Food for the eyes: Baracca, Cluj

When I'm traveling I almost always find special places where the food is great and where my eyes can have a feast too.
This time it's about Baracca in Cluj, Romania. They say their food is "design food".
I only say that I had a great experience there.

The first time I went there I had a homemade ice-cream and I had to try all three flavours [the pink one's raspberry], so I wouldn't leave thinking that I missed anything. I'd been ranting around about the fact that I couldn't find locally made ice-cream at restaurants in my country for quite a while so finding it there was just perfect.

To be honest, I knew I would have a good time there from the first moment I set foot in the cleverly designed space. It was just perfect chemistry.

There were little green  leaves greeting me from metal pots on every table and huge lamps promising to lighten up my night. And so it was.

My ice-cream was good - so smooth and subtle. I thought I had everything and nothing could push me off my pink cloud.

But then I saw it: a tiramisu cake served in an individual jar - so chic and thoughtful! So my complete beatitude turned into need. I needed to have one of those. So I asked for one. And they brought it with a smile on their face. 

I had a red dry wine to complement my dessert spree - it was brutal and astringent - but I loved it.

I took a few seconds to admire the wall art upon leaving. Simple messages were scribbled on the walls. Some were lists of world renowned chefs or restaurants and some were clever and cute quotes.

There was a sense of relaxation I left with, turning my head once again to get a last glimpse of my table.

Prepare a body scrub in the kitchen

I've never found a scrub that properly does its job so far. They are always too rich in oils or they lack scrubbing particles.
Tired of failing when shopping for scrubs, I thought of making one myself. After trying many combinations I came up with this "recipe".
Mix cornmeal with sea salt and just a pinch of rice. Add coffee grounds and mix well. Now you need the "wet" part of the scrub. Here there are many options: 1. use the scrubbing mix of particles together with your favourite shower gel; 2. add honey until it binds the particles; 3. add oil until it binds the particles; 4.[the best version] add honey and just a drop-or-two of oil.
If you chose to use shower gel in the process, just wash normally as if you had a store-bought scrubbing shower gel. Otherwise, wash first using soap/shower gel/shower cream and then take a walnut-size portion of the scrub and gently rub it on your skin. Leave on for five minutes or ten - so that the honey/oil has enough time to moisten your skin and then wash it off and - voila! your skin will be soft and glowing and happy.

Observations:
Use coffee grounds that are finer than the salt or cornmeal particles. That way you create a spectrum of particle sizes which will ensure that your scrubbing is effective.
The oil can be any vegetable oil but you should aim for olive oil, grapeseed oil, flaxseed oil - if you use the latter, prepare minutes before you use because it won't keep.


Other things you can add:

• salicylic acid/other acids used in cosmetics for a peeling effect
• essential aromatherapy oils - the scrub, if you follow my recipe, would have a nutty flavour
• coloring substances/extracts - to make its color more appealing

You can store it in small dark glass recipients. It makes a great gift.

Bits of Austria

 

At the end of september I took a trip to Austria.
I had not many food-related desires but the one thing I wanted to try was the Sacher cake.
It's a simple yet exquisite cake that features apricot jam and chocolate and it's very easy to make. However, today I'm not going to post a picture of my Sacher masterpiece [I haven't even made one yet but I will soon]. Today is all about delicious memories from Austria.

Of course we had to try other sweet delicacies too. This fresh raspberries tartelette reminded me of  the 2006 Marie Antoinette movie and the love she had, as an Austrian, for lavish desserts.
All the cakes we tried were un-originally but tastefully accompanied by espressos.