Fondants au Chocolat

these are divine

120g (very!) dark chocolate and 8 squares (5g) to keep on the side
3 eggs
80 g sugar (or brown sugar)
35 g butter
1 table spoon flour
cocoa powder (this is what i added)

melt choc and butter at low heat, stir frequently, don't burn. combine
sugar and eggs, stir well. add cooled down choc mixture, add flour.
place 1/3 of the mixture into bottom of ramequin moulds (almost like
muffin shapes), place one square of dark choc in each, cover with
remainder of mixture. bake for no more than 12 minutes at 210 degrees
celsius, enjoy !!!!

for a mouthwatering picture visit http://www.cacaoweb.net/chocolatefondant.html

Ginger Soy Sauce Salad Dressing

this salad dressing alone is a great motivator for me to actually eat some salad ! i love it.

• 15g ginger root
• 1/4 onion (or more)
• 180ml vegetable oil
• 60ml vineager
• 120ml soy sauce
• 1/8 lemon, juice
• 1 table spoon garlic
• (2tbsp ketchup/tomatoe purree
• 1tbsp mustard
• 2tbsp tahini or sesame seeds)

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

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these are the ingredients:

2/3 cup butter
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 table spoons honey
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup white chocolate chip
1 cup cranberries

i guess you just mix it all together and bake them at maybe 200˚C for probably about 8-10 minutes. this is a great recipe given to me from the greatest canadian bun baker !

Une journée dans les Calanques

Les Calanques is a very stoney and steep area to the west of the pretty little coastal village Cassis in the south of France. the weather was unbelievably good to us with a mild 14˚C and we walked around in t-shirts on January 2^nd !


This was the crew, in addition of elie the photographer and our four-legged hiking star.

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the sea was to the right of the picture, so that was like a little a peninsula stretching out into the blue water.

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we had picknick on that table surface (how else should i call that ?) and it was lovely. time could have stopped at that moment, french cheese, baguette, wine . . . what else do you want. . . . . chocolate of course.

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spot the four organisms !

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hide and seek

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some myesterious island. the view out there was fantastic

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Bonnieux - reprendre des forces

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the beauty for the eye was followed by pleasure for the pallate. we enjoyed a meal in a french little house with scottish (??) salmon that was abolutely delicious.

and the desert was vacherin, not the cheesy variety, but sweet and frozen. this delight connected to the wedding of the person whose genes we all carry.

Bonnieux - La forêt des cèdres

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after 2 h of entertaining car time we got to the car park on top of the Luberon, where we met two more people, anne & seward. we set off towards La forêt des cèdres, . . .

down a valley where the sun had already left, up the other side

. . . to find the sunshine back and have a fantastic view over the valley and the mediterranean in the back. it felt like heaven and had the days been long, we would have stayed up there for long. it reminded me of god's window in southafrica

. . . . and actually there was the window, an arc formed by the stone, can you spot it ?

the proud and great mum & dad

and all of us with our hiking guide on the right.

marc, i loved that one !

these memories will be with us for a long time

http://www.luberon-news.com/foret-des-cedres.htm

aix-en-provence here we come !

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loads of shopping here in aix !

this is an amazing hot spring overgrown with heat-loving moss. at night you could see the steam in the cars' headlights.

staggering from one patisserie to the next is about all we did all day !

and little dog had to prove his patience in front of many shops . . . .

he took advantage of that spare time and tried sitting on cobble floors with various different patterns to match his 'unusual markings' (as the english invariably like to comment on his coat)

Aix-en-Provence: Breakfast @ the Canadian 'Fleur de Lys'

everybody looook !


miaaammyy, what a latte !


wer die wahl hat, hat die qual. what's so funny about that ?


no comment . . . . .


making plans for the day in aix !

cambodian meal in neuchatel

this was 'winter in the (zurich) city' probably on december 25th right for christmas ! we did not really do anything, but prepared for the big trip to aix-en-provence



on the 26th in the evening we were received by carole and many in neuchatel. there are the cooks in the kitchen . . . .


preparing this delicious asian meal, different from anything we have had so far, and home made on top of it ! chapeau au cuisinier !



and early next morning this wonderful view awaited us on top of the fifth storey of carole's house

what else could you do on a brand new bamboo parquet . . .

christmas day

after an eventful and vocal night from the younger generation due to baby belly upset (thank you job !) we enjoyed a quiet morning and i cracked nut with caz. mum and the children had collected them for me in the autumn and they were really really nice. thanx a lot !