Hello from Dublin. I’ve been living here the past two months and couldn’t be happier. The city is cozy with low buildings and big gorgeous park, and the people are the best I’ve met, cheerful and loving. I miss many things from Albania though, as I say, happiness is homemade and that tiny corner of…
Fast & Easy
Mediterranean wraps
It’s a beautiful day, and all I can think of is spending the day outside. Sunbathing, reading books, playing cards with friends, and of course have delicious food. The recipe I bring to you today is a homemade wrap filled with all delicious ingredients that a Mediterranean country offers: tomatoes, cucumber, olives, lettuce, feta. All…
Pita bread
Pita bread is a simple recipe of my family that has my heart. You only need flour, yogurt and an egg to make it, and some olive oil to cook it. Pita bread is delicious on its own, accompanied by some feta cheese and fresh tomatoes, wrapped up as a souvlaki or with a drizzle…
Smoked trout salad – Bake My Day Happy recipe for Mandarina’s readers
Hi everyone, this is Nevila from Bake My Day Happy, but today you can call me Mandarina :), I won’t mind. I’ve initiated this guest-posting game between us food bloggers not only to share our experiences, but most of all to have fun. When I proposed this to Valbona and Ejona they welcomed it and…
Quick & easy vegetarian tacos, for your #tacoTuesday gatherings
Some days ago I wrote a long post on tacos, on how delicious and easy they are, and the recipes for different fillings. The post got very popular, and I couldn’t be happier. I feel I own you another taco recipe, this one is quicker and yet delicious. The perfect recipe to make when you…
Pistachio & dried rose petals mendiants – Mandarina cooking for Bake my Day Happy
I’ve probably stated 1000 times how much I love social media, because it has helped me connect with amazing people that then have become my friends. Nevila is one of them. We started talking some months before she officially launched “Bake my Day Happy” and haven’t stopped ever since. Apart from exchanging recipes, experience and…
Risotto with peas and parsley pesto
Spring brings the beloved colorful vegetables with which we can create so many dishes. Fresh peas are now in the markets and I can’t wait to start cooking with them. Besides the classical dishes with peas with which we grew up, we can definitely be creative and include them in salads, soups, purée, pasta and…
Crispy oatmeal cookies
I promised to post my recipe for crispy oatmeal cookies more than a month ago, but many things happened in between (beautiful things luckily) so I didn’t manage to bring it to you. I’ll update you on what’s changing in my personal life, which I believe will also affect Mandarina a lot on the coming…
Spinach & strawberry salad
I am a huge salad fan. They’re easy to make, colorful, tasty, healthy, and you can have so much fun experimenting with them. I try to have salads at lunch and dinner, apart from the main dish, or sometimes transform the salad into a main dish itself by adding grains, beans, seeds and nuts etc….
Dark chocolate pudding
Whenever I need a quick dessert, a mood booster, or something that everyone likes, this chocolate pudding comes to help. Its silky texture and deep chocolate flavor are to die for. All you need is a deep saucepan and some ingredients, I’m sure all of you have in your pantry like milk, cream, cocoa, chocolate,…
