Again a summer meal, light, with lots of vegetables and various dishes: a plate of green salad with mozzarella; a plate of fried bread (olive oil, after frying rub with some garlic and sprinkle with salt); polenta, first cooked, then fried; potatoes Nigella style (first fry in oil in a pan with garlic, add water to cover and boil for 10 mins, then change to oven dish and bake for another 25 mins) ; cucumber wedges; red bell pepper in stripes, to eat raw; asparagus, boiled for more than half an hour, but very nice and soft, with sauce of boiled eggs and butter. Rolls of ham. Lovely. Some red wine to go with it (should have been white, but... nice anyway).

who has to cook on Mother,s day? I got fried broad Chinese rice noodles (hefen) with egg, dried reconstituted mushrooms, carrot, ham, spring onion and button mushrooms. Just thinking about this meal makes me hungry!

Grand summer-style dinner: fried veal sausages (so far, so good, not much cooking here); tube pasta with olive oil, garlic, hot chili flakes and rocket leaves; one salad with iceberg lettuce, alfalfa sprouts and a dressing with mustard, vinegar, sugar and olive oil; salad with sliced green apples and an equal amount of sliced celery, strips of dried apricots, walnuts, and crushed cardomom, all in a sauce of crème fraiche and honey. On the side, fried bread, extremely good to eat. I bought those pre-baked kaiserbrötchen which still have to go into the oven for 8 minutes or so. Instead, I fried them in olive oil until crispy from the outside but soft on the inside and I rubbed them with garlic and sprinkled on them a little salt. Just delicious.

Fried aubergine (eggplant) with tomatoes: choose a firm eggplant and cut it into thin slices, which are then cut into thin strips. Fry those in quite a lot of oil on a moderate fire. Give it time: eggplant needs some time to be tender, otherwise it will taste rubbery and not done. When the strips are slightly browned, take them out with a slotted spoon and put on some kitchen paper to get rid of some of the oil. Pour the leftover oil from the pan into a bowl or something for re-use.
For the sauce: fry 3 green hot peppers, sliced into strips, in some oil, add 2 cloves of chopped garlic and about the same amount of ginger. Add some dry pepper flakes for extra flavour. You could put in some minced meat as well, but it tastes also quite good without. Fry slightly, add 2 teaspoons of sugar, some soy sauce, some rice wine and stir. Then put in the already fried aubergine strips and two small sliced tomatoes, and two chopped up spring onions, stir for about 3 minutes and, as finishing touch, add 1 teaspoon of chinese vinegar. Serve immediately with white rice.

Diced chicken with peanuts and diced carrot; stir-fry broccoli; white rice; tomato salad with garlicky vinaigrette. The trick to tender chicken is to marinate it in egg-white and cornflour, with a little soy sauce and rice wine. Leave it for half an hour or so. First fry the peanuts in a pool of oil (take care or they might burn!), take them out. Then fry the diced carrot slightly, take out. Then fry the chicken in rather a lot of oil and don't start stirring too soon, just let the oil do some work. The chicken dices will kind of stick together, but when you flip them over and separate them with your spoon, all will be fine. This is the moment to add garlic and ginger and some hot bean sauce. Cover everything, then add rice wine, soy and a spoon of sugar. Also, add hot chili flakes. Stir a little more and finish the dish... happy eating.