august

memoir of august or one lazy summer

What happened with the hottest month of the year, the month when a long waited two week vacation begins? Hemingway said, “I discovered that there is romance in food when romance has disappeared from everywhere else.” Is this what it was? 

Menu for August:

- Sun

Every day we are serving optimal dose of vitamin D 

- Sea boat

Free sail with no restrictions

- Sea fish

In the sea.

- Squid

Frozen, on a plate.

A 6 year old chef, Imma gave us a secret of best fried calamari. While they are still defrosted and all pale ‘in the face’, give them a good massage with all ten fingers. This will make them soft and very tender. After she gave them a very pleasant massage she rolled them in flour and massaged them for just a bit more. If you didn't know squids loooove massage!

Gently fry squids for only few minutes on each side and when they are ready season them with coarse sea salt and put lemon chunks on the side. 

- Sea

Clear and blue. 

- Salt

'No summer would be complete without salt.'

It's August and one should do as little as it can. Find your hiding spot, laze and relax. Float as much as you can and stare at the clouds, you might feel silentness. Some public health officials suggest to soak up the Sun from May till October 20-30 minutes a day in order to store it up for the rest of the year. Following these suggestions and doing some math, within two weeks we have spent around 4,5 hours soaking up the Sun, equally in the morning and before sunset. Also, canned tuna was the only sea catch for this summer season, probably because of all that 'other' romance. 

After we 'grounded' only images have left, except canned tuna and recipe for a perfect spread.

'The pleasures of imagined food are something very different from those of the real thing.’ Therefore this time for the real joy you will have to prepare this spread in order to see it and ‘feel’ it.

CANNED TUNA SPREAD

250g canned tuna

200g mayonnaise

50g grated parmesan

juice of one lemon

half an onion

26 walnut halves

around 10 capers (if they are bigger)  

Mix everything in a blender and after few minutes it's ready to be eaten. You can add a pinch of pepper or even a drop or two of cognac, whatever you feel it's needed in that moment.

Special thanks to nona Vjera (Seka), who unselfishly gave the recipe and a very special thanks to my friend Mira, who kindly shared this recipe with us!

 

kuchen

apple and plum kuchen

This cake just happened to me, one ordinary afternoon. It was not planned it just happened. Plums were yelling from the fridge do something proper with us already, when you're not going to eat us fresh as we are. And apples were laughing from the table. All I knew at that time was the fact that these purple rounds and pinkish balls will soon play together. Then it clicked, the picture from a cookbook. Long ago, I remember saying we will have to try this 'cake' as it looks so simple and seducing. Goldish tanned crust topped with juicy fruits and almond crumbs. 

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/apple-and-blackberry-kuchen-182 

It was almost lunch hours, perfect time to roll up the sleeves and start 'kuchening'.

Step by step, following lines from the book you end up with the edible picture. Very easy, comforting baking with warm spices, cinnamon and irreplaceable vanilla. 

The mood of that day was perfect for this cake. Summer rain and stormy weather in the middle of July and cozy cinnamon-vanilla atmosphere. For us, this was late lunch cake eaten with a cup of camomile tea, but the next day it ended up being delis breakfast for sunny morning. 

Changes to the original recipe:

more flour, almost one more cup

accidentally one tbs of dry east and intentionally one tbs of cinnamon for the dough

milk for cream (for brushing the dough)

plums instead of blackberries, two apples instead of one and two small pears

time for baking lasted approximately 35 minutes (in my case)

Go on now, plum it up!

lives of cherries - part II

popsicles 

when I think popsicle I think… 

frozen summer on a stick

sitting beachside

popsicle my love

temptation

sticky fingers

I don’t know how to surf, but I know how to make popsicles

more popsicles

warm breeze and cold pops

flip flops may cool your feet, but popsicles will cool your head

always popsicles

colors leak

summer screams

obsession

frozen fruit juices

what is your favorite flavor? (this one is hard)

endless fun
what’s summer without popsicles?

I've rather be POPSICLing

I need a popsicle

most adorable 

sour cherries popsicles

350-400g sour cherries (pitted)

1tbsp honey (use more if needed)

5-6 ice cubes

disposable plastic cups (if you don't have molds) 

wooden sticks

Put cherries in a blender and mix for a minute. Strain the mixture and combine it with honey and ice cubes. Blend everything again and pour into your 'popsicle molds'. Place cups in the freezer for an hour and insert sticks in each mold. Freeze completely, until set. To easily get popsicle out of the cup, just simply put the cup under hot water for a second. 

what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think “popsicle”?