Absent Note: Moving

Hey everyone,

Voila, I am back with an absent note. It has been so crazy busy..... First of all by saying bye to everyone and doing those last minute bucket list things. After my last post I went another weekend to the seaside in Liguria with my amazing friends and then started my hell week: MOVING!!!
You have no idea how frustrating it has been.

At this moment I am in Amsterdam, decorating and working on my new house. Hence the lack of cooking and lack of posting because I literally do not have the energy nor time for it!

Have been living on eating out and some cakes and sweets here and there.... Last night was the first meal with kilos of vegetables in a week time. I missed my greens. I miss Italy as well..... :S

Anyways, will be back soon, I promise! At a regular basis. Untill then: keep cooking!!! and don't forget to send them to me including your pictures because remember, we need you!

Buon Appetito 

Chef Steph

Absent Note: Italian Lifestyle....

Oh I have been absent again.... my apologies!
My absent note this time is that besides being super busy with seeing everyone and doing lots of 'last minute' social stuff in Milan last week, I have also been to the sea! Liguria to be precise, a gorgeous region on the upper west coast of the boot of Italy. A region only 3 little hours of driving away from Milan and one that I hadn't visited yet. Good thing I went because it is really breathetaking!
Have a look for yourself....

Obviously, I wasn't going to let you hanging with pics from scenery only!
I wouldn't be me, if I hadn't enjoyed some local yummyness. To start off the dinner, we had an aperitivo with some local cheeses and salumi accompagnied with a good Liguria Vermentino white wine.
Enjoying this looking over the sea with a salty wind in your hair is pure pleasure!
After that I had a spaghetti al vongole and a grilled Orata afterwards. I think my seafood levels are up to date now ;) Although I could have seafood every single day! Yummmmmm!!!

Talking of which... my lunch of today is a tasty tuna salad sandwich! Keep tuned for the recipe... (I do like to keep the tension and expectations high, don't I? ;) )

How was your weekend??? In particular, your culinary weekend??

PS: I might be absent for some more as I will be super duper busy the coming couple of weeks but I will try my best to keep up the recipe posting. If not, please fellow cookingclub mates, help me out here?!

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Fun Facts about Holland & Bosnia

I have an announcement to make: I am moving back to Holland!!! Before you start yelling 'seriously??? you are leaving Italy, THE land of good food, for Holland, the land of cheese??!', I am posting these pics to convince you of the beauty of my country!

Simply Breathtaking...

Furthermore, this morning I had a taste of some Bosniac sweets! My colleague whom you can follow on his blog http://blog.katana.it/:  he posts really cool groundbreaking advertisement, marketing and communication activities from all over the world. If you are a marketing professional I'd suggest you follow his blog regularly as he collects the best ideas out there! Some are absolutely hilarious... check out this MacDonalds one.
Anyways he brought these cavity creating yummyness in the office this morning and around here you have to be fast because otherwise it is gone before you know it, so had a piece of baklava at 11am! MMMMMMMMMMMMMM.....

I am not sure to be getting recipes, because I think Bosniac mamma's don't like to reveal their secretes, like Italian mamma's do, but I will try real hard to get them before leaving end of June!!

Bosniac Sweets

Bon Appetito

Chef Steph

Italian Fish

I am about to reveal something that is going to make a nation jump up and down and yell: TOLD YOU SO! This month's 'La Cucina Italiana'  publishes the announcement that the mediterranean diet/pyramid is the most healthy and most aspired diet everyone should be following. 


The diet became a fact when an English writer and chef Elizabeth David published a book in 1950 about the mediterranean diet explaining the sobriety and simpleness of the food the Italian people were consuming after the war. The sobriety was of course due to the fact that people didn't have the resources to feed themselves like rich men anymore, because let's be honest, I am sure the Giuseppes and Marias at the time were craving some more meat and fish during the week, but they simply couldn't. So they reached out to vegetables and legumes that they could grow in their own backyard, combined with their beloved pasta made out of flour and eggs and some olive oil extracted from the olives of the neighbours. Unnoticed and definitely unintentional, they created the perfectly balanced meals.


This pyramid is no surprise to anyone who is into food, or who watches the fat percentage on their bodies. But the real surprise in my revealing all these little facts to you, is that UNESCO has included the diet in their Humanitary Heritage list. So there, it is a fact: Italian food IS the best in the world!


Hold your horses Italian friends: this doesn't mean that other foods aren't good or just as pleasurable to make or eat! Plus, I am a firm believer of variety.. NAH! :) But on your behalf, here's a good oven baked Orata fish with some healthy salad to go with.


Ingredients: serves 1

• 1 whole sea bream (Orata) - cleaned
• 1 scallion sliced
• 0,5 lemon sliced
• little handful of parsley
• olive oil
• salt
• lettuce
• tomatoes chopped
• snowpeas 
• vinaigrette: olive oil, balsamico vinegar, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon honey

How to make it:

Heat the oven at 180 degrees Celcius. 

Prepare the fish in an oven tray: put a couple of lemon slices, salt and parsley in the belly of the fish. Place it in the tray. Then you pute the scallion on top of the fish and sprinkle the whole with some olive oil. Voila, you're done! You can now put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.

While the fish is cooking, prepare the salad and the vinaigrette in a bowl.

Outcome: easy, fast and super healthy dinner! I usually have this one after a good run because it is the perfect dinner after a good workout session! For your male friends: add some potatoes with the fish or simply have some bread with it.

Italian Fish & Healthy Salad

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Introducing... International Catering Service

A couple of weeks ago my dearest friend Carmelo decided to throw a little rooftop aperitivo! really, the emphasis was on little!  Everyone out at midnight!

Another emphasis was on the invitation; Silvia, Katia and I were kindly invited to help out with the arrangements. Katia being russian, well that doesn't need a lot of maths to figure what she was in charge of ;), Silvia being spanish brought the frittata which was super good, and me being the cooking nerd as I am, was in charge of the buffet!

Seen the fact that I have some secret plans with Chef Kimberley to set up a catering service in Amsterdam, I am not yet revealing my recipes, but I do want to show you how it looked like. You might get inspired to throw your own rooftop party and hire me as your caterer.... have a look:

Salmon Ricotta Rols, Thai Peanut Chicken, Focaccia, Parmiggiano

Mozza-Tomatoes, Gorgonzola&Ricotta with Pears, Tomatonade, Brie&Jam

On top of the good food: it was the BEST night ever! Laughed my balls off.... nothing little  about that night.

So yeah a little message to my dear Carmelo, Andrea, Fabrizio, Luca and Rocco... 

I AM GOING TO MISS YOU!

Come and find me in Amsterdam!!!

Bacione Grande

Chef Steph

Birthday Present: Gizzi's Kitchen Magic

For my 26th Birthday, Chef Kimberley gave me a great present: a cooking book - as if I don't have enough.... but I don't because I didn't have this one yet! Gizzi's Kitchen Magic is THE new book to have. Without it, you are not a true foodie!

Gizzi is the new Jamie Oliver but then with boobies of course. She is a gorgeous and talented cook and knows how to mix talent and style like no other. Her cute and feminine look reminds us of a true housewife back in the fifties but her cooking is definitely not like in the fifties! In the book you can find for example; Keralan Egg Curry, Pavlova with Cream and Rubarb, Stilton Risotto with sausage, spring greens and crispy sage etc.... One by one mouthwatering recipes. But the book does not only contain recipes to cook from, she also describes everything from what a beginner needs to know in and around the kitchen, to little details a foodie like me didn't know yet. Furthermore she writes in a delicate and witty way that keeps you hooked to the book for a while!

In a nutshell: a delicious book! Thank you Chef Kimberley!

Get ready to see some of her recipes soon....

source: http://www.gizzierskine.co.uk/

Absent Note: Partying

See ya soon....

Puzzled Pancakes

What puzzles you in life?


Recently many things in my life have puzzled me. 
Puzzling... euhm what? Ok being puzzled or something is puzzling, means that something is confusing, it doesn't add up, you can't see the whole picture and are therefore not sure of what you have in front of you. Capiche?


Well I thought of it, and basically everything in life can be one big puzzle! Let me elaborate:

Life: from the minute you are born until the day you die (ah one certainty that is NOT puzzling) you have to take one step at a time to make your life complete. Each step is a puzzle piece that is supposed to fit somewhere in the puzzle that will create your life. Sometimes I come across pieces - or steps - which are, in my eyes at that time, simply unplacable! I think to myself 'where the hell does this piece fit and what's the point of it fitting???' What I tend to do with the unlucky puzzle pieces is to put them aside for later. Yep, I'm an ostrick cos I stick my head into the sand! Ciao! Once the head comes popping out luring to see if the coast is clear of course I am bound to find that piece again. Solution to that problem: I start cooking to work through the process of putting the piece somewhere in my life: in the upper right corner seems to be a good spot.... Because in the end, every step and every puzzle piece makes your life yours and is needed to be complete.

Love: Now this is a complicated puzzle because I think men work with round puzzle pieces and women with squared ones or vice versa. How can that ever fit?????????? Hence the invention of the actual puzzle piece that you have in mind when talking of puzzles ...
So I guess to make this puzzle work, and get to a complete and beautiful puzzle, the trick is to communicate and always ask whatever makes you puzzled!
But other than that you need to have pieces that fit into each other. So the question is: does love work when the pieces are rather the same or do opposites work better together? Do accomplished puzzles even exist?

The solution to being puzzled = cooking... even though cooking is also one big puzzle at least it's not made out of carton puzzle pieces but out of ingredients; beautiful diverse raw materials that when put together it turns out a gorgeous and usually well-turned-out puzzle! It's up to you how to make your puzzle according to how you feel that day. And that is the absolute joy of cooking: you can make your own puzzle and actually see the result in a matter of minutes or sometimes hours... and be proud of yourself!

Happy Puzzling!

Protein Pancakes

These puzzling thoughts all came up to me while devouring a pair of proteined pancakes! If you're training, wanting to loose some weight (summer is around the corner you know!) or simply want to eat healthy, but still want some pancakes for breakfast, these babies are the answer to your prayer.
I got them over at The Novice Chef...

Ingredients: 4 pancakes

• 250 gr egg whites
• 150 gr oats
• 250 gr cottage cheese
• 20 gr brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 0.5 teaspoon salt

How to make it:

Mix all the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Heat up a medium sized skillet with a teaspoon of sunflower oil. Add a big spoon of mixture and spread.

Bake until little bubbles come up - then you turn the pancake delicately.

Cook well for 4-5 minutes.

Keep the baked pancakes hot in a slightly heated oven.

Outcome: serve with fresh fruit, yoghurt, peanut butter, maple syrup, jam... whatever piece of puzzle works for you to make this puzzle perfect!

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

I'm Back..... as a Master of Science and full of Food!

Absent Note: Graduating!

Dear all,

I have not been very good this week, posting new recipes, but I have a massive good reason for that! I have been busy working my bottoms off during the Salone del Mobile, which is a huge interior design fair in Milan that goes on in the whole city. And then because at night I have been enjoying it; parties, design, meeting new fun people, eating out, drinking wine in the sun....Life could be tougher!

I won't be posting anything new this weekend either because.... I AM GRADUATING!!!

Yes, after having handed in my thesis a year ago, I am officially getting to throw my little hat in the air. So excited for that as I haven't done it before. European Schools and European Studies bachelors don't tend to do the whole hat thing. Good thing the European School of Economics does... - gosh I did study a lot of European shizzle reading back :)

Anyway I am super excited because I will graduate in Florence at the Palazzo Vecchio with my dear wifey Katia, in the presence of my lovely parents. Of course I will report back to you all, with many many many many good typical fiorentina goodness.

Cheers

Chef Steph

What Type of Wine Are You??

The following information is not a secret at all: AI LAIK MY WINE!!!!
Whether it comes with some food or just simply on it's own, wine is the perfect ending to a perfect day, or to a shitty day for that matter. It gives me the kind of satisfaction and relief that a good session of yoga or pilates can give you. No I am not an alcoholic - cos I still do the yoga and pilates once in a while as a change to the wine - but I am just one of those foodies that loves wine too!
Not healthy? Eh... in moderation everything is healthy.

Good Old Falanghina!

So while having my perfect glass of wine - a good old Falanghina - on a rooftop somewhere in Milan, chillaxing it big time with my dear friend Katia, the conversation came up on whether wine and personality are combined or not. It is commonly known that the ladies out there prefer white for instance; they prefer Rieslings, or Muhler Turgau's that are light and fruity. Men on the other hand tend to prefer bold red wines like the Cabernet Sauvignon.
After that conversation, while checking out Pamela's blog 'My Man's Belly' I came across this funny test where you can actually find out what type of wine you are according to who you are! Talking about coincidence!!!

What is Your “Wine Personality”?

Are you…

• Sweet? – Riesling
• Energetic? – Sauvignon Blanc
• Sporty? – Pinot Grigio
• Sunny and Mellow? – Chardonnay
• A person of high standards? – Pinot Noir
• Earthy? – Merlot
• Adventurous? – Cabernet

Mirassou® Winery unscientific “wine personality” quiz is even more fun: Answer these questions to determine what your “wine personality” is, so you can choose the perfect wine for you and your guests!

1. Are you a real sweetheart or big softy?
2. Do you prefer sweet tastes over salty ones?
3. Do you run circles around your friends because you’re so energetic?
4. Are you constantly “on the go”?
5. Do you spend most of your free time on the golf course?
6. Do you tend to participate in sports rather than watching as a by-stander?
7. Is your disposition a happy one?
8. Do you “go with the flow”? Have you been described by some as being flexible or “mellow”?
9. Are you a perfectionist, never letting go of a project until it’s completely perfect?
10. Are you a “Type A” with extremely high standards for yourself and others?
11. Are you a nature buff, one who’d rather be out hiking or fishing or out enjoying the natural world?
12. Are you concerned for the environment?
13. Are you a powerhouse in the workplace who is ready to meet any challenge and sometimes referred to as “adventurous”?
14. Do you like to take risks, preferring to try things outside your comfort zone?

If you answered yes to questions 1 or 2, you are a Riesling If you answered yes to questions 3 or 4, you are a Sauvignon Blanc If you answered yes to questions 5 or 6, you are a Pinot Grigio If you answered yes to questions 7 or 8, you are a Chardonnay If you answered yes to questions 9 or 10, you are a Pinot Noir If you answered yes to questions 11 or 12, you are a Merlot If you answered yes to questions 13 or 14, you are a Cabernet.

If you answered yes to multiple questions, you like a wide range of varietals!

Outcome: Guess what I was??? Yep.... From Pinot Grigio to Cabernet! Told you I was a wine lover! :) What wine type are you?? Any special wine you would like to share with us that is generally unknown but too good to be unnoticed?? 

Cheers

First Gelato of the Season: Gelato Biscotto

No recipes for you.... but had something so extremely good this afternoon after lunch with my colleagues at Adverteam that it had to be shared!
I live in Milan right.... so what is Italy famous for??? Except for pasta and pizza.... GELATO!!!

Today's flavour: BISCOTTO aka COOKIES!!!
Dana over at My Little Celebration would have enjoyed this one for shizzle!

Gelato Biscotto

Ciao for now

Chef Steph

An Edible Perspective: Almond Butter

Peanut Butter... or any kind of nutty butter is just to go NUTS for! Not only is it good during breakfast, snacks or in some cases for dinner (Eh Tina?), but it's also the BEST fat burner that exists.

Many many many people think: peanut butter = fat = gaining weight!
instead it's: peanut butter = good fats = losing weight. Weird eh? But it's true... thank god!

Living in Italy means not having direct and easy access to this 'superfatburning powerfood', so I have been looking for a way to make it myself. Over at 'The Edible Perspective' Ashley posted how to make an almond/coconut butter that is sure worth a shot!
For ingredients and How to Make It - go over to her blog!

Outcome: dunno yet, but it sure does LOOK good! Will let you know how it turns out! 

Are you just as tempted looking at this beauty like I am??

Ashley's Almond Coconut Butter

We need YOU!!!

It's been a couple of days but I haven't forgotten about our International Cooking Club.
Sometimes however, it happens that you can't blog about lovely dishes because you're traveling or doing other things or you are simply eating out. This has been my case the last three days, hence the need of being numerous to put up our recipes, ideas, tips or comments or cuisine thoughts.... But let's be honest, the other reason is simply cos it might get boring reading about the frantics in the kitchen of one single person, aka ME!

So, the basic idea of this blog = to create a real cooking club that shares recipes and stories from the kitchen right here on this blog. 

This can be done in two ways:
1. send in your recipe with comments and pictures and I will make sure it will get posted in the right way
2. you can post it yourself by asking the needed data to access the blog!

So, first of all, send me your interest in participating to: cookingclub.milano@gmail.com.

In any case you need to provide:
1) Ingredients - for how many servings
2) How to make it
3) Outcome
4) Picture
5) A colour that belongs to your posts (ex: mine is green, and chef robert's is dark blue) --> this way it's easy to spot whose recipe you are reading

Voila... I await your numerous emails!

In the meantime of writing I am having.....my cappuccino! A nice purple Nespresso cup with foamed up fullfat milk! (the low fats don't foam up so much) Yummm....

Chef Steph

Open Your Eyes Too

Does this look normal to you????

Last summer I read a book that literally opened my eyes; Amber Albarda's 'Eet jezelf mooi, slank en gelukkig', in other words 'Eat what makes you beautiful, slim and happy'.

Amber Albarda, a Dutch young and successful business woman got terribly ill during her sabbatical in Argentina. The reasons behind her illness were living for way too long on sugar, stress and eating wrong foods which lead to a chronic lack of energy! Her body got so frail and weak it had to get sick. And it did. A bunch of Argentinian doctors opened Amber's eyes and made her have a completely new look on food, energy and vitality.

After a couple of months, full of energy and even a size smaller, she decided to quit her energy taking job and preach what she had learned to others. Others had to get to know what supermarkets offer to us is actually making us feel sick, weak and basically like s"{@#t.  That bloating feeling you have after each meal, normal? eh NO!!! Others have a right to discover how our bodies work and how we are supposed to fuel them.

I believe that foodies, such as us, who like to cook, already have a huge step ahead of all other people on how to fuel their bodies right. But do you know which products to choose?

And the real imporant question is: do you know how to fuel your body?? Do you understand the consequences of the foods that supermarkets offer us? Do you know what is healthy for you?

If you don't... then have a look at this documentary that I discovered on Teri's blog 'A Foodie Stays Fit' 

You will literally be SHOCKED!!! and you will definitely know what is NOT good for you, and what will NOT do right to whatever it is you are cooking tonight!

A sunday chill results in a COOKING CLUB!

Hey there everyone,

While having my left overs from my romantic dinner with my man (vitello arrosto slow cooked in red wine accompanied by a yummy Barbera d'Asti) with a healthy salad made out of raddicchio (the red lettuce), tomatoes and avocado, I have decided to start an International Cooking Club.

Starting a cooking club was something I wanted for a while now, but being in the age-group 25-30 you can imagine that finding a group of people available x times a month/year, is quite tricky. On top of that, having my dear cooking lovin family and friends all over the globe it also made it hard to find some cooking fanatics in Milan - my current home!

Hence my - if I may say so - briljant idea: the International Cooking Club that is online!! This way anyone slightly in touch with his cooking skills and wanting to share them, can join us online. Whether or not we will do some live sessions somewhere, will show of the success (or not!) of this formula.

The formula I was thinking of is the following: if you want to join this International Cooking Club, just write an email to cookingclub.milano@gmail.com with your motivations etc (don't need to be a 5star chef to join... no worries!) and then you're on! You then too can share your recipes with the rest of us. If you prefer to maintain low profile, just comment or ask any question you have by responding to the recipes the current members post. Hopefully we will be numerous soooon!

Which cuisines? Really none in particular... rather every cuisine imaginable to humankind on the planet. Surprise us with your Maleysian, South American, Eskimonian or simply.. Italian specialties!

Ok... Let's get cooking!!!

Baci from Milan

Chef Steph