Good things.

The kitchen window was open all night long for the first time in this year. I love it. Going totally sleepy into the kitchen which is filled with cool, but not too cold, fresh air, hearing birds and making coffee.

A new pillow for better sleep. And a new blanket to keep the bed safe from cat hair. At least, it's worth a try.

Planting plants and pretending to have a garden like every year.

For example, this garden sorrel has been accompanying me for over 7 years. We have quite a good relationship. It will look all fancy in about two weeks.

The sun of course.

Mango-basil cream cake.

Lemon and sage potato casserole.

This was a pretty simple but truly awesome potato casserole I had a few weeks ago.

Cut potatoes into thin slices and layer in a baking dish, season each layer with salt, pepper and smoked paprika. Add some fresh sage leaves, rosemary, basil and slices of lemon on to the top and sprinkle with some olive oil.

Pour 150ml soy cream over the potatoes and cover the dish with tin foil. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove tin foil and bake for another 10 minutes. The potatoes will be super tender and every aroma has melt together to a soft and crispy potato heaven.

Banana tofu with avocado cream.

200g tofu

1 ripe banana

soy sauce

oil

basil

pepper

paprika

avocado

lemon juice

salt

Cut tofu into cubes and the banana into slices. Fry tofu in some oil until it starts to get slightly golden, then add the banana slices as well as some soy sauce, pepper and paprika. Stir carefully.

Mash the avocado together with lots of lime juice, salt and pepper.

When the tofu gets darker brown and the banana slices are mushy add some fresh basil and serve with the avocado cream. This is an unbelievable creamy deliciousness.

Tomatoes!

Yellow sweet tomatoes and red cherry tomatoes which are a tiny bit too sourish. But I love all my tomatoes. It's so great to walk to the window in the morning and pick some tomatoes for my lunch at work.

Salad with fresh basil

Bento.

I made a non-fancy but yummy bento for my first day at my new job tomorrow.

Cucumber salad

- diced cucumber

- soy cream 

- salt, mustard

- mint, dill, basil

Baby carrots

Pasta salad

- Rigatoni

- fried red bell pepper and zucchini, glazed with a tsp cider vinegar

- sage, basil, thyme

- salt, pepper, smoked paprika

- soy cream 

Chocolate soy milk


Work sucks. Bentos do not. 

Creamy 8-minute-pasta.

- 200g pasta 

- 1 big onion

- 200ml coconut milk 

- salt, pepper, veggie broth powder

- fresh herbs e.g. mint, sage, basil

- oil

I came home from a meeting quite late and was totaly hungry but the fridge was quite empty today and I wasnt' really in the mood for cooking. I found the canned coconut milk and thought of a simple pasta dish - in the end it turned out way better than I expected. It's a very good idea to have fresh herbs on your windowsill. Almost everything is 100% better with it.

Heat a pot with enough water for the pasta. Cut the onion finely into small cubes and fry them in a teaspoon oil until they're translucent. Add coconut milk and spices, let simmer on medium heat. 

When the water is boiling, add the pasta and a big dash of salt, let them cook for 8 minutes (or whatever your pasta instructions tell you), stirring from time to time. 

Also stir the sauce from time to time, right before the pasta is done you can turn off the heat. 

Drain your pasta and add to the sauce. Cut your herbs into fine stripes and mix everything very well.

The sauce is not that coconut-ish as it might sound. It's more a very creamy, white sauce with the aroma of the herbs you use and the hearty taste of the veggie broth. Only a slight hint of coconut, but this may depend on your coconut milk brand. Of course you could use soy cream as well, the sauce will be ready in the same time.

The windowsill garden.

These are the herbs for this year: sage, honeydew melon sage, orange mint, rosemary, lemon basil, koriander.

Lemon basil.

Sometimes birds visit this tiny garden, too.