glutenfree

Butternut Squash Cakes with Ras El Hanout and Pistachios

When I used to tell people I lived in London (and then in Rome), people would tend to squeal in excitement and tell me how lucky I was. Now that I live in Brussels, I don’t get quite the same reaction when I tell others where I live. Brussels is a good place to live, but it is certainly not the most exciting capital city Europe has to offer (heck it isn’t even the most exciting city Belgium as a country has to offer). Yet after growing up in Germany and having lived in a tiny village in Austria, London and Rome, there are plenty of things I really appreciate about Brussels. Rents are low, the city is very walkable, there are plenty of green spaces and the airport is within easy reach from the city centre. But you know the best part about living in Brussels? The markets. Sure, I used to go to the farmer’s market in London

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Chickpea Flour Gingersnap Cookies

I started back at work this week and as things have been quieter than expected these past few days, I have had some time to think about the year ahead. While I used to be a firm believer that New Year’s resolutions were a waste of time (and, in the case of gym memberships signed up for on 1 January, likely a waste of money too), the older I get, the more benefit I see in them. I am all in favour of exercising regularly, feeding yourself nourishing food with the odd feast thrown in for special occasions and generally being kind to ourselves and others, but I also know that life has a habit of making all these good habits rather difficult to keep at times (whether through stress in the workspace or at home). These days, I embrace the New Year as an opportunity to take stock of where I am in my life and where I want to be

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Chocolate Garam Masala Snickerdoodles – Goes Well With Coffee – 3rd Edition

This weekend is the first weekend I am spending in Brussels since the beginning of November. While the weather is no different from what it was four weeks ago (Brussels has a tendency to be equally grey and rainy all throughout November to March), there is no denying that Christmas is close – the strings of lights that now connect the buildings on my side of the street with those across the street were the first telltale sign when I came back from my trip to New York over Thanksgiving. The trip itself was everything I could have asked for and more. I slept more than I had in weeks, I tried out some new exercise classes (it turns out I don’t actually hate spinning and Pure Barre is as hard as everyone says it is) and even found a new pair of glasses. But most importantly, I got to hang with my good friend Michelle who didn’t say anything when I

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Black Sesame Loaf with a Kinako Glaze

 Alessandro and I came back from our trip to Laos and Thailand a few days ago.  We have been back in Rome just long enough to take care of mountains of laundry but are still fighting our jet lag on a daily basis.  The day after we arrived the packing materials for my move to Brussels arrived and thanks to surprisingly decent day-time TV (House MD, Gilmore Girls, Friends re-runs) one of the walls of our living room is now made up of stacks of boxes, some taped shut already, others waiting to be filled. I have moved a lot in the last few years and far too many of those moves have been of the international kind.  I love having had the opportunity to live in so many different places and countries but let’s just say that international moves are even more fun (read: stressful) than moving already is.  It inevitably starts with flathunting in a different country and

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