Warm and Spicy: Comfort Foods of Autumn


After Summer, Autumn is definitely my favourite time of year (except that it leads to Winter which I am really not a big fan of).  Besides the gorgeous colours, the crisp cool air, the perfect outdoor running weather (except for the rain) it also reminds me of the hearty, warm and spicy home cooked meals.

Such as my roasted root vegetables dish (pictured above) which was made for my family, a recipe from my 500 Vegan Recipes cook book.  It was delicious and simple to make.  Simply chop up sweet potato, onion, carrots and fennel, toss in olive oil and add some spices like sea salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano and/or basil.

One of my favourite all time spices is cinnamon. Besides its many health benefits, it's one of the best spices I've found that is great for anything sweet or savoury, for baking or cooking, for food or drinks - it's really a miracle spice in my opinion, that goes with pretty much anything!  It's a perfect spice for Autumn culinary delights like vegan cinnamon bread ...


I got the recipe for this wonderfully sweet bread from 500 Vegan Recipes cook book.  It's sweet and spicy and pretty good for you in that it's doesn't take too much sugar and is made with spelt flour.  I think I even added less sugar then it called for, to bring out the cinnamon.  It was a delight after dinner with the family.

Thanks for visiting my blog, please leave a comment or two, a suggestion or recipe idea!

i Light Marina Bay

Asia's first sustainable light art festival at Marina Bay Waterfront
15 October - 7 November 2010

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Animal Tree


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Rumah Adat Sasak lombok NTB

Salah satu bentuk dari bukti kebudayaan Sasak adalah bentuk bangunan rumah adatnya.
Rumah bukan sekadar tempat hunian yang multifungsi, melainkan juga punya nilai estetika dan pesan-pesan filosofi bagi penghuninya, baik arsitektur maupun tata ruangnya.
Rumah adat Sasak pada bagian atapnya berbentuk seperti gunungan, menukik ke bawah dengan jarak sekitar 1,5 - 2 m.
Atap dan bubungannya (bungus) terbuat dari alang-alang, dindingnya dari anyaman bambu, hanya mempunyai satu berukuran kecil dan tidak ada jendelanya.
Ruangannya (rong) dibagi menjadi inan bale (ruang induk) yang meliputi bale luar (ruang tidur) dan bale dalem berupa tempat menyimpan harta benda, ruang ibu melahirkan sekaligus ruang disemayamkannya jenazah sebelum dimakamkan.
Ruangan bale dalem dilengkapi amben, dapur, dan sempare (tempat menyimpan makanan dan peralatan rumah tangga lainnya) terbuat dari bambu ukuran 2 x 2 meter persegi atau bisa empat persegi panjang. Selain itu ada sesangkok (ruang tamu) dan pintu masuk dengan sistem geser.
Di antara bale luar dan bale dalem ada pintu dan tangga (tiga anak tangga) dan lantainya berupa campuran tanah dengan kotoran kerbau atau kuda, getah, dan abu jerami. Undak-undak (tangga), digunakan sebagai penghubung antara bale luar dan bale dalem.
Material yang dibutuhkan untuk membangun rumah antara lain:
kayu-kayu penyangga, bambu, anyaman dari bambu untuk dinding, jerami dan alang-alang digunakan untuk membuat atap, kotaran kerbau atau kuda sebagai bahan campuran untuk mengeraskan lantai, getah pohon kayu banten dan bajur, abu jerami, digunakan sebagai bahan campuran untuk mengeraskan lantai.

Grand Bend Weekend Bliss

 
Friday night Mike and I drove up to Grand Bend to stay for the weekend and what a beautiful, peaceful and enjoyable weekend it was.

After our Saturday morning beach walk we spent the rest of our morning and day at London's Covent Garden Market - my favourite thing to do on a Saturday morning - and visiting friends.

We enjoyed some good treats at the market but also brought some home to make dinner that night. 

First time taste of a Spinach Burek (Börek) pastry - we just had to try one after watching the guy make them, very interesting method that involved a lot of tossing around this flaky dough and using an entire table to spread it out.

For dinner I tried to make something from my 500 Vegan Recipes cook book but ended up improvising most of the recipe since I was missing a few ingredients.  Sadly, at this point, my digital camera's battery also died, which meant I was relying on a disposal camera that I bought and clearly forgot how to use (oh the age of digital cameras have broken us) and none of my food photos came out.

Either way this was on the menu ...
Roasted peppers stuffed with brown rice, broccoli, green apple, tomato, natural peanut butter, a bit of olive oil, and spices including curry, basil, salt and cayenne pepper accompanied by some green salad and Farmer's Market bread - delish!
 
The camera wasn't total loss, we enjoyed a wonderful evening on the beach ...

 


Playing with Scarlet on the beach - the sand and twigs she loved, the water, not so much!

Sweetness - that is, until Scarlet trampled all over it lol!

The next morning we made brunch for the Londoners ...

Banana Fritters, from 500 Vegan Recipes, although I don't think my turned quite as good as they were suppose but everyone was very sweet and said they liked them; vegan "buttermilk" pancakes, sweet fruit platter that included strawberries, grapes and oranges, a cheese and crackers platter and of course, some bacon and eggs - for the boys.

It was a perfect weekend in a gorgeous home, near the beach with great weather,  good food with good friends, and a lovely time spent with best boyfriend ever! ♥