Cream of carrot ginger soup

"Soup is just a way of screwing you out of a meal!" -Jay Leno

Cress sprouts

"Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live" 

I don't know where or when it began exactly, when I started feeling what my body wants. I guess it has been a slow unfolding journey for over five or so years now. I hope I am not fooling myself, when I think I know what and why I am feeling. Usually it has something to do with either one of those - eat, sleep, exercise. Of course, there are things beyond, such as stress at work, relationships or something of that kind. In this case I am not touching that matter. Purely factors directly affecting my physical well being here and now. Nowadays I think it's even difficult to define healthy. 

Egg noodles with forest mushrooms and soy

"Fast food is popular because it's convenient, it's cheap, and it tastes good. But the real cost of eating fast food never appears on the menu."

I think a lot of people over complicate things. In many aspects of life - and since food is one of the most important ones - in eating too. Lately mankind succumbs to the influence of fast paced days. Everyone is in a hurry, trying to accomplish too many things simultaneously. And although in the end of the day the result maybe is not what we aimed for, but we sure did feel busy. Rush to work in the morning, early meetings before lunch, a quick bite on the way somewhere paying less attention towards content versus time getting on your plate and down your throat or lunch with someone important when you don't even taste what's on your plate, because the "deal" is more important. The perception is wrong! We need to slow down - allow ourselves to sit, relax and actually enjoy every single bite of what we're eating.

Quail with oven roasted root vegetables

"Vegetarians! Stop eating my food's food!"

Now that coming from my mouth does sound confusing - I am vegetarian. I do love cooking, so that doesn't stop me from preparing meat for others. Although with time certain ethical morals start creeping in, but that would be a whole different story. Food is love, people who eat good food are happy, therefore I like to make people happy. That must be legitimate enough.  Another reason to cook meat - a month or so ago, when I was on vacation, I had a chance to visit one family of farmers who truly love food and home grown produce. They love to experiment, explore, cook and talk about it with such passion! They grow and raise almost everything one may think of on their land - all kinds of vegetables, chicken, quail, geese, turkeys and rabbits. Most probably I still missed something. We brought back home a lot of those absolutely amazing products and there I had quail!

Fish soup over wood burning open fire

Even if you've been fishing for three hours and haven't gotten anything except poison ivy and sunburn, you're still better off than the worm! #FishingStory

One of my top favorite things to do in summer is cooking over open fire on warm nights. There is something so magical about it! Starry nights, nightingales, good company... Had quite a bit of those this year as well. Also finally managed to find a big pot for cooking over open fire. Turned out it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be in the beginning. With many summer nights spent around the fire, the aim to turn it into a more involving social culinary experience proved to be so worth it!
Fish soup - salmon, shrimp and other goodies with all mandatory traditions - a sup of vodka and immersion of roasting charcoal.

Pearl couscous with shrimp, fresh tomatoes and chives

"Couscous - the food so nice they named it twice!"

Today I am celebrating a little birthday! 4 years ago today I wrote my first blogpost. That was for the sake of sharing a recipe with some friends. That's when my little journey began and it got more and more intense along the way. Today I decided to treat myself to a dessert - something bright and colorful on the plate. Usually a birthday would call for a dessert. To me - seafood is the best dessert ever. I could have it for a starter, main course and dessert all at once.

Roasted stuffed peppers

We are all dietetic sinners; only a small percent of what we eat nourishes us; the balance goes to waste and loss of energy. ~William Osler

I cleaned my fridge a few days ago. Decided it is time to use all of the frozen goodies since the new season is fast approaching. Kept up to my promise for 2 days... Stopped by a store to pick up one thing and saw some gorgeous tomatoes and red bell peppers. So... Having a bright yet very light red dinner tonight!

Barley risotto with porcini and fresh thyme

"Falling in love is like eating mushrooms. You never know if it's the real thing until it's too late!"

I'm back on track to empty my fridge! Last year was unbelievably generous with mushrooms. Facebook was loaded with everyone's photos of porcini. Those gorgeous mushrooms where growing even in places where usually you wouldn't find them. At some point it was even beyond a joke. One morning, when I was staying at my parent's cabin, we took dogs out for a walk with my Dad, while enjoying our morning coffee on the go. Found so many porcini on the side of the road, that we had to rush back for a huge basket! Needless to say, whatever we cooked included mushrooms!

Green parsley sauce - for meat, fish, seafood, veggies

"He who eats with most pleasure is he who least requires sauce."

Yes and no! There is a reason why those, who understand food tell their guests when serving a dish - "I do have ketchup if there's anything wrong". But then again - even ketchup may be a wonderful addition, depending on what is on the plate. One thing I will never understand is pasta, pizza or bbq'ued meat with ketchup or even french fries for that matter. 

I guess I could say the same about mayo - only to be used where it actually compliments the flavors of the dish, but to be forbidden or illegal to be used on anything delicate!

The topic on sauces may be quite extensive - there are so many perceptions of what a sauce is! Let's see what wikipedia suggests:

Spinach, kiwi and banana breakfast smoothie with fresh mint

"Don't start a diet that has an expiration date. Focus on a lifestyle that will last forever!"

Good morning, Sunshine! And welcome Sunday! This morning was a long lazy morning before hitting a craftsmen (couldn't think of how else to call it) fair. A first super warm and sunny day of the year! 

No better way to start the morning with a super tasty and healthy smoothie!