After days of rain and cold weather the sun finally showed its face again today, a good omen for the new year I hope. But before I throw myself with all my energy into the new year which is already looking like it will be busy with work and travel, I wanted to take a moment to look back over the last year.
2013 was certainly not an easy year for me and provided plenty of challenges, but it was also a year full of precious time spent with loved ones so I can’t really complain. Alessandro and I spent a week on the slopes in Northern Italy in January with a group of friends – the first time I spent an entire day skiing non-stop, covering ca. 80km in the process and only stopping for food and drink every so often. In June there was a wonderful weekend in Venice with three people incredibly close to my heart, my friends Laura, Millen and Verena from university. In August I left for an exciting trip to Bali, the Gili islands and Singapore with Alessandro and a rather large group of friends. Just in time for truffle season, there was also a rather indulgent trip eating my way around Northern Italy with my friend Michelle and in between there were also various short trips to London, Brussels and home in Germany to catch up with family, friends and colleagues, including a perfect long weekend in London celebrating my sister Helena’s 30th birthday together with my parents.
As for this blog, 2013 was the year I started to really experiment, using a range of different flours and making the most of my spice cabinet as well as exploring a few new techniques and lesser known ingredients. It thus seems fitting that this year’s most popular posts present a healthy mix of ancient grains and/or gluten-free flours, a good dose of indulgence and childhood favourites with a bit of kitchen geekery thrown in for good measure (just how I envision this blog):
Browned Butter Banana Bread with Spelt Flour
Marshmallows – made with flax seed ‘meringue’
Although, if you were to ask me for my favourite posts, I would also include the Garam Masala Couronne, the Oatmeal Cookie Cake, the Saffron-flavoured Apricot, Pistachio and White Chocolate Chip Cookies, the Carrot and Mace Financiers and the Coffee and Toast Dacquoise.
Having made the round of Dusseldorf’s little Tokyo and my parents’ favourite Turkish supermarket at home and stocked up on roasted soybean flour, matcha, mahleb, karob molasses, sumac and isot pepper I cannot wait to get back into my kitchen and start experimenting again and I hope you will continue reading along!
On that note, I wish you all a happy 2014!
REAL SIMPLE FOOD 