"What I Cooked Today" Day 158

Today Jochem and I cooked something that I had actually never heard of before: chicken tikka masala. Turns out that chicken tikka masala = a spicy spice mix with lots of crazy spices + chicken grilled in yoghurt + a creamy tomato sauce with onion + fresh lemon juice and coriander. Chicken tikka masala = yummie!

Source: Jamie Magazine Issue 12 August/September 2010

"What I Cooked Today" Day 157

Although he sometimes drives me crazy, this blog has to be dedicated to my boyfriend. He is pretty awesome overall, but today encapsulates exactly why. Today said boyfriend woke up at 5 AM to work an 8-hour shift for his internship duty manager position in one of Amsterdam's hotels. When he got off work, he traveled back to Utrecht and went grocery shopping. He then spend the next couple of hours preparing baked beans, one of his favorite new recipes which I had only tasted a spoonful of till today, while I was at work till 6.30 PM. When Mag arrived early he entertained her for almost an hour till I came home. He spend the remainder of the evening serving us food and wine while we talked. After dinner he did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. He didn't get to bed until 11.30 PM, even though his alarm clock will ring again tomorrow morning at 5 AM. Pretty nice, huh?

Source: Jamie's America by Jamie Oliver

"What I Cooked Today" Day 156

Today I cooked dinner for Jochem. He had chosen a simple pasta dish with mushrooms that I tried to prepare as well as I could, but I wasn't really happy with it. We didn't have any parsley so I used some old basil, and because we were out of Parmesan cheese I had to use normal cheese. I also missed some kind of creamy sauce, or maybe something like broth or red meat to deepen the flavor of the dish. Jochem and I have been watching a lot of Top Chef and during the show the judges often say that if you're gonna make food that's that simple, it should be perfect. So true.

Source: The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

"What I Cooked Today" Day 155

Wow. I spend 3 days in the Belgian Ardennes and I have completely fallen out of my blog routine. Luckily you didn't miss anything because I had left-over cannelloni again (last piece, I promise). But, I have an actual dish planned for tomorrow that will hopefully impress once more.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 154

After our romantic weekend in the Belgian Ardennes we came home to a sunny Utrecht. We decided to make the best of this since it might arguably be one of the last good days till winter hits us. We went outside and had some bagels and drinks in the sun. For dinner we had left-overs.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 153

Today Jochem and I had dinner at our hotel in the Belgian Ardennes. Imagine the most charming little chateau in the middle of the green and lush countryside, surrounded by Arabian horses and hordes of dogs. Here we had dinner by candle light in a beautiful dining room with just a few other guests. The 4-course dinner was prepared by a 60-year old patissier-turned-chef and the maitre d' is his son dressed in jeans. We had a lovely meal but we didn't take any pictures - we decided to just enjoy the evening instead.

"What I Cooked Today" Day 152

Today Jochem and I were in traffic during dinner time. Because there were not many other options, we decided to make a quick visit to McDonald's and for the first time, EVER, I didn't like it. May this mean that I am finally growing some sort of resistance to fastfood?

"What I Cooked Today" Day 151

Today Bic came over for dinner while Jochem traveled to the far east to pick up the car we'll drive to Belgium tomorrow. I had some left-over pumpkin soup which I served with some creme fraiche, some spring onions and some coriander. I also made the successful crostinis again with pancetta. Happy dinner!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 150

Today Jochem and I traveled to Zwolle to attend my aunt's funeral. Afterwards we had Thai take-out with a large part of the family at my uncle's house. Back in the train we had even more fastfood. Not a very good day, food or otherwise...

"What I Cooked Today" Day 149

I have a cold as of this morning and I decided that a soup would be the best way to go for dinner tonight. In the end we decided on a pumpkin soup because chilis go really well with it and I wanted some chilis for my sinuses. This pumpkin soup was also made with onion, ginger, lime, cumin seeds, coconut milk, yogurt and coriander. We also made Italian crostinis to go with the soup and at the last minute I thought of adding some pancetta to them - turns out that the smokiness of the pancetta + the creaminess/spicyness of the pumpkin soup = a heavenly dish!