red whine

I shouldn't be whining (or whinging as they say in my other home town of London).

I've got chocolate and red wine. What's to complain about?

That there is no hot tub to slip into with this glass of red.
That the chocolate is finished but I'm not.
That another day of eating has ended and I made no discoveries!

That's not true - on daily headspa today we posted a video of some gorgeous little Finnish fellows making sticky buns. It's so good it bears repeating. Haven't tried to the recipe but discovering these boys and their joy of cooking is splendid!

note to self: no cheese and tennis

Okay, so I found out today that Triple Cream Brie (a lot of), bagel chips, and chocolate pastilles do not mix well with tennis...It was a quantity problem (too much tennis or too much cheese?)

28.4.08 eating humble pie

Do you ever have one of those days...the ones that even food can't save.

Well, I almost had one today. It was only a near miss because I happened to make myself a delicious baked potato and fresh rocket and mixed greens salad for dinner. The baking potato warmed the house, the salad was a plateful of spring on a cold winter-can't-let-go day outside. Sometimes grace is a simple as butter melting down the side of a golden spud.

And there is chocolate in the fridge, so all is definitely not lost.

veggie count today: the salad counts for two, I bet. An orange. A juice drink. A banana. I made it. Whew.

15 um 16.4.08 dinner party

It was so wonderful to be in the kitchen today, with time and space to create a dinner for friends. I got so excited I kind of overdid it. While Paul made a fantastic tomato sauce for pasta, with roasted peppers, lots of garlic and fresh basil, and some beautifully sauteed onions as the base, I made a salad. I think the combination was fun - mixed greens, rocket, toasted walnuts, bacon, and roquefort cheese with pomegranate seeds - but the dressing was a bit much with the flavors of the pasta sauce. I made a vinegar and olive oil base with lime juice, shallots, dried coriander and cumin. Great on its own, though, and colorful. I also attempted a pear tart. I made a crumble crust of flour, butter, and ground walnuts. I blind baked it, then sliced pears thin and poured a reduction of honey, lemon juice, brown sugar, vanilla essence and Grand Marnier over the top before the second bake. The crust was not all I had imagined - I think I was thinking of crushed biscuits but it was just floury. Should I have added an egg? Don't know. I just made it up. Thank God for cream over the top. And dark chocolate on the side.

We used every plate in the house, and they are in there now waiting for a wash. Not going to happen tonight. Er, this morning...

somebody else likes chocolate for breakky

breakfast and pain au chocolat was a long time ago. i've made the bold claim that talking about food is nearly as good as eating it. i found someone else talking about chocolate for breakfast on "passionfruit." i must admit it crossed my mind this morning that chocolate was probably an okay thing for first thing in the morning, but maybe the butterfat in the croissant portion of the treat would have to be an occasional indulgence rather than a daily ritual. sure enough, the author of this great blog about the love of food confirms that there are other ways to keep the chocolate, drop the fat. so i lead you to this idea of hers, which sounds fab...i am so going to try it. first i have to work up the energy to cook rather than ramble up to my favorite little deli. hm, could be trouble there.

26.2.08 it's a jet lag thing

yogurt
organic muesli
coffee with milk
4:30 a.m.
it's a jet lag thing

kiwi
orange
feeling pretty righteous at this point...

oops - accidental chocolate croissant
not even a good one
drat
cappuccino
10:30 a.m. coz it was morning tea time and I was sorta hungry

oh crap
chips
hummous
wilted salad
apple juice to save the day
so that was lunch
a small square of G&B dark chocolate just because

afternoon tea:
Earl Grey with Tesco chocolate biscuits

dinner plans:
fresh spinach
roasted garlic
turkish bread
more hummous

What I wish I were eating today:
creamy brie
fresh baguette
home made vegetable soup

there's always tomorrow...