2020: Week 37

September 7, 2020 – September 13, 2020

Bucket List Items Accomplished

Take a cooking class. I took an online class for a “Moroccan Feast” from a local cooking school, The London Chef. I made chicken tagine, saffron rice with almonds, and spiced roasted cauliflower during the class. It was all so delicious and it was such a good time.
Make tagine
Make Morrocan mint tea
Make chai properly
Make pitas. I made them to accompany some shakshuka.
Buy and use a brick/cake of pu-erh tea. I’m enjoying using this earthy tea. The fermentation gives it a depth that you don’t find in other teas.

Things I Enjoyed this Week

I want to continue posting the new words I find in the wild from books or podcasts.
1. Sable – a carnivorous mammal of the weasel family or its pelt, the colour black or the dark brown color of sable fur, dark, gloomy

I watched no Oscar Best Picture Winners.

I taught myself no new constellations this week.

Meal Prep and New Recipes Tried

I made Morrocan mint tea to drink while I did my Morrocan feast cooking class. I followed this guide and this recipe from the Spruce Eats. I did not add that much sugar though. I just added enough to suit my taste.
I made Chai Tea Syrup using this recipe from Not Quite Nigella, with the addition of some black peppercorns.
I threw together some shakshuka. I cooked a chopped onion with 1 tsp of cumin seed in a splash of olive oil for about 10 minutes in the bottom of my dutch oven. I then added two diced peppers and three diced cloves of garlic for a few minutes more. I then added a bunch of roughly chopped zucchini and a couple chopped chiles in adobo for a few minutes more. A chopped up can of tomatoes followed, and I simmered it for 15 minutes while I preheated the broiler. I made wells in the top for eight eggs and cooked them under the broiler until the whites were set. I like that shakshuka is pretty flexible and forgiving. You can use up lots of different kinds of veggies and spice it how you like.
I made Pita Bread using Ottolenghi’s recipe on the Guardian.com. I’ll eat this alongside my shakshuka and some various frozen soups I plan to work though this week.
I followed What Should I Eat for Breakfast Today’s recipe for Millet Baked with Berries to prep some very nice breakfasts to heat up at work this week. I had a bag of millet in my cupboard, and this was a warm and delicious use for it. I gathered the blackberries I used while I was out on a walk on Sunday. It was the perfect sort of breakfast for late summer, and the beginning of fall weather.