Tummyrumble

Kamatahvel, the mysterious kama bar...

Ah, finally I have had time to try the mysterious pseudo chocolate bar that Pille of nami-nami fame sent me several moons ago. I can't believe that it was in January she sent it. It has been sitting quietly in my fridge ever since, sometimes catching my eye as I have been getting something to eat (giving me a slightly bad conscience for not trying it).

Anyways! Brief recap. Kama in this context is not the hindu god of love, it is an Estonian traditional food item in flour form (a mix of rough grain flour and pea flour). It is supposed to be nutritious and refreshing, especially when mixed with sour milk for a cool summer drink. During the Soviet era in the 70s when chocolate was hard to come by someone came up with the brilliant idea to replace the cacao flour in chocolate with kama flour. Presto, the kama bar saw the light of day, and it was good!

Or, was it? Having tried the kama bar Pille sent me I can honestly say that it is a rather pleasant experience. To me the look of the packaging is very 70s. Wrapped in gold foil the bar has a sleeve of yellow and brown paper with the Kamatahvel name in a heavy font and a stylised sun with grain husk inlays. Looks great to me, but then again, I am a 70s child.

There is not a very strong smell, and the feeling to the touch is smooth and soft. Taste is hard to define, but there is definitely a hint of coffee in there. Very mild, I'd say it is a rather good substitute for what we in Sweden call "milk chocolate" meaning lighter colored chocolate low on cacao content (and mixed with milk). When you chew it the texture is again very smooth and silky to the tongue. Very nice.

After trying the chocolate bar substitute I can definitely say I am interested in trying the variety mixed with sour milk. I really do appreciate the taste. But now I am off to try and download the classic martial arts movie The Octagon with Chuck Norris to see a whole different type of kama... Amazing what you can be reminded of when looking stuff up on the Internet.

Pille, again, thanks for sending me the kama bar! :)

Fabulous olive oil: Le Trebbiane

Went to Borough Market for the first time in several weeks last Saturday to pick up ingredients for the night's dinner. I needed new olive oil, and found a beautiful bottle (yes, that's how shallow I am when it comes to olive oil, I am not very knowledgable in that field I am afraid) in that small corner shop closest to the bridge.

It is called Le Trebbiane, and half a liter cost £11. When I got home, I poured some on a spoon and tasted it and lot, it was beautiful. Beautiful green color, soft, fruity and with a strong almost peppery after taste. In fact, it tasted so good I felt that there had to be something special about this olive oil.

After some creative googling I found out that the manufacturer is called Frantoio Franci, and apparently Le Trebbiane was awarded "Best Extra Virgin Olive Oil of the year" in the International Guide "L’Extra vergine"             2005. Whatever that means. ;) Anyway, it tastes great.

I love finding stuff like that.

URL: Frantoio Franci, Tuscan olive oil mill
URL: Le Trebbiane, best extra virgin olive oil 2005 according to "L’Extra vergine"

Spring cleaning time!

Oh, my... It is so dusty in here! Can't believe it's been so long since I was here. Just too much going on so the cooking and food experiences unfortunately had to be put on the back burner for a while. Now I have finally managed to get my head above water and find some time to breathe, so time to do some catching up.

Last month have been very hectic. Merger of companies I work for, new apartment, visiting the south west of Ireland for a friend's birthday, pressed for time at work delivering a site for a well known Swedish restaurant guide company... 

Everything has gone well though, and I must say I am very proud of what my team of Swedish web developers over at Infogate have delivered for White Guide, which I certainly should mention here since it has a bit of a Swedish foodie connection to say the least.

White Guide is THE Swedish restaurant guide book, listing and reviewing the best restaurants in Sweden. They also hand out a number of awards every year to the restaurants that truly excel in various ways.

Over a very short time line we have gone from nothing but a printed guide book to a full fledged digital restaurant guide web site, links to our booking engine, a member section activated through individual codes distributed in the printed guide, e-commerce functionality for buying online memberships if you feel a guide delivered on dead trees is a bit old fashioned, decent web publishing tool in the back end to make it easy to maintain and a way of distributing all that restaurant content to my employer's restaurant booking web sites. It even looks good, if I may say so myself.

Yesterday was the big launch at Berns in Stockholm, in my opinion one of the most beautiful looking venues in the city, and traffic has been good on the site.

Feels food to have the launch behind us, knowing that everything went well. Now we need to sort out the list of tweaks, features and additions that didn't make it in there in time, which willl be pure fun now that the pressure is off. And, I can start cooking and playing with food again!

Mum always told me not to play with my food when I was a kid. One of the few advice she has given me over the years that is obviously plain wrong. ;) Of course food should be played with!

Made a great meal for me and my friends last Saturday, thanks goes out to the "Three gils in the kitchen" blogging in Swedish over at www.ragazze.se. Based on their recipe for Cevapcici we had a great dinner with Bosnian meatballs, oven roasted vegetables and that olive mixture they came up with. I added some finely chopped chili to the olive mixture, which made it more exciting.

Phew. Just thinking about all the stuff I should blog about makes me dizzy. The Kava from Pille, challenges from Paz and Anne, about the food in Ireland... Not short on topics, to say the least. And this weekend I am going to Paris, to meet a special someone. We have booked the blind place, Dans Noir, I am sure that will be an interesting experience...

URL: White Guide - the best restaurants in Sweden
URL: Infogate - building better webs (in Swedish)
URL: Ragazze - Three girls in the kitchen (in Swedish)