"What I Cooked Today" Day 248

I am writing to you in a somewhat comatose state. Jochem is making dinner after we unpacked our suitcases and I am desperately trying to write this blog post on a cruelly slow laptop while trying not to fall asleep or miss those two rascals too much who will be in Almelo till Sunday.

It took us 2 days, 3 flights, 1 awful day at a bug-infested, no-window hotel room in Mumbai trying to catch up on some sleep, countless hasslers trying to take our money for carrying 1 bag 3 meters (I do NOT like Mumbai), countless cups of coffee and 1 train ride, but we made it: we are home. And home sweet home it is!

After an incredibly tiring journey I felt quite exhilirated to be on Dutch soil - calling and texting friends and family. But the fatigue has definitely set in. I don't know how he did it, but while I was unpacking in my typical non-efficient, time-consuming way, Jochem somehow managed to buy groceries and make me mac 'n' cheese, because I wanted comfy food that did not include anything spicy and a side dish of naan. I loves him.

But there is also sad news. We came home to a dead Pasta. Pasta was pretty old for a goldfish, considering that he's lived with us for more than two years, and had been acting strangely for a while - lying still, not moving, and almost not breathing at all. But he'd always make it to another day, so when we left Pasta and Pesto with a fresh bowl, a plant and fresh food, we expected him to be there when we came back. I don't know what happened since Pesto is fine. Perhaps it was too cold because we turned off the heater completely in our absence? I guess we'll never know. We didn't quite know what to do with the fella. My dad used to flush our dead goldfish through the toilet, which surely scarred me for life since I now can't even kill a mosquito without guilt. So he's in a plastic bag in our freezer. I'm kind of hoping to bury him next to our balcony plant in a kind of Lion-King-circle-of-life kind of way. Maybe you think I'm crazy. In that case I plead innocense. Due to exhaustion.



Source: Jamie's America by Jamie Oliver

Another Note from India

Hello everyone! How are you? How was your Christmas? I heard that it snowed AGAIN in the Netherlands?! It must have been nice to have a white Christmas for once, but I must say: I hope it doesn't get in the way of our getting-home plans. I like it here very much, but I would hate to miss the New Year's Eve party my friends and I have planned.

Here everything is nice! We haven't witnessed another power cut since the last time I wrote you, we haven't been sick but at all, and besides a few mosquito bites (which I'm guessing are malaria-free), we haven't seen any scary bugs, let alone were bitten by them. As predicted, Jochem (and me as well) were getting a bit bored with beach hanging and we did some sightseeing for a couple of days. Now, in India, this is not an easy thing. Everything takes up much more time than you think it will, not the least because of the crazy roads. So we stayed relatively close by.

On Wednesday we rented a scooter, dived into Indian traffic, and visited an old Portuguese fort called Cabo da Rama. We also make quick stops at Agonda, a beach town next to Palolem, and the Shri Mallikarjuna temple near Chaudi.

On Thursday we rented a taxi plus chauffeur for the day. First, we went to the Goa Animal Welfare Trust in Curchorem to get a tour of the organisation, hug the puppies, and make a donation.



Then we made another stop at Chandor to visit the famous Braganza House. This mansion was built in the 17th century when the Portuguese were still very much present in Goa and is divided into the West Wing and East Wing. Besides being able to witness this crumbling place of decadence, the highlights were definitely the tours by the people who still live there: one an old lady who knows the origin and timeline of every piece of antique in the house (and there are a LOT!); another a small man with a big belly who was absolutely incomprehensible.

On Friday, then, we went to Ponda to visit a tropical spice farm. I really liked this outing: everything was beautiful and clean - no slums, no waste, no stray animals. In my opinion, India is best appreciated in nature - only seeing cities and towns must leave visitors wondering about the overall state of the nation (at least those tourists from the rich west, I'm guessing), which would be a shame. We had a tour with a very funny tour guide, received a lunch on banana leaves, and then had a bath with an elephant. I am principally against riding elephants on tours through the jungle (which is not so good for the actual elephants according to my friends at the WSPA), but I couldn't resist the urge to sit on top of Babu while scrubbing his thick skin. At least, this way, I was doing something in return.



On Saturday and Sunday (also known as the first and second days of Christmas in the Netherlands) Jochem and I did nothing except sleep in before heading to our now favorite beach joint (whose name we don't even remember, alas) to have breakfast, lunch and dinner on our beach beds. It was warm, but not hot, and definitely not humid, which I am thankful for. I have a bit of a tan and I finished two novels already, although I still have two more to go.

Today we went for one last outing before our holiday is over. We went to the Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, where we saw BIG spiders, lots of butterflies and gekkos, frogs, chipmunks, monkeys and proof of the existence of what looks like a porcupine (the actual animal, unfortunately, we did not see). Since I am vastly out of shape it was much harder than I thought it would be, but luckily our taxi driver picked us up near the end (using cars and scooters inside nature parks: not such a problem in India).

Right now we plan to have dinner at a restaurant on the beach because of its infamous bebinca. Then tomorrow we'll probably be on the beach again all day. At night we want to have dinner at the hotel and then we leave for our first flight from Goa to Mumbai at 5.30 AM. It will be brutal, I'm sure, so I'll try to relax as much as possible before then.

As for my "What I Cooked Today" blog posts (days 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246 and 247), you will have to miss them, I'm afraid. I simply do not have the energy to keep track of all the meals we're having. Suffice it to say that it's been a colorful assortment of fresh sea food, spicy curries, and absolutely every lassi known to man. Day 248 is Thursday, December 30, which will be the day that Jochem and I will be back home. I promise to write about food once more on that day.

See you soon!

A Note from India

3 days ago we left this:



And now we are here:



India is many things. It is busy, chaotic and sometimes very depressing. But it is also fascinating, mesmerizing and very beautiful. Our trip was kind of stressful - first, because we were afraid we wouldn't be flying at all because of the snow, and then, because we were delayed anyway for 2 hours and almost missed our second flight from Istanbul to Mumbai. But, in the end, we made all 3 (!!!) of our flights and one (very bumpy) pre-paid taxi ride later (note to self: take car sickness medicine next time) and 30 hours after we first set out, we finally made it to our hotel. Our hotel is very much an Indian hotel, but very nice (fluorescent lights exluded) and situated in a beautiful green area with lots of palm trees, bright flowers and a comfortable garden, which also serves as a dining area. The people are sometimes pushy but always nice. If you can look beyond the filth, slums and stray animals, you can actually imagine yourself being in paradise. Coming from such a cold country right before Christmas, Jochem and I are very much in a state of disbelief. We often find ourselves looking around, then looking at each other, and asking: "Is this for real?"

We haven't done much yet (the trip in itself was exhausting enough). Yesterday, after arrival and a much-needed shower (which was hot, by the way, and we have only seen one power cut so far), we had dinner at the hotel before crashing at 9 PM. Today we woke up at noon, had breakfast at the hotel, spent the entire afternoon at the beach, had a beer at a beach bar during sunset, went back to the hotel, took showers again, went back to the beach, had dinner under the full moon, and now we are sitting in this internet cafe. I am having a blast reading a book about an Australian woman traveling through India and living in New Delhi, but I think Jochem is already starting to get a bit bored (beach holidays are not his thing), so I think tomorrow he wants to rent a scooter and scout the area. I am hoping to visit a temple close by.

As for my "What I Cooked Today" blog posts, I may find it impossible to keep track of those, since we are not only not cooking at all, but are having so much and so many different kind of food, since it's so ridiculously cheap and delicious, and we feel like kings here. But here's a short summary:
- On Saturday (day 236) we had dinner at the hotel near Schiphol, which was, as expected, a bit disappointing, but tolerable.
- On Sunday (day 237) we had as assortment of meals at the many airports and in the many air planes that we were in. Conclusion: Turkish Airways arguably has the best food in aviation history (I haven't had such good kofte since actually having been in Istanbul). Kingfisher, our lovely owned-by-an-Indian-beer-company airline, however, not so much.
- On Monday (day 238) we had dinner at the hotel. We fed on avocado salad and calamari, followed by the tourist version of vindaloo curry for Jochem (which he says was NOT spicy enough for him - crazy man) and prawn curry for me. Very delicous.
- Today we had breakfast at the hotel, lunch at a beach bar and dinner at another beach bar and it was all delicous. Highlights were our fish curry, our spicy fish bites with coriander dip, my tandoori-grilled red snapper and our bebinca (a Goan dessert specialty which is basically layered coconut pudding with shaved coconut on top).
And the best news is that we haven't been sick yet!

Happy holidays and talk to you soon! Love from Palolem, Goa, INDIA!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 236

Okay, fine! One more blog post before I leave for India! I feel a little bit better now that it has finally stopped snowing and the planes are flying again, but I will probably not be completely destressed until we are actually in the air (and then there are a million other things to worry about - all related to funny little plane noises that remind me that I am seconds away from plummeting to my death). In a little while we'll be leaving for our Schiphol hotel and I will use any and all of the yoga, sauna, swimming pool and jacuzzi help lines at my disposal in order to RELAX (damn it!). It's a hard job, but someone has to do it. Since we'll probably have dinner at the hotel, I won't be making dinner tonight, but I did not want to leave before showing you the French toast that Jochem and I made today for breakfast. Enjoy and have a tasty holiday season this year!

Source: A Homemade Life: Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg

"What I Cooked Today" Day 235

Ugh. What a day! You know what? I don't even want to talk about it.

We were supposed to have dinner with friends in Amersfoort, but the snow and my fowl mood got in the way. We made fajitas. From a package. The kind we used to love before, but hate now. Not worth taking a picture of, but then again, we couldn't if we had wanted to, because our camera is still dead and my dad took his camera back to Almelo (along with our cats, whom I already miss terribly in this cold and empty house).

And by the way: tomorrow Jochem and I will go to a hotel near Schiphol and on Sunday we fly to India (if all bodes well), so you might not be hearing from me for a while. Maybe not until 2011. So Happy Holidays everybody! Talk to you soon!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 234

On days like today I am thankful for only working 4 days a week. Today was my day off and I used it to do something that is usually a very stressful task: packing. When you are as obsessively compulsive as I am, you don't just throw some stuff into a suitcase and call it a day. Instead, each and every item you belong is critically analyzed: "Do I need this in India or not? What possible scenario could argue in favor of bringing this with me?" and so on and so forth. Let me tell you, it is an exhaustive way to spend one's time. Which is why I took the time to balance the packing with a healthy dose of sleeping in, watching Dawson's Creek and painting my toe nails a pinkish red (which, I might add, is not an easy feat when your two cats confuse your nail polish for a tasty treat and you are sitting on a white leather sofa). On top of all of that as well as my other daily duties, Jochem and I also did a lot of cooking. First, we made banana bread with chocolate and crystallized ginger, inspired by my new best friend.

Source: A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg



We made this as a snack to bring with us on our horrid flight to India, but I doubt it'll last as long. For dinner, then, we made homemade fries with a pea purée and spicy chicken wings to celebrate Jochem's last official day as a student. Lucky us. I am full and content.

Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson

"What I Cooked Today" Day 233

Today's dinner was a simple pasta dish with a homemade tomato sauce and fresh goat's cheese. We also used garlic, shalots and dried chilis. I liked it a lot, but: I'm still hungry! I can eat so much and I can always eat more. Maybe I have some kind of problem? Is there an emptiness that I am constantly trying to fill? Oh well. Who cares when there is such good food around and polka-dot-bathing suits to cover up any post-food regrets?

"What I Cooked Today" Day 232

Today I did all of the cooking by myself because we had tofu tandoori again. Every now and again I get a craving for this dish and then I buy a huge block of tofu downtown and make it twice in one week. So, that's as far as my thought process went today. This dish, however, is one of the very few dishes that is truly mine, since I never use a recipe and have tweaked it beyond recognition from its original recipe. I should start working on that should I ever want to be taken seriously as a foodie enthusiast. Foodie enthusiasts should have their own recipes. Anyway, after dinner we had chocolate milk and oreo cookies, which was quite the chocolate overload, but enjoyable nonetheless.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 231

It is Monday night. I come home to a dinner of Greek potatoes and lamb chops (Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson) and cumin carrots (Source: The Return of the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver). For dessert I have chocolate, tea and Grey's Anatomy in bed. Now off to do yoga and then back to bed.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 230

Today was a wonderful day. It was one of those rare Sundays that you don't plan for and that suddenly end up wonderfully. I woke up at 9 AM but stayed in bed till 10.30 AM to finish the book that Anna had given me for my birthday: A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. It is a great book - a life story interspersed with recipes and life lessons in short and manageable chapters. Starting the day in a warm bed, with the sunshine coming in, with a beatiful man sleeping besides you, one cat between your neck and shoulder and another at your feet, while reading about a chocolate wedding cake, is about as close to bliss as my Sunday mornings get. After a quick shower and some breakfast with Jochem, I headed downtown to the Bakkerswinkel with my old friends Marije and Marjolein, where I had a pot of autumn blend black tea and a piece of carrot cake. We stayed there for quite a while, discussing men, marriage, children, housing, jobs, holidays, and much more. Afterwards we had a short walk downtown before heading inside the Winkel van Sinkel for a glass of white wine. When they left to catch a train back home, I had a quick hamburger before doing my last load of laundry of the week. When that's done, I am going to Bic's place where Mag and Mar will already be to have some dinner and drinks. I'll just bring a bottle of rosé, so I won't be cooking anything today. But sometimes those days are such a blessing.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 229

Today did not exactly turn out the way that I had planned. Originally, I was going to make spicy chicken wings, pea purée and homemade fries for some very good old friends before heading off for an alumni pub quiz at our old campus. However, our plans kind of fell through and I ended up having tofu tandoori with Jochem. It's funny - although I don't make it as often as I used to a couple of years ago, I can still enjoy a big bowl of tofu tandoori. I don't know why. Ever since I started becoming interested in food and cooking, a lot of things that I used to enjoy before (pre-packaged bapaos, take-out pizzas, McDonald's hamburgers, coffee house pastries) I am now unable to eat with real satisfaction. Tofu tandoori, however, which does not in any way resemble the real thing and comes from a package, I still like very much. Perhaps because it holds some good memories of a life long since left behind? After dinner Jochem and I used some leftover ingredients to make another batch of baked egg custard, but that went awfully awry and we had to throw the mixture away. Jochem then made a wonderful improvisation when he coated some stroopwafels in hot dark chocolate. It wasn't such a bad Saturday night after all, I guess.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 228

After all my bragging in yesterday's blog post, I can imagine that it must be quite a disappointment to see nothing but an almost empty pan. Unfortunately, I always have to work the late shift on Fridays and by the time I was finally home, my nine guests started to come in. Meanwhile, I still had a salad to prepare, a main dish to heat and a dessert to be made from scratch. Luckily Jochem helped me out a lot. In the end we made an oriental cucumber salad (Source: Happy Days with the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver) to accompany the Sloppy Joe's recipe, which, as I have found out, is a kind of ragù sauce inside a white bread roll (Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson). For dessert we made baked egg custard (Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson). I do apologize for not being able to show you any of this.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 227

Today Jochem and I did cook, but not for today, but for tomorrow. Tomorrow 10 of my ex-colleagues are coming over for an early Christmas dinner to catch up on post-KWC life. I am making a salad, a dessert, and a one-pot dish, which was made in this beautiful new pan from France that I was given by my parents yesterday. My mom never uses it because she doesn't know how to work it, so I simply had to make a case for beautiful and expensive kitchen equipment going to waste, and I finally convinced her to let us use it instead. What's inside, however, will remain a surprise until tomorrow. After having a bit of leftover soup (Jochem had the tomato, I had the Thai chicken), we ordered take-out for today in the form of hamburgers and fries while watching Love Actually.

Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson

"What I Cooked Today" Day 226

Today Jochem did most of the cooking while I was at work. We decided to make something special because my parents happened to be in town and were able to stop by for dinner. Unfortunately, I had to work till 6.30 PM, so when I finally got home my parents were already there and dinner was ready to be served. My parents like Thai food and, since we had some leftover chicken (which mom and dad had given to us earlier by the way), we decided to make a Thai chicken noodle soup with red bell pepper and onion. Jochem told me afterwards that it was incredibly easy to make, but what a great dish for such a cold night - the chicken broth base gave it depth and warmth while the chilies added some nice heat. My mom, someone who loves to eat spicy Indonesion food as well, told me that I can finally eat decent spicy food, which was quite a compliment coming from her. After they left, Jochem and I set up our Christmas tree (exactly three days after Sinterklaas) and then had some tea and homemade cookies while watching How I Met Your Mother. Great night.

Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson

"What I Cooked Today" Day 225

Today I had to use Jochem's old camera to take this picture, since our new camera has decided to call it quits without ever having done anything worthwhile. Alas. Today we kept it simple by simply cleaning out our fridge and making a pasta dish with garlic, shalots, parsley, mushrooms, creme fraiche and grated cheese. Tip: if you like a little spice in your food without the heat, add a lot of black pepper. Not the grounded black pepper and definitely not the powdered black pepper, but take some fresh black pepper and slightly bruise it in a pestle and mortar until you have something that looks like the black stuff in grained mustard. It is deliciously spicy yet bearable for the Dutch palet.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 224

The saddest thing happened today! I couldn't get the camera to turn on! Our relatively new, meant-to-survive-our-world-trip camera! Nor could I ask Jochem to fix it, since he's working. I guess that it doesn't matter much for this blog since I had leftover soup and spinach tart, but still. So sad.

Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson

"What I Cooked Today" Day 223

Today Jochem and I only spent a small amount of time at home since we had decided to spend the night at Nierswalde, have breakfast with Jochem's family and shamefully abuse their beautiful bath tub before traveling back to Utrecht. Luckily, I had chosen a simple meal to make today. We had some leftover chicken (an oddity in this house) and I decided to use one of Nigella's chicken recipes to prepare it. I liked the look of the recipe because it featured both white wine and creme fraice (always a good combination). It also featured a lot of tarragon, which until today I didn't even have at home if you can believe it, so I was quite excited to use that for once (now I love it!). On Nigella's picture it also showed some string beans, but since I had peas in my fridge, I decided to use those instead. I also prepared some simple potatoes in the oven with sea salt, black pepper and rosemary (Source: Happy Days with the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver). For dessert, even though we're not celebrating it in any special way this year, we made our own pepernoten for Sinterklaas, which we then proceeded to dip in leftover chocolate icing, which is why I am writing this with quite the stomach ache. Still, all in all, a very succesful Sunday night dinner, I'd say.

Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson

"What I Cooked Today" Day 222

Today Jochem and I traveled across the border to visit Jochem's mother and stepfather, who live in Nierswalde, Germany. Jochem's grandmother, brother and sister-in-law were also there, and I was happy to see them before leaving for India in just two weeks. When we arrived everyone else was already there (we were a bit late due to Jochem's internship report deadline and a lot of snow) and there were all sorts of Sinterklaas goodies on the table already to snack from. At night we had a simple salad with sweet onion and tomatoes, hutspot (which is a typical Dutch dish with mashed potatoes, carrots and onions) and this lovely piece of beef that had been stewing for two days. For dessert we had coffee and tiramisú. But as you can see I already started snacking on the way over there by having a gingerbread latte at Starbucks, which, despite possibly being the most overpriced cup of coffee I've had thus far in my life, was quite delightful in today's winter scenery. Can you feel the holidays coming?

"What I Cooked Today" Day 221

Today was a pretty good Friday. I felt tremendously productive at work and when I got home I didn't even crash. I had a quick dinner with Jochem who had been kind enough to make me spinach tart again, after which Bic and I hit the movies to finally see the new Harry Potter movie (sneaked-in tea and homemade cookies included). Then we biked back through yet more snow and we didn't even fall. Have a good weekend everyone!

Ch... ch... ch... changes

I don't like change. I fear change. I want to plan for change. Of course I know this not only to be ridiculous but also impossible. You can't plan everything. Sometimes stuff happens out of nowhere and you have to deal with it at the time. And what's the point of worrying till then? I often wish that I had more buddhist qualities engrained in my character, because the buddhists have accepted pain and suffering as inescapable and unavoidable obstacles that one must deal with in one's life and with which one will deal as the time comes.

Why am I rambling, you may wonder. Well, I might have a job prospect. At the time of writing it is a job prospect beyond the denominator of vague, but a possible job prospect it is. Somehow I have gotten it in my head that taking this job or not will determine the rest of my future existence. I know that is insane. But still it feels like a major life-changing decision that will affect me for years to come. The reason why this is so scary for me is because it is not the life that I have envisioned for myself ever since I went to college. The fact that my plan for myself might change is breathtaking (and not in a good way).

But then I had a revelation. Things change. Of course they do, you want to tell me. And of course I know. Rationally. But it's like, now, I KNOW. And things have changed for me already. I used to think that I would go to Harvard. But I never went. And despite having thought about maybe spending summer school there, I never regretted never having gone. I used to think that I would live in the U.S. Having lived in LA for six months, however, made me change my mind. I used to think that I wanted to spend a year in New York. Turns out that five weeks was more than enough for me. I used to think that I wanted to be married before I was 30. Now I am going on a 9-month world trip and will probably come back totally broke without any money for any wedding. I used to think that I would do great things with my life. But right now I dream of being a full time wife and mother who spends her time doing volunteer work and cooking. I thought that I would end up with a broke scholar, someone who had studied something obscure and absolutely useless in the real world, just like me. Maybe a Cultural Anthropology major. Instead I started dating a high school drop out who almost has a degree in Business Administration and who likes to wear suits to work. The idea of leaving my friends still scares me to death, yet I now see that other friends, friends who used to live across the hall and whom I couldn't imagine my life without, have moved on to bigger and better things, sometimes relatively close, sometimes farther away, sometimes across the ocean. We don't see each other very often. But we're still friends despite all the changes.

So you see? It'll all be okay.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 221

It's been freezing for a couple of days now and more snow has begun to fall. I was glad to finally spend a whole day in my 8-year-old Harvard sweatshirt and warm Uggs without having to face the cold at all (sadly, I believe that wearing Uggs to work is frowned upon, even at my current place of employment). In order with the current winter weather, Jochem and I decided to make a tomato and pasta soup from scratch. The problem occured when I finally realized that I had accidentally divided all of the ingredients by two (since the original recipe was meant for four people), instead of... the water. Which meant that we were left with watery soup. It was bit of a bummer, although the pasta and a lot of creme fraiche sure helped matters, but it didn't look very appetizing on any of Jochem's pictures. So I decided to only show you a picture of the cookies that we finally made after having bought the ingredients two weeks ago. They are these amazing peanut butter cookies with M&Ms and the best part is: we have 16 cookies left! That should be enough to last us through the weekend. At least.

Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson

"What I Cooked Today" Day 220

You'll have to forgive Jochem for the fuzzy picture - he HAD just been cooking our meal (homemade pappardelle pasta with pumpkin and goat's cheese, including a simple dessert of chocolate and almond covered dried apricots), after all. Thank you for that! Unfortunately, this dinner went by very quickly, too quickly even, but luckily we have two more dinners planned before I leave for India AND Bic and I are finally going to see the new Harry Potter movie tomorrow. I can't wait!

Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson

"What I Cooked Today" Day 219

Today I came home to a lovely dinner. I really needed it (got yelled at on the phone, landed a snow ball in the neck courtesy to some punk kid and continually suffered from ice blocks for feet all day today), so I was very grateful. Jochem had prepared some leftover chicken in the oven with garlic, shallots and red wine plus Nigella's Indian potatoes. We used some leftover creme fraiche, tomatoes, chilis and parsley to make wraps with some of the chicken as well. Boy was I happy after that (and a little tipsy from the red wine, though I imagine my sickness and overall tired nature probably didn't help matters much).

Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson

"What I Cooked Today" Day 218

Today was like a hard slap in the face! I had to leave the warm comfort of my childhood home to spend 2 hours traveling in the freezing cold, taking care of 2 very high-maintenance cats, before coming home to a very cold apartment. I then spend the entire night sleeping restlessly, waking up in cold sweats, and having nightmares about maneating bears and plane crases (I have GOT to stop watching National Geographic!). I then spend a very long and busy day at work before having to bike back in the snow, because YES, ladies and gentlemen, the first real snow has fallen and doesn't look like it's going anywhere anytime soon. And to top it off I discovered that NO, my hands are not red from the cold, but from that mysterious rash that I get a couple of times each year. Of course I don't get colds and flus like normal people, I get hot, throbbing, itchy rash on every inch of my body that lasts a week. And alas, since I didn't recognize it as said rash this morning, I just let it get worse for 12 hours without any medicine, which should guarantee me at least a week and a half of fun.

But enough with the self-pity. For dinner Jochem made me a lovely pasta dish from the oven with cream, cheese, mushrooms and lots of fresh herbs and spices. Thank you for you!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 217

Officially, it's still fall, but winter has come. All of a sudden it turned from cold to freezing over the course of one weekend. I spent this Sunday with my family in Almelo, where I tried to enjoy the rare occurence of cold weather + sunshine + day off + a boyfriend not working, to the best of my abilities. Before dinner Jochem and I took a long walk along the canal. Almelo is not an exciting place to live, which is of course the reason why I left it 8 years ago in the first place, but, in my mind, the well-organized parks of Utrecht do not compare to the rugged beauty of Twente's backyard. I love to walk through it every chance I get. Jochem managed to take some beautiful pictures of our winter scenery. The Dutch seasons never fail to surprise and delight me - after a long winter, one day you look up, and there are green buds all over the trees, and you wonder: how did they get there so suddenly? Or you start noticing the leaves turning all sorts of colors and then, before you know it, they're all gone. Or when it keeps getting colder and colder until one day it is actually below freezing. It all happens so gradually yet so suddenly. Like my life right now. I started planning a world trip more than 2 years ago and for so long it seemed so far away that it just wasn't really real, until suddenly I have bought a ticket and there's no way back (or so it seems). Life is always going by too slowly yet so quickly. It's weird.









And after all that, Jochem made Astoria soup and dad made Spanish tapas and my family and I had ourselves a little Sunday dinner. And then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the weekend was over.



Source: Jamie's America by Jamie Oliver

"What I Cooked Today" Day 216

Today my father took out his co-workers for their annual dinner and, as family, I could come with. Dad took us to a restaurant called Rib House Texas, which serves American-style grilled dinners and can best be described as a cowboy theme park turned restaurant. The portions are outrageous, the pieces of meat are humongous and the peanut shells are on the floor while the customers (mostly men in their twenties on bachelor parties) sing country songs. You gotta love the atmosphere though, and I must say that I quite enjoyed my dinner (all 15 parts of it), but who needs that much extravagance on a daily basis?

"What I Cooked Today" Day 215

Aaahhh...!!! It's the weekend! Although it was a bit sad coming home to a dark and COLD apartment (it just started freezing last night, brrr), I have enjoyed sitting in my chair in my pajamas while watching Dawson's Creek episodes on my laptop while Jochem is out socializing below the rivers. The only thing missing is a bottle of beer, but I'm afraid it might floor me despite my hearty dinner of leftover spicy pumpkin soup with leftover puff pastry (which was surprisingly delicous in its randomness). I'll do with some tea and chocolate then.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 214

Today was my day off and it was a GREAt day! I slept in, had breakfast in my pajamas, played on the internet, had lunch in my pajamas, and then headed downtown with Jochem to do some shopping (in my regular clothes, though). After that we had lunch at a department store overlooking downtown Utrecht. Jochem had the beef. I had the chicken. We both had massive amounts of potatoes and mayonaise. Then I remembered two things: (1) Anna wrote about having seen The Social Network, which reminded me of the fact that I really wanted to see it as well and (2) that I still had two gift certificates for the movie theater provided by my dear aunt in Almelo for my gaduation, so we went to see an early show. Loved it! The dialogue is like a Patrick Marber satire play (yes, I too can throw terms around). See it!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 213

Today Jochem and I had leftover Astoria soup with tortillas. Tip: save your homemade soup for a couple of days before eating the last portions, because it'll be much more rich in flavor.

Source: Jamie's America by Jamie Oliver

"What I Cooked Today" Day 212

I started my not-so-new-anymore-but-definitely-first-real-grown-up job exactly 3 months ago today, and you might be pleased to read that I still enjoy it very much. There are, in fact, a lot of things that I like about it besides my daily duties. Like the fact that I can wear the same pair of jeans to work every day without judgement. And how everyone, and I do mean absolutely everyone, bonds over peanut butter sandwiches over lunch. Or how about the fact that my boss refers to my boyfriend as 'Mr Nuria'? And the fact that 'customers' is considered a dirty word. Plus, of course, the fact that we are all passionate about offering the best educational services to our students. Yes, there are many things to be enjoyed at my particular office job. An additional one I experienced today at our quarterly office drink. My colleagues and I from the secretarial department were in charge of organizing it, and, lucky for me, they enjoy cooking as much as I do. While one colleague made pumpkin soup and another made a quiche, I made a spinach tart. I was quite nervous about it since it is not 'my' recipe but a friend's, but it turned out just fine since my colleagues finished it all. I was just a little sorry that I didn't have anything to spare for Mr Nuria, who actually helped me a lot yesterday while making it.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 211

Today was leftover day, but probably one of the best ones yet. We used the leftover lasagna sheets to make pappardelle. We mixed the leftover béchamel sauce with some creme fraiche to thicken it as a sauce. We sautéed the onions and herbs, which we had originally used to flavor the béchamel sauce, and served it with some leftover chicken, garlic and lemon over the pasta. Great stuff for a Monday evening!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 210

Today Jochem and I made lunch for my parents who came to visit. We made that oriental soup that I had planned to cook on Friday. It had tomatoes, red, yellow and green bell pepper, red onion, loads of garlic, couscous, coriander and two essential spices: sumak (which is made from a sweet and citrusy red berry) and zahtar (a mixture of sumak, thyme and sesame seeds). We served it with tortillas that we had roasted in the oven with some olive oil, sumak and zahtar. Jamie Oliver calls this his Astoria soup, after the neighborhood Astoria in New York, which apparently has a lot of Egyptian restaurants (I always thought that it was renowned for its Greek restaurants, hence the surprise). Sumak and zahtar may seem pretty random, but come in quite handy once you get into oriental cuisine. They're hard to come by though, at least here, because we bought our sumak in Istanbul and were given our zahtar by a dear friend from Israel. The soup was delicious by the way - rich in every sense!

Source: Jamie's America by Jamie Oliver

PS: For dinner Jochem and I finally made it to Badhu - an old hammam turned restaurant/hotel on the other side of the Griftpark with lots of oriental mezzes. Great atmosphere, great food!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 209

Today Jochem and I finally hosted the much-anticipated dinner date at our apartment. We started the meal with Michiel and Marije's dish, which was an oriental couscous dish with squash and halloumi cheese.



Jochem and I had made quite the ambitious lasagna with homemade tomato sauce, homemade béchemel sauce and homemade pasta.

Source: Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver



As a side dish we had also made roasted pumpkin, served in its own shell.

Source: Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver



For dessert Erik and Marjolein gave us chocolate mousse with Grand Marnier.



Thank you all for another great dinner date!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 208

Today did not exactly go as planned. I had planned to make an oriental soup with tortillas together with Jochem, however, I had to work overtime and Jochem was stuck in public transport due to a fire at Utrecht Central Station. So I came home to a cold, dark and empty house to a massive load of dishes from yesterday and I decided to change plans, call Bic, get some take-out, and watch reruns of the Dog Whisperer. Silly me, though, also brought a bottle of rosé which I finished all by myself. Top that off with a glass of port and you've got on sick me on your hands. Barfje.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 207

Today I decided to make something that I thought would be simple, but which was anything but. It was a dish with cod, mushrooms and bread, but included a couple of very dificult procedures, like sieving the brown butter and puréeing the mushroom sauce. It was way too fussy in my opinion, more like something you'd eat at a fancy restaurant, but, I must say, the flavors were wonderful. I used to never really like cod, but this tells me that with the right ingredients, anything can be tasty (or, you know, just by using loads of butter).

Source: Jamie Magazine Issue 13 September/October 2010

"What I Cooked Today" Day 206

We had quite a bit of beef and gravy leftover from yesterday, so we decided to make another favorite Dutch staple meal of mine: mashed potatoes with mashed red beets! I would like to dedicate this post to my mother, who is Spanish by the way, because she has helped Jochem and me over the phone countless times over the last couple of days to help us recreate some of my favorite childhood dishes. Plus: she was the one who told us to put sautéed onion with the red beets, which was just brilliant!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 205

The Dutch may not be known for their cuisine (probably justifiably so), but there are some dishes that even I can appreciate. Now, there were a lot of things that I didn't care for when I was young. Sauerkraut. Red cabbage. Bell pepper. Chinese food. Anything spicy. But what I have always loved (and I do mean: LOVED) are Brussel sprouts! I never get those people who don't like Brussel sprouts - what's not to like?! You can do a million things to them and they always keep that signature taste. But today we made them the way my mom used to make it: with potatoes, mushed to a pulp, with braised beef and lots and lots of gravy. It was awesome, but of course not as good a mom's.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 204

Today Jochem and I had leftover stew for dinner since we made a little bit too much over the weekend. Jochem had chicken stew and I had lamb stew. Plus: we ate it at the kitchen table, which is worth mentioning, since despite all of our snobbery, we usually eat dinner in front of the tv.

Source: Jamie Magazine Issue 13 September/October 2010

"What I Cooked Today" Day 203

Today Jochem and I made stew again! Partly because I really wanted to make Jochem happy on his Sunday off (which was quite the unexpected luxury), partly because I was too lazy to think of a different dish to cook today, and also because I already had all of the ingredients at home due to yesterday's stew and figured: might as well. This stew, however, was made with red wine and lamb.

Source: Jamie Magazine Issue 13 September/October 2010