Well. That was a weird time, no? I had a particularly strong flashback walking around last Monday morning, in a silent world with all the shops closed. It felt lockdowny. But that's a long time ago now, isn't it? Hopefully it is, though covid rates are soaring, loads of people I know have it this week and frankly things don't look too glorious in the health service.
Anyway, it's not lockdown. In theory I'm on holiday next weekend. And I spent last week at a conference, in glorious Glasgow. Limited in my participation by official mourning, but I did hear about a spectacular doughnut shop (luckily over halfway through the conference, though my homeward-bound breakfast was a heroic PB&J, they were right about the extra napkins for the train). I also got one amazing takeaway (desperately over-ordered) to supplement what was otherwise a very glum set of work expenses, largely gleaned from the station Sainsbos...
As previously mentioned, fortunately, German food is deep in the comforting level of "you wouldn't get this at a conference dinner", and that's what I've come home to.
There's an Eintopf which is mainly about the barley, with some bay and peppercorns and random veg. It's very nice. The recipe calls it a soup. I rarely eat soup with a fork...
There's this pasta sauce, tomatoes roasted for a while, with loads of butter and a good scatter of cumin seed. The perfect leftovers for a long day at work, with some egg pasta taking 3 minutes to cook.
I stewed some prunes in red wine, sliced oranges and allspice. It's not Christmas (pfffft) but it is autumn.
Oh, and some completely random stuff involving feta with dill and sour cream, with a Georgian sour plum sauce on kidney beans. (Accidentally bought beans in chilli sauce which had to be sluiced off, but the prickle of spice didn't hurt.)
I made the hazelnut omelette again too. Funny, reading back that blog entry, trying to remember that feeling. Trying to remember over two years ago. My fluffy omelette making has at least improved in that time.
It was really interesting watching all the coverage of the funeral and the days before it from afar - almost like watching it through a window. Things were quiet here, but without the pomp.
ReplyDeleteReally like the look of that pasta sauce, I swear I can taste it from here just looking at the photo. And your prunes and red wine spicy mixture must have made your kitchen smell all kinds of wonderful.
We're over the Autumnal Equinox and who knows what the coming months will bring. May cooking continue to bring us all comfort. BTW Tantrum Doughnuts is a fantastic name for a bakery!