Look at these pretty ladies!

Such a simple recipe, but so good! Best thing? You only need 3 ingredients and no skills.

Christmas morning loving

pretty views during my Christmas morning run

Hi guys,

It's all about the balance! Before a great Christmas lunch with family yesterday I went for a short but rather spicy run. I was at my parents' house and thought it would be a great idea to go for a run I often did when I was still living back home. However, like I said: it was TOUGH!

Merry Christmas!

picture I took during my last morning run - pretty pretty Antwerp!

Hey guys,

How are you? Long time no talk! A shitload of things have happened between now and the last time we talked. It’s been a wild ride, but now it’s time to look at what’s next.

No great plans for 2017 as of today. The only thing I know is that I want to continue with this health flow I’ve been in for the last couple of weeks. Meaning: healthy food and waking up early to go running. In the evening I can’t really be bothered about being active anymore. So I go running straight out of bed since that’s the only way to keep me from putting it off. I set some goals which really seem to be great motivation so far: a half marathon in Spring and hopefully a full one in Fall. Wish me luck!

What else?  Family & friends of course – never to be underestimated, always to be taken care of.

What are you up to next year? And for some more important: what are you doing on NYE?

Love,

Julie

Yay summer was here

how pretty are these sunflowers???

And it already passed by. HOWEVER in a desperate attempt to keep the summer vibes alive, today we're going to talk about iced tea. Homemade iced tea that is. I love everything homemade. Even if an attempt to make something homemade tasted like crap, I would still pretend it tasted great (only to the boyfriend, never on the blog - don't want to make you gag).

This iced tea thing. It hasn't got anything to do with Lipton ice tea. Or Nestea. No it's not sugar-y, it's not sparkling (Is iced tea ever sparkling? I'm in doubt.) But it's probably the most refreshing thing in the world. Or in my world at least. And it looks good too. So if you're planning on an Instagram worthy barbecue (in case the weather ever gets better), this is the way to go.

Always up for a challenge pt. 1

My friend Kimberly (or Berly as we like to call her) had a challenge for me. Short introduction first. Kimberly likes pasta. And a lot of it. Which means she is exactly my kinda girl. So when she asked me to come up with an oven dish for butterfly pasta (known as farfalle by everyone else) I was of course totally up for the challenge.

#noinspo: team triple dips

Today is all about the non-blurred little fella in the picture.

Yay I really love dips. Give me some dip sauce, some naan or pita bread (or tortilla chips du-uh) and you got yourself a happy camper. I love dips so much I can't even describe - honestly. So I got some dirty little secret: I mostly make the same three dips for every dinner party. Guacamole, hummus and baba ganoush. Really easy but really yummy. And a bit #noinspiration.

DIPSDIPSDIPSDIPSDIPSDIPS (click). All you could ever ask for.

Nothing wrong with a classic

OK OK the picture isn't the best but that doesn't say anything about the taste - OK?

Fashion fades, style remains the same. Not that at this moment I give one flying c*** about what my clothes look like (I am wearing a dress that I ripped last year when falling off my bike in Copenhagen. And it's also missing two buttons). But what I am talking about is salad. And not just any salad: a salad with a capital a S. A Caesar Salad. Yes.

And we're back from...

FRANCE! Had a wedding there on Friday, so we squeezed in some days before - holidays yay! Of course I was already looking forward to some time off for ages. Mental prep is half of the joy.

Just sprinkle shit

Over the last couple of years I always used to have breakfast with something I like to call “apple pie oatmeal”. It’s basically the combination of rolled oats, diced apple, raisins and cinnamon. Now the thing with this apple pie oatmeal – just like with real apple pie – is that there’s no such thing as “enough”. Lazy cook as I am, I don’t want to use scales or whatever in the morning. So I just poured some oatmeal in my pan, some days double the amount of the previous.  And of course I ate it all. Not that I have a problem with too much food because there’s simply no such thing as “too much food”. 

You can't buy happiness

but you can buy pizza, which is kind of the same thing. Or even better: make it yourself. And when you don't feel like making it, just pimping a deep frozen pizza can give you the same gratification. Add some arugula on top, off you go!

Just a silly, simple salad

HEJ KIDS! Like I said in my last post (click): it's all about the fishfishfishfishfishfish and the summer induced cravings for fresh and pure food with a good zing. And here's a confession... I don't know why, but whenever I'm in this state of mind, I like to think that the food I'm dishing up is Scandinavian in some kinda way. Those that know me, know I'm a sucker for everything Scandinavian. So when we went to Denmark and Norway last summer on a camping trip I was in heaven.

I don't know what it is, but I feel as if those Scandinavians really know how to bring food back to its essence. Great example here is Mikkel Karstad. Please go visit his site (click); it's full of tasty, simple dishes with a minimum of ingredients. I'm so jealous of that guy - but also kinda thankful: he is such an inspiration. 

Now back to today's dish. I was in the kitchen, dancing away to the tones of Rhye, when I thought of this silly, simple salad. Which of course felt Scandinavian inspired to me in an instant.

Brace yourselves, here we go with one of the most simple dishes you'll probably ever make. Quick warning: it requires a tad more work than chopping some tomatoes and a cucumber.

What you need (gigantic portions for 2 regular people)

• A bulb of fennel
• 2 beetroots. I used the pre-cooked ones from the supermarket because A. they didn't have any non-cooked and B. ain't nothing wrong with pre-cooked beets
• A green apple, Granny Smith preferably
• 2 smoked mackerel fillets
• 2 hands of rocket salad
• 2 tbs Greek yogurt
• 1 tbs grainy mustard (a recipe for that coming soon!)
• Olive oil
• Pepper
• Salt
• Lemon
• A bunch of dill

What you do

• Cut off parts of the fennel that stick out at the top (if you know what I mean). Don't  throw them.
• Slice the fennel in fine... slices?
• Do the same thing with the apple and the beetroots
• Put the beetroot in a bowl, put the fennel and the apple on top
• "Crumble" the mackerel fillets on top, i.e. tear them apart
• Top of with the rocket salad, some dill and the discarded parts of the fennel
• Mix the remaining ingredients to taste for the dressing
• Drizzle the dressing on top once the salad has been plated. 
• Bon'ap!

Promise me you'll try this, use this as a soundtrack (click) and enjoy!

What else could I put in this salad, any suggestions?

Love,

Julie

I smell something fishy

Summer vibes make me crave fresh and healthy - but still very yummy - food. So that's why I'm all into fish at the moment: Thai mussels, oven baked fish filled with herbs or... this (improvised) apéro plate! We've been hosting our fair share of dinner parties lately, which is the perfect occasion to try something fishy. I really prefer serving some fishy friends over meat, since they don't lie that heavy on the stomach (at least if you don't drench your dish in creamy sauces and serve it with fries). I also feel as if fish lends itself better to serving Asian inspired dishes, which are favorite at the moment.

Summer lovin' happens so fast

HEJ KIDS! On this page I'd like to share my love for food. Pure ingredients, home cooking... sharing love by sharing food. I might not have great technical skills or the best pallette. But like I said: I have a love for food. I love the pure elements you find in Scandinavian cooking, the love and passion in Italian food, the audacity of Asian cuisine... the  everything everything everything that has to do with it.

I won't say I haven't tried this writing about food before. But maybe adding my name to the blog makes it feel more personal. Also the fact that I had some rosé earlier this afternoon (if you're ever in Antwerp, go to Café Kamiel and try their bio grapefruit - rosé) might have something to do with it. Add to that the fact that I just had a lovely, summer Sunday afternoon: talks with my love about the things in life that matter most, long strolls through the city and thinking about the fact that you only live once (yes I did just use YOLO in my first blog post - decide now whether you want to read on or not).

Whether any of the above made any sense to you or not: this is the page where I want to write about what food means to me. Because it's life and it's love - it's what it's all about. To me at least.

Love,
Julie