Defoliation

Ever eaten artichoke? Not from a jar? Sounds scary? Here's how!

Buy an artichoke with nice green leaves (no blackened ones) and cut the stem off right under the blossom. Place in a pot and add water, such that the artichoke does just not start swimming. Add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Depending on the size of your artichoke, simmer for 25-40 min. You can test if it is done by taking it out of the pot and testing if the lowest leaves come off easily. They should.

While the artichoke is in the pot, make some kind of dip. I usually do a thick salad sauce, approximately like this:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• some salt and pepper
• 1-2 teaspoons mustard (medium spicy)
• 1/2 teaspoon dandelion honey

When the artichoke is ready, take it out, let the water drip off, and place it on a plate. You might want to throw away the first leaves, but it depends on your artichoke. Dip the leaves in the sauce and use your front teeth to scrape the lowest, edible part from the leaf.

The leaves become thinner and thinner towards the center. Finally, you'll end up at the hairy center. I do not recommend eating it - the artichoke is a thistle, after all! Scrape it off with a knife.

If you had a really big artichoke, it might be necessary to remove a bit of fibrous material from the bottom of the remaining part at this stage. Then cut into little chunks, dip them in the sauce and enjoy the best part of the whole thing. Bon appétit!

Sign of life

Yes, we are still here, and still cooking. But somehow too lazy to blog. The man is very busy working at the moment, and the lasagna and the rhubarb crumble we made nearly two weeks ago were eaten long before we thought of taking a picture. So only a few random pictures of foooood today.

Green smoothie with salad, cucumber and banana.
Next time, definitely less cucumber...

Scrambled tofu from Vegan with a Vengeance
(I only have the iPhone App),
with tomatoes instead of champignons.

Freezer compartment thawing menu:
Seitan, peas, pasta (the latter was not in the freezer...)

I also made hemp milk for the first time, which was very tasty. I never knew what to do with the unshelled hemp seeds, but for milk, they are perfect.

Very weird is the fact that I am starting to like soy milk. Pure soy milk. Without sweetener and oil added. I never thought I could like that "beany" taste, but interestingly, taste buds adapt. Pretty cool.

Good news: happycow.net finally has an iPhone app. Which definitely needs improvement, especially for the offline use, but hey, it's a good start! We will be traveling to Sweden in June, so it is perfect.