Marcus's B'day weekend

On 29/30 Sep was my lovely boyfriend, Marcus's birthday weekend. To be honest, If we were living in London, I would take him to yummy funky vegan (and healthy) restaurant. Unfortunately, i don't think we have such places in Suffolk. If there is one, I would like to know. Anyhow, probably was the best to cook for him (and me!), as i know how he likes and what he can have in his diet. To be honest, it's quite challenging sometimes to find foods which accommodate "vegan", "gluten-free" and "sugar-free" all together when we are out. Always end up eating nuts, fruits and energy bars. Which, I don't mind at all. 

Anyway, I love cooking, I can cook all day and eat all day. Now my passion for foods are challenging foods as well as funky vegan/veggie foods. I feel more creative than when I was cheffing in London, funny isn't it.

I felt quite inspired by Greek cooking especially when I came back from our holiday. I still do, but I don't eat much cooked foods at home, I eat mainly salads, pulses, sometimes soup. I try to keep 2-3 warm/hot meals a week, rest, salads, juice and smoothies(raw, basically). I still don't have de-hydrater, but, hopefully, I got some money coming in this month so that I can purchase it on line. I don't really need it, it adds fun to cooking though. 

anyway, I wanted to cook some Greek-inspired dish. I ended up cooking completely different food again. these are what I cooked.

I cooked: Aubergine salad with sesame dressing. Main meal I cooked was: Spiced Sweet potato and butternut squash cooked in oil with quinoa salad and green harrisa.

Here's recipe for aubergine salad.

Soak sultanas in orange juice till plump up. Prick aubergine and roast till blackened skin and soft inside but still keeping shape. when cool, peel. cut in to short wedges. Toast pine nuts(If prefer more nutty flavour. I prefer keep nuts raw). chop onion, tomato, and parsley, then into a bowl with sultana and aubergine. In meantime make dressing. 2 heaped table spoon tahini, lemon zest and juice, drop of tamari, sumac, ground cumin and coriander, extra virgin olive oil, dried oregano, grated garlic. blitz with hand blender and mix through to salad. Adjust seasoning.

It's simple salad, and really mooorish. Since I came back from Greece, all I can think was aubergine for a while. Greek do have yummy aubergine dish.

Early that day, we went to see Marylin. She cooked some lunch. She does make nice salad. I loved her carrot and ginger salad. Simple, also moorish. Shit, I can't remember what was in it. I must ask her again, I'm getting old, my memory getting worse! ☺

Lovely selection of salad on the plate! Yum Yum.

I'd love to cook lunch/dinner for all of us one day.

I hope Marcus enjoyed his B'day weekend.....

Dinners in Pellion 2 (7th-21st/Sep)

I was looking forward eating out in Pellion too. First eating out was in Agria. We were really tired, it'd been looong day since we left Suffolk. We (Marcus did all driving as usual, bless him) drove from Thessaloniki to Agria, by the time we got there, it was dark. So we decided to rest there before carrying on to Pellion. We managed to find a room by the beach, checked in, then now, we needed food! We saw a taverna by the sea(all of them were along there), he was still serving food. We ordered Greek salad and chips! My first chips in Greece. I was looking forward to this. and tasted sooooo good. The best chips for long time. Even chips me and Emma had on the Suffolk coast tasted no where near as good as this chips. This point, I felt even more excited eating out in Pellion. 

We got to Pellion, we stayed in small village called "Damouhari". 1 shop, 5 tavernas, quite a few apartments. Very pretty and rustic, cute village. I saw people I saw last year. Due to the end of season, not many people were around and very peaceful. In the little shop, where I bought tin of stuffed vine leaves, had a fewer selection so as German guy's shop. they let them selling out. and close the shop, go to Volos for 6 month till another season started. Well, that was the German guy in the shop(he owned Victoria's guest house) was doing. Work hard during the season for 6month, and the rest of year (6 month), no work and chilling out. Sounds good to me. OK, I'll work towards that as well ☺.

Anyway, we went out to eat maria's sister's taverna(lady who had the little shop, she also had a block of apartments). A guy there (I would imagine he was family too) told us wonderful veggie dishes on the menu previous evening when we were looking around. We both excited. these were what we had there.

We had: Kritama, stuffed peppers, briam, chips, giant beans and bead came €28.50. Very reasonable price. Never had briam before. I'm now a big fan of briam. Greek food rocks! Simple home cooking is the best! Her stuffed peppers were yummy. I never thought stuffed peppers were exciting food, but here in Greece, they were.  In my head, stuffed peppers related to dated 70's cooking, very bland and boring, so when Marcus told me about stuffed peppers, I didn't get excited to start with. anyway, since that night, we had three more eating out(very unusual for us), stuffed peppers were included in our order if they had them.......

Funny and I loved about taverna was, they showed us menu but they didn't have them anyway. they usually told us or asked us to come and have a look in their kitchen what they had. Typical Greek style. One night we had dinner in Ag. loannis. We wet round lots of taverna see if they had some veggie dishes. No many. We ended up going into the taverna next to some dis-used(?) hotel. Here, he had plenty veggie dishes. We ordered: stuffed peppers, spinach salad, chips, giant beans, aubergine salad, bread, iman.... tasted so good. I was excited when I saw the man bringing all foods. There was an posh retired English couple sitting near by, sounded like they were regulars and knew all staffs there. She was smiling at me this point. Later, we bumped into the English guy when we were on our way to Plaka beach. He thanked me. They liked seeing me excited about food. Wow, felt good, just being me made people smile and happy! Awesome! He told us spinach pie in the taverna was good. but we didn't go back there, maybe next year.

Our last eating out was small village called "Mouresi". Our original plan was to eat out in sleepy village Kissos. We ate out there last year, Costas took us one of taverna(see "night out with costas"), we had loads of stuffed vine leaves there. We went round the most taverna there and they only had 1-2 veggie dishes and salad, so we decided to go back to Ag. loannis. Marcus did suggested me going to Moruresi, I thought nothing would be open.... Well, we took wrong turn, and ended up in Mouresi anyway. So, parked our car by the square, saw taverna there was open, so asked what she had. Cor, blimey, we didn't speak each other's languages, but we understood what she said anyway. She took us to her kitchen, showed us what she had...Cor, it was heaven. We decided to have a dinner here. Her food looked so good. And Her food was the best, then maria's sister. Chips in Agria was the best chips.  These were what we had in Mouresi square taverna. Bless her, she was really sweet.

 Basically, this is Greek salad without feta.  lots of oregano, extra virgin olive oil, what more did we want? 

 Then, yummy and interesting stuffed peppers. Later I realised some people made  their stuffed peppers with mince meat. Thank god, her one didn't have meat.

 Green beans in tomato sauce. She sliced both edges to take stringy bits, cut them open, and cooked.

one lunch we ate out by the Damouhari harbour. His green beans were little stringy.  Tasted yummy though. There we had bean soup. It was a bit like minestrone with rustic Greek style. Of course, we both loved it. He was bit more pricey than other people. But he had good view of the harbour from his taverna.

 Chips! ❀❀❀

 Iman. I'd like to cook this dish, I've been looking in Internet to give me an idea how to cook tasty way. Just looking at this photo makes my mouth watery...☺☺☺

Cor, blimey, granny gave us her home made plum in syrup and Greek yogurt with blackberry(?).  Here in Greece, no need to order dessert, most of taverna(not all of them) gave customer sweets in the end. Maria's sister: lemon syrup cake(soaked with lemon syrup, good cake, 10points!☺), This granny's dessert:simple, home made, good yogurt, 10points!☺☺), Ag loannis: chocolate whipped cream(nice, simple, sweet, 8points!☺)

Later, I saw the granny serving foods to her mates(4 of them) they looked happy. Only us and those grand dads were eating outside of this Mouresi taverna, peaceful, quiet and quite romantic. Cats and a dog were hanging around us for foods, grand dads were giving them bit of chickens and bread. It was lovely pleasant night out. Then 2 German couple and one oriental person turned up saying hello to those grand dads. They had a oriental person with them. We saw them previous day in Papa Nero beach. We both smiled at each other. I didn't see many oriental person in Pellion, so, I was happy to see her. Then 2 of grand dads at the same time pointed at me as if " oh, there's another one here". I smiled. It was funny. So, me and those German people had a quick chat. This oriental person was Korean, she said hello in Korean to me. I thought she was very clever lady, she knew a bit of Japanese, spoke German fluently, and  English. I wonder what other languages she spoke? Cool. Then they walked off. Defo would like to go back to the taverna next year. 

Oh, I feel really hungry now, I need to eat my breakfast....☺☺☺

Dinners in Pellion, Greece 7th-21st/Sep

Wow, another beautiful holiday in Greece. I love visiting Pellion/Pelion, beautiful mountain, crystal clear sea, kind people, and simple way of life. Very rustic! That's what I love everytime I visit European countries. Every where we went in Pellion, there were chestnuts trees, walnut trees, pomegranates, figs, apples, pears, and we found sharon fruits! Unfortunately, sharon fruits weren't ready for us to eat, maybe another a couple of weeks???? they were still really green and hard. We love them! When we went to South of  France last year, we had them nearly everyday! I saw some allotment in people's gardens. They were growing: squash, courgettes, tomatoes, peppers, and list goes on. They all looked happy. Growing with plenty of sun and rain in the area make fresh products taste soooooo yummy and full of flavour. Each salad ingredients we had tasted so different from we have here in England. Even Waitrose's salad ingredients taste nothing compare to Greek products. Wow, sunshine make that much difference. Interesting! Anyway, that's why everytime i made salad for our dinners, I didn't have to do anything. I just made vegan aioli(garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon juice. blitz it with hand blender, here it is, vegan mayo!) or simple dressing with lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. That was enough. This is what we normally had:

these are our typical dinner. Just simple salad, vine leaves from local shop(they were in tin, but didn't taste tin, also taste gooood!) We had big chunk of Greek feta fro 3 evening, why not? At the end of the day, we were in Greece, feta and yogurt we must taste. And It was fun and taste soooooo good. Anyway, after that, we didn't have anymore feta, Marcus's intolerance of dairy products came up. But it wasn't as bad as when he was in England. We enjoyed very much!

For our breakfast, we had protein smoothies with local fruits and protein powder called "raw power". Taste very nice, and I liked them. Thinking of getting it for myself for my breakfast. 

We decided to alternate smoothies and Greek yogurt, fruits and honey, but after 3days of having dairy product, we just kept going with our smoothies. Anyway, this is our tasty breakfast.

I'm a big fan of Greek yogurt. Some honey we had was very intense and nutty. I would imagine bees were bizzy collecting from chestnut/walnut tree flowers. First jar of honey we got from Agria (small sea side village with lovely taverna, we stayed for a night on 7th) was very light, lemony and flowery. I never tasted honey like that. It was magic. I still dream about it.

As our holiday went on, I gave my dinner slight variations. I soaked dried broad beans, peel, then cooked. Then mixed with tomato and lemon dressing I made. Basically bit like raw variation of "big beans in tomato sauce". Of course, time to time, we bought proper big beans in tin too. 

Every evening, I was looking forward to our dinner. I enjoyed making everything we had. I added raw aubergines into our salad. I cut/slice thinly, sprinkle with some salt, let water drain, wash, squeeze out more water. doesn't taste bitter. Actually, this aubergine is nice to eat with soy and lemon dressing. (In Japan, we eat aubergine like this)

I also soaked some chickpeas. Even chickpeas and tahini tasted different. Marcus made some hummus. It tasted really good, I loved it. Cooked chick peas, lots of lemon juice, 2-3 heaped tahini, s&p, extra virgin olive oil and lots of garlic. Very simple, and versatile food. Hummus is my favo dip. I make it often when I'm at home. We had his hummus for 2 dinners. Following evening, I made chickpea and tomato salad(with lots of garlic and lovely sweet red onion!). We defo didn't go hungry. Didn't wast nothing either. How could we waste our food, we love our food and we were on holiday! 

Oh, another naughty things we had was crisps! We found lays olive oil crisps, we had it for our snack, more or less every afternoon. When we were in Agria, we found Lays baked olive oil and oregano crisps. We didn't see it after that. I saw Lays olive oil crisps in Mallorca. Why can we have it here too? It only contained olive oil, salt and potato. No naughty things in them. And less calories (a bit) than other Lays crisps. Having say that, I think it would be very dangerous for me, I would be eating it all the time! So, maybe, better to leave them in Greece or Spain.... Well, now I got more reason to go back there.

"Is avocado fattening?"

I love avocados. I can eat them everyday. Every time I have an avocado, it reminds me of a story one of my sou chefs, Paul, used to tell me.  Back in early 90's (I think), he was living in Australia for a about a couple of years. That point he was cheffing there at the same time he was drinking  and partying hard(typical chef!☺). Spent all his money, no money to buy ticket to go back to England. How he and his house mates survived? They had a massive avocado tree in the garden. They ate avocado everyday, all day for all summer. He told me avocados there were the best, eventually, he saved up money to come back to England. In restaurants, we used to have avocado dishes for starters. It makes yummy, quick and easy starters. Personally, I love avocados and eat quite often. I'm a veggie, need protein. 

Well, every time People (work especially, and who are on fad diet) see me eating whole avocado, they ask: "Avocado is fattening, isn't it, lots of calories. I don't touch it." Christ, how many times I heard the comments... I say to myself, "F**k sake, chances are avocado doesn't have much calories or fat compare to what you eat... products which contains lots of sugar, refined carb, over processed foods...etc...," I could going on and on about it, but I won't☺. I simply gave up telling people how good avocado is. They don't want to listen. Anyway, here's some avocado facts.

1. Avocados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid. They also act as a "nutrient booster" by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha and beta-carotene and lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit.

2. Avocado (2-3 thin slice)

    calorie: 50, fat:4.5, sat fat:0.5, cholesterol: 0, sodium: 0

    Unsalted butter (2tbsp)

    calorie: 204, fat: 23, sat fat: 14.6, cholesterol: 61, sodium: 164

    Cheddar cheese (1 slice)

    calorie: 414, fat: 9.4, sat fat: 6, cholesterol: 30, sodium: 176

3. Replacing some saturated fatty acids with unsaturated fatty acids lowers both total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) blood cholesterol levels. Studies show replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat, while staying within calorie needs, is more effective in reducing the risk of heart disease than simply lowering total fat intake. Research also supports the importance of improving the fat quality of the diet by choosing better fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which are associated with improved blood lipids. Avocados contain both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. 

4. Good fats can lower bad cholesterol levels and are beneficial when consumed in moderation. Avocados contribute good fats to one's diet, providing 3 grams monounsaturated fat and 0.5 polyunsaturated grams fat per 1-oz. serving.

Avocados are cholesterol- and sodium-free, and more than 50 percent of the fruit's fat content comes from monounsaturated fats.

5. 150g avocado contains: 165mg omega 3 fatty acid, 2534mg omega 6 fatty acid, 18.0 mg calcium, 0.8mg Iron, 43.5mg magnesium, 1.0mg zinc, 31.5mg vitamin K, 219 IU vitamin A, 15.0mg vitamin C, 3.1mg Vitamin E .....list goes on and on...

6. Avocado is the only fruits contains monounsaturated fat.

7. If you make fresh carrot juice, make into smoothie with avocado. Avocado helps slow release sugar from carrots into blood stream.

8. Avocado provides all 18 essential amino acid for our body to form a complete protein. Protein in steak is difficult to digest, but protein in avocado is easy to digest due to fiber contents within the fruit. Avocado is ideal source of protein especially vegetarians, vegans or people who cut down on animal protein.

9. Avocado is awesome source of carotenoid. Every time you consume food with high carotenoid, that means you adding high quality vitamin A in your body thereby protecting your eye health. Also enhance immune system and promote healthy functioning of reproductive system.

10. The combined effect of the deluxe package of nutrients contained in avocados offers powerful anti-inflammatory benefits. Avocadoes' unique combination of Vitamins C and E, carotenoids, selenium, zinc, phytosterols and omega-3 fatty acids helps guard against inflammation. This means avocados can help prevent or mitigate against both osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis.

And goes on and one... I just looked into some avocado facts, there are plenty information out there. This is only a tip of iceberg. I'll leave judgment on you if you still think eating avocado makes you fat. Just remember to even your blood sugar level if you wanna lose weight as well as cut out all shit foods from your diet.  Stop doing fad diet, spend money to go to see nutritionist or dietitian. All diets need to be "custom made". Just because Laura lost weight doing this diet, so "I'll do the same..." change that thinking. It works on Laura, but it might not work on you. Think before you start on fad diet. Don't starve yourself. It's not worth it.  Work on yourself(inner-self). What are your issues? What emotions make you want to eat more? Address your issues and work on them. Good luck.

Soba noodle salad with basil tofu

I haven't really made nice foods lately. I've been so busy I sometimes forget to shop. My fridge gets empty, not a lot to eat. Being healthy and eating healthy foods are commitment and always need to remind myself to look after myself. And treat myself too!☺I've been eating cakes and pastries every time i got to coffee shops(cafes).... One cake for every other day now. So, when I went to Waitrose for my food shopping this arvo, I found nice gluten-free cakes in bargain bin. So, I bought them. I thought mite as well, I'd already taking sugar.... rather that eating gluten products, buy gluten free cakes...and have them with my coffee tomorrow morning with a friend.... Yes, this is my excuse. But I don't care. I will burn it off. Ha ha ha☺ Anyway, when Marcus came round mine, I found 100% buckwheat (organic) noodles in my cupboard. So I made soba noodle salad. Oh, I hadn't made that for ages. I do love soba noodles. When I was growing up, I used to dislike the bloody thing. I remember my distant family used to make hand made soba noodles. I never liked it. But now I suddenly remembered the texture and taste, actually it was fantastic. Not many people make them anymore even in Japan I would imagine... I've got how to make good soba noodle cook book, bought it looooong time ago in japan, I would like to make it this year. So as vegan ice creams. Oh, I can't wait to retire! ☺ Anyway, this is what I made.

Salad leaves on the bottom, cook soba according to instructions. Make veggie mix in a bowl. whatever I have in my fridge and fancy, i just chop them throw in. Splash some tamari, good oil and zest of 1 lemon and juice, grated ginger and garlic, chili coriander leaves.... Yum Yum. slice the basil tofu, garnish with home grown alfalfa. very simple and easy. Oh, today, I was asked for some recipes for dinner ideas. I told her "I don't have one, I just make it up as I go".. I don't really cook same dish twice. When i cook, i like to eat different foods and vegetables. I do make into big portions. I can hear Johnny saying..."Big salad for small person" every time. This is what I made when I went round Marcus's while ago... How greedy am I???? ☺☺☺

chinese take-away 9/June

When me and my friend Emma went to Felixstowe, again, we were hungry. Feels like we(more like Me!) always hungry. By the time we got to Felixstowe, it was getting dark. We saw beautiful sunset. Chippie was closed. We just missed it. then we saw this chinese take-away shop where only cooked fried noodles and fried rice. I ordered "mixed vegetable fried rice". Emma ordered " bean sprouts and prawn fried rice". I was watching her cooking them. Yes, she chopped and cooked from fresh, however, I was thinking..."More veggies! Surely she's adding some more veggies..." I was wrong. She only cook the rice with: very bit of cabbage, about 5 slices of carrots, a small half of brown onion. I'm sure, that was it. It was my first chinese take-away for.....probably 2 years or more. that was the last time I bought chinese take-away.... Neva mind, Yes, it kept coming back to me for all nite, I probably won't be eating for another 2 years or so. I'll recover. Anyway, they were the rice we had that night.

I was hungry, I ate in 5mins. How greedy! ☺ It was nice change to eat naughty food. 

Following day, me, Emma, Liza and Deidre went to our local spa where Liza had membership. Guest price is £15 for all day spending in swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. I like the place. I usually go there with Marcus. He teaches Tai chi(Qi-Gong) there. This place has two more places in Ipswich and Colchester. Anyway, we had lunch there. we all had toasted paninis or sandwich. Catering there was really bad. Liza's sandwiches were dry, on wrong bread, fillings in our toasties had virtually nothing, then charging fiver for them. ☹ Never again, paying for foods there we agreed. 

Anyway, I really enjoyed my weekend with ladies.

Lunch, cake and dinner in Suffolk coast

Me and Emma did tour of Suffolk coast on the Sunday 27. We had fantastic day! (Please see my other blog...) First, we had our lunch in Walberswick. It's stony beach. When I was a child, I wasn't really keen on stony beach, now getting older and changing taste, I now really don't mind. In fact, I like it. I just love stones...❀❀❀

This is what we had...

We had some healthy foods as well as naughty foods. I don't normally eat quorn. I hadn't had this quarn thing for ages! Then I thought, " F**k it, I want to be naughty today, am guanna eat this and chocolate!" I bought this yummy chocolate from Snape malting previous weekend. They had some more hand made ones(very expensive!), looked ever so nice, it was tempting.... But all got sugar in! I want some sexy sugarless dark chocolate! I wish more people had made yummy and sexy sugarless milkless dark chocolate! 

Anyway, we enjoyed our lunch. Then after spending a couple of hours pottering there, we were off to Southwold. Well, it was more like cake time. Emma told me she had some nice cakes on the pier before. I couldn't wait. We parked up her van on the green, walked to the pier. When I saw cakes in the cafe, "not bad" I thought. I ordered Date and walnut cake, Emma had carrot cake with our coffee. Well, the cake were both lovely. I don't really like date cake, somehow quite often it's really dry. But this one, really moist and tasted really daty! yum yum. ☺☺☺ So as Emma's carrot cake. It was lovely.

Emma and our cakes. She looks so happy with her cake and coffee! ☺☺☺

See? look lovely don't they? Previous day, me and my friend Simon went to the cafe on the bottom of the Abbeygate street in Bury St Edmunds. I had coffee cake and decaf black americano. The cake was £2.50 a slice. It was f**kin' disappointing. It wasn't big enough for £2.50, moreover, it said "espresso cake" well, didn't taste coffee enough to call the cake "espresso cake". Also, coffee wasn't good either. I remembered Tony said "it's alright, not brilliant". It was exactly that!. Whereas here, in this Southwold cafe, coffee was nice (but not as good as Nero), cake was lovely, I had fab company and views from where we sat. 10 points! ☺☺☺

We walked round a bit then where next? We fancied some chips. So we were off to Aldeburgh... Even my Japanese head connects English beach and chips, English beach makes me want to eat chips! Strange. Maybe, I've been here too long???? Anyway, we were just in time for chip shop. They were closing in 20mins when we got there. I could see people who were working there looked really pissed off. 'Cuz, ques were longer, not shrinking. Anyway we got our dinner, had them on the beach.

We had chips, vegetarian burger and mushy peas! And we enjoyed it too. Last time I had chips was when we were in Greece. That was the best chips, I don't remember last time I had whole portion of English chips..... Again, I knew I was guanna suffer following day, but, again, f**k it, it was our mini naughty holiday. We shared some of our chips with naugty seagulls too. Yum Yum.

My next chips will be.....Greece!

tofu bake and roasted kabocha with black tapanade

On sat evening, my friend Emma popped mine for chat and dinner. It's been nice to hang out with her again. I know she's been going through hard time, it's very privilege to be there for her. she helped me lots when I was going through hard time, good to have friends! We laughed lots, and chat lots.

I cooked tofu and chestnut bake, roasted kabocha squash, black tapanade, and puy lentil salad.

it looked like this.

First, I made tofu bake mix. Put tofu, spices, grated garlic, tamari, salt, pepper and few chestnuts in food processor and blitz. When it become paste, pout into a bowl, mix some cashew nuts and some more crumbled chestnut. Put this mix into lined tin with cling film, bake at 170℃ for 30mins or so. In meantime, slice(wedge) some kabocha pumpkin/squash, line them in a baking tray, season, and sprinkle smoked paprika and shove them in oven. Now, cook some puy lentils according to instruction on the packet with a clove of garlic and whole chili. when it's done, put them in a bowl add some sofritto of carrot, shallots, cerely, chopped chili and grated garlic. mix with lemon juice and zest. Then made black tapanade. Black olives, mint, E.V oil, flat parsley, garlic, ground cumin, coriander and chill in a metal jug and blitz. When all foods in the oven are done, take out, assemble them on a plate. Finish the plate with more E.V oil(extra virgin olive oil).

I don't really have a recipe, I make up as I go quite often, however, I do follow some extent on baking. According to my friend Tony (the chef), it's a pastry chef thing to follow and weight exactly as recipe says....I do make up though...otherwise, I get board!!! Then, sometimes end up baking some disgusting foods.... never mind, experiment! It's fun.

Anyway, we both enjoyed our dinner on Saturday. Should do it more often!

polenta and millet short bread

Today, I baled Polenta and Millet short bread. I fancied some biscuits, but didn't want to have too much butter, sugar and wheat. Why? because, a couple of weekends ago, when I went to see my boyfriend Marcus, I had some pain in my right foot. I found it hard to walk. it was some crunchy thing inside my foot. Marcus gave me reflexology a bit, and helped. And, figured out it came from building up some sugar(and wheat) causing it. Apparently Marcus and Marylin get it too. But it doesn't stop me from eating cakes and biscuits. Of course, during the week I had some muffin, and a piece of cake. Can't help it. Anyway, trying to be good, I made some wheat-free and sugar-free biscuits. They were very crunchy due to polenta contents, quite delicious too. I added a whole orange zest and a half fresh squeezed orange juice as well. Smell of orange was divine when it was in oven baked.

here's recipe;

Polenta and millet shortbread

225g polenta

100g ground millet flakes

100g non hydrogenated margarine

60g non hydrogenated vegetable shortening

1 whole orange zest and half juice

vanilla extract

120g honey(or more if prefer sweeter)

Rub polenta and millet with marg and shortening, add honey, orange juice, vanilla and zest. Make very soft dough. If not enough to make soft dough, add more orange juice.  Line a square tray with baking parchment, flattens well. Bake at 170℃ for 15mins, then turn the oven down to 150℃ to bake further 5-10mins. When edges started to brown, nearly the end. take out from the oven, cut into squares, cool on cooling rack. They are lovely with good black coffee. ☺

coconuts and date vegan slice

Cor, I really fancied the coconut and date slice Marylin baked while ago. It occupied my head about 3 days after my holiday. So, last week, I decided to bake one. I baked in square tin and guess what. i forgot to buy desiccated coconut. One of the main ingredients are desiccated coconut. How could I forget to buy that? rest of ingredients I had in my cupboard, so I didn't need to get anything for it. But Recipe requires apple concentrated juice or something as sweetener, I suppose. So, I grated 2 small apples, added to the mix. So, how i made the cake without desiccated coconuts? Luckily I had little bit raw coconut shredded, and coconut powder/flour, so I used the instead. Texture wise, It was fine. Quite moooorish and eat lots for my snacks. I also had it with soya yogurt with Greek honey. Mmmmmm, sounds divine.

I personally like the cake, it's healthy and sugar-free, wheat-free and vegan. It's a bit like healthy version of jumbo date slice. And much nicer. Here's recipe.

Serves10

550g ripe bananas with skin

350g dates -soaked in boiling water

225g dessicated coconut

225g millet flakes

175ml sunflower oil

125ml apple juice concentrate

juice of half lemon

1teasp mixed spice

1teasp ground ginger

pre-heat oven to 180c. tin size approx: 25cm x 12cm

Blitz 450g bananas, oil, lemon juice and apple concentrate. mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl, stir in the banana mixture. the separate into 2 equal halves, spread one to the bottom of the pan. Drain the date and blitz with remaining banana until smooth. spread the dates mix on to the coconut mix, then rest of coconut mix on top. sprinkle more coconut on top. bake until browned about 40mins or so. let cool then cut into squares.

Our food in La Gomera 2

In Valle Gran Ray, our little apartment had a kitchen. Very basic accommodation, but not as basic as Costas(in Greece). It had lovely view from our balcony. Almost every night we had our dinner outside. Some evenings were little chilly, we ate inside. Very cozy and I noticed, the land lady seemed to like IKEA. Lots of IKEA things in the apartment. Our apartment was on top of floor. The landlady, Maria and her family lived downstairs. Top 2floors were apartment. 5 rooms in total to let. First two nites we had back room, after our next door, dutch couple left, we had their room. 'cuz, they had the best view from the balcony. They were very pleasant and eazy to talked to. They offered us some wine. Bless. We only drunk water. (and some smoothies and fresh juice) Anyway, both apartment had nice big fridges to keep our vegetables in. Price of veggies weren't cheap. Lots of products were transported from Teneriff. Bananas were reasonable though and very tasty. Smaller in sizes compare to Jamaicans or South Americans. Also, slightly pinky and rough surface. Taste? Sweet. I am now big fan of Canary Bananas. We went there last year, since then, I was dreaming about eating those bananas. I didn't want any waste and didn't wanna buy too many vegetables either. Last year, we spend lots on foods. Couldn't help myself, it was my first visit, as usual, I wanted to try all different things and lovely products. I really enjoyed it anyway. Anyway, I ended up using same vegetables almost all the way to our holiday. But I tried to cook different dishes. First night, we were really tired from travelling, so I cooked quick meal. And had them our little balcony!

Quinoa with smoked tofu and tomato salsa. All food I cooked there in La Gomera were very similar. Two nights we stayed in place called Hemigua. It was situated between vallies and about 1hour from Valle Gran Ray. Very peaceful town. (Please see my other blog for more info) There, we stayed very nice apartment hotel. Breakfast was provided and when requested veggie option, they gave us nice avocado and salad. Bless. They had their restaurant in their main building, 14euro for set meal. I'm sure there were yummy. We still had some vegetables left. and we found a communal cupboard where people left their dry foods, toiletries and anything they didn't want carry for on their way back. We thought it was very good idea to do that. Recycling! So I had some left over lentils from the cupboard and cooked rice and lentil salad with vegetables. We found local green grocers on the bottom of the road(about 5mins by car), this granny had little shop with fresh vegetables in front of the shop. When we got there, 3 other granny were there and all of them were chatting away. It reminded me of long time ago in my days in Fukushima summer holiday. Very peaceful and country!!!!☺☺☺☺

Our food in La Gomera

I went on holiday with Marcus to La Gomera from 18th march to 28th of march. I saw some nice patisseries and bakery. It was tempting to just walk in and order some cakes and stuff myself. Instead, I was very good, I only had some energy bars, corn chips, or corn snacks. We had some lovely smoothies  for breakfast. Fruits juice, fresh fruits and some protein and green powder from UK. Those little snacks were really nice, but I've never seen them in shops here. Yes, I know we can get anything on line, but sometimes, I fancy something snack, pop into health food shops in my local town, then I get disappointed almost every time. I don't fancy eating any of them. It's small town, but we don't have a proper health food shop. I wish I had money to start off one with health cafe attached. That would be lovely. I know our neighbour towns have nice shops in Suffolk. Why can't we have one? I would like to eat nice snacks when I feel peckish. I always end up eating nuts and naked bars. I would like to eat different ones. That's why when I found those in the health food shop in La Gomera, Valle Gran Ray, I was thrilled. Anyway, these were the snacks we had almost every day for our lunch. On the beach, in the mountain, or walks....

These corn snack didn't have naughty things in them, they were yummy and tasty. I sometimes eat baby corn snacks(or veg stick snacks). They are very plain. Free from naughty things though. I love green packet one, which is pumpkin seeds with honey bar. It was so tasty, when I got home I tried to make one. And turned up to be crispy hone and pumpkin seeds snack. I now munch when my blood sugar level drops. I'm naughty I tend to skip breakfast, then what happens? I fancy having cakes and muffins from Starbucks! Make sure that won't happen, I now munch my hone pumpkin seed. yum yum.

i went to Assisi in italy! 24th feb - 27th feb

I went to Assisi in Italy with Marcus. He took me there for "long weekend". It was wonderful experience as usual. Thanks to my lovely boyfriend, apparently It was surprise, but about 10day before we went, he slipped his mouth where we were going! Ah, Bless. City of Assisi was beautiful place. I saw cute rustic green grocers and pretty looking vegetables in the shops. We bought dried porcini mushrooms and smoked chestnuts for our dinner. We didn't know till when it was cooked it was smoked. and price was very reasonable there too. I  cooked risotto again, because it was eazy to cook. we didn't have a lot of cooking facilities. no chopping board, no sharp knife, etc. all we borrowed from hotel reception were: 1x serrated knife, 1x small flying pan, 1x small cooking pot to cook. that was all. Considering that, I did really well on cooking wise. this is our little kitchenette.

It had small electric cooker with 2 hobs, 1x little sink, small fridge, and baby espresso machine! very Italian! We bought a box of green tea from a shop near by. I love different green teas. Italian green tea tasted very similar to Spanish one. Anyway, this is what I cooked and it has lots of olive oil on it!

And it was, romantic meal for two!

On the following day, we went out for walk in the city. Guess what I found! Patisserie shops!

Those cake shops also had Italian ice creams! Italians like ice cream too!!! and it was yummy♥♥♥

I don't remember if I had a cake or not....Probably I didn't.... we had ice cream though!

This was my ice cream. It was pistachio ice cream and very naughty tiramisu ice cream! Cor, they were sexy. We could eat another cup! Marcus usually don't eat dairy products in England. He was very naughty to have the ice cream! Well, for me, I love to try local products when comes to foods. Experience! I want to experience everything around me! From visual to taste, smell, touch, and everything! That is why I love to eat cakes when I'm in overseas even sometimes some foods make me constipate! Anyway, this is naughty Marcus eating his ice cream. ☺☺☺

Oh, I just remembered, yes, I did eat a couple pieces of cakes at the breakfast. Breakfast was included in the room charge. So every morning, we went to the hotel (B&B) cafe to have our brekkie. 2nd day and our last brekkie we had soya milk with some cornflakes and fruits. I did have 2 pieces of cakes one breakfast. I noticed Italians liked and had sweet breakfast. Cakes! Greeks do that too, I must say, I do love my sweet breakfast. When i went to Queensland(Australia) I had pancake with lots of berries and creams and sweet fruits coulis...Cor, it was devine. Anyway, this is our breakfast.

The lady who was serving breakfast was really sweet. She didn't speak English, but somehow we communicated fine. My Italian wasn't too bad either. Mind you, I learnt my Italian from my favo chefs(thanks to Luigi and Stephano)  and my kitchen language. Came in really handy! Tray bake on the right side, the breakfast lady baked it. And it was lemony and vanilla, simple cake but it was very nice. she told me she made it, asked me to eat. Well, I already had a piece previous morning. "F**k it", I thought, "I'm guanna have another piece..." So I did. If I see yummy things in front of me, it's really hard to resist. But thing is; once I start, I don't seem to stop. When I came back from Italy, I kept eating a cake almost every day. Some days I had two pieces again! Now, gradually reduced my cake/sugar intake, I'm back on no-cake(or 1 a week) now.☺☺☺

By the way, two hone jars on top of this blog, they were local honey I think. Both were very nice I loved especially light coloured one. Very flowery♥♥♥ Marcus preferred the dark one. It was nice but  a bit too medicinal for me. I poured lots on my cornflakes and fruits♥♥♥ I could eat the whole jar!

Last weekend we just realised we forgot to bring dried porcini mushrooms and smoked chestnuts home! gutted! We had a senior moment perhaps???

Home made sushi

I had some sushi rice left from Friday eve. (Emma's sushi party), So I decided to make some sushi for our dinner on Sunday night. I didn't have lots of foods left in my fridge, but I managed to find some ingredients to make some sushi for our dinner. I also roasted some vegetables and tofu sausages(yipeeee! our favo food!☺). I do love make sushi, it's really fun and love making different fillings. I just used some basil tofu, some vegetable, home made black olive paste and hummus. They were simple but yummy. 

Theses are ideal for pack lunch. Sushi /rice Vinegar keeps rice better and lasts longer without being in fridge. Why not try????☺

sushi party @ Emma's

Emma wanted to have a sushi party...She wanted me to show her how to roll sushi. So, We organized our little sushi party at Emma's. I was excited. I knew Emma was O.C.D-ish cleaness person. I wanted to see how immaculately clean and tidy her house was...Oh, I'm sooooo nozy. And here it was. Her house was very nice, big and very clean tidy. I felt pleased...☺     Anyway, Maggie picked me up just after 7pm from outside my flat(She already picked Pauline up). I had a carrier bag full of stuffs(my knives, chopping boad, sushi matts, powdered wasabi,and hummous) and a box of my special sushi rice. I didn't want to make sushi rice with vinegar, dashi, and sugar. So I made it with lemon juice, zest, agave syrup and some veggie stock(cooked rice with). I've seen some people make with sherry vinegar too. Well, i wouldn't just make it like that myself, but I would use rasberry vinegar and honey to flavour rice. and make sushi quite herby. My sushi rice looked like this:

Yes, it looks yellow. Due to lemon zest and veggie stock made the rice yellow! Looks funky though. Smelt lovely too. If a Japanese person sees this, probably they think: "hey dude, what the f***k is that?" You know me, I don't give a shit, as long as taste yummy and look pretty, I get satisfied. Anyway, We managed to find Emma's house. it was dark, a cross on local church lit up in dark and somehow it reminded me of Exorcist. But, I must say, it wasn't as spooky as that. Just where my head was at that time. That'e all...☺ When we got there, Sylvia was already there. Sylvia, Emma and Emma's dog welcomed us. Very cozy. Cor blimy, Emma's got a funny dog. She was cute♥♥♥ I love when i speak to a dog, they tilt head a bit with ears up.  And make a funny face. Emma's dog was certainly one of them. She likes to sleep in her own bed with a blanket.

She is a staffordshire bull terrier, yes, "dog with attitude". Especially towards another dog, they do have an attitude. But they are great dog as a family pet. Good with kids, and they love human company!

She was standing looking at me all the time while I was making sushi. Oh, she had funny face! ☺

Maggie wanted to have a go at making sushi. So I showed her how to roll sushi on sushi mat. We had hand-rolled sushi(Temaki-zushi). They are great for dinner parties and fun. First, cut nori sheet into 4 squares. Place one on to palm like daiamond shape♦, put rice, wasabi or wasabi hummous, pick some sherredded vegitables then roll lightly. Dip into soy sauce. And eat! I love veggie sushi. It's like a salad.

I didn't make our sushi mad. I quite often make mad veggie food. But this time I made it very simple and easy. This is marggie making sushi.

I forgot to take some pictures of our sushi...I was too bizzy making and eating...

Everyone enjoyed our sushi party. We left about 11.40pm, cor, that was really late for me. It was my night out! What a change! I used to go clubbing all night and carried on partying all weekend...sometimes carried on during the week....woke up with feeling sick and shite...those days are over! I enjoy my night out like this very much. Good company, good food and good drink(soft drink though) I don't mind doing more sushi party like this! It's a fun. Oh, by the way, I got loads of sushi rice left. I've been eating lots... made some sushi yeasterday and gave them to Karen. We went out shopping and coffee(and cake) in Newmarket. Actually, I was disapponted a piece of coffee cake I had. It wasn't coffee enough and dry for me. Coffee cake have to be bitter and sweet, moist and naughty. Oh, I forgot, Sylvia baked spiced cranberry cake for after. It was lovely cake. Creme Fraiche would've been nice to eat with also.

Lovely rustic home made cake! is the best.

healthy junk food---macaroni cheese

It's been very bizzzzy lately. I didn't seem to stop all through January. And then, last week of the January, I had a slight cold. I don't usually get cold, but it got me a little bit. I had a little bit blocked nose and sneezing. Last Sunday of the month, me and Marcus went to local "beauty spa" where he teaches tai chi. We had good steam and bit of a swim which worked very well with my cold, it went away. I felt much much better after that. Here in England, it's been getting colder and colder also, didn't help me having cold. Anyway, sometimes I fancy my junk food ie; macaroni cheese, chips, kebab, pizza, you name it, all sorts. One day this week I cooked "healthy macaroni cheese". To be honest, it's more like pasta bake with some rocket. this is what I cooked.

My shopping list: vegan sheese(Scottish Cheddar style vegan cheese), oat milk, garlic, potato flour, gluten free pasta, chili, spinach(very important!), and soya mince(for protein). I made "cheesy sauce" with oat milk, grated garlic, veg stock, grated sheese, and potato flour(thickening agent). In a meantime, cook past and drain. Mix sauce, soaked soya mince and pasta, into a dish. Cover with wilted spinach, sprinkle chopped chili and grated sheese. bake it for 20min or so. serve onto hot plate, garnish with dressed rocket.

I was going make more proper macaroni cheese-like, but you know me, I just had to twist and got a little carried away. I didn't have a dessert. I was stuffed! mind you, there was plenty for me to take some to work for my lunch on following day. And even cold(room temperature), it was delicious! dead eazy to make, cheap, healthy and yummy, can't really complain!☺   I seem to have cake cravings every now and again, I had to bake vegan(gluten-free, sugar-free) mocha cup cakes this evening. I'm usually o.k without eating cakes as long as I munch my home made energy bars(balls). Anyway, this is what I made this evening. I was going to make it as a loaf, but cupcake form seemed to be easier to take as a pack lunch. So that's what I did.

I thought they were going to turn up really funny. Because the cake mix was really runny, I thought it wasn't going get raise. But actually it turned up being just right. Oh, I'm pleased. It's really tempting to put some caramel icing on top...maybe next time...☺☺☺ I'm going to go for my session tomorrow morning with Andy, so, those cupcake will be my lunch tomorrow! I always enjoy my ''keep-fit '' classes, enjoy my friends company and chat. One sat of month, we do 4 hour session doing karate kata, shaolin 108, taichi spear form and some leg work. Sounds hard core, but actually not bad. I love them! Grounds me lots♥♥♥  And great fun! 

Now, I'm going to check on e-bay, then chill out for rest of the evening.