Yummy creative endeavors (recipes)

As I was recently saying to someone, if I'm creative I'm happy. Or at least I'm not in the doldrums. However, my creative juices can be directed towards different endeavors and it seems I am a serial monogamist. At the moment it's cooking. Yeah, cooking.

I understand many people, especially those who have to do it everyday, a couple of times a day, find it a chore and nothing like a creative outlet, but trust me it can be. And it makes it better for everyone, the cooker, the cleaner and the eater(s). And, seriously, there are plenty of things you don't need loads of time to prepare either. Plus, it's another way of sharing love with those you cook for - including yourself!

Here's a selection of my latest favorites.


Waldorf salad variation
Especially loved by those who have a slightly sweet tooth. (original recipe and my version, I'll let you figure it out)

• 1/2 cup chopped lightly toasted walnuts
• 1/2 cup celery, finely sliced (unfortunately didn't have any)
  
• 1/2 cup red seedless grapes, sliced green organic grapes, whole (or raisins)
• 1 medium apple, cored and chopped
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise natural yogurt to taste
• 3 cups of lettuce didn't have any so used endives instead
  
• fresh lemon juice to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix the veggies, fruit and walnuts in a bowl. Separately mix yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Combine the two and sprinkle with some walnuts.
Voilà.

*******

Oven-roasted ratatouille

I got this recipe from Clotilde at Chocolate & Zucchini

I took this picture just as I was about to place the ratatouille in the oven so as you can see the veggies are still raw, but it gives you an idea of the end result.

I have reproduced Clotilde's recipe below for convenience.


* 2 onions
* 2 cloves garlic
* 1 aubergine
* 1 zucchini
* 2 green peppers (surely, if you have red or yellow it's ok)
* 8 small tomatoes (I use the tastier olive shaped ones)
* 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
* 3 sprigs fresh thyme
* olive oil
* salt, pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

Peel and slice the onion and garlic. Rinse and slice the veggies. Rinse the herbs. Combine everything in an oven-proof dish. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.

Cover your dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. By now, the veggies should be cooked but not colored, and there should still be cooking juices at the bottom of the dish.

Remove the foil and bake for another 30 to 45 minutes, until the cooking juices have evaporated and the veggies look well roasted.

Remove the herbs and serve now, or later, or keep some for tomorrow's brunch.

*******

Sunday brunch or oeufs cocotte

The key thing here is the oeufs cocotte. Scrumptious.
You'll need:
-a little ramequin per person,
-a larger relatively shallow oven dish,
-fresh eggs
-some sort of soft white cheese or crème fraîche, (or double cream)
-whatever veggies* you have in your fridge and an oven.

It's an easy and quick dish and very versatile so you can add practically anything to it. Plus it's yummy and filling.

I had some organic ham, some cherry tomatoes and mushrooms so that's what I used. However, you can use tuna, peppers, artichokes, onions, gouda, boursault, zucchini or whatever else you have left in your fridge.

1. Turn on your oven to 220°
2. Boil some water in the kettle
3. Place a sheet of newspaper or kitchen paper on the bottom of your shallow oven dish. This will avoid the water boiling over once in the oven
4. Pour the boiled water ("bain-marie" style) into your large and relatively shallow oven dish half way up on to the kitchen paper. This will help the eggs cook.
5. Grease your ramequin and put some crème fraîche, Chavroux, Boursault or whatever white cheese you are using at the bottom of your ramequin
6. Place diced veggies* and other ingredients (tuna or strips of ham etc.) on top
7. Break your egg (I actually use two per person because my ramequins are rather large and we have an appetite) over the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper
8. Place the ramequin in the water in the large and shallow oven dish and place in the oven for 10 or 15 minutes depending on how runny you like your eggs.
9. Once done, you may wish to sprinkle paprika, parmesan or herbs (chives are yummy) depending on what else you've used, on the top.
10. Serve with other brunch favorites (cheeses, hams, etc.) or left-overs and bread or toast.

N.B. you can of course combine steps 2, 3, and 4: just place warm water in the oven dish (don't forget the piece of kitchen paper at the bottom of the dish first) and let it come to the boil in the oven. Then place the ramequins in the dish.

* Veggies: if you are using veggies that need pre-cooking, just sautee them in a little oil in your frying pan before hand (not the case of tomatoes for example)

Favorite combinations are: cheese and ham; spinach and ham; tomato and bacon (in this case place the egg at the bottom and bacon on top); salmon and cream cheese with chives . The combinations are truly endless.

Well, that's all for today, but I'll keep you posted soon with recently discovered soup recipes (excellent for Emma's dinner!) and my feta and tomato quiche.

Bon appétit!

Happy Mummy

It's not quite as much an event as when my books cleared customs in Turkey, but it's always good to receive an order of books in English - especially before we leave on holiday! Happy, lucky me!
I'll let you know what I think of the toddler books as soon as I've gotten my teeth into them.

For books to read when pregnant (or if you have a pre-toddler baby) see this post. Over a year down the line, I definitely recommend Tracy Hogg's Baby Whisperer solves all your problems. Her E.A.S.Y (Eat, Activity, Sleep, You) routine and general good sense really helped us with Emma!

old rituals, new places

In Geneva, Emma and I got into the habit of going for a weekly post-nap ice-cream with a good friend of mine at this fantastic ice-cream place in Carouge called GelatoMania.

They have a huge choice ranging from unique ice-cream flavors to the more traditional ones. Most are yummy, yummy, yummy although some I find just too oxymoronic (like the calypso = shrimp cocktail or the ham and melon one with real bits of parma ham in it!). Happily, they are kind enough to let you have a taste of the weirder flavors so you don't have to buy it to find out it's just too weird for your pallet. I, for one, could just not swallow the chèvre and the one with pepper.

My preferred flavors over there was "ananas-basilic" (Pineapple and basil - so refreshing!), the ginger-chocolate (mmm...) as well as the more classical "Fior di latte". I also quite liked the black chocolate (very intense!) the green tea and the "pistacchio".

Since we've been in Vienna, Emma and I have been striving to keep up the good habits and so after her afternoon nap and a detour by the fruit & veg market (held by Turks! yummy, if expensive fruit) for some raspberries, we head over to de Rocco's for some "After-eight" ice-cream (my current favorite).

I'm sure this little routine is doing wonders for my post-preggie bikini silhouette...

favorite things & bad timing

One of my favorite things now days in Turkey is the yummy fresh fruit and veg.

I loved smelling the sweet strawberries at the market as early as April - and they taste wonderful.

It's a treat having cherries, melon and watermelon in May and delicious apricots and peaches in early June. Believe me, there's nothing like juicy and sweet fruit when you're pregnant to your eyeballs!

The thing is, often we realize what we like and enjoy when faced with the opportunity or threat of having to leave them behind, give them up, change ways...

Recently it seemed more than likely that we would leave Izmir and Turkey (all the yummy things above, but also the huge house, garden for the dog, shared pool on the grounds, sunny weather and basically the fact of having been here a year which means we know a few nice people and places...) for a place I've never been to but that

• looked like this when hubs went to visit (talk about a change in climate!)
  
• is often thought of as being extremely modern and liberal and brilliant for women and mums (not your typical idea of Turkey)
  
• but that didn't really inspire me after I had read this and this (unfortunately by the same author which doesn't give much perspective... but hey reading her was really dissuasive!)

Clearly it's not all about leaving Turkey, after all we will be leaving some day, and probably sooner rather than later, but right now there's also a strong timing component.

I think it's safe to say that, no matter the destination, moving with a newborn (packing or living out of boxes, temporarily living in a furnished flat while trying to adjust to feeding at all hours and sleepless nights, knowing nothing and no-one in a new city, house-hunting...) is about the most repulsive idea I can come up with at the moment.

Moving is stressful.
Having a baby is huge.
One at a time is enough.

Timing is key. Can we at least wait until bebek is say, 4 months old?


moving Stockholm yummy fruit leaving Turkey destination unknown and bad timing

La di doo di doo dah...

Yay!
Thanks honey... last one with "just the two of us"
Next year we'll have help blowing out the candles....and maybe even cake in our hair which will be a new experience.... ;-)

Cool stuff

I love Google-ing. Actually I love Google - just the name is pretty delicious. I still remember the first time I heard it.

I love Google nearly as much as I love (my) Mac. Yummy.

In both cases, I am far from being aware of all the possibilities they offer. I mean, I use what I need and when I need more I learn. Or sometimes I accidentally find out some new trick.

Anyway, Google, my Mac and the web have helped me survive (litterally) the past year... (yes! almost a year that we've been here!)

So I just wanted to share a few simple things I thought were useful but I'm pretty sure not widely known (as most genius things!)

For example, did you know that on you can:

Type in a calculation in the search box, press Enter (or click on Search) and PRESTO! there's your result!


Just as easily, you can look up the polpulation of a country, the whereabouts of your kindergarden teacher (if you remember her name) or trace your DHL package



You can also enter the stock symbol in your search box to look up stocks...



For a full list of what you can do with Google....

Cool stuff, eh?

Rainy London Town

Oh, and by the way.... our pre-Christmas trip to London was super!
Lots of decorations everywhere so it felt like Christmas is on its way
Loads of people bustling and walking and shopping and drinking in the open air huddled below gas lamps (beloved invention!)
Ok, London is definitely getting more expensive every year and the £ dwarfing every other currency is clearly not helping...
But everything looks so lovely and yummy and tempting. From the crisp Thomas Pink shirts on Jermyn Street, the scrumptious oeufs bénédicte at Richelieu's, the gorgeous tea tins, cheeses, charcuteries, Foie Gras and assorted Christmas hampers at Fortnum and Masons to the mixed nuts, crisps, cheddars and white chocolate covered strawberries at Marks and Sparks, it was a feast for the eyes and a thoroughly tempting shopping experience. You've got to hand it to them, the English do have wrapping & packaging (both literally and figuratively) down to a tee. I wanted to take all of it back with me.

So enjoyed the oysters and Muscat and the fish and chips too (I recommend Randall & Aubin on 16 Brewer Street, W1, Soho London)
Portobello market in the rain and running for shelter in a pub with a dripping but merry crowd!

The Christmas stalls at Covent Garden and the handy Metro Tesco's everywhere.

It's a funny feeling going back to a city you've lived in. You know your way around; some of your landmark spots are thankfully still there -although they might have changed the branding on their coffee cups and the staff is now Albanian.
While it feels familiar it also feels different; one of your favorite restaurants has given way to a whole new block of glass office buildings their escalators wrapped in sparkling lights, the formerly colorful and spicy Indian is now empty and depressing, the once scruffy mall with the dingy, but well stocked health food store, has turned into a modern complex with smart boutiques and cafés, its previously grey facade is now bright-white and garnished with trees and benches, and the student hall you lived in has been converted into something different and undefined.
Strangely, it is the informal dealers like flower vendors that have kept their habits and venues. High-street shops and cafés have come and gone. Big brands have taken over entire buildings turning them into museum-like showcases that have become weekend excursion venues for the dream-hungry consumers... Among them, many no doubt, are working poor.

Some things, happily, are the same, no matter how many years go by.
The thick air in the tube stations, whooshing upwards and outwards as yet another train moves on; the persistent emanation of rancid and over-used oil, common to most larger cities; the familiar chugging of a Black cab making a turn; the merry "good night luv" as you climb out of your cab or leave a pub...

London town... nearly a decade since I lived there, and I'm thinking it's true; time does go by more quickly as time goes by.

Christmas London Covent Garden Yummy Expat Musing

Potato Pita

In utter despair of the heating ever coming on again, I resolved to try heating myself from within. No, not in a spiritual way, or by doing exercise, but via good old carbs.
I tried J. 's recipe of Bosnian Potato pita.

Although tasty, mine looked nothing like her pics.

If you can do this without the phylo pastry tearing when folding the pita into "loose cinnamon bun shapes", let me know!

Off to Istanbul for a few...

P.S. the heating is now working!!!