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Go with gourd – the WTSIM#20 round-up

by Jeanne Horak on November 6, 2008 19 Comments in NaBloPoMo 2008, Waiter, there's something in my...

WTSIM_logo.gif

So, halloween has been and gone – all those pumpkins carved… and now all that leftover pumpkin flesh to use up.  What to do, what to do??  As I’m not much of a fan of wasted food, a few weeks ago I anticipated this and challenged you to come up with your best gourd recipes for the 20th edition of the much loved monthly cooking event Waiter, There’s Something in My….  As always, you rose to the occasion admirably.  Let’s see what you conjured up this month 17 savoury and 7 sweet recipes – whatever your pleasure, that’s a whole lotta gourd!

CocoCooks First out of the starting blocks was the very lovely Courtney of Coco Cooks, whom I had the tremendous pleasure of meeting on my recent jaunt in Chicago.  She reworks the classic south-Asian snack of samosas and comes up with her own twist – pumpkin, spinach and coconut samosas.  They may not be traditional, but that flavour combination gets my vote anytime!

MrsWsKitchen Up next, from New York, is Amanda from Mrs W’s Kitchen.  Now you’ve all heard of tagines, right?  The middle-Eastern clay cooking vessel with a shallow base and a dome-shaped lid, and of course the eponymous stew that is cooked inside it?  Well, it’s possible to make a tagine in a Dutch oven casserole dish, or a slow cooker – but have you ever thought of making it… in a pumpkin??  Amanda does, and her lamb and prune tagine in a pumpkin sounds absolutely wonderful!

EatTheRightStuff Right here in London, Abby of Eat the Right Stuff experiences the same feeling that I often do:  OK I have x, y and z in my fridge that all need using up – what can I make?  Luckily the edible widows and orphans in her fridge seems perfectly co-ordinated for a wonderful meal 🙂 Check out the delicious butternut, sausage and spinach risotto she tempts us with!  What could be better on a chilly late-Autumn evening?

MunchkinMail Staying in the UK, we pop in to visit Lysy of Munchkin Mail who has discovered a pumpkin named after her blog 😉  She first regales us with a story of heartburn mistaken for heart attack (one of those “amusing – but only MUCH later” tales!) before delivering up the recipe for a wonderfully exotic pumpkin couscous with prune and onion confit.

Spoonful of Sugar Staying in the UK and, oddly enough, staying with Munchkins, we have the lovely Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar.  She lives up to her blog’s sweet name and brings us our first dessert in this month’s WTSIM.  You’ve heard of pots de creme, right?  But have you ever had spiced pumpkin pots de creme, served in tiny pumpkins, no less?   It’s inspired – and sounds to me like the perfect dessert for people like me nursing a secret Starbucks pumpkin spice latte addiction!

FoodBlogga From there, we travel across the Atlantic to San Diego, to the kitchen of my friend Susan from Food Blogga.  She’s going through some agonising choices as regards the best cooking method for the Thanksgiving turkey, and everyoe’s got an opinion.  But one thing she’s not agonising about at all is the Thanksgiving side dishes – she just loves them all!  For WTSIM this month she gives a new twist to an old favourite and treats us to roasted acorn squash with honey-lime glazed pepitas.  Innovative and stylish – just like Susan!

Appoggiatura Now we’re heading to the South – to Georgia to be precise, where we will be paying a little visit to Haley of Appoggiatura.  She goes for a classic combination of butternut and sage, which she pairs with prosciutto, and before you know it you have yourself one delightful sounding pasta sauce.  Yum!

TongueTickle Next up we head for my homeland and a first-time entry from one of my favourite South African food bloggers in Johannesburg.  Naqiyah of Tongue Tickle is super-cute (from the pics I’ve seen!) and super-talented and is always a powerhouse of ideas.  She is also teaching me about her Indian culinary heritage, one dish at a time:  I’d never heard of louki until I saw her yummy louki (bottle gourd) with prawns (and check out her gorgeous mosaic table!)

RedWhisk Somebody who hasn’t participated in WTSIM for a while is Will of The Red Whisk in Sydney – he was last seen submitting a rabbit cassoulet to our pulses edition.  But now he’s back with a vengeance.  Showing true commitment to the WTSIM cause, Will tries a number of gourd recipes and finally settles on a winner – zucchini ribbon pickles.  Not only tasty but also very photogenic!

MissingFlavour From down south we travel up north to welcome Claudia of The Missing Flavour, a Brazilian expat newbie blogger living in Norway.  She explains that, although pumpkins are only available for a very short time in Norway, they are a big part of Brazilian cuisine in both sweet and savoury dishes.  Claudia plans to make a string of pumpkin dishes to make the most of the short season, and the one she shares with us is vanilla-scented October pumpkin compote.  Most unusual and another addition to our sweet section this month.

SouthernGrace Staying sweet and moving over to Rotterdam, New York, we stop by one of my favourite blogs A Southern Grace.  The fabulous Ms. Grace finds herself with buckets of butternut squash and embarks on a string of butternut recipes to use them up, but it is the first one that she submits as her entry into WTSIM this month.  Try her delectable sounding butternut squash muffins with crumbs and cloves.  Now how can you resist that?

GourmetChick Closer to home, we come across Cara at Gourmet Chick, right here in London.  She finds that looking at all the carved pumpkins for Halloween doesn’t put her in the mood for trick or treating, but rather for some comfort food.  In keeping with the season, she opts to make a wonderful pumpkin risotto with chicken and feta.  Don’t you just love Autumn?

CookingBooks Back to New York City now as we join Andrea of Cooking Books in what she describes as “the world’s smallest NYC kitchen”. It doesn’t seem to hold her back though – you need to check out her caramelised onion and butternut squash roast with fresh chestnuts.  Who needs meat when vegetarian is soooooo good?!

NamiNami Over to one of my oldest blogging friends now – the lovely Pille of Nami-Nami in Tallin, Estonia.  Pille has certainly been on a pumpkin spree of jams and soups lately, but the recipe she chooses to share with us for WTSIM this month is a pumkin and ginger tea loaf.  I must say I can hardly think of a happier marriage of flavours!

Sugarpunk Tracey of Sugarpunk in North Carolina is another WTSIM newbie – but she certainly knows her way around the kitchen!  She initially envisages a pumpkin cheesecake but in the end she creates pumpkin potirons a la creme.  Nope, I didn’t know what that meant either, but it turns out it is a riff on an unbaked cheesecake.  Unusual, simple, and delicious – thanks Tracey!

TastyCurryLeaf From there we head north to New Jersey to peek into Sweatha’s kitchen at TastyCurryLeaf.  Ever thrown a cocktail party but been stumped by guests telling you that they are gluten-intolerant?  There go all your lovely crostini… or maybe not.  Sweatha treats us to her inspired simply zucchini crostini.  You see, the zucchini isn’t the topping, it’s the base!

ShortcutToMushrooms I like a bit of enthusiasm and that’s exactly what I got from Judith of the quirkily-named Shortcut to Mushrooms in Iowa City.  She made not one but TWO dishes for WTSIM:  First she gives us an Asian-inspired dish of spicy butternut squash over quinoa with fresh herbs; and then she goes for gold with a baked acorn squash with Fall spices and butter.  Caramelised squashy goodness!

Priya Back on this side of the Atlantic, we journey to Paris to meet up with Priya of Priya’s Easy ‘n Tasty Recipes.  We’ve probably all had pumpkin soup, right?  But Priya puts a whole new flavour spin on an old favourite and presents us with creamy pumpkin and apple soup.  I’m intrigued – and I’ll bet you are too!

WhatsForLunch Next is one of the blogosphere’s best-loved food bloggers – the lovely Meeta of What’s For Lunch, Honey? in Weimar, Germany.  Before she gets to the recipe, she treats us to a feast for the eyes as she shows off pictures of the Fall colours.  Then when we’re a little hungry and chilly from our walk in the forest, she puts a steaming bowl of spiced lamb and pumpkin goulash before us.  You have to love her!

Paulchens Moving across the border to Vienna, Austria we encounter a regular WTSIM participant – it’s Astrid from Paulchens Foodblog.  Now I’ve had apple butter… but hands up – who’s had pumpkin butter??  If you haven’t, now is your chance as Astrid posts a simple recipe for this beautiful golden “butter”.  Just imagine – you could preserve the taste of Autumn to enjoy all year round!

OliveJuice For our next participant, we head for one of the areas I recently visited in the USA:  Washington DC.  One of the best things about hosting WTSIM is that you get to discover new blogs: Tony of Olive Juice, where have you and your beautiful blog been all my life??  Wait until you see his witch hat pumpkin ravioli – it definitely gets my vote for most original entry this month!

PassionateCook Back in the UK, we’re hanging out in London with my dear friend and WTSIM co-founder Johanna of The Passionate Cook.  As for the past 2 years, she and I will again be catering a canape party this weekend for a friend of hers, so she’s been experimenting with all sorts of new canapes, like these courgette and thyme croustades with Parmesan cream.  Ooh boy – I hope there are leftovers after the party!

Spittoon And then of course there is the third co-founder of WTSIM, my buddy Andrew of SpittoonExtra.  Andrew went well beyond the call of duty on this round, only telling me after I’d announced the theme that he really doesn’t like gourds – in fact he’s a gourd-fearing man 😉  Still, he soldiered manfully on and created a wonderful dish of acorn squash stuffed with lamb mince.  Looks marvellous!

Cooksister And last but not least, there’s… me, your hostess this month.  I love squash in pretty much any form, so I was really spoiled for choice in terms of what to make.  But in the end, inspired by the flavours of Fall and the Gourmet magazine I brought back from my USA trip, I opted for these gorgeous spiced pumpkin muffins.

And that’s all till next month folks (please let me know if I have left you out – apologies in advance!).  Thank you to all the talented participants, and keep an eye out for the announcement of the next theme from Johanna soon!

Follow me every day in November as I complete National Blog Posting Month – a post a day, every day, for 30 days! Here’s what I’ve written so far.

More deliciousness for you!

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  • Blueberry Eton MessBlueberry Eton Mess
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  1. Sweatha says

    November 7, 2008 at 2:01 am

    Lovely round up and very happy to be a part of it.Thanks and waiting for the next WTSIM theme. Cheers

    Reply
  2. tennen-parman says

    November 7, 2008 at 4:17 am

    Hi, I am Tennen-Perman,E-mail from Japan.
    I visited your site sometimes so far.
    You have a cool site.
    I linked your site in my blog.
    I administer a blog talking about cooking.
    Please link to my site in your ones if you like it.
    http://impact-cook.blogspot.com/
    thank you!

    Reply
  3. Manggy says

    November 7, 2008 at 4:21 am

    Whoa, that’s a lotta gourds! Excellent round-up! Looking forward to the next one 🙂

    Reply
  4. Haley W. says

    November 7, 2008 at 6:04 am

    So many tasty new recipes to try with some of my favorite foods. Well played, all!

    Reply
  5. Meeta says

    November 7, 2008 at 6:54 am

    Jeanne, this is a fantastic roundup. I am going pumpkin crazy at the moment and buying at least one a week! So this is going to be worth gold for me. Thanks for the lovely words – blush!!

    Reply
  6. gillian in PE says

    November 7, 2008 at 7:22 am

    Wow! I now want to eat pumpkin, courgette and butternut for breakfast, lunch and supper … and that’s before you even tackle all the Thanksgiving possiblities next week. Thanks for a juicy blog.

    Reply
  7. Priya says

    November 7, 2008 at 7:46 am

    Hi Jeanne, Awesome roundup..everything looks delicious…eyecatching clicks, am happy to participate in this event..

    Reply
  8. nina says

    November 7, 2008 at 11:37 am

    This round-up must have taken you such a long time to finish. Well done! You made me think with your Post-a-day that I wanted to join you…and then my computer packed up again. I only got it back now. When I started blogging, I did a post a day and I feel bad for slipping into a post a week mode. You have inspired me to go back to the basics….

    Reply
  9. Darius T. Williams says

    November 7, 2008 at 1:09 pm

    Wow – look at all these great recipes!
    I’m going to do the meme soon!
    -DTW
    http://www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com

    Reply
  10. Amanda says

    November 7, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    Fantastic roundup as always, Jeanne–thank you for a great topic! I’m excited about all these yummy ideas, and just in time for planning Thanksgiving dinners here in the US. Well done, all!

    Reply
  11. courtney says

    November 7, 2008 at 2:04 pm

    Thats one of the best round ups I have ever seen. I’m loving the pumpkin lamb tangine. the raviloli , and the pots de creme. Wonderful. Well done. Makes me look at pumkins and gourds in a whole new light.

    Reply
  12. Andrea says

    November 7, 2008 at 2:50 pm

    Wow, this is a fantastic round-up! Thank you so much for all of your work in putting this together. I definitely plan on becoming a regular!

    Reply
  13. Elizabeth says

    November 7, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    I love that squashes work well in savoury and sweet dishes. Excellent round up!
    I’m kicking myself that I missed this round of WTSIM…! We had a fabulous butternut squash ravioli recently. With squashes at the prime right now, I must make our squash ginger soup to put into the freezer for later. It’s the perfect thing to serve as an appetizer for Christmas Eve. Not to mention as lunch, dinner, snack on Boxing Day….

    Reply
  14. Lysy says

    November 7, 2008 at 4:29 pm

    What an amazing roundup! I want to go out and buy six more squashes now so that I can give lots of these dishes a go!
    I hope you’re enjoying your month of blogging – I’m enjoying reading

    Reply
  15. Andrew says

    November 7, 2008 at 7:44 pm

    Certainly a great selection of varied recipes – just a shame they all have a gourd in them! 😉
    I might be tempted by a couple (Pilles bread for example) if only form the excellent pictures everyone has supplied. Great stuff.

    Reply
  16. grace says

    November 8, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    wowza, jeanne! great round-up–i’ve never seen so many delectable recipes in one place. i noticed that the price of squash has lowered a bit at the grocery store, so nothing can stop me now! 🙂

    Reply
  17. Browniegirl says

    November 9, 2008 at 10:28 pm

    Fantastic roundup Jeanne, I will be trying a few of these soon. I wanted to do the gourd thing but have been too busy. Next time :o) Enjoying your post a day in November. Have a great week xxx

    Reply
  18. Angela says

    November 11, 2008 at 12:55 pm

    What a fantastic roundup, Jeanne! I can’t believe how wonderfully creative everyone has been. Loads of lovely new recipes to try!

    Reply
  19. Susan from Food Blogga says

    November 12, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    Hi Jeanne!
    This may be one the best WTSIM round-ups ever! I adore all things squash and pumpkin, so I’m thrilled with these recipes. And your write-ups (as always) are so personal and engaging. Thanks for all your efforts!
    Susan

    Reply
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"Spring fever, my heart's beating fast. Get up, ge "Spring fever, my heart's beating fast. Get up, get out, Spring is everywhere" - Elvis Presley

What better way to celebrate the day when the clocks go forward to British Summer Time than with  a glorious photo of St Paul's Cathedral shyly peeping out from a cloud of pink cherry blossoms against a perfect blue sky! 🌸🌞

London is awash in glorious blossoms at the moment, from Greenwich Park in the east to Kew Gardens in the west, and the fun part is trying to catch each type of tree just when the blossoms are at their best.

The cherry plums have been exploding into clouds of small white blossoms and sweet fragrance for a few weeks already; and the early flowering cherry trees, camellias and magnolias are coming into their own right now. Plus we still have the late-flowering cherries, rhododendrons and wisteria to look forward to!

Do you have a favourite Spring tree or park for blossoms in London? Let me know in the comments 🌺

And please remember to share, save or like my posts if you want to see more of me in your feed 🙏
"The essence of being human is that one does not s "The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection" 

I wonder what the author if those words would have made of the age of Instagram? We are fed an endless stream of perfect images of perfect bodies and perfect lives. In the back of our minds we KNOW this is not reality, but still the subconscious yearning for this imaginary world of perfection persists. Humans are funny that way.

But so often in life, things fall short of the perfection we imagined - seemingly perfect relationships fail, cakes look nothing like the picture in the book, clothes that looked good on the internet look ridiculous on our bodies, the wrong turn we took meant we never got to our planned destination.

Falling short of perfection is part of life. The big question is how you deal with it. Do you throw your hands up in despair and berate yourself for failure? Or do you find the positives in the imperfect outcomes of your plans? 

This photo taken almost exactly 4 years ago was meant to be a "perfect" Instagram shot of me in my signature pose, on a perfect sunny day on snowy ski slopes. Instead, as @explorista snapped the photo, our ski instructor decided to throw handfuls of snow at me - but as it turns out, this "imperfect" shot turned out to be my favourite of the day 😍

Do you find joy in life's imperfections?
What's your favourite way to eat cauliflower? Up What's your favourite way to eat cauliflower? 

Up until about a week ago I would have said cauliflower cheese... but all that changed when I made this low-carb cauliflower steak Welsh rarebit... I first made cauliflower steaks years ago, before cauliflower started enjoying its 15 minutes of fame, as a main course for vegetarian friends. But it wasn't till last week when I wanted to make Welsh rarebit for St David's day and discovered I had no bread that it struck me that cauli steaks would make the perfect base for Welsh rarebit! It's totally indulgent - like pouring a beery cheese fondue over your cauliflower - and totally addictive. You can find the full recipe in the link in my profile,  or SAVE this post for basic instructions! Remember to tag me if you try it -I'd love to see 😊

* Slice two 1cm steaks vertically from the middle of a large cauliflower, season and fry in  butter and oil till browning slightly.

* Oven bake for 10 mins at 200C while you mix grated cheddar, melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and beer. (The Duvel Belgian ale works a charm, BTW!).

* Spread the cheese mix generously over the 2 steaks and pop under a medium grill until golden and bubbly

You're welcome 🤩
Dyed Gwyl Dewi Hapus - or happy St David's Day if Dyed Gwyl Dewi Hapus - or happy St David's Day if you don't speak Welsh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

March 1 is the day on which the Welsh people celebrate their patron saint, St David, and one of their traditions is to wear a daffodil, the national flower of Wales. Here are five daffodil facts to impress your Welsh friends:

🌼 There's no difference between a daffodil and a narcissus. Daffodil (or jonquil) is simply the common name for members of the Narcissus genus, so all daffodils are narcissi.

🌼 There is only one species if daffodil that is native to the UK - Narcissus Pseudonarcissus, or wild daffodils. You can spot them by the fact that their outer 6 petals are a paler yellow than the central trumpet, and they are usually smaller than the showy, giant yellow commercially grown daffs. 

🌼 It's not entirely certain how the daffodil came to be the national flower of Wales - one theory is that they are one of the few flowers in bloom on 1 March. Another is that the daffodil is less... antisocial to wear than the other Welsh national symbol, the leek 🤣

🌼 Daffodils are the official 10th wedding anniversary flower.

🌼 Daffodils contain a poisonous sap - keep away from pets and if mixing daffodils in a vase with other flowers, let them stand in water separately for 24 hours first I case they affect the other flowers. 

Are daffodils your favourite Spring flower? Or do you prefer something else?
As a girl who lived more than half her life in the As a girl who lived more than half her life in the African sun, February and March are the hardest months for me to bear in the UK. All the excitement of Christmas and New Year has faded; the credit card bill has arrived; the sun is still setting before I finish work; and the snow that we all hoped for at Christmas finally arrives and disrupts everything. This is why, every year in Feb/March since I moved to the UK (other than the year I broke my femur a week before I was due to fly!), I decamp to South Africa for 2 weeks to visit my family and get my fix of vitamin D (and vitamin Sea!).

This week I should have been here - the Beacon Island hotel in Plettenberg Bay, which I have been visiting since I was about six years old. It is where I go to lift my spirits and clear my head. But for the last 2 years, Covid has meant that I have not been able to go home - or see my family. 

For the most part, although I miss travel, I am secretly quite liking taking a breather and being able to be home without FOMO for a while. But not being able to see my family has been incredibly hard, particularly as I have no family in this country.  And my blood boils at people bending the rules (a dentist appointment in Tenerife when you live in Manchester? Seriously??) to go on holiday while I have not seen my clinically vulnerable brother in two years. Covidiots.

But you can bet your bottom dollar that as soon as vaccinations are widely rolled out and international travel becomes practical again, I will be on a plane to South Africa so fast it will make your head spin.

Where will YOU head to first once we are able to travel again,  and why?
Love is in the air... 💕 Are you making a speci Love is in the air... 💕

Are you making a special dinner for your sweetheart tonight? This potted hot-smoked salmon with a pretty pink apple and red onion pickle is easy to prep and oh-so-delicious! It's also gluten-free if you serve it with GF crackers. Full recipe now on the blog - tap the live link on my bio to view. 

Are you doing anything special to celebrate today? Let me know in the comments! 💖
Ready for a wine tasting? 🍷 [Press trip] Back Ready for a wine tasting? 🍷

[Press trip] Back before Covid put our lives on hold, I spent a few days in the Languedoc-Rousillon wine region of France learning about (and tasting!) Pays d'Oc IGP wines. 

Want to learn more about the region's wines? Read on, swipe through the images (remember to  bookmark this post to refer back to later) - and click the live link in my bio for the full blog post! 

🍷 The Languedoc-Rousillon region is the largest wine producing region in the world, and produces about a third of all French wine. Pays d'Oc IGP is a classification region within Languedoc-Rousillon, with vineyards that take up over half the total vineyard area in the Languedoc-Rousillon region. Pays d'OC IGP wines account for about 20% of the total of all French wine produced.

🍷IGP stands for Indication Geographique Protegée, meaning it is a protected indication of origin and wines must be made only from approved grape varieties that must be grown entirely within the region's geographic boundaries.

🍷 Most French wines are named for their region (Bordeaux, Chablis, Champagne) but you won't see the name of the grape variety on the label. In response to consumer demand and the New World trend to label wines with grape varieties, rules were changed in Pays d'Oc in the late 1980s and Pays d'Oc wines now account for 92% of French varietal wines (e.g. labelled Chardonnay, Syrah, Viognier etc.).

🍷 There are 58 grape varieties that are allowed to be planted in the region but the Pays d'Oc IGP varietal wines to watch out for include Chardonnay, Rolle (another name for Vermentino) and Viognier among the whites; and Syrah, Mourvedre and Pinot Noir among the reds.

🍷 All wines labelled Pays d'Oc IGP are sampled and approved in a blind tasting by a panel of professionals, meaning the label is a guarantee of quality to the consumer. 

🍷 Producers that you should look out for include Gerard Bertrand, Domaine Gayda, Les Jamelles, Les Yeuses, Paul Mas and Domaine Aigues Belles.

First 📸: @everyglassmatters
New year's resolutions: waste of time or the way f New year's resolutions: waste of time or the way forward?

I have mentioned before that I don't really make new year's resolutions. There is always so much pressure to make them BIG lofty goals and this is essentially what dooms them to failure. Instead, for the past few years I have made a list of... affirmations? Mantras? I have yet come up with a word that does not make my toes curl 🤣

These are essentially reminders rather than goals - presets, if you like, for the year ahead. I keep them in a handwritten list next to my computer and when I don't know how to react to something or how to shake a mood, I read them and there is usually an answer in there somewhere. 

Given the bruising year last year was, and how 2021 has so far proven itself to be not much better, I really wanted to add something practical to this year's list to lift my spirits on days when I am down. And for that I borrowed shamelessly from the wonderful @gretchenrubin:

🌈  ACT THE WAY YOU WANT TO FEEL 🌈

And this photo is a reminder of how I want to feel on so, so many levels: hanging out with friends; dancing in the sunshine; wearing my favourite red dress; travelling (this was in Carouge, Switzerland); and surrounded by a rainbow of colour. I can't travel and I can't see friends, but I can dance in my kitchen, singing at the top of my voice wearing my brightest clothes. 

What strategies do you use to lift your spirits? I'd love to hear! 

📸 by @tasteofsavoie
If you, like me, are mssing your Pret-a- Manger Bi If you, like me, are mssing your Pret-a- Manger Bircher muesli during lockdown, you will want to bookmark this post right now! 🔖

I have learnt a few things during lockdown. I have learnt that I am more comfortable spending long periods alone than I had ever imagined; that I suffer a lot more from FOMO (fear of missing out!) than I would like to admit; and that pre-Covid I spent rude sums of money on commuting and barista coffee...! 

I also learnt that although I miss travel and social events and meals out, it is often the smaller things that you miss most acutely - the freedom to call up a friend you haven't seen in a while and inviting them over. Hugging (or even seeing) my family. And grabbing a macchiato and a Pret Bircher muesli on the way to work. Don't ask me why, but it became a small obsession of mine to create a fakeaway Pret Bircher during lockdown - and I think I have succeeded! Here's how:

For 2 servings you will need:
100g rolled oats
200ml milk or water
1 Tbsp sunflower seeds
1 Tbsp pumpkin seeds 
1 Tbsp shelled pistachio nuts
1 Tbsp dried cranberries 
2 small apples
175g plain yoghurt
Honey
Pomegranate rails

Mix the oats, seeds, nuts and cranberries together then add the milk/water and a pinch of salt. Mix well, cover and refrigerate overnight. 

When ready to serve, grate the apples and mix them in with the oats and yoghurt (add a little extra milk to loosen if needed). Stir in honey to taste and serve topped with pomegranate arils and pistachios. Full recipe and more photos are available now on the blog - click the live link in my profile.

Did you try any fakeaway recipes over lockdown? Please let me know in the comments - I would love to hear about it!
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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