The prodigal blogger returns

Sorry for not posting anything much those past two weeks. I'm on the road again and there's currently not much room for writing and photo-editing.

But I've got a few brilliant recipes waiting to be typed in, so just have a bit of patience. I'll be back home for the weekend, then my sister'll be staying for pentecost, and after pentecost, I'll have time for blogging.

Here's something to tie you over till then: My gorgeous Hibiscus plant which has been blooming like crazy for the past couple of weeks, bearing at least two blossoms at a time.

The Hungry Student's Pasta

I practically lived on this dish for more than months when I was writing my thesis last spring/summer. 14 weeks of spending 10-15 hours in the library (yes, it's open that long), 7 days a week. My whole organism ran solely on coffee, adrenalin (I have a tendency to stress the brain out of myself during exams, term papers and thesises) and this stuff: I like to call it the Hungry Student's pasta because it's very cheap, quite healthy, has a preparation time of 12 minutes at the most and all the ingredient are staples I always have on hand. Plus: you only need a knife, a chopping board, a teaspoon, a pot and a sieve, so there's little washing up to do.

Rhubarb muffins

Rhubarb. One of the three marvels of spring (the other two being asparagus and strawberries, in case you're wondering). Up until this spring, my use of rhubarb was limited to compote and meringue sponge cake. And as much as I love those two, they get a bit boring after a while. Time to find something else. Which means time to raid Tastespotting's archives for new recipes. And here's number 1: Cinnamon rhubarb muffins.

Green asparagus at its best

Long time no post. But there was a conference to be run, job applications to be written and a parent to be shown around town. All done now. And I'm back to cooking.

After an (unfortunately not so brief) period of cold, windy, wet weather, spring has finally returned. And it brought not only rhubarb and strawberries but also the most wonderful, marvellous, extraordinary spring vegetable which goes by the name asparagus. Contrary to most people, I'm not a huge fan of white asparagus. I can only stand it with plenty of sauce hollandaise but that would make me go up a couple of dress sizes, so: thanks, but no thanks. White asparagus and me won't become close friends anytime soon. It's ligneous and wobbly and watery and tastes... ...unpleasant. Not at all like its green brother which I love to oblivion. It is crisp and pretty and tasty and you don't have to peel it. Always a big plus.