I like cooking and to eat the result, of course.
On my plate
Every day gets a little extra when you cook your own meal. Even more so,
when you cook and eat with friends. I don't limit myself to one cuisine, but
Medeterranian cuisine happens to appear a lot on my plate. I also like
Southeast-Asian food, like Thai food. I don't mind a little spice.
Inspiration
Every time I shop for books somewhere (like at
het Boekenfestijn in Rotterdam or Utrecht), I intend not to buy any more
cookbooks. Yet somehow, my collection of cookbooks is growing. Books about
grilling, baking cakes, hors d'ouvres, the Maroccan cuisine, vegetarian food or
books by Jamie Oliver: my collection has grown to more than one meter on
the shelves of my bookcases.
Another source of inspiration for me are tv shows about cooking, especially a couple of
programs that you probably won't find on European tv: Good Eats, America's Test Kitchen
and Iron Chef America. I've learned a lot from the first two about ingredients and
techniques.
If you ask yourself how I translate all these cooking terms between Dutch and English, try
the Food Lexicon. This site has
translations of names of ingredients, cookware and other stuff in the kitchen between
Dutch, English, French, Spanish, German, Danish and Swedish. You can find the word you
want by looking up the first two letters. Very handy!
The best food
What food do I like the most? I regularely cook the following dishes:
Of course there is more. Much more. Let me finish this list with my favorite dessert, that is
also the easiest to make: frozen sweet blue grapes. This might not sound much, but it is
incredibly delicious on warm summer evenings. You need to eat around the seeds, of course.