27.5.08 why I like to cook

I like to cook because of experiences like yesterday. It was pouring rain all day and cold (thanks, Summer, for visiting us here in the UK a few weeks ago. Mind coming back?) No sense going out for food, and so began a day of culinary adventures foraging through cupboard and fridge for just the right combinations.

In the fridge and freezer:
eggs
cheese
spinach
cooked black eyed peas (yes, leftover but reconstitution renders any food "new" rather than "leftover" in my universe - the leftover hating universe)
half a purple onion
cauliflower
cooked rice
bacon

In the cupboard and on the sideboard:
tinned tomatoes
potatoes
Crystal sauce
dried coriander and cumin
limes
garlic
salt and pepper
really bad and therefore oh so good chocolate covered biscuit wheels with marshmallow cream inside

So we had a fantastic bean, spinach, onion and cheese frittata with homemade salsa.
And roasted potato wedges later to finish up the salsa.
Fried rice with bacon, cauliflower and spinach.
really bad biscuits

We even had a bottle of red wine kicking around here. Time to stock up for the next rainy day, that's for sure.

29.4.08 but it came in a golden package

So I called Paul yesterday and asked him to bring home cookies on his way back from a meeting that I was missing. I've just had another one of them now - chocolate covered marshmallow biscuit things. Really crap. But the package was amazing, all gold foil and shiny red letters. I am such a sucker for that kind of kitch.

In other news, I don't remember a single vegetable crossing my lips today. Hm.

Oh, I had vitamin water with blueberries and pomegranate. That counts, right?

I had a cappuccino today, first one in a while. And some fair baklava. Muesli and milk. Coffee. Lemon water. Wood oven pizza...saved enough for tomorrow (pizza is the one and only absolutely okay leftover).

22.4.08 food in the balance

First, I am wondering: if one puts some lime and fresh ginger in a delicate bone china cup with flowers painted on it and pours hot water from the (tea) kettle over it, is that tea?

That was my hot toddy of choice this evening, upon returning home to a pile of stale donuts after a fresh conversation with the Yorkshire poet Simon Armitage at the Royal Society for the Arts near the Embankment.

Today was another leftovers day! Can you believe it? I can't. I simply canNot. But, we bought some fresh, flat Turkish bread (a real neighborhood staple here in Hackney) and covered it in the black beans we made the other night, topped it with cheese and grilled it like a pizza. We served it to ourselves with fresh coriander on top and humous on the side, along with cauliflower and carrots and rocket as crudite and salad. I'm getting back on the 5-a-day bandwagon and toying around with raw foods. Some people swear by entire diets of raw food...I've always craved sushi in the morning.

I had an apple for breakfast and then later in the morning broke down and had some toast with peach jam (is that 1?) and honey and butter. Man, do I love butter.

Also today was another trip to Pret, our second in a week after not having gone there at all since we've been back. It's a bit tired, really. The sandwiches - a "slim pret" (1/2 a sandwich) of chicken and avocado for me tonight - feel fresh but lack flavor. Shame. Such a great concept.

So today for my Take Five:
apple
rocket
cauliflower
carrot

and
peach jam.

20.4.08 still working off last week's joys

I'm still in a happy glow after a great evening at L'Epicerie last Thursday. And since there's only rice in the fridge, I will live in the past (but not in leftover land).

6.4.08 and this and this and this, again

I am not a fan of leftovers. Even though I ate things today that I bought and started enjoying yesterday...that doesn't make them leftovers.

First of all, since it was snowing, I walked to the corner French deli and bought pain au chocolat for breakfast. What else?

but that wasn't really first...I am doing well at having hot water and lemon in the mornings as I wait for the coffee to brew
coffee with milk and homemade cappuccino with decaf a bit later...I rate my cafe pressed frothing milk pretty highly
a ginger nut or two because they were there
that spicy soup I am newly fond of making
gorgeous cherry tomatoes
crusty brown bread with sweet butter
apple slices
saffron tea
fried rice with onion and chorizo sausage
chocolate digestive

25.3.08 leftovers aren't so bad

Tonight I'm finishing up a rhubarb cobbler made from the fresh spring crop in my garden. And some homemade fried rice fried again.

I spent 2.80 on food today, and it was two items of 1.40 each. It's amazing how different the value of something can be. One lot was for an instant cappuccino at the Kew Gardens station because the cafe was so cute. Cute only goes so far. The other was for a beautiful baguette from L'Epicerie. If I were down to my last 1.40 and dying of thirst or a caffeine headache, I would still buy the bread.

listing keeps me sane:
lemon in hot water
coffee with milk and a little bit of cream
muesli and milk with the dregs of evil crunchy nut clusters
pumpkin seeds on the train
baguette
brie
gouda
dark, wrinkly olives
bad cappuccino
chocolate covered peanuts
tea
fried rice
czech budweiser
about to have rhubarb crumble and cream...

22.3.08 Leftovers: Pineapple

Leftovers and I don't get along. On the other hand, I love a challenge. What to do with a ziplock bag of leftover pineapple pieces and juice? Why, pineapple cake of course. Better than a pineapple hat, to eat at least.

Today, like yesterday, I didn't spend any money on food - a couple of raids on the back of the cupboard and fridge; some other food besides pineapple scored after clean-up at the community meal on Thursday.

Thanks to J and L for the dinner tonight. J made some great bean tacos with just a touch of cinnamon and L made a wonderfully garlic-rich salad with Italian flat-leaf parsley and cress. Can't get enough green. Speaking of which, here's stealing from my other blog, hackney daily photo: