weekend of cooking

There is a really beautiful and inspirational website called Tastespotting that has images of food and recipes linked from various blogs and websites. The food always makes me want to cook so that's just what I did this weekend.

First, to curb hunger pangs, we enjoyed a simple tomato and mozzarella salad with creamy balsamico. When I used to visit Stefan I ate this with ciabatta bread every single day. I still have not grown tired of it. Fresh mozzarella is a wonderful thing. As a funny side note, when Stefan was in the US he really liked mozzarella 'string cheese' that kids grow up having in their lunch boxes. We had to show him the way the kids eat it. I really love how excited he gets about the small things he never experienced as a child. You can imagine how exciting Halloween was for him.

The next course of the day was coconut baked shrimp with a curry dipping sauce and watermelon. I love all things curry and there is a delicious 'Hochzeit' (wedding) curry that I have found here in Munich. It is made by Alfons Schuhbeck, the famed German chef who also has several ice cream shops that I frequent. When in doubt his shops have tons of flavor varieties. Carrying through with the curry theme we also had a curry for dinner.

I made a tikka masala that we always enjoy. I love Indian food so much that I had to learn to make it, or else the workers at Ganesha would wonder why I came so often. I've yet to master making paneer, which is Indian cheese, but that may be an upcoming project. Thankfully the Indian grocery has a lot of interesting things and I am always able to find something new to try.

I really should learn how to cook more Bavarian types of food, however I'm just not a wurst eater. It's also difficult to make pretzels when delicious ones are so easily accessible here. I'll have to set aside a coming weekend to make Obatzda, a Bavarian delicacy made with cheese, and make a special German meal to take to the biergarten. If biergartens weren't great on their own, patrons can also bring their own food according to the Bayerische Biergartenverordnung (Bavarian beer garden decree). I also love that many people bring their own table cloths.

It's just about time for us to open our balcony biergarten for the season!