Last night I made dinner for us, following a taxing day of doing not much but house rearrangement and an attempt to find a new (and long) dinning room table from the flea market area of Brussels, which is neatly tucked away below the edge of the 'upper city'.
We did manage to make it to our favourite cafe on Ch. de Waterloo, where I indulged in a grilled veg salad.
The dinner was inspired by the writing of Ricki at Diet, Desserts and Dogs who made a great Tagine. Now, I don't own the proper cookware for an authentic tagine, and we were a little pressed for time after indulging in a late afternoon stroll. I did make a stew using the same philosophy harnessed in the obvious goodness of ricki's recipe. It was yummy, a little hot though. Might limit myself to 1 tsp of fancy harissa next time.
I used: green olives, 2 cups of quinoa, 1 tin of tomatoes, garlic, one can of chick peas, dates, harissa (2 tablespoons...one next time) and cilantro sprigs for a topping.
This morning I was up at the crack of dawn after some tugging of covers woke me up. I managed to whip through some knitting that accidentally became unraveled last night, but soon wanted to play with the kitchen. Yesterday, almost by pure accident, we walked into a tasting party at a fancy gourmet shop that is actually open on Sundays (!!!!) in Brussels, on Waterloo. In addition to tasting some delightful wild strawberries, we picked up some harrisa, mango chutney and 1 basket of perfectly pink gooseberries.
I couldn't let these little darlings waste any time in my fridge so I set to work making my very first Clafouti, which is a French desert that is intended to be stuffed with fruit and custard. Kev was a pretty lucky dude this morning when he woke up to find his VB2B (a silly little name that he whipped up which stands for: Vegan Bride To Be....ahhhh.......) offering him a Gooseberry Clafouti for breakfast!!!! I made a quick Maple Glaze for the top. I had a tiny taste before embarking on my recent obsession of eating apple sauce as much as possible - and it was pretty fantastic if I do say so myself.
I borrowed the thoughts and basic rejigged desert recipe from
Vegan Visitor but mixed it up here and there.
Ingredients: 12 pink gooseberries, 1 packaged of silken tofu (medium), 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of almond milk, 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp of b.s, 1 tsp of arrow root powder, rose water, agar nectar, cinnamon. I topped and tailed the goosberries, washed them and sliced them in half. I covered them with 2 tsp of agave syrup and 1 tsp of rose water. Whilst they soaked I added the lemon to the almond milk and processed the tofu (K did NOT wake up!), I added the milk to the tofu, and then the flour etc to the wet ingredients. I followed the advice of Vegan Visitor and added the fruit after the batter. I baked it for 1 hour and 10 minutes at 350.
I couldn't bring myself to limit the little pink globes of gastronomic glory to one treat, so I made something else I had never tried - a chutney. We had the chutney tonight, with a yummy curry. Scrumptious!
Ingredients: Garlic chives, gooseberries, dates, brown sugar and apple cider vinegar. I have also been a little bit naughty in other areas of my life. I spent some euros on really cute foodie stuff, which, when I saw them, knew that they really, really, really wanted to come home with this little lady.
Can you see the goat? Can you see the squirrel?
My next batch of beanie buddies is destined to be in the shape of butterflies...and god help all of my students this year.....
Aren't they great? Just you wait and see what I get up to with those cup cake bottoms! I made our lunch today on the groovy plate - did you SEE the squirrel AND the goat?
In other news I have to share a major accomplishment for Kevin and I....today, we fit a three seater sofa in side our uber tiny euro-version Ford Fiesta and then preceded to put together a piece of IKEA furniture without screaming at each other! YES!
