Well, what about a New Year Wish in February to compensate for the radio silence around here for the past two months? To be honest, it’s the best I could come up with to break the ice.

I’ve spent these past few months focused on offline projects. I had the pleasure of cooking during the Organic Days Festival at the beginning of December. I even went “back to school” to get a Pastry Chef Degree to fight that “Impostor Syndrome” that kept creeping its ugly head from time to time (an article I loved on this subject can be read here). This process has made me realize that there’s always so much more to learn and in the meantime, it’s shown me very clearly what I am not and that is – I am not a fancy dessert creator enthusiast – there, I said it. Although I do enjoy the geeky process and all the steps that are involved in making such a dish from time to time and by God, I do love eating them, I don’t see myself preparing them on a daily basis; I have too much love for simplicity and for unprocessed, natural ingredients, I guess. I’m also a big believer that in life it’s very important to know what you are not, it’s like one more layer that you shed on the way to finding what you are.

Turmeric Cauliflower Rice Bowl with sweet potato, beet tapioca pearls, radishes, dehydrated pear slices, pickled onions and steamed Bok Choy – the main dish I prepared for festival goers this past December at Organic Days

We got to travel to Vienna just before the holidays and while there, managed to have one of the best Chocolate Mousse Cakes I’ve ever tasted in my life. After that, we managed to plan and actually have a peaceful homey Winter holiday that we spent mostly around the house, baking, reading, enjoying late breakfasts and basically, spending as much time in our pyjamas as possible.The highly covetable display at the Oberlaa Konditorei in Vienna

Christmas morning

And even if I haven’t managed to document some of the food that I’ve been preparing in my kitchen, I’m happy to report I made the best labneh using this recipe, I’ve experimented with Indian recipes and discovered a couple of finger-licking good dishes (more on this soon), I’ve baked copious amounts of my favourite granola recipe that I’ve enjoyed in almond milk topped with fresh fruit or to sprinkle over pink grapefruit halves and I’ve narrowed down my love for smoothies down to 3 recipes, which I intend to write about very soon.

In news from the tiny outdoors of our balcony, my daughter experimented with planting potatoes and I have to admit I was a skeptic about how they’ll turn out. I was shocked to find upon digging, twelve weeks after planting them, that we in fact got a handful of lovely potatoes! You cannot imagine how happy we were to eat these potatoes, that had grown in a flower pot, on a balcony, in the heart of the city, with minimal maintenance on our part. So, needless to say, this Spring is going to be Green-Thumb time. Also, I’m thinking of taking up German language classes, as well as piano lessons, but I’m only writing about this down here so I can convince myself of the enormous improbability of these far-fetched plans of mine.

As for the new year, 2018 is already shaping up to be a very eventful year on my end, both personally and professionally, so stay tuned, it’s going to get interesting.