Crêpes & café

Sunday morning. It is very warm for this time of year. I am sitting on my balcony overlooking a courtyard. It is quiet, but from around the corner I can hear the traditional corals of the Bulgarian Christian Orthodox church traveling towards me. Purple flowers are planted in a pot next to me.

I am having my breakfast and it is delightful, I have to say. I believe, at this moment, I do know where I am.

Day 100 #1

Day 100 #2

The hundredth day took me to a place I didn’t expect to be. I started off on day one by cracking the shell of the egg; and ended up in a Slovakian mountainside — walked dark streets and biked dark paths in between. Close to the gutter, while close to the sky.

And now what? The hundredth day. Where am I?

Day 99 #1

Day 99 #2

The taste of fresh spinach coupled with baked salmon and fennel is a perfect treat for a summer evening on the terrace; where earthy undertones of fennel and citrus seep into the salmon, leaving a slight bite lingering in the aftertaste, but where a dijon-honey vinaigrette balances the dish with warmer and sweeter flavors.

Here we’ve taken the best from the land and the sea, and made a delectable supper that would satisfy any fish-lover’s urge to try something new, and maybe even convince a non-fish-lover’s to change their idea about their convictions, too.

Day 99 #3

Into the salad went spinach, cherry tomatoes, and sunflower seeds dressed with a mixture of olive oil, white-wine vinegar, dijon and honey. Sometimes a dapple of fresh fromage chèvre can be delightful. Fresh ground pepper a-top goes without saying.

Salmon in a porcelain dish or otherwise foil, topped with lemon juice and remaining slices, fresh fennel tops, dill, and thyme, and salt and pepper, with an entourage of chopped fennel root (with a dash of olive oil to avoid burnage), will find itself placed into a one-hundred eighty degree (celsius) oven just fine. It will tend to remain therein for between twenty-five and thirty minutes, at which time it will make an escape to a bed of greens.

Day 98

It’s important to eat well. That is not ‘eat a lot,’ or ‘whatever you like.’ Micheal Pollan outlined this thought in his book (In Defense of Food) published last year: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” This is not rocket science, he explains, but there are some tricks to the trade. One of which is that if your great-grandmother wouldn’t know what it is, you probably shouldn’t eat it.

This, the inspiration to publish today’s toast. Ingredients:

• The same first two ingredients as yesterday’s toast
• Ripe (!) avocado
• Field cucumber
• White onion (if you don’t have red)
• Freshly ground pepper
• Fresh thyme

Day 97

As one project nears its finish, new ones are being developed. This blog space has also been taken into consideration, and therefore will remain a photo blog with special b-side function. That is, as Our European Life grows and takes shape, there will always be a need to share random shots.

That said, I’ll continue with the last few days of the 100 day project, and keep you posted on the latest developments of the abovementioned new projects.

Ingredients for today’s toast:

• Whole-wheat, bakery-fresh bread
• Local, organic goat cheese
• Organic (from-the-vine) tomatoes
• Fresh-ground black pepper

Day 96 #1

Day 96 #2

Day 96 #3

Day 94

Day 93