Had a wonderful day, full of yummy homemade food, friend's flat explorations, and a view of the rubber boots I have to have.

The cool kids headed over to Kristen's place for brunch, which was no small affair. Fresh fruit, fried potatoes, quiche, french toast, bacon, a fruit and rice dish, and tortes rounded out the list of goodies.

I have to share my recipe for the brown rice and fruit - it turned out "tres bon" according to the fans who, in some cases, went back for more.

What You Will Need:

1 cup of brown rice, washed and cooked (anywhere from 25 - 40 mins depending on type)
1 cup of vanilla soy milk (you might want a bit more)
6 dried apricots (sliced/or diced)
1/2 an apple (diced)
1 peach (cubed if possible)
cinnamon (your discretion)

*This dish is incredibly versatile and calls out to your creative souls to be as wacky as you want with any/all of the components. I have made banana/blueberry versions, strawberry and chocolate soya milk versions - Be insane.


The Way To Do It:

Before the party started, Kristen brewed up a batch of brown rice, infusing the boiling water with a fair amount of cinnamon.

When I arrived, after inspecting her flat, which is kickass and includes a bathroom that I am considering buying a swimming membership for, I set to work slamming myself around the kitchen, taking advantage of Kristen's hippie-kitchen-free-love approach with her utensils and various kitchen aids (no kitchen nazis in this house).

I diced the apricots, cubed the apple and peaches.
I poured half of the rice into a non-stick pot with the apricots and 1/2 cup of soya milk which I set on the stove to simmer, adding cinnamon whenever I was feeling saucy.

After about 15 minutes I threw in the remaining rice, peaches and apple, tossed in the soya milk - giving the pot about another 10 minutes of heat. At this point, if available, I would have added some crushed walnuts and/or pecans, but on Sundays in Brussels: (hungry) beggars, can't be choosers.

The dish was a success and could easily be saved for a lunch/dinner side (would be great with soy/garlic infused tofu steaks and salad), it would also do wonders in the fridge for another breakfast (But thanks to Cheryl we won't be saving our rice for more than 3 days anymore).

While the rice was busy boiling down and reaching its beautifully yummy consistency I set to work on two fondues - one vegan (with dark peppermint chocolate and soymilk) and the other non-vegan (with milk chocolate and heavy cream).

To accompany the chocolate party I crafted a plate of sliced apple, sliced peach, banana squares, some whole dried apricots and whole strawberries. For effect, I nabbed some of the fresh blueberries and raspberries brought by Bethany (who has become my Tofu/Meat Wilson sandwich buddy).

A great way to spend a Sunday!

We capped the afternoon off with a stop in Place Flagey, amassing on a cute and tres trendy cafe where I went totally out of acceptable cool territory by pulling a Benjamin (circa 2003) when adding my own soya milk to an earl grey tea...well, when you are carrying around a tetra pack of soya milk and you have a cup of tea in front of you...what the hell?