Zucchini flower risotto - and each one gets the right to be excited about what they will.

(Em português)

Well, I'll admit it might be weird for many people, but the fact is I get excited about the farmers market. (About other stuff too, sure. But today I feel like telling you about the market).

Every time I leave home with a list in mind, so that I won't buy too much food, and every time I come back with more than I had planned. Everything is so fresh and pretty, it's hard to resist.

The down side is that I may end up not being able to manage that much produce, and some times food spoils.

Now, follow me: with the Autumn arriving, there's plenty of tasty fruits showing up again in the stalls, the flowers (which generally fade when the heat is intense) are on sale again.

When available, I usually get some poppies and Calla lilies, but the last time I went there, the flowers available where nasturtiums and zucchini flowers: beauties that go to the plate.

Of course, I had to experiment the zucchini flowers, with all of that pretty color. I just didn't know what to do with them.

The lady who sold them guaranteed I could find many recipes on internet besides the classic fried flowers (which are not too appealing for me).

She suggested risotto. Oh well, I came up with a risotto of my own.

Black-eyed peas curry: an attempt of Indian food.

(Em português)

I have been following Enjoy Indian Food for quite a while now, and everytime I go to an Indian restaurant I enjoy it indeed. But I had never made the move  to prepare it myself.
Silly me! I think it's because the logic of Indian food is quite different from everything I usually prepare, so I didn't really now where to start.
So, one day, I come across this recipe, which takes black-eyed peas.
And guess what? I had cooked and and frozen black-eyed peas, which I hadn't figured how to prepare.
By the way, I have quite a few kinds of beans at home, and I have been trying to think of new ways to prepare them besides the everyday rice-and-beans.
After all, I thought this recipe - Teriwale Lobiya - was a great way to approach Indian cuisine.

Soup made with tomatoes from the garden.

(Em português)

Tomatoes are love shaped as vegetables, of that I am sure.

They might be a pretty fresh food, when used in raw salads, as well as they might be comfort food, when grilled, baked, marinated, cooked, transformed in sauce...

And when they in the garden by the bunch? When, in warm weather, we can pick a bowl full of tomatoes every day?

Then it is too much love for one person only. I took advantage of this one afternoon when the rain managed to lower the temperature a bit and made a soup out of them to share with my family.

(Another) squash soup.

(Em português)

As I often do, I looked into my refrigerator to get some inspiration. I was hungry.

I thought to myself "something that cooks fast".

Therefore I used squash, zucchini and chayote. I think it was the quickest/ yummiest soup I've ever made. The hunger might have influenced this perception...

Bifum with shitake. What?

(Em português)

Maybe I haven't mentioned this before on the blog, but I have a fascination for Japan and Japanese people. I think the foods are pretty, the absurd clothes are pretty, those many colorful things I don't understand, the martial arts movies, the incredibly specific stationary items, the design, the architecture solutions, I find it all pretty.

But I never enjoyed Japanese food, because I think the textures are weird.

Recently I ate at a ramen restaurant with my boyfriend, and I really liked it. Then I went to a place at Liberdade with a couple friends and had yakimeshi, then I went somewhere else in Liberdade with other friends, so forth and so on...

I continue not having interest in seafood and raw fish, but Japanese cuisine has so much more than that.

This was my lunch today, and look how nice: I did it without any recipe, just from the ingredients I had at home.

Bifum is this very thin noodle made from rice, and shitake is the kind of mushroom.

You can improvise something similar substituting the ingredients with what you have around.

Vegetable curry - as known as one bowl lunch.

(Em português)

Sometimes I happen to eat mostly out of home for a couple days, or eat mostly junk food, for any other reason.

Then I just need to stop by the farmers market and buy a bunch of veggies and fruits, and eat only fresh food to compensate.

When I'm in that mood, and still very busy, this curry works wonders.

It's quick to prepare, can be done with almost any vegetable you like, and is comforting.

Works best in cold weather, but whatever. I like it in summer too.

Guacamole sandwich.

(Em português)

Well, people. Forgive me for not posting the panettone pan origami like I promised in the previous post.

Truth is I haven't taken the step by step pictures yet.

But come on, you can forgive me, since the reason for that is I'm spending time with my family, in vacation.

In one of these afternoons, I prepared this sandwich for us. It's so quick, so easy, so light.

It's also great substituting the tuna for a nice salty cheese slice.
I wish you all great holidays and parties! In a week I'll be back to São Paulo, and - I hope - starting a year of hard work.

Onion soup.

(In Portuguese)


Lately I was making an effort to post at least once a week, but in the last few days it
simply wasn't possible. Thankfully, for good reasons.
And even without recent posts, without many frequent readers, I was very glad to know
- through blogger's statistics - that some readers showed up from places I hadn't imagine,
from faraway countries such as Turkey or Estonia.
Be welcome, everybody! Tell me about you. Leave comments about the ways you eat and cook, or about something else.
Everyone, Brazilians, Americans, Spanish too! Tell me what you think of what is in for today. :)

I adapted this recipe from Jamie Oliver, and it fits perfectly for a cold night.

I don't really think it is very much like his recipe, but it tasted good and cozy.

Unlike the famous chef, I put potatoes in the soup and left the bread out.