Beet

Beetroot salad was a rather usual dish, especially during winter time while I was growing up.
I still like it very much but the version I make nowadays is very different from the one my granny made.
So here it is - roasted walnut, garlic and beetroot salad with some yoghurt. 
A lovely dish at any time.

Hunger games

Very often when I happen to be ravenous the best thing is a pasta. 
So, an olive, tomato and basil pasta it was for lunch today.

Roses

We have some climbing roses in our little garden that are blooming nicely at the moment.

30 degrees by Celsius

As we had 39 degrees by Celsius today, salad seamed like a good option for dinner.
A peach and rocket one this time.

The times when walking to work in the morning temperature was -35C are far gone in a far away country.

Christmas spirit

I guess our rose bush is doing its best in decoration department.

Home made ginger bread is also nice, especially the smell!

Brown thing

I know, it does appear suspicious.
I just happened to realise when I looked into the calendar that Christmas is next week!
Well, it is rather hard to guess if I were to believe my eyes that say that it is summer out there - that's Australia for you.
Anyway, I made ginger bread/spice cookie dough and it will have to sit in the fridge overnight before it can be transformed into cookies.

Amaretto peaches

Sometimes I want something good. 
That's what we said as children when we really meant that we would like to have something sweet.
So, I hade a small ricotta and peaches stewed with amaretto.

Roses

I found these amazing coloured roses from today's market.

Peonies in Tartu Botanical Garden.

Roasted fig and rocket salad

Fig season has started.
So, I made a roasted fig, parmeggiano, rocket and walnut salad for evening.
It turned out really tasty.

If I ever are in the need to see something genuinely beautiful, I go and visit

www.moment.ee 

It is nature photography at its best.

Going green

A green summer salad, followed by a green and luscious figs.

One pizza two ways

We are just embarking on pizza making road.
So, in order to take full advantage of our appetite abilities we made two pizzas out of one.
Eggplant and shrimp we equally good but rather different pizza toppings.

Banana and cranberry porridge

I quite often have porridge for lunch. 
This time it was a banana and cranberry one - very tasty.

Before and after

Before

and after

This pasta dish came to existence by accident and turned out to be delicious.

More chilli

This meal was inspired by Natalia Ravida's book "Seasons of Sicily". 
This book is very close to my heart, just as Sicily is.

It is pasta with chilli, tomato and almond pesto. Very simple, very tasty.

Tonino Carotone's music goes well with this dish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNQkLjDIrqU

Chilli chicks

Chilli chickpeas with carrot and orange salad are a real treat on a warm summer night. 
We dining out most nights now i.e. out in the back due to the weather.

I find that Raasuk Mashrou3 does very good music to accompany this kind of a meal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUhYXRSDWjg

Strawberry morning

I guess the reason for my blogging hiatus is obvious on this picture.

Namely this strawberry granita and ricotta cum biscotti breakfast is for two - my husband is back from Kazakhstan for a while.

Kazakh horses.

Green, green

Avocados a nice in every which way. This time they are nice as an avocado-tomato salad.

I guess people have different tastes but we loved our years living in tropics. The smells and tastes and the easy going being are something that stay with you.

This was near Cairns, QLD.

Pears among peers

This time it is fennel and mustard that make this pear salad good.

I don't think that there is anything sweeter than this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX2hoL9UTkY&index=10&list=PLF4uYz6HuuQ--NDQcQhyqcGgagQBbC-_9

Rather unbelievable isn't it?

Green

I missed a blog on Saturday as I was on a rodeo in York, WA. It was a real nice one.

Here is one of my favourites that makes my husband green around the gills - an avocado milk shake.

Variation on bean theme

Beans seem to be my guiding light and lodestar at the moment.
So, here comes an other bean instalment.

Evora

I do like olives for lunch, dinner and occasionally for breakfast, too.
We got this olive dish from Evora, Portugal.

Evora, as all of Alentejo was very lovely. 

Actually, Portugal is a nice place all over.

Dinner time

This is my version of a hearty dinner - during summer at least.
Mashed fresh beans and and an egg baked in olive oil with tomatoes and feta.

Sweet

Summer is drawing near and melons are getting sweet.
A sweet, sweet and cold melon is a perfect dessert with summery weather.

I ate the best melons ever  in Kazakhstan (they probably were from Uzbekistan though).

Kazakh horses at sunset. 

Bukhara at night time. Moon was pink there.

Spilling the beans

This is how I love to eat fresh flat beans - mashed with olive oil, lemon juice and fresh thyme.

Some of the best things in life

Sourdough rye bread is definitely one of the best things in life!
This one is called Riga's Fine Bread in Estonia - it has sweetness to it and contains either caraway or coriander seeds. I added caraway seeds this time but both varieties are delicious.

Riga is one of my favourite cities of all time. There are so many different parts with very different architecture and ambience. Food is always great and so are the people. 

Vennaskond - an Estonian band that was hugely popular during 80s and 90s - has this song "Riga, my love" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ZcHlPFIqE

Prata Vetra aka Brainstorm is a fantastic Latvian band that has songs in Latvian, English and Russian and they all very, very good! 

Here is one in English - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-CmEbXH90M

An other very good thing in this life is mashed strawberries with milk. I made this childhood summer staple tonight and it is as lovely as it was then.

One more very good thing in this life are flowers. I got really beautiful roses this time from our Sunday market.

More of continental breakfast

So this time it is a banana and yoghurt smoothie with strawberries and wholegrain cereal.
I guess some would call it healthy, I just think it is a delicious way to start a day.

That is how a Viru Street flower stall looks like in June. 
Tallinn is one nice, little capital full of greenery and good cafes.

Flowers and gardening were impeccable in Estonia.

Paprika

I had cauliflower with an Hungarian twist for lunch today - just added smoked paprika and quite a lot of it to the salad dressing.

Continental breakfast

A continental breakfast true to its form - fresh orange juice, milk with coffee, Sicilian style custard with strawberries and almond bread.
Breakfast has to be continental: weather it is of Turkish, Austrian or Swedish variety is not so important anymore.

Pears don't have to go pear shaped

I had a carrousel of a day so in the evening I decided to go for something that is always a success.
Pear, fresh greens, walnut and feta salad is a definite winner in our house. Especially when it comes with slices of sourdough rye bread of my own making.

I am lucky in a way as I have a small but well stocked herb cum salad garden. Therefore throwing such salads together is very easy for me. This year I had an abundance of sweet peas on the edges as well. Sweet peas are so lovely!
Here is a photo of some flowers that look somewhat like sweet peas but as my husband took the picture in September somewhere deep in outback I doubt they really are sweet peas.

Simple things

Once I have boiled these little beauties tender with some sea salt, added a good dash of olive oil, fresh thyme and lemon juice they will turn into heaven on earth!!!

Going bananas!!!

Some simple things are unbeatable! 
Like a this banana mousse with strawberries and lemon balm.