Hummus has been a staple ingredient of Middle East food for thousands of years. It is a kind of starter, a paste prepared from chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. You may use it as a spread for pita bread or as a side dish for meat or vegetable dishes.

I make two types of "hummus". One with just the basic ingredients and another with dried tomatoes. You may add some parsley or dill so that your spread will be a nice green color. In my son's kindergarten the teachers have been trying to introduce hummus to the kids' diet. Unfortunately, so far this has been unsuccessful, which is too bad because it is an excellent source of magnesium, phosphorus and iron.

When preparing this spread you may start by making tahini. You need to dry-roast some sesame seeds (put a lid on the frying pan so that they don't go brown and make the spread bitter) and then blend them with oil. I take a short cut by blending the dry-roasted sesame seeds together with the chickpeas.

Version 1
Ingredients:
1 tin of chickpeas
3 tablespoons of sesame seeds
2 tablespoons of oil
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
salt and pepper

Today I would like to share with you my version of a Norwegian dessert called Tilslørte Bondepiker. Literally translated, its name means "rural girls in veils". In Sweden it is known as Änglamat.

Tilslørte Bondepiker is a layered dainty prepared with braised apples (you may also use plums), a layer of whipped cream, a crunchy layer of fried breadcrumbs, another layer of whipped cream and a thin layer of crumbs on the top.

In my version I used oat-nut cookies instead of breadcrumbs. On the top of the dessert I put a bit of ice-cream instead of whipped cream.

Traditionally this dessert is served in transparent glass bowls, cups or big glasses to make it possible to appreciate its grand look.

You should remember to prepare Tilslørte Bondepiker just before serving, so the layer of cookies stays crunchy.

Ingredients (4 portions):
4 apples
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
250ml of 30% sweet cream
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
200g of cookies
4 ice cream balls

Do you know which ideas for dinner I like the most? It's not really complicated: I don't figure things out, don't prepare, don't cook, don't clear the table and everybody is full up and happy. If like me you are sometimes loath to cook dinner, you don't have any idea for a meeting with friends and maybe you are looking for a place for dinner or a power lunch, I recommend a Japanese restaurant called Banihana on Twarda Street 4 in Warsaw. Here excellent food is combined with imaginative preparation of the dishes, and the extraordinary atmosphere is accompanied by creative, open people in one consistent succulent whole. In my opinion, it was joyful, loud and very tasty.

The restaurant was created by amazing people whose ideas still exist in many Benihana restaurants all over the world. Just after the war, Yunosuke Aoki, a descendant of a samurai, decided to start a coffee shop with his wife, Katsu. Wanting to offer something different from other coffee shops in the area, Yunosuke Aoki rode his bike over 20 miles to purchase real sugar for coffee. His son Hiroaki (or Rocky, as he would become known) used the idea to create something unique. Rocky moved to the U.S. to pursue his dream of opening his own restaurant. He started by selling ice cream on the streets of Harlem. At night he studied restaurant management. He went over well and was known on the streets of the areas where work wasn't the most popular activity. The people could rely on his friendliness, smile, energy and the colorful Japanese cocktail umbrellas he added to the treats. These are small details, but isn't it always the little things that stick in our mind? It is hard to believe he managed to save up the money to open his first teppanyaki restaurant in New York in 1964. Like his father's coffee shop, it was named Benihana. He opened more restaurants within the next few years. Now there are 130 restaurants Benihana all over the world.