As "American" as Apple pie

Saturday was SR (Spanish Roommates) birthday, yay! And on Sunday when I was lazing around in my LuLulemons (of course my makeup and hair were done though, my mother trained me well-you never know who's coming over) when our door buzzed. BZZZZZZ.

And in walked our new French 17 year old friends bearing an apple pie with magic candles.

I'm sorry, let me repeat that.

In walked 17 year old boys, carrying a homemade apple pie with special candles that never blow out.

Oh the French! So sweet! It was for SR's birthday of course.

I have eaten lunch at 2 Teachers houses and the desert has been apple pie for both times. Its a different sort of apple pie than at home, the apples are usually from their grandfathers garden or some other organic source and the apples are sliced on top of the pie without a crust over that.



Comme Ca!

So I think apple pies are some sort of true French tradition that the Americans STOLE from the French.

Anyways I can't imagine Canadians doing that. Even in university the boys barely offered me a slice of pizza. Nevermind cooked me an apple pie! Not that these boys cooked me a pie, but I can even less imagine a Canadian cooking a Spanish guy a pie!

Cheap Potage

I'm writing this as my my leek-carrot-potato soup is simmering.

I just took out 50 euros from the bank and the receipt said that I was NEGATIVE 14 euros. Fun! How I got to this dire state will be explained in the next post, after I check out my account online and figure out where I spend my money.

So I have a feeling I will be cooking this soup quite a bit this month.

i literally looked around the grocery store and thought What is the cheapest produce?

This search led me to carrots, potatoes and onions. You can buy kilograms of each of these for one or two euros! (This deserves an exclamation mark because I get excited about things like this)

1 kilo of carrots is 65 cents! That is ridiculously cheap.

So I basically plan to live off of those 3 basic foods. Want to follow my journey until my next paycheck?

I'm not some sort of huge carrot, potato and onion fan, I mean, I much prefer tomatoes and mushrooms and veggies like that, but it is always good to branch out and try new foods. At least that is what they told us in kindergarden.

I'm no Robert Fulgham, but those kindergarden teachers were pretty smart okay?

And don't worry, I also have some other stuff in my pantry including spices, canned beans and tomatoes, leeks that I bought on sale, pasta (39 cents for 500 grams if you buy Carrfour Discount label) and an almost-stale bag of chocolate croissants.


But lets get back to the 3 basics.

I figure that there are a bunch of different dishes that I can make with these.

I made leek-carrot-curry-couscous for lunch the other day.

I just sauteed the veggies, boiled the couscous and sprinkled on curry sauce. It took about 5 min and was good!

Today I used my fool-proof chop'n'drop method of cooking that I utilize, oh, for every single meal, and chopped up potatos, carrots, onions, leeks, garlic and threw it into a big pan with olive oil. Then I added some random spices including: salt, parsley, Thyme. We'll see how it tastes when its done, but it smells good!

I also often make oven-fries, which is really tough. I have to chop up potoatos then put them in the oven for 30 min at 250 degrees. I don't know if you guys will be able to do that. It takes skill. Sometimes I even drizzle olive oil on them.


N:b: No peeling! I never peel anything, all the nutrition is always in the peel. Even Kiwis, I eat the fuzzy part. Some people say that that is gross, but I went to camp and all the cool counsellors did it so, yea..

I am a vegetarian so it makes cooking easier (I think) and I also really like veggies, which is a plus.

My next recipe- since I never make batches, because I am a hungry girl and if I make enough for leftovers I inevitable end up eating it before I should- is this

Its curry-carrot-leek soup! So basically my 2 recipes together. Sweeet. I will continue to peruse great sites like www.allrecipes.com for things I can make. You can just type in the food that you have and a bunch of recipes will come up. Its great. Also, I have so much time on my hands and this is semi-productive.

Pasta for the Broke:Eating on a Budget:

So I blew all my money on vacation (will describe it in many later posts) and have no money left to buy groceries.

I looked at the meager offerings in my fridge, leftover from a week ago, and invented the Poor Person's Pasta!

1 Cup of Pasta
Half of red onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 TBS of olive oil
Tomato paste from a tube
Butter
Swiss Cheese
Basil

I sauteed the onions and garlic and then squeezed out some tomato paste. It seemed really thick and sweet so I watered it down with a few splashed of cool tap water and stirred.

Then I shook some basil on it.

When the pasta I had been boiling was done, I strained it then added it to the pan and stirred it all together. I then added some butter and grated cheese, stirred and ate!

It is actually really good! I'm impressed by myself! And all from what I found in my fridge, since I really should use up all my food before buying more. Also I'm too tired to go grocery shopping.