Barbecue!

I will not let this bad weather stop my fun.

We have a Weber and it had to be used today.

A lunch time barbecue on a Sunday. Yes? Yes!

My husband piled the charcoal into the Weber and before you know it I could smell that barbecue smoky aroma.

I made pap (a very South African traditional porridge served with a tomato based sauce), a salad, braai broodjies (yet another traditional barbecue staple a.k.a. tosti's but made on the Weber) and in less than an hour we had meat on the grill.

I cut open an avocado which turned out to be perfect and as I sliced the juicy red tomatoes I felt gloriously happy.

Summer might be hiding from us but at least it didn't rain while we barbecued!

Here is a Braai broodjies recipe :)

Ingredients:
White or Brown Bread - 2 slices per tosti
Margarine
Sliced Tomatoes
Sliced Onion
Cheese (sliced cheese is more convenient but any cheese that melts easily will do!)
Kitchen string or toothpicks

Method:
Spread the margarine on both sides of the sliced bread.
Layer some cheese, onion and tomatoes on the bread.
Feel free to add some sauces too like mayo or chutney.
Place another slice of bread on top and tie together with some kitchen string (to ensure it doesn't fall apart when flipping over on the grill). If, like me, you can't find your kitchen string then just use some toothpicks to hold them together... not ideal but it works.
Finally, place the braai broodjies last on the barbecue, when the coal has cooled down a bit but is still hot enough to give the bread a nice golden colour. Remove when the cheese has melted and before it becomes too brown.

Enjoy!

Late night oreo cookies

It is not my fault.

Really.

I did not bring them into the house.

It was my husband, and shame on him for bringing me into Oreo cookie temptation.

DWZI - zomer, echt?

Deze week zag ik... this week I saw.
(inspired by DezeWeekZagIk on the blogs by Daan en Roos)

I was totally absorbed in my mosaics that I didn't really pay as much attention to food as I usually do. I did however notice the fact that we are in the middle of summer and yet it feels like autumn.

Niet echt zomers. Helaas pindakaas.

In order to conjure up that summer feeling I bought strawberries and a Flow vakantieboek.

The strawberries were ripe and sweet and utterly delicious.

The flow magazine was colourful and full of fun ideas. It provided a distraction from the weather all week long. If only a temporary distraction.

Here's hoping for some sunshine this weekend (one can but dream...).

An Early Dinner at Brasserie &Zo in Houten

Last night I met my friend Marjolein in Houten for an early dinner and a movie.

Houten is just outside Utrecht. It's has a sleepy suburban feeling to it and a really good movie theater. It is called the CineLounge - quite an apt name too since it has big comfy seats and no break in the middle of the movie (yay!). They also have a snack service where you press a button and a waiter comes to your seat and you order your snack right there and then!

We saw Bridesmaids and it was excellent. Really. Something totally different than you would expect. Go and see it!

But I digress, we had our dinner at Brasserie &Zo. It is a two minute walk from the movie theater in Houten.  The brasserie is lovely little restaurant, very tastefully decorated with excellent food.

We were a rushed for time so unfortunately we could not have a three course meal, but decided we had to have a main and a dessert.

I had the Chicken Fillet with potatoes, baby corn and a dragon herb sauce. Marjolein had a beautiful steak with chicory (witlof) and a potato layered "tart". Both dishes were delicious! Beautifully executed and very tasty.

Dessert was the perfect ending to the meal. I had a creme caramel with espresso foam and biscotti, Marjolein had the white chocolate parfait served with a puffed rice and chocolate square... simply divine.

All in all a lovely evening with good food, a good movie and above all really good company.

Cookbooks, oh my cookbooks

Can you ever have enough cookbooks? I think not.

I have quite a collection... so many that I can't keep them all on the bookshelf. Some of them are waiting patiently for me downstairs in a storage container. If it was up to my husband he would make me donate the lot to charity but he knows he won't win that battle. No sir, the cookbooks will stay where they are.

In fact, I anticipate the collection to grow since cookbooks make excellent birthday and Christmas gifts. My collection is far from finished!

I tend to read my cookbooks like fiction or a magazine. I'll just sit and browse through them when I've got spare time (which I don't have much of these days).

While perusing one of my Bill Granger cookbooks I got stuck at a recipe for cheesecake. Now it is in my head and all I can think of is cheesecake. Cheesecake, cheesecake, cheesecake.

To make or not to make, that is the question... 

Happiness Soup

Now this is one of my all time favourite recipes - happiness soup from Nigella Lawson.

It really makes me happy.

Courgette, lemon, basmati rice. Need I say more?

The recipe is very simple, the most difficult thing was to get hold of the turmeric. Not that it isn't readily available, its just that I didn't know the right word in Dutch (duh!).

Here it's called kurkuma so now you know if ever you went looking for it in the Super de Boer.

Follow the link to the original recipe, or here is a copy if you are too lazy to go to her page:

• 500g yellow courgettes (2 large)
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
• 100g basmati rice
• Maldon salt and pepper

Serves: 4-6.

1. Cut the courgettes - wash them by all means if you want, but don't bother to peel them - into 5mm rings, and then finely dice them. Put them into a pan with the lemon zest and oil, stir to coat, then cook on a gentle heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they've slightly softened.
2. Stir in the turmeric and pour in the stock and lemon juice and then drop in the rice. And for the stock here, as usual I make up some bouillon concentrate with water; you could use vegetable stock if you prefer, but I love the mellow goldenness you get from chicken.
3.  Cook, uncovered, for 10-20 minutes, or just until the courgettes and rice are tender. Taste for seasoning.
4. Leave to cool slightly before serving so that you eat the soup warm rather than hot.

As always I modified the recipe slightly, I added onions and used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. I grated the courgette instead of dicing them. Also, watch out that you don't add too much rice... it will then become more of a rice dish than a soup but still delicious.

Easy peasy and yummy!

Excellent Greek Food at the Foot of the Dom Tower

I love Utrecht.

To me it always feels vibrant with lots of quaint shops along the Oude Gracht and of course the Dom keeping watch over the city centre.

There are many restaurants and take out places in the city and we are slowly working our way through them all. On Saturday we joined Lisl at the Zelfgemaakte Markt at the Mariaplaats to look at the stalls and to get a feel for what I would need to do if I got selected for the August market.

Afterwards we walked up the road towards the Dom Church and stopped at the best Greek take away food in town. It is a little place called Dimitri Petit / Mikro Sirtaki in Servetstraat. Across the road from them is their main restaurant, Sirtaki, where you can sit and enjoy your food with a glass of wine if you are not in a hurry.

We ordered quite a feast for ourselves, giros, pita's, salads and a spinach pastry. Delicious.
The servings are generous and the quality of the food is really good.
They also have a lot of vegetarian options.

So, if you ever find yourself near the Dom and you're feeling hungry then look no further for some delicious Greek food.