Fog in New York

A couple of weeks ago I received an exciting email from New York City's official board of tourism, asking me to be one of their ambassadors for their summer campaign. I was especially interested in working with them, because they want to highlight boroughs of New York aside from Manhattan. After spending my first year in New York really getting to know Manhattan, I wanted to make an effort to explore the outer boroughs a bit more, especially Brooklyn (I have a guide to eating in Williamsburg coming up for you guys this week!). I'm excited for the first event in Brooklyn this coming week and to share secret, behind the scenes locations with you all this summer.

I shot these photos last week from the Empire State Building (can you believe it was my very first time up there?). All the employees kept warning me that the visibility was incredibly limited, but I just smiled and made my way to the top. The ambiance was incredible with less than 10 people and a thick blanket of fog covering most of Manhattan.

Melon Shooter

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Right now when I am looking outside I kind of feel like cheating on you since the photos really look like summer and warm weather and all I could hear for a day was rain outside my window. Tiny drops and heavy ones and the background constant sound the water from heaven makes all aroud me. But the summer months are ahead as I said I will for sure keep the closet free from coats and knits ... maybe not today but one doesn't want to catch a cold either?

I am trying to think positive and with this recipe you might want to join me in thinking of lazy evenings, friends around and a light meal to give plenty of room for a good conscience about what we ate  and lots of energy for a good dance later on. Leave away heavy make up that belongs to the past months, now we want to feel good about the sunshiny days ahead and feel healthy. This recipe again is very healthy and the easiest to make, no cooking no washing up, the best to prepare for guests in advance or keep in the fridge for everyone in the family to grab as a healthy snack any time of day. The best way to start a meal is with something fruity and fresh. Your stomach will say Thank You and you are prepared for an easy transition between no food and dinner. This is a way of helping your skin glow and you will feel much better if you make the most of all the fresh produce there is to buy now on the markets. Now is the time for great fruit and vegetables and the time for pre-packaged stuff is gone.

This is Edamame, our favorite for snacks. Simple soybeans in a shell cooked and sprinkled with sea salt and grated horse radish. It is easily prepared and makes the best pre dinner munch.
I found my new favorite flower shop! I am so excited, it has been there for a while but I kind of never realized how awesome it is. I will have to show you pretty soon some pics and you will for sure fall in love it. It is so close to my home and they have the most beautiful flowers and make fabulous arrangements! These peonies are from the shop, parents they gorgeous? Come and check out Unverblümt! I know you agree! I am so lucky to live in such a great neighborhood!

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Print recipe

Preparation time 15 min
Chilling time 3 hours

You Need

1 melon, I use a cantaloupe or a honeydew melon
1 organic lime, grated peel and juice
½ tablespoon curry powder or paste
200ml | 2/3 cup sparkling water
salt

When you read the recipe you could probably make that soup with out any help but here is what I did.
The lime must be washed and dried prior using, then you can first grate the green peel and the press the juices from it. We need the entire flesh from the melon so you can either cut the melon lengthwise or in half, scrape the seeds out and cut the remove the peel. If you have a ripe fruit then this is really easy, you could scrape the flesh out with a spoon, this way you don’t even need a knife. Put this in a blender, I used my brand new Kenwood kMix, add the lime juice and peel, curry, sparkling water and season to taste with salt. Done. Now transfer the soup to your fridge for at least 3 hours.

I decorated my glasses with tiny basil cress.
Very decorative can be a fresh slice of lemon, herbs or even a small stalk of celery. This way the whole thing stays vegan, without anyone missing flavor or you can add a piece of crisp Serrano ham. That would make my son truly happy.  

Moroccan Preserved Lemons

I once visited Da Paolino a restaurant in Capri, an island in Italy, where you sit under lemon trees and each dish is made with fresh lemon juice, and they serve the best limoncello in Italy! My recipe for today is entirely different we travel further south to Morocco and the lemons are preserved by a fair amount of salt, that will keep them for up to a year fresh and yummy. Get hooked with me on :

Lemons !

When I open my window I can hear a trillion birds singing and I have finally put away my coats and boots. If it gets cold I will ignore it and by reading tons of Moroccan recipes,this weekend I decided that the most important ingredient of a summer full of oriental bliss and spices I will make those fermented lemons, almost no recipe can do without! I read that they need at least one month to become what they should and then can be used up to one year. So next thing we should do is run to the market and get a huge bag of organic lemons.

You and I will most likely never be able to live without them and if it is lamb, chicken or couscous , salad or vegetables, we will add a bit of those lemons to it, even the juice can be used!

Until yesterday thought one cannot buy Moroccan lemons in Vienna, when after an absolulty inspiring dinner at the Steirereck we chatted with Heinz Reitbauer and I told him about my new found love to this recipe he said: we make them here and you can even buy them in our shop! Heinz makes them with in Vienna grown lemons from the Orangerie in Schönbrunn! Then he gave me this jar to proof! How cool is that? Not only is Heinz an expert in almost everything that can be eaten, he stunned his colleagues once at a convention in Spain of all places, with his so well received dried lemons and oranges he serves at the Steirereck from a beautiful cart rolled to your table at the end of a meal. That said even if you can buy them it is so easy and fun to make your own and invest those 10 minutes per jar and live off a delight and fullness of flavor crossing bridges and traveling continents on your plate and with your guests.

Most important is a large enough empty jar with a tight lid, as well as smaller ones to give away as presents, rinsed once with boiling water to disinfect and then you are good to go!

You Need

2 kilograms organic lemons, ripe, bright yellow skin
2/3 cup sea salt, can be more
juice from 4 lemons
hot water

Alternatively
bay leave
coriander seeds
garlic
red pepper

Soak the lemons in cold water , rinse them and dry them with a paper towel. Cut off that end, where the lemon once grew on the tree, and make a cross cut through the lemon so the fruit will not be separated but can be opened up like a 4-petal flower. Open the lemon with one hand and season with one teaspoon of salt. Do that with all of the prepared lemons. Then place them one by one in the jar, add 1/2 a teaspoon of salt after each layer. Press them hard into the jar so the lemons give some juice off. Finish under the brim, share the lemon juice evenly among your jars and after the last spoonful of salt add the hot water!
Now you can experiment with additional flavors such as a bay leaf or seeds; I am a purist so I made mine without additions. Close the lid and give them lots of time in a dark place at room temperature. You can turn the jar upside down every three days but I suspect if you forget it won't ruin your efforts! After one month you can open up your first jar of preserved lemons and use them for your recipes. The opened jar keeps in the fridge for up to one month.

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You should be smelling this !!!! This is unbelievably breathtaking, an explosions of lemon fragrance !!! WOW I AM ADDICTED! What a flavor ! Cant wait to use this ! This is the preserved lemon by Steirereck ! Just awesome!

Don't pour away the lemon water, it is full of delicious taste and can be used on salads and in soups or any kind of marinade. It is absolutely fine when it becomes jelly-like!

NOTE

The peel is used and the flesh discarded, not like usual, just the opposite! Sliced thinly or chopped to small pieces. Heinz recommended to use the entire fruit, here you go! Please give it a try and tell me how you did!
 

Union Square Farmer's Market

I know what you're thinking. But before you get all judgemental and eye rolling on me, remember that I am in college and I just went through exam week. Essentially, I'm happy I'm even still alive, but now that it's summer I'm ready to leave all the stress behind and focus on my internship, traveling, spending time with good people and creating awesome content for you guys. Now that New York has finally warmed up to the extent that we alternate between spring and summer from one day to the next, I've been trying to spend as much time outside as possible (whenever I wasn't studying, naturally). The farmer's market on Union Square is such a lovely way to find a spot of calm in the city along with great fresh produce and beautiful flowers. I've been told Wednesdays and Saturdays are the best days to go, but regardless you should definitely make the trip over at some point.

 

Sunday Snapshots - Emerald

Robert Redford once said that tourism is wonderful if you seek places that are unspoiled and expose yourself to the experience of beautiful destinations, yet if all of us do just that it will ruin it for us all.  I guess we all have responsibility when traveling and exploring.
This place has been a jewel for the longest time. Now on weekends you must get in line surrounding the lake behind bus loads of people. Rarely you see it untouched as we did today.

I have never in my life seen such a color in a lake and such visibility! Up to 50 m you can see under water. The water collects here from the snow melt each spring. It almost disappears till autumn. Breathtaking views and a true happy maker.

Oh he know about his looks!

Can you find the three benches on this photo?

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I observed three male ducks diving for food back side up, when a male and a female duck approached those youngsters took off and gave it a try, if they could win the lady over I cannot tell. But you can see the bold approach and the shy girl taking off with her mate in the pursuit. Could he get rid off the Casanova of a duckling?

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice:
"Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

John 7:37-38

Magnolia Mania

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God's gift for a mother is a daughter.
In her face she can see the beauty of youth, the beauty of the love for life 
and the beauty of tenderness of a mother towards her child -
the care she gave continues to live on in her daughters love for her grandchild.

Manhattan Sunset

One of my favorite things about being on instagram, is being able to meet new and incredibly talented people. I also really love walking (people usually think the distances I walk in New York on a daily basis are absolutely insane), so I'm also up for walking over the bridges between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Out of all the bridges, the Manhattan Bridge is definitely my favorite for its views of downtown Manhattan. Two weeks ago I met Bethany, Cory and Cubby and we walked over the bridge at sunset to take pictures.The weather here in New York is still kind of unstable so I always make sure I have a thin jacket with me, not to mention my lovely new hat by Janessa Leone.

Shop the post:

Photos of me by Bethany, second by Cory.

Cilantro Salsa

Today I received a beautiful package with a great gift from KENWOOD. 
I had an eleven year old magic wand and now I own this stylish appliance in black with all the additional tools, the full set which will help me make the best stuff ever, work efficient and be creative! 
Thank you KENWOOD for giving me extra power!

Thank you Magdalena and Katharina from Network PR to make this possible !

Cilantro or coriander is widely known as a typical herb of the Asian cuisine but in truth it can be found in southern Europe and northern Africa. The Chinese parsley as it can be called as well is rich in Vitamin A 134% and Vitamin C 45% and gives each dish a distinct taste. Cilantro is best if used fresh sprinkled over a dish or added uncooked in a salsa like this one inspired by KIM.

Kim is an energetic Korean chef married to an Austrian and her food is outstandingly innovative, for example she combines traditional Korean dishes with Austrian Grammeln ( fat pork crumbs), yes! But her food is like medicine and to pay tribute to her origins she spends months in Korea hosting a very popular TV cooking show. 

For some tongues cilantro is a no go because of its soap-like taste. But I recommend to never blend cilantro or cook it in your food rather use it fresh sprinkled over your dishes last minute.

This salsa goes with almost everything and can be eaten quickly with a piece of bread or cracker.

Print the recipe
Makes 300 ml of salsa
Preparation time: 20 min

You Need

large bunch of cilantro, leaves without the stems
2 tsp sesame seeds
½ cup pine nuts (optional)
½ cup olive oil
1 clove garlic (minced is optional
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
salt to taste
balsamic glaze (the slightly sweet, thickened one)

Cut the cilantro leaves with your knife, do not use the blender) Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Serve to freshly baked bread, Asian dishes, to grilled fish, use for decoration on hors d’oeuvres, to omelets, Tofu, ….

When you serve it in the individual bowl you will put a tablespoon of pesto and drizzle balsamic glaze around in a semicircle.

Gozo the rural sister of Malta

Crystal clear waters during this season with a visibility of 50 meters. Looking through the Azure Window at Gozo's west coast.

What a stellar horse waiting for his human friend. He didn't move at all fixing his eyes on his keeper!

Salt fields cover the entire shore line here, it looks so pretty.

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Empty romantic streets and lots of vineyards, Fields that provide everything for the Gozitan and those ever present cactus keeping the fields clear of visitors. Gozo is a sleeping beauty ideal for mountain bike tours and long reading hours. once there lived giant women who helped built the Gigantes temple. Obese figures without heads were found. Today the Gozitan is of normal height. I saw no giants anywhere. I fell in love with Gozo.   

This is Europe's 3rd largest cupola tying the place with Mosta on Malta. All white. I had to set my camera on the floor and still I could't manage with 24 mm to get it all on the photo.

Empty Met Museum of New York

What do you say when one of your close friends invites you to wander through one of the world's most famous museums before opening hours? You say yes. Within seconds. Then you spend the next week not being able to sleep at night. When the day of the tour finally arrived, I walked through the museum left speechless and as if for the very first time. I wish you could all experience the Met while empty, but for now these pictures will have to suffice.