The Perfect Buffet

Buffets are the easiest way to please your guests and are the perfect idea if you want to give a party...New Year's Eve is coming soon!

Here are some snapshots from my buffets...everything is super easy and quick to make (especially if you have awesome helpers as I do)

In general you should prepare things which are easy to eat even without cutlery. Doesn't mean you have to serve pizza or chips!
You can't go wrong with that:

• fresh bread and grissini
• cheese (cream cheese, mozzarella balls, parmesan, goats cheese) 
• Italian prosciutto and salami 
• olives, green and black olive paste, hummus, walnuts
• vegetables and fruits (tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, radishes, grapes)
• artichoke hearts and basil 

Or what about self-made calzoini?


And don't forget the drinks

Plain and parma ham-wrapped grissini, fresh artichokes and rosmarin as deco

cheese platter with strawberries, grapes and walnuts

tomato-mozzarella skewers, green & black olives, artichoke hearts and bread with pesto& cheese cream

The pesto & cheese cream is an recipe from my mom and easy to make. Mix a package of cream-cheese, fresh herbs like basil, oregano and thyme with some pieces of parmesan. Flavour it with salt and pepper. Spread it on bread or use as a dip.

parma ham and salami-wrapped grissini in the background and sweet macaroons

bread with pesto cream, green olive paste, avocado cream and normal cream cheese, decorated with radishes

fresh hummus with oil, chaat and chili powder

cucumber and carrot stripes

Sweet little things...it is nice to make e.g. home-made cupcakes but sometimes it's great to go shopping! Especially when its about the best doughy cookies in the world from Ben's Cookies, French Macaroons from Ladurée and cupcakes from Hummingbird Bakery.

Red velvet cupcakes and macaroons 

honoured place

If there are any queries, where to buy those delicacies or how to prepare them, just leave a comment

The Breakfast Club

...good morning lazy Sunday, I could really need a good breakfast right now.

A good place to have breakfast is definitely The Breakfast Club. I have been there quite often so far, there are several branches, one in Soho, Liverpool Street, Hoxton and an other one in Angel. I mostly go to the one in Soho and here you need a lot of patience. At the weekends the waiting time can be really long, people are queuing round the corner. The things we do for a good breakfast.
Although it is called The Breakfast Club, they are not only serving breakfast. They have delicious burgers, wrap and sandwiches.

Here are some of my favourites: Apple and cinnamon french toast, smoked salmon with scrambled eggs, avocado with poached egg, pancakes with berries and vanilla cream...and even the classic eggs florentine are great.

The place itself looks quirky and retro...photos on the wall, toys on a shelf and vintage street signs. It is definitely not chic! I heard that some people where not very happy about the staff, but I only had friendly waiters so far...

If you like good good breakfast and don't mind waiting...let's go!

Address:
33 D'Arbley Street, Soho
W1F 8EU London

the breakfast club during the week, rather empty

fruit bowl and avocado with lime and poached egg on a multigrain toast

scrambled eggs on toast (eggs florentine in the background)

Control the rain - Rain Room

Did you ever want to control the rain? Or even better, did you ever walk in the rain without getting wet?

With an installation called "Rain Room" the art studio rAndom International made it possible.

Where? In the Barbican's Curve gallery.

It is an amazing experience walking in the rain, feel the moisture around you and hear the sound of tear drops without getting wet.

How does it work? 3D cameras are installed around the room, which detect every move you do. In this way it is possible to turn off the rain streams around you. But actually I don't want to reveal too much, as it's an experience exhibition.

It is a really impressive experience standing in the downpour without getting wet. My friend got a bit wet though. Maybe she was moving too fast, so that the cameras couldn't detect her.

Times: The Rain Room will run until March 2012 (admission free).

The waiting time can be up to two hours. Depending on which day and time you go, avoid weekends! I waited only half an hour on a Wednesday early evening.

Opening times are daily 11.00 am - 8.00 pm, on Thursday until 10 pm.

The Rain Room

Being in the rain without getting wet

Wahaca

¡Bienvenido to Wahaca!

Wahaca is a Mexican restaurant chain in London.

The central branches are in Covent Garden, Soho and a new one just opened in Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia. I've been to Wahaca in Wardour Street, Soho. It is a canteen style restaurant with a cheerful interior,  colourful lights and walls and some nice retro touches.

They have a big variety of Mexican food: tacos, tostadas, quesadillas, burritos and much more. The food is tasty and reasonably priced. You will manage to be full at the end of the evening without spending more than ₤ 15. Wahaca is the ideal place to order a lot of different starters like chicken tinga tacos or sweet potato and feta taquito and then share it with your friends. If you are not a big fan of sharing, don't worry, they have a large choice of platos fuertes (big plates) as well.

We went there at the weekend and as you cannot book tables we had to wait about half an hour to get a table, which is absolutely fine. There is a bar downstairs where you can play table football, have drinks and nibbles. Therefore the time flies.

If you like Mexican food, cocktails, table football and a nice atmosphere try Wahaca.

¡Buen provecho!

Address: 

Wahaca

80 Wardour Street, Soho

London W1F OTF

while we were waiting...nachos with guacamole

let's play a round of table football

chicken tinga burrito

avocado and squid salad, tostadas and burrito

spicy (!!!) chicken and avocado salad

Sweet and savoury calzone

Make your own Italian calzone!

A calzone is a folded pizza, which is stuffed with different ingredients. Usually the same ingredients which are used for pizza topping. This time I made small calzoni ( plural of calzone), so that I had a bigger variety of fillings. Some vegetarian ones, some with ham, some with salami and olives and so on...I like that more than eating one big calzone.

For the dough you need (for about 15 small calzoni)

300 ml water

500 g flour

7 g yeast

1 tablespoon of salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

a pinch of sugar

for the filling: use whatever you like

I used...

Mushrooms

Black olives

Ham

Salami

Mozzarella

Fresh Basil

Tomato sauce

First of all dissolve the yeast in a small bowl of warm water.

Put the flour on a clean surface and make a well in the middle of the flour. Pour in the water and olive oil, plus salt and sugar. Start to knead the dough for about five to ten minutes until it becomes elastic. Put the dough inside a bowl, cover it with a kitchen towel and let it rest for one hour, so that the yeast can rise. Don't put it in the fridge the yeast needs warmth to grow.

While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 190°C and prepare your ingredients. Wash and cut the mushrooms and grill them in the pan. Cut all the other ingredients into small dices, so that they are ready to be stuffed inside the calzoni.

When the dough is ready, roll it out about 1/4" ( 2cm) thick. Then cut out either small or big circles, if you want a perfectly formed circle use a overturned bowl as a stencil.

Fill each dough-circle with your favourite ingredients, leaving a two centimeters border around the edge.

Fold the circle into a half moon and press the edges together, use a fork to close it properly. Then put the calzoni in the oven for about 15 minutes at 150 °C. They are ready when they are gold-brown.

We had some dough left over...but instead of throwing it away you can make a dessert with the rest. It is the same procedure as with the savoury calzone but this time with NUTELLA.

A small calorie bomb but delicious!

flour fontain

ham, salami, mushrooms, mozzarella, black olives

filling the calzoni

seal the calzoni with a fork

gold-brown calzoni...ready to eat and a mini pizza

no wonder that we managed to eat all of them, so delicious!

The dessert....nutella calzoni!

the sweet version

decorated with icing sugar and mini oreos 

crunchy outside and liquid inside...perfect!

Bill's

Bill's: delicious and unusual breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes.

You cannot stop looking around: the interior is amazing, it looks like a food shop with all the colourful cans, bottles and jam glasses on the wall. And actually you can really buy all those delicious groceries. 

They have a big choice of food, I couldn't figure out what kind of nationality Bill's cuisine is, because they have an endless variety of different cuisines. 

Italian pasta, American burgers, Libanese hummus and pita bread or African-portuguese piri-piri chicken, just to name a few.

For breakfast they have all typical types of eggs, like scrambled eggs, eggs benedict/florentine or  full english breakfast. Furthermore they serve unusual dishes as french toast with banana, strawberries, toasted walnut yoghurt and maple flavoured syrup. A new branch just opened in Soho the other one is in Covent Garden.

Address:  Bill's
       
Covent Garden
St Martin's Courtyard,
London WC2E 9AB                                                                                                                                                    

Soho

36-44 Brewer Street,

London, W1F 9TB

lamingtons

fascinating unique and creative interior

want to buy something?

poached egg, avocado and mushroom on toast...

what kind of cuisine do you fancy? this collage is created with photos taken by Bill's website