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How to throw an elegant Halloween dinner party
Happy Halloween! Isn’t it strange how time flies sometimes? At first, it felt all too early to post anything Halloween-related. And then I blinked, and now Halloween is here. It always makes me a little sad, even though I know it’s somewhat silly. But Halloween isn’t over yet, and I promised to wrap those last few posts up nicely in a final post, didn’t I? In the past weeks, I presented my hand-painted silhouette cupcake toppers, a creepy tentacle cake and a spooky char-BOO-terie board. All of these delicious goodies were part of last year’s Halloween party. We’re always a little late with our parties, but that just means that…
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Happy Easter!
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Char-BOO-terie Board
Firstly, yes, I know: Technically, the term charcuterie refers to fine cured meats in the French cuisine. Technically, the Char-BOO-terie Board I am presenting here would be more of a cheese platter or cheese board than a charcuterie board. Secondly, yes, I also know: The pronunciation of the French word “charcuterie” does not rhyme at all with “char-BOO-terie”. But honestly? Apart from the fact that I am clearly spending too much time in nitpicky, elitist food-subreddits, this is too cute a pun to not use it – and I was so disappointed when I found out that others had the same idea well before me. Anyway. Char-BOO-terie! I do love…
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Tentacle Cake
We’re halfway to Halloween! Can you believe it? Last week I showed you how to make silhouette cupcake toppers and promised that it would be the first of a small series of posts about throwing a “classic horror novels” Halloween party. So naturally, today we’ll move on to the second one! Thinking of classic horror novels, not only Frankenstein and Edgar Allan Poe – which were both featured in last week’s silhouette cupcake toppers – come to mind. We cannot talk about classic horror novels without including H.P. Lovecraft and, more specifically, the almighty Cthulhu. So today, I will give a small instruction on how to create a magnificent, creepy…
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Halloween Silhouette Cupcake Toppers
As I am writing this, autumn has announced itself with brute force. It’s a beautifully gloomy day, with dark rain clouds floating in the sky and a storm so strong that it knocked over some heave planters in our garden. Yes, this is autumn how I love it. Dramatic, wild and beautiful. Inside, glistening fairy lights spread a golden shimmer against the grey beyond the windows. We have started watching horror movies, the Halloween countdown has begun. I am sleepy, but happy. Halloween isn’t huge in Germany, where I live, but I wish it were. It’s still hard to find Halloween-themed candy or food in the stores during October. And…
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Healthy Halloween Breakfast Bowl
Okay, okay, I lied. Sort of. Maybe “healthy” isn’t the proper way to introduce a Halloween breakfast bowl with chocolate granola, which is usually packed with sugar (and yes, honey or maple syrup still count as sugar), but it’s so much better and healthier than a candy bar and other things we tend to consume around this time of the year. So we’ll call this Halloween breakfast bowl semi-healthy, yes? It does feature creamy, rich Greek yoghurt, after all, which is good for your gut. It also contains blueberries and blackberries, which are not only packed full of vitamins, but are said to be beneficial for your heart and brain…
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Halloween Eyeball Pasta
Whenever I looked at the calendar during those past weeks, I was shocked to see that it was already September. It was just too hot, too dry, and it certainly didn’t feel like autumn, at all. While we had a cool and rainy August, September turned out unbearably hot this year. It just didn’t feel right to post anything Halloween related, yet. I missed the feeling of autumn, when the heat of summer comes to an end and it feels like things are slowing down just a bit. Yesterday, that finally happened. There was a chill in the air, the sky grey and overcast, and at night, I snuggled into…
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preview: throwing a “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” party
Ha! I bet you thought I was gone again! While I can’t promise this won’t happen again due to… life, the universe, and everything, I am back with a new post, even if I’m a little late this time. See what I did there? Yes, that was a “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” reference, and yes, that means I totally turned 42 this year and had a belated celebration of said event last week. And for every sci-fi geek like me, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to throw a “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” birthday party. Because, as it is widely known, in Douglas Adams’ cult classic novel, 42 is…
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brie & pear autumn pizza
It’s September. As summer slowly comes to an end and the days get shorter, autumn arrives. I just love those late summer and early autumn days. The light has a different quality to it. It somehow feels like the light gets warmer as the days gradually get colder. We get the first chill nights. A certain melancholy and darkness is creeping into things. To me, it’s like being able to breathe freely again after the summer months. Now, we didn’t have a particularly hot summer this year. It was rainy and cool. But even the hot days we had were exhausting. I tend to suffer a little in the heat…
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homemade braided pesto bread
last minute Easter nest cupcakes
Char-BOO-terie Board
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pasta caprese
Hello there! It’s been a while. The hiatus I took was much longer than intended. In those past years, I have been taking thousands of food pictures, I’ve been editing dozens of recipe videos and dreamt of revamping this blog, dreamt of starting again. Alas, I lacked the courage, the time, the energy and sometimes the skills to get going again. I was unsure of how to approach new posts, kept overthinking just about everything, got frustrated with getting tags and cookie banners to work and – in all the mess that the past years have been for so many of us – ended up giving up. A few months…
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Happy Easter!
Hello everyone! Remember me? No, I’m not dead yet. But I have a confession to make: I am awful – and I mean absolutely, terrifyingly, hopelessly awful – with computers and all kinds of technological devices. And so sometimes, I manage to lock myself out of my accounts. And sometimes, it all seems so, so complicated that I feel too overwhelmed to even try to get back on track. I suck at this, and I know it. So while I have gathered so much new content for this blog, I admit that I lacked the time, the motivation and sometimes simply the knowledge to put it all online. And being…
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How to throw an elegant Halloween dinner party
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layered autumn apple cake
How is it October already? Is it just me or did September simply fly by? I have to admit, it’s been an exhausting month and I didn’t see October coming and that’s something I do regret. October is my favourite month of the year after all, with its beautiful, opulent, warm colours and the first crisp nights. I love the crunching of dry leaves under my feet, the squashes and pumpkins, the gruesome joys of Halloween and those first long nights spent at home with candles and blankets and a hot cup of tea. Yes, you could say I love October quite a bit. Looking outside, there’s no denying it:…
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Authentic German Baumkuchen
What I love about the world today is how small it is. How easy it is to connect with people all over the globe. And despite the hate and separation and extremism we see and experience every day, that part makes me hopeful. It also makes me feel grateful for the friends I found all over the world, too. And every year I send Christmas packages to the US, to a very dear and cherished friend. And sometimes, when there is still enough space in the box, I put a German classic into those packages: authentic German Baumkuchen. However, I can only send the storebought variety. So when this dear…
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Velociraptor Birthday Party Cake
And just like that… over three months have passed since I last posted here. It wasn’t planned. Because life sometimes has other plans. The last quarter has been pretty insane and unpredictable, and for many reasons. A rollercoaster of emotions and hell at work. It was supposed to be a quiet year. And I have noticed that I say this more often than I should. But when times are difficult, it’s all the more important to reflect on the precious things in life. To take the time to appreciate the people who are always there for you and who never fail to make you smile. Your friends and family, whether…
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last minute Easter nest cupcakes
Not even one week left until Easter and I must admit, I haven’t had the chance to decorate yet. But I finally have a few days off. Time to clean up and decorate and to prepare for one of my personal highlights of the year: our annual Easter brunch. It’s something that – although it is so much work – I am looking forward to every year. The preparations usually take about three days minimum and at the end I am awfully tired, my feet hurt and the kitchen is a mess. Sometimes I fall asleep in my armchair after the brunch. But you know what? It’s worth it. Every…
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homemade braided pesto bread
I’ve already mentioned it, but every year we invite our dearest friends – our family – to a decadent, lengthy and delicious Easter brunch. And while there are a few dishes I make every year, there are some things I tend to experiment with. And two years ago, I brought in something new that quickly became one of my favourites: homemade braided pesto bread. For a long time, I’ve been intimidated by the thought of baking with yeast. And sure enough I’ve experienced some epic failures, but over time I’ve grown more confident working with it. And, I won’t deny it, a new oven that could actually hold a certain…
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Healthy Halloween Breakfast Bowl
the perfect puff pastry apple roses
pasta caprese
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5 ways to create Easter decorations on a budget
Last year, we spent the first Easter in our new home. It was such a magical time, everything being so new in our home. And on top of it, it was a year we’d had so much snow ever since February. It’s rather unusual where we live, so I celebrated every flake that fell from the sky. And sure enough, when Easter came in April, we were snowed it. One of our new neighbours even turned on the Christmas lights on his giant fir tree. We even built a snow Easter bunny! But money was tight, and I was challenged to create some Easter decorations on a budget. It’s tradition…
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veggie packed spring bowl with wild garlic dressing
I have admitted it before: I don’t like spring and summer. And many allergics might nod their head now in silent agreement. But there is one thing I am looking forward to whenever the temperatures go up: an abundance of fresh, ripe and delicious vegetables. And this veggie packed spring bowl will definitely bring a delicious garden of healthy greens to your plates. And the best part? All those veggies are topped by crispy halloumi cheese (or tofu for a vegan version), walnuts and a wild-garlic dressing with lemon and ground almonds. If you haven’t heard of wild garlic yet, you are certainly missing out. But fret not, this veggie…
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the perfect puff pastry apple roses
I have a confession to make: I don’t like the spring. The only season I dislike more is summer. I’m a cold weather person. Yes, that kind of thing does exist. But just like this… it’s March again. And spring is just around the corner. Everyone is waiting eagerly for the first warm days, for flowers and sunshine and backyard barbeques. So here is a recipe for you that brings spring to your kitchen and flowers to your plate: Delicious puff pastry apple roses. And the best part? These beautiful pastries are so versatile and easy to make! 6 ingredients and 9 steps are all it takes. You want to…
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London calling 2019 (prologue)
Fernweh. A beautiful word in German that can’t be properly translated into English. One of my favourite words in my mother tongue, and one that describes a yearning I know all too well ever since my teenage years. Many try and use “wanderlust” instead in English, but it doesn’t have the same connotation. Because we do have the word “Wanderlust” in German, as well. It describes an excitement, a passion for travels. The desire to wander off. But “Fernweh” means something entirely different. It’s an ache that’s hard to put into words. It’s a yearning for places far away. Sometimes for distant places you can’t even describe, places you don’t…
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a recipe for cold days: broccoli cheddar soup
Five years ago, pretty much exactly around this time, I visited a friend in the United States. It was the first time for me to leave my continent behind to cross an ocean. And, oh boy, was it an adventure! Me, alone in a different country, in a place where nobody spoke my language, among people I had never met before in person. And although this was five years ago, it feels like it was yesterday. And that first night, after being on my feet for about 20 hours, when I was still terribly insecure and incredibly jetlagged and tired, when everything was new and strange and a little overwhelming,…
