Hot Pepper Honey

This is again an infusion. Spicy hot peppers providing their taste to a jar of sweet honey - perfect spoon of surprising tastes which could be spread over a Gorgonzola sandwich, a toast of bread with butter or as a salad dressing to tomato peppermint salad. 
This is the source for this fiery recipe.

Salmon carpaccio with cold-infused hot pepper oil

Fresh salmon. Really fresh. It doesn't need freezing, which enables the thinely cutting - you can feel the taste of the fish far better if it is cut in 1/8 inch (0.3 cm) slices. Just an hour in a fridge, some cold-infused hot pepper oil, some capers for a salty-bitter taste and some fresh lemon juice. And a slice of bread. Enough for a healthy breakfast, lunch or dinner. That is the way I like it.

Goat cheese and candied kumquat sandwich

Morning rituals. 
Weekdays mornings are usually challenging - fifteen tasks for thirty minutes. Bathroom - kitchen - nursery - bedroom - kitchen - bedroom. Every step has its right time - if I omit or add one, I will break somebody else's ritual. So, sequence is important. Key word is discipline. I don't complain. Routine gives me the feeling of being safe, no surprises mean everything is OK. Habits give me the opportunity to enter stress less into the day. Coffee is the only luxury of my weekdays mornings. But fast, no time the smell its taste or aroma. Coffee as a wake up tool, nothing to do with joy. 
But I have my weekends. My weekend mornings are quiet and sunny. I love the silence of the house while my beloved ones are sleeping. This is my time. My kitchen has an eastern exposure and I enjoy the sun spots moving onto the walls and filling my eyes with light. Good morning, day. The steam of my coffee. A book from the shelf and so much time to get through its pages. The roofs of the neighbouring buildings, the blackbirds singing their lovesongs, the plants on my terrace. Time to read, to observe, to savor the day, to pamper myself. Long breakfast is part of the weekend morning rituals.

Garlic Knots: green for my eyes and soul

Kissing is important part of life. So is garlic. But they both are not compatible. Along with onion and cigarettes, I find garlic one of the worst kiss-enemies. That is why it is a good idea to decide what is more important on a certain day. I usually prefer kissing, that is why despite loving the pungent taste of garlic I serve it rarely on my table. But there are some days and some recipes I could not resist. On such days I prepare my favorite garlic knots. Since the day I saw the recipe here, I was sure they were worth it. And they did not disappoint me a bit. Of course you can omit the garlic part of the coating and pour only hot butter and parsley. I tried it, but it is not the same. 

The best chocolate muffins

I spent some time recently to try different chocolate muffin recipes. Main requirements to the chocolate muffin - it should be soft, it should have a lot of butter as an ingredient, I want to feel the chocolate with all my senses. This is the first recipe which meets the criteria - that's why I call these muffins the best chocolate muffins. Yes, I know, tastes differ, but believe me, it is a good and easy recipe. Two little tips: Take care not to overmix the batter; use a flexible spatula to gently fold ingredients together. Take care also not to overbake the muffins - they should remain soft in the middle. 

Scrambled Eggs with Pepper, Feta and Tomatoes (Mishmush)

I used to think, scrambled eggs with peppers, Feta cheese and tomatoes is strictly Bulgarian dish. Called Mish-mush in Bulgaria, which means 'mixture', it is an easy to prepare dish, which is good for a light lunch or a quick dinner. As with many other dishes I tried to google a description of the ingredients only to be sure that this is a Bulgarian national cuisine dish. And that is what I found:
Menemen is a Turkish dish, served for breakfast. It is a fresh tasting combination of vegetables - peppers, onion and tomatoes and simple spices (salt and pepper) with scrambled eggs. 

Shakshouka is a beloved part of the Israeli cuisine, which came from the Lybian and Tuinisian cuisines.
Different names, nearly same ingredients and taste. Obviously, this is a dish, which traces back its roots to ancient Ottoman empire centuries ago. Anyway, I still accept it as a Bulgarian national cuisine dish. Prepared in a cast iron pan, it is served with lots of fluffy bread to mop up the sauce. My Granny prepared it with roasted and peeled peppers, I prefer it with fresh ones, most of them hot peppers. To bold the spiciness I even serve it with some red hot peppers flakes sprinkled above. You can omit the onion and the hot peppers if you don't like it to be too spicy or if you serve it for breakfast. 

Chocolate biscuit cake and the joy to have a grown-up daughter

Do you know how Violet made my weekend sweet and nice? With a sweet surprise - she prepared chocolate biscuit cakes we both enjoyed both weekend-mornings with our coffees. It is soo good to have a grown-up daughter - she is like a good friend to me, she understands my feelings, my monthly mood swings, she is a good shopping adviser. And also a great kitchen girl. 
This is the source she used for preparing the cake (called in Bulgarian sweet salami because of its shape).
So I had my first piece of chocolate biscuit cake as a surprise on Saturday morning and there is no sweet salami home yet. And I should admit, men at home don't like such treats. But we both shared two cakes with lots of coffee cups, without blaming ourselfs. This sweet salami is rich, very rich, but it is so tasty. And who cares about calories if they give you such satisfaction.
Violet has a birthday today - she is getting sixteen. 

Happy Sweet sixteen, V. I am so happy to have you in my life. Love you so much.

Roasted pumpkin with honey and walnuts

This was the Saturday breakfast. My Daddy came to our place, we had to make a little photo session. So while discussing many things we enjoyed pieces of warm pumpkin with honey and walnuts. Coffee could not find a better partner in the cold winter morning.