Happy Spring!

Or happy Easter, belated Ostara or just: a happy long weekend!
I'm looking forward to 4 days with no plans at all except for two nights at the theatre.
I can't seem to remember what the word "free time" means.

Thanks to y'all for the advise on the fish issue. I guess it's really an Omega 3/6 issue. To be honest, with all my nutrition research, I never paid attention to it properly.
(I wrote "y'all"... damn you Rachel!)

And no, of course I haven't been studying for my final exam in 4 weeks... actually, I don't care much about my grade - work reference and my English exam is much more important and those are both ace (the latter because I'm going to write it myself probably) :)

I have been busy helping out a friend who has been diagnosed with acute leukemia. I shouldn't let myself get dragged down by this, but it's really tough. Doctors say he'll be all right, but it is awkward to see someone who used to be the most energetic and sporty person I know suffering through chemotherapy.

Anyway, to the food - my camera isn't actually broken; I assume my rechargeable batteries have come to the end of their recharging life.

A couple of days ago I finally made Pasta Alla California from V-con. Why didn't I make this earlier? It's got pasta, wine, rocket and broccoli... well I guess I had to make friends with avocado first.
This was an awesome salad including tomatoes, mango, avocado (again!), pea sprouts, cilantro and a lime-soy sauce dressing. It was awesome and the picture sadly doesn't do it any justice.


Three weeks ago, I visited Azumi in Fulda and we had a taco night... now is there a trick how to eat taco shells in a not messy way?

taco supplies!


Anyway, I'm planning to do some Easter baking tomorrow. I plan on making hot cross buns (how I miss them!) and maybe a German hefezopf (tribute to Grandmother). Also, it's Anne's bday tomorrow and I offered bake something for her when she gets back to work on Wednesday.

Has anybody got any suggestions what to bake including nuts or chocolate and fruit (that's what she suggested)? Any new recipes in blogland that I might have missed?

Tortilla Chip Casserolle

Before I share the recipe, let me get some things straight:

a) I've never had authentic Mexican food

b) I'm not particularly fond of the Tex Mex and Mexican recipes I have tried. I know, I'm an Asian food girl. I like spice food, but Mexican is sort of... bold spicy, do you know what I mean?

c) On the other hand, I don't know how good American and Irish guys are at Mexican cooking?!
However, Irish omni Dan and US vegan Dan make a wicked chili.

d) I bet every Mexican in the world would cringe at the thought of using Swiss fake cheese, but I don't care.

In an online shopping splurge a couple of weeks ago, I bought a block of No Muh Chäs, a vegan cheese from Switzerland that had been praised on all forums.



As I mentioned before, I never really liked dairy cheese as an omni or veggie, and hence have no cravings for it and not much of a comparison, either.

Talking about No Muh Chäs... it's VERY cheesy, realistic enough for me to feel an urge to throw it out when I first opened the package. It smells like cheese and it has the texture and I'd never ever try it raw.
Unlike Keehse, it doesn't melt properly and it's really expensive. It even comes in three expensive varieties- blue, plain and herb.

Thumbs down for Swiss vegan cheese, though the taste is still a lot better than that of Tofutti or Scheese.

Anway, it worked quite well in the recipe I adapted from the Brunch cooking zine (the original recipe suggests roux-based sauce).



Tortilla Chip Casserolle
(for 4 people)

• 1 small can sweet corn, drained
• 1 small can kidney beans, drained
• 1 huge can chopped tomatoes
• 1 onion, chopped,
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 red chilli, chopped
• 1 thin pita bread (can be stale), torn into pieces
• three cups plain tortilla chips
• 1 cup grated vegan cheese

1. Grease a casserolle pan and cover with the pita bread, pour in tortilla chips, but set some aside.

2. In a pan, sauté onions, garlic and chili, add whatever spices you think are Mexican (I used a bit of cumin, some cinnamon, salt and pepper obviously), add beans, corn and tomatoes and let simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Pour over the tortilla chips, add a layer of tortilla chips and cover with cheese.

4. Bake for 20 mins at 200°C.



post-bake and pre-bake:

This week in bento

It was one of the biweekly weeks where I have to attend vocational school twice- Wednesday and Fridays, which makes both my work and private life totally stressful and crazy.

What makes those teachers think it's a good idea to give people who already work 10-12 hrs a day homework?
(probably the fact that they are teachers and have never worked in events management...)

I barely cooked at all this week, but at least I managed to pack a proper bento on the days without school.

The laziest of them... when I went to denn's last week, they had a special offer for mexican-style tofu "spring rolls". They are huge and filled with seasoned tofu, corn, tomato and red bell pepper.
While I usually don't use those vegan convenient products, I had to try them and have to say that I don't regret it. It's 100% not authentic Mexican, but that's probably what I loved about them.
The roll was so filling that I only had some olives, apple, tomato and cucumber to munch along.


I picked up the simple 800ml white bento box at Muji in Düsseldorf. I had planned to go there for ages, but never got round to it. Call me an official Muji addict now!
They also have shops in many other cities, so check those boxes out.

This one has rice, tomato quarters, TVP and bok choy sesame stirfry, kiwi and apple dice and some coconut bread.


The size of the box is just perfect for me- my regular 2-tier boxes hold 580 ml, and I always need ~200-250 ml more for fruit and a treat in order to be full. 800ml boxes rule. I think I should get one of those "men's" bento boxes as they typically hold 700-900 ml.


Wednesday's school bento had a quick calzone with mushroom, zucchini and dried tomato filling cut in half, more apple, tomato and cucumber and some whole hazelnut chocolate. I wasn't satisfied with the looks of it, though. There's so much empty space!


As a bonus, two more bento I made last week.

Leftover Vegan Fire & Spice Asian Fusion noodles with hot sauce in the teddy container, two slices of banana bread (better than cake, better than bread... it's banana bread!) and some kiwi.


This might look boring and is not kawaii at all, but I loved the flavours. One tier has rotellini with garlic, olive oil and nutrional yeast, the other pesto-marinated olives, Julie Hasson's Italian sausage slices and quickly sautéed zucchini with balsamic vinegar. Even the thought of this one makes my mouth water again, so I'll probably try a combination like that again for Monday's bento.