Category: foooood

le petit café

when i think of european cities, i think about intimate cafés. lovely, warm and cozy cafés, with steaming expresso machines, newspapers and a crowd of happy people, sipping their cups of coffee and eating chocolate cake. do you have this mental image too? i was secretly hoping ljubljana would be a bit like this, having heard good things about its cafés.

so on sunday, we tried le petit café (trg francoske revolucije 4).

the place was crowded! and no wonder: good food, good coffee, nice decoration, not expensive… it was perfect. well except… the cups and mugs. sorry to be this picky, but it as if they got the whole supermarket shelf of cheap luminarc mugs (plus a few spare they had at home) and put them to use. they don’t look so nice on a café and almost ruined my bohemian vision of this brunch…

…almost. :) it was a good start, i’m looking forward to more “café testing”!

foooood in finland

vadelma munkki

you know what makes or breaks the impression i have of a country? the food! it may be silly, but if a country has tasty, uncomplicated food, i’m sure i’ll like it. china had a ginourmous array of cheap, exotic, fresh fruit available. singapore had the fluffier stuffed “pancakes” i ever tasted aaaaaand ice-cream sandwiches.

and then came finland and i was totally unprepared for the berries explosion! strawberries, cloudberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries… they had them all in their open air markets, box after box of juicy colorful berries. they had them in an array of mouthwatering desserts too, like the one that inspired this post: vadelma munkki. we had just arrived from a trip to suomenlinna and were starving, so these strange looking treats in the harbour market were a delicious surprise.

sugary and fluffy and light, with sweet raspberry jam peeking from the inside…

…nobody could resist them! :D

foooood in portugal

ovos moles

this blog is missing some serious food reviews. i am in portugal after all, and of all the places i’ve visited, i’ve never met another so brimming with yummy culinary deliciousness. thing is, portugal is also my “home by default”, meaning, the place we get lazy about moving our butts because we think we already know all there is to know. you know what? definitely not true.

like ovos moles, for instance, which i had never tried before. so let’s do this!

before though, i should warn you that traditional portuguese desserts or sweets are known to be made of dozens of eggs and a ton of sugar, and ovos moles is no exception. moderate consumption is advised.
ovos moles’ origins are tied to several convents in the beira litoral region, where the nuns used the sweets to strengthen the patients. it is said that the reason most conventual sweets use lots of egg yolks is because the nuns used the egg whites to iron their clothes, making them whiter in the process :)

so, on a recent visit to aveiro, we got a box and took it home, to properly enjoy. aveiro is a river/seaside region, so ovos moles are wrapped in various shell motives and often offered in small boats or decorated barrels.

the outside layer is dry but melts in your tongue like the wafers they give in mass. the inside is where the sweet action is. it tastes of eggs and sugar, naturally, and one of this tiny things will be enough to kick your body into instant sugar rush :)

so now you know! they’re quite nice so go get some if you’re in town! :)

Post author By ana
Post date August 26, 2009
3 Comments on ovos moles

foooood in portugal

casa de ló

hidden away in a small street next to rua de cedofeita, in porto, you’ll find the casa de ló. the name comes from a portuguese desert, pão de ló, which used to be sold here back in the days of the old casa margaridense. the space has since been renovated in line with its traditions, and now sells portuguese sweets and deserts, while housing a cozy tea house.

add to this alluring environment a couple of friendly people and some nice music, and it’s hard not to feel right at home. we shared some mint tea and tried the apple pie, and wow… i wasn’t prepared for the irresistible decadence of it. look, look:

can you see the softness of it? can you smell the cinnamon sprinkled on top? is your mouth watering already? just go! it’s on travessa de cedofeita, 21A (google maps). you can thank me later :)

Post author By ana
Post date July 10, 2009
4 Comments on casa de ló

foooood in china

korean bbq

Charlotte: That was the worst lunch.
Bob: So bad. What kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food?

quotes from lost in translation, excellent korean barbecue by a restaurant called soba, dongxin road. the whole thing for 4 1/2 people, 124rmb (12 euros). :)

Post author By ana
Post date May 23, 2009
1 Comment on korean bbq