Curried rice patties with tahini dressing

These are incredibly nice. If you like curry and/or spicy food, this is for you!

Ingredients (Makes 4-6 patties)

70g basmati rice, cooked, drained and rinced
2 TBSP olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 red pepper, finely chopped
115g peas
1 small leek, finely chopped
1 tomato, finely chopped
300g canned chick peas (rinsed & drained)
90g fresh bread crumbs
1 TBSP chopped coriander
1 egg, beaten
salt & pepper

For the tahini dressing:

120 ml tahini
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper
5 TBSP lemon juice
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
~125ml water

=> this makes a very generous quantity of dressing (see picture). Half of this would be sufficient for us but it depends how much you like tahini.

To make the dressing, process the tahini, garlic, cumin, cayenne and lemon juice in a food processor until creamy. Sloly pour in the oil, then gradually add enough water to make a creamy dressing.

To make the patties:

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and fry until soft. Stir in the curry and chilli powders and cook for 2 minutes. Add the vegetables and cook for another 7 minutes.

2. Process the chick peas in a food processor. Add half of the cooked vegetables and process again.

3. Transfer to a large bowl and add the remaining vegetable mixture, breadcrumbs, coriander and egg. Mix weel. Stir in the rice and season to taste. Leave to chill for 1 hour.

4. Shape into patties and fry. Serve with vegetables, the tahini dressing and lime wedges.

Spicy Mexican Pie

Spicy Mexican Pie

For the filling:

3 tomatoes, chopped
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
400g sweetcorn
300g red kidney beans
4 sticks celery, sliced
100g peas
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp hot chilli powder
2 TBSP chopped coriander

For the topping:

125g cornmeal (I had none so used wholemeal bread flour instead)
1 TBSP plain flour
Pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten
6 TBSP milk
1 TBSP corn oil
125g grated cheese (mature cheddar in our case!)

Variation 1 here.

1. Fry all the vegetables together then place in an ovenproof dish.

2. To make the topping, mix together the cornmeal, flour, salt and baking powder. Make a well, add teh egg, milk and oil and beat until you obtain a smooth batter. Spoon over the vegetables and sprinkle with the cheese.

3. Cook in a preheated oven (220 degrees) for 25 minutes.

4. Serve with a tomato and avocado salad.

Carrot and leek quiche (multiseed pastry)

The amazing taste of this quiche comes from the unusual but yummy texture of the pastry for which I used the following ingredients:

100g plain flour
40g millet flakes
40g mixed seeds (poppy, crushed hemp, sunflower, pumpkin, linseed, millet)
80g margarine
3TBSP water

We used 2 big leeks and 4 carrots. Trave cut the veg into tiny bits which added to the great taste. Once fried, place the vegetables into the pastry case, cover with grated cheese, sprinkle with parsley and black pepper.

Mix 2 eggs with 150ml soya cream and pour over the filling. Cook in a 180 degrees-preheated oven for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Update on our plants

Some are doing better than others. I think I watered them too much before I left, which some seeds clearly did not appreciate. The courgettes are doing great, so are the radish (not surprisingly). Only one tomato plant seems to be growing and it looks like I will have to sow most herbs again, bah…

Vegetables and bulghur

Vegetable stir-fry with bulghur

2 courgettes, sliced
1 red pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 small broccoli, cut into small florets
Mushrooms, sliced
2 cups of bulghur
1 handful cashew nuts

Fry all the vegetables, add your favourite herbs.
Meanwhile, cook the bulghur in boiling water. Roast the cashew nuts under the grill.
Drain the bulghur and add to the stir-fry.
Serve into warm bowls and sprinkle with the nuts.

Back from Munich

Where shall I start? the past few weeks have been really, really busy. The exhibition was great. Incredible atmosphere and I met so many new people. One of them was a chimney sweeper: I had never met a chimney sweeper before! Have you? In seven days, half a million people visited the show, thankfully not all visited our stand, or we would have been short of staff and beverages! We had nice evenings too. Personally, I enjoyed more walking through the city than dinner itself: no offense but Bavarian cuisine is not my favourite. The good thing was, we went there right in the middle of the "Spargelzeit" (asparagus season) so as a veggie, as long as you don't mind eating asparagus with boiled potatoes and sauce Hollandaise, you're alright.

I love this city. Loads of space for pedestrians and cyclists. And... I don't know, this German je-ne-sais-quoi which gives me this immense feeling of regret whenever I have to leave this country. I left on Mayday and there were many families taking their bicycles on the S-Bahn to the nearest village and from the train window one could see all these people cycling peacefully among the fields, only 10 minutes away from Munich city centre without taking the car. and many other things. I love this country. The longer I stay there the more difficult it is to leave it.

Anyway... enough of this! I have some recipes to post:

- Mexican chilli pie
- Vegetable stir-fry with bulghur
- Yummy leeks & carrot quiche

+ update on our seeds!

In other news, as I have finished my management course and until I start the exam revision programme in August, I have started a "teach yourself Dutch in 3 months" book. I don't expect to be fluent in three-month time but if I could just be able to have a short conversation with my Flemish customers at the exhibition I am going to in September in Kortrijk, I would be very pleased! Let's hope I am not over ambitious. After all, there is a wedding to prepare...!

Sprouting salad

Check this out! Only one tiny leaf yesterday and look at what I saw coming home today!

First sight of a leaf!

You won't believe it but I spotted some green coming out of my tiny pots yesterday evening! Yes, the wild rocket salad has started sprouting, and so have the radishes. Let's hope the will become proper salad and radishes so that we can eat them, yum yum!

Off to Munich

I have just posted about a few things I have been cooking lately to catch up a bit, I am off to Munich for the "world biggest trade show" in two days and will be back early May.

We might even have proper Internet access at home when I come back.

I leave Trave with a shed door to fix, a lock to fit on the side gate, a bookshelf to build, a cupboard full of crackers and a fridge full of cheddar, milk and yoghurts. That should keep him busy and fed while I am away.

I am sure he will cook for himself though!

Simply veggie pasta

In our stir fry mood, we had stir-fried veg with pasta yesterday. Just fry any vegetables you fancy, and mix them to your favourite pasta shape! Including fresh tomatoes and mushrooms usually helps to make it nice and juicy. Sprinkle with Parmesan and plenty of freshly cracked black pepper and it is ready!


As an appetiser, we had tomatoes with shavings of Parmesan and a drizzle of the nicest olive oil I have.

Spicy basmati rice with vegetable stir fry

I had not made a stir fry for a while and it tasted so good that we decided to make stir fry more often. Serves 2.

For the rice:
2 glasses of dry basmati rice
1 TBSP turmeric
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander
1 lime, cut in quarters, for serving

For the veg:
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 courgette
10 baby sweetcorn cobs
1 red chilli pepper

Cook the rice for 10 minutes until tender. Drain well and add the herbs and spices. Mix well.
Meanwhile, fry all the vegetables in groundnut oil until tender and season to taste.
Serve in a pre-heated plate with the lime.

Fresh raspberries with vanilla ice cream

I love both raspberries and vanilla ice cream (made with Cornish cream, of course!) so this makes a delicious combination. A drop of maple syrup is also a nice addition. Two regrets: I did not grow the raspberries myself nor did I make the ice cream myself :(

Doesn't it look yummy?

Spring time

I have done a bit of gardening at the weekend. Growing things from seeds is completely new to me so I don't know how well the plants will do. We have two borders and a patch in our garden. Border No. 1 will have some lavender (if it grows!) and for border No. 2, I have sowed thyme, coriander, and radishes. I have also sowed basil which I will grow in pots, and French beans, cherry tomatoes and wild rocket.



I am desperate to plant rosemary but I could not find any seed.

Trave is doing courgettes, early purple sprouting broccoli and something else which I forgot about.

I had a lot to carry on the trailer behind my bicycle! Shelves, 25L seed compost, a hose, all the seeds and various tools which we needed...

Here is our apple tree:



I really hope we can reap something. I looked at the mini-pots this morning which we have left on the windowsill: still no leaves coming out! Maybe this gardening thing will teach me to be more patient?

Almond and hazelnut gateau

Recipe to come soon, I just wanted to give you a taste with photos!

Asparagus with orange dressing

This is surprising nice and refreshing, a great summer starter.


Cook the asparagus until tender, then drain and pat dry with kitchen paper. Leave to cool down completely.

To make the orange dressing, you will need:

The rind of 2 oranges
5 TBSP freshly squeezed orange juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 TBSP white wine vinegar
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together and leave to infuse for an hour for the aroma to develop. Pour over the cold asparagus and serve cold.

Sundried tomato bread

To make pesto & Parmesan toasts, I baked a sundried tomato bread. To make one big loaf, you will need:

500g white flour
5g dried yeast
1 TBSP tomato paste
1 handful rehydrated sundried tomatoes, sliced
2 TBSP Mediterranean herbs (thyme, rosemary, basil...)
3 TBSP olive oil
250ml warm water

Knead thoroughly and bake for 25 minutes in an oven pre-heated at 200 degrees.


Great to make cheese sandwiches too!

Cashew nut biscuits

These delicious biscuits are perfect for an aperitif.

Makes ~20 biscuits:

160g cashew nut butter
100g plain flour
2 handfuls of cashew nuts (either salted or unsalted)
a little bit of water



Mix the butter and flour together. Add some water to form a soft dough. Add the cashew nuts whilst kneading. Shape into a sausage and slice.



Cook in a preheated oven (180 degrees) for 20 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave to cool down in the oven completely.

Easter Monday lunch

Trave's parents came to visit yesterday and apart from friends coming for a drink on the way back from the pub on Sunday night, they were our first visitors to our new house! We still have a few boxes piled up, but the house does not look like a battlefield any longer!

This gave me the opportunity to use the table cloth that my mother made for my 20th birthday and to test the new oven. I invested in an oven thermometer, which I discovered is essential with gas ovens if you are not used to them.


Here is the lunch menu:

Appetisers:
Home-made cashew nut biscuits
Toasts made with home-made sundried tomato bread, pesto and Parmesan

Starter:
Asparagus with orange dressing

Main course:
Potato pie
nutmeg & coriander carrot purée
broccoli florets

Cheese and lettuce course:
Manchego (Spanish cheese)
Pié d'Angloys (French cheese)
Ossau Iraty (Basque cheese)
Cheddar (English cheese)
Lettuce with Xeres vinegar & unrefined extra virgin olive oil

Dessert:
Poached pears with ricotta & maple syrup

Coffee

Afternoon tea:
Almond and roasted hazelnut gateau

The wine was a Grand Vin de Bordeaux which Trave received from my parents last Christmas. That bottle was too big to open for just the 2 of us so this occasion was perfect!

Pictures from Rhubarb Rhubarb

We do not quite have Internet access yet, but somebody in the area has not secured his/her wireless network, so... (I feel a tiny little bit guilty about using it)

So here are a few pictures to give you an idea of the place (not our new house, but the restaurant Rhubarb Rhubarb we went to to celebrate our home-owning).




I like the idea of using old sewing machines as tables. Not the first time I see this, but I like it! I also really like the music they play there (world/jazzy).

We did not have any starters because we were hoping to have some room left for a pudding! As a main course, we both had wild mushroom lasagne with a white wine creamy sauce, as well as a rocket salad and Parmesan shavings as a side dish. It was delicious! I had forgotten to take a picture so this is what was left in the plate:


Then as a dessert, Trave had a Tarte Tatin, which looked delicious and (he let me have a spoonful) was yummy! I tried the lemon and thyme creme brulee: I love both ingredients and creme brulee so I thought it sounded like a great combination. The taste was fantastic, but I expected a creme brulee to be warm: surely cremes brulees ought to be warm, right? So a slight disappointment there, but I must admit the caramel crust was just perfect. Altogether still a great meal and a very nice evening.

YES!

Still no Internet at home but on the plus side: WE ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE TWO TICKETS FOR THE GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL!!!

Hurrah! Many thanks to Andy whose GF had a super-fast connection and helped us a little bit! Just on time before they sold a mere 137,000 tickets in less than 2 hours... Crazy world.

I'm testing my new oven at the moment, so things are not quite cooked the way they should. I will report back as soon as we are back online!

Moving!

Moving is certainly an interesting thing. We got the keys on Friday afternoon and spent our weekend moving stuff from one end of the town to the other. No internet connection in the new house yet so I will not be posting regularly in the next week or so. We needed to make sure we had a working line to book our Glastonbury Festival tickets on 1st April.

Rhubarb Rhubarb was great on Friday. Although unlike in the old days, they now have a limited vegetarian selection. I took some pictures and will post them eventually.

I will post again soon, when we have Internet back at home!

Just an omelette

As we will start moving in the next few days, I have made the inventory of what was in the fridge-freezer.

Fridge:
yoghurts, margarine cheese, eggs, bay leaves, milk, fruit juice, 1 btle sweet wine white (Xmas present from my brother. We are just waiting to make a great cake to drink it with!) and 1 btle Champagne (was given to us & has been in the fridge for 3 years. I much prefer wine)

Freezer:
icecubes, vanilla flavour Cornish icecream, peas, spinach, pinapple, summer fruit and chard.

So although I am not a big fan of eggs, I made an omelette with some cheese, all the spinach that was left, and Italian herbs. We had planned to eat the peas as well but I completely forgot to cook them! We had the last yoghurts as a dessert.

Here is a picture of the omelette:


I guess I will make some fruit juice/smoothie with the frozen fruit. I am not worried about the icecream, that should go down quite well.

We get the keys to our house tomorrow. We are planning to take our inflatable mattress over there and stay overnight.

Also, Trave is taking us out to Rhubarb Rhubarb, one of my favourite places to eat out.

Reviews on Rhubarb Rhubarb:

Vegout
The Zone

This place used to be an antique/gift/copper pot shop with a tiny vegetarian/vegan café at the back. Now it is a restaurant but has kept its Victorian look. Quite an odd place but the food is fantastic, and they play world music.

The other restaurant I like is The Basement. Good food (sometimes better than others. Not vegetarian focused but there is always a vegetarian option), jazzy atmosphere. We have not been there for more than 3 years though. We should check it out again some day.

Looking forward to Rhubarb Rhubar tomorrow!

Squash soup

On Monday we made a nice and smooth soup with squash, potatoes and carrots, which were what was left in our weekly veg box. It was a really nice soup. Fantastic texture and very smooth taste too!

This is what we put it in:

1 squash, diced
4 carrots, sliced
3 potatoes, diced
1 l vegetable stock
2 tbsp butter

1. Fry the vegetables in the butter then add the stock. Simmer gently for 20 min.

2. Mix in the liquidiser.

3. It's ready! You can add a drop of milk or cream, or your favourite herb. I wanted to add some tarragon but it looked and tasted so good I decided to leave it as simple as it was.



Soupe de potiron

1 potiron, coupé en dés
4 carottes, tranchées
3 pommes de terre, coupées en dés
1 litre de bouillon de légumes
2 c. soupe huile d'olive

1. Frire les légumes dans l'huile. Ajouter le bouillon et faire frémir pendant 20 minutes.

2. Passer au mixeur. C'est pret ! (Les gourmands pourront ajouter de la creme fraiche ou du lait. On peut aussi ajouter des herbes fines mais c'était tres bon tout simple)

Fennel seed biscuits

Believe me or not, as I was starting to reconsider jogging, it started to snow! It has been almost 20 degrees all last week (had 2 lunches outside on a sunny terrasse wearing short sleeve shirt in Salzburg), and as I think of going out, it starts snowing...

This gave me an excellent excuse to stay in and try these biscuits. They are not the ones I had in mind earlier on but I am trying these for the first time too. They are quite surprising in taste, and if you like fennel seeds like me, delicious!

Based on Cléa's recipe! (Her photo looks much better. Actually, ALL her photos are fantastic!)

200g flour
50g freshly ground almonds
80g demerara sugar
1 tsp vanilla powder or extract
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 egg, beaten
40g milk
40g extra virgin olive oil

1. Mix together the flour, almond, sugar, vanilla and fennel seeds. Make a well and pour in the beaten egg, milk and olive oil.

2. Make a dough and roll it into a big sausage shape.

3. Place in the freezer for 30-40 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees.

5. Cut the sausage into thin slices (5mm) and place on a baking tray.

6. Bake for 13 minutes.

Why not try this with a cup of fennel tea?


Pour la version francaise, allez donc faire un tour chez Cléa !

Submitted!

I have just submitted my last assignment for this course, and well ahead the deadline. I have not much of a choice given that we will have to move within the next 2 or 3 weeks. I am not looking forward to the packing/unpacking thing and will be relieved when it is all done.

But for now, no more assignments, hurrah! (to tell you the truth, I may go one step further in November, but shush...)

What am I going to do with all that extra spare time now? Packing boxes, unpacking boxes, tidy things up in our new house, starting to make my own bread and pasta again (I missed this a lot), and starting learning Dutch! I have to go to the Flandres part of Belgium in September for work so this is my deadline to be able to utter a few polite words in Dutch. I understand Flemish Dutch at 60% (or so I believe!) but I cannot speak a word of it. Wait a minute, yes I can: I can order a glass of red wine and a glass of white wine. It is very limited to start a conversation! This will be a CD and book excercise though: no assignment, no exam, and no pressure!

How am I going to occupy the rest of this Sunday? Either going jogging or making some biscuits... Tough choice... I feel like jogging and I now that the weather will not allow any outdoor activities tomorrow after work, but... I think I will probably go for the biscuits. There is this new recipe I have seen on somebody else's blog and I want to try it.

I will let you know!

Beetroot salad

Beeroots take forever to cook (unless you cheat and cut them in smaller pieces beforehand like I do!) but I really like their taste, in a "back to roots" sort of way. And as we had beetroots in our vegetable box this week, I made this nice and simple salad for our lunch today.


The following should serve 3 people for a light lunch:

2-3 beetroots, cooked, peeled and diced
1 can of sweetcorn
50g Comté cheese, diced
50g Doux de montagne cheese, diced
2 tbsp mixed seeds, such as sunflower seeds, linseeds, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds
2 tbsp extra virgin unrefined olive oil

===============

Salade de betteraves - pour 3 personnes

2-3 betteraves, cuites, pelées et coupées en dés
1 petite boite de mais
50g Comté coupé en dés
50g Doux de montagne, coupé en dés
2 c. soupe de graines, telles que graines de tournesol, de lin, de courge, de pavot
2 c. soupe d'huile d'olive extra vierge non raffinée

13 conversations about one thing + special news

I cycled in front of the library yesterday, and decided to browse their DVD section. I found a film I wanted to see for a while: Thirteen conversations about one thing. It is quite an odd one. And not as joyful as I expected and wanted it to be. Allegedly it is all about happiness, but it seems to be more about how fragile and limited in time happiness is, and how people should not take it for granted.



Which is not at all the sort of film we wanted to watch since we had something to celebrate:

Indeed, we have yesterday exchanged contract to buy a house! A house! A house! We will have the keys next Friday.

So, after years of saving money (during which time house prices have increased at a rate higher than our saving, Gggrrrrrr...) we have found a house. And in 20 years we will fully own it. It is an awful lot of money and thinking of 20 years ahead is kinda scary...

The great thing about that place is that the kitchen is big enough to have more than 1 person in it, which is not the case in our current flat. So Trave & I will be able to make dinner together, which is impossible at the moment. I am also looking forward to not having to eat by the coffee table but at a real table. Watch out for more news soon!

Potato pie

I made another potatoe pie yesterday night. This time I put courgettes instead of the onion, and I added some mixed Italian herbs. Also, I cased it in a dish rather than on a baking tray. It was good. I will probably add grated cheese to the filling next time.

Poached pears with Mascarpone Chocolate sauce

Simple and delicious, you must try this dessert.

Serves 6

6 firm ripe pears
100g caster sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
rind of 1 orange
2 cloves
1 bottle rosé wine

Chocolate sauce:
175g dark cooking chocolate
250g mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp Cointreau

1. Peel the pear, leaving the stalk intact.

2. Place the sugar, cinnamon, orange rind, cloves and wine in a saucepan big enough to hold the 6 pears.

3. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then add the pears to the liquid and bring to a simmer. Cover and poach gently for 20 min. Leave the pears in the hot liquid whilst preparing the chocolate sauce.

4. To make the sauce, melt the chocolate. Beat together the cheese and the Cointreau. Beat the cheese mixture into the chocolate.

5. Remove the pears from the posching liquid and place on serving plates. Pipe a generous amount of sauce on the side of the plate. Serve the remainder separately.

(Photo not availabe yet. Did not have a camera available last time I made this)

Poires pochées sauce Mascarpone au chocolat

Pour 6 personnes

6 poires fermes mais mures
100g sucre fin
2 batons de cannelle
zeste d'une orange
2 clous de girofle
1 bouteille de rosé

Sauce chocolat :
175g chocolat noir á cuire
250 mascarpone
2 tbsp Cointreau

1. Peler les poires en gardant le trognon intact.

2. Mettre le sucre, cannelle, zeste d'orange, clous de girofle et le vin dans une casserole.

3. Chauffer doucement jusqu'á ce que le sucre ait fondu. Y ajouter les poire. Couvrir et pocher les poires pendant 20 min. Laisser les poires dans le liquide chaud pendant que vous préparez la sauce au chocolat.

4. Pour faire la sauce, faire fondre le chocolat. Mélanger le mascarpone et le Cointreau ensemble, puis y incorporer le chocolat.

5. Placer les poires dans des assiettes á dessert et servir avec une portion de sauce chocolat.

Cauliflower and Broccoli soup

Time for a bowl of soup after cheesy spaetzle and rich cakes in Austria!

Serves 4:

2 TBSP olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 broccoli (same size as cauliflower), cut into small florets
1 TBSP plain flour
600ml milk
300ml vegetable stock
75g grated cheese (Gruyere/Cheddar/Comté)
pinch of paprika
150ml single cream

1. Sauté the onion, garlic, cauliflower and broccoli in the oil for 5 min. Add the flour and cook for another 1 min.

2. Gradually add in the milk and stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 min.

3. Remove a quarter of the vegetables and set aside. Put the rest of the soup in a liquidiser.

4. Return to the pan, add the reserved vegetables and heat through. Add the cheese, single cream and paprika. Cook for another 5 minutes without boiling.

5. Serve in warm bowl.


Soupe de chou-fleur et broccoli


Pour 4 personnes


2 c. soupe huile d'olive
1 oignon, haché
1 gousse d'ail, écrasée
1 chou-fleur, coupé en petits bouquets
1 broccoli, (meme taille que le chou-fleur) coupé en petits bouquets
1 TBSP farine
600ml lait
300ml bouillon de légumes
75g fromage rapé (Gruyere/Cheddar/Comté)
pincée de paprika
150ml créme légere liquide

1. Sauter l'oignon, l'ail, le chou-fleur et le broccoli pendant 5 minutes. Ajouter la farine et cuire en remuant pendant 1 min.

2. Ajouter le lait et le bouillon, faire bouillir, puis réduire et cuire en remuant pendant 20 minutes.

3. Retirer un quart des légumes et mettre de coté. Mettre le reste de la soupe dans le mixeur.

4. Remettre la soupe et les légumes dans la casserole. Ajouter le fromage, la creme et le paprika. Réchauffer sans bouillir et servir dans des assiettes préchauffées.

Off to Salzburg

I'm off to Salzburg tomorrow morning for work and will stay there a couple of days.

Last time I went there was at the time I lived in Frankfurt. My sister came to visit and we went camping on the shores of the Chiemsee Lake in Bavaria. It is a gorgeous place. We had some misfortune on one very stormy night, and had to abandon the tent and sleep in the car! Of course it was not clever to pitch the tent right by the lake under a tree... but we had fun! And the other campers who had caravans were very helpful and lent us washing lines and pegs. Everything was fine.


On our way to the lake, we visited Neuschwanstein, a beautiful yet odd castle designed by Ludwig II, 'the Mad King'. Amazing place. We also spent a day at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where we did a bit of hiking. There was a BMW-motorbikers rally on that day. Very odd but friendly atmosphere.

During our stay at the lake, we made a one day visit to Salzburg, where we saw Mozart's birthplace and wondered through the town.

We had a great time in Bavaria and Salzburg!

Too bad I won't be going there for leisure tomorrow!

Hot Fuzz

We went to the cinema and watched Hot Fuzz yesterday night. A British comedy starring Simon Pegg and with other actors from the Spaced series (I love the series!). The movie is brilliant! It is hilarious but at the same time has enough suspence to hook you to the story. It tells the story of Nicholas Angel, a very successful MET police officer, who is transferred to the countryside where obviously things are a bit different from what they are in central London!


The movie was great, but I found every minute beforehand very unpleasant. There are probably may reasons for that:

1. We do not go to this cinema very often so I had forgotten the smell of popcorn.

2. I had forgotten the price of a cinema ticket (£6.25/person, you can buy a DVD for that price!)

3. Maybe it struck me because we don't have TV, and it is also certainly due to the fact that it was 8.30pm so the cinema management think they will have only mature audiences (although the film was rated 12a), but 80% of the ads before the movies were trying to sell alcohol, or promoting sex, or promoting alcohol using sex references, or selling something completely unrelated to any of them using alcohol and/or sex references!!! Don't get me wrong, I am not a Puritan or anything, but when all the papers are appalled at Britain's worst rate in almost everything a society can produce for their children according to a recent UNICEF report (worst at young age smoking, drinking, teenage pregnancy, illiteracy, earliest to leave school, etc...) I jsut could not believe it...

And then, although we were coming to see a comedy, all the film previews were of thrillers, horror films, etc...


Am I out of touch with society altogether??????? Am I living in the past pretending that things are OK??? Am I simply making too much of a fuss about something which is the normal way for society to evolve and I will have to adapt???

I don't know. Maybe I should not worry too much about all this.

I did enjoy the movie so that's the main thing, isn't it?

Lentil and rice casserole

This is one of my favourite winter recipes, which has the advantage of being fairly quick to prepare (less than one hour) and there won't be much washing-up to do afterwards, which is always a bonus!

For 4 people:

250g red lentils
60g wholemeal rice
1.2 L vegetable stock
400g canned or fresh chopped tomatoes
1 smal broccoli, cut into small florets
100g French beans, cut in half
100g baby sweetcorn cobs, cut in half
1 red pepper, sliced
1 leek, sliced
1 TBSP chilli powder
1 TSP garam masala
1 TSP ground cumin
Coriander or parsley

1. Place the lentils, rice and stock in a big saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Add all the vegetables and spices and cook for another 15 minutes, until all the veg are tender. Season to taste.

3. Serve into bowl and sprinkle with your favourite herb!



Casserole de lentilles corail et riz :

Pour 4 personnes

250g lentilles corail
60g riz complet
1,2 L bouillon de légumes
400g tomates hachées, conserve ou fraiches
1 petit broccoli, coupés en fleurets
100g haricots verts, coupés en 2
100g mini mais, coupés en 2
1 poivron rouge, coupé en lamelles
1 poireaux, coupé en lamelles
1 c. soupe de piment en poudre
1 c. café garam masala
1 c. café cumin en poudre
coriande ou persil

1. Mettre dans une grosse casserole les lentilles, le riz et le bouillon. Faire bouillir puis cuire pendant 20 minutes en remuant de temps en temps.

2. Ajouter les légumes et épices et faire cuire pendant 15 minutes, jusqu'á ce que les légumes soient bien tendres. Assaisonnez.

3. Servir dans des assiettes creuses et saupourdrer de votre herbe favorite !

World Naked Bike Ride Day

Today is World Naked Bike Ride Day. Well, I was fully dressed when I went to get some groceries this morning!

As a treat for my TMA results, I bought 2 Swiss chocolate bunnies: Trave does a lot at home during my intense studying periods, so he deserves one too! And they are not going to last until Easter. In fact their ears are already missing... (yum yum!!!)

TMA results

Just received the results of my latest assignment: 77%!

He he... I think I'll get myself a treat when I go shopping today! Only one assignment left to do (by the end of this month) and then I am done for this course. At least as far as assignments are concerned. I'll still need to revise for the exam taking place in October.

Stilton and Walnut soup

This soup is really nice. However, we are not big fans of blue cheese so we usually replace it with cheddar.

Serves 4

60g butter
4 celery sticks
1 garlic clove
2 TBSP plain flour
600ml veg stock
300ml milk
150g Stilton/any blue cheese/cheddar cheese
2 TBSP roughly chopped walnuts
150 ml natural yoghurt

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and sauté the celery and garlic. Lower the heat, add the flour and cook for 1 minute.

2. Gradually add the stock and milk and bring to the boil.

3. Simmer and gradually add the cheese and walnuts. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Stir in the yoghurt. Heat through without boiling.

5. Season to taste and serve in warm bowls.

Hot chocolate drink

I had a bit of a sore throat last Saturday after going to a particularly smoky pub on Friday night. Too bad it is a smoky place, it is great for pub games: pool, darts, and table football. Not that I am good at any of them (due to lack of practice), but it is great fun!

In any case, I had a sore throat on Saturday. And what is the nicest thing to have when you have a sore throat? A hot chocolate drink with honey!

I had not made these for years and had forgotten how nice and mouth-melting it is.

Makes 2 hot chocolate drinks:

1 pint milk (600ml)
100g dark cooking chocolate
2 cinnamon stick or 1 TSP ground cinnamon
honey (optional but who could resist???)

heat the milk in a pan. Break the chocolate into piece and add to the milk. Keep stirring while the chocolate melt. Add the ground cinnamon if you do not use the cinnamon stick. When all the chocolate is melted, pour the drink into 2 big mugs. Use the cinnamon sticks as stirrers if using.
Add the desired quantity of honey, stir well, and it is ready!

Pour 2 chocolats chauds:

600ml lait
100g chocolat noir á cuire
2 batons de cannelle ou bien 1 c. café de cannelle en poudre
miel (optionel mais qui pourrait résister ???)

Faire chauffer le lait dans une casserole. Casser le chocolat en morceaux et ajouter au lait tout en remuant jusqu'á ce que le chocolat fonde. Ajouter la cannelle en poudre si vous l'utilisez. Quand tout est bien fondu, verser dans 2 grandes tasses. Utiliser les batons de cannelles comme touillettes si vous avez des batons de cannelles. Ajouter du miel selon votre gout, et dégustez !

Samosas

Yummy samosas which I made last week, they were delicious!

Makes 24 samosas:

Pastry:
150g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
40g butter
4 TBSP water

Filling:
3 potatoes
1 TSP finely chopped root ginger
1 TSP crushed garlic
1 TSP cumin seeds
1 TSP chilli powder
1 TSP finely chopped crushed red chilli
2 small green chillies, finely chopped
2 TBSP lemon or lime juice


1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, rub the butter into the flour. Add the water and knead until it becomes a smooth dough. Cover and leave to rise.

2. To make the filling mash the boiled potatoes and mix with all the other ingredients.

3. Form the dough into 12 smal balls and roll out very thinly to form a round. Cut the round in half. dampen the edges and shape into cones. Fill the cones with a little of the filling. Dampen the top and seal well. Set aside.

4. Fry then drain thoroughly on kitchen roll. Serve hot or cold with green vegetables or a salad.

Not a great picture (I got used to Trave's camera, which is much better, so it is difficult to use mine again!), but here it is:



Voici des samosas trés savoureux qui vous régaleront :

Pour 24 samosas il vous faut :

Pour la pate :
150g farine
1 pincée de sel
40g beurre
4 c. soupe d'eau

Pour la garniture :
3 pommes de terres
1 c. café racine de gingembre coupé trés fin
1 c. café ail haché
1 c. café graines de cumin
1 c. café poudre de piment rouge
2 piments verts coupés trés fins
2 c. soupe jus de citron jaune ou vert

1. Passer la farine dans une passoire avec le sel. Mélanger le beurre avec les doigts. Y ajouter l'eau et pétrir jusqu'á l'obtention d'une pate bien lisse. Laisser reposer.

2. Ecraser en purée les pommes de terre bouillues. Y ajouter tous les autres ingrédients et bien mélanger.

3. Former 12 petites boules avec la pate. Rouler en galettes trés fine. Diviser chaque galette en deux. Humidifier les bords de chaque demi-disque, former un cone, remplir avec un peu de garniture, et bien sceller en humidifiant le dernier bord.

4. Passer á la poelle et servir chaud ou froid avec des légumes ou une salade verte.

Easy to use recipe index

I have finished creating a new system to find my favourite recipes on this blog. On the side bar you will see two indexes: one by type of food (starter, main course,...) and the other by ingredient. I will keep it up to date as much as possible and it should be much easier to decide what to make for dinner. I will also add recipes I have done before but never posted.

All recipes on this blog are tried and tested!

Oh, and I should have the results of my latest TMA (Open University Assignment) on Friday. So if I don't post them, it means it's bad, so please don't ask! ;0)