Snacks

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….

FRESH HERB PESTO – A PINNERTEST RESULT RECIPE

09/20/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 7 Comments

Oh hello wonderful readers. I’ve missed you. It’s been more than three weeks ago that I last came to this wonderful space to share the recipe for my French breakfast bread as well as some thoughts on the Gotland workshop. I still owe you a blog post about that magical photography retreat. It’s coming, I promise. I owe it to myself too because I forever want to keep that memory and thus it needs to be written down and photos need to be shared. But today, I want to tell you another story. The story of this Vegan Fresh Herb Pesto….

FRENCH BREAKFAST BREAD – NO-KNEAD DUTCH OVEN BREAD

08/28/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 6 Comments

23. August 2017

I’m writing this text from an island in Sweden. It’s early morning, everyone is still asleep. The sun peaks through the trees and warms the kitchen. I’m sitting at a large wooden table, anxious for the day to start. There is no wifi and I don’t get any kind of connection. I usually don’t mind a phone or internet detox but there are some urgent things I need to organize. My boyfriends and I are going on a camping trip to the Faroe Islands and Iceland in a few days. There are still rain jackets that need to be delivered and got lost in the Turkish post system. Same for a microphone that I ordered form my DSLR camera. There is the slightly nerv-racking topic of finalising the care of all three cats, especially since our newest member of the family still has some special needs. Luckily my mum is coming and stays at our place most of the time. That helps a lot to stay calm on our first vacation since we adopted Monkey….

WARM HUMMUS WITH MINCED MUSHROOMS – a fundraising recipe to help Syria

08/15/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 3 Comments

There are blog posts that are closer to my heart than others. This one today is not only a matter close to my heart but to a lot of what my nomadic life, this food blog and my personal values stand for. I’m talking about the art of cooking hummus and even more importantly a fundraising project to help war-torn Syria.

I recently became aware of an initiative organised by the non-profit organisation CanDo. CanDo have just launched a new crowdfunding platform, where 100% of all money raised for health projects in Syria, will go directly to the people who need it most. One of the projects, Ghiras Al Nahda, needs funds to help run mushroom growing workshops in war-torn Syria where many families are suffering from starvation and malnutrition – just £11,500 will support 135 families, and help feed over 800 people. The aim is to create sustainable sources for fresh food in Syria….

CHINESE SCALLION PANCAKES (CONG YOU BING)

08/08/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 7 Comments

I’m writing this in pain. Pain from my wisdom tooth extraction I had end of last week. Pain from the construction work going on in our building because the management is replacing the lift and this somehow only can be done by using an air hammer of some sort for 6 hours straight. As construction work and tooth pain isn’t enough. Our newest addition to the family, the three-legged cat named ‘Monkey’ was recently introduced to the whole flat and our other two cats. Since then he’s been meowing and howling and yowling non stop. I understand he is afraid and scared but yap, my nerves are raw. I can only now imagine what it means to have a baby, though the comparison to tooth pain and construction work is slightly (read very) unfair….

SPANISH PEACH AND TOMATO GAZPACHO (CHILLED SUMMER SOUP)

08/02/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 9 Comments

She’s mad but she’s magic. There is no lie in her fire. – Charles Bukowski

The summer heat is overwhelming. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I welcomed the warmer days with open arms? Just a few weeks later and I already dream of stormy nights and chilly mornings. Though the sunshine feels soothing for the soul. I wouldn’t want to miss out on the extra slice of happiness. Because that’s what brighter days and longer evenings do, right? They conjure a smile on your face. You are more cheerful than on gloomy days. More energised and full of ideas. At least that’s how I feel on most days and then again I have days when I simply want to stay in bed. Because that’s what happens when there are sunny days week after week. You get to a point when all that brightness just doesn’t disperse that gloomy feeling inside you….

SPICED TURKISH COFFEE POPSICLES

07/21/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 10 Comments

I hope you are not totally sick of popsicles yet. This summer they seem to be everywhere and anywhere. I’m still very excited about these frozen treats because it’s actually my first time I made popsicles. I got the molds on my recent trip to Amsterdam and after deliberating for days which flavour I wanted to try out first, I put them back into my cupboard. Does that sometimes happen to you, too? You are overwhelmed with choices and instead of picking one and going ahead, you kind of give up. And end up doing nothing.

Not buying sandals that you desperately need. Not deciding where to have dinner until every restaurant is booked out. Also, not picking a name for your new cat so you keep calling it “cat”. And not making popsicles even though you just bought new popsicle molds. Luckily the summer heat changed my mind. So I made Spiced Turkish Coffee popsicles….

AMERICAN SMASHED ROASTED POTATOES WITH PESTO

06/12/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. Leave a Comment

I just got back from a wonderful weekend spent in England. Without internet, no cell phone and no laptop. Instead we spent lots of time outside, hiked up and down the hilly and absolutely stunning Jurassic Coast, ate Scones and pub food, photographed the wind and were woken by the sound of horses. I had initially planed to work on this recipe for Smashed Roasted Potatoes during our weekend trip but luckily (in hindsight) I forgot my external hard drive with the pictures on it….

ITALIAN CRISPY BLACKBERRY ROSEMARY FOCACCIA

06/07/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. 4 Comments

I already hear you thinking “Kati, the photos are nice but isn’t your blackberry rosemary focaccia a little overbaked (read burnt)?” And I hear you. I like my photos too. But the answer to the second part is “no”. Though when I took the focaccia out of the oven I also thought I went a little too far with my desire to add some crunch to the otherwise more velvety texture of most focaccia breads. And then I panicked for one second and the next I google “Is there such a thing as crispy crunchy focaccia”. Turns out, that’s how the original focaccia is supposed to taste like. Well, almost….

TURKISH LENTIL BALLS MEZZE PLATTER

03/28/2017 by Kati | black.white.vivid. Leave a Comment

Here it is. My first vlog. Have you watched it yet? It’s not a cinematographic masterpiece but it’s a start and that’s what this blog post is about today. But first I would love to hear your thoughts on my first video.

Now that we all know that I have very affectionate cats, where I go shopping on Saturdays and how quick and easy it is to make a Turkish lentil balls mezze platter, we have a common ground to talk about why I spontaneously decided to do a vlog….