FOOD

VEGAN BLUEBERRY TART INSPIRED BY MY SUMMER IN EUROPE

08/16/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 4 Comments

Slowly but surely, she can see things change, like inside of a kaleidoscope, she is now amazed at the explosion of color her eyes can now see: A new look at life is now more than a dream. – Morgan Harper Nichols

The last time I said hello on this blog feels like an eternity ago. It was the beginning of May. I had just returned from a vacation in Mauritius and La Reunion and was preparing my thoughts and things for a monthlong summer trip to Europe. Just days before my dad had called to tell me that my grandpa had passed away. I felt lonely, sad and aimless. The funeral was heart-breaking and my mind started to wander and wonder. It’s always those devastating moments in life that one realizes that our time is limited, it’s precious and it’s too short to waste….

EMIRATI SWEET DUMPLINGS WITH COFFEE SYRUP (Luqaimat)

04/20/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 14 Comments

You spread out beneath my eyes,
A land of dunes ━ ocher, bright.
The wind in search of water stopped,
A land of heartbeats and fountains.
Vast as the night you fit
In the hollow of my hand. – Octavio Paz

When this post goes live I’ll be sitting on the beach under palm trees and drinking fresh coconut water. It’s only T-11 hrs before our plane takes off to Mauritius. I only booked our hotel yesterday, I still haven’t started packing and I don’t know anything about this beautiful island. Long story short, I’m not the best when it comes to early planning. It’s not that I’m bad at it, I just don’t care enough. I still have 6 hours on the flight to go through our travel guide to pick some highlights. I also prefer to ask local people what they recommend once I arrive. Sometimes I do make a list on my Google Maps app with places to eat….

FRENCH PEAR & APPLE GALETTE WITH ROSEMARY SYRUP

04/15/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. Leave a Comment

Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that.
You forget some things, dont you?
Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget. – Cormac McCarthy

I’ve never been much of a dreamer. I was raised to be a do-er. In the past, I’ve terribly failed at finishing to-do lists, at setting goals, at achieving milestones, at dreaming big. I got things done. Without a plan, without a to-do list, without a strategy. In my late teens and throughout my 20s I was determined. To simply move forward. I never took a break, I never stopped, I never paused and thought about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. It still feels like it was yesterday, having that crystal clear vision of your life, of how it’s supposed to look and feel like. Back then I didn’t know I was lost. I didn’t know that life wasn’t about moving forward as fast as you can. But that it was about taking detours, even moving backward and then again deciding to take a new direction.
…

LEBANESE ZA’ATAR MAN’OUSHE BUNS

04/04/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. Leave a Comment

“But then Oma tells me of bread, of the six hundred kinds made throughout her homeland, white and gray and black in color. Loaves heavy with pumpkin seeds. Pumpernickel. Rye. All with long, dense names like ‘Sonnenblumenkernbrot’ and ‘Roggenmischbrot’. Each word is music to her. She has never eaten a tinned bread bagged in plastic with a little twist tie, a pride she wears all over. ‘It matters,’ she tells me. ‘Wes Brot ich ess, des Lied ich sing.’
Whose bread I eat, his song I sing.” – Christa Parrish, Stones of Bread

Blame it on my German heritage but I love bread rolls. And bread in general. I grew up eating bread for breakfast, dinner and sometimes lunch. In the morning I would go to our neighbourhood bakery and pick up a bag of freshly baked rolls. At home, my mum would slice each roll in two half and I would start eating the soft middle part first before spreading butter and plum jam on it. In the evening we would eat sliced sourdough bread or leftover rolls from the morning topped with cold cuts and cheeses. I don’t remember that we had much else for breakfast and dinner. No salads, no warm meal (because these were reserved for lunch), no Mexican or Indian or Thai or Italian food. Just good old German bread and rolls….

FILO GALETTE WITH TRUFFLE CASHEW CREAM AND CHEEZY KALE CHIPS

03/27/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 6 Comments

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. We had our pea-coats with us, and I took a bag. Of all my worldly possessions I took no more than the few necessaries that filled the bag. Where I might go, what I might do, or when I might return, were questions utterly unknown to me; nor did I vex my mind with them, for it was wholly set on Provis’s safety. I only wondered for the passing moment, as I stopped at the door and looked back, under what altered circumstances I should next see those rooms, if ever. – Charles Dickens

Just the other day someone was mentioning that it was time to set some goals for the second quarter of the year. And even though I wish I was that organised, what confused me the most was not the fact that some people are much better at structuring their days but that it was already the end of March. A month I never really liked. Neither it’s name nor it’s season. Though I have to say, I finally feel like I’m on track again with my life and projects. January basically went by in a day and there wasn’t enough time in February to catch up. March on the other side gave me time to breathe and get some work done. I have updated my Lightroom Preset Shop and added some new products. I set up a mailing list for anyone interested in purchasing Food Photography and Styling Shops. And I intensely started working on a secret project which I hope to share very soon….

EMIRATI SAFFRON CARDAMOM PANCAKES (Chebab)

03/13/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 9 Comments

Deepest of all in her personality was the golden radiance that she diffused around her. As an open fire in a dark room throws romance and pathos into the quiet faces at its edge, so she cast her lights and shadows around the rooms that held her.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

It’s been weeks, maybe even months by now. The beginning of this year seems like it happened yesterday and yet it’s already March. My latest post about a trip to wintery Melgaarden seems like a lifetime ago. Between now and then, there are just three months but the glaring desert sun. My life has changed. We moved to Dubai. Away from the European winter and right into the Emirati spring. The weather is perfect. It reminds me of Italian summers. Dry air, a warm wind and sunshine all day long. I’ve been warned to enjoy this time of the year because the heat and with it the humidity is coming sooner than later. I don’t like to think about it much, I just like to explore a city that seems to be misunderstood and misrepresented….

TURKISH POACHED QUINCE WITH CLOVE SYRUP & A SNOWY STAY AT MELGARDEN

01/04/2018 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 3 Comments

Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness. – Mary Oliver

There are times in life when you feel like everything goes wrong. When you think that everybody is against you and your dreams. And then again, there are times when you have to pinch yourself to realize that you are not in a dream. When you can’t believe how fortunate you are because so many good things are happening to you….

VEGAN SAVORY BABKA WITH CORIANDER, BASIL AND SOUR CASHEW CREAM

11/22/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 14 Comments

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.

I’ve meant to write this post a long time ago. By that I don’t specifically refer to the babka recipe that’s waiting for you at the end of this post. Though baking and cutting the first slice of it has been one of my greatest kitchen achievements. And I’m truly excited to share more about the process later. Right now, I’d like to talk about a subject I get a lot of questions about. Why do I move so much? Is there a reason I travel as much as I do? And is it hard to change locations, adjust yourself and find new friends over and over again? Some people are fascinated by this lifestyle and wish they could see as much of the world, too. Others think it’s too unstable and exhausting. Honestly, I’d belong to the second group of people when looking at it from the outside. And that’s probably because they are right….

SPAETZLE WITH LEEK AND PEAS – A SWISS RECIPE BY FANNY THE FOODIE

11/10/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 12 Comments

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

I know, I know. I hear you. It’s not my favorite phrase either. It lost its momentum, it lost its spark because it’s simply overused. But that doesn’t mean it also lost its raison d’être. In the end, I do believe that we should never stop learning, never stop trying new things and never stop changing our opinions and taste. I’m not asking you to hop on the next plane and go somewhere exotic because you’ve never been or do skydiving because you have never done that either. I’m talking about the little things. Go to a photography exhibition because you’ve only been to traditional art museums. Visit a coffee shop at the other end of town because you usually hang out in your neighborhood. Or make your own spatzle because you never thought it was that easy….

WHOLE ROASTED CAULIFLOWER – A RECIPE INSPIRED BY MY TRAVELS TO ISRAEL

10/30/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 6 Comments

For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.

Life is funny sometimes. It certainly takes unexpected turns. Once you finally feel comfortable in your own skin and have things figured out, it turns your little comfortable world upside down. And when that happens it’s totally up to you what to make of it. Do you despair and bury your head in the sand or do you shift your mindset and try to make the best out of it. Maybe even find genuine joy with your new life situation. At least, that’s always been my ultimate goal. No matter what life threw at me, I wasn’t offended but I took it as a challenge. The challenge to see the good in everything and come up with a solution that works for me. To literally see it as an opportunity. And more than that. An opportunity that significantly improved my little comfortable world….