My breakfast with a mackerel

I know that some of you don’t like green soups so I decided to write about something with fish and finish with “uncomfortable topics”. I would like to propose you a very simple recipe: smoked mackerel paste. It’s possible to eat it for a breakfast ( when you have a day off ) or for a supper. It’s really tasty and fresh idea for a meal. 

I buy smoked mackerels on a street market in Gdańsk. It’s a crowded place where you can find almost every type of meat, fish, vegetables and fruits. I didn’t make photos of my expedition in the market but I show you my breakfast with mackerel paste.

Ingredients:

• 1 smoked mackerel without skin and bones
• 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
• ½ chopped onion
• 2 chopped pickled cucumbers
• salt, pepper
• chopped parsley or chives – optional

Now, you can mix all ingredients together and put the paste on a slice of bread.

It’s ready to eat!

Paris- Brest in Gdynia

Today I was in Gdynia with my husband. I woke up, then we ate a delicious breakfast and we were thinking what we can do during our day off. I live in Gdańsk but I really like spend my time in Gdynia. It’s a modern city with an important seaport. We went there by a city train called SKM. It takes about 25 minutes from Gdańsk to Gdynia. At first, we walked along Świętojańska Street – the most famous in Gdynia. Finally, we decided to eat something in my favourite French bakery “Le Bonjour”. 

It’s a crowded place where you can always buy all types of bread, croissants and pastry. You can also try macarons –  a type of meringue with sweet filling between two biscuits. Everything is made by a real French baker. I love this place because of delicious cakes like Paris-Brest (that you can see in the picture) and because of possibility to speak French language with the owner. 

In the photos you can see what we ate. The Paris-Brest below.

Then we were on the beach to listen the Baltic Sea and take some photos. I saw a man who was blowing enormous bubbles with washing-up liquid and a lot of children jumping around him. They were trying to catch bubbles… it was very funny situation.

I invite you to visit Gdynia :)

Something green !

  Finally, spring is coming. We can even find flowers in some gardens but I’m still waiting for fresh vegetables. I decided to eat radish germs but it was too hard to digest for my stomach. Are frozen vegetables like broccolis, cauliflowers or carrots better solution? Let’s check it! Today I cooked broccoli soup and… it was very easy and tasty!

You will need:

• About 750 grams of broccoli
• 1 litre of water
• 1 bouillon cube
• sour cream
• 2 cloves of garlic
• salt, pepper, sweet paprika, sugar, thyme
• bread
• 1 table spoon of olive oil

Directions:

When you use frozen broccolis, put them into a  medium pot with boiling water and after 2 minutes strain them. Then put 1 litre of water into a pot one more time and add broccolis, bouillon cube, garlic and salt. You can add also vegetables like carrot or potato if you like. Cover with a lid. Cook the soup on a medium heat until soft (about 20 minutes or more if you decided to use also carrots or potatoes). Carefully transfer the broccoli soup to a blender and blitz until it will be smooth. Season with the black pepper, sweet paprika, salt and sugar.

Croutons:

Cut bread into small cubes and put into a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, thyme, sweet paprika and shake it well. Put cubes into a hot pan and fry until crispy and golden brown.

Serve hot soup with sour cream and croutons.

HUNGRY PLANET

Today I decided to write about photographs that you can find in the book “Hungry Planet”. The project is made by American photojournalist, Peter Mazel. He was traveling around the world and took the photos of thirty families from 24 countries and food that they consumes in a week. It’s really interesting because each family profile has a description about their food purchases in USD. When we compare the families, we can see the difference between the people. Some of them must survive with food that cost $ 1,23 (the family in Chad), others spend until $700 (like in Norway). In less-developed countries like Guatemala, Mali, Turkey, Bhutan, people eat more fresh and healthy food. Fruits and vegetables are the most popular food groups. The situation change in United States or Great Britain where people prefer meals with low preparation time- the famous fast food.

This project makes me thinking about the quantities of food that I throw away everyday. Maybe it's time to change something...

Here you will find the photos and a short text about project “Hungry Planet”:

http://world.time.com/2013/09/20/hungry-planet-what-the-world-eats/

Malika - restaurant in Gdynia

Last weekend I was in Malika restaurant with my husband. It’s situated on the most popular street in Gdynia: Swietojanska Street. The menu include the dishes from colonial French South Africa like tagine, hummus and couscous. I wanted to taste something new and find a new place where we can repose. The service was very good. We didn’t know what we want to eat and the waitress told us about dishes and recommended her favourites. While we were waiting for our dishes I drunk Traditional Berber Tea for the first time in my life. It’s very sweet mint infusion – and I really like it!

Then we started to eat: special crispy pastry chicken pie (as the warm appetizer), beef cheeks tagine with plums and chopped mutton meet skewers (as the main course). The last one was the dessert – Kadayif cake with dates, fig sauce and gingerbread ice-cream. Everything was delicious!!!! I hope we will back there. If you will be in Gdynia, try to find Malika restaurant. You wouldn’t be disappointed!