VanEats

One of the weblogs that I visit every day is Andrea's Weblog. On Sunday she mentioned VanEats as a place for great recipes. Thanks, Andrea!

If you are interested in life from a German's perspective or just from the perspective of somebody who has something interesting to say, then please check out Andrea's Weblog. You won't be disappointed!

When we were in Seattle yesterday, we had lunch at Ray's Boathouse in Ballard. I started my meal with a lovely sweet potato coconut soup. The sweet potato flavour was gently enhanced by coconut, and accented by a delightful zing of ginger.

Here's my version of sweet potato coconut soup. If you don't have a blender or if you want a chunkier soup, use a potato masher to break down the potatoes a bit before adding the coconut milk.

This afternoon we went to see Swing in Seattle at the Paramount. As lovers of Lindy Hop and other styles of swing, we can heartily recommend this award winning Broadway musical. Unfortunately, today is the last day in Seattle, and I don't know if it will ever show up in Vancouver. Anyhow if you get a chance to see it, go!

Afterwards we had baby back ribs and chicken at Von's Grand City Cafe which is a Seattle institution.

I agree with Al, there's no need for frozen pizzas or Pizza Hut,when you can make home made pizza!

Chinese New Year is just around the corner. My mum is starting to prepare some traditional delicacies. One of her special new year's treats is a baked coconut pudding. Usually a pudding like this is steamed, then cut into slices when cool and dipped in egg and pan-fried before serving.

This coconut based pudding is baked and has a lovely, toasty crust and chewy texture. No need to fry up this recipe!

I love waffles. I've been wanting a waffle iron for ages and finally got one for Christmas from Kerrie and Toni (thank you!!). So since then, I've been experimenting with different recipes.

For Christmas, Roland got an inspiring cookbook (from my brother, upon my suggestion!): The Minimalist Cooks at Home by Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything. One of the philosophies of this book is "less is more". Bittman gives very basic, bare minimum lists of ingredients, then gives suggestions to elaborate and fortify each recipe.

It turns out that my friend Graham's brother's in-laws are Italian and they own the beautiful Villa di Riboia just outside of Tuscany! Not only that, the villa is used by the International Kitchen cooking school as part of their Walking and Cooking in Tuscany tour!!!!

Hmm we may have to reconsider our decision to go to Umberto's school! Regardless, this Villa di Riboia looks like a great place to stay.