The meaning of Tiramisu

This year I was celebrating my 24th birthday in a restaurant with family and friends. Not only was I surrounded with great people, I also got treated on a special dessert, including fireworks and harmonious singing. After the spectacular concert by our favourite waiter "Caspâh" and the orchestra made up by own family and friends, it was time to start the attack on the dessert. One little problem: 1 bowl of tiramisu and 8 hungry people surrounding the dining table.. As only shared joy is real joy, we collectively dived into the precious Tiramisu to enjoy its taste. However, the moment that the Tiramisu reached the taste pupils of my brother, something must have snapped in his brain.. He magically turned into a philosophical scientist, raising the fundamental question that surprised us all:
"Guys, what does Tiramisu actually mean?" 

We all stared at him.................silence........... What?!................That's what you think of when eating Tiramisu, after having had plenty of wines and beers? Who cares what it means, it just tastes freaking good!!! But after the question got time to sank in, my brother's curiosity started to become contagious and we found ourselves captivated by his striking question. Millions of people around the world eat this legendary Italian dessert every day, but does anyone know what it symbolizes, what its true meaning is? After a confusing Google research on the spot, we asked "Caspâh" the waiter, to raise the question to his Italian chef. Unfortunately, he couldn't help us out.. Maybe he wasn't that "Italian" after all... This inspired me to do a little research about the mystery of Tiramisu. Below you will find my simple, but striking discovery.

Tiramisu comes from the Italian phrase: Tirami sù, which means: lift me up or pick me up

Interpretations of this meaning may vary, but it is clear that it refers to the raising of an emotional state, rather than the physical act of lifting/picking up. I believe the "lifting up" reflects the boost of cacao, Amaretto liquor and coffee, that one gets when eating the dessert. It has been proven that these three fundamental ingredients of Tiramisu are great energy lifters. Moreover, cacao may even temporarily affect your happiness level and lighten up your spirit. Is there any better reason to eat Tiramisu? Goodbye guilt, hellooooooo happiness!

Whether this information will alter your taste experience the next time you order Tiramisu (perhaps it works as a placebo effect), or whether it has achieved the status of most invaluable knowledge; at least you can pretend you are the smart ass, next time you see someone eating Tiramisu. "Do you know what Tiramisu means?"... "No?"....."Well, I do! I do! I do!"

Yia yia's Keftedes me Patates

The story
Yia yia's Keftedes is a recipe that is holy in our family. Whenever one screams the K-word, you will find all of us running to the kitchen like small children. Even my dad, who is normally not so keen on getting out of his fancy chair. However, it must be noted that these are not "normal meatballs", these are yia yia's keftedes; the meatballs of my Greek grandmother. What makes them so miraculously special is the combination of love and garlic (ever thought these two things would go hand in hand?). Yia yia was always caring and cooking for everyone, whether it would be the family, the vegetable man or a stranger, I bet she would share her food with all of them. Unless they wouldn't be a fan of garlic... Then they would have a big problem.
My grandmother died 6 years ago, but her meatballs are one of her precious legacies she left behind. Luckily, she taught my mom the craft of Greek meatball-making with love (and my mom passed it on to me). And so I am the third generation with this delicious family recipe in my hands.


Ingedients (for 3-4 persons)
* 400 gr. mince meat
* 2 cloves of garlic
* 1 onion
* 3 crumbled toasts/ biscuit rusks
* 1 egg
* 600 gr. potatoes

Spice it up with:
* fresh thyme
* 20 gr. of fresh parsly
* fresh rosemary
* oregano
* salt and pepper
* 1 lemon


Preparation and cooking
1) Peel the potatoes and cut them in pieces. Put them in an oven tray and sprinkle them with rosemary, olive oil (make sure all potatoes are covered), salt and lemon juice. Bake the potatoes in a pre-heated oven of 210 degrees, for about 50 minutes.
2) Chop the garlic, onions, parsly and thyme and mixe them in a bowl, together with 1 egg and the crumbled toasts. Season the mixture with oregano, salt and pepper.
2) Add the minced meat to the mixture and mix all the ingredients thouroughly with your hands.
3) Make small balls of the mixture by rolling them between your hand palms. Coat them with a layer of flower and fry the meetballs for about 10-15 minutes, until they are fully cooked on the inside.
4) Serve the meatballs and the potatoes on a plate and sprankle the meatballs with lemon juice.

Delicious with a salad en tzatziki on the side!

Welcome!

Dear visitors,

I am happy to welcome you on my blog "Spice up! - Culinary adventures". If you aim to step out of the standard way of cooking and discover new territory which will spice up your cooking for more enjoyment, you are exactly where you need to be!

Thanks to my Mom's passion for food, culinary experiments have always been dominating our dining table (in fact, I am the worst Dutchie when it comes to Stampot and other typical Dutch "cuisines"; I have never eaten most of them!). Unavoidably, I took over this magic gene and used my international family roots and the travels I have made, to discover the large variation of flavours, creativity and cultural experiences in the world.. And I came to see that cooking is an universal art: blending in flavours, discovering new combinations, using fresh ingredients and letting your creativity flow result in a unique dish, with a hidden signature of the Picasso that made it. It ain't gotta be perfect, it ain't gotta be well-thought, it just got to be personal and peformed with conviction and joy: That's the work of a true artist.

On this blog I share food-related anekdotes, dining cultures and adventurous recipes, which find their roots in countries all around the world. Hereby I hope to share with you my passion for cooking and inspire you to make dining a simple, enjoyable moment of daily-life; which can be shared with family and friends, but can also be secretly adored by yourself.

'Cause, the way I see it, life is too short to be eating plain food..

Bon appetit!

Melanie