Cafe review: Cafe Lotti

If you love pink and flowers and good food, you would love this place :) The small pink cafe is own by a young girl in her 20s -basically she made her pink dreams come true by opening this cute cafe :D

Food:Again I only went for breakfast but she also does snacks and lunch. Apparently they are a bit cheaper on a week day. Everything she serves in the cafe is from her village Amberg (something like cheese from her family friend, ham from her great cousin or something like that) and they taste nice too. I dont know where she gets her bread but the Croissant was divine (difficult to find good ones in Munich)! YUM!

Drinks:Coffee was good (also roasted in her village). They also have other hip mixed drinks.

Location:Not really too central but also not a busy street. The interior is ueber girly :D and has good light. The toilet was almost too overwhelming with goodies you can use (to relax, to make up, to fix ur hair etc) and you can see she makes a lot of effort. We made reservations for breakfast and got the last table. I dont know if it is always crowded but if you want to be sure to get a seat make a reservation for breakfast on the weekends!

Cafe Lotti
Schleissheimerstr. 13
Open MO-SUN 10.00-18.00
http://www.cafe-lotti.de/

White asparagus and environmental issues

After living in Germany for sometime, I've gotten used to seeing white asparagus (we don't have them in Japan) and I've been enjoying them again this year!

White asparagus with a bit of olive oil and serrano ham (oh and yes, you spy Miso soup --I had a multi-culti evening...)

Germans say that the German white asparagus are the best and don't buy stuff from elsewhere. It's not a nationalist statement and I am sure we all agree that usually local products are just better for many reasons. In Germany, you also see Peruvian ones quite often, in fact, all year round. My environmental conscious  hurts and I want as many people to avoid the Peruvian white asparagus sold in supermarkets. In short, it's not only bad for climate change via its high carbon footprint, but also because they are apparently causing serious water problems in Peru... and only the owners of those mega export farms see money while the poor and vulnerable suffer without say of their "water rights"

Want to read more see for e.g. Barbara Deutsch Lynch, Vulnerabilities, competition and rights in a context of climate change toward equitable water governance in Peru's Rio Santa Valley, Global Environmental Change, Volume 22, Issue 2, May 2012, Pages 364-373,

Cafe' review: Cafe' Vorhoelzer Forum

When I used to live in Utrecht, the Netherlands I loved going to Cafe's and I pretty much tried out all the good ones and had a "fav" list. I haven't really been trying out new places in Munich until now, but decided to start adventure a bit and enjoy what this city has to offer (even with a limited Ph.D. budget)

The first of the Cafe' series of Munich shall be dedicated to "Cafe' Vorhoelzer Forum." It's one of my favorite and I'd like to say it is kind of like a hidden gem with a marvelous roof top view of the cityscape. Run by two young guys, it's a chic, trendy, but not too posh cafe'.

Food:
 I've only tried lunch during weekdays and Bavarian breakfast on a Saturday morning. Limited selection and nothing fancy but good cafe' food (panini, salad, soup etc) and they had some effort in making the white sausages taste nice, I think.
Drinks:
 Coffee (espresso) is good. They will do coffee art too if you order a capuccino (see below: it's a swan!) They also serve summery drinks.

Location: 

The most attractive part of this cafe' is the location. It's on the roof top of my uni -TU Munich (5th floor) with a very nice view. On a sunny day you can sit out on the terece and look over the Pinakotheken. I also like the interior -white, simple, very fashinable. The place has good light and one can easily enjoy reading (or editting my dissertation..)

If you are a TU student you know where the cafe' is. Those of you who are not, you can still enjoy it since it is a public cafe' (unless there is some kind of university event). Just don't be afraid to enter the university building!

For more info check out:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/Cafe.Vorhoelzer

Bread baking rye:wheat 50-50

I'm baking pretty much once a week now. This bread is rye * wheat 50-50. This time I accidentally "over baked," which ended up making the best crust. Having a shitty oven helps to never burn the bread but actually bake properly... haha.

This time I used liquid Sauerteig (Aurora brand) instead of the dry Sauerteig. Sauerteig is sold in (big) supermarkets in the baking section :) This particular one (see below) is with Dinkel (Spelt in English) but works fine with Rye bread :)

I used a spoon of honey in the background "waldhonig" (forest honey) as opposed to sugar for the bread. When you bake it you don't really taste the honey flavor... Waldhonig on its own has a strong aroma so either people love it or hate it... but totally worth trying ;)I like it.

I also saved a spoon of this Sauerteig and going culture it for the next batch of bread :) (Keep it in a jar, add some water and rye flour) Shall see if it goes well...!

Asparagus time!

Asparagus aka Spargel in German is probably every German person's favorite dish and definitely marks spring time here. More than the weather sometimes... In Japan we only eat the green ones and they are a lot thinner. I miss those but I have come to also love the thick and white ones you can get here :)

When I first saw the white ones I wondered why are they actually white? Well, I looked at up and the white ones are white because they were deprived of light ("etiolated"). The asparagus couldn't produce the chlorophyll, which make the plants green.



Today's asparagus dish (not white but green!):
Green asparagus with fried ham and carrot risotto (without alcohol)

Asparagus was fried (peels on, only cut off the really hard bit at the end, fry until soft)
Fry the ham according to the way you like it (crispy?)

Carrot risotto
2 cups of rice
2 small carrots
1 small onion
About 4 cups of broth (made of fresh parsley)
Some butter and oil
Some hard cheese (parmesan)

Prepare the broth in a small pot: hot water (doesn't have to be boiling) with fresh parsley (you could just add instant broth but I don't really like the taste of it)

On a deep enough pan or a pot fry diced onions and carrots and risotto rice (sushi rice or milchreis could also be a substitute) until translucent.with a bit of oil. You can add white wine here if you want but don't have to. In a lower temperature, start adding the broth one ladle at a time to the rice mixture and continue steering. Do this until the rice looks cooked (c.a. 30 minutes). The amount of broth should be enough but adjust according to taste.
Add S&P and a bit of butter (1 spoon) for a bit of taste.
Sprinkle some cheese at the very end!

冷やし中華 Hiyashi Chuka

A typical summer dish in Japan is Hiyashi Chuka, which literally means Cold Chinese (noodles). Basically it is a cold noodle dish with lots of colorful topping. The most traditional combination is tomatos, cucumber, eggs and ham. It comes with yummy sauce too.

During the last days Munich had summery weather and I decided to make Hiyashi Chuka for dinner. In Japan we would use special Chinese noodles for this dish but since I am living in Munich it's not easy to get a hold of them. I use normal spaghetti pasta with a bit of a twist.

Here is my quick way of making Hiyashi Chuka


Noodles:
Overcook the spaghetti (1-2 minutes more than the usual) in the way you usually cook, but add a tbs of "Natron" to make the pasta a bit more like Chinese noodles. After the noodles are boiled, make sure to rinse them with cold water. It gives the nice texture to the pasta.


Topping:
Basically you can have any topping you like. The more color the merrier. I put ham this time but of course it could be a vegeterian version as well :) I like sprinkling some sesame seeds on the very top.

Sauce:
Lemon juice
Sesami oil (can also add a bit of sesami or even Tahin)
Soysauce
Vinegar (sour ones are better than something like Balsamico)
You can adjust the ratio according to your liking.

I am sure I would be making this dish quote often during summer months ;)

Chocolate cookies (maybe the best)

Recently I baked yummy chocolate cookies. I am usually a very humble person but these were really good. Addictive. The cookies are good right after (and maybe a day later) for its "fudge" texture [in Japanese we call it しっとり "shittori"]. They are also good when they become a bit dry (day 2 or later). The former reminded me of the Japanese cookies brand "Country Ma'am". The latter tasted like the cookies I had from Fortune and Mason (friends brought it from London once ahhhh....)

This recipe is not mine and this is the link to the original recipe :)



I would have like to just put the link, but unfortunately it's not in English so this is the rough translation of the original (with some commentary).

Chocolate cookies (yields about 40 pieces)

• 200g of dark chocolate (I used a block of Côte d'Or (Belgium brand) "Culinaire" --which in my opinion is the best chocolate for baking! I brought it in Belgium over Easter. Unfortunately they are not sold in Munich)
• 100g sugar
• 50g butter
• 2 eggs (M/L)
• 200g of all purpose flour
• 2 tbs of baking powder (must sieve)

Melt chocolate and butter (*); whisk sugar and butter together until it becomes creamy and add the (*), flour and baking powder
Put a lid/cellophane and put it in the fridge to cool (1-2 hours, but naturally can be more). Take out the dough and make small balls (c.a. 10g). Bake in pre-heated oven about 15 min (175 C). Eat hot or cold.

The cookies grow so don't put them too close to each other or make them too big :) 10g is about a tbs.

Alternation to the original recipe:
The original recipe calls for powdering the dough with powder sugar at the end before baking. They look prettier as you can see in the picture of the original recipe if you follow the link. But cookies are sweet enough (I could reduce the amount...) as it is. I also made my cookies flat cos that makes it bake faster =) even them I had to put the oven at a higher temperature than asked (200C) and baked longer (c.a. 25 min). I have a really crappy oven.

I baked with yummy Belgium chocolate- next time I would probably use one from the local supermarket so shall see if there would be any difference to the taste!

Bavarian breakfast

My sister was visiting last week and for this special occasion we did a "Bavarian breakfast" except for the weissbier part. We had white sausages from the butcher and home made Obatzda "orange cheese butter."

Here is my variation of how to prepare this meal:

*Munich's white sausages!*
Heat (not boil) white sausages with a slice of lemon (I put a whole one this time) and some parsley for extra nice favor! Better to buy organic lemon and always rise off the peel with luke warm water before putting it in the pot. Of course you could just heat up the sausages, but adding these two make it even better!

*Obatzda*
Obatzda is best when it is prepared a bit in advanced -- preferably the night before so it can rest for some hours in the fridge (the onion becomes milder too). For this recipe, I used half a butter (c.a.125g) and one small Brie cheese (75g) and 1/2 of a small onion (diced, and rinsed with water). Mix the cheese and butter until it is soft and add the onions. You can add a hint of beer for extra flavor (optional). at the very end add a spoon of "Edelsüß" paprika powder and mix well to get the beautiful orange. Make sure to only put this particular paprika powder because the taste as well as the color would be completely different if you use another kind.

















I bought the sausages at "Vinzenmurr." it's a Munich butcher "chain" so nothing special but I find their sausages quite delicious after comparing a couple. If you know a good place drop me a line! :) I'll be up for trying out new ones!

Spaghetti al pesto con Mango

My quasi Mother-in-law introduced me to use Mango in pasta --so the fruit is not a desert but part of the main dish... I altered her recipe a bit since I couldn't get a hold of some of the ingredients in the local supermarket.

Mango pasta with Pesto and shrimps.

- (Whole wheat) pasta cooked al dente
- Ripe mango, diced
- Pesto (original recipe calls for Coriander pesto, but I just made normal ones with Basil)
- Shrimps -> fried with olive oil and some spring onions, diced

The original recipe uses raw spring onions but I don't like raw spring onions (or onions) so I fried them together with the shrimps.

Very summery dish and a nice twist to the usual "Spaghetti al pesto"

Bread experiment No.1

I haven't baked bread with my own mixed for some time, but I got inspired by a friend's boyfriend who now does not buy bread from the bakery any more but bakes once a week by himself. He also gave me a tip to make a bread notebook so I can keep track of what would be the best combo of ingredients! I decided Sundays are perfect days to do this bread experiment.

Bread experiment no.1

Rye : Wheat = 2 : 1
Flour mixture : water = 3 : 2
Temp: 220 degrees
Sauerteig extract and yeast
Left it sitting for about 10 hours (not intentionally...) before baking

Other notes:
Weather was rainy and cold
Added 30g of seeds but would add more next time.

Teriyaki Okara Pate

Okara is residue of soy beans after making tofu. It's been one of my new challenges to make tofu from scratch and thus every now and then i have okara at hand. This is one of my favorite dishes --Teriyaki Okara Pate. I mixed the okara with eggs and some flour and fry it. It's a quick and easy and nutritious dish :) (It's quick but getting Okara is a bit of a pain)

For this evening, I treated myself with some nice wholesome Japanese food... good sticky rice and miso soup!
The orange dish in the top corner is "Kinpira" The typical dish of Kinpira is using carrots and gobo (Burdock or Schwarzwurzel) but this time I substitute it with the root of celery. It went quite well and I think I would use this recipe to eat up the "giant" root :)

Gourmet salad

My bf usually doesn't enjoy eating salad, but he enjoyed this one... maybe because of the shrimps... I name the salad "Gourmet salad" :) it includes more ingredients than my usual simple ones ;)

- Apples (diced)
- Walnuts (roasted with a pan)
- Parmesan cheese (just a sprinkle, optional)
- Shrimps (fried with olive oil)
- Feldsalat (corn salad in English)
+ Lemon dressing (lemon juice and olive oil + S&P)

Take photo and eat

I meant to only post about my cooking and photos of my own here on my blog, but I came across an interesting article on the Guardian on "camera at the table."

Follow the link to read the full article...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/mar/27/cameras-at-the-table-snapping-point

Leftover Bolognese sauce

One of the few dishes I decided not to cook at home is Bolognese sauce. In our relationship my bf is the one who cooks this specific sauce. It's quite rare he stands in the kitchen, unfortunately, so when he wants to eat Spaghetti Bolognese he has to cook it :)

Anyways.. the sauce is yummy but he tends to cook a huuuuuuge portion and we would end up eating Bolognese for about a good week (I get bored...and that would be too much meat...so in the end I do freeze it)

On the third day of Bolognese, I came up with a new dish after googling "Left over Bolognese"
It's  like a Bruschetta but with Bolognese sauce and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. It works better when the bread is toasted before the sauce it put on top

Käsekuchen

I begin my blog with a blurb on "Käsekuchen" aka THE German cheese cake. I say THE because it happens to be my boyfriend's favorite thing ever.

Germans call it Käsekuchen, literal translation is "cheese cake", but there is no cheese in it. No cream cheese. Instead the German cheese cake uses Quark, which is kind of like a thick version of yogurt and it's also sour. It's quite a refreshing cake, not too sweet :)

time: c.a. 15 min (plus 45 min baking time)
ingredients:
filling - quark (low fat doesn't taste nice for the cake), eggs, vanilla pudding powder (or corn starch), vanilla extract (or vanilla sugar), sugar
crust - flour, egg, sugar, butter, cinnamon