Weekend in Salzburg

One of my very best friends is studying in Salzburg, so it was about time a few of my other friends and I packed up enough clothes, snacks, games and prosecco for a weekend and headed to Austria. It was around Christmas time and we had planned to go to all of the Christmas markets in Salzburg, which of course we didn't manage, but we did get through our fair share of them. It was crowded, people were smiling, laughing, eating. There was just a generally happy feeling in the air. Other than that, we made homemade pizza and sushi, played a ton of card games and slept in. Altogether it was a great girls weekend filled with food, laughter and fun. Gosh I sound so cheesy I might get queasy myself *wrinkles nose*.

Excuse the paper towel by the way, we kind of ran out of plates and had to improvise. 

What do you like to do when you're having a girls day or weekend? 

xoxo

Laura 

Throwback to Christmas

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way"....wait, what? It's March for crying out loud, Christmas was a long time ago Laura! Well, yes I suppose that's true. But with the weather looking like this: 

It almost feels like Christmas time. That's why I figured I should make the most of it and show you what I made for Christmas dinner last year. I kept it a little bit simpler than last year, and I only made it for seven people, but it was delicious nonetheless. Here we go: 

This was the hors'doeuvre, a potatoe-cheese-walnut cake with a jogger dip and some rocket. My mom said that was the highlight of the entire menu. Not sure if that should make me happy or mad, seeing as it was the smallest part of the entire dinner. On the other hand it is my own recipe so what the hell, thanks mom *insert angelic smile here*. 

What is this brown gooey stuff you're asking me? Well excuse you, this happens to be one delicious chestnut soup topped with roasted chestnuts and a frozen whipped cream topping. It also served as the first course of the meal. I mean, ok I get it, it looks kinda...well ok it's brown soup and there are definitely more attractive soups out there but hey, it's the taste that counts right?

Enter my main course. Roasted duck breast on top of potato-celery purée alongside roasted praline cherry tomatoes and creamed leeks in a Parmesan cup. All of this was drizzled in a red wine sauce which my boyfriend took upon himself to make and wouldn't let me help in the slightest (in my opinion he just wanted to take all the credit for the deliciousness that was the sauce and didn't want me to steal his glory- which I totally get). 

Tadaaa, time for the grand finale. Here we have a berry crumble, vanilla panna cotta and a dark chocolate mousse. Great now I'm hungry, what's for dinner? 

I should probably also mention that while I say "I" cooked this meal, it was definitely a team effort between my boyfriend and myself. I couldn't have done it as well as I did without him, and without getting too gushy, I do have to say, N's a pretty amazing guy and I'm a pretty lucky girl to have him. 

xoxo

Laura