Dear friend, foe or random reader,
Thanks. I have been dreaming about blogging for quite a while now and it's thanks to some very special people's gentle pushes that I'm actually doing it. The fact that you're reading this proves it hasn't been entirely useless. Please feel free to let me know what you think and to ask questions, comment, etc.
Enough polite banter, let's get started.
Considering this blog is supposed a travel blog as well as a food blog, I guess it's only fair to start it up in the air, on the flight to New York – and then to Bogota. I will do us all the pleasure of not commenting on the meals on Delta flights, but will directly move on to Colombian cuisine, which isoften almost ridiculously simple, yet surprisingly yummy at times. I recently invited a bunch of friends over to a “back from the jungle” lunch, dishing up the few vegetarian recipes I learned while travelling in Colombia. My friends were somewhat puzzled, I think, when I started the meal by proclaiming that this was indeed the way these dishes were supposed to taste, which might come over as a bit bland and almost boring. Colombian spice shelves tend to be as empty as a church on a weekday (which, as a matter of fact, is a simile not applicable to Colombia) – salt, pepper and Coriander is what gives food its flavour here. But this simplicity can be a good thing, as it gives the ingredients a chance to stand out on their own. Certainly amazing is the Changua, the traditional Colombian hangover cure, a soup made of only milk, water, old bread, salt, spring onion and eggs. A great dish to start this blog: simple yet delicious, uncommon yet with truly everyday ingredients.
Here's the recipe (Thanks, Mario!!) - this is for 4 hung-over people
600ml milk
300ml water
1 spring onion, chopped very finely
3-4 pieces of rusk or old bread
salt to taste
4 eggs
+ cheese (grated)
+ coriander (brrrrrr) or parsley (yum!)
Heat up milk and water in a large pot, add spring onion and salt. Break rusk in pieces, add to the soup. Bring to a boil, then carefully add eggs on at a time (they should be poached in the soup, therefore try to not break the yolk when opening them). Let boil for a minute or two, then slowly stir and serve (one egg per person). Add cheese and/or herb(s).
Enjoy!
Coming up next: my favourite banana bread (this is for you, Kasia!)
