La dolce vita, pursued my many, achieved by few, has never felt more in reach than now. I am sitting in the modest but homely Berlin apartment of Alba and Gabriel who, holidaying in Japan, are no doubt missing out on the finest cooking their cramped kitchen might have ever seen. Certainly this is no sun-drenched beach, no mediterranean and Ben is no Anita Ekberg. Yet tasting Thursdays refried beans with homemade hot sauce, or yesterdays aubergine stew, I hope my esteemed reader would not not begrudge me the fanciful hyperbole that I was, upon the first bite, for fifteen sweet minutes holidaying in Mexico the first night and Morocco the second. Unfortunately no vacation awaited me Saturday night, as we opted for Bangers and Mash à l’allemend, replete with sauerkraut, mustard and red wine. I was not transported from my seat, but rather, pushed further into it. Sunday lunch was then an overture of the previous nights, salsa roja of roasted veg, pan- fried mashed potato discs topped with tajin eggs, all singing in concert with Thursdays hot sauce.
But yes, la dolce vita ... la belle vie … la Ben vie.
We have read many a online recipe - been frustrated by many an online recipe - which has as its entrée a masters thesis or two of spiel. We would hate for our over-description to over-shadow the focus of this post - our meals. They are listed below:
Thursday
- Refried beans (black beans)
- Pico de gallo
- Tomato Rice
- Homemade habanero hot sauce (flavored with burned tomato, onion, and pepper)
- Warsteiner Pilsner
Friday (in the esteemed company of Alfie)
- Aubergine stew
- Buttered rice
- Garlic lemon yoghurt
- Sumac and lemon cucumber salad
- Augustiner Lagerbier Hell
Saturday
- Bratwurst
- Mashed potato (with mustard, schichtkäse cheese, and garlic butter)
- Sauerkraut
- Lots of mustard
- Chateau Clement Saint-Jean Medoc
Sunday Lunch
- Roasted salsa roja
- Pan-fried mash discs
- Tajin eggs
- Homemade habanero hot sauce
- A glass of milk
Bon appetit x