Barbecue No2! or How to trick myself into liking salad...

After a long and exciting day on Schmachtenhagen's farmers market with our friends Anna and Beau we came home with tons of meat, some sausages, fresh warm sourdough bread, an ice machine that I bought for 10 bucks at the flea market there and a giant headache from all the beer we drank...

Nevertheless our hibachi was already waiting for us.

As soon as we got home we fired the grill and threw on some sausages and sirloins.

In order to have our dinner plates look more colourful and a bit healthier I decided to make a classic salad with lamb's lettuce, tomatos, cheese and avocados.

Ok. I have to admit I'm not a big salad fan. 

But with a few tricks and a bit of extra-pimping I manage to create one that even I don't mind eating.

First of all I caramelize the cherry tomatoes in butter adding a dash of sugar, salt and pepper.

Warm sweet tomatos in a salad taste insanely good!

Then of course adding roasted nuts (pine nuts and almonds preferably). 

You can't go wrong with crunchy roasted nuts! 

I also like adding Hass avocado cubes because of their creamy texture and fresh parmesan to sprinkle over it...

Very important, as well: good olive oil and balsamico vinegar.

Quality just tastes better! 

For example we bought 20 year old balsamico vinegar from our local Italian store.

That really makes a difference!

I can also highly recommend to do an olive oil degustation at some point.

You won't believe how different olive oil can taste!

I really like the greek ones. They taste very grassy and slightly bitter.

There you go! These are my tipps and tricks to make a simple salad more enjoyable.

You can also just add meat to it, though...

We drank a pretty decent French red wine with it: Chateau Capitoul Rocaille Rouge AOC

which contains the varietals syrah, grenache noir and carignan.

Ayayaaaay....Big Nacho Time!

Ok. So my boyfriend Wil who is Canadian kept complaining about not being able to buy proper Mexican food supplies...for Nachos, Tortillas etc.
The salsa comes from Belgium, tiny bags of Nachos for 3 euros and no canned jalapeños or refried black beans...
Germany is a bad country for that.
And I thought he would die.

Until we both discovered MITTE MEER!
A big supermarket with all kinds of mediterranean food for relatively cheap, mainly Spanish and Italian.
It just opened a few days ago near Bornholmer Strasse.
Not only do they carry Rosemary Manchego (pure or marinated in olive oil) prociutto di parma, lardo and DeCecco pasta.
No, they also sell some Mexican products.
A giant bag of Nachos for 1,50 or 2,- euros, refried black beans, canned jalapeños AND Salsa from actual Mexico!
To round up the perfect Mexican-North American bar snack we also bought black olives, onions, tomatos, sour cream and a big chunk of cheddar cheese.







At home Wil put the chips in a casserole, sprinkled tomatos, olives, sliced jalapeños and chopped onions over it, topped everything with grated cheddar cheese and baked it until the cheese was melted and brown on the edges...
He served it with sliced avocado and sour cream, refried black beans and the salsa as dips.

That was pretty awesome!
The perfect food while watching a movie or hanging out with your friends.