the threads made by the companies presenting in the fair. All inspired by the different parts of our world.

Luckily there is also always a lot of foody stuff to find at these places. Every stand has a snack ready for their customers and there was an amazing color presentation made with food and drinks....

Fresh pizza machine

pretty buns

cookies

drinks

The flowershop on viale Lecco...

On my way through Como, I passed the flower shop...