Up until a few months ago, I didn’t consider boiled eggs to be anything special. In fact, I can’t think of the last time I ate one (Passover excluded), and I certainly haven’t cooked one lately. But then, there, for lunch at Felix’s parents house. Boiled eggs. I ate, and quite enjoyed mine. Then piles of tea eggs in Asia, halved boiled eggs in Malaysia alongside curry and rice, kaya toast and 1/2 boiled eggs. Nasi Lemak.
Suddenly this boiled egg idea seemed like a good idea. And it took hold.
Don’t you just love it when everything falls into place. Like a spontaneous picnic on a beautiful day, or running into a friend and having a day of detours. Or a night full of dancing and happiness. Or one hot summers morning when you read about Nicoise Salad and realise that you have most of the ingredients just relaxing in the fridge, ready to throw together for a very pleasant lunch which doesn’t require you to go outside in the heatwave, not even one time. Well just this thing happened to me today.
It did mean that I had to turn the stove on, but only briefly, the heat from which isn’t nearly as bad as the afternoon sun that pours into my kitchen, anyway.
How did I not know about this until now? Now, when I was supposed to start getting ready for work 5 minutes ago? So there will be no time this morning for me to do much for World Nutella Day.
I always knew about nutella and I never found it terribly exciting. But I rediscovered it recently slathered over freshly cooked waffles at our hotel in Singapore. Seriously. It falls in some of the holes, so you get a crispy little mouthful, only to realise that it has a sweet, sweet, gooey chocolate and hazelnutty centre. There is an art to spreading nutella on a waffle though, you must be restrained, so in some bites there is only a whiff, and the waffle is allowed to shine through while other dimples must be filled to the brim.
Needless to say there is now a jar of nutella in my kitchen, just waiting for a waffle maker to come my way.
Happy Nutella Day!
How strange to meet friends from Sydney in exotic Hanoi. We met up for some beers at a streetside bia hoi joint in the evening. I was not hopeful for dinner, yet when I gently asked about their regular state as vegetarians I was pleasantly surprised. “No, we’re eating meat, these holidays. We would have starved in Russia as vegetarians”. Well, it’ll be strange meat for dinner then. Oh, yes.
Floating on a two beer cloud we dodged traffic and wandered right, right and then left, i think. A bustling alley-way eatery looked like the place to be, settled in and ordered the most interesting items on the menu.
I still have plenty to post about my recent holiday, but this little detour into the present is necessary to alleviate this stifling heat. I know it isn’t as hot here in Sydney as Melbourne, or Adelaide, but it is still pretty sticky and uncomfortable, so do yourself a favour, blend up some fruit, mix in some sugar syrup and booze, freeze until solid then devour, you know you want to.
Granita is a frozen water based dessert, not smooth like sorbet, but granular, rustic, crystalline. Granita works best if you add sugar syrup and/or alcohol as your mixture will freeze solid, but not into a completely solid ice block, which makes it easier to fork through at the end to get your ice flakes. If you add too much, then it won’t freeze hard enough and you will end up with a slushy, which may not be a terrible thing.
