All posts filed under: Handy Tricks & Style

Upflating your kitchen

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Do you live in a tinnie-tiny apartment and get kinda claustrophobic some time? There is a solution: just draw the world you wanna live in on your wall. You don’t believe me that it works – just take a look on the picture and convince yourself that it DOES work. If you are not great in drawing – the artist in the picture is called Mar Hernandez and works at ‘Espacio Oculto Madrid‘ – an artist community that is always looking out to organize more happenings (maybe even decorating your kitchen – ask them!). Mar, for example, is a big fan of the intitution of dining together. Check out here video below:

What is Cooking? Mascara!

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I guess the perfect make-up is the one that makes a guy just want to eat your face – right 😀 This is an area we are a bit interested in – after all this blog is called LeckerBiss – yummy bite – so if there is a recipe out there how you can smear a strawberry pudding into your face and just look splendid, we would like to know it! As I said – Lecker-BITE (I would run around like that all the time if it ever becomes a thing). Well, kinda you can. As all of you know there are all this make-up bloggers out there who just know how to create make-up at home from things you normally eat. The idea is simple: step into your kitchen and take healthy stuff – BUT now you turn them into make-up! After all this is a life-style, and the blogging scene is the earth it is growing on! The lovely blog Naturelle offers tons of such recipes… In particular for lipstick (a comprehensive list …

Lifehacks: The 5 min lunch based on CousCous magic

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Dave Hakkens is at the moment trying to revolutionize the world a bit by turning as many of us as possible into plastic recyclers (and yes, for some reason his pseudonym sounds like the Dutch version of the other life-hacks channel we inroduced earlier this year…). The man also knows how to eat well, as he demonstrates in the life-hack video below. Before I will cover more of his work (in fact, I am gonna write him an email because I want to learn what his idea is what one could do with all the supermarket plastic bags), I thought it is worth sharing just this little video, as it is easily overlooked on his youtube channel… It is very cute and makes me want some couscous for lunch as well 🙂 Of course, I think though that the one ingredient which is missing in his recipe is hemp 😉 But otherwise: marvellous idea!

How to show up at work with the most colourful lunch ever

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I got so motivated trying this recipe out! The video showing you how to prepare it, is definetely just too cute – unfortunately it is facebook embeded, so for a start only a photograph now. As soon as I grab hold of a free video version though, I am gonna share the link! In any case, anyone will definetely get the admiration of their office mates for such a glass. Speaking of Asian-inspired noodle soups – they are also great dinners, cause within no time you can prepare some pretty decent, filling and yummy meals. Explained here:

The hair pick – a must have in every kitchen (once you’ve gone cutting onions that way, you will never go back)

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Cutting and slicing isn’t easy. Of course, there are slicing boards (here is what I mean with slicing board by the way). But sometimes you do not need super thin slices and boards take up to much time.Thankefully, there is the super-lovely, life-hack youtube-channel ‘DaveHax‘ which brought to my attention, that all that I was ever missing in a kitchen is: A hairpick! Of course, you can also buy those as specially labeled ‘onion slicers‘ (again slicer for such a different kitchen item – why does the English language has to be so imprecise??). However, ‘DaveHax‘ explains to you, why a dedicated hair style product is a must go in the kitchen – besides onions you can do lots more with this ‘instrument’. And, believe me, you very quickly become accustomed to his method. It doesn’t stop here. On his channel, you can find sooo much more life hacks that make one’s days easier… So, enjoy his very British voice to be taught up on fundamental things. Believe me it IS each time a revelation …

THE smart way of cooking spaghetti

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Alright the pic above does not fit the text – but it’s just supersweet, so thank you ‘Herr-Teddy-goes-Rock!-Oder-Pop?‘. I discovered a life-changing trick today: how to cook noodles in an energy saving way. In fact, the recipe is much more than this – it saves soooooo much time!!!  You don’t need to carry a huge bowl of water over to your cooker and wait for ever till it finally cooks (meanwhile in the process adding too much salt). In short, just take a deep frying pan, add the noodles or spaghetti, and cover them with cold (the trick is cold) water. Then heat the pan (for me it is maximum heat) and wait till the water gets soaked up. Once almost completely (well I always get curious already at half way) soaked up, try whether the spaghetti are al dente. Finished! Nice little background story – legend tells that originally some high school students developed this protocol for a ‘Science Fair’ in the wine growing areas of Germany  (here the link).  

Shall I buy or make it myself??

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So – here is an idea (that I am publishing it almost feels like advertisement) that just is really pretty: On the link above, you will get to a side where you can buy it. However, of course, theoretical you can make this by yourself… It is really pretty and I just like the colours you can incooperate into it 🙂 If you have any ideas how to hack it for individualistic puposes, please, go ahead and comment – in any case I am gonna hack it myself soon, too – and let you know 😉

Spiralizing Cuisine – Hemsley + Hemsley

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The two British sis, Food Gurus and business women ‘Hemsley + Hemsley’ customized a special kitchen utensil: the Hemsley + Hemsley spiralizer. It turns any vegetable you have into a spiral. And that opens the door for a multitude of wonderfull new dishes. E.g. they propose the most simple dish where you turn courgettes into spirals, and treat them as if they were spaghetti. Serve them with a simple tomato/basil-pesto and – Voilá – your day brightens. And, courgettes are just the start… There are so many more vegies that look fantastic when spiralized 🙂 The tool alongside all kinds of tips can be purchased at their website: http://www.hemsleyandhemsley.com/ . Enjoy your meal!

Take a SWIG out of this flask!

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Ok, not exactly food or drink, but a very lovely bit of kit to store your favorite beverage. For those whiskey lovers (or their loved ones), here is a great little stocking stuffer for the holidays. SWIG® hip flasks is a small company in the UK. The little bottles are work of art in itself and you can add more personality with the selection of pouches available. I personally love the Union Jack one, though the orange below is also fantastic.  

Papaya alegre al Goji

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Papaya alegre is a term used in Latin America, when fresh orange juice is put onto fresh papaya to make it taste better. Earlier on, I described a trick of mine to bath a fruit salad in its own juice if I wanna make it taste more intensive. Well, for papaya I have a similar trick. Sometimes the papaya I buy in the shops does not live up to the best if tried (it is still great, or plaine papaya is not what I want to eat. In that case, I mix a bit of the papaya (around 30g) with an equal amount (in weight) of banana and goji berries. The trick is to allow the goji berries to soak in 3 soup spoons of water and 2 soup spoons of tequilla for 15 minutes before use.  Discard the liquid afterwards or use it for shots. Mix papaya, banana and soaked goji berries – Voilà! Attention the sauce doesn’t stay fresh for more than one day, so eat it!

Hemp your Couscous!

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Couscous is an all-arounder. It can be served both as a main and a side dish. Either you prepare it fresh or store it forever. It‘s a perfect social food but you can also eat it as a lonely singleton. A very healthy dish – it has one drawback: couscous is rather rich in carbohydrates (~70%) than it is in protein (~10%). My favourite strategy to increase it’s protein content is to just mix it with peeled hemp seeds. The reasons for this are obvious: hemp seeds are look-wise pretty similar to couscous and do not change the overall appearance of the couscous too much. Hemp seeds contain less carbohydrates (~36%) but more protein (~23%). And, last but not least, hemp seeds are very easy to prepare – just mix peeled seeds (buy peeled seeds in the shop, don’t peel them yourself!) into the cooled couscous. As hemp seeds are very rich in oil (containing omega-3 fatty acid) it’s advisable to add less olive oil (if at all) to your couscous. Last but not least, …

Adding the little extra touch to your dragon fruit salad

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Dragon fruit salads are popular among lazy cooks and hosts all around the world. A dragon fruit allows you tp prepare a stunishing eye candy with putting hardly any effort into it. Scoop out the fruit meet with a melon spoon – forming little balls of fruit meat. Use the emptied dragon fruit peel as a bowl into which you can drap the fruit salad. In the picture I show a mixture of red and white dragon fruit together with blueberries and tangerine. The downside of a dragon fruit salad is that the looks are often greater than the tastes; especially in countries to which dragon fruit is imported into the fruit meat may have a very faint taste. It is a magnificent taste but very fine not fitting the catchy visual sensation of dragon fruit. There is an easy trick how to increase the taste of the salad: make a dressing of its own ingredients! In my case, I mixed 4 tea spoons red dragon fruit meat with 6 blueberries and the juice of …

Tips and tricks that function: how to cut cherry tomatos explained by “the yummy life”

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Today, I learnt how to cut cherry tomatos thanks to the awesome food blog “the yummy life”. It is quite easy: put the tomatos on a flat surface (e.g. the bottom side of a plate or a plastic lid). Cover them with an equal object. And cut through the middle of the tomatos with a bread knife. At yummy life they recommend a certain type of knife (pretty cool – you can buy it there), but actually any saw knife will do. This trick allows you to cut many tomatos at once. Moreover, you can even cut grapes, cherrys and equal sized object in this manner. Thank you yummy life! http://www.theyummylife.com/How_To_Cut_Cherry_Tomatoes

Secret to a delicious salad: arrange it! don’t mix it :)

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This salad was arranged by putting a bed of green salad leaves on a wide glass bowl. In the middle a disk of small white beans was created. The edge of the salad bed was covered with small cut yellow and orange bell pepper. Cherry tomatoes cut in half were decorated on top of it. And, everything was covered by stripes of carrots. As dressing served a mixture of lemon, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and sweet mustard.

How to make fish smooth? – cook it in its own steam!

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Fish can be so difficult. Sometimes you buy a fillet that’s just feels, smeels, looks different from all the times before you bought fish. Sometimes you store the fish a little bit longer than you should have. And, then there are these types of fish that are just difficult to prepare. Frying these kinds of fish is a gambling game. The filet may turn out to feel like rubber. Instead, cook the fish in its own steem! That will make a perfect smooth filet. Best, you store the fish fillet before cooking on ice for at least 1-2h. Once you wanna start, dry the fish superficially without squeezing it. Remove fishbones if there are any. Spread equally lemon juice over the fish and salt it. Cut 1 garden leek and a big meat potato into disks (see picture). Take out a cooking pot and cover the bottom well with oil (olive or sunflower oil). Put the flame on highest level to allow the cooking pot to heat. Once the oil starts slightly boiling, cover the …

On the spotlight: Windowfarm

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Have you watched their TED-talk from 2 years ago? Well by now Windowfarm advanced even further. The idea is simple: Why go out and by food (especially when it is cold outside), if you can grow it yourself in your apartment? After all growing plants at home is also an awesome decoration solution… Windowfarms gives you the solution. Nowadays, there are so advanced that you can chose between products ranging from, for example, “whole body mix” (very nutritious) to “color palette mix” (really a good decoration option). Besides looking good, it is of course always also a good trigger to focus on home-cooking a bit more.