.
Happy Christmas from 2DM /
It’s about that time to gather around a fire, eat a few kilos of sugary treats and wait for Babbo Natale or Santa Claus (or whoever it is that normally drops by your ‘hood) to pay a visit. So Happy Holidays, safe travels, warm wine and fuzzy feelings to all!
From everyone here to our wonderful talents, clients, collaborators, bloggers and friends we wish you an inspired finish to your 2010!
Tag Christof.
Velofood Milano
Milan is dusted in white. And every high street from Via Montenapoleone to Corso Vercelli is dressed up in twinkling light. A giant evergreen in Piazza Duomo has stolen centre stage from the cathedral, and fuzzy songs with bell percussion lines are wafting over every radio frequency. This must all mean… sustainable food! Eh?
Yes, this year Christmas in our lovely city will be just a bit greener thanks to Velofood. The “Sustainable Delivery Service,” which started earlier this month, has cleverly wrapped up sustainably produced holiday confections, wine and miscellaneous delicacies in adorable Milanese monument themed packages, from San Cristoforo sul Naviglio (right down the block from us!) to Bocconi to Casa Manzoni and Palazzo Mezzanotte among others. Each theme has its own special assortment of treats. Order three days in advance for timely delivery, and clean green zero-carbon-footprint bike messengers will speedily pedal a pack or two right to your doorstep. Send some to your friends! And if you want our address to spread a bit of holiday cheer…
From the Bureau
Yvette Van Boven / Home Made
2DM’s food styling and illustration wizard Yvette Van Boven, whose giant ice cream sundae was featured on this month’s cover of Wallpaper*, released a delectable cookbook, Home Made, earlier this year. Met with huge critical acclaim, the book is dripping with gorgeous images, illustrations and hand written recipes of all sorts. The scrumptious baked goods, hearty winter fare and summer snacks run the gamut of world fare, with a particularly Dutch flair – it was, in fact, the winner of this year’s Kookbook van het Jaar (Cookbook of the Year) award in Holland
Yvette’s inspiration for the book has its roots in her formidable food culture, which includes a highly-regarded catering business and a private dining restaurant, Aan de Amstel, in Amsterdam. Regular readers of the Blogazine will know her well from her mouth-watering Sunday Brunch column.
The book is available for order on Yvette’s website, and comes highly recommended for adventurous cooks, even those who don speak Dutch! Our tummies are rumbling.
Tag Christof, photos courtesy 2DM and Yvette Van Boven.
Happy Thanksgiving!
A long, long time ago in the faraway, new land of America – or so the story goes – archenemies made friends for a day. They feasted on fabulous fare so fattening and filling that they had to take long naps before waking up just to eat again. Over yams, cranberry and pumpkin, formerly irreconcilable differences were forgotten as polar opposites realised the bountiful insights each could gain from the other. Today we celebrate Thanksgiving in the hope of a fruitful tomorrow, reflection on our good fortune, forgiveness of our foes and for enjoyment of friends, family and food.
So whether you’re scarfing down turkey, tofurky or take-out Chinese with your closest companions, we wish you the happiest of Happy Thanksgivings!
Text Tag Christof, drawing Mrs. Betty Anne Pinetta.
Welcome back recipe!
Gorgeous to see you again, boys and girls! We’re back after a most refreshing summer holiday and are rearing to go in the new – and cooler – season.
And even though we’re ready for an excuse to dust off our scarves and galoshes, summer always ends too soon. Keep a taste of it alive with this zesty, sunshine-charged lemonade recipe from Ivette van Boven.
Happy fall!
By Tag Christoph – illustration by Yvette van Boven
Sunday Brunch – Savory Cake
Hello!
The past weeks where special ones.
We had a sad family gatherings, huge cooking jobs and in between I finished my book. On one occasion my sisters brother in law baked this cake and brought it to her house.
After tasting a slice we all couldn’t stop eating it. So I asked him for the recipe to share with you.
He had thought of the recipe himself and luckily new it by heart. So I jotted it down quickly and made it at home as soon as I could.
It’s lovely.
Please use salt and pepper to taste, but don’t forget that parmesan, olives and feta are salty too!
Have a great Sunday afternoon,
Yvette
Text and illustration by Yvette van Boven
Sunday Brunch – Puffy Pancakes
Last week was my husbands (we recently got married, so I have to get used to the fact of saying husband instead of boyfriend), birthday. He loves pancakes and caky things. Especially with fruit!
So I made him these crossover caky-pancakes for breakfast. They turned out so great, that I’ve made them a few times after that to get the recipe right for you to make them too.
Eat them with fresh raspberries, as we did, but I can imagine them with strawberries and cream, melted butter and maple syrup, castor sugar, cinnamon and butter too…. miam miam!
Have a lovely sunday afternoon,
Yvette
Text & illustration by Yvette van Boven
Veggie Carnage
Very Bravo, the sassy Italian upstart purveyor of toys, graphic prints and other fun miscellany has just made the world of play a tad more compassionate. One of VB’s first editions, the product of designer and founder Mario Gatti, combines social consciousness and dietary conscientiousness in the the world’s first and only vegetarian toy: Carrot Slayer. Our man (and his vermilion root victim) comes decked out in both ‘Hippie’ hashish-loving and ‘Gruesome‘ leather-clad S&M dominator guises (sadly, there are no carrot handcuffs included).
While mostly a cheeky exercise the toy posits a seriously relevant perspective on the great vegetarian/omnivore divide: our food is inevitably our victim and its ritualistic preparation is a visceral experience. Yet, its source (which we have become all but disconnected from) may or may not be a cause of tremendous suffering. The personified carrot, although clearly conscious of his impending doom, seems pretty enthusiastic about the prospect of becoming salad garnish. Something tells me that if the happy carrot were a cute cow excited to meet an evil slaughterhouse axe, the message might not go over so well. And conversely, a carrot executioner, no matter how sinister, is just plain awesome. Orange blood spatter and all.
The toys are limited to 250 pieces each.
By Tag Christof, Images courtesy of Mauro Gatti
Home Made by Yvette
Our lovely food contributor hailing from Holland, Yvette van Boven, will not be able to feature her tasteful illustrated-recipes this week cause she’s really busy on a project called “Home Made”. What is it all about? Essentially focused on food, which we cannot leave aside with Yvette, “Home Made” will be a collection of many useful and step-by-step illustrated stories-recipes, in which the reader will be challenged to learn and prepare new things. New home made things.
A series of tips to use the ingredients you already got in your fridge, without any expensive or complicated machine or device.
The book works up from the morning and cooks itself throughout the day; so you’ll be pleased to make your own brewed tea, bake cakes and why not, your own drinks, nibbles, bites, till mayonnaise for those who need something to eat after a night out.
The ‘Do it Yourself’ philosphy is the one embraced by Yvette, who wisely designed the fonts, cut and drew the illustrations, wrote all the recipes, made the food styling and finally set up the book. Within a totally womanly matter, her husband Oof Verschuren shot the pictures inside the book. Will you be able to wait ‘Home Made’ to be out by the end of August? Considering this tantalizing preview, we won’t.
By Elisa Lusso – image courtesy Yvette van Boven
Sunday Brunch – Banana Muffins
Sunday is Mothers day, so nothing’s more festive than surprising mum with hot banana muffins for breakfast, especially these ones with a crunchy topping. Make your mum proud and bake her a big basket full of these yummy goodies.
If you are in a really good mood, eat them with spoonfulls of Nutella. That will keep her (and you) smiling for the rest of the day….’
Text and illustration by Yvette van Boven
