four winds

Vier Winden (or Four Winds) is the house (now museum) in Jabbeke, Belgium that was lived in by Constant Permeke and his family...

we went for a visit last week.

the house is covered in five-finger ivy or wild woodbine.

and the artist s atelier is left almost entirely as it was when he died in 1952.

the view from his desk out towards the garden

the old stove to keep warm

out into the garden

fleeting images of life... but even stones have their weaknesses

looking back towards the house

it was beautiful. Permeke s work also stands out among his peers, with a kind of vigor and strength that is quite indescribable.

we needed something simple for dinner, something earthy, to reflect on the day.

PUY LENTILS WITH CHORIZO

INGREDIENTS:

4 soft chorizo sausages (these are the non-dried ones, mostly used for cooking), cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups +/- 360 gr) dried Puy lentils, rinsed (these do not have to be pre-soaked)
2 small onions, not too finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 young green celery sticks, chopped
1 liter of chicken stock (i used leftover liquid from cooking mussels the day before)
a teaspoon of pimentón picante or dolce, to taste
2 dried bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, a sprig of rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste
some crème fraîche, to serve, optional

METHOD:

1. fry off the chorizo in some light olive oil until the oil colors red from the spices in the sausage
2. add the chopped onion, garlic and celery. sauté until reasonably soft
3. add the Puy lentils and the chicken stock until just covered (if not add some water)
4. also add the teaspoon of pimentón, if using, and the dried herbs (you could tie these up to make a 'bouquet garni', but it s not about fine dining here)
5. cover and leave to simmer on a low to medium heat for about an hour until the lentils are soft but just holding their shape
6. adjust seasoning
7. serve with a little crème fraîche, if using, and crusty bread to mop up the broth

in memory of my mother, Sam s dad, and all others that paved the way before us.

from west to east

a while ago, on Facebook, a friend of mine wrote about discovering culinary Turkey.

i ve been interested in 'mediterranean' cooking for quite some time now. not only Spanish, or Italian, or Greek... but, thinking about it, as Rick Stein so aptly described on one of his tv-shows: Mediterranean Escapes, this encompasses a vast vast area from Spain, Southern France, Italy, Greece, to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, then Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco...! if you think about all the different food cultures, it s just mind-boggling.

of course, that mind-boggling aspect could be applied to just one country like India, or the whole of South-East Asia, and the different food cultures in China, Korea and Japan too.

however, i m not an expert, i just like to cook. and i m fascinated by spices and herbs and how people use the ones available to them to turn basic ingredients such as breads, yoghurts, vegetables, meats, etc. into something exciting.

i found a recipe for labne in one of my favorite cookery magazines and wanted to try making it. then i found a recipe for flatbreads with thyme, cheese and honey, and i had been wanting to make a very simple and delicious Moroccan carrot salad too... so i combined the three for a light supper.

LABNE:

INGREDIENTS:

300 gr natural Greek yoghurt
1 large clove of garlic, crushed with a little salt (this is optional)
cheese cloth
fine mesh sieve

METHOD:

mix the garlic with the yoghurt and strain through the cheesecloth and sieve for about 6-8 hours or longer for a firmer consistency.
add whatever herbs u like to make a dip. i added chopped parsley, mint, coriander and some za'atar and olive oil.

THE EASIEST FLATBREADS:
(adapted from a recipe i found on the Smitten Kitchen blog)

INGREDIENTS:
1 3/4 (220 gr) cup of plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil

METHOD:
sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
mix in the water and the olive oil.
knead well until it becomes an elastic dough (it will feel very oily, but you won t taste that once baked).
divide the dough into four balls and roll out to rough naan-shaped breads.
bake on a baking-paper lined baking sheet at 230°C for about 10-12 minutes until golden.

please do read the post on Smitten Kitchen, because here i diverted from her recipe, and instead of using the thyme and honey and the cheese, i opted for, you guessed it, a sprinkling of za'atar and sumac.

MOROCCAN CARROT SALAD:

INGREDIENTS:
about 8 to 10 medium-sized carrots
pepper and salt
a good handful of parsley, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 teaspoons pimentón (i used the picante or spicy one)
2 teaspoon cumin seeds (i lightly roasted and crushed them)
vinegar and olive oil

METHOD:
i took the easy road and peeled and sliced the carrots, then steamed them in a covered bowl in the microwave for about 8-10 minutes until al dente.
then i just very lightly mashed them with the garlic, the parsley (and also some chopped coriander because i love it), the spices and added vinegar and olive oil to taste. it should taste lightly sweet and sour.

Bismillah!

i think i will be travelling from west to east more often.

Vietnamese style spring rolls

there are so many things to do and so little time.

could it be because i am now past 45 that everything seems more urgent? there used to be a time when i wasn t in such a hurry. or is it only because of this day and age we live in now? everything needs to be done more quickly, and a lot more of it in less time. the need also, to be connected with, well, everything if at all possible.

and here i am, blogging, about food, about my jewellery, twittering or tweeting (whatever it s called now), facebooking (is that a word?) etc.

and yet i m loving it. i love being able to see what the rest of the world is up to. although the news, more often than not, isn t great. it s keeping up with the little things; a friend celebrating her 23rd anniversary being married to the same man, another friend having a baby, still another becoming a grandmother. seeing my son growing up and slowly putting one step in front of the other into his own life and new experiences.

i also love having this medium to learn new things, about other cultures... naturally, about other food cultures.

and how it s important sometimes, to stand back, breathe, and slow down. taking time to prepare something you know is just going to be good. clean and pure.

i was inspired by a recipe i found in White on Rice Couple for Vietnamese spring rolls. being half Japanese and half Belgian myself, any amalgamation of flavors always intrigues me... so i had a go.

VIETNAMESE SPRING ROLLS:

INGREDIENTS:

2 chicken breasts (skinned and boned)

for the marinade:
1 thumbsize piece of ginger, grated
2 cloves of garlic, grated
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of yuzu juice, or lime juice

1 small cucumber, cut into matchsticks about 5cm long
3 carrots, peeled, cut into fine matchsticks about 5cm long
5 stalks of spring onion, cut into 3cm pieces, lightly blanched
100 gr mungbean sprouts, lightly blanched
2 tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and cut into petals
some iceberg lettuce leaves, torn into manageable pieces
a handful of mixed herbs (i used coriander, mint and dill), roughly chopped

for the dipping sauce:
3 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of tahini or toasted sesame paste
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of fish sauce
1 very small chilli, finely chopped

sheets of Vietnamese rice paper

METHOD:

1. begin by mixing the soy sauce, yuzu or lime juice, honey, garlic and ginger for the marinade.
2. make some diagonal cuts in both sides of the chicken breasts and marinate for about an hour or longer if you like
3. prepare all the vegetables and place them in different bowls
4. heat the oven to maximum and place a baking sheet covered in aluminium foil in the oven to also heat up
5. once everything is prepared, place the chicken breasts on the baking sheet and grill/bake for about 15-20 minutes
6. once ready, slice into strips and keep warm
7. mix all the ingredients for the dipping sauce, let it down with a little water if too thick, it needs to be a little runny
8. the rice sheets just need to soften in some water (not more than 20 seconds) and then filled with whatever one fancies from the vegetable assortment and the chicken
9. roll, dip and eat

again, in this stressful world, taking a moment to stop and savour the surrounding air, or in this case, experiencing wonderfully new flavors, has become very important to me.

and i m taking my time...

post 11/03/11

what a nightmarish, difficult weekend this has been.

woke up on friday and opened my fb account as i usually do, and saw that there had just been an earthquake (then not quite certain how big it had been) and a huge tsunami (actually quite a few) in the north-east of Japan. i was devastated, and have been quasi stuck to my pc and the radio, watching live news streaming from Japan, as well as updates on fb, twitter and the bbc.

immediately, i wanted to get through to my brother and my sis-in-law, who live in Nagoya, about 480 km from Sendai, and my family in Kobe, but landlines as well as mobile lines were down. fortunately the internet was still alive, and i received e-mails that they were ok. they had felt it in Nagoya, but Kobe was spared. which was fortunate, because i was thrown back 16 years to when i heard the news about the Great Hanshin earthquake, and how impotent and useless i felt at the time. then, my grandfather lost his house, where both my brother and i grew up, and so many people lost their lives.

just this morning i spoke to my aunt, and she also said that the memories of that time were coming back. the scenes being sent out on tv and especially of the tsunami and its aftermath are so horrible.

ofcourse, this is a terrible disaster, but there have so many these past few years, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean, where 230000 people lost their lives, the Haiti earthquake, the Chili earthquake, and closer to home, in Italy as well, then Christchurch in New Zealand, in China, all over the world there is constant movement of the earth.

why, then, is this one so special to me... naturally, Japan is my motherland, and is close to my heart. whenever i hear of some disaster in the rest of the world, i try to make a donation, usually via Médecins sans Frontières.

it is frightening that we as humans constantly fighting amongst ourselves, still have not learned from our mistakes, and we probably never will... history just tells us so.

but at this time, seeing how people are rallying to help when there is a natural disaster, there is also this wonderment at our sense for survival and instinct for helping each other out.

i realize i cannot do much from the other side of the world, but i must do something, i don t want to feel useless. so i am baking minicupcakes to sell, and the money will be donated to MSF.

for the rest, i am trying to send out positive thoughts, and meanwhile i also thank all my friends and family here in Belgium and around the world for their kind words of support.

here s the recipe:

MINI CHOCOLATE BEETROOT CUPCAKES (about 114 pieces)

INGREDIENTS:

250 gr cooked and peeled beetroot (i use a vacu-pack)
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons buttermilk
200 gr dark muscovado sugar
200 ml rapeseed or sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

200 gr selfraising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
100 gr pure cocoa powder
1 pinch of salt
100 gr pure chocolate chips

METHOD:

1. preheat the oven to 175°C
2. prepare a few mini-muffin tins by lining them with cupcake papers
3. in a blender, puree the beetroot
4. add the eggs, one by one, and blend
5. add the oil, vanilla extract and the sugar, blend well
6. sift the flour with the baking powder, salt and cocoa powder into a large bowl
7. add the blended beetroot mixture and mix well
8. add the chocolate chips
9. spoon the mixture (i used 1 heaped teaspoon per cupcake) into the paper cups, and bake for about 15 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean

がんばれ 日本

in awe

the past few weeks, well, month or so, i have been wondering why i ve actually started this blog. about food, about how i love to cook, and thinking up new things for my family, or cooking some classics while adding a few twists. when there are thousands of food blogs out there, with the most amazing stories, fun photography, to the point recipes.

where am i in this? i am in total awe of the dedication these people have.

no matter, i also still want to share my thoughts with you, i m practicing on my picture-taking (be patient ok?) and meanwhile trying out some of the recipes my fellow food-bloggers are sending out.

this is just a short message then to especially thank all of you for the inspiration.

all my love
Aiko

it's been a long summer

indeed, it has been a long summer!

it all started out perfectly, i had passed my jewellery course exam in May, enrolled for the next course... so everything was in order, and i was going to enjoy the summer months.

let me tell you, life can throw quite a bit of surprises at you...

July was hot hot hot... so not too much cooking got done, and if there was any cooking at all, it was mostly Sam who did it, cuz he was home too in the evenings due to the summer holidays, and he does enjoy trying out new recipes or adjusting old favorites.

August, like last year, was a very rainy month, and as if it was an omen for bad things to happen, they actually did... it wasn t pretty, but we ll survive.

meanwhile, i tried making cinnamon rolls which didn t quite come out as i expected, but the perfect recipe will be found! we had corn tempura (corn must be my most favorite vegetable, crunchy and sweet, since i was 4 years old). my mother-in-law made a beautiful tomato pilau rice dish (will post recipe soon). oh, and wonderful mackerel in mustard sauce, totally scrumptious. well, we did have quite a few yummy foodie days...

instead of posting the pics on this blog, i did share them with my friends on FB, sorry...

so, here we are already and once again in September. and the true mussel season has started here... so many ways to prepare mussels!

the new schoolyear has also started (yihaa), i m saving for a new camera (either a CANON or NIKON SLR) and i promise i will be consistent and post something at least once a week, with pictures and recipes...

more time

i ve been busy the past few days. busy meaning, besides my day job as a receptionist, i ve finally been able to catch up a little on all my housework since my jewelry course ended two weeks ago.

this also means that i ve had quite a lot more time to concentrate on cooking and trying out new recipes. although, what i often do forget is to take photos of what i make. i notice a lot of foodie blogs contain incredibly beautiful pics... well, i always intend to take some, but before i know it, the food is placed on the table and eaten, no time to whip out the camera...

oh well, i hope this doesn t matter too much, as long as i get some recipes posted?

usually i only need to cook dinner... in our house, i m up first and leave between 7.30 and 8 am to go to work, Sam wakes about an hour later and is off to his atelier, and Ken, when he s with us every other week, keeps his own schedule with school and free time. this means that we only share breakfast together in the weekends (is this the case with others too i wonder).

anyway, that s how it is, and now that i do have some more time in the evenings, i try to make something special every day. Ken once told me that he d like something more traditional once in a while (meaning Belgian: meat and potatoes and some veg), because i always tend to veer towards Italian, French, Spanish, Thai, Chinese and Japanese... which doesn t mean i don t like traditional Belgian food... i just like to experiment, and i love trying out new things.

so, at the beginning of the week we went Moroccan: a merquez tagine with couscous, on tuesday we had Italian: spaghetti carbonara with a twist (i added some tiny meatballs), and yesterday we had a French-style puy lentil salad with smoked mackerel and pickled red onions (onion recipe was posted by my friend Yanghwa on her blog: GOT SOME VEG?)... i m still thinking about what i could make this evening... since we re having some real good weather here these days, i think it ll be aspargus a la flamande (that s white asparagus with a butter sauce and egg-mimosa) and some salad from the garden (since the asparagus season is almost at its end and the salad leaves have to be picked now before they go over)

tomorrow i ll be joining 3 other moms i know since our kids were together in kindergarten, to go out and have dinner together at Zaowang (a fusion Japanese-Thai-Chinese restaurant) in the old part of Antwerp...

must remember to take my camera along... for taking pictures of the food ofcourse ;-)

oh, and i will try to really get my act together and post more recipes (tagine, spaghetti and lentil salad ones coming up soon!)

ps. YangHwa, if you re reading this... the pickled red onions were amazingly moreish!

being lazy

the past few days, i have been lazy. it happens.

reason was, i was studying for my exam, and i just couldn t think about cooking. i did think about food, as i said before, i always do. but i couldn t be bothered to think up something to make for dinner, go to the store to get the fresh ingredients, and cooking.

which brings me to Sam. so good to have a partner who likes to cook as well.

yesterday, since i had taken my exam the day before, we just upped and went to the seaside, just for the day, only a 100km away from where we live, so that was good. it was also a holiday, so no stores were open and when we got back, we only had eggs, some green asparagus, some spring onions and herbs from the garden. Sam thus made us a simple omelette... it was delicious.

so, i can afford to be lazy... sometimes.

YangHwa posted some really good recipes on her blog: GOT SOME VEG? and i m thinking of trying those out.

the sun is finally shining again, after a week of grayness and rain, i m off to the store!

how lucky we are

my good friend YangHwa reminded me that having a small fridge could just be a blessing in disguise. and she s probably right.
at least i have one!

at least i can also pop into my nearest supermarket or grocers and get whatever i want, fresh, whenever i want, even if i m not really hungry (although, to be fair, i always am thinking of food).

so, just to make a point, i m thankful that i was born lucky; lucky to have been born in a wealthy country, lucky to have had a good education, lucky to have a job, lucky to be able to do whatever i want to do (like making my jewellery, like cooking...) and not having to really worry too much. seriously, my kind of worries are just peanuts compared to what i ve been seeing the past few decades on the news: famines, wars, are we really in the 21st century... what s going on?

my grandmother used to tell me: you better finish your dinner, because so many other people aren t getting what you have!
i will finish my dinner, gratefully...

anyway, no more complaints from me...
just good cookery ideas that i might be able to share with others.

ps. i am not going to feel guilty.

simple dinner tonite: farmhouse sausages with sautéed new potatoes and a fresh tomato salsa with a papaya twist.

every day dilemma

having a small fridge must be one of the most terrible things in life when one loves eating and cooking. i have a small fridge. which means i have to go to the store nearly every day for fresh ingredients.

sure i have my store-cupboard stuff, dried pasta s, rice all sorts, spices, dried herbs, oils and vinegars, and thank god my partner Sam is a keen gardener who s inventive use of our very small garden means i have some fresh herbs and seasonal veg to hand.

still, it isn t easy, i love to cook, i wish i could cook better... having no extra cash (because my jewellery work is taking up so much at the moment) means i can t get a bigger fridge, which could make life a little easier.
still, we get on with it, i seem to be able to produce a good meal most days, be it 'ready, steady, cook!'-like (putting something edible on the table in 20 minutes flat after a 'hard' day at work) or gentle and easy one-pot slow food (mostly weekends).
it s just because of having that small fridge, having to think up something to concoct every single day can get daunting.

well, at least i get a lot of inspiration from my friends, my cookery books, the www (who d ever thought i d become an afficionado of this medium LOL), so, perhaps the everyday dilemma of deciding what to put on the table is not too hard after all.

i just wish i could have a bigger fridge!