Looking back on 10 weeks of Hello Fresh

July 15, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Being able to cook without having to do the shopping, a dream for most people! Hello Fresh makes this possible for you without having a butler at home :-). What Hello Fresh does it basically make you a food package for a 3 or 5 days (per week) regular or vegetarian with all recipes and fresh ingredients (from local growers) included to make the predefined dishes. There are some ingredients you need at home like olive oil or salt and pepper, but besides that you’ll find everything in the box. They even give tips how/ what you can put in the freezer or on how to storage the food to keep the food fresh.

My wife and I already tried a similar concept like Hello Fresh about 2 years ago, but we stopped it as it didn’t fit our lifestyle at that moment. We were never home at night which resulted in food being thrown away. We did like the concept and we do still use some of their recipes. When our daughter was born (about 4 months ago) and we knew we would be home much more than before it seemed like a good idea to start again with a concept like Hello Fresh.

Why Hello Fresh and not one of the others? When a new baby is born, the parents get a few boxes filled with coupons, samples and other baby related things. One of those boxes offered a coupon for Hello Fresh… and that’s why we decided to try Hello Fresh. After ‘using’ Hello Fresh for about 10 weeks (as we do sometimes still go out and on holiday 🙂 ) we can say we are still happy with our decision. I know it might seem that I’m not into cooking or shopping for food anymore, but that’s not true. I do still enjoy going to open air markets or the supermarket and cook my recipes. I still do all of that in the weekends. Now I’m just able to spend a bit more time with my family and not having to ask my wife over and over again what she feels like eating tonight or tomorrow (it made her crazy sometimes 🙂 there you have reason n°2 😉 ).

What I like about the recipes from Hello Fresh, is that they are simple and everybody should be able to make them. Another advantage is that no recipe takes more than 40 minutes to cook (most of them not even more than 30min). I must admit that you can sometimes tell the recipes are Dutch as some combinations seem rather strange like lasagne for example with a salad to go with it (as an Italian, that’s a big no no). What I then usually do is just leave the salad out and eat it during the weekend and buy a few extra ingredients. Or I also sometimes make recipes in a different way then described as I know it will just be better my way… (without adding extra ingredients that is). Nevertheless most recipes are very nice and we enjoy them. Another benefit is that their recipes are good for your health as they only provide the portions you are actually supposed to be eating a day. I must admit that when I see some of the portions in the box I think ‘that will never be enough’ and I’m wrong 98% of the time 🙂 Last but not least, another advantage of Hello Fresh is that you throw away less food. The recipes also contain a table with up to 6 people the amounts that should be used for the ingredients (including if they are ok to eat for people who have problems with Lactose or Gluten)

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Hello Fresh also uses forgotten vegetables, from time to time replace the usual potatoes and pasta with quinoa, couscous or any other thing you can replace it with. Basically you get to eat stuff you usually wouldn’t buy or eat, but are now ‘forced’ to eat and in the end love it and think why you never tried it before :-).

I’m sure my wife and I will keep making use of the Hello Fresh services some more. BTW Hello is very spread out as it delivers in Australia, UK, USA, Austria, Germany and obviously Belgium and The Netherlands.

Ceci n’est pas une bière, c’est un Kriek Lambic

July 14, 2015July 14, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

For me cherries stand for warm summery weather while summery weather stands for time spend with family and enjoying yourself. This is exactly what I’ve been doing last weekend at the so called ‘Kriekenfestival’ by the Mort Subite Brewery just outside of Brussels. As we were at the ‘Kriekenfestival’ or ‘Cherry festival’ in English I’m sure you can guess which type of beer we were celebrating. Although I must emphasize Cherry beer is not a ‘regular/ordinary’ beer. Why? ‘Kriek Lambic’ is part of the ‘Geuze’ beer family. A Geuze beer is special because no yeast gets added, the fermentation happens with the wild yeasts that float around in the air aka ‘spontaneous fermentation’. Secondly it is made by blending young and old lambics (Geuze beers let’s say), which is then bottled for a second fermentation (like champagne). And also usually there are no additives like sugar, etc… with exception to cherries. This results in the fact that Geuze usually also tastes a bit more bitter and the cherry beer more acid. Just like with wine it is the Master Brewer who makes the difference with his finishing touch and the ‘assemblies’ he decides to make.

I would be lying if I would say that I drink ‘Kriek’ (cherry) beer on a regular basis, but when I do drink one, it is rarely limited to one :-). The ‘Kriekenfestival’ was one of those moments… summery weather, music, streetfood and a nice Geuze or Kriek to cool off. The perfect recipe for a successful afternoon . I was also happy that my wife and daughter joined me.

The ‘krieken festival’ we went to was the 2nd edition due to the success of last year’s festival.The brewery basically opens its doors for everybody who wants to know more about the brewery and its products. Mort Subite had outdone itself this year as they also gave away free cherries to celebrate the great new harvest. I was surprised how many people were actually at this festival and I’m sure they didn’t only come for the free bag of cherries you got. I also think it were mostly local people as every seemed to know each other and the key word was without any doubt ‘FUN’.

Who says beer, says greasy food (and something you don’t have to tell me twice 😉 ). It was a though choice as I had to choose between deluxe hamburgs or hot dogs… in a world without my lovely wife looking over my shoulder (and me being very greedy) I would have gone for both… but I did think a bit of my well being and did go for the hot dog, in this case for me an Italian sausage, pesto, tomato, Parmesan cheese, basil and aioli. The New York did also look daaaamn good, a classic BBQ sausage with sauerkraut, sweet baked onions, mustard and ketchup OR chicago with pickles and green peppers (to give a few examples). I bet most men are now drooling on their keyboard 😉 My wife took the Zorba with feta cheese ,merguez sausage, greek coleslaw and olive paste.

I was also fortunate enough to get a private tour with the Mort Subite Master Brewer Bruno Reinders telling anecdotes and amazing stories about the brewery. Like for example that the copper ‘alembics’ you see in the Mort Subite brewery where actually hidden during the World Wars and were only restored and reused recently. The tour didn’t take too long, as beer making doesn’t change that much (and I had already visited a few Geuze stekers (makers) in the area a while ago) AND tasting it is much more fun then hearing about it 😉

So from now on the Mort Subite Kriek beer stands for great family moments on a summery day and that’s exactly what I’ll be thinking about when I take a sip of their beer…

Save water, drink wine

July 10, 2015July 10, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

“I drink when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and I drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it, unless I’m thirsty” by Madame Jacques Bollinger who was obviously referring to Champagne…Me personally I would relate it to wine in general :-). Finding a good wine bar in Antwerp to drink a good glass of wine until 1 or 2 years ago was a difficult quest… you barely had them (with exception of the Pazzo wine bar). The past year however more wine bars seemed to find their place in Antwerp. (which I like) One of those wine bars/shops that opened 2 weeks ago was Avini aka the Avignonesi flagship bar/shop.

Avini already caught my attention before it opened. Not only because I know the owners (Thomas was singer in a band I used play in high school – I played drums), but also because it would be a wine bar/shop serving only Italian wines (yes, the chauvinistic Italian in me rises on moments like that ;-)). Not only Avignonesi wines (as that’s what you would expect it beeing a ‘flagship bar), they also serve wines from estates from all over Italy (the usual suspects, Tuscany, Piemonte, Alto Adige, Valpolicella) that you can either buy to enjoy at home or drink at the wine bar (maybe with some bruscetta or other antipasti) for which you pay the so called ‘cork-fee’ of around 10EUR per bottle. This does make it very interesting to open some real beauties they have in their collection. (I already put some on my list for next time)

When I went to Avini earlier this week, my mind was set on trying the Nobile di Montepulciano and especially the Grifi from Avignonesi as I had heard lots about it. Why especially the Grifi? Because it was, before Avignonesi was taken over by the new owner, one of its most famous wines that unfortunately wasn’t made anymore since 1996 (read more about it in this article). As I think the new/current owner probably was (or became) also a fan of this wine, she decided to remake the wine 🙂 Thank you for that Virginie, I did enjoy it 🙂 It had this great round aftertaste and was full bodied, something I like about red wine. I wish I could express/explain it in a fancy way like pro sommeliers, but I’ll just stick to that I liked it ;-).

I did finish off with a weakness of mine, fortified wines like Porto, Sherry, Madeira, Marsala or in this case Vin Santo… Lucky me they even had 3 different kinds (technically 2, as 1 is not called vin santo, but its the same thing). I tried 2, so already 1 reason for me to go back to Avini.

I enjoyed my evening, first of all thanks to my buddy Laurent who joined me, the host and hostess for taking good care of us and because of the nice we were able to taste. I know they just opened and searching for the exact thing they want to do, but I do hope that one day they will be serving wines from less known regions in Italy like Valtellina, Lazio or made with less famous grapes :-). BUT I did get the taste for trying more of the Avignonesi wines (about wish I’ll take some more soon, I’m sure).

I wish Eline and Thomas all the best and see you soon!

Summer in Antwerp

July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Last week Belgium was suffering from way to high temperatures (which is unusual) up to 37°C. Believe me when I say it sounds better than it actually was, when it is this hot in Belgium it is not as nice as when you are in some southern Mediterranean village, but rather as dry as a cracker 🙂

With the exception of 1 evening last week were it DID really feel like being in a small southern Mediterranean village!! ALL thanks to Sepideh Sedaghatnia and her restaurant Divin by Sepi. (FYI you might remember her from one of my last posts). Imagine a hot summer night with from time to time a little ‘refreshing’ breeze while the sun slowly goes under, sitting outside with some friends around the dinner table , glasses filled with some bubbles or rosé wine and eating fingerfood …. the definition of a night when you are on holiday right?? I also wasn’t the only one feeling it, as everybody who was at Divin by Sepi Friday night had felt it. Difference with a southern restaurant, that in this case the service was good and very professional 🙂 🙂 , but nevertheless in a loose way.

A very important rule for when you eat at Divin is to relax and enjoy yourself and those are also Sepi’s only rules. I mean there are no obligations ((you do have to pay the bill all you smartypants out there), for example on the menu you have fingerfood and regular dishes, if you only want to go for fingerfood (no matter how many)… you only go for fingerfood, you don’t have to worry that somebody will think lesser of you or looks to you in a strange way :-)… We (me and my friends) are greedy people so we obviously went for both the finger food AND the regular dishes 🙂 (I just followed, I didn’t want to be rude 🙂 🙂 ).

I do like the concept of the fingerfood, which is comparable with tapas you have in Spain. What I liked about Divin’s fingerfood is that you saw influences from all over the Mediterranean that got overlapped with Middle eastern or better Iranian influences (as that is where Sepideh is from) resulting in summer on a plate (and served in a refined way). Maybe it would be easier to tell what fingerfood we didn’t take as we took 90% of the menu 😉 no no, just kidding. The first fingerfood dish was an Iranian wrap with dates, basil and feta (but the Iranian version of Feta). If a non-cheese lover (especially goat or sheep cheeses) like me liked it I mustn’t say more, do I? It is true that the dates in it made a bit sweeter (typical Middle eastern) and maybe that’s what made me love it??

The fingerfoods that followed were Soft shell crab, Kobideh sate, Falafel with tzatziki, a selection of refined meats and as frosting on the cake a Persian Pizza with grilled vegetables and harissa. One better than the other no doubt about that!! They tasted as well as they looked

The eyes are bigger than the stomach, especially when there is nothing in the stomach yet 🙂 I think we had overdone it with the fingerfood. When placing our order with Sepideh everybody decided to take a mean course (for after the fingerfood), the ladies at our table were intelligent enough to go for a fish dish…

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When the men (including me) saw ‘black angus short rib’ they had NO eyes anymore for other dishes… Again I repeat the eyes were bigger than the stomach aka greediness 🙂 Luckily Sepideh double checked with everybody after all the finger food who still up for the main dish. Let’s just say that we men split the meat instead of eating one each 😉 with exception for my buddy Jan who had a whole one for himself. And there’s another example of not having any obligations … in lots of other places they would have just served us everything. So we basically shortend the short rib 🙂

You might have noticed I didn’t speak about wine yet 🙂 and no not because we didn’t have any… We started our evening in a bubbly way with some Belgian bubbles from Ruffus which tasts just like champagne. FYI the reason it tastes like it is because where the grapes are grown, the soil is the same as the one in Champagne (Champagne’s soil ends in the Belgian region where Ruffus is made). That and the knowhow from the people making it 🙂 . If you ever get the chance of drinking it, I strongly advice it!

In my article about Sepideh’s book I said it was a pity there wasn’t a pocket version of the book. Good thing at the restaurant I didn’t need the pocket version as I had the original version 🙂 🙂 Sepideh in person…. I must say that Divin by Sepi has one of the broadest selections of wine I’ve seen in a restaurant. She has great wines from every continent (besides Asia I think) with a representation of a lot of countries of these contents, including the Middle East, Greece, etc.. Probably you’re thinking ‘Freak’ 🙂 “Whatever’ would my response to that be 😉 . The list was also nice a there were lots of wines on their that I’m sure nobody knows or barely know…but that are mind blowing!! For after the bubbles to make us feel even more on holiday Sepi thought a nice rosé by domaine OTT from the Provence would set the mood for with the finger food.

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Followed by a refreshing German 2011 Pinot Noire from August Kesseler. To finish with a 2007 Italian red (it just had to happen one moment or the other) Fumin from Valle d’Aosta for with our Black Angus. This was basically what the doctor ordered 🙂 🙂 We were still in the mood for something else after this, but as we were all parents with a babysitter at home… duty called. One important lesson for next time bring them to the grandparents for a sleepover 😉

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I did it again, I wrote a too long article, but you all know that only means I am very very enthusiastic :-)- Oh sorry I forgot the mention the dessert I’ll just let the picture speak for itself!!