Homecooking without cooking at home

May 8, 2012May 8, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Just two weeks ago Mama Kookt opened its doors. Mama kookt is a caterer/delishop that focuses on making home cooked meals. Mayda andBeatriz ( owners) are of the opinion that people don’t take enough time to eat a decent meal (I fully agree with them), which often results in eating fast food or unhealthy food. Eating a good home cooked meal is so much tastier (I sometimes dream of home cooked meals, I really do 🙂 ). That is why they decided to change this by offering a home cooked meal for a modest price of 9,5 EUR, that you can either pick up or get delivered at home. Mayda and Beatriz prepare their home cooked meals with a Hispanic twist as Mayda is from Venezuela and Beatriz from Spain.

Just in a few clicks or via the phone you order your home cooked meal either per day, a week or a whole month. FYI, the menu also changes every day and for what you can see on their website looks very yummy :-). Every day you can choose between meat, fish or veggie always accompanied with vegetables (so you even get your daily vitamins) and for those who want also some desserts. You can also just pass buy their shop in the trendy Antwerp fashionstreet Kammestraat. In their shop they also cell imported Spanish, Italian and English deli products.

So if you’re in for a nice home cooked meal with a southern influence, you should definitely check out Mama kookt!

I’m sorry for my foreign followers, for the moment it is only available in Belgium… but who knows, maybe someday they’ll be thinking of expansion 🙂

Mama kookt:

Website: http://www.mamakookt.be

Address:

Kammenstraat 79

2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)3 232 03 10

A true discovery

December 13, 2011October 14, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

As you could read in yesterday’s post, my weekend was filled with food!! It already started on Friday evening, where I prepared dinner for a lovely lady. I really like spoiling people and I always try to do the best job ever cooking things my guest likes even if this is not always my favorite dish. You don’t always have to think of yourself…

In this case the lovely lady liked ‘Foie gras’ lamb meat and ‘gratin dauphinois’. So I decided to give as a starter some foie gras and afterwards make some amb filet with a honey thyme sauce with gratin dauphinois. I got my inspiration for the Lamb from Start to Cook and for the gratin it was Roger van damme who gave me the idea and when cooking I gave it my own twist. With a satisfying result (I think). This dish got accompanied by a nice bottle of Barbaresco by Batasiolo

But my food filled weekend didn’t stop here, it only just got started. Like many people, this weekend I did some Christmas present shopping:

Normally I would do this alone, but this time I asked my mom to join me 🙂 . You know what I like about going somewhere with my mom, I just know that we’ll be going somewhere for lunch . Like every time, we’re doubting where we would go. And then suddenly we made a discovery (literally), we saw Enoteca ‘La Scoperta ‘ (which means the discovery). Apparently my mom had already been here a few times (and she didn’t tell me)… So I HAD to try it. An enoteca is actually a place where you drink/ taste and buy wine, but you can also have a little something to eat like ham, cheese, maybe a panino . In La Scoperta it wasn’t any different… This shop/ enoteca had a nice assortment of wines, ham, cheeses mostly from Tuscany and Piemonte.

I’m sure if you still need to find some Christmas presents, that ‘La Scoperta” might have something for you! Our first reason for entering was actually have something to eat, so that’s what we did 🙂 Both me and my mom took the ‘panino con prosciutto, mozzarella and pesto’ and as we are in an enoteca I just had to take a glass of wine (life can be hard). I choose a glass of Nebbiolo d’alba by Due corti, I really lilke wines made with the Nebbiolo grape… This one was also very lovely.

When looking around, I saw something that every time I see it I just wanna have it (also the ham on top of it), A Berkel cutting machine… Look at the picture below… isn’t she a beauty? If I ever have a kitchen big enough I just have to have it!!

When looking around, I saw something that every time I see it I just wanna have it (also the ham on top of it), A Berkel cutting machine… Look at the picture below… isn’t she a beauty?

Low and high budget dining within a few meters

November 29, 2011 / dolcevitaspinelli / 2 Comments

Saturday we went for a dinner in Brussels, to Restaurant Houtsiplou. I got this tip from a friend of mine who has been here a few times. When I arrived on ‘Place Rouppe’ after a very long search for a parking spot, I saw that world renowned restaurant “Comme Chez Soi” was located on the same square :-). So in less than a few meters you’ve got a high and low budget restaurant…

So there has been a moment of doubt which restaurant I should go to and the valet parking made it even more interesting too bad I had already found a parking spot and it is a good thing my wallet got me back to my senses, so ‘Comme Chez Soi’ will be for a next time 😉 + when I have hamburgers and French fries in my mind, it is difficult to get them out

Once inside Houtsiplou, you get an instant smile on your face… All the bright colors, funny creatures on the walls + I know I’m going to eat junk food :-).

Anyhow, I didn’t come for the interior but for food! Houtsiplou is well known for being a family & child friendly restaurant (so I’m right at my place) and for its delicious hambugers. Also very good to know, vegetarians can also accompany their friends here, as all the burgers also get served with Tofu instead of meat and there are also lots of other veggie possibilities on the menu. We’re not veggie, so out with the tofu.

I went for the Basico Hamburger, 225g of beef, fresh bearnaise sauce, salad, tomatoes and fried onions (mmmm, I want it again). With some Homemade fries on the side.

My woman took the Pato, a burger with duckmeat, foie gras (that melted nicely over the duck meat) and a green pepper sauce.

When we received our plates it was very silent for a couple of minutes … The best sign that it was good!

I could have still gone for a dessert, because they all seemed delicious… Tiramisu with Speculoos or Apple crumble or Cheesecake with Speculoos already make me hungry again… but I think I made a wise choice not taking a dessert, because I would have felt too stuffed J

I would really recommend this restaurant to everybody who is in Brussels with their family and wants to have a great fresh burger !! Again the only disadvantage is the parking … but that’s a common problem in every big city I would think

Houtsiplou:

Website: http://www.houtsiplou.be/

Address:

Place Rouppe 9

1000 Brussels, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 2 511 38 11

Heavenly Italian ice cream

October 19, 2011 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I know it is really not the weather for it anymore, but a few weeks (when the weather was still great) I had a taste of the Gelato Factory Ice cream. Mmmmmmm, that’s the only thing I can say! I don’t know if it is the best ice cream in Antwerp, but it is really good(of that I’m sure). Gelato factory is actually the ice cream shop from Herman Tackaert, a former lawyer who decided to have a big career change J . So Herman went to Italy (where else) to learn how to make the best hand crafted ice cream. After having learned he opened a little ice-salon in the Trendy Antwerp “Zuid” district. So if you are ever in the neighborhood, stop by and try this freshly made Italian ice-cream. The only problem I have with this shop is that it is on my way to my mom’s home, and I always feel the urge to eating ice-cream L

B.T.W. I took a cone with a scoop of ‘chocolate’ ice cream and ‘nocciola’ (my favorite) (hazelnut ice). Ok ok and I also had part of my girlfriend’s ice cream as her ice were bigger then he stomach. She had red berries ice cream or ‘Frutti di bosco’. And FYI on their facebook page you can find some of their yummy creations!

Ah well, I’ll survive 😉