Poppy, poppy, oh how I love thee! Autumn and wintertime is poppyseed dessert time. Popular not just in my house, Austrian Germknödel (a type of yeast dumpling filled with poppyseed cream), poppyseed pastries, cakes, strudels, even ice cream, are everywhere. One of my latest discoveries: poppyseed yoghurt by Ja!Natürlich. I can’t believe it and have to have it! I like to indulge in my baking obsession on weekends, so I didn’t have to think long about what my recipe pick for Freizeit-Kurier was going to be: poppyseed and apple cake – perfect for a cozy Sunday afternoon! This cake also turned out to be the ideal “model” for my recent food photography session and was eaten whole immediately after having its picture taken, beautifully arranged and decorated.

Wow, the past few weeks were really exciting, yet relaxing at the same time and also very very quiet. I spent the last 14 days recharging my batteries and letting myself get inspired on a wonderful island called Iceland. I did one entire circle round the island and was open-mouthed and in awe of everything around me daily, sometimes even hourly. You will be able to read the full report (with pictures) very soon. And then came this week’s absolute highlight: I was told I had won the AMA Food Blog Award in the category “Newcomer 2014”. I could not believe it and immediately took an Icelandic horse out for a spin in order to celebrate. Here’s another piece of good news: The new Suppito cookbook, which I told you about back in the spring, will finally be published on the 20th of October – featuring my food photography!

Tabbouleh. I especially like it with fresh ingredients like parsley and sun-ripened tomatoes on a warm summer’s day at Vienna’s busy Naschmarkt or the local Tel Aviv Beach on the Danube canal, where I can people watch and feel like I’m on holiday. Tabbouleh is of Arabic origin and is a salad popular in Lebanese cuisine, but there’s also a Turkish variety called Kisir.

I’ll tell you a little secret today. About 2 months ago, I received a lovely email from Andrea, the owner of the excellent Suppito. She found my blog and loved it, and could we maybe meet up. I immediately said yes, seeing that I was a huge Suppito fan and had spent an entire summer buying their delicious stews for lunch several times a week. Andrea told me that her third cookbook was due to be published in the autumn and that she wanted me to contribute the pictures.

It’s time to hide some chocolate bunnies and coloured eggs in the garden – and to decorate a festive easter table with some homemade swirls! In my house, those will be apple and coconut swirls, to be exact.