Lettuce Redeem Ourselves

I'll admit it. I had a very bad day today, food-wise. I started out innocently enough, but boredom and procrastination led me time and again to the kitchen, seeking out chocolate, lollies, meaty pasta and pad thai. It got to the point where I was making single portions of chocolate chip cookie in a mug. That was the bottom. After that I felt a little bit sick. So I got up, and did those jobs I was meant to do. It actually felt quite good doing something, because before then I had been feeling lethargic, disappointed and angry at myself. And dinner was another attempt at redeeming myself too.

Baked Eggs

You know what I love? Breakfast. Which is partly why I'm partial to these baked eggs. They have everything you need: perfect for when you feel like eggs, but can't really be bothered dealing with all the dirty dishes and the longer processes (measuring, mixing…) of what might be eggs benedict, or even scrambled eggs; but you want something a little more exciting - and healthy - than runny eggs and soldiers.

 Packed with about one serving of your daily veg, there is no measuring, no stresses about curdling, just chop, layer, done. Out of the oven comes this unassuming little package, it's top gooey from feta, crumbled there less than ten minutes before. The veggies retain some bite after being cooked, but are still hot and soft enough to meddle seamlessly with the burst egg yolk. This breakfast  really is the prefect balance between being seemingly indulgent and perfectly healthy. And who doesn't love that?

Notes: I said above that there is no measuring involved in this recipe, yet below I have included measurements such as "one tablespoon". These are all approximate measures, because this recipe won't end in disaster if you put a little more or less of each ingredient into the mix. Also, feel free to change it up a bit to suit your tastes or what you have in the fridge. I have included some variation suggestions below the recipe.

Baked Eggs

Serves 1

8cm piece (1 Tbsp) spring onion, finely sliced

small handful (¼ cup, firmly packed) baby spinach leaves

4 - 6 (1 Tbsp, firmly packed) basil leaves, roughly chopped

3 - 4 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 egg

1 Tbsp feta, crumbled

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease one small ramekin.

Spread the spring onion around the bottom of the ramekin, and place on top the spinach, basil and tomatoes. Keep each ingredient as a separate layer, and do not mix the vegetables together.

Crack the egg on top of the tomatoes, and sprinkle the egg with feta.

Place in oven for 10 minutes or until egg white is cooked and the yolk is just set.

Serve immediately on small plate.

Variations: Replace feta with slices of mozzarella. Add roughly chopped ham or prosciutto, or shredded  cooked chicken on top of the bail before adding the tomatoes.

60's Design and Tacos

This past week has been full-on, and I've only spent four of these days at school, thanks to a mid-term break on Monday. Sunday was a city day: Made a classic banana cake in the morning before heading to the art gallery with Mum to see California Design - an exhibition about how California influenced architecture, product design, fashion and a way of life from 1930 to 1965. It was inspiring to be surrounded by so may objects that carried with them curiosity, discovery, and opinion. The exhibition also encouraged my personal interest with architecture and furniture design, particularly when I learnt about Charles and Ray Eames' meticulous ergonomic research and testing for their project simply named Chair.

The 'Z' chair / A cool lamp

Early afternoon we met Dad at the City Works Depot, which is home to several new and exciting places to dine and treat yourself. We had lunch at the Food Truck Garage, a recently new installment serving up fresh and re-vamped twists on classic takeaways such as burgers with a beef & beetroot patty, lettuce, tomato, gherkins and a mysterious "awesome sauce" (which earns its name). There are also hot dogs, tacos, home-made drinks and a weekly-changing specials, not to mention an effortlessly-cool, laid-back vibe.

I've been back to the grindstone stone since Tuesday, and working hard at that. The prospect of being House and/or School Prefects next year is weighing on my mind a lot lately and on those of my friends. It's odd and uncomfortable when you realize your competition is those people who you talk to everyday; being torn between wanting the best for yourself and the best for others. But as they say: que sera, sera. As the end of my school year is fast approaching - I effectively don't have a 'tern four' - study for external exams has continued off the back of mock exams just a few weeks ago. Oh, so intense!

Thank you thank you thank you, therefore, for long weekends, when you can spend the whole afternoon in the kitchen and not feel (too) guilty, taking time to make a dinner as completely from scratch as possible. Since my craving for home-cooked mexican, I hadn't found anything satisfying but simple enough to fulfill my hankering until now. Early in the afternoon I made the tortillas, stacked them, wrapped them up in tinfoil and left them on the bench. I put the chicken on to marinate in the fridge. Before dinner time, I barbecued the chicken, put the tortillas in the oven to warm up, made the salad, sliced the chicken, sliced up half an avocado and plated up. BUT I kept each component separate, so we could each make our tacos just the way we liked them.

Raspberry Quinoa Porridge and a new regular!

Firstly, I apologize for by brief disappearance from cyberspace. Since my last post I've had heaps of fun at my senior ball, held a bake sale at two local markets to raise money for Sir Edmund Hillary's Himalayan Trust, and on top of all that sat mid-year exams! So it's been pretty busy lately. Yet amongst it I managed to make myself a hot breakfast or two and come up with a new regular post! Was it procrastination maybe…?

I therefore introduce Flavor of the Month, where I share my favorite things of the moment, every month! It'll be a good way to keep me blogging regularly, yet won't be too demanding. Fingers crossed I can stick with it!

Apples

Image

With the colder month upon us, the refreshing crunch of an apple is now just what I need to bring a bit of vitality and freshness back. Also, it is oh so sweet and comforting in a pudding, cake or a classic pie. Delish.

Long-sleeved Dresses

I do try to embrace winter, really I do, but there's always a part of me that is stuck in a summery mindset of light dresses and cool treats. To try and curb my craving for the warmer months, I have been on the hunt for an elegant yet playful long-sleeved dress. Any suggestions?

Dress

Movie Night

I recently went to a close friend's birthday party. It was nothing fancy. No theme, no party favors, no gimmicks. Just a tight bunch of her closest friends, enjoying good food, a surprisingly decent movie (Step Up 4) and each other's company. It was unbelievably good fun.

Ice-cream

It's funny. As soon as the days grow shorter and blustery, I find myself tiptoeing my way to the freezer in the laundry, ready to eat ice cream straight from the tub. My favorite is usually chocolate ice-cream drizzled with berry jam (don't knock it 'till you've tried it), but lately I've found that I can settle for vanilla when the craving possesses me. If I had a less hectic schedule, I would dedicate one saturday to making my own, but for now I'll fantasize over gourmet flavors like blackberry and lavender and all these.

Recipe for left image here.

Have I mentioned my latest infatuation with breakfast? It's hard to justify, but it started somewhere around my boredom with usual old "cereal or toast" option on weekday mornings. I mean, there must be something more, right? So, when the weekends rolled around, I got inspired. Smoothies - green or otherwise -  packed with fruit and nice and thick. Pancakes stacked with honey and banana sandwiched between the layers. Omelets. Bagels, topped with fresh veggies, pesto and cheese and grilled. And a super-healthy quinoa porridge. 

If you have been tuned in to the food universe lately, you'd know that this ancient super grain is So Hot Right Now. Packed with protein, vitamins and a unique nutty flavor, it's not hard to figure out why.

Lunch for One: Roasted Vegetable and Quinoa Salad

Dad insightfully commented the other day that my cooking is either incredibly decadent, or very healthy - switching from one extreme to the next. He was right. Not only do I love rich desserts and adore eating baked goods fresh from the oven; my love affair with food has gone on long enough for me to realize that 'good', healthy food can be just as tasty and satisfying.

So today - spurred partly by guilt for being a little indulgent this past week - I made myself a hearty, filling bowl of slow-roasted veggies tossed together with that so-hot-right-now superfood otherwise known as quinoa (pronounced keen-wa). Not only that, I partly invented the recipe. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Psychogeography and Peanut Chicken San Choy Bau

In the last issue of the lovely Frankie Magazine, Eleanor Robertson pondered the art of wandering through your own urban habitat. She writes, 'Psychogeography is best described as bushwalking in cities. Bushwalking is satisfying because nature is beautiful, and with attention and some luck you can experience cool things happening… The same is true for cities, with buildings and architecture creating the landscape, and people creating the interest and drama'.In a time where no one has enough of it, she recognizes the importance of taking the leisure of appreciating urban space by just being there, as opposed to just passing through.

So yesterday, as the First Official Monday of the School Holidays, Mum, Dad and I did just that. We took a trip into the Auckland CBD and experienced it with fresh eyes, made new discoveries. First stop was breakfast, at a bagel-ry named Best Ugly. The topping combinations were nothing new, but just a little outrageous - cold smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, red onion and a little sprig of dill on mine and Mum's poppy seed bagels, a sesame-crusted one topped with hot mustard, pastrami, melted swiss cheese and gherkin for Dad. This was good food, done superbly.

… Fall Back

I woke this morning to what felt like a miracle… the sound of heavy, cleansing rain. Due to a drier-than-normal November and a practically rainless December, by February pretty much the whole of New Zealand was covered in dead, brown grass, and by mid-March, everyone, especially farmers,were getting pretty desperate. An official drought was declared in some of the worst-affected parts of the country, and compensation given to the farmers concerned, who needed it most. Even our humble little ten acre block was feeling the strain. We had water issues: a mysterious leak in one of our paddock tanks meant that 20 000 liters was almost gone within a few days. Dad had to buy truck-fulls of water to sustain our livestock over the course of a fortnight before he found a crack in one of the water pipes. Our veggie patch stopped growing. Weeds and low-nutrient grasses were sprouting. We had to feed our animals hard feed, things like silage and barley, because there wasn't any good grass. By the end of March though, we had had a few showers, here and there. They weren't very long, or very heavy - but that was ok. It brought me hope. It allowed the ground to soften a bit, before real, good rain comes.

This morning another of those hopeful showers came. It was quite heavy for about half an hour, giving the earth the drink that it so desperately needs, before it dispersed into that crisp autumn sunshine, when the day takes a little longer to warm up than it did just a month or two ago. Autumn is one of my most favorite times of the year. Kind of the underdog The Seasons, it heralds crisper, alert mornings and beautiful sunrises, warm, rich and comforting food, bed socks, tea and anticipation for the coming ski season.