Rodrigo's Paella

Summer and sun? – Check!

Lot’s of food? – Check!

Some drinks? – Check!

Crazy? – Check!

So far it has been a lovely summer with a fair share of sun, lot’s of food and some drinks. You can call me crazy for various known and unknown reasons. I leave that up to you, but for today, you can call me Rodrigo.

So, make sure to keep that in mind. I settled with a friend on that and he tries to call me Rodrigo. Since we have established that, we can go on with some food.

However, before we get to that, we need something else.

Spanish music? – Check!

These days with all those music streaming services and Internet radios, it’s not that complicated.

Now playing: Amistades Peligrosas – Me Quedaré Solo

Well, I don’t know about that, but I’m not sure whether I like that message. Anyway, that isn’t the subject of this post nor of this blog. I don’t want to get that personal here.

Calling back to mind what we want here now: Food.

Therefore I bring you now Rodrigo’s Paella …

You still remember, who Rodrigo is, don’t you? No Dices Más. Well, that is fitting now and the song that is playing right now: Moenia – No Dices Más.

Right, you don’t have to say anything as we start finally

Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 small chorizos
350 g chicken breast
100 g duck breast (optional, it was a leftover)
100 g shrimps
100 g mussels (ready to eat)
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
150 g cherry tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
Salt
Pepper
Paprika powder (mild)
3 cups of rice
2 bay leaves
700 ml chicken stock
Pinch of saffron

Method:
Put a large pan on heat and add some olive oil.

Get a sharp knife to do all the cutting. Make sure it’s really sharp, so you get a clear cut in case you should cut yourself … oops … I didn’t mean it. I am sure, you can get through the recipe without cutting yourself. Anyway, I heard you cut yourself more often, when the knife is too dull. So it’s better to use a sharp knife, that does its job properly.

Now we go on with doing our job properly.

Cut the chorizo into small pieces and add it to the pan. Cut the chicken breast (and duck breast) into small chunks and brown them together in the pan with the chorizo. When it all has gained some good colour remove all the meat from the pan and set aside.

Finely chop up the onions and fry them in the pan until translucent. Chop up the garlic and add it, too.

Then quarter the tomatoes and put into the pan.

Cut the bell peppers into mouth-manageable size and add them to the pan as well.

Season everything with salt, pepper and the paprika powder.

Afterwards add the rice and the chicken stock. Add the meat back again as well. Add also 2 bay leaves and the pinch of saffron.

Let it all simmer until the rice is cooked. If you feel, the paella gets too dry, add a tiny bit of water.

Almost there! At the end add the shrimps and the mussels and heat them up. That shouldn’t take too long.

Now you are ready to plate up and enjoy Rodrigo’s Paella.

Well, I am not 100% sure whether that is a typical paella for I have never eaten paella in Spain – or at least I don’t remember. I have to put it on my list I want to do. Argh, that list is too long anyway. I also have a kind of list or better say a pile of papers of recipes I still could post. There are 11 papers and I don’t know how to manage. Anyway, you might see some of those things on this blog one day, so make sure to come back.

First, though, have some more paella and, if you like a bottle of beer with it. For sure there are more days coming to enjoy and … if I am able to put my eyes on a computer screen again – besides work – I will write you something more.

Well then, see you, when I see you. Next time I may be Chris again and not Rodrigo anymore. We will see ... 

Pannekoek ... do as you wish ...

While thinking about visits to the Netherlands and eating just a few things come to my mind like eating Loempias on the market of Enschede, Kibbeling on a different market somewhere else (can’t remember the place now) and then there are Pannekoeks. Just now I realise how many Dutch words we used back then in my childhood or how similar the daily spoken language was with Dutch. Or maybe it was all because my grandmother was Dutch. I don’t know. Anyway, as it’s time to contribute to my very own challenge Bloggers Around the World: The Netherlands, I reckon I have to do as previously announced and have Pannekoeks or pancakes. We once (at least) visited a Pannekoek house in the Netherlands to have some food. You could have all sorts of pancakes, sweet or savoury, as you wished.

Then there is also a place in Germany, in Bremen, a Pannekoek restaurant on a sailing ship on the water, not far from the city centre. The place is called Admiral Nelson. Anyway, we would have had pancakes … if it would not be closed on Mondays ...

Now there you could have all kinds of pancakes as you already see. They had also for example a Mexican style and an Indian style pancake on offer.

But we want to have our own. First of all, you go for your basic pancake batter:

One cup on flour, one cup of milk, an egg and a pinch of salt. If you want more batter, just multiply the amounts.

At the time I was having pannekoeks I was limited to what kind of ingredients I had at home. Here I used chorizo and cheese.

I just gave some batter into the hot and oiled pan. After a while I added the chorizo, cheese and a bit of dried oregano. You could put a lid on, if you like or later put the pancake quickly under the grill to get the cheese a bit more melting.

Well, all this was not much, but just imagine the possibilities, you could have a pancake topped in the same way you could top a pizza. So, go for a mushrooms or tuna version.

Fine, I just added the obligatory chilli sauce, just because I wanted to. No worries.

Or simply do a triple or quadruple or even quintuple cheese one. Use your imagination, this is the only limit you have here.

If you wish you could also put some kind of salad on top. Just now I am thinking about it, how good it would have been to put Parma ham and rocket leaves on it.

Then there is also always the option to go the sweet way, if you want to. I don’t want to today.

Sale el Sol Tortillas del Trigo

Hoy tenemos algo completamente diferente. Ya ves. Vamos a tratar de cocinar algo Español en español. Empezamos de inmediato …

Ingredientes:
Un poco de ensalada verde
Seis tomates pequeños
Un pimiento rojo
Un pieza de la carne sazonada/marinada – 100-200 Gramos (de vaca, pollo o cordero)
100 g chorizo
Una cebolla pequeña (las rojas son mejor)
Un poco de queso
Tortillas del trigo
Sel, pimienta
Un poco de zumo de limon

Elaboración:
Cortar la ensalada verde, los tomates y el pimiento rojo en trozos pequeños. Sazone con sal y pimienta. Mezclar con el zumo de limón.

Cortar la cebolla en aros.

Freír la carne y el chorizo. Después cortar en trozos pequeños.

Ahora, empezamos con el tortilla del trigo. Calentar la tortilla. Después ponga la ensalada en la tortilla.

Después los trozas del chorizo y un poco de queso.

Después la carne y los aros de cebolla.

Eso es todo. Ahora envolverlo y comérselo. Disfrute de su comida!

Un poco de papel de aluminio podría ayudarle.

Are you still with me? How good was your Spanish to understand the recipe or did you need no knowledge of Spanish at all, because the photos were telling everything?

Just to make sure, let us go through it again …

Sunrise wheat tortillas

Maybe there is a reason for the name of the dish, but at least the sun is really out these days. I could have called it summer tortillas, but … I didn’t. My call!

But now, without any further ado …

Ingredients:
A little bit lettuce
Six small tomatoes
One red bell pepper
A piece of seasoned/marinated meat – 100-200 g (beef, chicken or lamb)
100 g chorizo
One small onion (the red ones are better)
Some cheese
Wheat tortillas
Sal, pepper
A splash of lemon juice

Method:
Cut the lettuce, tomatoes and red bell pepper into small pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Mix with the lemon juice.

Cut the onion into rings.

Fry the meat and the chorizo. Then cut it into small pieces.

Now, we can start with the wheat tortilla. Warm up the tortilla. Then put the salad on the tortilla.

Then the chorizo and cheese.

Then the meat and the onion rings.

That’s all. Now wrap it up and eat it. Enjoy your meal!

A little bit of aluminium foil could help you.

Und weil das ganze jetzt so schön war hier nochmal für alle die, die weder viel mit Spanisch noch mit Englisch am Hut haben …

Wir wollen da, wie schon zuvor, nicht lange rum fackeln und einfach loslegen …

Sonnenaufgangstortillas

Gut, euch kann ich’s ja sagen, wenn ihr wollt könnt ihr es auch zum Frühstück essen oder auch zum Mittag oder zum Abendessen oder nachts oder zwischendurch oder wenn ihr Hunger habt. Was auch immer, die Sonne ist draußen, also hier mein Beitrag …

Zutaten:
Etwas grüner Salat
Sechs kleine Tomaten
Eine rote Paprika
Ein Stück gewürztes/mariniertes Fleisch – 100-200 g (Rind, Hähnchen oder Lamm)
100 g Chorizo
Eine kleine Zwiebel (die roten sind besser)
Etwas Käse
Weizentortillas
Salz, Pfeffer
Ein wenig Zitronensaft

Zubereitung:
Den Salat, Tomaten und rote Paprika in kleine Stücke schneiden. Kit Salz und Pfeffer würzen. Mit dem Zitronensaft mischen.

Die Zwiebel in Ringe scheiden.

Das Fleisch und die Chorizo anbraten. Dann in kleine Stücke scheiden.

Jetzt können wir mit der Weizentortilla anfangen. Die Tortilla aufwärmen. Dann den Salat auf die Tortilla geben.

Dann die Chorizo und Käse.

Dann das Fleisch und die Zwiebelringe.

Das ist alles. Nun zusammenfalten und essen. Guten Appetit!

Ein wenig Albfolie könnte helfen.

So, nun habt ihr wohl genug, oder soll ich das ganze jetzt nochmal in irgend einem Dialekt abspulen. Aber ich denke bei ‘datt’, ‘watt’, ‘ett’ und irgendwelchen Spezialausdrücken flippt die Autokorrektur – oder doch eher ich – völlig aus und es wird kein glückliches Ende nehmen.

Das würde niemand wollen.

No one would want that.

Nadie querría eso.

Kimse isterim.

Personne ne voudrait que.

कोई भी उस चाहेगा।

誰もそれを望んないだろう。

I think, this is a very good point to stop this post. I hope you enjoyed it. Hey, after all, this still is … Cooking Around the World!

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It's oh so quiet here ... Pumpkin Soup with Chorizo

I don't have to tell, you very easily recognise it yourself. It's almost two weeks ago I have posted something here. Yes, it's indeed oh so quiet here. There could be various reasons for this, but I try not to bore you with that. However, it could become even quieter around here ...

Are you shocked?

Well, it's a bit hard to think with an empty stomach. Have something to eat first. Why not have a pumpkin soup with chorizo. After all it's the season for it. For chorizo? Eh, why, chorizo is always in season and you never should put it away too far.
Now's the time for squashes and pumpkins. Well, there are 7 pumpkins on my table or at least parts of them.
So, why not have a soup - with pumpkin and chorizo ...

... I'm going to tell you also, what other ingredients you have to put in ...

Ingredients:
Olive oil
300 g chorizo, kind of cubed
1 carrot, roughly chopped
300 g potatoes, roughly chopped
1 kg butternut squash, roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
100 g cherry tomatoes, quartered or halved
200 g goat's cream cheese
1-1,5 l water
2 tsp. spicy paprika powder
Splash of sherry vinegar
50 g dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp. fennel seeds, crushed
1 tsp. cumin
Salt and pepper

Method:
Let me try to tell you, how to put the soup together ... phew! Luckily I wrote things done a bit more detailed than usual.
First of all, fry the pieces of chorizo in a bit of olive oil. Put the fried chorizo aside into a separate bowl.
Having all those lovely juices from the frying of the chorizo in the pan, make things even lovelier by adding the garlic, crushed fennel seeds and the cumin to the pan.
Then toss in the carrot, potatoes and squash. Let things work a bit in the pan to soften the vegetables.
After that, it's time to add the paprika powder, the dried tomatoes and the water. Bring it to the boil and let everything simmer for quite a while until everything got even softer. Half an hour and even more will do. If you have the feeling, you need more water, add it.
Having reached this state, it's time to blitz the content of the pan together with the goat's cheese.
Afterwards, it can all go back to the pan. Then the chorizo returns to the pan, followed by the fresh cherry tomatoes. Heat everything up to eating temperature, adjust the seasoning with some salt and pepper and a splash of sherry vinegar. Ready for eating ...

At this point I got a visitor, who didn't came for a meal, just to talk about a few things. So I left the soup on low heat ...

... so what?

Yes, the soup lost a lot of liquid and it looked rather like pumpkin mash or the kind of food you would feed to your baby (not that I know very much about these matters).

Let me call it pumpkin soup concentrate. You can add litres upon litres of water to make the soup for a while. So, if you have unexpected visitors ... the kind that are out for food ... here you go.

Are you shocked?

What for? I don't know what this is all about. Did I say I wanted to shut up shop? I don't think so. Nevertheless, the future is uncertain ...

So, watch out for any news regarding Cooking Around the World ...

Christine & Christian: Episode 9 - When Chorizo meets India

Things are not always running smoothly. In fact only sometimes they are. However, when it comes to the 'Christine & Christian' part here on my blog, things haven't been running at all and as I feel it, still things are not fine. Having some chapati or naan would have been the least to accompany today's dinner, but there was no such thing.
Today we are having some Indian food from Goa with a Portuguese influence ... which I have to change slightly on top of it. Originally the recipe is called Chorico Sausage with Dal. I had to turn it into Chorizo Sausage with Dal for I don't know where to get Portuguese chorico sausages here in the countryside. Chorico and chorizo - that sounds all the same to me. Therefore it should do no harm.

In the end it tasted delicious anyway. Still another funny thing, though, there were no chillies needed for the recipe. Alright, the sausage was spicy enough.

We are doomed ... an Invasion is coming ... a Pizza Invasion

Beware! Do not be mislead, there is danger lurking. Something terrifying beyond your imagination. I'm not talking about an invasion of mutated evil killer something. No! It's worse. Be warned and be careful and ... continue reading anyway.
Well, I'm not a fan of such kind of movies anyway. However, what we are talking about might pose a real threat to your possibilities to wear a proper swimsuit or bikini or that sort of beach apparel this summer. That is, of course, if find time during that week or day of summer.
On the other hand ... moderation might help. Decide for yourself!
It's been some time now I last posted something about pizza. So I thought I could go for it again. I've gathered some ... eh ... photos of ... eh ... some pizza I had over the last few weeks. Strangely, they look not much different. One day I might get some lovely ideas on how to take picture of pizza in a nice way.
Basically I want to mention a few toppings I tried. The basic dough and sauce you can find in another post.
Let's get this invasion going.

We start with this meaty version with Leberkäse and onions. You might remember Leberkäse from an older post. Well, anyway, that pizza was alright, but lacked in certain burning abilities. Cannot always have that.

Speaking of burning ... chorizo and chilli might do the trick. At least it always works for me. You might need to be a bit cautious with this one. It might bring you some extra weight. Or will the fire of the chorizo and chilli help burning some undesirable ... eh ... things. We will never know.

What about some fish. Putting some tuna on a pizza ... no big deal, anyone can do that. Therefore I decided to add some salmon and and some anchovy fillets as well. That was a pizza I enjoyed, too, although it wasn't burning hot.

More to come. If I tell you were the idea came from, you might think it's fish again, but ... alright, start at the beginning. This one I topped with the leftover sauce from the Tonno di Nonna Fangitta, though, without the tonno.

It isn't over yet. This now is the overly cheesy version, not just mozzarella, but also some Gouda and French Camembert. I would have added even more cheese, but hey ... was I supposed to call it Quintuple Cheese Pizza. I guess triple cheese will do ... for now. For just the minute I mention this I feel the challenge coming up on me to really try this quintuple something. Funny what this writing is doing to my brain.

Pizza invasion, yes, some more ... this time with pieces of merguez sausages in the sauce.
Now all that talking about pizza made me hungry.
I hoped you enjoyed the invasion in some way. Now, if you would have a few slices of each of those pizzas, that would pose a real threat to your bikini figure something hopes or ... alternatively ... to your wardrobe, which would need replacement due to shortage of material at certain spots of your body. Go, figure it out for yourself.
However, what do you like to throw on your pizza?

All Good Things Come to an End ...

I guess it's over! All good things come to an end. That is at least what I heard. I'm not sure right now whether to tell it, but ... I might not even have heard it, but ... well ... you know ... again ... there is this song of that ... eh ... person and ... at least she sang it. There was also something about dogs barking at the new moon, but I didn't get that quite well. Maybe I'm not the smartest kind of person. 
Anyhow, the year 2012 is drawing to it's end. Was it a good one? That depends on any persons self. You ought to know it for yourself. With 2012 being over, this will pose a few challenges ... hm ... the first few days or even weeks of the year I have to focus on writing 2013 instead of 2012. Then it will be winter still as well and the coldest months might still be ahead.
Well, then, let's say it as it is: All good things come to an end. This will be the last you are hearing from me ...
However, before that is going to happen, have a brief look at the (somehow) most viewed posts of my blog in 2012:

On rank number 5 we find TMC - Tipsy Mint Cookies. Those greenish shimmering cookies had a really short life. They definitely have come to their end as well.



Next on number 4 is Rocket, Ricotta and Chocolate ... Triple Feature Random Recipe. In fact it was more then just a recipe. As the title suggest it were three. That was really a dangerous time for a lot of chocolate was involved here. On the positive side - if you want to call it that way - there was at least also some salad involved.



We are coming to number 3. Challenge warm up à la française ... escalope de porc aux champignons brought us to some French cooking. Even with seeing that now, I get hungry again, which in fact I shouldn't, because I just had something to eat. Well, it looked slightly similar.



We are heading for number 2 with some Leftover Risotto. That was relly a good way to use some leftover risotto, although you could as well use plain rice. I wrote about this at a very nice time of the year, in May. Thinking about that, I long for warmer weather.



Finally we come to number 1 and our all time favourite: Pass me that chorizo ... eh ... we are having a chorizo stew. Somehow it must have been someone else's favourite as well. Chorizo works!



As I said: All good things come to an end and so does our top 5 for the year 2012. Talking about that, which one was your favourite post for 2012 on my blog? Just let me know!
Now, this was the last you heard from me ... for the year 2012. 
See you next year then ...

Pass me that chorizo ... eh ... we are having a chorizo stew

As far as I see things, I am going to need a lot of comfort in the coming weeks, but never mind I'm going to manage it ... somehow!
No, I don't want to start this kind of talk again.
A few weeks ago I read a lovely recipe on How to be a Gourmand from Jacqueline. It was a recipe for a Chorizo, Tomato and Chilli Bean Stew. Well, I thought, by myself, that is a very lovely recipe I should give a try ... and I forgot about it.
Anyway, as I have the custom to buy chorizo when I see it - that is, if I don't have any at home - I happen to have chorizo at home, most of the time.
Naturally then, as the days became colder, I came up with preparing a chorizo stew, not having any recipe ready as I went.

Well, if you read a lot, you can get a lot of ideas and inspiration. What are your favourite sources of inspiration? Don't be shy! Let me know.
But first of all pass me that chorizo ... eh ... we are having a chorizo stew ...

Ingredients:
A good splash of olive oil
300 g chorizo, sliced
1 medium sized onion, chopped
2-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 cl sherry
400 g tinned tomatoes
2-3 fresh red chillies, finely chopped (who cares about the seeds ...)
400 g potatoes, peeled, roughly chopped
A bunch of flat-leaved parsley
Salt and pepper

Instructions:
All the chopping is done and hopefully you haven't hurt yourself. Fine!
Then we can go ahead.
Heat up the olive oil in an appropriately sized pan and then add the slices of the chorizo. Let it go for a while until the chorizo pieces get a bit of colour.
Toss in the onions and the garlic and let them give your kitchen a nice touch of garlic in the air. Get the sherry ready. Reserve some for drinking later, but add 3 cl of the sherry to the stew and let a bit of it cook away.
After that it's time to pour in the tomatoes and if you like a bit more liquid comfort to soak up with bread, add some extra water.
While we are at it, we throw in the potatoes and the chillies as well ... don't be shy.
Bring it to the boil, cover it with a lid, reduce the heat and let it cook for 30 minutes.
As time goes by, remove the lid, chop the stalks of the parsley and put it in the stew and continue simmering for another 30 minutes.
Serve it with parsley on top together with a nice bread to tuck into the comforting stew.
Dig in!

Cooking with Friends a la España

For me, cooking is very nice and enjoyable, but it is even greater to cook together with friends. We used to do this more often, when I was still younger. I even went several kilometres by bike to cook together with friends. Nowadays, everyone seems to be more busy and such events have become seldom. Well, another thing might be, that I live in another area than back then and it now would take a several 100 km to travel to do the same with them.
Whatsoever, it is good to have friends and even more important is to have time for each other and do things together. Finally then, we managed again. OK, the idea was to cook and eat together. Last time we did it, we just mixed a few recipes together to have a small menu.
This time we (well, I had the idea) wanted to have it themed, like maybe French, Italian, Turkish, Thai, Spanish or something else. We settled for Spanish. After going shopping for a few things then, in the evening we were ready.

Here is the menu a la España:

Jamon serrano
Lomo
Olivas verde
Almedras al pimiento
Queso con miel y tomillo
Chorizo al ajo y miel
Champiñón al ajo
Aioli y pan
Dátil frito
Brochetas de pollo y tomate

Chuletas de cerdo al estilo de Aragón

Churros con chocolate con naranja

Well, it might be all Spanish to you, but the first section were tapas, then the main course and of course finally the dessert.
As to the tapas, a few things were very simple ... only putting things on plates like with the jamon Serrano and the Lomo or transferring the olives from the glass to a bowl.
The cheese with the honey and thyme was only a tiny bit more effort, but with great effect.

Originally we would have used manchego cheese here, but unfortunately the shop we selected was poorly stocked. Instead we decided for Gouda, in fact in this case a so-called May Gouda. We didn't pay any thought as to what that would mean. Anyway, we ended up with a very very strong smelling cheese. After touching it with your fingers, it would take several thorough washings of your hand to get rid of that smell again.
Whatsoever, the taste and especially in that combination was totally delicious and for a cheese lover such as me, it was addictive.
So far to the simple things. The paprika almonds called for blanched almonds, which we didn't get. Consequently we went for blanching them ourselves. Just put them for a minute or so in hot water and then you can remove the skin easily. Really!

This was the beginning. It didn't go so well as expected ...

... about one hour later. Hm, not exactly, but it took quite some time. After putting them again in hot water and ... here comes my brave friend, which we will call Mr S, into play. He took the almonds directly from the hot water and removed the skin ... ouch, but a lot quicker.
Before we went into the other tapas it was time to get the main course, the pork chops a la Aragón, ready for the oven.

Slices of potato in an oven proof dish. Maybe a few slices too many, but ... whatever!

The seasoned pork chops go on top after some white wine was poured over the potatoes.

After that a mixture with parsley, garlic and almonds on top and it's ready for the oven. 
That gives us the opportunity to go back to the tapas.

Here we have the garlic mushrooms. From this point on everything went in quick succession.
After the mushrooms had left the pan, the chorizo came in. Obviously I didn't bother to take a photo. The chorizo slices were fried with garlic and finished with honey and sherry vinegar.

Out of the pan into a bowl they went to make room for the dates filled with chorizo and wrapped in bacon to be fried. Strange, for that I have a picture again.
Once they were finished and the chicken tomato skewers as well, the main course went to the oven at 200°C to be left there for 45 minutes - at least.
After about two hours of preparation and cooking, it was time to eat. If you have a look again at the menu at the tapas section, you maybe can imagine what followed.
Well, somehow, we were already quite filled, once the pork chops came back from the oven.

That's what they looked like. Somehow the potatoes didn't soak up the white wine as promised in the recipe, but ... anyway. No one was willing anymore to have a proper main course.

So we did some 'fine dining' portions.
Strangely, though, there still was the call to have the dessert, which would take a while to prepare anyway. After that most probably there would be the slight possibility that more food will fit in. 
As to making churros. Making the dough is fairly easy. You have 500 ml of lightly salted boiling water and sift some 300 g of flour into it and then combine it with an electrical hand mixer. Leave it to rest for let's say ten minutes.
After that you have the churros dough or a self-made paste for wall papers as well. If you don't want to use it to hang wallpaper you put it into a piping bag and pipe it into screaming hot oil and fry it. What shall I say ... that stuff killed my piping bag. I need to get a better one.

Despite that they go well with melted chocolate and if you add some orange zest to the chocolate it tastes divine ... if you still can take it. The recipe book gave some extra information about churros. It's popular to have them with chocolate after you have danced through the whole night, which we didn't do, or you can have them for breakfast with coffee, which I did the next day.

At the end we had a wonderful evening and on top of that we have created a bit of leftovers ... I still have to deal with some potatoes and pork chops.
Why not come together with friends and have a great evening together with cookin. Do you like to do something like this as well? What have you done? Leave a comment and let us know ...

Scotty, beam me up ... frustration or pizza

Space: The final frontier. These are the voyages of ... To boldly go where no man has gone before ... (Just play the video in the background to get the proper atmosphere!)

... well, not quite. How about the following?

Food: The final frontier. These are the voyages of Cooking Around the World ... To boldly cook what no one has cooked before.

Facing the facts, though, it can be quite challenging to cook something that no one has cooked before. A lot of people are cooking a lot of wonderful things around the world and many a thing has be done before ... mainly.

No worries, though! I didn't really plan to do anything like that. In fact, very often I just prepare things I have done before (and others of course). Maybe there is just a slight change of amounts or ingredients or something else.

Well, that line of thought is not getting to far.

It was time for pizza again. The main things were ready to go. I wanted to have half semolina and half strong baking flour for the dough amounting to 500 g of flour combined with 300 ml of water and 7 g of dried yeast, a bit of olive oil, sugar and salt.

OK, clear this up a bit. The flour goes into a bowl with a pinch of salt. The 300 ml of water get the dried yeast, oil and sugar. So far so good. Well, I didn't have 250 g of semolina left. No worries, just take a bit more of the other flour. Salt, and ready!

Now pour the water with the yeast to the flour and ... have a real wet dough, nearly swimming. What's wrong? I always use 300 ml of warm water. Hm, mixed it up and filled water until the 300 marker for flour ... so it must have been about 600 ml of water. A bit confused today, aren't we?

So, simply add flour until the dough gets fine ... yes, and well, some more yeast. Fine, we saved that, time for the dough to rise and to get the thoughts on the sauce for the pizza.

We start off with frying some sliced garlic in olive oil and throw in some basil leaves later. Then only a 400 ml tin of tomatoes and some extra water, bring to the boil and then simmer for some time.

Why not use the time for a change and bring down some rubbish. Said and done. Oh, let's get a new bag for rubbish. There we have a new roll of bags. Get one. Hm, strange, the bag has to openings ... useless! What about the next? Two openings! The next? Two openings ... all of them. Great!

Oh, what is that over there? Why is it that the door of the freezer is slightly open? Oh, oh! That was not on purpose. Let's think ... it must be like that for three days now. Have a closer look. It seems like the meat must be defrosted ... for some time now ... and all the other things. To cut things at least a bit shorter ... most of it for the bin and mopping up some water and cleaning up the freezer.

I decided only three small chocolate cakes could be saved and the thing I had put in three days ago ... (oh, that's how it happened ...). Scotty, beam me up! It gets to frustrating down here! So after working some time on that ... yes, the tomato sauce was still going and reducing itself towards nothingness or worse. Save! Turn it off and remove it from the heat.

Take a few breaths. We just wanted to have some pizza. So let's get on with it. The dough had enough time. Roll it out and top it with some lovely things. We have here this sauce ... kind of. We put some slices of chorizo and mozzarella on it. There on the windowsill are also these nice chillies. Some already have turned red. Get some of those. Taste check! Hm, just taste like normal peppers, not really hot. Put them on anyway. By the way, the sauce couldn't be finished properly and so I discovered, before it was too late, that it could need some seasoning. Done!

Finish the pizza with some olive oil and dried oregano and bake it at highest heat possible for 15 minutes. At least that worked with no further incidents. 

Now there is some dough left (the water and flour thing). What do we do with it? Do some bread. 

As we see it, life is not always smooth sailing. However, it's not the cards you get that matters, but how you manage to play with them. Well, I managed to write that up here ... somehow. I only hope there are no further surprises for me in the coming days ... Well, then: "May you live long and prosper!"