Torwen's Blog

Nepalese Cuisine - Dhal Bhat and Aloo Ko Achar

2012-02-14T01:24:00.001Z

I've never been to Nepal, but when I looked it up for the blog event 'Flavours of Nepal', hosted by Nupur from UK Rasoi and started by simply.food, I was really astonished about the extremely diverse biogeography of this small country.Despite its size, you have everything here, from the highest mountain peak (Mount Everest), to the deepest gorge (Kali Gandaki Gorge) on earth; from steppes to forests to eternal ice.

I really loved this photo from the Nepalese Culture, Travel & Tourism web page :)

If I will ever visit Nepal I'm gonna buy Yak wool. I could sooo need it at the moment.

Another reason to visit Nepal would be its archaeology; from temples and palaces to long abandoned high-mountain settlements; from rock art to Lumbini, the birthplace of the Lord Buddha. You will miss nothing while on a holiday in Nepal.

Kak Nyingba Petroglyphs

Perdita Pohle 2003, Figs. 7.1 and 7.2

As diverse as their geography and archaeology is Nepal's cuisine. Influences from India, Tibet, China and the indigenous Newari culture created a unique mixture that will challenge the most spoilt taste buds. You can find examples and recipes on many web pages, the Explore Nepal web page is just one of them with many recipes from salted butter tea to momos, which are basically Newari-style filled dumplings.

But by now you'd rather know what dishes I choose to cook for the blog event, right?

I decided on traditional staple food, a Dhal Bhat (lentils with rice) and Aloo Ko Achar (spicy potato salad).

and here are the recipes:

Dhal Bhat
adapted from Vegetarian Food Recipes

Ingredients:

1cup lentils (I used green ones) soaked overnight
2 cups vegetable broth
a piece of fresh ginger, minced
1 fresh green chili, chopped (I used a red one)
2 garlic gloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt
a pinch of sugar
1/2 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
1 tablespoon mustard seed oil
1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1-2 teaspoons kopan masala (a sweet masala due to the high amount of cinnamon, you can easily grind it yourself)
2 cups Basmati rice
cilantro for garnish

What to do:

Bring the broth to a boil and add the soaked lentils. Simmer until lentils are tender. Add garlic, ginger and chili and blend until smooth. Return to your pot, add the salt, sugar, and tamarind concentrate and simmer until the tamarind concentrate is dissolved.
Meanwhile wash the rice and cook it in 4 cups of water.
Fry the black mustard seeds in the mustard seed oil. When they start popping pour them together with the oil over the lentils. Simmer for another couple of minutes. Stir in the masala. Cover and let it stand for a couple of minutes. Garnish with cilantro.

Aloo Ko Achar (Spicy Potato Salad)

adapted from Vegetarian Food Recipes

Ingredients:

750 g potatoes
1 green or red chili, thinly sliced
juice of 1 lime (I actually needed two because mine were not very juicy at all)
Himalayan salt
3 tablespoons sesame seeds - roasted and roughly ground
1 teaspoon turmeric (curcuma powder)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (whole)
dried chili (if you like it hot) to taste
2 teaspoons mustard seed oil
1/2 cup water or vegetable broth
a small bunch of cilantro

Boil the potatoes, peel and cut into cubes. Combine the turmeric, salt, ground sesame seeds, lime juice, half of the chopped cilantro with the water and mix thoroughly. Add the cubed potatoes. In a pan heat the mustard oil, add cumin seeds and chili. Fry until the cumin starts smelling nicely and pour over the salad. Mix everything and garnish with cilantro. Enjoy!

Icy Cold Weather needs a warm soup: Singaporean Laksa

2012-02-05T15:40:00.009Z

This recipe is a mix from different sources and I adjusted it to my own preferences of course. The spice paste is more or less based on Ottolenghi's recipe and I also referred heavily on this nice vegan recipe from Hunger Pangs. But there are endlessly more good Laksa recipes out there in the web.

A colourful novelty I introduced were however, black rice noodles:

The end result is a beautiful, spicy, and warming vegan Laksa (you can see the black rice noodles at about 5 o'clock on the picture below)

So first you have to make your spice paste:

4 shallots, sliced
3 cloves of garlic
a 2 cm piece of fresh ginger
the white bulb of one stalk lemongrass (next time I will use two of them, the taste is just too lovely)
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 - 2 large red chillies (depending how hot you like it)

a small bunch of french cilantro (leave some for the topping)

half a bunch Thai basil

some curry powder if you want to add a distinct curry flavour

I put everything in my small electric chopper and pulsed until it became a paste. But you can as well use a mortar.

Next take one package of rice noodles (vermicelli, black rice noodles, all kinds of rice pasta is possible) and cook the pasta according to the instructions on your package. This takes only a few minutes. Strain after cooking and put them immediately in ice cold water (otherwise they will glue together and you will have one big pasta gob - you don't want to put this into your soup).

For the broth you will need

3 tablespoons oil (coconut oil, mild olive oil, sesame oil, canola ... it really depends on you here. I used red coconut oil)
the spice paste from above
some curry leaves (fresh or dried)
vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk
1 package of firm tofu, cubed, dusted in rice flour and fried
1 cup bean sprouts
1 bunch of green onions
1 English cucumber, cut into sticks
1 cup mangetouts
2 cups carrot, cut into sticks
lime wedges for serving
pepper, curry, salt, sugar to taste

In a large pot heat the oil. Add the spice mix and cook for a minute or two. Don't forget to stir since the paste shouldn't burn. Add the vegetable stock, the curry leaves and adjust with salt, pepper, and sugar. Let simmer for 10 minutes, then add the coconut milk and mix well. Don't boil it any more, the coconut milk will curdle!

While the soup simmers you had time to steam or parboil your veggies (apart from the cucumber and green onions). In fact you can add all kind of veggies. You don't have to stick to my version - but you already know this :)

You assemble the soup in your bowls. First put some noodles in the bowl, top with the veggies. Then ladle the broth on top and add the tofu cubes and cilantro on top.

Serve with lime wedges and sambal oelek and enjoy.

Don't let you put off by the rather long list of ingredients. It is actually quicker done than you think and the result is so worth it.

Today is a Sunday, so what better than sending this soup to Debbie from Kahakai Kitchen which hosts the regular event 'Souper Sundays' where you can actually add not only soups but also salads and sandwiches.

There is a similar event in Germany, which is however not restricted to a certain dish. Tobias from Tobias kocht! is hosting this event for your week-end dishes, the Kochrezepte Basar am Wochenende (Weekend Recipe Bazaar). So I'm also sending this to Tobias :)

Setsubun and a monster ehou-maki

2012-02-03T22:40:00.004Z

Setsubun is the day before the beginning of the Japanese spring (立春 Risshun). According to the ancient lunar calender this day falls on a different date each year. This year it is today, February 3rd. The main occupation on this day consists of driving away evil spirits, called oni (鬼) in Japanese. Here is an oni, painted by the Edo Artist Hokusai in ukiyo-e technique (woodblock printing):

wikipedia Creative Commense License

As you can see the oni is chased away by a hail of fukumame (福豆 fortune beans) which are basically roasted soybeans. This ritual lives on until today and apart from temples and shrines you can actually chase away evil-minded oni out of your own house all on your own. All you have to do is put an oni mask on a family member (you can download masks for example here) and then throw your beans at him. After you have successfully driven away the evil spirit (mostly the head of the family i.e. the father) and loudly shouted '鬼は外！福は内' (oni wa soto - fuku wa uchi which means 'oni out! Let the fortune in!)

http://mysteriesofjapan.blogspot.com/2011/02/setsubun.html

you can start eating an 恵方巻 (ehou-maki which is a lucky long sushi roll). Of course you have to eat it uncut and in utter silence whilst facing in a certain direction. The direction has to be calculated anew every year

This may look complicated, but then, who says eating a sushi roll would be easy. The direction for 2012 is by the way North North-West. To be precise (after all there is no priest here to guide me) I looked up the exact position with a nice tool from this web page. Just scroll the underlying map around until you have found your position. The direction for this year is 壬.

When preparing your maki you have to adhere to some rules, too (of course, who said eating a sushi roll ... you know what I mean).

You have to use seven ingredients, because seven is a lucky number.
You may not cut your maki roll because you would inevitably cut off your luck for this year

So here is what I did:

First I prepared the seven fillings:

Avocado
sautéed spinach
thinly sliced and slightly fried tofu because I couldn't get tofu aburaage
salt massaged cucumber
shiitake mushrooms, slightly boiled in tamari and mirin
rice bran pickled radish (takuan)
steamed carrots

Then I prepared the sushi rice and added 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon plum vinegar (ume-su), 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons sugar. See, I even fanned the rice to cool it down quicker once I had added the vinegar mix!

The most difficult part was rolling up the monster maki, because you have a lot of filling in it. My first roll just fell apart; but once I put on less rice and left some space in between it was much better, though not perfect. But then who said making a sushi roll would be ... you get my drift.

In case a monster would pop up while I was eating my maki in silence I kept some roasted soy beans ready (in my little blue bowl I bought in Abu Dhabi). Well, you never know ...

Not bad for my first setsubun ehou-maki. At least it tasted quite nice :)

Burns Day and Mock-a-Leekie Pie

2012-01-26T00:40:00.005Z

Robert Burns is the national poet of Scotland. His birthday (25. January) is celebrated as Burns Day or Burns Supper througout Scotland but also beyond. His nephew was a founding father of Dunedin in New Zeanland and so it is quite an international festivity. Although I can't warm up to the idea of eating Haggis (although luckily there are vegetarian Haggis recipes around) Burns' famous poem 'Address to a Haggis' made this dish the most eaten one at his birthday.

Even though he probably liked his Haggis, Burns was actually a very empathic person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burns

In my favourite poem of his, 'To a Mouse' he says

Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,

O, what a panic's in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty

Wi bickering brattle!

I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,

Wi' murdering pattle.

I'm truly sorry man's dominion

Has broken Nature's social union,

An' justifies that ill opinion

Which makes thee startle

At me, thy poor, earth born companion

An' fellow mortal!

In case you can't understand it, here is an English translation :)

Since he was so caring about a little mouse I thought it is only justified to make a veggie dish today. So I adjusted the Burns Supper cock-a-leekie (chicken and leek soup) and made a mock-a-leekie pie.

Here are the main ingredients:

The pie cooking in the pot:

and a cover-up with puff pastry:

In case you don't want to wait till next year and try the mock-a-leekie right now, I give you a rough recipe. I didn't make notes during cooking, so you have to go with your instincts and correct the amounts or add spices to your liking. Under no circumstances leave out the prunes; I was really surprised how nice the slightly tart prunes came out.

Mock-a-Leekie Pie (for 2-3 persons)

Ingredients:

olive oil for frying
3 leeks, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 parsnip, cut in chunks
1 potato, cut in cubes
1/2 cup of pearl barley
2 tablespoons of white wine for deglazing
ca. 1 and 1/2 cups of veggie broth
1 bay leave
1-2 garlic cloves, finely diced
thyme
parsley (I didn't have one, but I wish I had, so next time I will put some in)
guinea pepper, salt
soy creamer (optional; the barley became so creamy on its own, that I will not use it next time)
1/2 cup of prunes, chopped
4 sheets of vegan puff pastry (rolled out according to the size of your baking dish)

What to do

Heat the olive oil in a wide pan and fry the carrots, potato, and parsnip for a couple of minutes (add some salt to draw out the juices; so they don't burn but rather roast in their own juice). Add the leek, garlic, and the barley and stir until barley is glazed and shiny. Add the white wine and let it evaporate; then add the broth (like in a risotto not all at once, so you can better adjust for the thickness of your stew), thyme, and the laurel leaf and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

Season with guinea pepper (or normal black pepper) and salt. If using soy cream, add a good dollop. Then add the prunes and cover your pie with the rolled out puff pastry. If you have time and fancy some decoration please go ahead and make a nice decor :)

Brush your pastry with water or water-thinned soy cream (a good replacement for egg-wash) and put in the oven for about 15 minutes. Enjoy!

And because this is full of winter veggies I am also sending it to a German blog event called Wintergemüse (winter vegetables) on buchcooks kitchen. She also has a birthday to celebrate: her blog will be one year old in February. Happy birthday bushcook!

I'm back!

2012-01-25T23:32:00.002Z

Well, here I am again. Nobody seems to have missed me. But that doesn't stop me from pestering you with new blog entries.

So here is the first one for this year. Maybe it's best to let you know where I was between the years and post a camel photo (that's what I promised you after all). We spent our Christmas holidays in beautiful United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi to be more exact. I'll just give you some impressions on how diverse a holiday in the desert can be.

At first we stayed at the Qasr al Sarab Desert Resort. Nice, isn't it?

Only surrounded by desert and camels

the desserts in the desert were just fabulous. Who can resist a gilded raspberry?

or a lovely apple tart at the pool?

Morning fog:

We spent some time in Abu Dhabi City. The most impressive building was certainly the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, unbelievably beautiful. I had to wear an abaya though to get in :)

A short expedition into the Jebel Haffit mountains:

and to Al Ain where the National Museum is.

I just had to add a second photo from the museum. It's got a camel on it! Look!

The Al Ain Oasis with date palms:

Hatta Dam in the Hajar mountains:

The famous Hatta rock pools:

Hatta Fort tower:

Back in the city - underground camels:

and of course shopping malls with Christmas trees:

Actually I haven't finished with Abu Dhabi yet. There is so much to see and do, I have to get back. There is a lot of archaeology still waiting for me. For some we needed a pass to get in because they were on private ground, others had different opening times to what the webpages said or I only discovered them on the go - so to speak. Other sites we wanted to see needed an SUV and we only rented a normal car. We tried, but you can only go so far into the sand with a city car :(

I will make proper preparations next time and hope to be able to return soon. Abu Dhabi has so muchmore to offer than oil. And don't forget all the camels ...

Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T22:54:00.001Z

I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I'm off to Abu Dhabi for holidays and don't know whether I will be able to post something on this blog. But I will be back next year and then you can see lovely photos of super soft camels in the desert :)

Sri Lanka-ish Beetroot Curry

2011-12-15T23:42:00.000Z

When Shaheen from Allotment2Kitchen had her beetroot frenzy she also tried a recipe she saw on TV and later in a book called 'Feast for a Fiver'. The author got the recipe from a Sri Lankan, so it should be somehow authentic Sri Lankan cuisine. I've never been there, so I can't verify it. But I know that I love beetroots and this recipe is really really worth trying. I think it is already worth trying just for the colour's sake. It is a pure optical pleasure when the dark velvety red of beets turns into a dark pink curry when you add the coconut milk :)

These are the main ingredients

And these are the spices used in the recipe

Preparing the onions

Frying the beets

Topping with kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

And the end product

Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry

(serves 3 - 4)

adapted from Allotment2Kitchen

Ingredients:

4 beetroots

1 tablespoon red palm oil

2 onions

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

2 red chillies

salt to taste (if you can get your hand on Himalayan salt, by all means use it)

2 tablespoons kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

1 can (400 ml) coconut milk

What to do

First prepare the spices. Fry the seeds in a large pan without adding any oil. You have to stir continuously in order not to burn them. The fenugreek will be the first you can smell, then the cumin, and at last there will be a hint of poignant mustard. That's when you take them out of the pan and cool them down. Coarsely grind them in a mortar and set aside. And yes, you have to be nearby all the time and ideally hold your head over the pan! I can cook without tasting the food, but not without smelling it; so it's time to sensitise your olfactory sense :)

Prepare the vegetables. Peel the onions and slice them (see photo above); peel the beetroot and slice them into strips about 1 cm wide. Heat the palm oil in the pan you used for the spices and add the onions. Fry for a couple of minutes, then add spices, sliced chillies, and salt. When everything smells nicely add the beetroot and kasuri methi and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes on medium heat. When the beetroot starts to become tender (don't overcook it) add the coconut milk and heat through for a couple of minutes.

Serve with Basmati rice.

Since I believe that it is at least Sri Lanka-ish, I'm sending my Beetroot Curry to Flavors of Sri Lanka hosted by Mharo Rajasthan. This event is part of the "Flavours of" Series 2 Asia on simplyfood.

Beetroot-and-Potato Stuffed Paratha

2011-12-10T01:29:00.008Z

I think the best thing about India is not the Taj Mahal

nor her colourful temples

but most definitely the food :)

Not only are there a lot of vegetarian dishes, it is also soooo yummy. We stuffed ourselves with masala dosa, rasam, daal, and all kind of goodies while we were in Delhi. One thing I wanted to try out at home were dosa and lately I learnt about paratha and desperately wanted to try them out. So when Vatsala's Let's Go Stuffed Series

featured stuffed parathas for this month, I couldn't resist and finally tried my hand on them.

The idea to feature stuffed parathas came from Vardhini who also hosts the December event. For my very first paratha I used Radhikas (Just Home Made) recipe as a base and Indian friends from a friend (complicated isn't it?) sent me a video for the 'how-to-do'. Thank you Madhu :)

First I prepared the beetroot and potato filling:

Then you put the filling in little dough bowls

While carefully trying not to squeeze the filling out, roll out the paratha

and fry, ideally in a tawa, but since I do not own one, I used my fry pan

and then serve; we had chickpeas and spinach with it.

Beetroot-and-Potato Stuffed Paratha

Ingredients:

for the filling

1 medium beetroot, grated
2 medium potatoes, boiled and mashed
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1-2 teaspoon garam masala
2-3 teaspoon coconut oil
salt to taste

for the dough

3 cups wheat flour
additional wheat flour for rolling and dusting
salt
hot water
oil for roasting

Mix the flour and salt with hot water and knead into a soft dough. You should be able to knead it, but it should still be quite soft (careful, it will be hot at the beginning). Cover and set aside for at least 30 mins.

Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and let them pop; add the other spices and the beetroot grates. Sauté for 5 to 10 minutes until the beet root gets tender. Add the potato mash, garam masala, and salt and mix everything. Set aside and let it cool down somewhat.

Knead the dough well again and roll it into lemon sized balls; shape the dough ball into a bowl. Put a spoonful of the filling into the dough bowl. Close the edges well, put on flour dusted surface and carefully roll out. Don't use too much force or the filling will ooze out.
Heat some oil in the frying pan and add your flattened paratha. Fry until it gets brown spots on the surface; turn around and fry the other side.

London's Canary Wharf and Cheese 'n Onion slices

2011-12-07T10:02:00.005Z

When in London I went to Canary Wharf; one reason was, because I was interested how the former West India Docks, once a very busy port, have been transformed in the last decades (the port was closed in 1980) by heavy development work. Well, the other reason was that I needed to get the DLR (Dockland Light Railway) from Canary Wharf station to get to the Royal Observatory. But still ...

Today, Canary Wharf is not only linked to the London tube, but also the National Rail, London City Airport, and river services but on top became a huge business district and lately also a new housing area.

Huge high-rise building dominate the area. But there are also some more quiet zones, like the Jubilee Park. The park actually sits on top of Canary Wharf underground station:

You can also enjoy some art in front of the station:

With all the offices and new apartment buildings there of course followed shopping malls (there is an underground one down at the tube station) and restaurants. Among them Jamie's Italian that mushroom up everywhere nowadays:

In summer it must be quite beautiful near the river

Walking through the underground mall I stopped at WHS and bought the BBC Good Food Christmas Vegetarian special edition of it's Good Food magazine. And I decided to try out the cheese & onion slices featured in the magazine but also available online.

I used, however, purple potatoes:

The recipe asked to roughly mash the potatoes, which I did, but wasn't such a great idea. Next time I will do this for about a third of the potatoes and leave the other ones in cubes, since the pie collapsed a bit during baking. But still the mash looked beautiful in purple :)

Served with a lambs lettuce salad and a tomato jus it was really delicious. You have to up the spices a bit. I generously added herb salt, freshly ground black pepper and a good dose of cayenne. I also skipped the egg and brushed the phyllo dough with oat cream, worked beautifully :)

But otherwise a stuck to the recipe; it was my first home-made cheese 'n onion pie after all.

I'm thinking about how I could veganise this .... any ideas?

Cannellini Bean Puree - A Tessa Kiros Recipe

2011-12-05T00:17:00.003Z

Falling Cloudberries - A World of Family Recipes is a real coffe table book by Tessa Kiros, and a very intimate one, too. The book is filled with memories and photos of her life. Coming from a mixed (Finnish and Cypriot) background she can add an Italian husband, a childhood in South-Africa, and a Peruvian housekeeper; so the title 'A World of Family Recipes' is not a hollow promise.

Therefore, when I heart cooking clubs dared bloggers to check out Tessa Kiros' recipes and recreate a bean recipe from one of her books I took up the challenge, even though these are not vegetarian cook books. Many of her recipes are actually vegetarian, and the one I made -Cannellini Bean Puree- is even a vegan one. I don't think I would buy one of her books though, the bulk of recipes is after all heavily on the meaty side (that's what Greek and Finnish cuisine is after all). But I really enjoyed the bean puree, a very simple yet nourishing dish. We really loved the spiced oil topping. For this I heated about 1/3 cup of good olive oil, added a teaspoon of rosmary and minced garlic cloves. In the original recipe Tessa crushed the garlic, but I rather liked it minced since the little pieces became a bit crunchy. And you can actually reduce the oil further (the original recipe called for 1/2 cup of olive oil).

I served the bean puree with pan-roasted carrots, soy sausages, and an endive salad. I would probably use less fatty side dishes in future (Tessa recommended Italian sausages) to make the whole meal somewhat lighter. Nevertheless we loved the combination, after all we had cold and stormy weather with rain and hail all day. So some comfort food can't hurt ;)

You can find this recipe in Tessa Kiros, Falling Cloudberries - A World of Family Recipes, 2009, page 322.

You can find the round-up at I Heart Cooking Clubs: Bean There, Done That

Curry Fried Edamame with Tomatoes

2011-11-29T23:34:00.004Z

Edamame are young soybeans. In Japanese texts they were mentioned for the first time in AD 1275 when the Bhuddist saint Nichiren Shounin sent a thank you note to a devotee who sent him edamame beans. Should you be interested in the history of edamame, there is a whole book (free download!) available from the SoyInfoCenter.

In Japan edamame (枝豆) refers mainly to the boiled and salted pods

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edamame

but outside East Asia, the unripe beans are sold shelled and cooked in packets or cans.

I adjusted the 'curry fried edamame with tomatoes' recipe after a Japanese recipe (which I can't find anymore, it was probably taken from the cookpad site).

Curry Fried Edamame with Tomatoes

Ingredients:

a piece of ginger (ca. 2-3 cm)
1 bunch of green onions, sliced
4 tomatoes, quartered (if large cut into 6 or even 8 pieces)
1 packet edamame beans
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon garam masala (next time I will use sweet curry)
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for frying

What to do

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add cumin seeds and ginger until fragrant. Add the green onions

and fry until they become slightly tender.

Add the tomato pieces and sauté until they start to soften.

Add the strained edamame beans and heat through. Add the spices and season to taste.

Serve on toasted bread.

We had it for a yummy and quick brunch. And because it was really done so fast and yet very tasty I am sending this recipe to Vardhini's 'Dish it Out' - event.

The ingredients for November are soy and tomatoes. There are lots of delicious recipes posted for this event, so please check it out.

I am also sending it to Smita's The Healthy Cooking Challenge which this month is hosted by Kavi with the theme: Healthy Lunch.

London - Vauxhall Bridge

2011-11-26T01:32:00.001Z

I went to Vauxhall, not really to admire the architecture of the bridge, which I have to admit is quite interesting,

but rather to have a look at the Mesolithic posts they found last year near Vauxhall Bridge.

In 2010 archaeologists from the Thames Discovery Programme investigated the Thames foreshore and made this exceptional discovery. They found six timber piles of up to 30 cm in diameter. They are part of a Mesolithic structure which is more than 6000 years old. Radiocarbon dates from the timbers showed a fell date between 4790 and 4490 calBC. At this time the river level was lower and this might have been a circle, supporting structures for a building, or even the timber piles from a small platform reaching into the water of the river Thames. Offerings from later periods indicate that this area was a place of worship:

When the tide is low (0.3m-ish) you can see the timbers looking out of the water. Although I went to Vauxhall Bridge at the lowest possible tide (1.0 m-ish) I couldn't see them, which makes somehow sense; because they are not preserved up to a substantial height, 70 cm would submerge them easily. I guess I have to come back in February :) However, this is roughly the area where they should be, just underneath the MI-6 headquarters:

Other prehistoric and historic timbers were visible, as the Bronze Age jetty:

or a more recent structure (18th or 19th century?):

On the opposite side of the river, London's Duck Tours launched its vehicle:

Hm...maybe next time I'll go for a ride on the duck :)

Christmas Illuminations 2011

2011-11-25T00:58:00.000Z

After having been in London just at the right time for her Christmas illuminations, I thought I would show you some pics to get you into proper Christmas spirit :)

First a photo from Heidelberg's main shopping promenade:

You are right, it is not really overwhelming for the main shopping street :(

And here some photos from London:

Covent Garden Apple Market

Covent Garden Christmas Tree

Covent Garden

It looks also nice in bright day light :)

Covent Garden

Kingly Court, Carnaby

Oxford Street

Harrods is famous for its beautiful window decorations. This year is no exception. Even with Topshop reflecting in the window I think the tree elf is just gorgeous!

Harrods Department Store, Knightsbridge

London - Pret a Manger, Hampstead Theatre (Skåne), and London Underground

2011-11-16T01:31:00.003Z

Yesterday evening I arrived in London. My favourite town/city IN THE WORLD :) I will be attending a conference on Thursday and Friday, but I arrived earlier because I need some time in London where I am at one with the world. I rented a small studio in the Bloomsbury area and slept long. Funny, since I should spent every minute outside. But the studio is really nice, the area quiet, and I didn't want to rush anything. So the first thing to do was having lunch at Pret-a-Manger, a nice eatery with stores all over London. I went there mainly because they always have a vegetarian soup of the day. Today I enjoyed a sweet potato and lentil curry soup. Just lovely; I wish we had these coffee shops and lunchtime eateries in Germany.

Coincidentally, I found some drawings from the time they constructed the London Underground at Baker Street Station.

Coincidentally, because I'm just reading a book with poems and stories about the London Underground. So looking at all the old drawings was very illuminating :)

http://www.reclam.de/detail/3-15-009104-7

A short stop at the London Stone, a fragment of a limestone stone or menhir of unknown age and purpose. Even though we don't know exactly how old it is, we can see its importance by the many references given in literature, e.g. Shakespeare mentioned it in his 'Henry VI', as does William Blake in his poem 'To the Jews':

And the Druid’s golden knife
Rioted in human gore,
In offerings of Human Life? They groan’d aloud on London Stone...

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Stone

At least, as long as the London Stone is safe, London will flourish. They are rebuilding the house in which London Stone is inserted, so I really hope they will not harm it, for the sake of London ;)

In the evening I went to the theatre, and it is astonishing that there are still theatres I have never been to. But here we go, it was my first time being at the Hampstead theatre. The play was called 'Skåne' by Pamela Carter and directed by Tim Carter. If you want to watch the play (it is still running till november, 26th) you should stop reading now (spoiler alert!), otherwise read on :)

There is already an excellent review on Ian's blog 'There Ought to be Clowns', so I will try to keep it short and to my personal impressions.

The play was about how two families, both with teenage children, cope with the adultery one of the parents each commited. It starts with a communal family conference in which Malin and Kurt agree to not see each other anymore because they don't want to give up on their families. From then on the story winds backwards. We are presented with different episodes, marked by the moving around of the furniture between two sliding doors at each end of the 'stage'. You can't really call it a 'stage', because it was such a small room that you were actually feeling as an intruder, someone hiding in their living room and unwillingly becoming the witness of their argument. On the photo you can see how close the audience were to the stage.

I'm not quite sure whether the episodes were really in a linear chronological order or not. Especially the last scene in which Christian and Malin could be seen in a hotel (the one they met for the first time?) where they confessed their eternal love to each other. Now, I consider this a bit odd for a couple in their late 30s on a sort of one-night-stand. So there is an actual chance that this scene is the most recent one and the lovers broke their promise to never see each other. The scene was graphic, which I didn't like at all, since it was simply not necessary. I already believed them they had sex with each other. Scenes of graphic nudity, just because it is on vogue is not really something I appreciate, sometimes it might be appropriate and important, but not here.

Much more interesting were the scenes that showed how differently each family member reacted. The oldest son, although behaving really angry on the outside probably understood his mother best. Not being loved enough and bored in rural Scania, he thought she went away in search for the love she couldn't find at home or else she would have commited suicide (he actually stages this for a school project). His younger brother Olle, only eight years old, desperately tried to keep up normality, forgiving his mother everything, as long as she loves him. He can't see any betrayal, as long as you are honest to yourself, promises can be 'un-promised' if you don't feel like it anymore.

The wife of Christian, Siri, probably took it worst. At first desperately spying on her husband, she unloads any feelings of guilt on her teenage daughter: 'If he left me, he left you, too .... he doesn't love us anymore'. She eventually turns to revenge and sleeps with Malin's husband Kurt. In a 5-star hotel, mind you, to outplay the adulterers which only stayed at a 3-star hotel.

Malin's husband Kurt was the one thinking hardly anything about the cause for Malin's behaviour or how he could save his marriage. He just wanted everything back to normal. After the family conference he said to Malin: 'You don't have to do the dishes, you know, ...not immediately' and 'dinner would be fine'. Actually this strenghtens my idea that the last scene with Malin and Christian in the hotel room must be the most recent one, because I would have taken Olle and immediately go back to Christian.

Did I like it? The play: yes, the actors were superb, including the kids; however, the setting: no. As I already mentioned I felt like an intruder and especially during the nudity scenes I felt like a stalker, you could have stretched out your hand and touched the actors. Maybe it was done in this small room on purpose, but I rather have some distance. I have my own problems, I don't have to be involved this intimitely in other peoples'.

Beijing - Marco Polo Bridge, Zhoukoudian, Dabaotai Western Han Tomb

2011-11-04T16:49:00.004Z

While C was doing what astrophysicist do I hired a driver (yes, one can get used to it *LOL*) and went off to see some more sites.

Our first stop was Luguo Bridge (卢沟桥), also called Marco Polo Bridge. Beijings's oldest surviving bridge was mentioned in Marco Polo's book The Travels of Marco Polo, Vol. 2, chapter 35 which he had written during the late 13th century. The bridge however, is much older. The even earlier wooden bridge was replaced by a stone construction in AD 1189 by She Tsung from the Jin Dynasty. The most remarkable thing about the bridge is the countless lions which adorn the sides of the bridge. No wonder Marco Polo described it as the finest bridge he had ever seen.

The lion figures you can see here are from different periods. Few are from the Jin Dynasty (AD 1115-1234) or Yuan Dynasty (AD 1271-1368); the majority are from the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644) or even later from the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1911). Here are some photos of different lions, no two of them alike:

One of the rarer male lions:

The original stone plaster:

more exhibits in front of the bridge:

After I got tired of counting lions we went on and headed for Zhoukoudian (周口店), the site of Peking Man. The limestone caves and fissures of the site yielded remains of at least 45 individuals belonging to Homo erectus species and from a later occupation during the Upper Palaeolithic further Homo sapiens remains. The site is famous because it shows evidence for early use of fire by Homo erectus.

A view of the museum:

Frontal bone from the excavation in 1966:

Bone needle from Upper Cave, Archaic Homo sapiens, about 20,000 BP:

Homo erectus liked his hackberries (a stone fruit from a tree belonging to the hemp family):

The exterior presents models of contemporary animals like the wholly rhino:

The ash layer:

Loved the hyaenas:

Outside the museum Wuyuta, my driver was already waiting for me:

So after some refreshing cold water we went off to see the Western Han tomb Dabaotai (大葆台). You may as well forget the famous Ming Dynasty tombs, because this tomb is the most awesome tomb I have ever seen in China. Besides the entry is free, all you have to do is show them your passport and explain in which field is your name and in which your country because they can't read our alphabet :)

Much older than the Ming tombs it was built during the Jin Dynasty, for prince Liu Jian (73-45 BC) to be more specific. Here is an overview over Liu Jian's tomb (tomb 1):

Adapted after http://www.apolloinvestment.com/DabaotaiHan/DabaotaiHan.htm

The entrance to the tomb is made a bit according to the later Ming tombs, just red poles instead of the stone animals that usually line the path:

A nice phoenix statue

I loved the 'Simulated Archaeology Hall' :)

Here, children can play Indiana Jones, or rather not, I have never seen Indy crawling in the dirt with a trowel in his hand. But they can play archaeologist; I just wonder what they hide in the sand for the kids?

When I came back a praying mantis was waiting on top of the car. This must certainly be a symbol of luck :)

Curry flavoured Kabocha and Hijiki Sandwich

2011-11-03T22:22:00.002Z

I had some kabocha squash left, not enough for a main dish, but enough for a nice sandwich filling :)
I used Myme's recipe from the cookpad site, a very helpful collection of recipes from different Japanese users.
But without further ado, here's the recipe, slightly adapted from Myme's.

Curry flavoured Kabocha and Hijiki Sandwich

Ingredients:

200 g kabocha squash, deseeded
olive oil for frying
2 g dried hijiki (algae)
~1/2 tablespoon vegan mayonnaise
1 teaspoon sweet curry powder (I used my new favourite one from Probio)
salt and pepper to taste
6 slices wholegrain toast
margarine
1 handful lambs lettuce, washed and patted dry

remove some of the squash peel (it is edible and gives a nice colour, so leave some dark green patches) and cut into cubes
heat the olive oil, add kabocha cubes and carefully tumble around until the squash is covered in oil, add some herb salt, turn down the heat and let simmer until becomes kabocha soft

mash roughly

add crushed hijiki, curry powder, mayonnaise, and pepper to taste and mix well

Spread some margarine onto the toast, spoon some of the kabocha on it and add the lambs lettuce. Cover with the second slice of toast, cut diagonally and serve.

Yarn Bowl

2011-11-01T00:29:00.001Z

I love beautiful pottery that, on top, is useful ... at least for knitters :)

available from Christine's etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/61624668/yarn-bowl

I wonder how archaeologist will interpret it in a couple of centuries ...

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T22:43:00.000Z

We, too, were carving a pumpkin. All I have to do now is using up the pumpkin puree :))

Beijing - Wanfujing Museum, Ming Wall, Dongtang Church and a Guqin

2011-10-30T03:05:00.004Z

While C attended the International Cosmic Ray Conference in Beijing, I was free to explore Beijing ... again; I was in Beijing seven years ago. So I was wondering how much Beijing had changed. The first thing that struck me was the enormous amount of traffic. Cars were running (or rather standing in the traffic jams) without end. And mostly Audis and Mercedes cars, not the small Chinese cubes they had a couple of years ago. With the high amount of traffic has come the smog. There are only short times after a rain washed down the smog particles that you actually can see the sun or the stars. It is funny, because they have a temple of heaven but you can't see the heaven under the pall of smog; and they have a temple of earth but you can't see the earth either because it is plastered up with streets for cars. How very sad. Plus I got my cough back which I also had in Delhi. This was the not so good part of Beijing. Luckily there were plenty of nice things :)

So let us look back into the past when there were no sky scrapers and shopping malls. To have a closer look at what was beneath the malls I went to the Wangfujing museum. In 1996 they started building the Oriental Plaza shopping mall and during construction work they found Palaeolithic remains. Part of the original finds' layer has been kept open and is the centre piece of the exhibition; with several showcases full of artefacts surrounding it.

If you think this is just a patch of dirt, you might want to have a closer look. Here you can see a fire place with burnt stones, bones and some charcoal. This already gives you a date, the technology, the diet, the time of occupancy within the year, whether it was a more permanent camp or just a short lived hunter's camp, and, and, and... Fascinating isn't it? All the information from a couple of broken stones and some ash on the dirt :)

You can read more and have a look at some other finds here (English) and here (German).

Since the entry fee is very moderate I decided to spent some more money on a nice tea in the Paris Baguette coffee shop next to the museum, after all it is placed right in the middle of the shopping mall.

Thus invigorated I went to see the Ming city walls, the last remaining pieces of the former city walls. Built in the early 15th century, it was originally about 40 km long. In the Ming-city-wall park there is a 1.5 km long piece of the Ming dynasty wall:

Close by is also the National Post Stamp Museum which features a bronze figure of a post man from earlier times as well as modern one on the opposite side:

From here I took a taxi (since when did they become so expensive? And where were all the young student taxi drivers?) to the Dongtan church or also called Wangfujing Cathedral (王府井天主堂), one of the two only Roman Catholic churches in Beijing. Although Roman churches are supposed to be open for prayer, this one was not but then, the Pope doesn't recognize it as such anyway. As if the church should be picky ... At least I can show you a photo of its exterior, which is from the rebuilt church (the original was destroyed by earth quakes) from 1904 in Romanesque style:

Maybe you are interested in some more photos from my way back to the hotel:

Famous actors (Sammo Hung, 洪金宝) is featured in the magazines

Ming dynasty city ruins called the 'Ruined Walls', a gate construction used during the Ming Dynasty, but given up under Qianlong (18th century) when the Imperial Palace was opened to the public:

Entrance door in a street close to the Imperial Palace:

A first glimpse on the Imperial Palace:

And of the not so beautiful moat.

And some poorer districts opposite the Palace:

By now it was high time to return to the hotel because we had tickets for a performance of Li Xiang Ting (李祥霆), a music professor who played the guqin, a Chinese zither as part of a music festival in the Forbidden City Concert Hall (北京中山音乐堂). A very memorable performance, especially since he engaged the audience so well. They could choose poems or self-written pieces and he interpreted them on his guqin.

www.mask9.com/node/31026

Watch a video of him here or here. Or watch him on youtube.

Papaya And Squash Soup with Sweet Curry

2011-10-19T22:54:00.002+01:00

So, I had left overs from yesterdays squash and I had an overripe papaya sitting there and looking at me very sadly with the first dent in its ripe and soft skin like a swollen eye. But then I remembered a recipe I recently read, namely a pumpkin papaya soup on Now Serving ... Exactly what I needed. Priya from Now Serving gave her soup not only a South Indian touch but also mixed in some Italian herbs. My papaya was happy again!

I changed the recipe a bit, stayed taste wise on the Indian continent and this is what came out of the experiment, a fruity yet hearty soup. The recipe is enough for 4 portions but beware, M alone had 3 bowls of it.

Here is my adjusted recipe:

Papaya squash soup with sweet curry

Ingredients

1/2 Hokkaido squash (ca. 300 g peeled and de-seeded), diced
1 Papaya, peeled, de-seeded, and diced (keep the seeds for super yummy salad dressing)
2 tablespoons coconut powder (I ground desiccated coconut shreds in my electric ~~coffee~~ spice mill)
2 tablespoons coriander, ground
1 fresh red chili, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
sesame oil for frying
2 cups vegetable broth
salt and sweet curry to taste (I used sweet curry from ProBio)
cilantro and red chili for garnish (or a dollop of coconut milk)

What to do

Heat the sesame oil in a pot. Add the garlic, coconut powder, ground coriander, and red chili and fry till it smells pleasantly and the coconut powder is slightly browned. Add the diced squash and papaya and fry until the pieces are covered by the oil-spice mixture. Add the broth and let cook for about 20 min.

Now it should look like this:

Pour into a blender and pulse until it becomes nice and creamy like this:

Season with salt and sweet curry. Heat through again and serve with sliced chili and cilantro.

And since Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes is hosting the October event for No Croutons Required I would like to share this recipe. This month's challenge was to create a soup or salad using squash as a main ingredient.

Autumnal Squash Risotto

2011-10-18T21:48:00.004+01:00

Golden Autumn days call for golden risottos, don't you think? With a Hokkaido squash lying around this was an easy task. The photo of the end result sucks as usual, since we are having dinner under artificial light and the cherry-tree table gives a reddish tinge to everything. But there you go, here is my Autumnal Squash risotto:

And you even get a recipe, just don't take it verbatim.

Autumnal Squash Risotto

Ingredients:

1 red onion, halved and then sliced

1 clove of garlic, pressed or minced

olive oil for frying

1 cup Arborio rice, washed and drained

2 cups vegetable broth

1/4 Hokkaido squash, peeled and grated

2 green onions

2 cups chanterelles

flat leaf parsley

salt, coarsely ground black pepper, nutmeg

What to do:

Fry the onion slices in hot olive oil until they start browning, add the garlic and fry till it smells deliciously. Add the rice and stir until it is covered with oil.

Add the broth, at first one cup and then little by little. The reason is you have to stir more often which is necessary for a vegan risotto that lacks the cheese which glues everything together; so you have to make a creamy and slightly sticky risotto by thorough stirring.

Add the grated squash and the green onions.

Let simmer (don't forget to disturb your slumbering risotto and wake it up with your wooden spoon; frequent stirring also prevents your risotto from burning) for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile clean the chanterelles thoroughly and fry them in some olive oil. Don't pamper them, the oil has to be really hot otherwise they will become mushy. Slightly salt them and put aside; cut the parsley.
When the risotto has reached the desired texture add pepper and nutmeg. Then fold in chanterelles and parsley. Serve immediately and enjoy with a leafy green salad.

Tomb of Wang Zhaojun, Hohhot

2011-10-18T21:11:00.007+01:00

The next morning we sadly had to leave the grasslands and went back towards Hohhot.

We had just enough time to visit the tomb of Wang Zhaojun ( 王昭君) before our driver took us to the air port. Wang Zhaojun was the concubine (or rather lady-in-waiting) of the Han Dynasty Emperor Yuan. She was married to the the king of the Huns Chanyu Huhanye (33 BC). A purely political marriage to bring some piece to the ever quarreling countries. Countless poems, stories and drama plays were written about her character (Pi-Wei 1996).

Zhaojun brushes off the inlaid saddle,
Mounts her steed, tearstains on reddened cheeks.
Today, she's a lady in the palace of Han;
Tomorrow, a slave-girl in the northern steppes.
Li Bai (699-762) - translated by Eoyang 1994

After having at least two sons and a daughter in this marriage she died and a burial mound was erected over her coffin. Whether this one is really the tomb of Wang Zhaojun is not known, since it hasn't been excavated. The 33m high mound was adorned with a chapel, as you can see in the photo.

Today it is a huge museum's complex. They also had a nice tea house and since they were just playing some music when we arrived, this was our first stop.

Look at that beautiful lithophon!

Walking up the burial mound you have a wonderful view over the landscape and the many vegetable farms.

The chapel itself is surrounded by souvenir stands.

Maybe the picture of the tragic heroine whose sacrifice (ensuring peace by marrying a barbarian) was considered by the Han Chinese as a 'living death' (Eoyang 1994, 10) is only one side of the coin. There are a lot of depictions of Wang Zhao Jun riding and having fun with her husband. So whenever you see a couple on horses it is probably a pointer to the Hun emperor and empress.

There were also two museums at the site. A small one with objects (mostly replicas) from the Xiongnu culture like the eagle-shaped gold crown from the Xiongnu grave in Hangjinqi, Inner Mongolia.

and the other the larger Wang Zhaojun Museum.

in which you are able to see life sized models of the famous couple.

In the unlikely case that you are interested in more infos about the museums you can go to my archaeology blog. There is a German version here and an English one here.

And I nearly forgot the most important thing! A day without a camel is a day lost, so here I present the camel leading the way to Wang Zhaojuns grave:

Inner Mongolia - more on Gegentala Grassland

2011-10-14T01:12:00.003+01:00

After our nice lunch we explored the resort. Unfortunately we were so full we just couldn't go to the tea house called 'Milk Tea Bag'. But then I wasn't very keen on drinking the famous yak milk tea, not so much because of the yak part but rather because I don't drink milk anymore. But it is said that yak milk is quite sweet and unique in taste, so it would have been a nice experience at least for C.

Instead we had a look at more yurts,

Mongolian she-cars,

and at thousands of grass hoppers that populated the grassland and incessantly chirped their singsong

The area of the resort was quite nicely decorated, for example with these carved poles.

As soon as we finished our little tour, it was time for a horse ride to a small 'aobao', a sacred shrine built of stones with a pole in the middle. It is quite difficult to see with all the colourful cloth strips attached to it.

We also took a ride in a buggy-style vehicle

and soon our guide appeared and brought us to a show of Mongolian sports like wrestling

acrobatic horseback riding

and a look at other traditional means of transport

By then the accompanying Shangri-la chef had prepared an opulent dinner. Just imagine, we were travelling with a followership of four (!) people! I felt like royalty, really weird.

The chef prepared several vegetarian courses for us, but my most favourite dish was a simple millet congee served with veggie jiaozi (dumplings). Delicious!

With a bonfire, more performances, and eventually people starting to dance and sing, another long day drew to a close.

Inner Mongolia - Gegentala Grassland

2011-10-07T23:01:00.003+01:00

Next day we headed towards the opposite direction, up north to the Gegentala Grassland. Gegentala is Mongolian and means 'summer resort'.

At first we drove alongside the mountain range. While yurts are a thing of the past or for touristic purposes, this is a true Mongolian village; the mud-brick walls hardly visible against the soil of the mountainous area.

But the outline of yurts are still used in modern architecture as can be seen by these buildings in a town we crossed:

We stopped at a small lama temple:

The freshly re-painted temple walls tried to out-sparkle the sun:

I especially liked the coloured ceiling beams; white with dragons painted on them:

this was our friendly driver posing in front of his audi, yes they really do love German cars in China :)

Finally we reached Gegentala grassland. In ancient times Mongolians brought their cattle and horses here for summer grazing. Today it is a holiday resort for tourists, where they can stay in 'traditional' yurts. There were three different areas in this resort. We stayed in a yurt in the 'combat tank packzge' whatever this means.

I know roughly what the sign wanted to say though; our yurt was based on yurts used for the generals while on war (hence the combat). These yurts were mobile and could be dragged by many many oxen (mobile like a tank - I guess).

But otherwise it didn't have a lot in common with Ghengis Khan's yurts. I doubt he or any other general had modern comfort in it:

Including hot running water:

After a short break just enough to explore the area a bit we were ushered into the dining hall where a table was already set for us with different vegetarian Mongolian dishes. Note that this was meant to be for two people and it was not the end yet!

I just loved the fried bread:

This is the Mongolian girl taking care of us during lunch. As you can see, we weren't even allowed to pour the tea ourselves.

To prevent customers from getting bored they staged a 'lunch show'; we were entertained with dances, Mongolian overtone singing and of course the horse-head fiddle.

These two young men playing the horse-head fiddle or morin khuur, were especially talented. They were called oo-bama. If somebody knows them, please add some details, I think they were just awesome. Sadly I can't find any information on the web; I would probably need their Chinese name.

Enjoy them for 14 seconds; we were so busy munching our lunch we forgot to take a proper movie:

With all our senses satisfied we headed for more adventures, so come back to my blog to see more about beautiful Inner Mongolia.

Spaghetti Squash

2011-10-06T22:44:00.000+01:00

From time to time I have seen spaghetti squash in the blogosphere (to be honest I have known of this squash for a long time even before blogging became fashionable), however, I never could get my hands on one. This week my health food market offered spaghetti sqash for the very first time. Of course I couldn't resist. So I bought a nice specimen:

I consulted the internet about how to prepare the squash and decided to use the oven version; I don't use a microwave anyway, so this was not an option. The first problems presented themselves. The squash was incredibly tough, so I was glad when I heard M's car coming around the corner. I definitely needed some muscles to help me cut the squash in halves.

The rest was quite easy I scraped the seeds and the gooey stuff out with a spoon, oiled it and placed it, cut side down, on a tray.

So far so good. I already knew it would take about an hour for the sqash to soften up, so I pushed some potatoes in the oven and waited. After 75 minutes the squash was still so firm you couldn't push a fork into it :( I waited 15 more minutes but finally got it out. By then at least the flesh was soft and it was possible to scrape it out. Now the real tragedy started. On all the photos on other blogs you could see wonderful fluffy spaghetti like scrapes. But not with mine :(

I have to admit it resembled short threads, but in no way like spaghettis but rather like exceedingly super extra short vermicelli :(

I used Lori Lange's spaghetti sqash recipe from recipe girl as a kind of template. Of course I didn't use meat but a tofu mince and added some bell pepper to the sauce, but this was roughly how I served it. I especially liked the way she used the toppings to not only make it an eye-candy but also very very yummie. However, I missed the starchy texture other squash has (butternut or hokkaido), so it was no replacement for spaghettis at all. I was only satisfied when I got out the baked potatoes and added them steaming hot to the plate.

The dish was actually vegan, but M and C sprinkled some Montello cheese on it.

But my big question is: has any of my readers used spaghetti squash before? What have I done wrong with mine? What are your experiences with this sort of squash? I would really like to give it a second chance, so I rely on your help :)

Hohhot, Inner Mongolia - the Blue City

2011-10-05T09:14:00.003+01:00

After a nice vegan lunch we drove back to the hotel and had the opportunity to see something of this beautiful country along the roadside, like these not so beautiful trails of industrial smoke. I hope they will soon install dust collectors and stop polluting their country :(

A pebble hanzi (Chinese character) meaning water:

Two staples, maize (left) and sorghum (right). They are not only used for food and fodder, but also for biofuel.

Horses are still an important factor in Mongolian life. Less so in the city, but in the surrounding steppe grass land, as it is manifested in this piece of art.

To our surprise it started to rain heavily when we reached the city again. After all this desert experience this was kind of unreal.

After a day out and about, dinner in our hotel was very welcome. We used the buffet restaurant at the Xin Cafe and I was really surprised about the many vegetarian options they had. And I thought Mongolian food means mutton, mutton, and more mutton.

http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/huhhot/shangrila/dining/restaurant/xincafe

After dinner we wanted to explore the little park we could see from our hotel window:

By now it was dark, but that didn't really matter. The last stalls in the park were closing and there were only few people left, some love couples, some late anglers, and us.

The Shangri-la building with its beautiful reflection on the lake.

This is the little pagoda in the middle of the lake you can see on the upper photo:

A warrior at night:

When we came back we redeemed our gift coupon for a cocktail at the lobby lounge bar; superb! C had a mocktail called 'Mongolia Blush' with sea-buckthorn berries (the red one on the left) and mine was called 'Green Knot' with local bamboo liqueur and a green plum. Together with the vegetable crisps a perfect ending for our long first day.

Inner Mongolia in 3 days and 4 nights

2011-10-04T23:00:00.010+01:00

While P and M were probably soundly asleep on their flight back C and me took a flight to Hohhot. We had a couple of hours wait in Beijing, so after exploring the airport we had some tea in the tea house:

But finally we arrived at Hohhot, were picked up by the Shangri-la staff and transported to our hotel where we had booked the 3-days and 4-nights Grassland package.

http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/huhhot/shangrila

By then it was quite late and we knew that we had to leave early in the morning, so we went straight to bed. Which we found out later was a good idea because we had a long and exciting day ahead of us.
A driver picked us up early and brought us to the 'Singing Sand Ravins' (Xiangshawan sand dunes, 响沙湾沙漠) which is a magnificent landscape with sand dunes as far as your eyes can see. In case you are interested where it actually is, have a look at the google map below:

This is a satellite view of the area. As you can see the Chinese used the spectacular landscape and attached a tourist entertainment park to it.

On our way I noticed how differently Mongolians transported their horses. Ours are treated as they would get a complete nervous break down when on the road, whereas these horses actually looked quite content.

Mongolian Script:

We are closing in, please note that this is not a triple-A tourist attraction and not a quadruple one, but a quintuple; yes, a not less than 5-tuple A-star tourist attraction:

And here we are, a whole day of fun in the desert:

A cable car brings you up to the 30m high top of the sand dunes:

Alternatively you can try to climb the dune, as you can see this alternative has its drawbacks:

Very modern facilities:

I really loved C's 'sand socks'! But when the hot sand burnt my bare feet in my sandals, I wished I had taken a pair, too:

We were confronted with curious instructions (I'm still wondering what they meant us to do or maybe it was giving directions to the joy sand, or...or...)

Leftovers from a Chinese picnic:

We had a camel ride (did I mention that I love camels!):

I didn't love the nose pins, though :( they didn't need those in Dubai.

Look at those soft hair! I want to cuddle my very own camel!

We admired sand art in the sand sculpture garden,

inclusive sand art long gone,

saw the first yurts from a ride on the desert train,

and slided down the dune.

Time went by really quickly and we had to rejoin our driver who was waiting with a nice vegan lunch packet for us.

Taal Volcano, Philippines

2011-10-04T01:16:00.000+01:00

Our last day in the Philippines draw closer and we were thinking about what we could do as a last adventure. We already had been to the National Museum (Museum of the Filipino People) in Manila and moreover, nobody but me thought it to be even slightly exciting. And even though it contained the oldest cultural material from the Callao Cave and the fabulous burial from Neolithic Duyong Cave and although I couldn't have a look at all the exhibits because they were closing and throwing us out, there was no way the rest of the family would go there once more.

We could have spent our day lazing around like this tired bike driver,

but we instead opted for a tour to the Taal volcano. What is truly remarkable about Taal volcano is the fact that within the Taal caldera which filled up to Lake Taal there is another small volcanic island called Vulcan Point, and on this island there again is a lake. If you consider that Luzon itself is an island, there is actually an island within a lake on an island within a lake on an island. Hm...does this make sense to anybody?

Anyway, we were packed into a minibus with one other guy and brought to Tagatay. On our way we stopped to watch fields of ...

can you guess?

Quite right, pineapples, lots of pineapples. We headed on and soon had a first glimpse of our target, lake Taal with a view on the island Vulcan Point:

We were greeted by a friendly monkey

and settled on a motorised outrigger which brought us to the island.

Although you can have a horse ride up to the crater rim of Vulcan Point we decided against it due to M's allergy and instead had a hike up the mountain.

Once you reach the top, you will notice that stands with knickknackery arrived long before you, selling souvenirs and drinks.

After a nice and cool coconut and getting back our breaths we had a closer look at the scenery.

This is the lake in Vulcan Point; in the background you can see lake Taal.

Since it is an active volcano, you can see smoke billowing out of the larger cracks:

After having a close look at the butterfly effect

we climbed down the volcano again and returned with the outrigger boat to Tagaytay where a wonderful lunch was waiting for us. Sorry, you are late, we nearly finished off everything.

On our way back to Manila we shortly stopped at a streetside market with huge jackfruits

and met a proud jeepney owner

The next day, M and P had their flight back home, but C and my humble self went off for more adventures. But this is a different story for a different blog entry :)

Tofu-Spinach Rolls, a concerto, and lots of bubble tea

2011-10-03T13:36:00.014+01:00

After all my travelling around (yes there is more to come) I thought it is time to post a nice recipe for a relaxed brunch at home with your family. This is exactly what we did, having a relaxed week-end (apart from M who was someplace unknown together with his skat friends doing some guy things). We didn't do a lot, watched Top Gear, went outside for a geo cache, went to a concert ('Klassik ist cool' with the Heidelberg symphony orchestra), and enjoyed some bubble tea.

The concert was so so, but they were mainly featuring young artists, so there is hope :)

There were two really enjoyable pieces, one by Sascha Reckert on his self-designed glass harmonica, or to be more precise, a verrophone, which was more like a glass harp by the looks of it:

and the other was 'Passaqualia' by Johan Halvorsen, quite unknown to me, but superbly played on violin (Johannes Krampen) and violoncello (Pirkko Langer) [attention Battlestar Galactica watchers: you should have heard it, it is in the soundtrack for season 1]. What I didn't like was the 'looks' of the orchestra. To appear 'cool' they all appeared in ripped up jeans, as if this already would make the music cool. And I really hated the ~~class clown~~ entertaining presenter (to the very left) they put in between the individual pieces of music; now he was really uncool. His jokes were so forced, and I doubt anybody earnestly wanted to hear his own version of a political skit on piano as an encore.

We also enjoyed a bubble tea at the newly opened bubble tea shop in the Carré (a small shopping centre) in the heart of Heidelberg. Even the police like their bubble tea.

C had a soy chai latte with tapioca pearls:

But back to the recipe. When I went shopping for week-end I discovered something new in the deli counter of our super market, an all vegan yufka or rather phyllo dough:

so I had to try it (but mind there were quite some preservatives in it so I wouldn't buy it again), but anyway, you can make this recipe with any frozen or fresh yufka/phyllo dough. For the filling I made kind of a tofu scramble with spinach

and rolled it into the dough which I cut into rectangles. This is how much I got from the package (minus one that ruptured and didn't look all that nice with the filling oozing out)

And this is how they look from the inside:

Tofu-Spinach Rolls

Ingredients:

1 package yufka/phyllo dough

250 g firm tofu

1 kg fresh spinach (or ca. 400 gr frozen spinach) if using fresh wash thoroughly, remove stems and cut in stripes

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, pressed

2 tablespoons tomato paste

cumin

fresh basil

herb salt, freshly ground pepper

olive oil for frying

sesame seeds

What to do:

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic and fry until golden but still soft. Press tofu dry with a clean towel or paper towels and crumble it as you would do for tofu scramble. Add to the pan and fry for some minutes. Add the cumin, salt, pepper, and tomato paste and stir well. Add the spinach and simmer on low heat until everything is heated through.

Preheat the oven to 200° C. Cut the dough into rectangles, spoon the filling on one end (a good tablespoon full) and roll up. Brush with oil (for yufka) or water (for phyllo) and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake for about 20 minutes until the rolls turn golden.

Angono Petroglyphs, Rizal, Philippines

2011-09-26T15:22:00.007+01:00

Back in Manila and knowing how boring big cities can be from time to time the majority (i.e. my person) decided to get some fresh air and visit a petroglyph site along the trip. So off we went to the small town of Angono where the rock shelter covered by petroglyphs is situated. With 235 masl we had a lovely view over the bay and Manila City.

To get to the rock shelter of Angono we had to walk through puddles of water full of tadpoles

and slippery ground until we reached a not so inviting dark tunnel

but at the end of the tunnel we found ...a small museum that exhibited some finds from the excavation in front of the rock shelter

The 63 m long rock shelter is just next to the museum

From the finds of this excavationthe petroglyphs can be roughly dated to the Neolithic, which in the Philippines was somewhere between 6000 and 2000 BC.

But so close to the jungle there were not only rock carvings but also all kind of creepy-crawlies like poisoneous millipedes

not to mention this poisonous dahong palay! The name is Tagalog and means rice leaf and is the local name of the so-called vine snake (Ahaetulla prasina)

(but I have to tell you in secret it is only mildly venomous and not really a threat to humans)

Thank god all the creepy-crawlies were kept in check by their biggest enemy, the cat

The very friendly staff at the museum told me they are very good in hunting down snakes. This one here will one day become a famous snake hunter; it was already very good in hunting fingers.

If you want to know more about the ~~cats~~ petroglyphs you can read more on my other blog here in English and here in German.

Trip to the Philippines - and even more on Cebu

2011-09-10T12:22:00.005+01:00

The next day we headed towards the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, a typical colonial Spanish church, squat and massive. Not one of my favourites, but still impressive with its thick white walls.

Next was the San Carlos University Museum

Unfortunately, taking photos was not allowed, so I can't show you any of it's exhibits. Lucky you :)

Although only one exhibition room was devoted to Cebu's prehistory (the other ones were filled with zoology, ethnography, and more recent history) it was quite interesting. I loved the secondary-burial boat coffins and the many limestone burial jars found in cave. These jars, some with lizard motives on them, some only with stripes, were also used for secondary burials. Secondary burials are known in the Philippines as bone washing. The body of the deceased is buried in earth and then after some time recovered, the bones washed and buried again in for example earthen jars, limestone jars or boat coffins. So it was a good day for me *hehe*

Since our hotel was booked out, we had to move to the Crimson Beach Resort in Mactan. This is how our beach villa looked like from the outside

And this was behind the facade, our very own plunge pool :)

The Crimson Resort was utter bliss, a brilliant beach, a superb infinity pool, cool beach villas, the best spa in the world; I had a deep tissue massage with hot stone therapy and the girl was sooo good, I felt like being in heaven afterwards. Besides, they have spa facilities which makes you feel like being in a Japanese onsen (hot spring spa). The only downside was the restaurants; all shared the same menu and although there were some vegetarian dishes, with three vegetarians you have quickly eaten your way through the menu and it got soon very, very boring.

So we started using the shuttle bus to the Ayala Mall, where loads of nice restaurants waited for us.

Out of curiosity we also wandered into the supermarket and marveled at the many different types of rice:

The Crimson Resort also offered a lot of beach activities and so we had a ride on the banana boat.
This is not us, but a photo from an Indonesian hotel site, but it shows what can happen when you ride the banana boat:

http://marbellaanyer.com/

you can imagine M and I got pretty wet :)

This night we also ritually killed a bad book. And I mean a really bad book:

If you ever want to read a German book about a 'detective' in ancient Rome, avoid this one. It was written by a teacher of Latin and it exactly sounded like a lesson in Latin. I don't want a recap on Cicero's Catiline Orations nor a history lesson on Cesar's achievements, all I wanted was a thrilling story about an abduction of a boy and how an unwilling wounded veteran gets interested and solves the case. You could really have done a nice story about it, but I haven't a read a more boring book in a long time. So we had to kill it to save other people from reading it.

Trip to the Philippines - more on Cebu

2011-09-09T00:09:00.000+01:00

The triangular Fort San Pedro near the pier area of Cebu City, Fuerza de San Pedro, was started as a wooden fortification in 1565, but only built as a stone fort in 1630 with major modifications in the late 19th century.

Since then it served a multitude of purposes; it was an army camp, a school, an emergency hospital, a garden for the Cebu Garden Club, and a zoo. Today the fort hosts a small museum and serves as a recreation area.

This is a drawing that shows the fort in 1565:

If you are lucky you can find a by-the-way blind musician playing inside the fort:

You can also find nice butterflies:

And fossil rocks!! Doesn't it look great?

On our way back we walked through the not so lucky districts

When driving back to Mactan, the small coral island where most resorts are, you can see pile dwellings. I was told that they are not used for living but only for fisher men's activities. But maybe the lacustrine pile dwellings of old have looked a bit like these stilt houses. A bit more messy than on reconstructed drawings :)

And this is back in our safe tourist haven of our resort, the Shangri-la Mactan. So we spent the rest of the day enjoying some luxury like a swim in the infinity pool:

How about a massage while watching sun set?

Or rather exploring the wild life near the pool?

Or maybe just paddling off into the sea ...

Trip to the Philippines - Cebu

2011-09-02T23:07:00.002+01:00

After having enough of city life we fled to a resort on the island of Cebu:

Here, too, jeepneys are the common mode of transportation:

After a day at the beach we got soon bored again and invigorated by an early morning yoga class we decided to do some of the dreaded sight seeing again. Close to our resort was the place where Lapu-Lapu and his 1500 warriors fought off the Spanish invasion. Magellan was killed and Lapu-Lapu became a national hero. On Mactan that is, everywhere else they seem to be happy that they were invaded by the Spanish. Here you can see Lapu-Lapu holding a bolo knife (itàk) and a shield:

In 1866 this obelisk-ish monument was build in honour of Magellan inside the Lapu-Lapu shrine by the Augustinian priest Simon Aguirre:

This is the supposed spot where Magellan was killed by Lapu-Lapu. In the background is a panorama painting depicting the battle of Mactan.

Then we took a free ride to a shopping mall of a different kind ;) Just kidding, Philippine people tend to give weird names to their shops.

Magellan Cross was next. When Magellan arrived on the island of Cebu in 1521 he soon befriended himself with chief Rajah Humabon and -probably with the help of exquisite gifts- managed to get Rajah and his large family baptised. To celebrate this success he had a wooden cross erected. What one can see today is an outer-casing cross; the original is said to be inside this casing.

Just for a bit of atmosphere:

Close to Magellan's cross is the Basilica of Santo Niño, an Augustinian 16th century ~~church~~ basilica (Pope Paul VI elevated it's status from church to minor basilica in 1965). Here a relief carving on the outer wall:

Although a lot of children are playing outside the church, this was not the reason for its name.

Nor were the bats in the church responsible for it (albeit quite fun to watch them fly around in the church; that proves that vampires are not afraid of being in a church)

It got it's name from the 'Holy Child of Cebu' (Santo Niño de Cebú), a wooden figure of the Child Jesus which Magellan gave or gave not to Rajah's wife. In any case, the church was build on the spot where the burnt box with the child figure was found. Since it is said the Cebu Jesus wrought several wonders of which I couldn't find a single in the web this basilica is magnet for pious people. So of what nature could the miracle be? Maybe it was the trance like dance the natives started when the Spanish presented the figure? Nahhh... so although there is a complete absence of evidence for these miracles Philippine people are very devoted and pray for little miracles in their daily lives. They spit and wipe the glass that separates them from little Jesus, obviously not knowing that this is just a replica which couldn't fulfil even the most trifling and petty wish. The original is kept in the convent, predestined to work on larger miracles.

Trip to the Philippines - Manila

2011-09-01T22:49:00.002+01:00

Now, it has been a looong time since I have updated this blog. But I was travelling quite substantially and enjoyed it too much to write something on my blog during my holidays and in China I couldn't access blogger anyway ... nor Facebook ... nor youtube ... you get the picture :)

But anyway, here I am and show you a couple of photos from our time abroad. First we spent a couple of days in Manila because we wanted to do some sightseeing in the Philippine capital. Here is the Bay of Manila as seen from our hotel. Yes, you can guess from the photo, it was the rainy season. But since it was hot I was quite pleased with the weather. I don't mind some rain on a hot day.

The hotel was quite nice and even served sweet and savoury canapés in the afternoon:

Of course we went to the José Rizal Park, where Rizal, the Philippine national hero was executed. Rizal was not only an M.D. but also a poet, painter and freedom fighter. But more importantly he studied in Heidelberg and lived for some time in Wilhelmsfeld. Here in Wilhelmsfeld we have a Rizal park, too, but it can of course not compete with the Manila one. In the museum of the park there is even a note mentioning his stay in Heidelberg.

A view on the river from Fort Santiago which is adjacent to the Rizal museum:

Another must-see is San Austín church, the oldest Roman-Catholic church in the Philippines. Although it doesn't look really baroque on it's outside, some features definitely have a baroque touch, like this beautiful wood carved door:

Turtels in a fountain in the inner church yard. They were, however, quite unimpressed by our attempts to lure them closer to us :(

Although most people in the Philippines are Catholic, they also have a Bhuddist temple in Manila:

We could also get a first glimpse of the famous jeepneys, the main medium of public transport; a kind of much beloved private mini-bus. The owners proudly adorn them with lights, flags, and all kinds of ornaments on their bonnets.

Potato-Mash Quiche

2011-07-21T15:01:00.002+01:00

Veganblog.it is a project to publish vegan recipes and to promote a vegan lifestyle. More or less it is a vegan blogger's union. People with or without blogs post their vegan recipes here.

It's sister site http://www.promiseland.it/ is a wealth of information about all things concerning an ethical lifestyle, from articles to shopping advice and current events (mainly in Italy of course).

The foodblog produces so many recipes and ideas that you just can't bookmark them anymore - way too many. But now and then I just have to try one out, so last weekend I made this 'Quiche 3P (panna, patate, and peperone which means cream, potatoes, and bell pepper) from Alice.

You see I had to rename the quiche since '3P' is not working in English and I used some other ingredients anyway; hence I called mine a potato-mash quiche what it in essence is. Thanks for the recipe Alice, it was a wonderful dish which will be on our table more than once, since you can so easily modify it :)

And here comes the recipe in English with my adaptations:

Potatoe-mash quiche (1 pie shell)

Ingredients:

1 package frozen vegan puff pastry sheets

150 ml vegetable cooking cream (I used soy)

3 floury potatoes (like Kind Edward or Desiree)

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 fennel bulb, cut in slices and blanched

herbal salt, pepper, turmeric to taste

olive oil (optional)

What to do:

Let thaw the puff pastry, and preheat the oven to 200° C. Arrange pastry sheets in a greased pie shell (you will need an at least 1-2 cm high border)
Boil and mash the potatoes, add salt and spices and mix in the soy cream.
Carefully fold in your vegetables.
Fill into your pie crust and level out.
Drizzle some olive oil on top and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Enjoy hot or cold

Tip:

Next time I will add some more veggies like green onions, corn, peas ... whatever you fancy or have in your fridge. You could also experiment a bit with your spices. The mash is a wonderful collecting pond for all kinds of veggies. A very versatile and tasty dish.

Milan in one day

2011-07-20T19:19:00.009+01:00

Assume you have one day's time to explore Milan. Where are you going? What are you doing? Where to eat (in a vegetarian sort of way)?

Well this is what we did: Milan in one day

Take the train from Varenna at Lake Como and get for ridiculously few money (compared to the totally overpriced German railway) in about 1 hour to Milan.

Take the underground and get off at the most famous place in Milan, the Cathedral. It is hardly avoidable to somehow come across the cathedral since a lot of streets are radiating from or circling the ancient city centre. Since il Duomo di Milano is also the largest cathedral in Italy (yes, St. Peter's in Rome isn't a cathedral) it was of course a must and our starting point. Inside you can admire the huge stained glass panes

or suck in the atmosphere

Outside the cathedral you can enjoy modern art, I especially liked this installation which is only a temporary one and probably gone by now. Gives me the feeling I'm sharing a secret with the lucky ones that could see it *hehe*. Anyway, 'Il muro del sale' (the salt wall) was created by Domenico Paladino and actually consists of salt. You might call it 'quick'salt, since some horses have already sunken into the muro del sale.

The cathedral's exterior is quite impressive, too, especially if you look for the more minute details. Aren't the ancient myths ghastly?

or at least bizarre?

Next to the cathedral is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II with its famous glass dome. It is said that the iron construction was the inspiration for the Eiffel tower.

The shopping gallery connects the cathedral with the Piazza della Scala, so you have to walk along the domed High Street, which is expensive but also fun since you can watch the people scuffling around or drinking coffee in one of the many cafes in Milan. We could even watch workers (artists?) repairing the mosaicked floor.

When you leave the gallery you will find a memorial for one of Milan's most famous citizens, Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was actually called to Milan by the Duke of Milan in 1482 and was commissioned with many projects for the Duke; he stayed in Milan for the next 17 years until the Second Italian War when he moved to Venice.

The actual Scala theatre right opposite the memorial was quite unspectacular from the outside. I expected a more plush and lavish building. Maybe I can return one day and study the insides :)

Then walk slowly back to the next subway station but this time use the narrow alleys and you will find more curiosities, like this lingerie shop:

In any case you should go to Santa Maria delle Grazie, not only is it on the Unesco Heritage List, but it also houses the famous painting by Leonardo, the Last Supper. If you haven't pre-booked a visit you will not be able to actually watch the painting, but you can at least say that you were very very close to it. It is in the refectory on the left-hand side of the church and Dominican convent, which is precisely cut off from my photo.

And this is what you will probably miss (at least we did):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_supper

Now that you are tired and exhausted spend some time in 10 Corso Como, a trendy shopping centre with an even more trendy webpage (so click on it) and a beautiful café where you can relax in a zen-like style. They have a fantastic asssortment of Asian tea, so you really feel zen-ish.

All three photos: http://www.10corsocomo.com/

If you skip the lunch and coffee you might arrive just in time at the Castello Sforzesco to visit one of the museums. If they are just closing you will still get some pretty nice impressions.

This was a fun poster from an exhibition (in a vegetarian sort of way); tormented animals, pupils, patients, and even nature give their tormentors a taste of their own medicine. Pigs are slaughtering humans, horses are forcing their riders to jump over fences ...

Don't miss the Castello Sforzesco Fountain just in front of the entrance:

Hungry now? Try the little restaurant Rosmarino in Viale Pasubio 16; a nice and informal place with a vegan buffet and free tea and water. Feel free to enjoy a glass of wine before you have to head back to the railway station for the last train back to Varenna :)

http://www.milanomia.com/VIA/PASUBIO/ROSMARINO/milanomia.com0582.jpg

http://www.milanomia.com/VIA/PASUBIO/ROSMARINO/milanomia.com0583.jpg

Green Lentil and Tomato Curry

2011-07-19T16:39:00.000+01:00

This is a recipe I got from Molly's blog feel good, feel well which has been discontinued and I fear the recipe got lost somewhere in the blogosphere, which is a pity, since it is a very very tasty lentil recipe. Her new blog is called Kottens hörna and although it is in Swedish well worth a visit (if you can't read Swedish you can always use the google translator).
But back to the recipe; I only had to make few adaptations to veganize it, mainly exchanging the crème fraîche with soy creme and lemon juice. I very much liked the addition of dried apricots which gave the dish a very fine note.

So here is my vegan version:

Ingredients:

oil for cooking

1 onion, finely diced

about 8 dried apricots, cut into thin slices

curry powder (or homemade garam masala)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 can chopped tomatoes

3 tablespoons soy creme

1/2 a teaspoon lemon or lime juice

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup dry Puy lentils

some Thai basil for garnish (optional)

What to do:

Wash and soak lentils for 2 to 3 hours; boil until tender.
Heat the oil in a large pan, fry the onions until golden.
Add the pepper, apricots, and curry powder and stir for a minute or so.
Add tomato paste and stir well.
Add chopped tomatoes, soy creme, lemon juice, and mustard and cook for about 10 minutes.
Add the lentils and adjust with salt and pepper to taste.
Garnish with some Thai basil.
Serve on basmati rice.

Vintner-AND-Garden Pizza

2011-07-17T01:01:00.003+01:00

Yes, it is all in the AND.
The other day I wanted to make a pizza for C and me (he is much better by the way) but was to late for a yeast dough because we were shopping. But I remembered a yeast-free dough on Barbara's blog Barbaras Spielwiese. Inspired by a Roman pizza (she loves to travel, especially by ~~boat~~ ship) she prepared a lovely variant back at home. This time the dough is just made from olive oil, white wine (or water), flour, and salt. So I tried out her really yummy recipe with a vintner's dough which you can find in German here.

This is my version, full of garden veggie goodyness:

Barbara kindly allowed me to post the recipe, so here it is:

Vintner-AND-Garden Pizza

(slightly adapted after Barbara's Gemüse-Pizzaschnitten aus Winzerteig)

Ingredients (dough):

150 ml (3/4 US cup) olive oil

150 ml dry white wine (I used plain water)

375 g (3 US cups) spelt or wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredients (top):

1 can chopped tomatoes

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 chile pepper

salt, pepper to taste

herbes de Provence

1 small fennel bulb

1 courgette

10-15 yellow cherry tomatoes

1 red bell pepper

1 tablespoon fresh oregano

cheese (mozarella, cheddar, a vegan cheeze or try Wagashi Maniac's miso-fermented vegan Cashew Cheese)

What to do:

Preheat oven to 180-200°C.
For the dough, knead all ingredients together and let rest in fridge.
Combine chopped tomatoes, crushed garlic, minced chile pepper , salt, pepper, and herbs in a bowl and mix well.
Half the fennel bulb and cut each half in stripes, blanche them in boiling water and drain. Cut courgette in slices, cut the bell pepper in stripes, and half the cherry tomatoes.
Roll out dough on a baking tray, distribute the tomato-herb mixture evenly on the dough. Add the vegetablesand bake for about 10 minutes.
Top the pizza with cheese and fresh oregano and bake for a further 10 minutes.

Tip:

You can use any vegetable combination you like. I used what I had on hand, so go on and experiment a bit :)

Stuffed globe courgette

2011-07-08T23:46:00.003+01:00

C is ill. He is lying around with tonsillitis and an earache :(

So I wanted to cook something special; it should be soft so the swallowing wouldn't become too hard and it shouldn't be too spicy or sour to not irritate his already inflamed throat. Plus it should contain antiseptic ingredients like onion, garlic, thyme.

I remembered a wonderful recipe I found at Béa's blog La Tartine Gourmande, 'Globe zucchini flavored with marjoram and stuffed with sweet potato'. The recipe (which is alas not vegetarian) can be found here. Apart from inspiring recipes (after all she is a real pro, her recipes appeared in food magazines, books and on French TV), her beautiful photos are really worth visiting her blog.

So I decided to roll up my sleeves and start veganizing her recipe. I couldn't find Japanese sweet potato, so I used ordinary orange fleshed sweet potatoes. Instead of ham I used chopped up sundried tomatoes and replaced the egg with a spoonfull of vegan mayonnaise.

And this is the result: super delicious stuffed globe courgette (remainders of the stuffing on the side).

And here is the vegan version:

Stuffed globe courgette

serves 2

Ingredients:

3 small globe courgette

1 sweet potato, grated on the coarse side of your grater

1 small red onion, finely chopped

2 celery branches, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon chopped marjoram

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 teaspoon thyme leaves (scrape them gently from the stalks with a knife, or bundle up and remove after cooking)

herbal salt and pepper to taste

olive oil for frying

zest of lemon, finely grated

2 tablespoons vegan parmesan (you can use gomasio or chopped roasted pine nuts or omit altogether)

4 halves sun-dried tomatoes

1 tablespoon vegan mayonnaise

What to do:

Preheat oven to 180° C.
Slice a small piece off at the top of the courgette and set aside. Scoop the flesh out with a teaspoon. Make sure you don't scrape through the shell! Chop the flesh of the courgette and set aside.
Heat olive oil in a pan and add onion, celery, lemon zest, and thyme. Fry over medium heat for a couple of minutes; don't forget to stir or your onions will burn!
Add the garlic and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.
Add grated sweet potato and courgette flesh. Stir well, cover with a lid and let simmer for 10 minutes or so.
Stir in sun-dried tomatoes, parsley, vegan parmesan (if using), and mayonnaise. Season carefully with herbal salt and pepper. It shouldn't need too much salt.
Stuff the courgette shells with this mixture and place the preserved top back on top of the courgette. Place in an oven proof dish.
Drizzle olive oil over the courgette and add half a cup of cold water
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until courgette is soft (prick the shell with a sharp knife).
Season the jus with some herbal salt, pour it over the courgette, and serve with rice or French Bread
Enjoy :)

A trip to Rupe Magna

2011-07-06T22:03:00.002+01:00

Rupe Magna is the Italian name for a rock art panel near the Castello Visconti Venosta, a 14th century castle in Grosio. To pep up our holidays we decided to throw in some archaeology and went to see Rupe Magna which was a mere 2 hours drive away from Varenna. Unfortunately it was a cloudy day and it also drizzled a bit, which is really really bad for rock art which is best seen with a morning or evening sun when the sun rays fall upon it in an oblique angle and carve deep shadows. Since the weather didn't seem to change for the better we went there anyway. The site was beautiful with the huge rock panel stretching outside of the castle walls.

This is the castle or what is left of it:

In proper weather you can see that the rock panel is engraved over and over with cupules and figures:

http://www.rupestre.net/tracce/digital.html (fig. 7)

Here is a motif with arcs, maybe a tent or hut, or something completely different :)
What you can see on a rainy day is this:

Maybe you can see the figures better with some digital help:

If you want to know more about Rupe Magna have a look here.

If you want to see one more photo of how beautiful the area was, you can watch it here:

When we came back home, bags full of wine, Valtellina's very own polenta (with buckwheat), carrot jam, and of course crostate (jam filled cakes) we had a fantastic pizza in Varenna just besides the lake. While having a vegan pizza with radicchio paste as base instead of a tomato base and green asparagus. Lovely! And on top we could watch the monster of Lake Como (or rather C because he made the photo while the rest of us fed upon tiramisù and crostata. See the monster between the boats?

Ratatouille Tart with Red Lentil Crust

2011-06-24T17:38:00.003+01:00

While you desperately wait for a post with a bit more archaeology in it, I'll show you a recipe I found on http://www.gustoaroma.at/. The crust is heavenly for vegans and gluten free gourmets (or gourmands like us) because it is based on red lentils and oat. Thanks for the recipe bettal!
The original recipe (http://www.gustoaroma.at/2011/05/linsen-tarte-au-ratatouille/) is vegetarian, but readily adaptable into a vegan dish. And that's exactly what I did; I left out the cheese and only put some on top of M's half. The other half got some pine nuts instead.

Although the dough was quite soft and it was a bit difficult to actually cut the tart in nice pieces it was very very yummy.

When I packed up the leftovers, however, the dough had settled and became quite firm. We were just too greedy, again. So I recommend to either put in some more oat meal or wait for about 10 minutes for the dough to rest and firm up. Look at that crust, so nice and red :)

And here is the recipe:

Ratatouille tart with red lentil crust

For the crust:

125 g red lentils

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic

1 tablespoon tomato paste

50 g oat meal

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

For the topping:

1 small eggplant, diced

1 courgette, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons Herbes de Provence

salt and pepper to taste

For the 'egg' glaze:

3 eggs (vegan version: 2 tablespoons of silken tofu and 1 flax egg*)

125 g Crème Fraiche (vegan version: 125 g soy cream)

100 g Cheese (vegan version: roasted pine nuts or vegan cheeze)

What to do:

1. First make the crust. Wash and cook the lentils in plenty of water until they start to become mushy. Strain the lentils and let cool. While lentils cook, fry the onion in olive oil until they are soft but don't let them brown. Add pressed garlic and turn off the heat. Mix all ingredients for the crust. You might need to add some more oat meal. Spread evenly into an oiled pie dish.

2. Heat oven to 190°.

3. Prepare the filling; heat olive oil and fry the onions. Add courgette, bell pepper, and eggplant and roast slightly. Add seasoning and herbs. Finally add tomatoes and let cook until excess water has evaporated. Spread on the lentil base.

4. Prepare the glaze. Mix all the ingredients and spread evenly over the vegetables. Sprinkle with cheeze or pine nuts.

5. Let bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until glaze has settled and gets firm.

* to replace one egg, measure one tablespoon of flax seed and grind in a blender or coffee grinder. Add ground flax seed to a small bowl with 3 tablespoons of water, and whisk. Voila! This will replace one egg in a recipe (excerpt from ehow )

Pentecost Holiday - Il Castello di Vezio

2011-06-23T23:14:00.001+01:00

This is our holiday home, also known as the Mouldy Manor. Not bad to look at, isn't it? It looks huge, but it is built into the hill and is only one room in depth.

Therefore all rooms had an undisturbed view on the lake, which was pretty nice.

Our friends didn't want to climb the castle, so when they left Mouldy Manor (and they had to leave early since Gottfried the cat was already pouting and sulking at home) our first trip was up the hill to the castello di Vezio. The tiny village in the mountains has a very nice church from the 11th century, the church of San Giacomo. Though most you can see are additions from the 17th and 18th century.

The main altar of carved and gilded wood is also from the 18th century.

Next to the church is the castle of Vezio (http://www.castellodivezio.it/inglese/)

http://www.castellodivezio.it/photogallery/grandi/galleria_76.jpg

The castle was full of surprises. There were lovely exhibitions of art all over the castle grounds,

and apart from an equally lovely herb garden (I really had to restrain myself from picking up herbs) they also had quite some flowers to show, here a lily:

I especially loved the 'ghost art' which was all over the castle. They were moulded over volunteers and the papier mâché lies around until snow and rain dissolves it completely and a new ghost is made in the next spring season.

There was also a falconry but we missed the performance. But here you can see Parsival, the Harris Hawk:

There was also a nice outdoor restaurant (Il Ristoro del Castello) where we treated ourselves to some spaghetti and mint water (on the right-hand side) and mint granita (on the left-hand side) which is basically frozen and then muddled up mint water. Isn't the artificial colour abominable? But it was a cool and refreshing drink nevertheless.

Our way back led us along a river which cascaded down the valley

and along old and not so old houses.

2Cellos

2011-06-23T14:13:00.003+01:00

Enjoy this duo while waiting for my next post. They are really good! Thanks for the tip P :)

http://www.2cellos.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/stjepanhausermusic

Pentecost Holiday at Lake Como, Lombardy

2011-06-22T19:21:00.001+01:00

In case you have missed me, we spent a week in Italy, at Lake Como to be specific. We rented a cosy (that is as the Adam's family would define cosy, in other words cold and damp) holiday home with view on the lake. In addition to it's 'cosiness' it added an internet free surrounding which was actually quite beneficial. C rented a dongle for the time being, which was maddeningly slow, but I survived quite happily without internet. Neither mouldy manors nor rainy days could dampen my spirit. I wanted to enjoy the holidays, especially since our friends from Austria spent a couple of days with us in the mouldy manor.

This is Lake Como with a view on Varenna, the 850-inhabitants town where our holiday home was situated.

Here is a closer look where you can see the castello di Vezio on top of the village:

An even closer look shows how picturesque the villages around the lake are:

They are full of old fountains,

narrow staircases (this is in Bellagio),

dangerous cats (the sign reads 'beware of the cat')

and beautiful passion fruit flowers.

My friend K even found an Austrian bench in Bellagio. In case you don't know, Austrian benches have one short leg and one long leg because of the hills and mountains in Austria. You would never be able to put up a regularly built bench. Since Bellagio is quite hilly, too, Austrian benches are quite convenient as you can see. They are especially suited to Austrian people since it is said that they all have one leg shorter than the other to be able to stand on an Austrian street. Here is the proof:

Don't believe everything I say, though.

Travelling through Oxfordshire: Wayland's Smithy and Seven Barrows

2011-06-08T21:46:00.004+01:00

The Ridgeway in southern Oxfordshire is Britain's oldest road. Long before the Romans came, this street high above the marshy valley ground was used for making contact and trade by Neolithic and Bronze Age men and women. Its importance is best seen on this map; along the ridgeway are relevant markers like Wayland's Smithy's long barrow, Bronze Age settlements, Iron Age hill forts, and not to forget the Uffington Horse hill figure. Down in the valley we have to important hoards, the Crow down gold hord and the Tower Hill axe hoard, as well as a Neolithic long barrow and the Bronze Age barrow cemetery 'Seven Barrows'.

modified after Varndell, Coe and Hey 2007, fig. 3

A short walk brings you from the parking lot at Uffington castle to the chamber tomb Wayland's Smithy. Rudyard Kipling brilliantly tells the sad story of Wayland (Weland) the Smith in his story Puck of Pook's Hill:

'All sorts of sacrifices,' said Puck. 'If it wasn't men, it was horses, or cattle, or pigs, or metheglin - that's a sticky, sweet sort of beer. I never liked it. They were a stiff-necked, extravagant set of idols, the Old Things. But what was the result? Men don't like being sacrificed at the best of times; they don't even like sacrificing their farm-horses. After a while, men simply left the Old Things alone, and the roofs of their temples fell in, and the Old Things had to scuttle out and pick up a living as they could. Some of them took to hanging about trees, and hiding in graves and groaning o' nights. If they groaned loud enough and long enough they might frighten a poor countryman into sacrificing a hen, or leaving a pound of butter for them. I remember one Goddess called Belisama. She became a common wet water-spirit somewhere in Lancashire. And there were hundreds of other friends of mine. First they were Gods. Then they were People of the Hills, and then they flitted to other places because they couldn't get on with the English for one reason or another. There was only one Old Thing, I remember, who honestly worked for his living after he came down in the world. He was called Weland, and he was a smith to some Gods. I've forgotten their names, but he used to make them swords and spears. I think he claimed kin with Thor of the Scandinavians.' ....

'It was Weland's Ford then, dearie. A road led down to it from the Beacon on the top of the hill - a shocking bad road it was - and all the hillside was thick, thick oak-forest, with deer in it. There was no trace of Weland, but presently I saw a fat old farmer riding down from the Beacon under the greenwood tree. His horse had cast a shoe in the clay, and when he came to the Ford he dismounted, took a penny out of his purse, laid it on a stone, tied the old horse to an oak, and called out: "Smith, Smith, here is work for you!" Then he sat down and went to sleep. You can imagine how I felt when I saw a white-bearded, bent old blacksmith in a leather apron creep out from behind the oak and begin to shoe the horse. It was Weland himself. I was so astonished that I jumped out and said: "What on Human Earth are you doing here, Weland?"'

'Poor Weland!' sighed Una.

'He pushed the long hair back from his forehead (he didn't recognize me at first). Then he said: "You ought to know. You foretold it, Old Thing. I'm shoeing horses for hire. I'm not even Weland now," he said. "They call me Wayland-Smith."'

'Poor chap!' said Dan. 'What did you say?'

'What could I say? He looked up, with the horse's foot on his lap, and he said, smiling, "I remember the time when I wouldn't have accepted this old bag of bones as a sacrifice, and now I'm glad enough to shoe him for a penny."

"'Isn't there any way for you to get back to Valhalla, or wherever you come from?" I said.

"'I'm afraid not, " he said, rasping away at the hoof. He had a wonderful touch with horses. The old beast was whinnying on his shoulder. "You may remember that I was not a gentle God in my Day and my Time and my Power. I shall never be released till some human being truly wishes me well."

Now you know where the long barrow got its name from. Here is the entrance to the tomb:

and this is how the longbarrow stretches over the tomb and covers the original wooden mortuary house with 14 to 17 burials:

At some time there was a crop circle near Wayland's Smithy, beautifully caught by satellites:

Further down south is Seven Barrows long barrow and the Bronze Age barrow cemetery Lambourn Seven Barrows. According to Richards (1990) there are at least 32 definite barrows but there are likely to exist more over 40 of them. Most of them were built in two rows emanating from the Early Neolithic long barrow (3700 calBC).

J. Dyer, Discovering Prehistoric England, 2001, p. 16

This is how the cemetery looks from the air; you still can clearly see the two rows of barrows on the east side of the road:

Today only small bumps are visible; this one is from the Western side of the Road (no. 18) and contained a cremation burial with a bronze awl and a jet pendant in a sarsen stone cist that was added later into the barrow.

In the foreground you can see barrows nos. 10, 11, and 12 with the second row of barrows in the background. The double barrow no. 10 (just visible in the lefthand corner) was robbed in ancient times and, when excavated in 1850, contained only the bones of an ox and a dog.

Well, I guess you have had enough archaeology by now; too cheer you up a bit, here is a late night guest we met on our way to dinner:

And this is where we actually had dinner, The White Horse Inn in Woolstone. There weren't too much vegetarian dishes on the menu, but the cook offered to make us something special and lo! did he make us a dinner. So worth a visit! Absolutely delicious and beautifully decorated, very recommendable!

His desert creation:

Travelling through Oxfordshire: Uffington White Horse and Uffington Castle

2011-06-07T23:38:00.005+01:00

About 30 miles to the south you can find the chalk hill figure of a horse, the so-called Uffington White Horse. Recent OSL dating (optically stimulated luminescence dating, basically dating when minerals were last exposed to sunlight) of the soil directly underneath the lowest level of the chalk filled trenches which constitute the horse figure, showed that it was made during the late Bronz Age (early urnfield culture), at about 1000 BC and was already present when they built the Iron Age hill fort a little bit further up White Horse Hill. This of course leaves the question whether it was supposed to be a horse at all, since the horse was re-introduced into Britain by the Celts. Maybe scouring changed it to something more familiar in medieval times. So it could as well have been a dog or a dragon.

You can see the horse in full on this photo made by the Royal Air Force in 1929:

D. Woolner, New Light on the White Horse, Folklore 78 (2), 1967, fig. B

Detail of the head area:

The horse was scoured every seven years since medieval times (with some periods of discontinuity) up to the very present. This has been a great idea, and although it probably changed the apperarance of the horse it also saved it from oblivion. However, I have to say that P and C openly refused to take part in next year's scouring. Even the prospect of taking part in the traditional feast after the deed accomplished couldn't persuade them.

Also on White Horse Hill is Uffington Castle, the aforementioned Iron Age hill fort.This is how it looks from the long barrow Wayland's Smithy:

And here are the banks and ditches of this hill fort. While excavating it in the 19th century, remains of timber walls were found on top of the banks.

These are not Iron Age warriors but us, standing on the bank of the hill fort and enjoying the slight breeze (actually we were nearly blown off the bank and into the ditch):

This is Dragon Hill, as seen from the hill fort, a smallish and already in ancient times artificially flattened hillock with views onto White Horse. It is said that S. George slew the dragon at this very spot, so the 'horse' might well have been a dragon after all, or rather a symbol for heathen faith. There is a white spot of chalk in the middle of the artificial platform where the dragon spilled its blood and no grass can grow anymore.

I'm finishing with yesterday's promised view of the landscape. Here a view as seen from the horse:

And just to let you know that I am still cooking and because this blog entry has much too much green in it, a recipe I tried from Bryanna Clark Grogan's blog Notes from the Vegan Feast Kitchen, a Turkish-style potato casserole:

The recipe is included in her new book World Vegan Feast which will be released in August 2011. It was very yummy, although next time I will use lentils instead of minced soy for even more yummieness :)

And for desert a super easy semolina pudding made with coconut milk and marinated strawberries:

Travelling through Oxfordshire: Rollright Stone Circle

2011-06-04T16:16:00.005+01:00

We left Stratford-upon-Avon after a nice English breakfast and some tea (with soymilk! yippee!) and headed for Reading. Luckily for me and unfortunately for P and C Oxfordshire is very rich in archaeological sites. In case you are not that interested in those beautiful monuments, just lean back and watch the surrounding landscape. Well, not much landscape in this photo of the King Stone, but a nice story about it. An ambitious chieftain wanted to become King of England but instead was transformed into a stone figure by a witch. So I present you the 'nearly King':

These stones are his men, today called the Rollright Stones:

You can still recognize human features, now can't you?

Three treacherous knights who wanted to plot against their chieftain stayed behind and were whispering to themselves, but the witch saw them and turned them into stone, too:

In reality it is a portal dolmen, a Neolithic tomb, called The Whispering Knights

This area is not only famous among archaeologists, it is very alive in the memory of the British people. The English rock band Traffic wrote a song in 1973 about the rock circle, tellingly called The Roll Right Stones. You can listen to it for more than 11 minutes (in case you have really nothing else to do and are nearly bored to death) here. But the lyrics are quite nice. Not a brainer, but still ...

"Went to see a standing stone

Some in circles, some alone
Ancient, worn, and weather torn
They chill me to the very bone
...
Cause everybody is going insane
The only, the only thing that will sustain are the Roll Right Stones."

The stones also featured in a children's book by Penelope Lively, The Whispering Knights. And fans of the 4th Dr. Who (Tom Baker) can enjoy a whole episode of Dr. Who and the gruesome secrets of the stone circle; the episode is called The Stones of Blood. The first ten minutes are here. Note that the series is not accurate in the depiction of the circle. There is no inner circle with lintel stones like in Stone Henge. I like the part where K9 takes everything so literally.

PS I have a correction to make. Since the King Stone is separated from the Rollright Circle by a street which itself separates Oxforshire from Warwickshire, the King Stone lies in Warwickshire and only the Rollright Circle and the Whispering Knights are actually in Oxfordshire.