Muesli Rusks

I don't know where rusks originally came from - I think the Dutch brought them - or something similar -  to South Africa years ago. My memories of eating rusks involve crunching them on holiday in South Africa, eating them early in the morning in Nyanga, even trying Aunty Heather's rusks in Bindura when I was a kid. 

Here is my mom's recipe (with a few healthier substitutions) - the ones that taste like home, and it uses our homemade muesli recipe. . But you can use anything - oats, seeds, coconut, nuts, bran....be creative :)

Mix together:

1C melted marg/butter

1C applesauce

3/4C sugar

1 egg

1C lacto/buttermilk

In a separate bowl mix:

3 & 3/4C self-raising flour

1 tsp salt

2 1/2tsp baking powder

2 1/2 C muesli

Add the wet and dry mixture together - mixture will be sloppy.

Grease a 13x9" pan and plop the mixture into large balls in the pan (fit's about 12 balls).

Bake on 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes, until golden and a knife comes out clean.

Remove from oven and break or cut each ball into thin strips. Lay the strips on baking trays and place in the oven on low to become dry and crisp. (I usually leave them in the oven like this for a few hours and then turn the oven off, go to bed and let them dry in the oven)

Curried Black-Bean Soup

Here is an experiment that went amazingly well! The one I used as the base for it called for all sorts of things I didn't have; like chickpeas and coconut milk and so on. I just made a few adjustments...


1 C milk
1/4 C shredded coconut
1 onion large, chopped
1/4-1/2 tsp chili flakes
2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 medium tomato, chopped
1-2tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt

pepper
1 can black beans, drained
1 C chicken broth (or boiling water with a chicken cube)

Put the milk and shredded coconut together and set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Fry the onion, garlic and chili flakes in oil on medium heat until the onion is soft, approx 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, spices and beans and heat through for another 5 mins.
Add the broth and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, uncovered.
Add the milk/coconut mixture and heat through.

Delicious as a soup, with crunchy bread or with rice.
Try adding cheese on top or fresh cilantro.

Lentil Loaf

An easy Lentil Loaf with amazing flavour! I got the original ideas for this recipe from somewhere online but when I went back to look for the recipe I couldn't find the website! I am sorry I can't give credit where credit is due, but the oats and bread idea came from someone-else...I don't want to take credit for something that isn't mine :)

2C red lentils (it would probably work with green/brown ones too)
1C chicken stock (I used 1C water and added a chicken cube)
1/2C oats
2 Tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped small
1 carrot, chopped small
1/2 tomato, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2/3 slices bread, chopped small
1 or 2 tsp curry powder
sprinkle of chilli flakes
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp applesauce

Simmer the lentils and stock together for 15 minutes and then leave to cool for 15 minutes. I ended up adding about a cup of water...just keep an eye on it as it cooks...
While that is sitting, toast the oats in the over for about 10 minutes.
Fry the garlic in the oil, then add the vegetables and saute til soft. Add the herbs and fry for a short while.
Throw all ingredients into the lentils and stir together - don't forget the applesauce.

Grease a loaf pan (or a round cake pan if you don't have one...it works!) and put your mixture into the pan. Bake at 350 for an hour or an hour and a half. The sides will brown and the top will be golden - and the kitchen will fill with a wonderful aroma!

Goes great with rice, in pita bread with plain yogurt, on toast, even tastes good cold...

Ode to my Feet

I am currently very happy with my feet. I realize that almost everyone has them, and usually they are associated with dirt, smells and sweat. We often try to adorn them with bright, painted toe-nails or perhaps a toe ring, I've even seen some very creative tattoos. 
However, though they carry us about in our day-to-day activities they seldom receive the praise which they deserve. Since coming to Thailand I have begun to pay more attention to my feet. 
In this country, feet are considered the dirtiest and most offensive part of the body; shoes are removed before entering any house or temple, feet are to be kept clean out of courtesy to others, and it is rude to point ones feet at another person, and even more offensive if done to a Buddha statue.

Because of the need for constant vigilance concerning the state and direction of my feet, I have began to pay closer attention to them and I feel as though I have been ignoring them all my life. The other day I was reminded not to take them for granted.

It was a day when I put my poor and uncomplaining feet through a great deal of walking - first from my apartment to Kad Suun Keew mall and back - about an hour walk each way - and then all around the Sunday night Walking Street for a few hours. If this was not enough, I then took the long trek home from Tapae Gate (another hour's walk)! It was only after showering and laying myself down in exhaustion, that I turned my attention to the appendages at the end of my legs. I stared at them in wonder; sore and swollen they had carried my towering body across the city as I trudged back and forth. What strength and perseverance! With a new appreciation I lay on my bed and massaged those tired and faithful friends. 

Thank God for my feet!

Airports and Coffee Shops

Have you ever felt happy with the present? Not 'The Present', that large, general and ambiguous category of time that we stick somewhere in the middle of Past and Future, but the present moment. As if you are suspended in time, not even thinking about time at all really, but content just to be? Its a wonderful feeling; to be thrilled at this amazing thing called existence, grinning for no apparent reason at the world - so full of normal, every-day, average life! I suppose that is what it really feels like to "live in the moment". It's not simply taking life as it comes by being spontaneous and crazy, living with a live-for-anything attitude, but rather it means standing still. Stopping. While everyone else rushes by you just look at the world around you. We seldom have time to remember the present. We're always rushing to and fro, from one task to the next, always planning the future or regretting the past. We forget the present and how wonderful it is to simply be, now.

There are certain places I have found, where this "living in the present" feeling comes on quite strong, places that contain a lot of fodder for this craving for life. One such place is airports. Having done a fair bit of travelling in the past five years or so (the latest of which has brought me to Asia, to a 5 month semester abroad in Chiang Mai, Thailand), I have come to appreciate these fascinating places. Airports are like giant spice shops or spice cookies; the flavours of the world come to mesh momentarily in delicious, often surprising combinations. (Incidentally, spice cookies and spice shops are not for everyone...)
Airports are portholes, existing unattached and not really part of anywhere. There is a certain universal quality to them for though each one carries the particular flavours of the home country, they are essentially the same from country to country. Airports hold combinations of languages, fashions, smells, generations, styles and every state of human emotion and interaction you could think of - humanity in all its glory and misery! You have prim and proper air hostesses, travel-worn families, tanned tourists, suited business men, flurried officials - travelers and workers all suspended in time, waiting for the destination, for the journey to be over, for 'real life' to continue. Or begin. 

The second place in which you can suspend yourself above time and watch the rest of humanity - those poor souls still caught up in its grip - is at coffee shops, or cafes. Here you can see the anxious businessman, late for a meeting but not willing to give up his caffeine, the  students - a gaggle of girls on their phones and ipods, giggling and texting. The silent young male sent by friends to get all the orders - he leaves with 5 drinks in a bag or a box to take back to work or to the party or the video-game marathon. There's the old man, a teacher with his laptop and books, the shy couple, the mother with her espresso and daughter with her fruit juice. 


I am currently enjoying a large iced mocha (or  มอคค่าเย็น if you want the actual Thai name), courtesy of Groon Cafe. I'd like to boast about this little cafe, of which I have become extremely fond. Over the past three weeks it has become my favourite coffee shop in Chiang Mai. It is a small, one-roomed cafe off of Suthep Road, soi 4, with delicious drinks, free wi-fi and friendly female baristas. The  inside of the cafe is decorated with old pictures - scattered photographs of the King and his wife when they were young, and also shelf after shelf of random collections - magazines, empty drink cans, old toys...there's even a couple ancient-looking television sets. The place is frequented primarily by young people; students of the University and a few resident Farang/foreigners like myself and is a perfect place to sit and observe (and judge, let's be honest) the life around me. In fact, I would suggest that everyone follow my example, give it a try: perch yourself in the corner of your favourite coffee shop, preferably with a view of the door and one of the road/sidewalk outside, order a nice iced latte or hot chocolate or a fruit shake, arm yourself with an ipod, a book, a laptop, a notebook and pen, even a text book - its not important, its merely the facade you'll be hiding behind. Once you have assumed this position you can sit and enjoy. And just watch life and people.

Banana Nut Cake

Add chocolate chips or make these into muffins. mmmm!
2 1/3 cup flour
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups mashed bananas
2/3 cups chopped nuts
2/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/.4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt


Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 13x9x2 inch pan.

Beat all ingredients on low speed, scraping sides of bowl constantly, 30 secs.
Beat on high for 3 min. Pour into pan

Bake for 45 to 50 min. Frost with Creamy vanilla frosting or just sprinkle with icing sugar.

Maple Oat Cookies

These are a healthy, nutty, crunchy delight! My friend found this recipe on a korean website and we baked them together. Its really versatile - add any sort of nut, seed, coconut etc - whatever tickles your fancy!

Makes 20-24 cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C wholewheat flour
1- 1.5 C plain oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2tsp salt
100g butter
2/3 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup nuts (or seeds etc)

Mix together butter and brown sugar. Beat the egg in a seperate bowl and add to the sugar mixture. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt, then add to the sugar mixture. Add oatmeal and nuts.
Shape into balls and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake on 360 degrees for 10-15 minutes.