A lunch worthy of royalty

Last thursday my parents and I hopped in the car and took a rather long drive to have lunch. We traveled to Veere. A small little town in the provence of Zeeland (yes, New Zealand was named after this Dutch province).

Veere only has 1632 inhabitants, but the small number of inhabitants is more than made up for by the rich histroy. In 1600 the city had 3000 inhabitants, but 300 were Scottish due to trade treaties and a royal wedding. Veere has many very old, well maintained buildings. The 'Grote Kerk' (literally Big Church) was built in 1348 and the old city hall is from 1579.

The tower and facade of the Grote Kerk

City Hall

However, aside from a stroll around, we came for lunch. But lunch wasn't just anywhere, it was at restaurant 'De Campveerse Toren' in well.. The Campveerse toren (tower). The tower was built as part of the city defensive wall in the 1400s, however it is also said the oldest inn in the Netherlands was housed here and that the father of the nation, William of Orange, would stay here on occassion.

Much effort has been put into preserving the building and atmosphere. You walk up very old, worn, stone steps to the restaurant, which is beautifully decirated

Your cuttlery is silver (poor soul who has to polish it all) and our main was served with a cloche! 

I felt, that I was treated like royalty! 

1, 2, 3... Decloche!!

The room has three windows, with tables so you can sit practically in the windowsill, and it's lovely, views of the water on all sides!

They also have some hints to the royal past, with a classy showcase full of royal Delftware.

And there is a big plate of William of Orange on a prime position as well!

Now all these royal surroundings are awesome, but if the food sucks, then you still have nothing. But fret not, the food was amazing.

From amuse bouche to friandise with the coffee and tea, my mouth was spoiled with delight!

The food was actually so good, I only managed to take photos of the first amuse and the main, the rest got eaten too quickly!

A mini sandwhich with asperagus creme and an arrancino. 

Lobster 'a la nage' (cooked 'as it swims')

From start to finish all the ingredients were used very purely and well balanced, it was a delight.

If you ever want to combine great food with a bit of history, the Campveerse Toren is the place to be!

Boozy Cupcakes

I'm baaaaaaack! Summer holidays are here, so time to relax and bake!

Tomorrow night is girls' night and I am bringing dessert. I have tried making mojito cupcakes before (tasted great just not.. Mojito-y), and today I went for my favourite shot combo 'Suitcase' (cuz it sends you packing).

Jack Daniels cupcakes with Passionfruit liqueur.

Cupcakes

100g flower

100g butter

100g sugar

2 eggs

50ml Jack Daniels

Cream the butter with the sugar, add eggs one at a time, incorporate flower. When it is all mixed add the Jack.

Bake for 25 minutes in a 150C pre-heated oven.

Butter cream

150g butter

+/- 3 cups icing sugar

100ml passion fruit liqueur.

Cream the butter, add sugar until desired consistency. Add in liqueuer, add a bit more sugar for good consistency.

When cupcakes are cool, pipe on butter cream.

Super Foooood!

Is it a cupcake? Nooo. Is it bad for you? Nooo. It is Super Foooood!

These muffins are filled to the brim with all the latest "super foods". I'm not sure about how healthy they are, but truth is, as a breakfast muffin they are really great (leave you full very well!).

Here goes!

Ingredients: (makes 8-10)

1,5 cups of flour (you can use almond flour if you hate yourself and want to go gluten free)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup coconut oil (or any vegetable oil)

1/2 cup sugar

1 lemon, zest and juice

2/3 cup of greek yoghurt

1 egg

2 tb  ground flax seed

2 tb ground cocoa nibs

4 tb ground dessicate coconut

2 tb chia seeds

Preheat the oven till 200C.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. Mix the oil with sugar until creamy. Add the lemon and the yoghurt and mix well. Add egg, mix untill well incorporated. Mix in the flour mixture, until just combined. Add in all the seeds and fold through gently.

Fill your muffin tin. If you want muffins till the edge of your liners, fill them 2/3. If you want the beautiful muffin top type muffin, fill till just under the edge of the liners. 

Bake about 15 minutes. Check with a wooden skewer to see if they are done.

Enjoy!

The health kick 2014

I've been sticking to all my New Year's Resolutions in 2014. (like blog more) And it's time to start the last one. The ultimate health kick. I've been training really hard with physio, and dare I say it, it has been going 'ok'. (we don't use the w word, that's jinxing) And last Friday I squatted 62,5kgs. It was one of the best moments of the last 2,5 years. Undoubtedly there is a setback on the horizon, but right now I can look up. And it seems unfair to my body to ask it to perform at the peak of its ability and then feed it crap non-stop. So no more, fruits, veggies, nuts and fish are my future.

And yippe, you all get to enjoy it too! (run while you can ;-))