There are days when I am like a Moroccan grandmother. I spend all day in the kitchen. Last Monday was one of those days.
After preparing a nice little breakfast for the kids (a banana raspberry smoothy and toast with avocado) and a lunch box (whole-wheat pita bread with omelet, grape tomatoes & sliced cucumber on the side), I sent them to school and went to the West Hollywood Farmers Market. I bought two big bags packed with a large variety of beautiful produce.
When I got back home from the market, I went straight into the kitchen to continue with the Idli Rava preparation I started the day before. Idli Rava is an Indian breakfast dish that my lovely neighbor, Satya, introduced to me. After I tried it at her house a few times and fell in love with it, she taught me how to make it. I am still debating if I should publish the recipe on the blog. It’s not exactly quick-quick, but it’s definitely yum-yum, and it’s also very healthy (it’s mostly protein).
After I finished making the Idli, which took a bit of time, I took a short break to drink my morning tea (rooibos) and eat a few Idlis as a late breakfast, with a tomato chutney I made while the idlis were steaming in the pot.
Later I emptied the bags from the market, and tidied up the refrigerator and the pantry. While organizing the pantry, all the noodles reminded me that Leo and Alex had been asking me for a while now to make Pad Thai. So that’s what I prepared for lunch.
In the afternoon, Alex the Sugar Junkie asked me, “Can I have something sweet?” As if the strawberries he had earlier were not sweet. The truth is that I was also craving something sweet, so I didn’t mind making something. This clumsy stubborn little boy insisted on doing everything himself, including a big mess, some flour and egg that never made it into the bowl. Never mind the mess. What’s important is that, somehow, his baked goods come out delicious every time. Seriously, everything he bakes is amazing. The muffins were excellent. These poor kids, who always complain, “How come we never have sweets in our lunch bags?” were finally happy to find these muffins in their lunch box the next day.
Of course, that wasn’t even the last thing I made that day. Later on, I made a light dinner, starting with a big healthful salad from all the veggies and herbs I had gotten at the market, and a lovely omelet of freshly picked free-range eggs, also from the market. Continue reading
