Apricotina with almond stuffing

I don't know if you've heard, but I am trying not to eat (processed) sugar. It's become a bit of an ongoing joke at work, because I blatantly do still eat it. The point is, I am trying. I definitely don't eat it every day now. You may be thinking "why?". Well, it's because I feel that I am addicted to it - I swear that trying to give it up has been harder than giving up smoking. I also want to be free of the ups and downs in mood that sugar creates. I have enough of those without it, thank you very much. Having said all this (and now you'll know why this has become a bit of a joke), I have a friend coming round for dinner today, and I'd hate to deprive her of a dessert. I can't blog about any more sugar-free flapjacks, as the whole point of this blog is to introduce you (and me) to new things, to be creative and inspiring, so I will give up on the giving up for one night only. And probably a few other days and nights when I am tempted by something which is worth breaking the rules for. After all, life would be pretty joyless if you never broke your own rules

Apricotina are Middle-Eastern apricot drops, which take about 5min to make. You grab some dried apricots and mince them - I used about 150g and a blender, you could also chop them really finely. You then mix them with about half a tablespoon of icing sugar, kneeding them to paste, before rolling them in more icing sugar until they're pretty little balls. I stuffed an almond in the middle, Claudia Rodin (A New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking) suggests a mixture of ground almonds and sugar as stuffing. I think they're delicious with mint tea, my friend Mariana says they're like something from outer space

Herrings in prune sauce and the secret of happiness

I've been incredibly busy recently. I have so many projects going on outside of my full time job, that everyone keeps saying to me "you must be really tired". The truth is that I'm really not. I feel like I've stumbled upon a secret - the secret being, that doing what you truly love gives you energy rather than taking it away. I spent most of my twenties feeling tired, slightly bored and looking for distractions. Always the next party, the next holiday, the next boyfriend, and it all seemed great from the outside, but I was never happy, I never even knew the meaning of the word. Now, finally I am starting to understand... from what I gather, happiness is something that comes from deep within you, and it's a calm feeling, nothing to do with being hyper. Also, it needs time and space to develop, because to be truly happy you need to know that you are on the right path in life, and that comes from some serious soul searching. In the past year or so, everything has changed for me. As one of my best friends, Anna, said - I've been through a renaissance. Sometimes, a really horrible experience in your life (like my break-up a year and a half ago), can lead to an amazing rebirth. The thing is, so far, only people that really know me can see this shift, because on the outside nothing much has changed (apart from my buying a flat) - I guess that will happen as my plans come into fruition. I won't drag you through all my deepest dreams and desires right now, but one of them is to write a Polish/Russian cookbook. I am at the stage where I am trying, developing and revising all the recipes to go in it. I will blog about half the recipes I try out - it's a compromise between documenting the process and keeping new material for the book itself

Ingredients

1 packet Matijas herrings (in oil) - 250g

1-2 onions, finely sliced

Handful of prunes

3 tablespoons tomato puree

Teaspoon honey

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

So, what we've got here are bagels from the shop on Brick Lane, stuffed with a sweet herring filling. There are so many different types of herring dishes in Poland, that it will be difficult to choose which ones to include in my book. This is a version of "Sledz pomorski" - that's from the Kaszuby region in the north of Poland, by the Baltic sea. They usually use raisins, but I prefer prunes. Fry the onions in the oil, covered, for about 20min. Add the prunes (sliced in half), honey, salt and pepper. Fry for a further 5min, then add splash of water, or wine if you have some on hand. Meanwhile, chop the herring fillets and place in a bowl. When the sauce has cooled, cover the herrings with it, and chill in the fridge overnight. The brand of herrings us Poles always use are "Matijas" ones - the plainest possible, just in oil. Before they came along, and still in some places in Poland, you can get herrings straight from the barrel

Honey, date and walnut flapjacks, sugarfree

You may be wondering what's going on with all the flapjack recipes recently. The truth is, since I liberated myself from the maple and sesame flapjack, there's been a bit of an oaty orgy going on at my house. So here were are - another brilliant combination. I'm starting to think you can't really go wrong with them, though of course I should know that you can go wrong with anything. So if you want a formula then I guess it's this: 3 cups oats to 1 cup something crunchy and nutty and 1 cup something sweet and chewy (plus butter and some kind of sweetner). This time I've sweetened them with delicious honey from some distant family's beehives in Poland

Ingredients

3 cups oats

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup chopped dates

200g butter

1 cup honey

Germain in Paris

I had another one of my impromptu Paris trips this week, to see an old friend, and would like to recommend a restaurant (which was recommended to us) even though it is a little on the pricey side. The whole of Paris appears to be a bit on that side lately...

Having dinner here felt like having a dinner inside a David Lynch film. Although, someone has subsequently told me that there is an actual David Lynch restaurant in Paris. So I must check that one out next time and compare. Not that I'm a massive fan of Lynch, I just love "Wild at Heart" really, which probably reveals how terribly un-avant-garde I am

I had a delicious steak tartare and the best fries ever. I'm not normally a fan of fries but the French appear have a way with them. The bread and butter weren't to be sniffed at either. And the salmon "bio" that Cat ordered and shared with me, was melt-in-your-mouth gorgeousness. Two main courses and two drinks each set us back just over 90 Euros. But you could easily spend that in Paris somewhere where the service is slow and snooty, and the food not as good. The waiter here was lovely on the other hand

You may have guessed that it's in Saint Germain, which was really fun and buzzy this time of year - everyone sitting outside drinking and smoking, just like this hipstamatic view from the restaurant

Paris, je t'aime