Cooking

As much fun as you might think it is to not work, it gets boring pretty quickly. I've been having a hard time finding a job, any type of job (within reason). So, as of now, I am still unemployed.

Most jobs down here are advertised online, so job hunting doesn't take that much time out of the day. To fill the rest of my time, I've really started exploring my love of cooking.

Both Chris and I really enjoy cooking. And one of the perks on living in a land of never ending sunshine is the fact that you can grow things year round. No need to worry about frost, hail, or cold weather. Needless to say, we're taking advantage of the growing conditions! We don't have a plot to grow a garden, but we have a great balcony that's perfect for a herb garden. There's nothing better than walking a few metres to your balcony and picking fresh herbs to add to your meal. We have 8 pots filled with thyme (Titus), chives (Clive), rosemary (Ronny), oregano (Optimus), parsley (Peter), mint (Manny), dill (Dilbert), and two pots of basil (Benny and Boris). As you can see, we've named each one. It adds a personal touch! And lucky for us beginner gardeners, they basically grow themselves. Just a bit of water and a shot of Miracle Grow once a week and we have ourselves a herb garden to be proud of!

Basil is basically a weed here, and both of our basil plants have really taken off. So, the other day I decided to make pesto! Super easy and super delicious. Toasted pine nuts, garlic, fresh parmesan cheese, lots of basil, a pinch of salt, and olive oil...plus a good blender or food processor. Before you know it, you have delicious, homemade pesto! Typically you add the pesto to pasta, but there are so many other things you can do with it...add it to baked potatoes, on top of steak, on sandwiches...whatever you can imagine! It was my first time making pesto, and I think it turned out pretty good. The best part? There are loads of basil leaves left on our plants, so another batch of pesto might be in order!

My other cooking interest I've taken to? Bread. My uncle loves to bake bread, and every time Chris and I go over for dinner, he always has a freshly made loaf for us to sample. Whether it's ciabatta or sourdough, it's always delicious! I thought I would give it a try and made a herb loaf a few weeks ago, but it was really dense. Not light and fluffy like bread should be. After a bread baking lesson from my uncle, I decided to give it another go! So, today, I made French baguettes. After being in France for 4 months, we really got spoiled by the delicious bread. Baguettes were our favourite! There was nothing better, and nothing that felt more French, than strolling down to our local boulangerie and picking up a fresh baguette to have with dinner. In fact, it was the only French phrase I really mastered. "Une baguette madame, s'il vous plait".

So making actual French baguettes was a big deal for me. I was a bit nervous and skeptical, but after plenty of recipe searching on the internet, I found one I wanted to try. It was going to be time consuming: two rises requiring a total of 4 hours, plus the actual mixing, kneading and baking time. I was in for a day of baguette baking! The ingredients were simple, but I knew it was technique that would decide if my endeavour would turn out. I started at noon and made sure to remember all the techniques that Uncle Errik had taught me! I stuck to my recipe and made sure to trust my hands, as most of bread making requires how the bread feels in your hands-not too dry and not too sticky. It's hard to judge, and I guess today I got it right because just after 4:30pm I had three beautiful looking baguettes. The hardest part of the whole experience? Waiting for Chris to come home before I sampled my creations!

I made a delicious Moroccan sweet potato, carrot and chickpea soup to go along with my baguettes. And I have to say, it was a pretty delicious meal. The baguettes were perfect (at least to me they were)! They were crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Victory! And, after eating one of the baguettes with our dinner, there are two more in the freezer ready whenever we want them! I feel like a champion bread maker! I guess the true test will be if I can have the same success next time I make bread. I won't worry about that now though, I'll just take my bread victory and enjoy it!

Happy cooking to everyone! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Andrea