I’ve been feeling a little lack lustre the past few days. The temperature in our apartment hasn’t dropped below 25°C for over a week and so I haven’t been sleeping terribly well, it’s starting to tell on me… I’m usually ok with heat but it’s the terrible humidity here in Basel which has a tendancy to grind me down in the summer.
The motivation to be in the kitchen has left me. I really need some inspiration, some fantactic summertime dishes which don’t take a lot of time to prepare, are low fat and packed with flavour… Any ideas???
Hester | 15-Jun-06 at 7:48 am | Permalink
Just found your website through Alicat’s - I am a fellow Englisher in Switzerland and I am also going through the nightmare that is our apartment in this heat. I am taking a temporary break from cooking - ice cream is the only way to go! or anything involving salad and goats cheese… yum.
Rosa | 15-Jun-06 at 12:41 pm | Permalink
Yes, it is very hot here (over 30°C in Geneva) and the temperature in my apartment is terrible (+28°C)!
Like you, I am not really looking forwards to staying in front of a hot oven, so I opted for cold meals (Greek salads, fresh fruits, müesli, sandwiches with leftovers, etc…). I did bake muffins and still have to cook certain things, but I’m trying to keep it as simple as possible (savoury cakes, bread, apricot tarts, etc…)…
Pamela | 15-Jun-06 at 1:10 pm | Permalink
Swiss houses are nice and cozy in the winter but they are definately not made for summer!
Meeta | 15-Jun-06 at 1:55 pm | Permalink
Hey Pam, We’ve got high temps here in Weimar too! I normally open all the windows early in the morning and allow to air. Then close everything on the sunny side and draw the curtains. this way I found it to it stays cool till the evening!
As for foods … go with fruity drinks and milkshakes and salads. Always the best thing for hot days!
mae | 15-Jun-06 at 3:24 pm | Permalink
I would go along with Meeta. Potato salads, cucumber [very cooling!], fruit juices…
ann | 15-Jun-06 at 6:39 pm | Permalink
chopped salads combining both vegetables and fruits with a nice chili pepper twang are my hot sticky summer staples
also, fruit based chilled soups
there’s one for a melon soup with bits of ham over on lobstersquads blog that has me absolutley obsessed!
Pille | 16-Jun-06 at 1:07 pm | Permalink
It’s not too hot in Edinburgh, but I’m off to Greece this weekend and the temperatures are gonna be ca 30-40C. That’s hot! Last time I was in Greece (July 2002) I lost over 5 kilograms in 10 days - it was simply too hot (40C) to eat, and I survived by drinking gallons and gallons of water and nibbling some salad & bread just before midnight when it was somewhat cooler (alas, low 30s:) I’m kind of counting on that this time, too, as I’ve been overeating recently:)
Pamela | 16-Jun-06 at 1:19 pm | Permalink
Have a fantastic holiday Pille, looking forward to seeing some of those holiday snaps on your site when you return!!
Safe journey