a quest for organic eggs leads to an impromptu lunch… Holmsbu

May 15, 2009 by shalimar


I have been meaning to post this story five years back, yes as my diary and my file says April 29, 2005. But I never had the chance to do it.

But it does not mean its 5 years ago I have no memory of that day… It all started with a box of organic eggs which was bought at the organic store. It was marked which farm and through research we located the place. It was around one hour south of Oslo.

And so armed with a map, we journeyed down to the south. April in Norway is still cold but the ice starts melting and the landscape begins to bloom. It was a lovely drive seeing the boats around the fjords are slowly bobbing…

We did find the farm but it was close that day. So we checked on the map what is the nearest town in the area to walk around and from it I could see Holmsbu facing the fjord.

Heading towards there you pass a golf course and few nurseries selling selection of spring flowers ready for transplanting.

So I checked my guidebook what the place about but nothing. But really the spring air , the sea and the wonderful white houses do not need a guide. All you need is the sense of exploring new things.


Walking around Holmsbu passing some old houses, they have dates on the wall some dating back to 1700′s, the gardens are full of spring flowers, roses. We even saw many ladies some men too, prepping up their lovely gardens.

Towards the sea, you can see cabins and summer houses – a very typical Scandinavian summer houses. Basic and rustic. There is this little port and you can obviously see that fishing was then one of the main source of income. But its now mainly tourism. I found out though that there are still a few who fish commercially and sell their catch locally.

From the port I was just getting so hot and thirsty when I saw a small board sign for ice cream and drinks. We were cooling off when I noticed there is actually a menu (meny). With some basic norsk peppered with English, I asked the man if he was serving lunch.

The menu:

    Kremetfiskesuppe
    Marinert varmkort laks tilbehor
    Roffinert kreativ og velsmakend
    Renset Krabbe ir krabbesjell

    Rekesmorbrod egg og dressing

    Nyslekte fiskekraker slekte poteler

He showed me his fish soup and he said he can make a Sm

Tortang Talong

May 5, 2009 by shalimar


Growing up in the Philippines, I could never understand my mother’s excitement when she was given aubergines and I would find her grilling them to burn the skin , then see her either beating eggs to make a torta or chopping tomatoes and onions for augbergine salad.

I never really had any affinity to these lovely vegetables until I found myself experimenting on food and cooking itself. Perhaps through blogging I have discovered so much about Filipino cooking.

What I love best on this torta (aubergine omelette) is the smokey taste of the grilled aubergine.
I don’t have charcoals to grill them over so I use the oven.

It’s really easy.
Simply prick the skin with a fork
Broil them until soft

Cool the aubergines. Then peel, I normally put the peeled aubergine on a paper to drain the excess liquid.

Beat one egg and coat the aubergine thinly.

Heat up oil on a non stick pan, once hot gently brown the aubergine and flip slowly try to keep the stem intact.

You can eat this cold as well but I prefer this hot which I paired with the salad.

Et voila, easy comfort food.

And so I am blogging here in France … We were in St Tropez the other day and we are given weekend off.

Gyros

April 4, 2009 by shalimar

Coming back home means endless wandering around my area. Having lived in the US on and off for the past year, Athens seems to be a world apart from Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach where I have been based.

I go and look for the old faces, neighbourhood tavernas, grill, souvlaki places that seems stood timeless with the changes. These places keep going in spite the financial crisis and the social political shift of Greece.

As for my order gyro apo ola parakalo, meaning with tzastiki, onions ,tomatoes and maybe few chips.

More photos of Athens here... and here...

…. fresh farmer’s eggs

March 21, 2009 by shalimar

Nothing gives me such pleasure when I visit the weekly market in my area. Having been away in the USA for over a year, this is what I miss most in Greece.

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Greek Festival… St Demetrios Church, Ft Lauderdale

March 5, 2009 by shalimar

Tomorrow noon 5am EST I will find myself in Greece again….
That photo was taken during the Greek Festival here in Ft Lauderdale.
I had moussaka that night , Hagar had some lamb shank… I bought some loukoumades but it was very dense and I did not like the syrup that much. But still for me it meant a lot….

My connection back to my other roots in Greece…… the man by the way is grilling some chicken marinated with lemon and herbs.

I will be “home” for a while….

….white & dark chocolate mousse

February 24, 2009 by shalimar

It has been days I saw him last. He has been spending a lot of time up north for his job….

cucumber cups with smoked salmon, lemon & parsley

January 16, 2009 by shalimar

It’s already mid January and it seems time has been flying fast… yet I have not even thanked all of you for the warm wishes over the holidays and would love to greet you all a new year full of hopes and new food discoveries….

After such beautiful short break in London, am back to work with two consecutive weekends of not having days off yet.

The boat am working on is on the market for sale, so my days goes with dealing with brokers and buyers. Gone are the days dealing with guests and traveling from one port to another, one unknown island to the next.
I miss the fun of the travels, the discovery of new food & culture but am sure it will not be long I will be back to it and be working long hours once again and days or weeks with out days off.

So last weekend, one prospective buyer requested a sea trial. We cruise down along the coast towards Miami then entered the intracoastal waterways south to Hallandale to Golden Beach.
It was a lovely cruise down and see the typical Floridian shack style eateries the dot the waterways, as the night prior to this trip, I had a dinner with a friend in one of the eateries. Then we drove along Ocean Blvd towards Hallandale.
And yet the next day I pretty much on the same route but on the yacht, that everytime I take photos of the restaurants, you can have jolly crowd rousing with hoots for more photos…. oh Florida.

To welcome the guests, I made some cucumber cups with smoked salmon mousse, lemon and parsley. One cookbook which has not failed me with ideas is “CANAPES” by Eric Treuille & Victoria Blashford Snell.
I bought this book in France and has travelled with me from one side of Atlantic to another.
This book is full of innovative ideas and the photos are tantalizing that make create these dainty canapes.

Since its hot here in Florida I needed something cool and refreshing. I was told we would be expecting 7 people which I have to do lunch and some snack while they watch football…. european readers, I am talking here American football, not the football I know of.

In the recipe it calls for smoked trout. I could not find smoked trout or maybe my mind was really was so drained thinking how am I going to cope feeding 7 guests and 5 crew.
So I bought Norwegian smoked salmon and Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon which I used for the called recipe.
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Warmest Holiday Wishes….

December 21, 2008 by shalimar

To everybody….

I have left Florida and now in London to spend time with my sister and her family… I have few days left to get our Christmas organized with my sister and by the time I will be responding to most messages I am probably back at the warmer weather of Florida.

I wish you all Merry Christmas and to quote Charles Dickens…

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

…it’s beginning to smell like christmas…spitzbuebe

December 21, 2008 by shalimar

Christmas is next week, but being here in Florida I never feel that Christmas spirit.
Although I have grown up in tropical climes I actually have spent more than half of my life in Europe.
I have spent Christmas everywhere in the Continent, where it means, frosty cheeks and nose, chestnuts roasting, gloves, scarves, hot drinks….. the coming of Christmas means the smell the wafts around is just so intoxicating….

These Christmas cookies are one of my favourite, spitzbuebe means little rascals. Last time I have baked these was long way back 2005 the last time I remember that I did not work on Christmas.

This recipe was taken from an old recipe collection of Betty Bossi, the Betty Crocker of Switzerland.
Betty Bossi is fictitious kitchen character created by Emmi Creola-Maag.

I have not spent any Christmas in Switzerland, the closest Swiss Christmas I have experienced was with some Swiss people I have met in Aspen, Colorado. But at home many moons ago, the Swiss cheese would bake these for me.

I have learned the craft of baking these delicate cookies, the rolling, the cutting is all worth it as these spitz buebe are so delicate and buttery.

To do this try using a good butter.To add more Swiss character to these “little rascals” I went out of the way to look for a Swiss raspberry jam. I did find a Heio one.

Here is the recipe once again…. I have given some of these cookies to close friends here in Ft Lauderdale and they all love it.

200 butter
125g icing sugar
1 egg
350 g flour
1 tsp lemon juice
raspberry jam or apricot
1) Whisk butter until smooth, add sugar and stir until creamy
2) Add the rest of the ingredients
3) Work it together till you form a soft dough
4) Cool in fridge for 1 hr at least
5) Roll dough flat about 5mm and cut with round cookie cutters (for every cookie cut out a pair with a hole in the centre)
6) Lay on greased tray and bake for 15 mins
7) Spread the cookie with jam and lay the pair on top
Sprinkle with powdered sugar

Lasang Pinoy Sundays # 25… Saucy

December 7, 2008 by shalimar

When Ces of Spices started hosting this weekly Filipino food photography, she always have encouraged me to join. After all I have been active with the Lasang Pinoy “Filipino Taste” events before but fickle minded as I am, I never posted anything but I always check what’s going on by the time I find something to post, Sunday gone again.

So am not missing this one, she might not ask me for crazy ideas anymore, lol. This week’s theme is SAUCY… sounds so sexy isn’t it.

This is not strictly a Filipino food am posting, rather a Greek food. But when one thinks of kokinisto, it’s almost similar to the Filipino menudo sans liver.

Kokinisto means reddened, red sauce in Greek. It might be pork, chicken, veal, beef cooked in red sauce. Nostimo… Yummy!!!