Hi everyone! I’m Katharina from Katharina’s Food Adventures. I recently had the honor of being asked by Angharad herself if I could write up a guest post. Of course I could! Now what could I write about? I didn’t want to bore you all, so I thought I’d get a little creative and maybe inspire some of you to do the same. Here goes!
Since I can remember I’ve always been asking myself “what if”. In fact, when I was younger, people called me the “what if girl”. I’m not sure if it was a good thing back then, but I carried that title proudly. Still living up to it today, when it’s time to eat my mind races through flavors, ingredients, and the ever-present question, “what if”. What could I add to really make this meal pop?
Exhibit A)
Rather than making this grilled cheese with cheddar alone, I added some mango chutney. If you’ve been reading my blog then you know that this is my favorite grilled cheese!
Exhibit B)
I wondered what it would be like to make French toast with crumpets. I spiced it up with freshly ground cardamom and cinnamon. Pour on the maple syrup, dust on some confectioner’s sugar and voila!
Exhibit C)
One day my mom really wanted me to make huevos ranchers while I was visiting. (Hey mom shouldn’t you be cooking for me?! Just kidding!) I only had a couple ingredients on hand so I improvised. Since we didn’t have tortillas I baked some homemade polenta to a crisp. So if you don’t have something on hand you can always pull a MacGyver.
Exhibit D)
The muse of this dish was my very first kabocha squash! It was a mission just finding one, so I knew I wanted to make something special but with an Asian flair. I steamed the kabocha, boiled some edamame, cubed a mango, and toasted coconut shreds. Then I whipped up a dressing: coconut oil, soy sauce, sugar, lemon juice, and rice vinegar. This covered so many kinds of flavors it was awesome!Now because it’s always a great idea to end on a sweet note, I’ll leave you all with this to feast your eyes on:
This nighttime snack was delicious and unusual! What is it? Mashed kabocha with cinnamon and coconut oil mixed in. Then I crumbled a slice of freshly baked Pumpkin bread and vanilla fro-yo. My crazy curious taste buds did it again!
I wrote this in one of my posts a long time ago, but I think it’s very appropriate to how I cook: “Just think about what flavors you want to come out, and taste as you go.” Try it out folks; think of all the possibilities! Who knows what wonderful concoctions you will whip up. Maybe you’ll end up making the best BBQ sauce ever because you put a dash of creativity in it; do I hear the word patent? Just follow the motto from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, “the secret of life? The secret’s in the sauce.”
