WIAW #16: Aaron's last week and Wild Garlic Recipes

First off if you have not seen my post from Monday check out it first before reading the below post. If not, beware of spoilers!

I feel so guilty about missing WIAW last week due to Aaron’s visit and a major Sociology paper. So I must make up for it! Today I’ll give you a taste of what I’ve eaten this week. Get it.

  

You got a pretty good look at our trip to Paris and a selection of the 200+ pictures but Aaron was here longer than that! Unfortunately I still had to go to class this week so I had send him off to do the “touristy” things by himself and occasionally with escorts provided by my housemates.

Here are some of his London photos on my camera:

On Thursday we had the chance to go to St. Alban’s and have a lovely dinner with Tony and Gill, my surrogate family here. We had a lovely time to celebrate Tony’s birthday and our engagement. Gill said she is already picking out her hat for the wedding. I love that they wear fancy hats here to special occasions. We had such a great time visiting with them and St. Alban’s is so cute.

On Friday we took an early train down to Hastings to visit my Aunt Janet and Uncle Maurice for the day. We lucked out with the weather and spent the day going around my favorite little town of Rye Royal, and later going to Fairlight where they live.

We met them in Hastings and then drove to Rye for lunch at a place we used to go to when I was last in England 10 years ago. It’s a great little Italian restaurant and they “remembered” me but hey, we got free wine and after meal limoncello out of it so they must of remembered! It was so nice.

Here’s what we ate:

Aaron’s seafood pasta and Maurice’s pasta Carbonara.

I think Janet had sea bass with roasted potatoes and vegetable if I remember properly.

I had mushroom and chicken risotto.

We then went back to their house for a great homemade cream tea. Should have taken a photo.

First we had some sparkling wine to celebrate the engagement of course! Aunt J got the scones from her favorite restaurant and tea shop and since they make them homemade it counted! We have some delicious Jersey Clotted cream and her homemade black currant jam to go along. Yummmm… Not to mention the delicious smoky Earl Gray tea and additional chocolate biscuits. This was one of the best teas I have had so far, I only wish I could have afternoon company with them more often!

And once again I could kick myself for not taking a group photo of the four of us! Well, I have to wait until Easter when I see Janet and Maurice again.  

I’m guessing that was all a part of Janet’s evil plan though…because somehow she got about 15 photos of Aaron and myself! But it's okay because she gave us one of the photos from that day framed as an engagment gift. Thank you Aunt Janet!

Then after a leisurely afternoon we took the train back to London and met my cousin Martin and his friend Andrew for a drink and jazz in Covent Garden. Finally tired and starving, Aaron and I dragged ourselves home to pass out before his flight in the morning.

But wait, what did I what eat this weekend?

Ready for Saturday?

After dropping Aaron out at Heathrow, I rode on the tube an hour to Borough Market so I couldn’t shut myself in my room and wallow. One mango orange juice and a cocoa tea later I still didn’t feel much better. So I grabbed a Mediterranean lunch box to-go and went home to eat it alone. Don’t feel bad, it was delicious. I should have taken photos.

I was practically all by myself as the rest of my housemates were in Wales so I had the house and the telly to myself for once! So I proceeded to rent and watch the entire second series of Downton Abbey along with a dinner I made late Saturday night.

So worth it.

After picking up some red beets and wild garlic leaves at Borough I went to town!

I had never tried wild garlic before but was willing to give it a whirl. It is gaining in popularity here and I found it at many a stand at Borough. I proceeded to add it to every portion of my meal.

White wine sautéed red beets and beet greens with wild garlic and banana shallot

Baked chicken breast stuffed with mushroom pate and wild garlic. Yummmmmmmm….

And Mashed sweet potatoes with wild garlic....

And the wild garlic is green so it totally goes into this month’s WIAW theme!

I’m not sure if wild garlic is readily available in the States, but here is London it is at all the markets. If you can find it, do try it. Wild garlic gives a delicious garlic flavor that’s less bitey than normal garlic but with all the deliciousness and healthiness of the bulb.

I struggled over which recipe to share. I do think everyone should try the beets but since the sweet potatoes are pretty self explanatory and sooooooo delicious I thought this would be a good recipe for WIAW despite my lack of photos.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Wild Garlic: 2 Servings (easily doubled)

Ingredients:

2-3 large sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped into small chunks

One banana shallot, cut in half (a small yellow onion works too)

3-5 leaves of wild garlic, roughly chopped (alter depending on your garlic preference)

1 tsp. butter

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

salt for water

Splash of skimmed milk

Directions:

Bring a pot of salted water, banana shallot and cut sweet potatoes to boil, covered.

Once water begins to boil, take off lid and continue boiling for 10-20 minutes depending on how small you cut your potatoes. Check the doneness by piercing a potato chunk with a fork, should be soft enough to slice the potato.

Once potatoes are done drain the water.

In the pot (NOT ON HEAT) mashed the potatoes and shallot so they are well mixed. Add chopped wild garlic, garlic salt, butter. Mix and add milk depending on desired consistency.

Eat while hot with any meal!

Sweet potatoes are so good for you and such an inexpensive treat. Try this recipe to add a little more “sweet” to your life! And make some red beets while you are at it!

Because I haven’t done a Cuisiner Playlist in a while I thought I would recommend checking out Keane’s new single, “Silenced By the Night.” The album doesn’t come out until May 7^th but I am SO EXCITED! I missed Keane. Check it out and buy this album I need more of this band in my life!

http://www.keanemusic.com/

Enjoy!

Love,

The College Cuisiner

 p.s. look for Prague pictures coming soon I promise! I’m going to Barcelona this weekend as well. Can’t wait for the sunshine and good eats!

Travel: Paris and More

With my long absence I have been thinking about what I should be posting, catch up from Prague, or Paris. Now, do not let me skip over Prague, it was too beautiful not to share with you.  But I feel that Aaron and my trip to Paris this weekend is “more” pressing to share the news.

As a disclaimer Aaron took many of the photos this weekend along with the occassional tourist we found who had a tripod. Those are the only ones you can trust to take a good photo. This was not due to my lack of "wanting" to take the photos but instead Aaron's desire to take the photos for once, (which I couldn't refuse.) But the one above is mine.

This week Aaron came to visit (even though you already know,) and as soon as he got off the plane we hopped on the Euro Star to Paris. We stayed right in the center of everything with a lovely hostess and her terrier, Gypsy.

Our first night was the main event of course. After settling in we took a trip to the Arc de Triomphe. And there…. I got this….

Excited cries commence accordingly. Sorry for the awful photo.

Of course we got lots of photos of the two of us from various other visitors and the best was from the guy we found with a tripod.

And of course since this is a food blog, I have to talk about the food.

After the amazing proposal we went to Le Tour de Eiffel (Eiffel Tower) and found an amazing little bistro a few blocks away with ten tables run by two old French men. One was the chef and one was the waiter. It was perfect. Terrine des poissons (Fish mouse) with crusty brown bread and the most amazing garlic aioli ever. Their aioli is not mayonnaise but egg based so it is light and so flavorful. Yum yum.

Then I had “filet de pouvre”: white fish with vegetable ratatouille and Aaron had I believe a beef stuffed tomato. Afterwards we shared a cheese plate and an amazing coffee macaroon. And did I mention the bottle of wine since in France you don't order glasses apparently.

This was the most perfect place to go after Aaron’s amazing proposal. After dinner we walked around the Eiffel Tower and then went back and passed out from sheer exhaustion.

The view from our apartment:

The next day we woke up at 10am instead of the 8:30 we asked our hostess to have breakfast ready. I can legitimately blame my alarm clock but I just suck in general. After our epic fail, we went to explore Paris a bit.

Since it was a bit rainy we took advantage of Monique's suggestion to visit the Louvre which is free on the first Sunday of the month. And we did, but first we took pictures and people watched.

Inside the walls of the Louvre...

Then the camera died and we had to charge it before going to dinner and sightseeing again.


So the next day we went Notre Dame, Le Tour de Eiffel for an incredible lunch and view, and Mont Martre and Sacre Cure at sunset.

 

 

 

I could say so much about this trip but I hope the pictures tell the story pretty well. We both had an amazing time and I’m so happy we could go there for our engagement. More to come on the rest of Aaron’s time here!

Love,

The College Cuisiner

p.s. I promise to be here on Wednesday!

Blogger Survey

My friend Jen, author of Live Beautifully tagged me in this questions game. While the questions are really fun, I wonder how much you will really learn about me from my answers, probably just that I’m super weird. I thought this would be a good in between since I am writing another Sociology paper and do not have enough internet to upload my Prague pictures. They are coming I promise! Also on the schedule, Nutella and coconut covered strawberries, the Borough Market, wine tasting at Whole Foods, and after this weekend…Paris with my darling Aaron! See you then!

Enjoy!

The basis for the game is easy, after all, there are only five rules:

1. Post these rules.
2. Post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.
3. Answer the questions set for you in the original post.
4. Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5. Go to their blog/twitter and tell them you’ve tagged them.

Eleven Random Things:

1. I often randomly break into song no matter where I am: work, doing the dishes, etc. and usually there is a dance to go along.
2. I’m a terrible dancer. I can do the spontaneous “let’s dance” dancing but when it comes to coordinated steps I am completely hopeless.
3. When I was a kid I used to eat so much bacon, whoever was making it would hide the rest from me as I could easily polish on a half pound by myself. And since I was seven years old and weighed maybe 50 lbs, that’s kind of impressive. (funny that I don’t eat it now!)
4. I used to think the song “Maneater” actually went like this, “Oh here she comes, watch out boy she’ll chew you up, oh here she comes, she’s a mad diva!” Cause that makes sense.
5. In the sixth grade, I used to research Ancient Greek mythology for fun. Hey, I learned a lot.
6. When I was six, 22 years old seemed impossibly old and mature.
7. I believe in faeries.
8. I read all five Twilight books. I’m ashamed.
9. I’m not ashamed that at one point the Spice Girls were my favorite band of all time and I owned all their World Tour Dolls. But I refused to open them because one day they might be collector items. I think that was one of my mom’s “my child is strange” moments.
10. I could eat for a living, and still be hungry. My favorite foods include V-8 juice, mushrooms of any kind, and salmon.
11. When I was 19 I met the love of my life. This weekend we are going to Paris together. That’s not so random though.

Jen’s Questions for Me:
1. If you could see any book turned into a movie, what book would it be and why?

My own book based on a fictional conspiracy theory that claims Tsar Nicholas II of Russia could have escaped death by impersonating his cousin English King George V. I’m a history geek.

2. If your home was on fire, what would be the first thing that you would grab?

The phone to call 911 to tell them my house is on fire.

3. What is the one thing you are most afraid of?

Jell-O. Solids should not jiggle. It defies the laws of nature.

4. What candy bar do you think is most like your personality?

Cadbury Dark Chocolate Fruit and Nut. Complex, sweet, and a little nutty.

5. If you could learn any skill or hobby, what would it be?

Teleportation. Think of the money I could save on travel!

6. If you could be part of any TV or movie family, which family would it be and why?

The Aristocats. Nuff said.

7. Given the chance to trade places with any celebrity, which celebrity would you pick?

Meryl Streep. I don’t want to trade places with her, just be her best friend and talk about the National Women’s History Museum.

8. If cost was not a factor, where in the world would you choose to live?

Under the sea. In actuality, I’m loving London but Prague is growing on me…

9. What is your most memorable vacation, road trip or adventure?

I think it would be the weeklong trip my mom and I took to Williamsburg, and Jamestown, Virginia for my 13^th birthday. I totally won an argument with a reenactor about religion in Pennsylvania.

10. What one trait is a necessity for you to find in a significant other?

Can eat like me and love my cooking. I hate dating “non-eaters,” that’s weird. Good thing I found him.

11. If you could only eat out at one restaurant for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?

My mom’s kitchen. She’s better than any restaurant.

I had a lot of fun with this little "game" and found it to be a challenge, too. Thanks to Jen for tagging me! I hope that those of you I tagged will participate - I'm anxious to see your facts and answers! I am tagging Emilie from Hungry Delights (A new favorite of mine) and Carrie from BakeaholicMama, my go-to blogger friend for good recipes and some great support!

Questions for you:

1. What got you into blogging? What made you stick with it?
2. If you had one album with you on a deserted island, what would it be and why?
3. Chocolate or Vanilla? Why?
4. If you could be sent to anytime in history where would it be and why?
5. If you were suddenly bit by a radio-active spider tomorrow, what super power would you wish to have?
6. What’s your Favorite Disney Princess?
7. Who is the most inspiring person you have ever known?
8. How do you feel about shorts and stockings? Weird or cute?
9. Favorite food you’ve ever made and why.
10. Favorite thing about your hometown and/or state.
11. What is your favorite childhood memory?

If anyone else feels inspired to answer these questions go for it! If you decide to play along, leave a comment here so that I can view your responses!

Thanks again Jen!

Love,

The College Cusiner