Hello my lovelies! My new books have started arriving. I made a solstice feast of nordic vegetables for some friends. I failed to document any of it. And I’ve been trying to run up hills.
I love cookbooks. My collection has broken 100 this year. It’s ironic that I love to have the books to flip through when I’m looking for something rather than searching online. One of my favourite things is building my collection of books on the food and baking of different places in the world and different times in history. A book I’m quite excited about arrived on Friday – Breaking Breads by Uri Scheft. It’s packed full of amazing breads from Israel. I sense challah will feature strongly in my future.
I had a few of my best girls over for a solstice feast on Saturday. I committed to a theme this time. We had a selection of vegetable dishes from Fire and Ice – a beautiful book on Nordic cuisine. Celeriac baked in a salt crust. While you will want to murder someone as you try to get the crust to stay stuck the whole way round at the beginning, it is delicious. Jerusalem artichokes and mushrooms baked with creme fraiche and thyme. Sweet and sour braised cabbage. Which is amazing in tacos the next day. Savoury roasted apples and onions. Soft and caramelised. And one of my guests made an amazing thrice cooked potato dish. Creamy pureed potatoes re-baked until almost caramelised. With crispy edges and a creamy centre. This is also amazing on toast with sautéed mushrooms and ham the next day… We watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And painted our nails. As is traditional on movie night. We chased away winter.
One thing I am rubbish at is documenting things as they happen. I was never the one taking photos at parties or outings when we were young. And now, even though it’s essentially part of my job I find it difficult to break the mood of an evening or a meal out to snap pictures. Even the Nordic feast this weekend. I didn’t take a single picture. I was too busy enjoying the company. And eating. It’s something I need to get better at.
Because I have trouble wiht my joints I have been looking for ways to run that are lower impact that the literal pounding of pavement. I live in a hilly place. So I am trying to run up one of them. Te Ahumairangi is a good hill to walk up. And a major challenge to run up. For me anyway. I can currently run to the hill and up the steep street at the base of it. And along the flatter part before the proper ascent starts. Then I want to die. But I want to die a little less each time. Progress. And it’s much easier on my joints. I don’t run down obviously. Then I would actually die. From falling.
Read books. Eat your vegetables. Praise the sun. Look after each other.
xx
I’ve already eaten, but reading about your vegetable feast made me hungry again! Sounds amazing. No need for visual documentation! … I like the way that Nigel Slater’s books are odes to the food he’s made and eaten, with much fewer pictures than in other books. Words are wonderful things… as are vegetables! 😀
*far fewer …grammar fail! 😄
it was all so delicious – vegetables have been under-appreciated for so long!