Elsa Brobbey

I left things too late this long weekend to make getaway plans, so I’m going to be hanging out in the city while the lucky ones are out on their camping trips, island getaways, and cross-border adventures.

I’m not jealous; staying home isn’t all that bad especially when I can wake up to breakfast like this.
Besides I have a few local hiking and beach trips planned if the weather holds up.

And this breakfast practically puts itself together, just how lazy weekend mornings should be.

I love finding (new to me) Italian cookies, and I found another interesting cookie from Doria, this is the Melodie ai cereali, a shortbread biscuit made with wholegrains and a touch of yoghurt.

It’s crunchy, crumbly and soft, and little nutty and lightly sweetened, and it doesn’t have a crappy ingredients list (for a packaged food).

It’s good on its own, but on mornings when you don’t want to cook breakfast and box-cereal and milk just won’t do, this is what @adjoa does… she mixes broken up pieces of melodie cookies with yoghurt and blueberries.
It’s quick and easy, filling and not rushed, the breakfast of long leisurely mornings.

This is a simple and good breakfast, I suppose you could use any grainy cookie here if you wanted, but this melodie cookie makes it so much special.

And you know what? I’m kinda glad the neighbours are away so I can have a quiet breakfast.

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

This recipe was passed on to me by my dear friend M, she found it on Chatelaine, made it and sent it on to me saying it’s delicious and to try it.
The recipe started out as orecchiette pasta with swiss chard, and ended up being different yet still delicious…

I threw almost everything I had into this pasta, just because I was out of the a few of the ingredients the recipe called for, and I needed to clear my fridge.
I added two kinds of beans; chickpeas and cranberry beans leftover over the weekend.
There’s also frozen corn, bell peppers and sundried tomatoes, which I always have around.
And I used kale in place of swiss chard… an easy switch.
I love these kinds of pasta… it’s tasty, nutritious, inexpensive, perfect weeknight pasta.
I made it a few days before Easter in New York and had it for dinner over a few nights.

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

Monet’s ‘La rue Montorgueil à Paris’, is a painting depicting a jubilant celebration during the French festival of 30th June 1878.
The painting doesn’t only confirm the historic significance of this market street; it also manages to capture, to some degree, the spirit of this vibrant and colourful street.
Rue Montorgueil is a pedestrian market street, home to some famous restaurants, cafés, bars, bakeries and other excellent food markets.
Stohrer has been making fine pastries at their 51 Rue Montorgueil location for nearly 300 years.
And of course, L’Escargot, which seems to be in a bit of trouble at the moment, has been around since the late 19th century.

It truly is the food lover’s paradise; charming and lively with so much to explore from little cheese shops, fish markets, green grocers to candy shops, and patisseries.
It’s where to go to people watch; and observe regular Parisians go about their day, which naturally involves a lot of time in cafés
This is one of my absolutely favourite places in Paris, although I haven’t explored it enough to offer any helpful insights, save for pretty pictures – but David Lebovitz has a handy post on the awesomeness that is Rue Montorgueil.

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

We spent a quiet Mother’s Day at home, a typical Sunday, really.
We made breakfast; baked multigrain cereal with chocolate chips, and stayed in bed all day reading.
Breakfast tasted like dessert…
My mom made us promise we wouldn’t make a fuss this Mother’s Day.
Last year we made her brunch, days before this Mother’s Day she’d been humming ‘It Is Well With My Soul’.
Contentment… a trait I wish I could learn from my mom.
The simple joy of sharing breakfast and nourishment with loved ones.

This is my new favourite way to make hot cereal; toasted and then baked in individual-sized cups.
A combination of oats, rye, barley and wheat toasted for a few minutes before baking in almond milk, applesauce, and coconut oil with a handful of chocolate chips thrown in for good measure.

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

@adjoa and I made this dreamy heirloom tomatoes and plum salad last September when summer was just winding down. I didn’t get a chance to share it here before winter got its gloomy hands on us.
But after the few glorious days we’ve had, and seeing that we’re mere weeks from summer’s unofficial start, it seems proper to feature this salad now.
Hopefully it’ll inspire someone to try it this summer, since that’s what I intend to do… a lot, as soon as BC plums start hitting the markets.

I wouldn’t have thought to put plums and tomatoes together, and yet they make a perfect harmonious pair in this creation.

This salad is so simple yet packs a flavourful punch, I plan on trying other fruit combinations – peaches, nectarines, pears, etc and even grapes; lately I’ve been experimenting with grapes in savoury dishes.
The vinaigrette is tangy and sweet, a little like the tomatoes and plums.
It’s light, tart and fresh, perfect for hot summer days.

The recipe comes from Heather over at L.A. In Bloom; a lovely blog that I adore.

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

Summer is coming and the temperature is slowly creeping up.
I love being awoken by the sun again in the mornings, and hearing seagulls in the distance.
It’s going to be a delightful summer – I can tell.
Come summer, my love affair with mango goes into overdrive; I think it’s because I’ve loved mangoes more than I’ve loved any other fruit.
Mangoes and summer have a certain likeness – both are vibrant, exotic, sweet and sticky.

Since mangoes aren’t native to these part, I’m always looking for the next best thing.

I was so delighted to find this refreshingly creamy and delicious mango sorbet from Trader Joe’s, just in time for summer.
I’m hooked… it tastes fresh, like perfectly ripened frozen mangoes, makes the best smoothies too.

As far as treats go, the ingredients aren’t bad either; mango, water, cane sugar, corn syrup, guar gum, xanthan gum, citric acid and beta-carotene for colour.

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

In the past year, I’ve made more ‘pesto’ than I thought possible – I’ve experimented with all sorts of greens and vegetables; dandelion, carrots, beets, parsley, arugula, spinach and of course basil
I love how these sauces are incredibly easy to make, all you need are a few ingredients, and the only equipment needed are a food processor or a mortar and pestle.
Chopping the ingredients by hand using a knife or mezzaluna would give it an authentic feel, although it takes a bit of time.

I decided the give this roasted red pepper pesto a whirl, it’s roasted red peppers with toasted walnuts, basil, sundried tomatoes, garlic and olive oil.
It turned out to be a zippy versatile sauce – It’s delicious tossed with pasta, as a spread for sandwiches, as a dip, etc.
It’ll keep in the fridge for several days, or the freezer for later use.
I usually keep a batch in the freezer for those quick weeknight meals.

One evening, I had leftover roasted (yellow and purple) cauliflower, a bit of forbidden rice and this pesto, I was just emptying out my fridge by throwing stuff together but it was oh so good…

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

I had no plans to visit the Ladurée in New York.
Hard to believe, I know, but apparently there wasn’t room in our bloated itinerary of things to do in New York for a trip to ‘a sweet shop’.
So there I was, having a nice stroll in Central Park on my way to Belvedere Castle when I spotted a cute couple perched atop a rock having a little picnic, I stopped when I spotted the pale green bag… and with a daringness usually reserved for people I know, I asked them where the Ladurée shop was.
“71st and Madison” they said, “it’s pretty close too, you could be there and back in twenty minutes tops”
That’s all I needed to hear – I cut through the park, meandered through the Upper East Side and minutes later I was in pastel coloured confectionery heaven…

The macarons are flown from Paris everyday, which I guess works, because macarons are best eaten two days after they are baked.
Luckily, the wait wasn’t long; they were unfortunately out of the salted caramel (my favourite).
I went for the classic vanilla, pistachio and rose.
The macarons were delicious – smooth, slightly chewy and soft.
And I added another jewellery box to my collection of cute Ladurée boxes.

Maison Ladurée
864 Madison Ave
(between 72nd St & 71st St)
New York, NY 10021
(646) 558-3157

©2012 the whinery 2.0. All Rights Reserved.

The year I was born, my dad built us a house in the middle of nowhere on a patch of forest land that belonged in his family.
He painted the little house an unsuitable shade of yellow that looked so spectacularly out of place, you’d think nature was playing a trick on you.
He moved us out there, intent on becoming a farmer, and this was my home for the first years of my life.

I could write a book about our adventures; a sweeping saga of our struggles, the delicate art of farming, and how we underestimated the land.

But today’s tale is about the radishes and other vegetables we grew that first year.
The first year was probably our best year; we had running water, chickens in the coop and the vegetables grew, and we’d yet to experience the gnawing hunger that’ll come.
We grew vegetables that year; and when my mom and siblings were away at work and school respectively, my dad spent the day tending the land under the quiet harsh sun, while I played away nearby underneath the breezy shades. He swears this is where I came to love solitude.

We grew everything… sweet potatoes, bell peppers, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, carrots, spinach, black-eyed peas, bananas, radishes… the mango and papaya trees just grew on their own.

“Too much radish!” that’s how my mom remembers it; we harvested more radish than we knew what to do with them. As baskets of radish piled up, she feared we’d have to eat radish for the remainder of our lives on the farm… a pity since we weren’t really radish eaters, I don’t think we even liked them. Luckily we found a few restaurants and hotels to take them off our hands.

I thought of that story when I found this salad, it’s the first salad (or anything for that matter) with radish that I’ve been tempted to make. I loved the idea of this salad too much not to try it.
How could I not want to make this? – it makes me want to grow my own vegetables, and although I don’t really remember that first year, there’s still that nostalgic tinge; perhaps from all those stories I’ve heard.

It’s a simple rustic salad inspired by this black chickpea verrine from La Tartine Gourmande, flavourful with thinly sliced beets, carrots, apples, onions and radishes, the dressing is refreshingly citrusy and peppery. I loved the heat from the ginger and pepper flakes, subtle sweetness from the honey tempered with the tartness from the vinegar and lime.

I used brown chickpeas in this salad, which I found in the bulk bin section under ‘heirloom beans’ at my local Whole Foods.
Brown chickpeas are usually smaller with a deep nutty flavour, they take a little longer to cook, are sturdier in texture but can be used just like you would the regular pale yellow chickpea.

This salad can also easily be made vegan by using avocado in place of smoked trout, and agave or maple syrup in the dressing instead of honey.

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