New kids on the block.

Or in my little garden, to be precisely. As the mixture of flowers for bees and butterflies dried out during the last days, some new plants are now on the window sill of my bathroom. Say hello to: A vietnamese kind of coriander, a nice flower named Chocamoca (ya, seriously) and a morning glory (which I sowed a few days ago).
In other news my avocado is still growing and growing and survived successfully after it dropped onto the floor twice within a week. It only lost one leave and another leave has a small hole in it. Tough avocado.

Coriander.

Coriander and Chocamoca. Left to the coriander the morning glory is very tiny, but growing.

Avocado.

Cruel summer.

Good idea: iced cappuccino and two brownies which were stored in the fridge over night for breakfast.

Keep it simple.

As it's way too hot to cook I stick to sandwiches and salads most of the time. 
For example a sandwich with avocado spread and vegan cheddar cheese, thin slices of tomato and lettuce.

If I do cook, it's something quick and simple but yet delicious like this:

- 1 yellow zucchini
- a few cherry tomatoes
- lots of garlic, smashed
- scallions
- olive oil
- fresh rosemary and sage
- salt and pepper

Cut the zucchini into cubes. Heat the oil and fry zucchini for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes (cut into halves or quarters),herbs and the scallions (cut into small rings). Fry for another 5 minutes, stir from time to time. Season with salt and pepper.

It's just a mockery.

Not ready.

13 years.

13 years ago it was this kind of perfect summer day just like today. 
How ridiculous.
13 years is almost as long as I knew you. 
How weird. 
It doesn't feel like it's been already 13 years. 
How sad.

Miss you.

1958-2000

Summer food.

From time to time I cook at punk shows for a bunch of people and I never know what to cook until last minute. I barely can follow a recipe, recipes make me totally confused and so I just think about something that sounds good, make a rough plan and go shopping. If I find everything I planned - yay. If I don't find everything - I make something different. It doesn't matter because I use everything I find in the particular kitchen where I cook and often change the plans during cooking anyway or add something I never thought of beforehand. I improvise and it's always way too much but more or less it's tasty.
Yesterday I got asked: "So you make awesome stuff off the top of your head?" Erm, yes. Kind of.
But then I always forget how I made it, which is irrelevant most of the time, but yesterday I made the best lentil salad ever. I hope, that I can remember everything.

- red lentils
- ground hazelnuts
- garlic
- lemon (juice and zest)
- mint
- salt, pepper, paprika, ginger, soy sauce
- olive oil
- dash of sugar

Heat a little olive oil in a pot, add lentils. Stir and fry for about 5 minutes. Add water until lentils are covered and stir from time to time. Red lentils cook very quickly, from 10-15 minutes. Add salt, pepper, ginger (I didn't have fresh one, I used powder as I found this in the kitchen and thought: oh, ginger!), juice from one lemon, soy sauce, sugar.

In a small pan heat some olive oil and add ground hazelnuts and smashed and chopped garlic, stir well until it smells very, very good and the hazelnuts are getting a bit darker. Turn off the heat and put the pan aside.
Chop a lot of fresh mint. When the lentils are done fold in the mint and the hazelnut-garlic mixture together with the zests of one lemon.

Serve on chicory leaves and enjoy. I might have good ideas for cooking, unfortunately I don't have good ideas for names. So this is just a very good summer lentil salad. Or THE summer lentil salad.

Yesterday I served this salad along with arugula salad with caramelised cherry tomatoes; the dressing was something like balsamic vinegar, oil, tahini, salt, water, mustard. The main dish was tagliatelle with a zucchini-snow peas-sage-cream sauce and roasted walnuts, which were also very good and I was very happy with the result altogether.

In general: just add roasted nuts and as much fresh herbs as you can and everything will be perfect.

summer lentils

arugula with caramelised cherry tomatoes

tagliatelle w/ zucchini, snow peas, oat cream, roasted walnuts