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foooood

whole30: done!

yay!

i’ve just finished my first whole30, which means, i went a whole 30 days without:
– grains of any kind
– milk products
– legumes
– sugar, or sugar substitutes
– white potatoes

truth be told, it isn’t that different from how we usually eat when we’re home in berlin – just stricter. normally, i’d have a bit of cheese here and there, an occasional piece of black chocolate or cook with butter – and wouldn’t think too much about what i ate outside of the house. that doesn’t mean i usually go out of my way to eat pasta and bread when we go out – but for the most part i don’t care if the sauce has flour in it, or what kind of oil was used to cook my food.

alas, the whole30 puts all that into question, and makes you think about everything that goes into your plate.

(whenever i tell people we eat paleo, i get saucer-eyes and a concerned “no pasta? no bread? but what can you eat then?!” well… real, unprocessed food, like eggs, fish, meat, vegetables, fruits and nuts!)

anyway, it’s done! how do i feel? freaking fantastic! :) i’ve lost about 5kg – mostly weight i put on during christmas’ glutenfest. also, nothing aches (not even my dodgy back), nothing’s swollen and my energy levels are good!

was it hard? it wasn’t hard per se, or not in the way most people imagine. i didn’t really get cravings… not even while the boy indulged on baskets of bread & cheese next to me. but i missed going out and being with friends without over-thinking it. this level of attention to what you’re eating seriously limits your dining choices – and i’m not sure it’s worth it.

so, i’m happy i’ve done it, but i’m also glad to be back to a reasonable middle ground that works for me. bring on the cheese! :D

Categories
foooood traveling

what we ate in budapest

a last post about budapest, for a sort of photo diary of the food we ate on the 5 days we’ve spent there.

first thing we ate in budapest was…

… a bowl of spaghetti bolognese our hosts had cooked and left on the stove for us! seriously, how sweet is that? we were tired, it was late… it tasted divine! :)

after warming up our bellies, we couldn’t resist going out for dessert – we found a stall in a shopping center nearby, with chocolate covered ice-cream, and had to try it. this one was cinnamon, one of my favourite flavours!

the next days it was time to try hungarian fare. we started at the central market, with lángos…
… which is basically fried bread dough, covered in all kinds of toppings. a delicious greasy mess!

the blue rose restaurant was recommended by our hosts. we had…

…goulash soup, grilled pork with spicy potatoes, grilled veal in budapest style and somlói galuska! we’d seen it before when researching hungary, described as one of those must-tries, a trifle on steroids… colour us intrigued! it consists of flavoured layers of sponge cake, held together by pastry cream, and soaked in rum syrup, covered in walnuts, raisins and whipped cream… sounds crazy! alas, we’re not much for the whole sweets-soaked-in-alcohol thing, so it was nice, but not a show-stopper.

a couple of funny things we found on random supermarket trips…

…cute milk cartons, budapest chocolate, and pálpusztai!

pálpusztai is a soft cow’s milk cheese made with the same bacteria that give humans their body odor… boy, was it smelly!

our hosts also left us a couple of local delicacies in the fridge, which we had fun tasting. túró rudi is supposed to be “the” hungarian chocolate bar of choice: sweet cottage cheese covered in chocolate… mmm… it tasted… interesting! the paprika-turkey sausage was great though :)

during our mornings, we raided the local bakeries for breakfast and tried plenty the pastries!

leves (soup in hungarian) was a fantastic foodspotting find:

i know what you’re thinking… soup?! but soup is one of my favourite things ever – nothing soothes the soul on a cold day like wrapping your hands around a bowl of this stuff. these guys had the concept down to a science: a tiny shop with a great selection of soups and toppings, neat packaging, and a couple of standing tables outside. perfect!

“pink soup” reminded me of the swedish nypon soppa! it’s always a bit strange to eat something cold and fruity as a soup, but it was good! this one was cherry flavoured.

we also tried an italian place that our hosts heartily recommended, and sure enough, the pizza and lasagna were impeccable…
…but the pièce de résistance was the…
… deep-fried camembert! :D i’m aware of how disgusting deep-fried-anything sounds, but cheese… it was made for this! any country with fried cheese is a winner in my book :)

someone had recommended that we try some of the traditional hungarian sweets (like dobos) at gerbeaud house, budapest’s finest café/patisserie, so, like good tourists, we did.

they were… ok – and terribly expensive. i can appreciate all the hard work that went into making those tiny elegant bits of cake, but honestly… i think these are not our kind of sweets. gerbeaud was more habsburg fancy and less yumminess. oh well. like they say, been there, done that.

on the last day, after mailing a big batch of postcards and walking around in the cold for hours carrying our backpacks, we decided to stop at a cosy café for a last meal. turns out, this particular café was a great choice! not only did it have delicious food…
… but the lemon dessert was lovely too!

and i think that pretty much covers it – it was a good trip! :)

Categories
foooood traveling

kürtőskalács

it’s kind of messed up to write about something made almost exclusively of milk, sugar and gluten in the middle of a whole30… but i shall endure it to tell you all about the deliciousness of the hungarian kürtőskalács (chimney cake). the hungarians have my kind of cuisine: uncomplicated and flavourful. we ate a lot of delicious, belly-distending meals in budapest, but indulging in the omnipresent kürtőskalács was a daily temptation – one which we simply could not resist.

kürtőskalács is a very simple thing: a ribbon of yeast pastry rolled around a wooden cilinder, which is baked on the fire for a few minutes, and then rolled around in different sweet toppings, like sugar, cinnamon, coconut or nuts. some of the sugar melts in contact with the warm surface, which makes for a sticky mess – which is why they’re usually served inside a clear plastic sheet.
the result is a tube that comes apart in your hands in a spiral of fluffy goodness, cooked soft dough with a hint of lemon on the inside and a sugary shell around it, giving it a crispy texture. it’s… delightfully sinful, and heartily recommended! :)

Categories
foooood in germany

the autumn of our discontent



sometimes you just have to stop thinking for a bit and let life follow its course, hang on to the belief that (like in the movies) things will eventually be ok in the end. good coffee helps making dreary days better – and thankfully, berlin has exceptional coffee. :)

Categories
foooood in germany

aller welts suppen!

today, there was an awesome soup-festival in our kiez, and we got to try several soups from different countries. the weather was just perfect for soup, coldish and windy, and i wish we had gone hungrier, because the soups were just mouth-watering (and cheap!). i could have eaten a lot more!
iranian carrot-curry soup with walnuts
german pumpkin soup
iraqi yoghurt soup, with bits of carrot, potato and tiny meatballs inside

i hope they repeat the initiative soon! :)