"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!