Garlic salsa dip with canned tomatoes

garlic salsa dip
| Eva

I wish I could say it’s hot but it’s just not. I think all through July the temperature never reached 25 degrees. My parents are here visiting and it feels like fall. Some nights the outside thermometer even shows one-digit results. This is the first year that I get to spend all of July in Sweden, as we chose to travel in June and then again in August and I think I never want this again. July is disappointing. I’m not a fan of the heat but in the summer I want to see the sun. Continue reading →

Strawberry Bavarian Cream

strawberry bavarian cream
| Eva

I have a distant memory of strawberry Bavarian cream made from a box by my mom when I was little. I think I had it for the last time about 20 years ago. Then production must have stopped because we couldn’t find it in stores any longer, and for some reason she never ventured into making it from scratch. I like cooking from scratch, so I decided that I would try. I stocked up on strawberries and started doing some research. Continue reading →

Lupin fields everywhere: a Swedish summer photo session

| Eva

Lupin season is drawing to a close, but the cold spring we’ve had this year made those pretty purple flowers last a little longer. Lucky that I got back to Sweden in time not to miss this wonderful flowering, I felt like I just had to take advantage of this wonderful sight. So I organized a photo shoot with my friend Ania, who had already posed for me in the past and is always kind enough not to say no. If our previous photo session had been heavily autumn themed, here comes the glory of the Swedish summer. Continue reading →

A hipster taste of Krakow

| Eva

Six months ago I wrote a post about my favourite eateries in Krakow and that post was an absolute win. I shared it around and heard back from friends visiting the Polish city that it had actually helped them more than random reviews on TripAdvisor. I guess that word of mouth from a friend, even though in the form of a blog post, is still perceived as pretty valuable advice. So I recently returned to Krakow for a wedding and decided to do it again and indulge in my favourite activity while in Krakow – eating out – for the sake of my blog. Continue reading →

A Polish-Moldovan wedding

| Eva

As a person who has a hard time managing to keep in touch despite loving human interaction (it sounds insane, I know), I am very grateful to my friends, who acknowledge this feature of mine, accept it, and manage to stay friends. Having lived in more than one place, I have made friends in many countries and sadly these friendships are cursed with long distance and my poor skills at decently keeping in touch. Yet, even in such circumstances, some of them do last. That one Skype conversation a year is really all it takes, and when we get to meet in person it’s always fantastic. So on my yearly Skype call with the friend this post is about I got the news that she got engaged and last week I flew to Poland for her wedding. Continue reading →

Red lentil burgers

| Eva

As this post is being published I am spending a portion of my summer vacations in Poland. Prior to getting here, I had spent a few days in Norrköping visiting a dear friend of mine. I traveled there two days after my job was done, finding it absolutely unbearable to stay in town any longer for some reason. I love the cute little town I live in, but a creeping sense of suffocation had me in its grip and I needed to get away, fast. The fact that my boyfriend was in Rome and I was not enjoying my time alone as much as I usually do (I am an only child and have been raised to love my own company very much) didn’t help either. Well, long story short I hopped on a train and got off in Norrköping. Continue reading →

The places I called home: Pisa

| Eva

Aged about 10 I visited Pisa with my parents, a quick stopover during my one and only great big trip to Southern Italy. Piazza dei Miracoli – the only thing we stopped to see – got me awestruck. I can still remember the white marble of the buildings, the green of the grass and the blue of the sky. In my child eyes the Leaning Tower looked just about right with its quirky physics. What I didn’t know back then was that in 15 years I would have been back. As a resident.
Continue reading →

Penne al salmone e vodka

| Eva

On the occasion of my mom’s birthday I am posting a recipe that I have learned from her, and since she taught me to cook in Italian I will keep its original title: penne al salmone e vodka. The truth is, pasta comes in many shapes, but for salmon sauce you want to go with penne. That’s a match made in heaven. So think of pasta, perfectly al dente of course, swimming in a creamy sauce with salmon flakes and fried zucchini. Beautiful. Continue reading →

Brown sugar panna cotta

cane sugar panna cotta
| Eva

It may seem like I have a slight obsession with brown sugar lately, especially after I made brown lemonade – the last time I made panna cotta I decided to sub white sugar with its brown alternative. Apart from giving the end product a different aftertaste, the use of brown sugar gave my panna cotta also a nice light brown colour. Panna cotta, which may go by the name of Italian custard, is a cream-based dessert that originates from the Italian region of Piemonte, my home region. It is probably my favourite dessert if I were to pick one from the culinary tradition of the part of Italy I grew up in. Continue reading →

Farro salad with baked cod, peas and feta

| Eva

Summer is finally here, this time it’s for real and that calls for one thing: salads! No, I’m kidding, summer in Sweden equals barbeque. Only when it’s sunny and warm, though. Salads are the alternative for those days when you’d rather eat in. Or, a nice side dish to your hot dog when you’re still in the mood for salad on those nice summer evenings. A nicely balanced salad that alone can work as a proper meal is one that features some nice grains as well as some protein to go with the veggies.  Continue reading →