80 Breakfasts

Breakfast #20: Not So English Breakfast

2008-05-21T13:02:00.004+08:00

Are you wondering what happened to the “chicha” in Chichajo? Chicha stands for my love for chicharon and all things piggy (literally and figuratively)…like bacon, ham, slow-braised pork belly, roasted suckling pig, and all that go in that direction. This also stands for my dangerous liaisons with food that is not exactly good for me: Bone marrow, foie gras, burnt animal fat (you know, that bit at the end of a roast), butter, mayonnaise, egg yolk.

Lately, I have humoring my healthy side…indulging in fruits and vegetables and yogurt and granola (all of which I also love). High time to shake things up a little as the “chicha” in me has been clamoring for some action. So I appeased her with this – my slightly Spanish version of an English breakfast.

I wasn’t bashful in the fat department when preparing this, so if you are in any way squeamish about fat and calories and cholesterol, please go no further! Stay here or here and we’ll call you back when it’s safe!

The first time I had an English breakfast was, aptly enough, in London. I was visiting my good friend Christine. She was based in London at the time, and I had just come from Finland. It was my first time to live on my own and away from home. I was thrilled with the freedom and discovery, but work weighed heavy on my shoulders as I fought to learn the ropes far from any support system. Thank goodness for Christine! She was a major lifesaver (still is) during some very anxious times. There were many things she did that cheered me up (and on!) and one of them was preparing an English breakfast for me.

A full English breakfast is a lollapalooza of breakfast proteins and starches (and fat), heaped together on a plate – substantial, zany, unapologetic, and in my book – awesome! Sure you can start with the backbone of bacon and eggs, but for me, the more over the top the better! Yes to the beans and the blood sausage! Yes to toast and hash browns! Fry it up and pile it on!

In that spirit of everything goes, I threw together this version. I had some leftover fabada (a Spanish bean stew) with I used for the beans element. Since my fabada had bacon slab, chorizo, and morcilla, I figured that covered the bacon, sausage, and black pudding. Instead of hash browns I used leftover roast potatoes (from a roast chicken dish) which I refried in olive oil with shallots, red pepper, and olives to stay within the Spanish theme. I then fried an egg in some chorizo oil**, smooshed everything onto a plate with a small baguette, and dove right in!

This type of breakfast is an excellent way to use leftovers, like I’ve done here with the beans and potatoes. It is also the type of breakfast that works great if you are in need of major fortification. Or cheering up. Or if it’s a Sunday and you want to be lazy and piggy :) And it does wonders for a hangover.

Thank you Christine for that long ago English breakfast (and the countless everything elses)! Here’s to sharing more food and adventure with you! :)

**What is chorizo oil? When I make fabada (or fry up chorizo) a lot of deep red, aromatic oil from the chorizo floats up. Normal people would skim this off and toss it. But I’m not normal people. I keep it in the fridge and fry eggs in it. Waste not, want not.

Breakfast #19: Mixed Fruit Yogurt Parfait

2008-05-16T20:20:00.003+08:00

I didn’t want the week to end without showing you what I did with the rest of my blueberry syrup. You may want to make a nice breakfast over the weekend after all and I want to make sure you have not one, but two suggestions from me :) One rich and decadent, the other lighter, though certainly no less decadent (or less pretty).

Layering in a glass has been all the rage for a while now, and as usual, I am quite late in jumping on the bandwagon. But that has not stopped me before, and it certainly won’t stop me now, or ever :) Call it what you will…verrine, parfait…serving sweets or savories this way gives you a great visual representation of flavor/texture contrasts. Plus, it’s a pretty nice way to have your yogurt :)

It’s no secret that I love yogurt, and that I am always on the prowl for the thick creamy variety I used to have in Greece. I was over the moon when found this one. I was even more thrilled to find a local dairy farm** that makes their own Greek-style yogurt!

And did I mention that mangoes are in season?

So this may look like a simple mixed fruit yogurt parfait, but really what you are looking at is fate in a glass: a brilliant surprise from the market, the season’s darling in fruit, a creamy yogurt long sought-after, and my favorite granola to make things interesting. Seek and you shall find they say…I certainly did :)

No recipe here. Just go to your farmers market. Find some fruit in season – one to make into jam or syrup, one that begs to be eaten fresh. Chat with the purveyors. Get the best yogurt you can find. If you live in Greece say a prayer of thanks to the yogurt deities. Make your own granola (it’s easy!). Pat yourself on the back. Showcase all this in the way they deserve – so that each brilliant layer can be admired (syrup/jam, then yogurt, then fresh fruit, then yogurt, then granola). Sit somewhere where you can see a little sunshine (I live in a little 3rd floor flat in a cramped city, no garden, no balcony, so no excuses…even the tiniest ray will do!). Dunk your spoon in all the way down. Enjoy. Really, I mean it. Stop thinking about what you are going to wear tomorrow or if you have time to gas up the car. Enjooooy.

Happy weekend everyone!

**Rizal Dairy Farms makes Greek style yogurt. It’s thick and creamy and delicious! You can find them at the Saturday Salcedo Market in Makati, or at the fresh produce open air section at Market! Market! Taguig.

I just remembered! I have made a layered dessert before! :)

Breakfast #18: French Toast with Blueberry Syrup

2008-05-13T14:19:00.004+08:00

It’s been happy market weekends for me lately…it being summer and produce being plentiful. Despite feeling like I’m in a perpetual sauna, I’m enjoying all that the markets have to offer (along with the weekend trips and the general holiday-like feeling that summer brings). Our gorgeous mangoes are even more gorgeous in the summer and I have been religiously buying them every chance I get (it’s my duty!). This is the perfect season to go to the market with no menu plans in mind…to just let the day’s bounty inspire you, like I did with the carrots and fennel and tomatoes (well, the tomatoes kinda came to me).

As if the season weren't enough, ingenious and determined citizens are growing things like wild rocket, mizuna, kaffir lime, Vietnamese mint, fennel, galangal, butternut squash, and all sorts of goodness. All in all, exciting days for market-goers!

Now, I have bemoaned our lack of berries before. Strawberries are the often-found berries around here. They grow in our mountain province in the North where the climate is more to their liking. Blueberries too, grow up there, but don’t make it down to us as often as the strawberries do.

The produce gods must have been smiling down at me though, because I chanced upon a box of them in the same stall that sold the butternut squash last year. The berries were tiny…much smaller than imported blueberries. They are also less sweet (some were a little sour). But they were local blueberries, and I wasn’t leaving the market without some, so I bought a small 100-gram bag.

Now, what to do with these less then sweet berries? I pondered the possibilities. Visions of blueberry muffins and blueberry pancakes danced in my head but I feared that the berries weren’t sweet enough. So I decided to do the logical and just add sugar :)

Blueberry Syrup

100 grams Baguio blueberries
75 grams sugar
1/4 cup water

- Place all ingredients in a pan over medium heat until mixture bubbles and thickens. Swish contents of pan around occasionally to avoid burning.

Yes, that’s all! The syrup was dark and glossy and delicious…and just begging to be poured onto something equally delicious – French toast! I used my basic French toast recipe (perfect for a solo breakfast), but substituted Swiss zopf, a challah-like bread that my mum-in-law gives me (which C doesn’t really eat, so I have loaves of it in the freezer, just waiting for meals like these!). I am not making French toast using any other bread ever! You can serve this with a dollop of cream or yogurt…but I prefer my French toast slathered in butter, before pouring on the blueberry syrup. Be generous!

The taste? Oh MY! Have you ever experienced a foot-pop? A foot-pop is what happens when you receive a kiss of such magnitude and dizzying bliss that one knee bends, and your foot “pops” upwards, toes pointing to the sky. You have seen it happen in countless of old movies, and explained by the endearing Mia of Princess Diaries. Well, my dears, it happened to me as I was standing by my kitchen counter eating this! Foot-POP!

If you have just one serving of French toast, as I did here, you will have some blueberry syrup leftover…and soon I’ll show you just what to do with it! :)

Honey Roasted Carrots & Fennel

2008-05-08T17:46:00.005+08:00

I am lucky enough (in my book at least) to have a husband that loves vegetables. Now, loving vegetables may seem like a regular given in your life but in mine, I can actually count with the fingers on one hand how many of my near and dear can actually claim truth in that statement. Ok, let’s see, there’s one…then um…well, there's my mom…

You get the picture.

So, it is with no small amount of joy that I listen to C’s words, “Where’s the veg?”

Not to paint a misleading picture of C. He does eat meat…and enjoys it. He is by no means a vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination. And he is just as likely to say, “We haven’t had steak in a while”, as he is to say, “We haven’t had pechay in a while.” He is more an alpha-jock than he is a sensitive-poet. But he does love his veggies…he even loves this one!

That being said, as with all aspects of life, there are times when, even forearmed with important knowledge, you can still strike out. As I did with these roasted carrots.

I tell you – they were fabulous! Not just any roasted carrots, but honey roasted carrots with fennel. Not just any carrots, but pretty, svelte ones that came crowned with a gorgeous mane of green, from my favorite organic farmer (like these carrots). Not just any honey, but honey from a local bee farm in Tagaytay, brought back for me by my dear friend N. Not just any fennel, but locally-grown fennel which I spotted in the stall of another organic farmer in the market. So you see, pretty special stuff!

I tossed the fennel and carrots with the honey and some olive oil and in the oven they went to slowly roast and caramelize. Roasting is one of my favorite things to do with sturdy vegetables such as carrots -- the slow heat concentrating the sugars until you are left with a soft, yielding piece of veg with all its natural sugars singing in tandem! And for a vegetable like fennel, which I don’t particularly like raw, it tames the sharp anise-flavor, aside from heightening the sweetness. The honey just brings everything to a crescendo…the perfect siding for roast meats, or just to snack on indiscriminately as you would carrot sticks.

Knowing this, you can imagine that I was just a wee bit proud of myself as I trotted this out to C come dinner time. He looked at the pan, and then at me, and said, “Carrots are not really my favorite vegetable…” What??? (Yes, there are still many surprises in marriage) He likes this but not my honey-roasted carrots???

Honey Roasted Carrots & Fennel

500-600 grams carrots (weighed without the stalks)
1 bulb of fennel (mine was about 300 grams trimmed)
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

- Trim stalks off the carrots and peel. If you have bigger carrots, slice lengthways into sticks. Trim and cut the fennel into quarters or eighths (depending on size).
- Line a roasting tin with baking paper, lay carrots and fennel flat in the tin, and drizzle with the honey and olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.
- Place in a 180-190C oven and roast for about 35-45 minutes or until carrots are tender.

I shouldn’t complain, I know. C loves most all other veggies. And I can always make this in small batches to enjoy by myself. Plus we will celebrate our 2nd year of “surprises” next week (I know…more to come!) :) So all’s well in love, if not in veggies. You can’t ask for much more than that :)

p.s. I’m secretly hoping my friends will read this and get all defensive, suddenly claiming…"I do like vegetables!"

p.p.s. Incidentally, N, my friend who gave me the honey, isn’t a great big fan of vegetables either…although she does eat them in salad ;)

Bumper Crop: Tomatoes

2008-05-05T12:23:00.004+08:00

In the city, a bumper crop is something you get when you idle too close to the taxi in front of you in traffic. It never really meant a surfeit of glorious produce, which then brings about the pleasant dilemma of how we are to dispose of our bounty. No, that type of bumper crop belonged in the corner of my head right next to the wood nymphs and faeries, while I satisfy myself with what finds its way to our groceries and city markets.

But times are a-changing as more consumers see the need to: 1. Have fresher produce, untouched by chemicals (and in the process getting closer to the source of where our food comes from), and 2. Support our smaller local farmers (who are really such champs…go local farmers!). Small organic farms/farmers are forming cooperatives and groups to get their products to us. Concerned consumers are working directly with smaller farmers (who perhaps cannot afford to come all this way) to make available the treasures they offer.

So now, aside from the small farmers I see at my markets, and religiously try to support (especially if they show some spunk in trying to grow herbs not commonly available), it is not surprising that emails announcing “Organic tomatoes!” needing to be sold in 10-kilo batches filter down the food chain to little ole me. Organic, native tomatoes, grown by a newbie organic farmer, “grown using local community labor at fair wages”…would I be interested to buy? That would be a resounding yes! :)

We got a tomato-buying group together (10 kilos is a bit of a stretch for C and I no matter how much we like tomatoes) and placed our order of half red, half green tomatoes. I was thrilled when they arrived…truly looking all rosy and cheerful from a life without chemicals. We left for Hanoi the next day so my tomatoes had to take a nap in the fridge (I know, I know, but we had no choice) while we were away. When we got back I was faced with the tomatoes, at this point having to all be used without further delay.

Ah! The “pleasant dilemma of how we are to dispose of our bounty”…this is how we solved it…

Pickled Green Tomatoes
(adapted and pieced together from various recipes)

Green tomatoes, about 1 kilo
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 1/3 cups water
4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 bay leaves
Black pepper

- Place vinegar, water, sugar, salt, bay leaves, and pepper in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for a couple of minutes.
- While you are bringing the pickling solution to a boil, slice your tomatoes into quarters lengthways. Stuff the slices into clean/sterilized (I boil them) glass jars.
- After the pickling solution has boiled for a couple of minutes pour into the jars with the tomatoes until about 1/2 or 1/4-inch from the top, making sure all the tomatoes are covered. Cover and let cool.
- When cool, place in the fridge. Let it rest for about a day before eating. Serve with smoked, grilled, or fried fish. A nice condiment to add to your hamburger sandwiches too!

Tomato Chutney
(adapted from Modern Classics 1 by Donna Hay)

Ripe tomatoes, about 500-600 grams, roughly chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

- Simmer everything (except the salt and pepper) in a saucepan or a deep frying pan, uncovered, for about 30 minutes or until thickened. Mine took longer than 30 minutes…about 45 minutes – 1 hour until it was nice, thick, and sticky.
- Add salt and pepper to taste, stir, and simmer a bit more, about 5 minutes, then take off the heat.
- Immediately pour into cleaned/sterilized jar/s, cover, and turn sealed jar upside down until cool.
- When cool, turn right-side-up and store in fridge. Serve with savory tarts or pies, or use as relish in ham/roast chicken sandwiches.

Oven-roasted Tomatoes
(adapted from Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros)

Ripe tomatoes, about 1-1.5 kilos
Olive oil for drizzling and for storing
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
2 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed

- Preheat the oven to 200C (400F). Line a baking tray with aluminum foil and brush with oil. You can use a tray or a jelly roll pan, or even a cookie sheet that’s got a little sides.
- Slice the tomatoes in half lengthways and place snugly side by side in the baking tray, seeded side up. Drizzle with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Bake for around 15 minutes or until you see the tomatoes sizzling and coloring, then lower the temperature to 150C (300F) for another 1 1/2 hours until they are a little shriveled but not completely dried out. I lowered it to 170-180C and kept it for about 2 hours until I liked the way they looked. They will look similar to the sun-dried tomatoes you get in the store but meatier and not as dried – and tons more gorgeous ;)
- Leave tomatoes to cool then transfer them to a clean/sterilized jar. Place the 2 garlic cloves in the jar and cover everything with olive oil – you can add more herbs and/or spices in here if you like. Store in the fridge.

All recipes were adapted to the tomato quantities we had and are very flexible. Note also that I do not follow any approved procedures for sterilizing and canning. These are immediately refrigerated and consumed shortly after. They are not for long-term storage.

C is loving the pickled green tomatoes…having it as a siding (or what he likes to call pampaganang espesyal) with tinapang bangus (smoked milkfish). The tomato chutney still waits in the fridge for an occasion to trot its sweet-and-sour-y goodness out. My favorite of the bunch though is the oven-roasted tomatoes! The slow-roasting essentially concentrated all the tomatoes’ sweetness and intensified its flavor exponentially. I have used it in salads, pasta, and in one delicious tomato/mozzarella/basil tart! And it is so easy to make! I use the oil it is soaking in as well, adding it to pasta sauces and salad dressings.

I’ve got more local purveyors lined up to try out – this time for fruits and dairy products. My palate is tingling in anticipation :) Go out and support your local farmers today!

I'm submitting this homage to tomatoes and the valiant small farmers who grow them to Weekend Herb Blogging, that wonderful event that celebrates everything that plants can give us :) WHB was created by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and this week's round is hosted by Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska.

Hanoi Holiday (part 2)

2008-04-29T10:16:00.009+08:00

Hanoi’s memories still linger in my mind, just as these stubborn sniffles still linger in my sinuses! I’m feeling much better now, but not at the 100% I am used to. Which means less cooking, less frequent posting, and oh-boy you don’t want to see the pile of hand-washing waiting to be done!

Yesterday, with a whoop and a holler, I managed to (on top of a full day's work!) go to the bank, roast some vegetables, wash 3 dresses, and start this post on the rest on my Hanoi highlights…

The Street food – Hanoi street food proves that there can be such a thing as “good fast food”. The city’s many street-side food vendors and small restaurant proprietors whip up deliciousness as fast as their famous motorbikes take a roundabout. And just as expertly. Usually, each establishment will serve one dish, one that they have been churning out time upon time…in some cases for generations. So you can imagine just how perfect all that practice begot.

One delectable example was the grilled beef (called bo nuong – please correct me if I’m wrong) we had at a place called Xuan Xuan (#47 Ma May, Old Quarter) near our hotel. After getting cozy amongst the squat stools and tables, we got a little gas cooktop with a grill plate, a plate piled with marinated strips of beef (with a ton of garlic! MMM!) & veggies, and a little squeeze-ee bottle filled with oil. We were then left to our own devices with regards to our dinner. We squirted oil on the hot grill pan and laid on the beef. The smell of the sizzling beef (and garlic!) was amazing! And the taste was way up there too :) We polished off 5 baguettes among the 3 of us sopping up the juices!

You can truly never go hungry in Hanoi. A fantastic meal is never far away…and often at a bargain price! The pho in my last post is a good example…as is the banh mi/banh my pa te below (yummy!!!). In a small market we chanced upon, there were delicious pork patties (the type you find in bun cha) we just couldn’t resist. Aside from this there are countless treats to be found down the bustling lanes of the Old Quarter and around Hoan Kiem Lake. Just follow your nose :)

Riding a motorbike in the Hanoi rush – When it comes to driving, whether it is a car or any other vehicle, I am a late bloomer. Suffice to say I am a bit of a wuss when it comes to driving anything (now, being a passenger I am fabulous at). So as adventurous as it sounded, I couldn’t bring myself to hire a motorbike. As fate would have it, when my hotel offered to get me my banh mi, I found out they would be sending someone on a motorbike. I jumped at the chance! In two shakes I was on the bike and off to get our breakfast. As a pedestrian, Hanoi’s motorbikes can seem overwhelming and a tad threatening…As a passenger, they are exhilarating, fun, and seem like the best possible way to be getting around! With the wind in my face and thoughts of banh my pa te in my head, everything seemed brighter that morning :)

Banh mi – Oh had I been waiting to try this! This baguette sandwich that combines French (pate, mayonnaise, baguette bread) and Vietnamese influences (Vietnamese herbs, pickled veg, fish sauce, chili) has gotten rave reviews, not the least from my SEA neighbor Bordeaux in Bangkok, whose banh mi meal haunts him still! I was determined to be likewise haunted. I asked the guy at our hotel where I could get a good one…and he offered to send someone to Din Liet (the street, towards the lake from the Old Quarter…it was on #38) to get one. Well, if you read the above, then you know I wrangled a place on his motorbike for the ride :) Between the thrill of riding a motorbike in the busy Hanoi streets, and the truth of this sandwich’s goodness, I was in heaven. Fatty pate, butter, crisp cucumbers, chili, strips of pork…and a fried egg, all squooshed together in a soft baguette. This is going down as one of my favorite breakfasts…ever. I must replicate this here somehow...

Cha Ca La Vong – The one place that everyone I asked said do not leave Hanoi without trying. More than a hundred years old and serving only one dish, this place is somewhat of a legend in the Hanoi food scene. It’s even snagged a coveted spot in Patricia Schultz’s 1,000 Places to See Before Your Die. The draw? An age-old recipe of fried fish in a secret blend of herbs, oils, and spices, cooked at your table over a coal fire. There are rumors about the “secret” that makes this dish taste so good, the secret that makes people flock to this place. Secret or no, I too was soon under its spell as I piled the succulent yellow-tinged fish and bright green herbs onto my bowl of bun (rice vermicelli) adding a sharp splash of fish sauce. My brain kept questioning, “What’s that flavor?” but my palate just wanted to surrender. Guess which won out? ;) Cha Ca La Vong, #14 Cha Ca, Old Quarter, Hanoi.

French-Viet at Green Tangerine – My dining experience in Hanoi would not be complete without trying at least one French-Viet place. Just as the blend of French and Vietnamese (and greater Asian) beguiled me, the same combination in food could be just as good I thought, maybe better! Set in an old colonial house, the restaurant is a haven of calm in the busy Old Quarter. Enjoying their French chef’s creations in the airy courtyard was great way to rest our feet and catch our breath. I had the duck liver mousse in a small bun seasoned with coriander and citrus (and served with sesame brittle that went perfectly with it!) and C had shrimp in Chinese spices served with fried potatoes and apple slices. We were a big group for this meal…so we all got to pick from each others plates and sample the chef’s delicate balance of French and Asian. Green Tangerine, #48 Hang Be, Old Quarter, Hanoi.

Re-reading this I realize that it is all about food! Am I, or you, even surprised? Oh dear, you must think I do nothing but eat. Although that wouldn’t be a gross exaggeration, I do get around to other things as well! I enjoyed the serene beauty of Halong Bay, coasting along in a junk boat (and getting my first taste of Hanoi vodka!). I was moved by the amount of locals in the line going to see Ho Chi Minh, particularly by an adorable bunch of well-behaved and respectful kids. I bought a cute bag! I was awed by his imposing mausoleum, all size and stark lines…such a contrast from the crazy vibe of the Old Quarter and the old-world charm of the French Quarter. I was entranced by how cozy French and Asian influences could be with each other, like old friends…like the flavors in the banh mi I had that morning, surprising yet suited.

Hanoi, I know what it’s like to carry more than one culture on my back. And I know that being true to one does not necessarily mean being false to the other. After all, balance and fusion bring about such great specimens – you and me included ;) You will not be easily forgotten!

Hanoi Holiday (part 1)

2008-04-23T19:06:00.011+08:00

What is it about so much excitement that sometimes trips you up and knocks you down? Sigh…what that our bodies could run on excitement! In the wake of one crazy/fun time in Hanoi, coupled with wacky flight times (i.e. leaving Hanoi at 1am!), I lie here feeling crummy and sniffly with flu-like symptoms. Ah! The price I pay for eking the most out of my weekend!

I am happy to report though, that it was all worth it for me :)

Hanoi was a wild little city, its almost unreal amount of motorbikes zooming past me, making me gulp in fear and excitement. Over the din of horn-honking rose skinny buildings looking distinctly un-Asian, while in the streets decidedly Asian-looking food beckoned at my growling stomach. People chattered, children giggled, everyone stopped for a coffee. Old pagodas crowded shoulder to shoulder against newer buildings. For one brief moment, I seemed to be stuck on the curb (literally and figuratively), scared to take a step lest some rogue motorbike knock me down. And then I realized, in Hanoi, you just have to suck in your gut and take the plunge.

And what a plunge it was! Delicious food and friendly faces (except for the random errant taxi driver...but we all have those, don't we?), a surprise around every corner, old-world French charm and magical Asian energy. We managed to squeeze in quite a lot during our trip – here are my highlights (in no particular order):

My first bowl of pho in Vietnam – Our trip started out in the absolute best way possible: with a bowl of pho and a meeting with a local. We were total strangers, but Q kindly offered to meet us and show us a good bowl of pho…which she certainly did! The place at 49 Bat Dan was filled to overflowing, with a brisk turnover of customers. The pho came fast and furious, steaming and smelling of only good things. You line up, choose among the 3 combinations on offer, take your pho, and find a place to sit. This was the best I’ve had, the broth’s meaty backbone punctuated with the fresh, bright notes of green from the herbs. Pho Bat Dan: 49 Bat Dan, Old Quarter, Hanoi.

A lake in the middle of the city and a pen to write on the sky – Fortified by our pho, Q then showed us around. We walked through the colorful streets if the old quarter, then out onto Hoan Kiem Lake. Taking a leisurely stroll around it (as all strolls around lakes should be leisurely), I secretly wished that I had a nice lake I could walk to in the middle of my city! Especially one with a nice red lacquered bridge :) As we made our way across, hordes of school kids flocked about in neat lines, each one holding the back of the kid in front of them. Q pointed at the obelisk right outside – the Writing Brush Tower – “a pen to write on the blue sky”, she explained. I think we all should have more pen monuments around.

Vietnamese coffee – After our exploring, it was time for further fortification. Q asked us if we preferred the café with a view or one with some local artwork. “The one with the better coffee”, I said with a smile. Coffee is one of the things I cannot live without, and I already like Vietnamese coffee…to have it on its own shores was beyond exciting for me. We filed into the small café where people sat outdoors and motorbikes were parked inside. We settled into a backroom with low stools and tables, with sunlight streaming through the ceiling. Paintings by Vietnamese artist Bui Xuan Phai hung on the walls. I ordered coffee with milk and ice (it was a hot day). I was floored. The coffee came in a small glass with a strip of condensed milk on the bottom. It was dark as sin and almost syrupy in texture. And it was as strong as a blow to the head with a sledgehammer. If you know me and coffee, then you would know that this is a very, very good thing. I didn’t want it to end. Café Lam, Nguyen Huu Huan St., Hanoi.

The Temple of Literature – Just the sound of its name put me in a good place. How could I not like, by default, a temple devoted to learning? A peaceful sanctuary in the middle of the city, it is a complex of five interconnecting courtyards, ending with the National Academy, Vietnam’s first university. I imagined scholars still walking around its paths and ponds, pondering on life’s truths. Temple of Literature: entrance on Quoc Tu Giam St, Hanoi.

And speaking of life’s truths…this girl’s got to get some rest and put a dent in the work that has piled up in her absence! Time for a spot of Berocca! I’ll be back with more as soon as I can :)

HHDD #19: Clafoutis

2008-04-17T09:54:00.004+08:00

As much as I love being on my island (ok, fine, smoky-sweltering-city-within-an-island), I can’t help fall in love with every other place I visit. It’s just me. I am the wide-eyed traveler. I can never seem to affect a pose of sophisticated ennui. Unlike that Cole Porter song, I get a kick out of everything. On one hand, I come off as a silly panting puppy. On the other…well…can you imagine what kind of wonderful sensory overload it is to get a kick out of everything? You should try it.

Because of my naïve, yet happy, wanderings, I have come to the following conclusions:

I will be well fed anywhere in the world I go.

I love the Swiss and the Swiss love me.

I can read Greek.

The gods still walk around Athens.

I don’t mind when Italians lie to me. I like it.

There was something greater than us humans at work in ancient Egypt.

I will someday live in a log house in the Finnish woods (yes, with Moomin).

Scandinavians are my long lost relatives.

Even if we don’t speak the same language, if you are Asian (as I am) we will understand each other.

If Asia=Exotic, and Asia=Me, then Me=Exotic

Somewhere deep inside me lurks a cute French girl struggling to come out.

I’ll stop here before it becomes apparent that I am indeed totally off base. Oh, you already know? Don’t tell anyone.

Anyway…the cute French girl in me. She needs to be fed. Thank goodness Bron chose clafoutis as the theme for this round of Hay Hay it’s Donna Day!

Clafoutis, though very familiar and comforting to the real French, is very new and exciting to me and my imaginary French self. It is a dessert made traditionally with cherries (pitted or unpitted – the debate rages on!) onto which a custard-y batter is poured, and then the whole lot baked. Although Donna’s recipe sounded tempting, I decided to use a French girl’s recipe. And since that adorable French girl already gave me a great way to use my matcha, I thought I would be pretty safe taking her clafoutis too! Thank you Bea :)

But…but…despite all this fantasy identities, I am still an island girl at heart. 100% Filipino. So my clafoutis has mangoes and chicos. Mangoes from the Philippines are in my (and a gugillion other) opinion the best in the world. Chicos are another local fruit that have always been a favorite of mine. Less popular than the mango, it has its lovers and its haters…and I am firmly in the lovers camp. It is sweet, sandy/grainy, juicy, and somewhat, I can’t find a better word than…booze-y. Both fruits are in season now so the timing was perfect for a tropical clafoutis (omg! Is that what I am?). You can find Bea’s recipe I used here. Just substitute the cherries for half mango and half chico. Also, I didn’t add the crushed biscuits and pistachios.

The mango clafoutis was good…but not as good as I expected, considering I worship this fruit. I suppose for me, the best way to eat a mango is plain, with nothing to detract from its inherent perfection. The chico clafoutis however was a revelation. I honestly didn’t know how it would turn out, as the chico is seldom used in baked goods (yes, the occasional chico panna cotta in some fusion-y restaurant sometimes). It was a nice surprise biting into it…the chico had firmed up somewhat in the oven and it’s sweet, grainy self was a great match for the smooth custard.

I am leaving tonight for Hanoi (yaaaay!!!!) so I’ll stop here. I still have a mountain of work to finish, plus packing, plus making sure the flat is at rights before we go. I’ll see you all when I get back, hopefully with lots of photos and highlights to share, and for certain with a few more pounds on me.

Until then I remain, this amalgamation of all that I have seen and experienced, within this country and without, half local-half whimsy…your tropical clafoutis :)

Breakfast #17: Bacon and Egg Pies

2008-04-11T15:46:00.007+08:00

In my ideal world I make breakfast everyday. In my ideal world, I have already reached 80 breakfasts many times over. I wake up at dawn and putter around the kitchen, preparing delicious breakfasts in the sunrise’s golden glow.

But, as you are undoubtedly aware, neither you nor I live in an ideal world. Well, ok, perhaps you do, in which case, lucky you :) Over here though, breakfast plans are often pushed back in favor of a few more moments of sleep, late nights of work (or play), or simply not enough intersecting morning time between C’s schedule and mine. And although I truly do love early mornings in my heart, my body does not seem to love them as much. So most mornings, it’s out the door with C, and me settling to work with coffee and some sort of cereal or yogurt.

There are times, however, through fate, luck, or pure determination, I find myself in that ideal world. The sun is rising, coaxing me out of bed. Miraculously I get up at first bidding. It seems that the morning is just full of empty hours to fill. I have time to water the plants. The fridge is full of eggs and bacon. All those breakfast dishes and recipes I have tucked away seem to be right at the top of my mind, ready to spill out at the slightest provocation. When this happens I make sure to take full advantage!

I liked this dish at first sight – a savory tart (something I love but don’t get to eat often) that seemed to be created for a breakfast-lover (and a bacon and eggs lover!) just like me. Around the same time, I had also found ready-made puff pastry here (no, we didn’t always have ready-made puff pastry on our shelves). So it was practically begging to be made.

Bacon and Egg Pies
(adapted from Donna Hay’s Modern Classics I, page 158)

1 sheet ready-made puff pastry (mine is 9.5 x 9.5 inches, you will have some scraps left over…use them for this!)
6 strips of bacon (Donna rationed 2 rashers per person, but I felt we deserved 3 each)
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (Donna used cheddar)
1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
4 eggs

- Preheat the oven to 200C (400F).
- Place bacon on a baking sheet and place in the pre-heated oven for about 8-10 minutes. You just want to get the edges a bit crisp. Remember you are going to be baking it again with the tart! When done, drain on paper towels.
- Thaw pastry (in my kitchen this takes two seconds so I make sure everything is ready before taking it out of the freezer) and cut to fit two 1-cup capacity pie dishes (I just used whatever I thought would fit).
- Spread mustard on the pastry bases and sprinkle with the cheese.
- Top this with three pieces of bacon for each pie. I like to curve them around so they will cradle the eggs.
- Break two eggs over each pie.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the eggs have set to your liking. Serve immediately.
- Serves two.

I have scaled down the original recipe to serve 2 instead of 4 and made substitutions based on what was available (I’ve indicated most of them above).

What surprised me the most was how much C liked this. He hardly has breakfast, but when he does, he is more of the Pinoy Breakfast school – i.e. with rice. But he mmm’d and aah’d more than I expected and then, the final compliment, declared that it was “just like the picture!”. Since this was a Donna Hay recipe (with a corresponding Donna Hay picture), being “just like the picture” was a pretty nice pat on the back for me :)

Keep an eye on the eggs so if you like them runny you can be sure to pull them out before they set too much. The flavors of the mustard and cheese go so well with the eggs and bacon. The pastry makes it a perfect breakfast package. And the best part? It is extremely simple and quick to make (so you don’t actually have to have all that extra time in the morning)! A little reminder that even if you don’t live in an ideal world, you can still have an ideal breakfast :)

White Chocolate & Matcha Tea Marbled Cake

2008-04-08T15:29:00.005+08:00

Sometimes it seems like I am always horribly late getting on the bus. I see interesting cooking techniques and appealing ingredients fly by me and all my good intentions to use them. Sometimes these ingredients reside right in my own pantry…and still it takes months of mental prodding to get me to try that particular recipe I have been saving (for what I have no idea)…a recipe that I really, with all my heart, do want to make!

Take matcha.

Matcha, that fine green tea powder that everyone has used to make cakes and cookies and ice cream and mousses and all sorts of sweet things. Matcha, which has been done ten times over, up-down-and-sideways, already. Matcha, which I have had lounging in my pantry since my trip to Hong Kong. I know, bad, bad me.

“Better late than never” is too convenient a rationalization for the procrastinating likes of me! I feel like I’ve just discovered bootleg pants when everyone else has moved on to skinny jeans :(

Anyways, enough whining ;) A perfect opportunity did present itself (as it always will when it comes to baked goods) in the form of another afternoon get-together with my bookstore friends (the same bunch I baked these for). I had (still have – good intentions like I said!) a bunch of matcha recipes filed away, but I chose this White Chocolate and Matcha Tea Marbled Cake I found on Bea’s beautiful La Tartine Gourmande for my first matcha venture. Her gorgeous photos and delicious-sounding recipes never fail to enchant me! It helped that Stella of Sweet Temptations made it as well with glowing reviews :)

Matcha Tea and White Chocolate Marbled Cake
(from this recipe at Bea’s La Tartine Gourmande)

3 large eggs (2 oz each)
180 grams all-purpose flour
80 grams white chocolate (just like Bea, I used Valrhona)
120 grams butter
150 grams fine sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoon matcha tea
1 teaspoon baking powder

- Melt the butter.
- Place the chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water and let simmer until the chocolate is melted.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the eggs with the sugar and beat until it is white in color, then remove (I used the whisk attachment).
- Sift the flour with the baking powder and add it to the egg/sugar mixture, mixing manually with a whisk. Then add the salt and butter and mix.
- Divide the batter in 2/3 and 1/3. Add the melted chocolate to the 2/3 batter and the matcha tea to the 1/3 batter.
- Preheat your oven at 350F. Grease a rectangular cake pan/loaf pan and add half of the chocolate batter. Continue with the matcha tea batter and finish with the other half of the chocolate batter.
- Take a fork and pass it through the different layers of batter.
- Cook your cake for 50 minutes, or until the blade of a knife comes out dry when inserted in the cake. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before un-molding.

Although I’m not a fan of white chocolate, I did enjoy this cake. The white chocolate’s overwhelmingly sweet (to me) taste dissipated nicely into the tight, buttery crumb. The matcha layer was flavored just right, not too strong but with the tea’s distinct earthiness coming through. I didn’t swirl the layers enough however, so the matcha layer just sat there stodgily instead of developing into cool retro waves. That didn’t affect the taste though and I’m happy to report that my bookstore friends went back for second servings! :)

Talk about serendipity: Just as I was thinking of finally using my matcha, Kelli of Lovescool, and of those famous matcha tea cookies (and whose recipe is also part of my matcha files), posted a round up of the many bloggers who have made these popular sweets! Yay! :)

More serendipity! Amrita of La Petite Boulangette is hosting this round of Sugar High Friday and her theme is Asian Sweet Invasion -- encouraging all participants to put an Asian twist or use an Asian ingredient in a classic dessert recipe. So this will be my entry...hooray! I suppose, at the end of it all, this cake's timing couldn't have been more perfect! ;)

A Taste of Yellow: Semolina Porridge

2008-04-02T16:25:00.004+08:00

When Barbara of Winos and Foodies announced that she would once again be hosting A Taste Of Yellow to celebrate LiveSTRONG Day I knew two things for sure: 1. That I was definitely participating (like I did last year!) and 2. What exactly I would make.

You may remember that Hay Hay it’s Donna Day round I hosted (serendipitously enough another event created by Barbara!) where I ended up with a stockpile of semolina after using just a smidgen for my pizza. A lot of you answered my plea for semolina recipes to effectively utilize my stash. To all of you: a big Thank You! I will be trying them out and if they end up on this blog you are certainly getting credit :)

The first semolina dish I decided to make was the simplest – Semolina Porridge. I have come across many a blog post reminiscing about childhood breakfasts with this. Even a good friend of mine (the very same one that made the Jollof rice for our weekend at the farm) remembered this long-ago breakfast staple – When she spied my semolina stash she immediately exclaimed, “This is for porridge!”

And when I found out, after casting my net in the Net, that this was none other than what is known in some parts of the world as Cream of Wheat, I realized it was part of my childhood breakfasts too!

So, for A Taste Of Yellow 2008, I’d like to submit these tiny yellow grains and the wholesome and comforting porridge they make…simple and humble, yet touching the memories of people from Europe, Africa, America, and all the way here to my island in the Phillipines.

Semolina Porridge
(adapted from this recipe)

2 1/2 cups milk
1/4 – 1/3 cup semolina

- Heat milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until almost to the boil.
- Stirring with a wire whisk, add semolina in a thin stream.
- Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring continuously, then turn off the heat (or leave at the barest minimum) and cover the pan. Leave covered for about 15-20 minutes, stirring every now and then to prevent porridge from burning or forming a skin on its surface.
- Season the porridge with a little sugar, salt, and a pat of butter. Serve with fresh fruit, jam, honey, or any combination thereof! I've drizzled it with honey here :)

Semolina comes from durum wheat (and other hard and softer wheat) and is used in making pasta, couscous, and bulgur. It is also used to make puddings, desserts, and cakes. In India it is used to make rava dosa and upma. In Greece they use semolina to make halva (which has its own versions in Cyprus, Turkey, Iran, and other Arab countries). Cream of Wheat comes from semolina taken from a softer kind of wheat.

Please head over to Barbara’s for more information on A Taste of Yellow. This year, aside from posts about yellow food, there is also a photo contest! And even though I am far from a pro, and don’t quite know what all the buttons in my camera do yet, I am submitting the first photo above. That’s my husband’s LiveSTRONG band…he’s a biker too! :)

Perfect Party Cake...Do I Dare?

2008-03-30T18:35:00.004+08:00

A funny thing happened on the way to the Perfect Party Cake.

I waited until the last minute.

I had no time to make buttercream.

My batter was suspiciously liquid-y.

My cakes were as thin as my checkbook...and as dense as that high school prom date you want to forget.

Since the Daring Baker challenges are given at the beginning of the month, and posted at the end, I tend to take my sweet time, thinking I have all month to do it. Before I know it, posting date is tapping at my shoulder and no baked challenge in sight! Gasp! Thank goodness Morven, this month's host, gave us a lot of leeway when in came to her challenge. And what a wonderful challenge it was -- Perfect Party Cake by Dorie Greenspan! A lovely layer cake by none other than that goddess of baking who has gifted multitudes of home bakers with delicious creations, attempt after successful attempt. Now it was my turn!

But as I said, something funny happened on the way to the Perfect Party Cake.

Because I waited until the last minute, I didn't make the buttercream. Although substituting this with whipped cream was allowed, I still felt cheater-y. Don't take away my badge please!

I read and re-read the recipe, but I knew something was going terribly wrong as my runny batter listlessly pooled at the bottom of my cake tins. As feared, the cakes came out flat and dense (and not the good kind of dense you get from a flourless chocolate cake but the bad kind of dense you get from an old rubber tire)...not light and sponge-y as I dreamed they would. They were so thin I couldn't even split the layers (unless I wanted to end up with a crepe cake). So I ended up with a 2-layer cake instead of a 4-layer one.

And we all know that Dorie's recipes are fabulous! And pretty much all the Daring Bakers turned out beautiful cakes (see them here!). So guess who futzed out on her watch? You got it.

Sigh...so I did what I often do when life's inevitable problems appear. I covered it up in sweetened whipped cream (tinted a light pink with mashed strawberries)! Have you ever tried covering your problems/too-tight jeans/mountain of laundry/irritating politicians in pink, sweetened whipped cream? I highly recommend it!

Don't think I have given up on the dream of a layer cake though. I fully intend to make a successful one no matter how many layer cakes get harmed in the process. Because really, when it comes to baking, what I think matters most in the final tally, is not how many disasters you endured, nor how many triumphs you enjoyed, but the fact that you dared to do it at all :)

Labneh (or labnah/labna) - Yogurt Cheese

2008-03-28T11:21:00.003+08:00

I wanted to share with you one of the things I made for my farm holiday last weekend, since I couldn’t have you all with me. Which is a shame because what a wonderful holiday that would have been huh? :) A bunch of food loving individuals filling their tummies and then talking incessantly about it! This way, I can at least share some of what I ate…

I put together a spread of different meze for our Greek inspired dinner, and although I’d like to share recipes for each dish, most were done based on feel and whim…so no exact quantities for now. This, however, is beyond simple to do and a great thing to have in your appetizer tray (or anywhere else for that matter). And if you love yogurt as much as I do, I’m sure you will always have extra portions with which to make this.

Labneh (or labnah/labna), also called Arab Yogurt Cheese, is plain/natural yogurt strained of its whey. The longer you strain it the thicker it will be. It is criminally simple to make…all you need is good yogurt, some salt, a cheesecloth, a strainer, and some patience. After exerting as much effort as you would to, say, take a nap or decide what top to wear, you will have a creamy “yogurt cheese” (like a light, fresh cream cheese with the yogurt’s distinct sour note) to do with as you please!

Although simple, I still perused a bunch of recipes before proceeding. I am just a little geek that way. There was one in my copy of The Arab Table by May Bsisu (nice book with great explanations and lists of Arab ingredients!) and I found two recipes from Donna Hay! Doesn’t she just think of everything? ;) One recipe comes from her book Entertaining (with lemon thyme and chili) and the other come from her magazine issue # 35*** (with oregano and black peppercorns).

It’s quite basic so I’ll just give the main guidelines (no recipe really) I used based on the different recipes and you can improvise depending on the flavors you like.

Labneh

About 1 teaspoon salt for every 2 cups plain yogurt
Herbs and spices that you like
Olive oil

- Mix the yogurt and salt together. You can add flavor at two points – either mix in your spices/herbs with the yogurt now, or add them to the oil later.
- Line a sieve with fine muslin/cheesecloth and place over a deep bowl (you don’t want your yogurt to come in contact with the liquid that has been drained). Place the yogurt mixture into the sieve. Cover the lot and place in the fridge to drain – this can be anywhere from 6 hours to 5 days! The longer it drains the thicker it will be.
- After it has drained to the consistency you like, you can scoop them up by tablespoons and form into balls (this is what Donna does). Place balls in a jar and, if you didn’t add them to the yogurt in the beginning, toss in the herbs/spices, then cover with olive oil. Store in the fridge.
- Another way of forming the cheese (May’s method) is to press onto a plate with the back of a spoon, causing little indentations in the cheese (like how hummus is often served). Drizzle olive oil into the indentations and sprinkle za'atar or dried mint (again c/o May) all over the cheese.

You could also have this for breakfast! See the breakfast spread Barbara put together with labneh.

***It was part of a terrific feature called “a dairymaid’s tale” which included recipes on how to make your own ricotta, curd cheese, clotted cream, and yogurt! Absolutely gorgeous white-on-white-on-white food styling too!

Weekend at the Farm

2008-03-25T08:22:00.008+08:00

I'm back from our holiday weekend farm escape! As always, and I'm sure many know the feeling, greeted by a mountain of work on my desk. Aside from work-work, I've also got a bit of fun-work to prepare for...nothing earth-shaking but I'm excited nonetheless :) If all goes well, I hope to share it with all of you soon!

Meanwhile, I hope this bunch of photos from our weekend will keep everyone entertained. This isn't a huge farm with cows and pigs and crops and such -- just some chicken and their eggs, a pool, trees and grass and real birds that chirp in the morning...you know, that of which I am so sadly starved in the city.

The house is done in old Filipino style. It was lovingly put together by my mom-in-law, using choice bits from old, ancestral homes in the north (from Ilocos) that were either falling apart or being torn down. A door from here, a table from there. I like to think she saved these pieces about to be swallowed up by time, and they've now found a new home with new people to love them.

We were a big group of family and friends so there was a lot of laughter and good times. Swimming, poker, siesta, chatting. There was also a lot of food! Jollof rice and a spicy okra stew from a friend who grew up in Nigeria, grilled fish caught by her husband, barbecued burgers and sausages with all the fixings, fish tacos (for Good Friday!) with homemade guacamole and salsa (and these pickled jalapenos!), and our Greek-themed dinner with prawns (in garlic, lemon, parsely, and feta - recipe from Tessa Kiros) and crispy fried sardines (a Donna Hay recipe! I used fresh tawilis -- a freshwater sardine found only in the Philippines!), Greek salad and vegetable skewers, and a bunch of mezze (the olives, hummus, melitzanosalata, labneh, pita). We also had mum-in-law's callos a la Madrilena and steamed mussels.

Not all in one meal people.

Sigh...I wish all weekends could be like this! I hope you all had a fantastic Easter, if you celebrate it, or a wonderful weekend with people you love! :)

Green Olives with Coriander Seeds

2008-03-18T17:12:00.003+08:00

Our hot blooded summer has definitely arrived. As I sit here and type, the morning sunlight streaming through my window has that fierce quality only summer sunlight here has. I squint even if I’m not looking directly at it. And the heat…oh boy. We have gone from slow roast to flash sear; the temperature shooting upwards with no thought for the poor creatures (like me!) it singes and melts along the way.

Summer is here. I can almost hear the sizzle as my flip-flops hit the pavement.

Time to escape the city!

Summer is the time for fresh mango juices dribbling down your chin, for digging your toes into the sand, for the sting of salt water or the blessed coolness of the pool. It’s the time to find a way out of the concrete jungle and into a place where you can still hear the birds as you nap. And, although I am all grown up and no longer have the luxury of a summer vacation, it is the time to find ways to slow down (because god knows you can’t go any faster in this heat!) over an ice cold rum+coke, if only for the weekends or the warm summer nights.

Luckily, the long Easter weekend is almost upon us and we will be out of the stifling city heat for a while! We are not dashing off to the beach; more’s the pity, but just to my mum-in-law’s farm outside the city. While it doesn’t have the sea nor the sand, it does have a pool, cool nights, a house with gorgeous wooden floors that never get hot (and are heaven to walk on barefoot), and a lovely kitchen for me to play in! Plus a white canopy bed where, I swear to you, I have the best naps of my life.

So right now, I am trying to get all my work done, at the same time making sure all the supplies for our farm visit are sorted. I’m also in a tizzy preparing as much do-ahead dishes as I can so I can relax and enjoy the nice kitchen with just a dish or two or three :)

This is one such do-ahead thing. I love marinated olives and think they are perfect cocktail food. Over here though, good-quality pre-marinated olives are a tad expensive, and really, make no sense when you can easily be marinating your own for a fraction of the cost. This recipe is one of the several I like (although it’s just as easy to wing it in the marinated olives department).

Green Olives with Coriander Seeds
From Tessa Kiros’ Falling Cloudberries, page 154)

500 grams green olives in brine
1 1/2 lemons
3 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 garlic cloves, crushed
125 ml olive oil

- Pit the olives by placing them on a chopping board then pressing down on them with the flat blade of a large knife. You don’t want to crush them to bits, just crack them open so you can remove the pits. Place olives in a bowl and discard pits.
- Cut four or five thin slices from the lemon half (discarding any pips) and add to the olives.
- Roughly crush the coriander seeds in a spice grinder or coffee grinder, or using a mortar and pestle. Do not grind them to a powder; you just want the seeds cracked so they release their aroma. Add this to the olives.
- Juice the other lemon and add to the olives, along with the garlic and the olive oil. Season with pepper. Taste first before adding any salt as the olives are probably salty enough.
- Mix everything well and leave to marinate for at least an hour before serving. This will keep for a week in the fridge (covered).

I like this recipe because I love the aroma and flavor of coriander seeds. Tessa says this is a typical Cypriot preparation. If you are too lazy to pit the olives, then leave them unpitted, or, like I did here, only pit some of them. This is great for a cocktail party because you can make it ahead (it will actually get better and more infused if you let it sit overnight) and have it on the table when your guests arrive – distracting them and giving you time to finish up the more a la minute stuff.

This is going with us to the farm, along with other goodies, as part of a Greek dinner we are preparing. We are in charge of Friday lunch and dinner – dinner will be Greek-themed and lunch will be Mexican. All seafood! I hope to have some photos to show when I get back :)

Meanwhile, if you’re over here, keep cool! If you’re in some other hemisphere or across the ocean…send a little breeze my way? :)

Nutella Banana Muffins...in pink

2008-03-14T11:47:00.003+08:00

I’ve always been a girly-girl. Whether by nature, by nurture, or by fate, my internal compass always points to an undeniably feminine North. Pink is my favorite color (well, pink and gold actually). As a child, I loved dolls. Yes, Barbie, I’m not ashamed to admit. I collect ribbons. I love earrings…especially ones long enough brush my shoulders. I owned a hoop skirt when I was a kid…and I used to prance around the garden in it, pretending to be Scarlett O’hara.

It could be argued that I am absolutely and positively awful at anything athletic, thus leaving me no choice but to be girly or be scorned, but I think my intentions were sincere.

There were times though that I hid it. I hid it under black clothes and loud music and sarcasm. But still. It lived and it thrived. It would not be denied.

Then one fine day, somewhere in between the angst of adolescence and the cusp of adulthood, I realized: I’m girly and I don’t care what anyone thinks! Pink is my favorite color! PINK is my favorite color!!!

You know what I discovered then? You can be girly and pink and Barbie…and also be rock and smudged black eyeliner and sharp wit. In this day and age, we can have our cake and eat it too!

And if you know your way around the kitchen, that takes on a deliciously literal aspect.

Case in point: Let’s say you like bananas and banana bread. You also like Nutella and anything with Nutella…especially cupcakes. Plus, you want to use your pink cake stand and pink argyle cupcake liners.

No problem.

I knew I had to make these Nutella Banana Muffins as soon as I saw the recipe on Delicious Days. It has everything I could hope for in a cupcake/muffin (ok, except for this)! I made them for an afternoon tea I had a while back with my dear bookstore friends. Instead of making the chocolate coating though, I frosted the cupcakes with more Nutella. A bit much? I don’t think so. Because of the way Nutella seems to disappear on me when I bake it, I thought a little bit of uncooked Nutella insurance was called for!

A chocolate, Nutella-y, banana bread all dolled up in pink argyle cupcake liners…what more could this girly-girl want? (ok, I know!) Baking your cake and eating it too is truly priceless.

P.S. I still like black clothes (very slimming!) and loud rock music. I still suck at sports. I still like sarcasm (although maybe not as “out loud” as before). I still smile when I pass Barbie in the toy store. I no longer own a hoop skirt but I still pretend to be Scarlett O’hara sometimes :)

P.P.S. Have anyone seen this? What a super idea! Whether you're in pink or in black or in anything in between…Girls Rock!

Paho in Brine

2008-03-11T15:38:00.006+08:00

I grew up with no concept of seasonal eating. I blame this on the fact that I don’t have four distinct seasons. Ok, there may have been other reasons, but leave a girl to her illusions.

Over here we have two seasons: Wet (rainy) and Dry (summer…i.e. superduperhot). In truth, I really have no factual evidence to back up my theory other than having two less seasons must have some sort of effect on our agriculture. And this effect must have somehow caused me to totally ignore any change in fresh produce during my tender years. And as such, I blithely ate anything I wanted, whenever I wanted, for most of my life.

Then one particularly hot summer I found myself in Dijon, France looking for (well, what else would I be looking for in the capital of Burgundy?) beef bourguignon. Oops. Yes, French chef sets island girl to rights. You can just imagine.

My first response was rebellion. What?! I actually had to wait to eat something??? Why? My home’s wet-dry cycle didn’t really explain as much as, say, a summer-winter-spring-fall cycle could. But slowly I learned. I’m learning to be more sensitive to what is at it’s best and when. I scour the internet for information on our local produce’s seasonality. I pay attention at the market to things that seem to be in glorious abundance while others suddenly go in hiding. I also check out local food magazines and market blogs for the latest on what’s in season now (you know, just like fashion).

And it was while checking on one of my favorite local blogs that I found this! Paho! Complete with his “at the markets now!” heralding…designed to get us running to the nearest market. Paho is a small mango (sold green) that is a species all on its own, not a baby mango picked before it’s full grown. You can read more about it here. It is unforgiving in the sour department, making your lips pucker up and your eyes squint in what looks like pain, but is really pleasure, trust me. They also have a heartbreakingly short season (from a few weeks to a month!) so I was wasting no time. I rushed out at first opportunity to go and be seasonal! Wooo!

I really like paho (brined paho was a favorite in my grandmother’s house when I was little)…so don’t think I was just trying to be fashionably seasonal…though I am human most of the times, fashionable some of the times, so I do succumb once in a while ;)

I brined my paho as per instructions here. They now sit in my fridge waiting for the perfect opportunity to bust out in all their beguiling sourness…

What’s next in my basket this season? Strawberries! Mangoes!

What’s in season at your market now? :)

This is my entry to this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, created by Kalyn atKalyn's Kitchen and hosted this week by Green Olive Tree!