(some) impressions of delicious Sicilian food...

 

One reason to love Sicily (and Italy) is for sure its cuisine! Once in Sicily there is a complete new culinary world to be discovered...A mix of European, Arabic and other influences melted in the Sicilian cooking pot and will let/make you lick your fingers...Let start with a plate of freshly grilled veggies and a plate of home-made pasta with fresh seafood! Or what about the trattoria del Pino in Palermo where our Friend Augostino brought us to have lunch like locals: some pasta with meat+potatoes and I enoyed yummy grilled fish...

 

Dont forget to try the local refreshing delight, no  not an ice-cream, but a "granita di limone"...and on the day after get some more clams ("cozze e vongole") :-) on pasta or just cooked in a big pot:-))) There is so much more to discover: the "arancini" (rice balls filled with meat or mozarella or both), the "caponata" (fried eggplant and onion with tomatoes)...but hey, I wont tell you all the secrets, go and spoil your eyes+stomach!

Autumn colours and quinces in Filstrof&Lorraine

 

Its again this colourful time of the year, when nature paints the world around us in all rainbow nuances and presents us with its treasures.

 

Orange pumpkins and golden apples, fresh pears and shiny yellow quinces-the autumn harvest is always a happy time...Quinces are really special nature gifts. Even if they resemble the apple and pear, their aroma and taste is completely different. I had enjoyed them in fresh pressed apple-quince-juice or in quince-gelee...Very exquisite fruit...some people even talk about it as the almost forgotten fruit...

 
I met also a cute field mouse...

Forest mushroom discovery walk in Utrechtse Heuvelrug/ Paddestoelentocht

 

On a perfect sunny autumn day, guided by two experienced musshroom experts, we went for a forest mushroom-seeing in the Dutch National Park Utrechtse Heuvelrug. It is really amazing how many big, medium or really tiny mushrooms and sponges are growing there! With a hep of a mirror one could also examin the hidden part of the musshroom: the side under its hood:-)

 

The more beautful or exotic a mushroom look, the more dangerous and poisonous it is...You may see this on the pictures attached. The red-hood mushroom, known as the "fly agaric" (on third picture) and the round yellow balls on the ground, called "pigskin poison puffball" (poc below) are two good examples.

Jardins Fruitiers de Laquenexy in Moselle

 

The fruit garden next to Metz, known as the "Jardins Fruitiers de Laquenexy in Moselle" is just one of the gardens in the project "Jardins sans limits". With the different sorts of apples in the garden the mosaique on the first picture was built the first weekend of October 2011.

 
Between the fruit trees and vegetable garden one may also enjoy some decoration based on recycled old metals (such as the elphant and hippo on the picture above). The garden also offer courses for people intesreting to start do gardening.

"Zelfpluk" in Olmenhorst, the organic apple-pear-garden next to Lisse

 

In the months September and October the organic fruit farm Olmenhorst opens its door four times a week to all apple- and pear-lovers. Elstar, Santana, Jonagold or Jonagored: its time for "zelfpluk" (collecting the fruits on your own, directly from the tree)! In the huge property at the border of the village Lisserboek one may test and buy also fresh pressed apple juice, have a stroll between the trees, enjoy an "appeltaartje" in the sun, visit the local cheese-farm or do some shopping at the biological supermarket....

 

A lot of beautiful butterflies like the farm  too...Some even posed kindly for a picture:-)