When you are feeling seriously under the weather, soup is good comfort food. It helps to have leftover duck in the fridge.
Cut-all-corners ramen.
Day 59: Soup To Heal The Sick
Category: Cooking
Day 55: Bake The Cake and Eat It Too
I baked a chocolate cake today. I love cooking, but I’m really not a baker. However, family is coming around tomorrow to celebrate Alanna’s and Kiara’s birthday, and the girls specifically asked for chocolate cake – so here we are.
I would probably bake more, if it would be more convenient to bake only a small batch. But Stuart eats nothing sweet and there is only so many pastries and cakes I want girls to eat…
Day 54: Cuppa
I don’t drink a lot of tea, but when you are sick (as I am now) or cold, a cup of tea can hit just the right spot. And when I do drink tea, I want the whole shebang: a special tea pot, proper loose-leaf tea, a beautiful mug, etc.
The girls have their own particularities. Alanna adores Moroccan green tea (with sugar) and in recent weeks, Kiara has gotten into rooibos – although that is mostly driven by the fact that she wants to eat as much honey as possible, since they are selling it to benefit their scout group.
Stuart only drinks coffee.
Day 38: Spicy
We use spices liberally. For most recipes, I double the amounts written and often add one or two that weren’t even mentioned. And, because we love variety of cuisines, we’ve ended up stacking dozens and dozens of jars. I think one of our major expenses, whenever relocating to another country, has been replacing all the spices we’ve had to leave behind.
When the kids started eating the same food as us, we reduced the heat, but otherwise changed nothing. The girls simply grew up eating anything and everything.
They still join me in the kitchen – just to smell each spice and taste every herb. And now they even enjoy little chili.
Day 33: Humble but Mighty
A long day in the office means I am getting back to photographing my favourite kitchen implement: the mighty fork.
Day 154 – Dolsot Bibimbab
I have mentioned before how both Stuart and myself are partial to Asian food. We have a very good Korean grocery store in the neighbourhood, so we have a possibility to often cook Korean. There is a lot of variety in Korean kitchen, but we are specifically fond of street food. It is simple, tasty and quick. Bibimbab – a rice pot with vegetables, beef and chili sauce – is one of our every-day favourites. Some months ago we even invested in the ‘proper’ Dolsot Bibimbab bowls. Layering the meal in these hot clay pots makes rice nice and crunchy. Our kind of food.
Day 153 – Too Sweet for Words
Merlin – our little schnauzer – loves vegetables and fruit. I use cucumber as his training treat, but he is also a huge fan of snap peas, apple and broccoli. Once, when he was a smaller puppy he was (accidentally) left alone with some braaied ribs and corn cobs. He chose the corn and left the ribs untouched.
Maybe I should not have been surprised when he took a big liking to strawberry. However, he gets it without the sugar.
Day 149 – Play with Shadows
Due to a number of late evenings at work, my recent photography has been limited to small, home-bound photos of everyday objects. And what could more every-day than eggs and a whisk? However, it turns out you can do some pretty interesting stuff even with such simple items.
Day 147 – Just a regular Tuesday
I have done several jobs in my life that required long hours. I am no stranger to 80-100 h weeks, and for many years that was just “the way it was”. Someone once told me, that “if you enjoy your regular Tuesday, you are living a good life”.
This Tuesday, we braaied.
Day 145 – Blueberries
Stuart has always found it funny how obsessed Finns are about berries. Initially he thought it was only me – but he has met enough Finns since then to know it’s a national obsession. I think it is a result of such a short season for berries in Finland. Being able to buy fresh, good berries practically 10 months a year is not something you can do in Finland.
It is a more a general observation as well. People in Norther Europe live and cook (even today) much more based on what is in season. Even though you can get asparagus from Finnish supermarket around the year, the price during the spring season is so much cheaper (and taste so much better), that most people only eat it during those few weeks. Most South Africans could not even say when the asparagus season is.
