Malta medicinal

Hi, Y'all!

May came and went and was very busy. I may (pun intended) make a separate post about it, but that busyness was the reason for this blog being very quiet last month. 

Being busy reminds me of the following: I am officially allowed to call the hubs "Oh captain, my captain"! Don't worry, he is not a dead poet, but he trained knots, signals and nautical law, passed his exams with Transport Malta and has officially obtained his nautical license! Which means he is allowed to cruise in the 12 mile zone around Malta, Gozo and Camino. After a year of practice he can apply for the next license where he is allowed to go further and can drive larger vessels. But that only on a side note.  

If you ask around, what works well in Germany, very often you receive the answer "health care system". Although I have to admit, there are mixed opinions about it. I assume, people waiting weeks or months for a specialist's appointment or people suffering from lipedema who have to endure lifelong lymph drainage treatments and compression stockings instead of one operation, might think otherwise... My personal experiences with doctors and health insurance were always good. However, my German health insurance is still nagging me to send them a plane ticket as confirmation that I really left Germany. I already sent them my deregistration certificate of the German Registration Authorities - that should be proof enough, right? I mean, my new address is none of their business. They do not provide any services and I do not pay them any fees - and that since seven months now. But I don't want to get upset, that's not good for my health...

And how is health care in Malta? Thinking of first aid services like Knights of St. John, Knights Hospitaller, Knights of Malta, it should be heaven on earth, health care wise, right? And what shall I say? You maybe right! At least as far as I'm concerned. Two hospitals come into my mind spontaneously, one in Gozo and one here in Malta, the "Mater Dei". These are not the only ones, but that is not the baddest number in relation to a population of 500.000 inhabitants. And both have a very good reputation, like the Maltese health care system in general. Of course, there may be a waiting list, if it is a predictable/scheduled operation. If something is life threatening, it will be done immediately, for sure. And besides, you always can ask the hospital in Gozo about their waiting list, maybe it's shorter.  

As far as I know, there is no mandatory health insurance. Either your employer offers to pay for health insurance, or you pay a private one. We did the latter when we relocated last year, and the most expensive tariff is still a fraction of what Alex had to pay in Germany for private health insurance. Moreover, there are no financial hurdles to be eligible. In Germany you have to earn more than a specific amount for a certain period of time, before you are allowed to be privately insured. Malta has a rather pragmatic approach: If you can and want afford private health insurance, you can do so. It's as simple as that. 

Dental procedures are always paid privately, there is no dental insurance, not even privately. I have no clue the price of a crown or something similar, therefore I won't judge anything. But I do not remember Maltese people having lots of crooked or otherwise bad teeth (like I've seen in the UK years ago), thus I assume, these procedures seem to be affordable. 

Nevertheless we already had contact to a doctor. These general practitioners - unlike in Germany - do not always have their own office, but they treat their patients in a designated room in the local pharmacy. For instance, every Monday, the pharmacy hosts Dr. X and every Tuesday Dr. Y. There you are treated "first come, first serve" which means, during flu season, you might have to queue at 8 am and have to go home untreated because the doctor cannot take any more patients.  

But here is the big HOWEVER: In Malta you have a lot of general practitioners who actually come to your home. And that without any hassle - you just send them a message via WhatsApp or Facebook messenger and the doctor will let you know when he can come to you. We did that in winter, when hubs needed a check up for his nautical license. We weren't in a hurry, and one evening, Dr. Vassallo came by for a cup of tea, the check up and a prescription for me. He took his time, was very thorough, and that experience could not have been further from German packed waiting areas and a doctor, who doesn't listen, because so many patients, so little time. Dr. Vassallo even explained in detail, which herbs and spices can support a healthy lifestyle. This combination of medicinal science, naturopathy and a doctor who really wants to help his patients we deeply appreciated and liked very, very much. 

Maybe you know that I have a massive hypothyroidism (also know as Hashimoto) and do constantly need hormones, because my thyroid does not produce them anymore. Therefore I showed the doctor my meds I usually take, and on a note pad he scribbled the medical agent (the exact medication you can't get here in Malta) and that I need these meds daily and indefinitely. Stamp and signature, and the prescription was done. So on Tuesday I took that to our local pharmacy and was handed my meds. The prescription I got back and I assume I can re-use it next time. Btw nobody asked for my health insurance and we do not have a chip card issued by the insurance company. Everything low key and uncomplicated - I like. 

In comparison: In Germany I had to visit the doctor every three months to get a new prescription. With that I went to the pharmacy, got a pack of 100 tablets and had to pay shortly over 10 EUR, which was the fee for the prescription plus some compensation as my meds were more expensive than the medication my health insurer agreed to pay for thyroid hormones. And of course, you could not get more than 100 tablets with one prescription, and the reason they stated was that my condition might change on short notice, and then they could adapt the medication accordingly. Fun fact: My bloodwork and/or ultrasound to check my thyroid status was done every two years. Shouldn't it be done every three months, too, I am wondering? In the end, it's all about money, I guess...

Here in Malta, however, they informed me, that although my condition is permanent, the medical agent I need does not belong to the meds they give away for free, even if it's chronical. Therefore, unfortunately, I had to pay for my meds. I got two packs of pills (the dosage I need they don't have in one tablet) and each pack contained 28 pills and I braced myself. What would I have to pay now? Well, 2.48 EUR for one pack and 2.58 EUR for the other! That was a pleasant surprise, I can tell you! 

With that said: Please do not worry about my health care here in Malta :-) And in order to avoid leaving this post pictureless, please find this: 

It is common knowledge that you should have great variation in your diet (locally, seasonally) and if possible avoid highly processed food. Dr. Vassallo said the same, by the way. Therefore please find in that picture above figs fresh from your neighbour's garden (more local is impossible), baked with goat cheese, caramel syrup and hazelnuts, rosemary cracker with sea salt and sourdough bread with vegan feta and vegan butter with chives and lemon. The goat cheese, the grapes and the nuts were store bought, but the spreads, the bread, syrup and cracker were homemade by me.  

On that note: Have a beautiful weekend and stay healthy!

Il-Lingwa Maltija

Hi Y'all,

if you think that's Greek to you, you're wrong! It means Maltesian language in Maltesian language, and I thought I could talk a bit about it. Not that I am an expert by any means, but a few fun facts I surely can add into the mix. Might be a bit on the theoretical side, but someone's gotta do it! 

He takes treats presented in any language!

It all started when Facebook showed me an ad by Community College Winnenden offering an online course in Maltese for Germans live from Malta directly (no time lag). I always have liked community college language trainings, and so I enrolled and was very happy that it actually was happening (sometimes when there are not enough participants, they cancel courses). And now, every Monday evening, I sit in front of my computer while the Maltese language teacher gives us a basic understanding of speaking Maltese (in English, of course 😅). Distance between him and me is a few Kilometers, only - he is located in Gozo while I am in Mellieħa, and everything is organized via Germany, where the rest of the participants are based. So that's finally one good thing about COVID, I guess... Of course, it isn't the goal to have deep discussions about philosophy, quantum physics or things like that, but out of respect for country and inhabitants I wanted to have some basic knowledge of one of the official languages.  

I already explained a bit of the background but for completeness reasons here a few more facts: Maltese is the only semitic language which is written in Roman and moreover it is the only semitic language which is an official language in the EU. Due to its history and geological position Maltese is influenced by several languages, mostly Italian, Arabic and English. 

Unlike the English alfabet, "L'Alfabett Malti" doesn't consist of 26 letters, but of 30 letters in total - 6 vowels and 24 consonants. 

Regarding the vowels, there is an additional ie (two letters, but counts as one vowel) - thus we have

a, e, i, ie, o and u

And these are the consonants:

b, ċ, d, f, ġ, g, għ, h, ħ, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, ż, z

Here, too, the għ counts as one consonant, although it consists of two letters. It's a bit tricky, because you don't pronounce it directly, but it prolongs the vowel which follows after. 

And how do you pronounce that in general?

a is pronunced as in (people) are (people)

b is pronounced as in blasphemous (rumours)

ċ is pronounced as in Fletch

d is pronounced as in Depeche Mode

e is pronounced as in everything (counts) 

f is pronounced as in (songs of) faith (and devotion)  

ġ is pronounced as in just (can't get enough)

g is pronounced as in get (the balance right)

għ is silent (it prolongs the vowel)

h is silent as in heir (sorry, I found nothing fitting)

ħ is pronounced as in halo

i is pronounced as the y in policy (of truth) or the e in (personal) Jesus

ie is pronounced as in (nothing to) fear 

j has the consonantal value of the English y in (I feel) you

k is pronounced like in construction (time again)

l is pronounced like in lilian

m is pronounced like in master (and servant)

n is pronounced like in never (let me down again) 

o is pronounced like in condemnation

p is pronounced like in parsley

s is pronounced like in sage

r is pronounced like in rosemary 

t is pronounced like in time (thyme won't work here, sorry)

q i has no corresponding guttural sound in English; it indicates a glottal stop - like when you say "I ate"; the glottal stop happens between "I" and "ate

u is pronounced as in (it's no) good

w is pronounced like in words (are)

v is pronounced like in very (unnecessary)

x is pronounced as sh like in (walking in my) shoes or in shake (the disease)

z is pronounced as ds or ts like in (love in) itself

ż is pronounced as the z in jezebel

If you paid attention you might have noticed that I like Depeche Mode and that there is no y in Maltese (and nobody is missing it, to be honest). And something else you won't find: The combination of two vowels following each other (except with "ie", but as mentioned before, that counts as one). Sometimes you pronounce them, but you don't write them down. An example: "Il-lejla t-tajba" - which means "Good evening" and when spoken, it sounds  il-lejla it-tajba. Because the evening (Leila) is feminine in Maltese, it ends on "a", you have to omit the "i" in "it", as there are no two vowels allowed one after another. Sounds funny, but we have to accept this, I suppose. 

By the way, I found a Spanish word which made its way into Maltese: "pero" which means "but". As one or the other pirate once visited Malta, such things may happen... Oh, and when counting I detected a similarity with German, because in double digits Germans tend to mention the singles before the tens, for example "zweiundfünfzig" instead of "fifty-two". Maltese count similar, as fifty-two is "tnejn u hamsin", where "tnejn" means "two" and "hamsin" is "fifty". We did not yet talk about three digit numbers, though 😆. 

You might have guessed that "u" means "and". We know that from Italian, where you only need one vowel for "and", and that is "e", and in Spanish "and" means just "y". U c,  the "u" is in good European company. 

A Maltese friend told me lately that their language adopted a lot of words from other languages, but they made it Maltese by using their Maltese way of writing it. Here are a few examples:  

"Bonġu" and "bonswa" - You might sense, that this is about saying "good morning" and "good evening" and that they clearly have French roots. Rather informal and independent from the time of day you can always say "ħelow" - exactly,its' origin is the English "hello". And if you want to part and leave, the most simple thing you could use is "ċaw". What could that be? Sure the Italian  "ciao"! "Grazzi" means "thank you" and can't hide its' Italian background. The"furnar" is the baker; and when you order something "al forno" in the pizzeria, you know that this dish was baked in the oven. Therefore, the "furnar" as the guy handling the oven makes perfectly sense. 

Here some vocabulary which might make you smile:

ċips: 

these nasty fried potato sticks

ċikkulata: 

one second on the lips, a lifetime on the hips...

kejk: 

perfect for your afternoon tea (and the lips and hips thing, too)

wejter:     

in a restaurant he serves the kejk or the ċips 

xawer:     

refreshing and cleansing

ġelat:     

frozen balls in a cone (oh boy that sounds weird...)

ġakketta, gwardarobba:     

the former you can wear or put in the latter, if you don't need it 

garaxx, karozza:     

if I own the first thing, the second thing doesn't have to stay out in the rain 

larinġ:     

sunny coloured citrus fruit

sejf:     

for my precioussssss or my treasures

trakk:     

a very large karozza, which doesn't fit in a normal garage

And I bet you know how to pronounce this one here: "ħaxix"... Means veggies or grass...😆

And last but not least something difficult: "Is-sliem għalikom". Which means "peace be with you" - and know you might guess its origin, which is the Arabic "Salaam aleikum". You will here it rather seldomly, but I found it highly fascinating!

With that said: Is-sliem għalikom, Y'all!

And if you're in the mood for some electronic music now, thank me later...  😆

Hail Seitan!

Hi, Y'all,

Due to a family emergency I had to rush to Germany lately, and therefore it's been a while since I last posted. But now I'm back, everybody is fine and it's going uphill again!

And therefore I'd like to show and tell about my latest kitchen concoction, because except from a baby blanket I had nothing to DIY or sew. 

In preparation of my trip to Germany hubby confirmed that he was willing and able to cater for him and Heinrich, but I thought, a few frozen pizzas wouldn't hurt... Thus I prepared my usual pizza crust in two round sheet pans and pre-baked them for 10 minutes. Then I topped them with tomato sauce, lots of veggies and some kind of cheese preparation made from sunflower seeds. 

For this cheese I soaked a cup of sunflower seeds over night, and the next day I mixed them with some water in my blender. I added nutritional yeast, some seasoning and corn starch and mixed again. In a pot I cooked that mixture until it thickened and then I placed it in an oiled mold and let it cool down. It goes very well on pizza, casseroles and on a slice of bread, and although it doesn't melt as well as real dairy cheese, it is very tasty. Looked like this:

Put that in the freezer, and the finished beauties can be gefrostet and finished in the oven like any normal frozen pizza. 

I don't want to start any discussions about the necessity of vegan copycats of meat, sausages or cheese. My very own opinion on that matter is: if anybody tries to avoid animal products to support animal welfare but still likes the taste of it, there is no harm in preparing plant-based burger patties or cream cheese. And like this I found a YT channel called "The pot thickens". A very nice guy who reminded me very much of the global CEO of my employer - in fact he could be his twin! But he has nothing to do with Carmine di Sibio, actually he is a self-taught chef who has been living plant-based for a while now. His calm and wonderfully unaggravated way of explaining things made me wanting to try a few recipes he presented on his channel.

First I tried some washed wheat flour seitan - although you can make it from different ingredients, I found this genius in its simplicity. The basic principle is this: You make a very simple dough consisting only of wheat flour and water, and then you wash out the starch to keep the gluten. So I made that dough, kneaded it thoroughly, covered it with water and let it sit in the fridge over night. The next day I got rid of the water and poured fresh water into the bowl. Then I massaged the dough in the water to get the starch out of the dough. This process made the water opaque and white. I did this six times and kept the starchy water from the first two washings - will come back to it later. The dough then showed some rubbery texture and rolled out it looked like that: 

I cut that into three partitions and braided them while pulling them at the same time to lengthen the fibres and to reach a chicken-like texture. I knotted the braid a few times and let it rest for half an hour or so. 

At that point the whole thing may taste as intensive as its color :-) and therefore, you have to boil it in a spicy broth for appr. 2 hours. I seasoned that broth with miso paste, veggie stock powder, lovage, smoked and sweet paprika and some more. After boiling I let the seitan cool down and put it with the liquid into the fridge over night. 

Now you can pull that seitan apart - either with two forks or your fingers, and it looks like shredded chicken. You could use it for a multitude of dishes, e.g. cut it into nuggets and fry them, add it to a fricassee or mix it into a poultry salad and many more, but I opted for the pulled BBQ chicken. 

Thus I pulled the seitan (see above), cooked some BBQ sauce and kneaded some tortilla flats which I then fried in a pan and finally it was time for assembly: mix seitan with the sauce and place it in the tortilla, afterwards add some lettuce and tomato, top it off with vegan mayo and dive right in! It was a bunch of work but it was so worth it!!! 

Tortillas and BBQ sauce:

Work in progress (sorry, no Insta-worthy picture of a finished wrap...)

And now let's get back to the starch - I made some bacon! Yes, you read correctly... After the washings I was left with two Tupperware containers full of that starchy liquid. Over night the starch went down to the bottom of the containers, thus I removed the water on top and with a lot of seasoning similar to the aforementioned broth I made two very runny batters - one very light and one with a darker reddish color to represent the signature coloring of bacon. 

In a non-stick pan switched to medium heat I made a few thin crepes (and also kept the weird first one). I cut the crepes into strips and fried them in oil with a higher heat to get them extra crunchy - and nobody said they would be fat-free; you wouldn't expect that from real bacon, neither. The first crepe I cut into tiny pieces and fried them, too - et voila: bacon bits which are awesome as a topping for e.g. cashew cream cheese! 

Of course, there are a ton of other possibilities to imitate bacon, but this alternative was easy for me to reproduce, and we really liked the taste and the crunch. And as it was a by-product of the seitan, I liked it even more - a win-win situation, so to speak. Side note: Unlike original bacon this version stays crunchy for days, if you put it into a container in the fridge. 

Everybody deserves a second chance - even eggplant :-) For years and years I wasn't impressed by eggplants, I thought they were boring with the consistency of cotton wool, although they look super pretty. But miracles do happen, and since last week I am an official eggplant fan! And here is the reason why: 

Take your eggplant and dice it into teeny tiny cubes and cook them for roughly five minutes in a pan with olive oil and half a teaspoon of salt. Then add oat flakes, roasted sesame seeds, spices and - extremely important - psyllium husk with water. The latter soaks up the water and produces a rubber-like texture which is perfect for thickening. Mix everything quite thoroughly and let it rest for a bit in order to let the oat flakes absorb any remaining water. 

With this dough form little "meatballs" and coat them with breadcrumbs. 

Fry them with some oil in a pan until golden brown and crunchy. Then add a tomato sauce with lots of onions and garlic and serve it with spaghetti - simply irresistible! 

Unfortunately they were gone so quickly that I hadn't had the chance to make some pictures of the finished work of art... again... 

But as we speak of works of art... every Sunday the "extended family" gathers at Joe's and Mary's to end the week together. I like that tradition very much and usually don't come empty handed. And as I like a good challenge, everybody in turns can make a wish of what I should prepare. Last week it was "red velvet" - and of course, I want the vegan option to be as delicious as the original, thus: challenge accepted. I did some research and tried a few things, and this is the result: beautiful AND yummy! 

Next week I am planning New York cheese cake with silken tofu - will keep you posted... 

With that said - stay safe and don't ever be afraid to try something new! 

If life gives you lemons...

Hi Y'all,

As you might know, I have a sweet spot named Carnival - as I am born in Cologne, the love of Carnival was given to me as a gift in my cradle. But as the saying goes "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" I decided to see what Maltese Carnival is like. Yes, there is such a thing! And in fact, there are a few things quite similar to Cologne Carnival. Surely the season doesn't start on November 11, and the clubs aren't organised by a board of eleven and they don't wear uniforms, but the Maltese celebrate from Thursday to Tuesday, school children have Monday and Tuesday off, and capable hands work the whole year round to create awesome floats which are even bigger than the carnival trucks in the Rhineland area.

Here is just a small one - and like in Germany closely related to current events :-)

For me the whole shebang felt like a mixture of venetian and Brazilian Carnival, as there was also a lot of dancing and incredibly elaborate costumes (although more modest than in Rio de Janeiro). 😏

But the greatest advantage of Maltese Carnival is definitely the weather! It's much more relaxing to celebrate with 17 degrees Celsius and sunshine and you only rarely have to worry, if rain will ruin the feather in your cap...

And like in Germany, all celebration ends with Ash Wednesday, and therefore I quit talking about Carnival and show you the latest concoctions of my witchy cauldron! Since I made some orange curd lately I have been thinking of a recipe for healthy lemon bars which I once saw on social media. I finally found it and veganised it (0 eggs instead of 4). Thus I shredded some oat flakes and mixed them with some homemade caramel syrup and coconut oil to form my no-bake pie crust. On top I spread some lemon curd made from lemon zest, lemon juice, homemade plant milk, sugar and cornstarch. Was an awesome mix of sweet and tangy! 

And because citrus is my sweet spot, I made an orange cake as well. At first sight nothing special, but I used a whole orange for it. Yes - with peel and all, just quartered and then blended. I sticked to the recipe but next time I would start with batting the eggs with sugar, then shredding the rest and finally and carefully fold in the flour. As you might see in the picture below, it could have been a bit more fluffy. But has potential for sure! 

Clue what that might be?

Hint: These are sweet potatoes and dates. Any ideas now? Sure, these are brownies! Ok, admittedly that wasn't obvious. But it was definitely the base for a brownie dough. Added some cocoa powder, ground almonds and flour and it was coated with a ganache of cocoa powder, coconut oil and caramel syrup. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the finished brownies because they were finished super fast!

And while we're talking sweets, I just stick to it and show you another two things I tried today. In my last post I told you about my chocolate spread with chickpeas. Now I wanted to test a similar thing but with hazelnuts instead. I very carefully roasted the hazelnuts - you guys might remember my desaster with the last batch of nuts when I completely underestimated my oven. But everything went well and then I peeled the nuts and blended them with cocoa powder, caramel syrup, water and a teaspoon of coconut oil. Next time I will start with blending the nuts only to get some kind of nut butter and then add the other ingredients to get it super creamy. Til then I'll have Nutella al dente! 😆

I'm already looking forward to spreading it onto my Sunday morning breakfast rolls! And last but not least another citrus treat: coconut bliss balls! They basically consist of shredded coconuts, lemon zest and juice (or orange juice), coconut oil and maple syrup or caramel syrup. Blend that into a tough mix and roll into balls. Then hide a whole peeled almond in every ball. Finally roll them in coconut shreds and chill them in the fridge. Look a bit like Raffaello but taste more citrusy and thus are the perfect summer treat! 

On that note: If life gives you lemons, make bliss balls! 

Everyday life - but make it culinary

Hi, Y'all!

Wie did our first steps in direction coffee shop, and in preparation I am busy experimenting with all different kinds of goodies... I don't wan't to spill all my beans, but if we manage to produce a barista quality plant-based milk, our café will be vegan. And my first attempts with oats, almonds and cashews were promising. I used the milk for our morning smoothies, but in the process of shredding, hydrating and filtering the nuts and oats, you get some pulp which is way too good to throw away or compost. Therefore, I put it into a simple bundt cake. It didn't rise as much as I hoped for, but the taste was very good and went very well with my tea. 

But then IG made me do this: Bliss Balls! 

The ones on top contain oatmilk pulp, oatmeal, shredded coconuts, ground almonds, dates, caramel syrup and tahini (that sesame paste you also need for hummus). Basically you mix everything together until you have the desired consistency, then form into balls and roll them in coconut flakes for example. Cool them and you're done! But be careful, they are rich in taste and energy - handle with care...

The ones below consist mainly of almond pulp, ground almonds, cocoa powder and dates - ground hazelnuts would go well, too, I guess. Instead I tried to roast whole hazelnuts, but underestimated my oven... But I could salvage some nuts and placed them in the center of each bliss ball. Offered them yesterday at our weekly extended family meeting and went home with empty plates. That says something, right? 

Youtube lately came up with a funny idea - coffee bread! First one I made had room for improvement, but the second turned out pretty good: 

But man does not live by bread alone, therefore I tested two spreads. Here comes number one: 

You might guess, what was the inspiration... But the ingredients may surprise you because it wasn't based on hazelnuts but chickpeas! I roasted them and then blended them with cocoa powder and maple syrup. Texture is smooth, the spread is not overly sweet and most interestingly the taste of roasted chickpeas reminds slightly of coffee - like very much and will do again... 

My neighbor Vicky inspired me to make the second spread, because she gifted my a glass of homemade lemon curd which was awfully delicious. So, the day before yesterday I tried some with oranges instead of lemons and cornstarch instead of eggs. Hubs was delighted! He put it on freshly baked bread, but you could easily spread it on pancakes, sponge cake or use as yogurt flavoring. Neverending options..

Definitely will test with other citrus fruits and let you know :-) 

Hubby requested some burgers the other night, and thus I pulled out my burger bun recipe, substituted the butter with our self-made vegan butter and as an egg-alternative I mixed one tablespoon of chickpea flour with two tablespoons of water (psyllium husk works, too). Turned out wonderfully fluffy just as I wanted them to be. 

I made the patties from chickpeas, tahini and loads of cumin - very yummy! A classic guacamole made from avocado, garlic, pepper and freshly squeezed lemon juice was the perfect match. Potato wedges as side dish, and the hubs went straight to burger heaven :-)

If you do not insist on vegan, you could also place some tuna patties on your burgers buns. Tried that lately, and they were awesome. 

And if you are in the mood for Sunday breakfast rolls the lazy kind, I highly recommend these ones (according to the Brotsommelier on YT). You quickly mix the dough of flour, yeast, water, salt and sugar on Saturday night (without much kneading), and place that into a plastic container with lid and put that into your fridge over night. On Sunday morning (after a proofing period of 12 to 20 hours) you simply fold them nicely and bake them for 20 minutes at 250 - 260 degrees Celsius. At the beginning splash a cup of water into the oven to produce some steam wich helps to build a crunchy crust. And just like this you'll get the perfect Sunday breakfast rolls!

And that's about it

- enjoy life and good food!

Glance into my Saucepan

Hi, Y'all!

At the moment, the Weather in Germany resembles 50 shades of grey, but take comfort in the fact that there's also winter in Malta. Temperatures are somewhere between 10 and 16 degrees Celsius, it is often very windy and therefore it feels rather chilly. But as soon as the sun comes out, everything is just perfect.  

Since our arrival we have been working out a routine for our life here. In Germany I was used to buy a whole week's worth of groceries every Friday. But here things are swinging differently. I buy my fruit and veggies at Charlie's who parks his produce truck directly below our balcony every Tuesday and Friday. The quality is awesome and the prices unbeatable. For instance: Today I bought 2 kilos of potatoes, one cauliflower, a kilo of marrows, four bananas and 15 free range eggs for 12 euros! That's pretty affordable, I must say. And because they harvest everything exactly when it's ripe and won't last that long, it makes sense to buy everything fresh twice a week instead of only once. 

At Tony's bakery I buy a typical Maltese wheat bread, that is freshly sliced as delish as toasted - one loaf has about 500 to 750 grams and costs 1.10 euros, and small soft rolls are available for 15 euro cents. Some of the larger supermarkets offer online orders and free delivery when you order at least for 75 euros. If I need that much (especially heavier things like juice cartons or flour) then I have them deliver my stuff. Depending on the time of ordering they even do same-day delivery. But if I only need a few bits and bobs that I don't get at the veggie stand or the bakery, I could go to the various small corner shops.

There are even a few Lidl shops on the island, and the next two are in easy reach if I take the bus. Lidl offers good prices for gouda, parmesan and soft cheese, it has an awesome chocolate muesli, fruit infusion tea and dog treats which Heini likes very much. And he can chew them with the few teeth he is left with :-)))

Oh, and every two weeks there is a truck with cleaning and hygiene stuff - a drugstore on wheels so to speak. I didn't buy there, yet, but my neighbours love to buy their laundry detergents from them. And lately there is a fishmonger who visits our church square every Thursday. Thus everything within two minutes walking distance, and therefore I don't mind to spread my shopping over the whole week.    

And the laundry situation is similar. In Germany I did the laundry once a week, and with a washer and dryer combo that was easy peasy. Here we don't have a dryer, but with 300 sunny days and a constant seabreeze that is no problem at all. Okay, when it's very humid a dryer might come handy, but without it, at least we save some energy. And that's a plus. Anyway, we have two (or better 1.5) drying racks which can bear not more than two wash loads. Therefore I daily check the weather, and when it's fine, I do the washing. It's simple as that and works just fine!

And here are a few examples of what's been cooking lately:

This is fennel au gratin. In former days I didn't like fennel at all, but here I tried it a few times and always liked it very much. Once I sauteed it with lots of garlic and lemon over spaghetti, some other time with carrots and arborio rice as risotto and on the picture above simply scalloped with almond cream and parmesan.

By the way, here they have very young garlic which looks almost exactly like spring onions. At first I didn't realize it was garlic, but my landlady told me it's perfect for artichoke stuffing. Because the Maltese don't just boil their artichokes and serve them simply with butter or mayonnaise. No, they stuff the artichokes with tuna, said garlic and parsley and of course I had to test that. I made way too much stuffing, so I mixed it with cream cheese and had a wonderful spread for my home baked bread. 

The marrows I mentioned earlier come in two versions: long like normal zucchini and round - and the latter are ideal for filling. Like here with soy chunks, tomato paste, garlic, almond flour and shredded cheese: 

Side dish was polenta with lots of rosemary and sea salt - highly recommend that! 

Last Sunday we were invited by our landlords. Side note: Every Sunday the family gathers, that is Mary and Joe, their two children with their respective spouses and three children all in all. They sit together on the kitchen bench in front of the fireplace, chat and munch on sandwiches and finger food very similar to Spanish tapas, e.g. bigilla (a spicy dip made from beans) with crackers, sheep cheese from Gozo Island, seafood, olives, pistacchios, potato crisps - no formal dinner but very casual and chilled. And because I didn't want to come empty handed, I made some monkey bread. You can pull it apart easily and just eat it as is; no spread needed. Basically it's a yeast dough formed into lots of small balls which you place in a round baking pan. Between the two layers of dough balls there comes a hearty dose of pesto and shredded cheese. If you want, you could brush the balls with melted butter, but I thought that was a bit too much. They liked it very much that way!

Of course, I have to end that blog with something sweet. Since two weeks we have a new kitchen gadget. We weren't in dire need of it but once it's there, I kind of like it. The device looks like a modern coffee machine with water tank, ingredients container and outlet in the front. But in fact it's for making plant milk. You simply put some almonds, rolled oats or nuts of your liking into the container, fill the water tank and push a button, and in less than three minutes you have a bottle filled with delicious plant milk. We take it for our breakfast smoothies, pour it over cereals and are even working on a barista version with oats and cashews. Surely it produces some pulp in the process which is far too good to simply compost. Therefore I added some wheat flour, sugar and baking powder and made some kind of pound cake with it. It's barely risen but nevertheless was very yummy. I might test some bliss balls or energy balls for example with some dates, dried fruit, shredded coconut or cocoa - possibilities galore. And the cake definitely was a good start... 

With that said: Stay safe and sane and never stop trying something new!  

Finger Food

Hi Y'all!

After we got almost used to living in Malta and already know some people, we wanted to do a little get together for them. A new year's reception so to say, because around the holidays everybody was so busy that we didn't want to add more stress to the mix with our invite. Thus we had them here last Saturday for some drinks and snacks, and I wanted to share with you guys what we had. 

Btw we were ten adults and three children, and because some of them - like us - like to eat vegetarian and are open to vegan alternatives, I made vegetarian food only. As one person is lactose intolerant I should have prepared more vegan stuff, but for next time I know better. 

Surely I know that finger food might cause more work than a three course meal, but I didn't want to be glued to the stove that night, and the advantage of cold snacks is, that you can prepare them beforehand and sometimes even freeze them. Besides, the atmosphere is more casual and you need less space for plates :-) 

Please find below the actors in order of appearance: 

I started on Tuesday with preparing a carrot orange soup - unfortunately there is no picture. Basically I diced carrots, potatoes and onions and sauteed them in olive oil. Added orange juice and vegetable stock and let that simmer for 30 minutes. Also I added a piece of ginger roughly the size of my thumb, but removed that before blending the whole thing. I seasoned the pureed soup with an oriental spice mixture called "Ras el Hanout" which went perfectly with it. After cooling I put the soup in bags and placed it in the freezer. 

On Wednesday I baked two kinds of vegan muffins. One was with cocoa and Coca Cola to make it extra fluffy, and one - a classic - with apples and cinnamon. After cooling down they went into the freezer as well - and luckily there is a picture: 

Furthermore, I soaked some cashew nuts over night in order to turn them into vegan cream cheese and vegan feta cubes on Thursday. I served the cream cheese together with olives, crackers and edam (not vegan) on a grazing board, and the feta cubes made it on some little skewers together with cherry tomatoes. 

Any party needs meat balls, right? For my vegetarian version I mixed and then pan-fried oat flakes, eggs, onions and shredded cheese. They are delish either warm or cold, and the size is variable also. For the party I made them roughly the size of table tennis balls. 

In parallel I made a Zucchini cake in the oven, which is also yummy either warm or cold. Insanely easy: Grate 500 g of zucchini, add one diced onion, 5 eggs, 200 g flour and 150 g shredded cheese. Mix and season everything, spread on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. 

Afterwards I mixed a yoghurt dip which I served with veggie sticks on Saturday. The children devoured them, although I expected them to stick to the candy I had for them. Pleasantly surprised! 

Then I prepared tortilla roll-ups. Basically I took tortilla wraps, brushed them with herbal cream cheese and topped that with sun-dried tomatoes and olives. Rolled that up and let cool in the fridge. The next day, I only had to cut that into slices and put on toothpicks. But to be honest, they were nice, but I prefer the version with cream cheese and smoked salmon...

The last thing I did on Friday night was hard boiling some eggs and starting a yeast dough to have that rise in the fridge over night. 

Besides laying the table and arranging the food, all I had to do on Saturday were things which were best fresh out of the oven. Thus I combined the yeast dough with a healthy amount of olive oil, sea salt and rosemary and made some focaccia bread - went very well with the soup. 

I removed the yolks from the hard-boiled eggs and mixed them to a paste with mayonnaise, mustard and spices. That went into a dressing bag and from there back into the whites - deviled eggs = classic 70s party snack... 

That was followed by some puff pastry action. On one of them I spread green pesto and red on the other one. The red one was cut into strips and twisted, and the green one was rolled up and cut into slices. Both of them received a generous sprinkling of shredded cheese and went onto their merry ways into the oven. Quick and easy! 

Please excuse the cling wrap on some of the fotos. Actually I don't like it, but the prior tenants left it here and thus I used it. And I didn't have time to make proper pictures when everything was ready and uncovered. But this is what it looked like:

Was a very nice evening!

Stay save and sane and celebrate and parties as they come!!!