Welcome! We’re Ralph and Heather, and we’re happy you found us.
This is our farm-to-table food blog in Germany, where we share the meals we cook at home.
Our story
Our passion for eating great food ignited shortly after we met. As a frequent business traveler throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, Ralph had the privilege of enjoying a broad range of culinary delights.
After these trips, he would try to replicate what he had eaten, and Heather was eager to try anything put in front of her. She also joined Ralph on a number of business trips throughout Europe, where they enjoyed many memorable, yummmm meals together.
Through friendships, our passion for food broadened to include great vino.
In 2008, we moved from Canada to Germany. Owing to having a much smaller fridge and freezer, we changed our approach to how much food we buy (enough for a few days), where we buy it (mostly from our local farmers’ market), and eating seasonally—embracing traditional regional German dishes.
Great food isn’t just enjoyed on the weekends—every meal is important to us. We generally eat meat and seafood, paired with seasonal vegetables. It has become apparent to us that the old adage “you are what you eat” isn’t just something our parents said. Food is the fundamental building block of your life, both body and soul.
We started this blog to share the meals we make with our children, family, friends, and anyone who finds us. The dominant chef between us is Ralph, who rarely follows a recipe. Heather had to learn how to cook while Ralph traveled so much (she got tired of making eggs and popcorn for supper), but she prefers to follow recipes.
Our approach to cooking, ingredients, and flavour
Ralph loves cooking in a variety of ways—on his Weber gas BBQ (hauled to Germany from Canada!), on our Weber and Rösle charcoal grills, over an open fire, and on our kitchen stove. There’s always music playing, and often a glass of wine by our side.
For high-heat cooking, we now primarily use beef tallow, which we find works well for frying, browning, and deep frying. For health reasons, we no longer use seed oils. Here’s a recipe to make your own beef tallow.
The main light oils we use are extra virgin olive oil and cold-pressed coconut oil. Also, if we break down a duck to cook the various parts in different ways, we always render the fat, which has incredible flavour and can be used to fry most anything as well.
Many of our recipes also use homemade chicken stock (recipe here). If you have chicken bouillon cubes in your cupboard, you may want to consider replacing them, as many contain MSG or artificial flavours. In the meantime, you can use water instead until you make your own chicken stock, or choose an organic jarred stock made with natural ingredients. Try to use the low-sodium versions—you can always add salt later.
We also love using fresh herbs in our cooking, whether they come from our garden in the warmer months or from pots growing inside during winter. They’re a simple way to add freshness and flavour to everyday meals.
When “QB” is referenced in a recipe, it stands for Quanto Basta (Italian: “as much as needed”), which we learned from David Rocco’s cookbooks.
“Now we’re cookin’ with gas!” is what Ralph blurts out when what he’s making is coming together fabulously.
Guten Appetit & Santé!
p.s. We’d like to thank Banie Stafford of B Creative for designing our logo.