chunky or creamy?

no, i'm not talking about peanut butter. because everyone knows crunchy is better than creamy. (;

tomato soup! that's the subject. last week it was rain, rain, rain. surprise! so i was really craving a soup or stew of some sort. canned tomatoes, garlic, onion, herbs... those are all cheap things i have in the kitchen. my only splurge was a red bell pepper, which i roasted with a head of garlic and chopped them roughly before adding to the pot. of course the dane couldn't stand on vegetables alone for dinner, so i baked a chunk of artisan bread in a loaf pan. the results would have been better had i not turned my back on the oven for 3 minutes. the broil function don't mess around, sistah. however it was thankfully still edible.


though i really liked the rustic soup, sometimes i'm in the mood for a creamy, decadent soup. but for some reason we haven't bought a blender for the new apartment yet.

...until now!! today i was feeling totally lost for dinner so i just gave in and bought a braun standing blender on the way home from work. so that's how mina had hummus with cucumbers and carrots for thanksgiving dinner. the end. (:

to kale or not to kale

sadly, it was kind of a struggle for me to eat this. i guess the 'wasabi sesame drizzle sauce' is what makes all the difference. also, the texture was a bit too tough for me. i ate all the shiitake mushrooms greedily and pushed the greens around on my plate until i guilted myself into finishing it. i bought a bag of organic danish kale on a whim but it had to be taken care of. but it looked pretty!


however, the success did come eventually. leftovers plus more leftovers apparently equals awesome! only slightly daunted by the rest of the kale sitting in the bag, i took the water saved from soaking the shiitakes and dumped them in a pot with some water and crushed garlic. once it was boiling, i added the unthawed dumplings from the back of the freezer. when i assumed the dumplings were un-iced i laid kale on top and covered the pot so they could steam. i added soy sauce and a bit of sesame oil after the kale was a little tenderized.


too bad i don't have a recipe down because it smelled and tasted so much of the kitchen of my childhood. even the dumplings were pretty good despite the terrible wrapping job i did. this soup made me miss my mom and grandmothers' cooking so much! i can't wait to visit california in december. (:

finally! i went to thai kalasin again with the same friend and of course i had to order the fish since she didn't. it is SO delicious and pretty damn spicy. also; it's not on the menu. the prices are pretty reasonable by copenhagen standards so if you ever find yourself there, order the fried fish in red curry. (;

so-so salmon

i made this recipe with some fresh salmon filets that i got from nørreport fiskehus a few days earlier with the intention to make sushi. unfortunately i put in the peas too early and too little salt for it to be too interesting. yes, i did use carrots instead of parsnips but i'm sure that didn't make much difference. lemon only made it slightly better. and i am always a bit disturbed by the white gunk that oozes out of salmon whenever i cook it. anyway, should have pan-fried it.

the vegetables were good, anyhow. and it's good practice for me to actually cook fish once in a while.

stuffed hokkaido pumpkin

the main reason i bought this pumpkin was probably for visual appeal; what else could have been on my mind when this tiny, unfamiliar produce found its way into my shopping basket? it sat around the apartment on a cake stand for almost a month before i realized i could make a very familiar food with it. i'm not sure if it is a traditional korean food but i see (acorn?) squash stuffed with purple in the korean markets all the time. it's cheap and probably very healthy. i cheated and stuffed this orange vessel with already-cooked purple rice from the freezer. before that, i coated the insides with vegetable oil and soy sauce. after about 50 minutes at 200°C, it could be easily pierced by a fork and i guess that gives the green light. it was so good! this is the kind of food that makes me think of home. the only problem was that it needed some salt and pepper. i assumed that the soy sauce would lend enough saltiness but it needed a pinch or two more. this is definitely going to be made again. (:


hey, i did not buy a $4 organic pumpkin just to toss the seeds. they got roasted and will be my snack on the train tomorrow.