Café Elefant - one of my favourite cafés

Lazy Saturday breakfast at Café Elefant which I just love so so much. It is small, cozy and quiet and on summer days you can sit outside sipping coffee and seizing the view of the old buildings while sitting in the shade of beautiful trees.

Antique market in Tongeren, Belgium

Every Sunday morning there is this beautiful antique market full of treasures waiting to be discovered! I loved the bear in the rocking swan!

Rotterdam

I spent the Easter weekend in Rotterdam in the nicest B&B (Anno 1879) one can imagine. The old building from 1879 is furnished with the finest vintage stuff, wooden floors, high ceilings and steep stairs. The breakfast is served with love by the host: bread, croissants, coffee & tea, eggs, fresh orange juice, joghurt, muesli, fresh fruits and even blueberry pancakes on Easter Sunday!

Something from my kitchen: childhood memories

This time the really exciting topic at "Post aus meiner Küche" was "childhood memories". Childhood memories are the best memories of all, especially if I think of food. Eating way too much sweets and feeling sick but really happy is a common memory of mine. My lovely partner to exchange was Steph, who writes a wonderful blog with inspirations for DIY, recipes and design, especially from the 50s to the 70s. I decided to recreate three recipes each with a modern little twist.



"Kalter Hund" with white chocolate and cranberries 

For 6 little loafs you will need:
275g coconut butter
400g white chocolate (chopped)
2 eggs
25g icing sugar (sifted)
200g dark butter cookies
75g cranberries
60g dark chocolate

1. Melt the coconut butter and the white chocolate butter (gently).
2. Slowly mix (1) with the eggs and the icing sugar. If the cream doesn't get really smooth, continue mixing the cream over a hot water until all ingrendients have the same temperature and the cream smoothens.
3. Spread cling wrap in six small loaf pans or one large. Alternately layer cream, cookies and three quarters of the cranberries.
4. Leave to cool down in the fridge over night.
5. Melt the dark chocolate and decorate the loafs with chocolate and the rest of the cranberries.

 

"Eiskonfekt" with hazelnut brittle 

For a batch of thirty you need:
100g nougat
50g dark chocolate
50g coconut butter
40g hazelnut brittle

1) Cut nougat, chocolate and coconut butter in medium-sized pieces.
2) Melt the ingredients and fill in tiny forms.
3) Leave to cool down in the fridge for about 15 minutes, decorate the sweets with the hazelnut brittle and leave them in the fridge to cool down for about an hour.



Caramels with salted macadamias

For about 20 caramels you need:
125ml cream
100g sugar
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. butter
10g vanilla sugar
50g salted macadamia nuts

1) Melt all ingredients (except of the nuts) and let boil for about 15 minutes, stir from time to time.
2) Line a baking tin or any another flat form (ca. 15 x 15 cm) with parchment paper.
3) The mixture is ready when colour turns golden and the texture thickens.
4) Mix in the macadamias and fill into the form.
5) Leave to cool down in the fridge, preferably over night.

Winter is best

In contrast to the common opinion, winter is truly best. Snow in December makes Christmas time really magical, but even in March I do not mind some snowy days.

March: Berlin & some glimpses of spring

At the beginning of March I spent some lovely days in Berlin, having breakfast at the market at Boxhagener Platz, walking around and making a guided tour through an abandoned bunker of the Second World War. Little bear was tired all the time, this inconsistent weather made him come out of hibernation way too early.

February

Some random picks from February. I love the postcard with the rabbit and its tiger striped towel.