May 23, 2016

Aloo gobi – Indian flavoured potato and cauliflower with Indian roti bread

One of my go to dishes in Indian restaurants is Aloo Gobi, a vegetable dish made by cooking potatoes and cauliflower together with spices and a little water. Traditionally I think they add green peas at the end. I didn’t have any peas today but I added a couple of tomatoes to the dish, not necessarily authentic but it worked for me. For us a dish like that is a simple dinner but of course... View Article

May 21, 2016

Watermelon and feta salad

Summer is teasing us, offering a few days of sunshine and blue skies only to retract its promise and send clouds and rain next. To be honest, I love cloudy, rainy days and often use them to catch up on my reading. After indulging in Roman history before and after our extended stay in Italy, I have moved on to the Russian dynasty in preparation for an upcoming trip to St Petersburg to visit its... View Article

May 17, 2016

Blondies have more fun – blondie bites with candied nuts

I love to bake and often wonder what I like better, cooking or baking. There is no large audience here for baking as it is just the two of us at home. With the blog however, I invite you into my kitchen, virtual as this may be, and now I can bake for you. I spoke to a blogger friend about this and she said she would bake a cake and throw it out. I... View Article

May 13, 2016

Scallion-Chive cakes

The kitchen for me is sort of a classroom where I can venture to learn anything that interests me at the moment. Today “lesson” was scallion pancakes that have intrigued me for quite sometime. As it is with most things, once you actually do them you realize that they are not that complicated and only require curiosity, some work, skill and willingness to try. Scallion cakes are part of Asian cuisine and I have seen... View Article

May 12, 2016

Soba noodles with two sauces

I usually have a package or two of soba noodles in the pantry to whip up an Asian flavoured lunch now and then. These are Japanese noodles made from buckwheat flour and are not very thick, similar to spaghettini. They can be used with either hot or colds sauces and are  quite versatile. Soba noodles do not cook al dente like a regular pasta so be careful not to overcook them or they will become... View Article

May 11, 2016

Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are nice to play with now and then. They make a good canvas for a variety of flavours. Being the starch lover that I am I make them often and try to vary them once in a while, this time with cauliflower and a little steamed kale. I cooked the potatoes together with the cauliflower (you can cook them separately if you wish) to save on washing another pot. When they were cooked... View Article

May 7, 2016

Tuscany’s medieval towns: San Gimignano

Tuscany is known for its medieval hill towns, perched strategically on top of the hills, dominating the valley with open views that enhance their safety. These towns were often surrounded with protective stone walls, some of which survived intact to this day. San Gimignano, one of the best preserved and popular towns, is situated south west of Florence and a short drive from the coast where we were staying. For the Tuscany portion of our... View Article

April 30, 2016

Sweet potato gnocchi with walnuts and fried sage leaves

So what do you think foodies do late at night? message each other about foodie things, of course. Last night my friend Laura was asking Val and I on our group chat where she could buy sweet potato gnocchi in town, so I sent her my gnocchi recipe. Not that I don’t buy gnocchi sometimes, I do, but they are never as good as when you make them at home. The flavour and texture is... View Article

April 26, 2016

Zucchini “pasta” with pea shoots

It has been a while since I bought any kitchen gadgets but on a recent trip to Vancouver my son recommended the KitchenAid spiralizer attachment and I went for it instantly. I have a spiralizer thingy at home but it works best with larger vegetables such as potatoes etc. The KitchenAid one apparently works with any size. (nothing to disclose, this is not a promotional post). While in Van City we had dinner at Provence... View Article

April 20, 2016

Making Susur Lee Singapore Slaw at home

Whenever we are in Toronto I make sure we go to Chef Susur Lee’s restaurant Lee on King street and we always order his unique signature dish: Singaporean Slaw with Salted Apricot dressing. This is not an ordinary slaw, far from it. It is a 19 ingredients tall mound of fresh julienned vegetables, on a bed of fried rice noodles, sprinkled with herbs, fried shallots, pickled red onion, pickled ginger, tomatoes, sesame seeds, toasted peanuts... View Article

April 19, 2016

Garden sushi rolls

For some reason I was craving sushi the other day and we went to a local Japanese restaurant to have some. I was discussing the vegetarian options with the server and she suggested a vegetarian bento box that would contain “a nice balance of different items”. Well, perhaps it did but I didn’t get my fill of sushi, with all the tempura, so called salad, more rice and whatnot included in the box. I have... View Article

April 16, 2016

Spaghetti alla puttanesca

I am still relieving moments from the trip to Italy so bear with me. The best spaghetti alla puttanesca we had was in Naples at the authentic Antica Pizzeria Port Alba, rumoured to have created the first pizza in Naples. The pasta was perfectly cooked, had just enough sauce and the flavours were intense and pure. That dish remained in my memory and today I thought I would try and recreate it the best I... View Article