Love has great taste.
For those who believe that food is love; the love for that perfectly baked cake, the chicken roasted to perfection, chocolate that melts in your mouth, then you'll want to cook as much as I do.
Or maybe it's something someone else made for you that's just to die for.
Today, mum and I met after an early end to school (those really are the best of days) and we decided upon lunch at our favourite spot on the island. The view looks out on the ferry's path, and on a clear day our tiny ferry can be seen passing the routes of the huge ferries in comparison on it's way back and forth from the mainland.
Kids waited for their dance classes over juices and oversized cookies and situated in the comfortable lounge chairs by the fire in the corner, but their voices escalated around the entire room as did their levels of sugar.
At a small table by the window, mum and I sat across from each other and waited for our food after ordering at the counter, laden with jars of cookies and biscotti and farther down from that, a tiered cake platter supported large meringues of varying sizes and shapes - my favourite being the little mouse ones. Perfectly decorated with little half pistachios as ears and chocolate chips for eyes, they look like the perfect afternoon treat. In the cooler we eyed the prepared dishes, our mouths watering at french delicacies, soups, sandwiches and tapas.
The cafe varies their menu of soups often, tomato basil one week, to squash, potato & cumin the next, and because of their enviable gluten-free bread served alongside, a tasty slice with the evidence of being grilled from the black criss-crossed lines along the front and back, I am most inclined to feel the comfort of a hot bowl. Immediately upon entering, I check the small blackboard that sways in its brackets above the counter and announces today's soups in colourful, spiralling chalk lettering.
What a comfort to have soup by the window of a cafe, overlooking an array of trees pounded by the rain, and to be still and warm, even overheating, from both the food and a hot latté.
I wish you were here.
The food comes by way of a friendly waitress, who lays each dish down on the wooden table as I collect napkins and cutlery from a little basket from the centre table.
It smells so good.
And for dessert, because we just couldn't resist the new addition to the display of enticing dishes, we shared a warm rice pudding served in a cute little jar and topped with raspberry jam. Mum and I couldn't keep our spoons still even if we tried.
"Pass the puddin' please,"
we repeated over and over to each other, until the very last spoonful was scraped from the bottom, and we finally relaxed back into the large wooden chairs to people watch again. Perhaps one day I will finally make such a delicacy, and together, we will share in the warmth and comfort of a creamy rice pudding, straight from the oven.
And perhaps with the intent of cooking from scratch, it may take a few tries to reach the desired creaminess with that subtle hint of real vanilla. We will indulge in the simple pleasure of creation, and the outcome of something so beautiful, even if it only lasts a few moments in the face of expectant family and friends.
They will love everything you cook for them. So, dinner tonight?
Baked Rosemary Potatoes
Printable Recipe.
To accompany any main meal, these potatoes are full of rich flavours and cooked to perfection!
A Quick Note:
When chopping the onions, it is much easier to chop them with the ends still on! The end with the roots attached, that resembles little tentacles, actually holds together the onions structure, and keeps the layers tightly bonded. I usually cut my onion in half, slice across it again, without cutting the end, and then slice, which creates diced onions!
Serves 3 - 4 as a side dish.
Ingredients
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 c rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp grape seed oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb baby potatoes
1 red onion, chopped
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
In a 20 cm wide baking dish, combine the garlic, rosemary, rice wine vinegar, mustard, oil and salt and pepper, stirring until mixed.
Chop the washed potatoes in halves, and add them with the red onion to the dish, coat in mixture.
Cover the dish with foil, securing the ends by curling the foil around the dish, and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil, and bake for another 20 - 25 minutes.
Labels: chives, dinner, gluten free, lunch, meal, potato, pudding, rice, side, soup, vegetable
