Back from Italy

Spuds from the garden.

It was very challenging getting enough vegan food in Italy, especially given the constraints of our stay which was hotel based and without self-catering facilities. I have a new appreciation of vegetables and a desire to eat everything in the garden. Except the slugs, obviously.

I did get an Italian cookery book, one dealing solely with vegetable dishes. Not many of them are vegan but there's enough inspiration there for some Italian styled creations to come in the next few weeks. And we had one or two nice pasta meals which I shall try to recreate.

Care Package

A very kind friend sent this little inducement for a picky appetite. It's really very good.

Off to Italy at the end of the week. Past experience of the country suggests that it will be a challenge to eat vegan in restaurants and hotels and Happy Cow and Trip Advisor have no practical suggestions for the area around Como where we'll be.

However, I'm hoping we'll be able to find some breakfast at the hotel and I'll be able to roll our own lunches from local supermarkets. If anyone has any experience of finding vegan food in the area I'd love to hear it.

Ciao.

Don't do as I do

I don't think I've ever had as little interest in food in all my life as I do at this moment, not even when I was an anorexic teen. Then, it was all about what I could eat that wouldn't make me fat, just at the moment it's all about what can I force myself to eat so I won't faint.

When I discovered I didn't have the motivation to drink the second mug of breakfast coffee things seemed to have reached rock bottom. I couldn't waste it, but what the hell was I going to do with it? Freezing it seemed quite a good idea, at least then it would wait until I was ready for it.

Granita is a water ice, less frothy than a sorbet and extremely easy to make, no ice cream churn or fancy custards to prepare. Any drink can be turned into a granita as long as the flavour is strong enough to survive being served as an icy slush. Coffee is a particularly appropriate option for hot weather, get your after dinner caffeine or mid-morning pick me up as a cooling scoop.

Now, I did this all wrong because frankly I don't give a damn but the basic principle is very simple. Make strong black coffee, I had about 300ml. Sweeten it. This is easiest while it's hot. If it's already cooled then you'll either have to stir like mad to get the sugar crystals to dissolve or use a simple syrup to taste. I had no simple syrup so I used dandelion - not entirely successfully, citrus and flowers don't mingle terribly well with coffee flavours. Then, add a shot of spirits. This really helps the texture, preventing the slush from turning into a solid icecube in the freezer but it's not essential. Vodka is a good flavourless choice, or if you'd like a little sophistication use a rum or brandy. I used gin. Gin is not flavourless and is not a good companion to coffee. I can live with that.

Set to freeze in a plastic container for about 1-2 hours, then remove from freezer and mash up the ice with a fork until it's all broken and frothy. Return to freezer, if you've used enough alcohol and sugar it will easily scoop when required, to be served with or without additions. If you've used too much sugar and alcohol it will never freeze but it might be fun to drink. Responsibly of course...

Coffee Granita

300ml strong black coffee
30ml spirits (vodka, rum or brandy)
Sugar or simple syrup to taste

Sweeten coffee as preferred, allow to cool.

Mix in spirits. Freeze for a couple of hours, then mash and scrape down ice crystals to an uniform texture. Return to freezer until needed.

Serve in a tall glass with a spoon and extras (creamy things, more alcohol) as required.

I have no idea

what's going on here. All the salad leaves were picked in the garden and served with a peanut dressing that was just a bit too icky to picture.

Pudding, which I consumed before the salad, was this banana bread banana icecream sandwich. I think, if I'm going to blog my food, I'm going to have to blog what I'm eating and not what I think I should be eating. It's not going to be very instructive.

Er...

This wild vegetable crepe is probably the healthiest thing I've made myself to eat for several days. As a spur to keeping my diet in good order while I'm alone this blog is failing. I haven't been blogging because the food I'm making and eating doesn't meet my criteria for bloggable entry - it's mostly toast, junk foods, breakfast cereal and sweeties. I'm a mess.

The crepe is made from a mixture of 60% gram (chickpea, besan) flour with 40% white wheat flour and just enough water to make a good pouring batter. Fried in olive oil, it was filled with some just picked weeds from the garden; magentaspreen tree spinach seedlings.

Remove the roots, clean the weeds and blanch before seasoning with black pepper and shoyu to make the filling.

It was good. I'm not sure when I'll have the energy to cook or blog again though.