Just a small post for today as it's late already and I was hoping to have an early night... I managed to spend today mostly doing nothing that exciting - washing a lot of clothes ready to take to a charity shop (finally doing some clearing and getting rid of stuff I don't need/use), catching up on my favourite tv shows...

This card arrived from dear Rita last month. Such perfect timing, too, as I had been looking for something tasty to make for Easter. There's a recipe for these quark bites at the back of the card and I was dying to give them a try. I was hoping they would be like the 'kohuke' quark bars I bought in an Estonian shop in Finland last year. They were sooo good, but none of the grocery shops here selling Eastern European foods sell them :( Alas, they were not quite the same, but still very, very tasty and moreish. ...although I had to keep them in the freezer as they would've melted too much in the fridge (I couldn't have eaten them all in one go :P).

You'll need: 

200 g quark 
2 tablespoons sugar 
a dash of vanilla extract 
50 g butter 
100 g dark chocolate 
50 g whipping/double cream 

Mix the quark, soft butter, sugar and vanilla. Put the mixture into cupcake cases (I used paper cases but silicone ones might work better... although I'd recommend using fairly small ones!!) and freeze. Melt the chocolate with the cream. Dip the frozen quark bites into the chocolate, cool in the fridge (and store in the freezer?! ... in that case just let them soften for a bit before eating). 
 

aubergine caviar

I was talking about food postcards yesterday so here's one. ...and with one of my favourite ingredients, aubergine, too!

Mmmmm, I couldn't possibly get enough of aubergines! I love it in pretty much any form, although the baba ganoush I had in London a couple of years ago had too much tahini for my liking. (I'm not a huge fan of tahini and when making hummus, I always have to reduce the amount of tahini as most recipes call for way too much of it for my liking.) I haven't tried this dip yet but it does sound gorgeous. Here's a recipe from the back of the postcard:  

2 aubergines 
1 garlic clove 
1 glass olive oil 
salt 
pepper

Halve the aubergines lengthways, lay them on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper, add a drizzle of olive oil and bake in the oven (180 C) for 30 to 40 minutes. Scoop out the aubergine flesh with a spoon, add the pressed garlic and crush the mixture to obtain a fine puree. Stir with a wooden spoon, slowly adding the olive oil, as when making mayonnaise. Check the seasoning and store in a cool place.