Breakfast apple granola goodness

 via Smitten Kitchen

What on earth is going on with me?  All of a sudden I love breakfast, even plan ahead for it?  I am baking this now so that I can enjoy it for breakfast tomorrow with yoghurt.  The house smells so good!

Recipe via Smitten Kitchen

Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp

3 pounds* of whatever apples, or mix of apples, you like to bake with, peeled, cored and cut into medium chunks
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup flour
2 cups oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened, as you wish; I used unsweetened)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix apple chunks with lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and pinch of salt in a 9×13-inch baking dish until apples are evenly coated. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter with the honey. Stir in the flour, oats, almonds, coconut and another pinch of salt until clumps form. Sprinkle evenly over the apple mixture and bake in the oven for about 45 to 55 minutes, or until the apples are softened and bubbly. Should the granola brown before you wish it to, cover the baking dish carefully with foil for all but the last few minutes of baking time, when removing the foil will help the granola recrisp. Cool to room temperature and then stash in the fridge to eat with your morning yogurt.

Good morning, Cambodia

Toasted four grain cereal recipe, taken from 101 Cookbooks - except I could only find two kinds of grains in Cambodia.  For my morning mix, I throw almonds, raisins, honey and maybe a little cream on top. Done.  

Four grain cereal blend:
1 cup / 3.5 oz / 100g rolled oats
1 cup / 3.5 oz / 100g rolled rye
1 cup / 3.5 oz / 100g rolled barley
1 cup / 3.5 oz / 100g rolled spelt

Make a jar of four grain cereal blend, to keep on hand, by combining the rolled oats, rye, barley, and spelt. Store in an airtight container. Makes four batches.

1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 2/3 cup / 560 ml water, plus more to your preference

The night before you want to enjoy your cereal, melt the butter over medium-high heat in a saucepan. Add 1 cup / 3.5 oz / 100 g of the four grain cereal mixture, and stir well to coat. Add the salt and continue to cook, stirring often, until the grains have really toasted and are quite fragrant - roughly 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat, add the water, and leave overnight.

The next morning, heat the cereal over medium-high until it comes to a simmer. Leave it for about 10 minutes, or until the cereal is cooked through. Here's the thing - the cereal will thicken more the longer it simmers, so timing is truly a judgement call here. If you prefer a thinner cereal, feel free to adjust with more water. When the consistency seems right, taste, and add more salt if needed.

Chocolate Ice Cream (sans ice cream maker)

via Cup of Jo

When I was a little girl, I was obsessed with making ice cream. Obsessed.  

The following recipe for homemade chocolate ice cream posted by Joana is too tempting to pass up. The next week is littered with time in the community, so it will be long, hot days sitting on concrete floors in pagodas and listening to translations. (It's surprising how tiring translations can be.)  Chocolate ice cream would be a nice treat ...

Recipe: The Best Chocolate Ice Cream You'll Ever Have
Inspired by Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer

Makes almost a quart

Ingredients:

1 can (14-ounce/400 grams) sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup (180 grams) whole milk
3/4 cup (175 grams) heavy cream
6 ounces (170 grams) bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely
1/4 cup (25 grams) cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder (or two tablespoons freshly-brewed espresso)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A pinch of fine sea salt
5 teaspoons (12 grams) cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water

In a heavy-bottomed large pan, whisk sweetened condensed milk, whole milk and heavy cream until combined. Set the pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

Take off heat and add the finely-chopped chocolate, cocoa powder, instant espresso powder, vanilla extract and salt. Whisk until the chocolate melts and the cocoa powder is completely dissolved.

Mix cornstarch and cold water in a bowl with a fork until completely dissolved, and add to the ice cream base. Whisk until combined.

Place the pan over medium-high heat and cook, whisking constantly, scraping the sides and the bottom of the pan to prevent burning, until thickened, for 8-10 minutes.

Transfer to a heatproof bowl and set aside, uncovered, to cool for half an hour. Don't worry if a skin forms on top. When the bowl is cool enough to handle, cover with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly--preferably overnight--in the refrigerator.

Before transferring the chilled ice cream to the freezer, stir or whisk to dissolve the skin on top and scrape into a container. Cover with plastic, this time pressing the wrap against the ice cream to create an airtight seal; put the lid on (or cover with an additional layer of plastic wrap) and freeze until firm enough to scoop.

Love, in its many forms

via Chocolate by The Shop

We didn't celebrate Valentine's Day the way I thought we would.  Earlier in the day, Ethan's colleague, and our friend, G, was injured in a motorbike accident.  At one point, we thought her clavicle may have been broken.  It was only a fracture (thank goodness!), but she was quite bruised.  We spent the evening with her at the hospital and then at her home. 

I sat in the hospital room and later in her Khmer home, surrounded by her friends, as she recounted the events of the day, which involved a couple of Khmer motorbike riders harassing her as she rode along.  I sat watching and listening as we all made arrangements - who would stay with her this day, who would cook for her on this day or that day, who would spend time with her.  (She lives alone.) I was struck by how love comes in many forms, this time, in the shuffling in and out of friends through cold hospital rooms and concrete Khmer houses at a time of need.

Like many others, I sometimes think this holiday is for suckers.  Intellectually, I want to say this, but the truth is: I've come around.  Ethan and I exchanged small gifts.  Our dinner plans were foiled, but he cooked me a small meal before we left for G's house bearing pastries and other goodies.  I bought him a small box of chocolates from Chocolate by the Shop, my favorite chocolatier in Phnom Penh. 

I feel very lucky.

My weekend

I am trying to stay present, but my mind invariably moves back either to memories or forward to plans ahead. Oh, plans ahead - both a well of excitement and possibilities and worrisome uncertainty.

This weekend: wine and cheese tasting followed by movie night on a terrace, where I fought off persistent mosquitoes; introducing the Western concept of a "bridal lunch" to girlfriends, one of whom will be wedded this week; a trip to the recently renovated Central Market (love the architecture of that building); dinner with my uncle, a temporary transplant to Phnom Penh; phone calls to my grandmother Elpidia and my mum; dancing in the apartment with Ethan; and today, a lazy, warm Sunday afternoon spent at Java Cafe.  

Life is good.

Comfort food.

Lunch:  A simple rice bowl and okonomiyaki, a Japanese savory pancake, at Spring Vale, a small Japanese eatery near Toul Tumpong Market (Russian Market).  Because of our work schedules, Ethan and I hardly ever meet for lunch.  It's such a treat when we do - an hour or two to break the pace of work.

Thursday

The day began with an early start, with a cup of coffee and a meeting with a colleague, directly across Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. I watched the attendants open the gates to the museum and continued to watch as the visitors trickled in.

The rest of the day was visiting the railway communities, this time in Phnom Penh - walking, talking, sitting in homes, listening to stories.

Monsier Biscuit

via cerealjoe

I'm a sucker for all the French cookies at Thai Hout grocery store -- and for all the Bonne Maman jams, too. I cannot get enough.

Dinner last night: Also French. Crepes with sugar and lemon. Some delicious Algerian concoction, with egg, sausage, and other things I cannot recall. It was delicious. And for dessert, more crepes and carmelized bananas. Oh my.

I feel as if it's my turn to host something, but the thought of all the logistics makes me lazy.

Home

Gazpacho for dinner last night, after tapas and chatting with a lovely couple who is researching cross-border migration in SE Asia, including what factors contribute to human trafficking in those areas. I'm always intrigued by the work people do here, and even more tickled when I find a confluence between their work and mine. Interesting times.

The new place feels very homey.

Stirring the Pot

source: The NYT

Last night, I made a bolognese sauce. Specifically, I spent an inordinate amount of time dicing/hacking/cursing vegetables to little bits, and then browning them, and then reducing the mixture in milk, and then stirring, stirring, stirring (fine, only occasionally), now and then throwing in some of the red wine I was drinking.

All of this work is for my Khmer colleagues, who I've invited for dinner tonight. I promised them a barang (foreigner) dinner, a spaghetti night actually, though by, the looks of the sauce (hearty, thick), a big rigatoni noodle would be a more suitable companion. I'm not much of a cook, so I laugh at how my good intentions always end up with stressful hijinks over the kitchen stove, late into the night. (I recall, very vividly, one night in undergrad spent making tabbouleh for 40 people. I did not own a food processor.)

I made the sauce last night, hoping the flavors would settle in by this evening. I hope I made enough. I must feed them more bread, just in case. Wish me luck.

Ingredients

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3-4 tablespoons butter

1 carrot, finely diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

1 celery, diced

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 pound beef, ground

1 pound pork, ground

1/4 pound pancetta, ground (Note: I used bacon, as pancetta isn't always on offer Phnom Penh.)

1/2 tube tomato paste

4 medium sized tomatoes, sliced

1 cup milk

1 cup dry red wine

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Parmigiano-Reggiano, for grating

Steps

In a 6- to 8-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the carrot, onion, celery and garlic and sweat over medium heat until the vegetables are translucent and soft but not browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Add the beef, pork and pancetta and stir into the vegetables. Add the meat over high heat, stirring to keep the meat from sticking together until browned.

Add the tomato paste, milk and wine and simmer over medium-low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and remove from the heat.

When ready to use, cooked pasta should be added to a saucepan with the appropriate amount of hot Bolognese and tossed so the pasta is evenly coated. Serve topped with grated cheese.

Serves 4 to 6.

Recipe adapted from Mario Batali.

brunch bites

Brunch at Rachel's. Sun. Hot, crispy baguettes transported on moto bikes from Comme à la Maison . Naps.

A Dutch friend tried her hand at American pancakes, all the while convincing me that what I should be cooking is savory Dutch versions, with cheese, bacon and apple filling. (She gaffawed when I told her that we sometimes eat an entire stack of these pancakes for breakfast.)

Off topic, I'm wondering how much I'm processing of this experience. While I've been fortunate to experience bright and warm moments here (and sometimes those moments just bowl me over with their intensity), it is still Cambodia and my work is . . .

Of Pancetta and Prostitutes

via NYT

Last night was a lovely night. Balmy Cambodian nights are best paired with pancetta and melted cheese-anything, and with a glass of kir (black currant liquer topped off with white wine). The rain, no matter how I dislike it, has brought substantially cooler temperatures to the city so much so that, the other night, I complained to my flatmate that I needed a sweater. Actually, I said, "I am freezing," (gasp) to which he gave me a quizzical look before noting, "No, this is how it feels when you're not sweating from overheating."

Point taken.

Against this background of cooler climate and delicious food, Alex, Sotheary, Rachel and I enjoyed one of Rachel's last evenings in this city. (Early next week, Rachel moves back to London. Boooo.) All evening, Alex kept mumbling something about how "magical" this small restaurant felt, while Rachel and I oooh'd and aahh'd as the food came out. For a few hours, we forgot we were in Phnom Penh. It felt quite strange.

And then, somehow, the conversation turned to Alex's work. A recent transplant from France, she works in a health clinic/drug outreach program, which puts her in touch with many HIV-positive populations and, in particular, sex trafficking victims. She shared a story about how she recently became aware of the alarming trend of baby trafficking in Cambodia (some sell at $500???).

And that is how dinner ended. With a reminder that we are, in fact, in Cambodia, where light dinner chitchat invariably turns to these heavier topics.

Outside, the cool night air stirred.

Breakfast

So many muesli concoctions in this city. This concoction has lemon zest, grated apple, toasted almonds, yogurt and berry compote. At Living Room Cafe.

Sweets

This small, $0.75 USD tart seems very ordinary at first glance. Certainly, it wouldn't be my first choice, not with the orange creme sitting next to it. But, as Rachel promised, under its raspberry goodness, there's rich, dark chocolate hiding. The combo. Perfect. The deserts at The Shop make me happy.

I welcome any bit of happy right now. This week has been tough, and I feel tired. My Aussie flatmate just told me that he has to fly back to Melbourne to have a medical condition checked out. I am terribly worried about him, but I believe being surrounded by family and friends will do him good. And, I've been told the hospitals in Phnom Penh should be frequented for minor ailments only. Most people fly to Bangkok for any major treatment. That is just one reality of life here.

A virtual hug to Samosas for the virtual chat yesterday!

Afternoon Snacks

Where once I found myself taking afternoon breaks to grab pastries at Cafe Viale, I now rely on fried bananas or pork sandwiches as a pick-me-up during the day. This is dangerous. Usually, at about three o'clock, a few of us make our way through the zigzagging moto and car traffic, across the street to a small snack shop, where we pick up two barbequed pork skewers, papaya salad, and toasted buttery baguette -- the makings of a yummy sandwich.