It is quince time!
I was so excited when I saw them on the Union Square Greenmarket last weekend in NYC. Their perfume filled up my room and it reminded me of home. My mum would always make quince jam and it was, and still is one of my favorites.
Quince is such an unusual fruit, very astringent and tart, but wonderful when cooked. There are numerous things you could do with it. It is mostly known as ''Membrillo'', Quince paste, or as we call it in Dalmatia (southern region of Croatia) - ''Kotonjada'' or Quince cheese. It pairs so well with a Brie type of cheese or something like Manchego.
What I did was just simple quince jam, which is basically quince cut in one-bite chunks and then placed in a pot (rice cooker in my case - yes that thing is magical, you can do anything in it!) with a little water and sugar to taste. Once it was cooked, which is quite fast, I blended it, poured into jars, and voila!

As you might already know, Açaí is a berry packed with antioxidants much more than red wine, blueberries and pomegranate. It contains three different types of fatty acids: omega 3, omega 6, and omega 9!
I buy the frozen puree in little packets and blend it with bananas, milk and some agave syrup or honey and there you have your antioxidant booster!

The top is garnished with some Açaí powder and dehydrated banana chips. I know it looks like chocolate, but Açaí is dark purple and it's interesting how it turned out brown on the photo.

I can feel the rough New York winter approaching very rapidly and it is the perfect time for steel cut oats in the chilly mornings. As much as I love to have my smoothies or bread with butter and different jams, I love to have a big bowl of hot, smooth and comforting steel cut oats.
It takes a bit longer to cook than the regular oatmeal, but it's so worth it. I cook them in water and some salt (1 oats:4 water) for about 30-40 minutes. You can throw in a vanilla bean as well, works really well. Keep the lid on and towards the end make sure you stir.
When I serve it, I like to add some milk since it gives more of a creamy texture. There are numerous toppings you can add to it. I like it just plain with agave syrup with a good latte ;)

I was lucky enough to go apple picking in the last weekend of the apple season. There were five to six different varieties and each one of them was so distinct in flavor that I enjoyed going from tree to tree tasting them and picking my favorite. No that I ate a lot of them, I felt slightly nauseous. I just love apples!



The farm we visited is called ''Mead Orchards'' which is 4 miles north of Red Hook, NY. Depending on the season, there are different dates of harvest for certain fruits, so you have an opportunity to go and pick your own throughout the year, except now...








As you can tell, we had lots of fun, and we accomplished to do the jump and capture it perfectly!

After half of the trip spent in Germany and Holland, it was time to hit London. I was extremely excited, because I got to experience the City for full five days. I wrote down all the places I wanted to see and thanks to my friend Annie who let me stay with her and showed me around, I got to see lots.
Of course this will be based mostly on food, but I have to mention again that I was truly impressed with the whole London vibe. Loved it!

And my dream has finally come true, I ate at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant! I highly reccomend, it was a blast; from food, atmosphere and service. The desserts go well with his style and cuisine - very simple, comforting and tasty.



Belgravia



Borough Market















Main dining room



Trattoria - This is upstairs where I ate, and I like it better since there's more sunlight


London is really a place to be!

Guess who is back! :)

I was on my little Europan trip for 3 weeks and I really enjoyed it. I got to see some of my family and friends, eat at great places, do some sightseeing ad of course have fun! I went to Holland first to visit my family and it's a country that I wish I had more time to explore, but since I only had 3 days I devoted my time to see them and it was amazing.

The purpose of my trip was IBA 2009 - The World Market for Bakers and Confectioners. It's a fair held every 3 years and it's huge. Not huge, but enormous! After two days of walking through aisles and aisles of baking tools, equipment, moulds, new innovative products and what not I needed a day of rest.
After that, I spent 5 days in London which was asolutely stunning. I visited it before, but this time I actually got to experience it for real and I enjoyed every second of it. It truly is a magaical city. The people, the fashion, the culture, the new vs. old, the taxis! Everything! It really is a place to be. My goal is to move there eventually.
And the food! Wow! So many wonderful markets and fantastic restaurants, oh how I wished I could stay longer.

So now I am in my last semester at the CIA and I will be graduating before I know it! Let's just not get excited too soon..
It was nice coming back to school and experiencing the beautiful fall colors.

So here are a few photos I selected for you from the IBA.



I want it.







All kinds of different Stollen (My favorite german Christmas bread)



There were many bakers from all over the world representing their countries with different bread showpieces. Switzerland was my favorite. Croatia was there as well, but they were competing that day so I ended up not seeing the showpiece..





This was the most original way of serving soup. And no, that's not a straw, it's pasta ;)



I will be soon back with more! Promise!