Sun, June 8 - Nadya's gift!

10.19am - Remember I mentioned Nadya had brought us a little surprise gift from Germany? Well, this is it! Ta da!Now if you're wondering what this could possibly be - it's bread! In a can! In a can designed to celebrate the cultural and ethnic diversity of the city of Berlin!

But seriously, as far as bread goes, this is some of the best and most substantial that Germany has to offer. It's made from sprouted whole grain meal, whole sunflower seeds, yeast, water and salt and nothing else. Which makes it unusually moist and heavy, very nutritious and filling, and perfect for a brunchy spread of German-style open faced sandwiches! It doesn't normally come in a can, of course, this is the gift box version which also happens to travel very well (this stuff can get kinda crumbly). It's normally not round either, but I love this shape! It's a lot more fun to decorate a circle than a rectangle...

10.43am - So here's the first one: open-faced sandwich w/ smoked salmon, cream cheese and daikon sprouts

10.43am - and two more: garlic cream cheese (boursin), radishes and daikon sprouts, and a plain buttered one w/ sliced egg. What a treat!

10.59am - as we were discussing the many ways in which Nady is a great friend and how much great food we've had courtesy of her, we decided, while we were at it, to round up her oranges and splurge on some fresh-squeezed juice, too. Thanks for all of this, Nady!

14.03h - Now fresh out of fruit, I went over to our local Farmer's Market and scored apricots, pluots and nectarines, all from Bakersfield, California and picked yesterday. Added some of the Californian cherries I got yesterday in Chinatown, some creme fraiche (I made it, now I have to eat it - whether I want to or not. Am getting a bit tired of it, frankly) and some toasted almonds, which seem to be my obsession du jour. I don't even put the roasting pan away anymore.... Oh, and there's also some kiwi in there, which in the interest of more local eating we should really stay away from in the future, until somebody figures out how to grow them over here...

16.11h - at the Japanese market yesterday, I picked up some of these lovely leafy things called "ohba", on account of them being so very pretty (I'm easy that way). I tried to quiz the elderly Japanese lady at the checkout on what to actually use them for, and while she didn' t speak much English, she did say "Miso ok, salad ok" which I guess means you can eat them both cooked and raw, all I needed to know. I googled them anyway when I got home, and turns out this is actually a kind of big-leafed Japanese basil. Perfect for another open-faced sandwich! 16.18h - plain cream cheese, cucumber and ohba sandwich - very nice basily-minty-cuminy flavor! And these are strong leaves, too - you could use them to wrap stuff in...

16.32h - then I had to try the tomatoes and shallots I got at the farmers market, fresh from Coachella, California. This was one tasty, towering sandwich - the picture really doesn't do it justice. I got distracted by the boursin, which really didn't need a picture, but I suddenly remembered the first times I had it and got carried away...
(To cut a long story short - it was in France, at my pen pal's house, I was sixteen, and after my first bite, I was hooked. I just could not stop eating it. My pen pal's dad graciously headed out to the market every other day to make sure there was enough of a supply on hand to feed his daughter's foreign guest. He was also kind enough to pack up three of them for me to take home when I left. I was convinced it was the best cheese in the world, and while they were certainly pleased to see me so devoted, they must have been a little perplexed at my choice. All the camembert, chevre or roquefort they offered me, and all I wanted was boursin? I can just see it now, the benevolent family patriarch shaking his head over how the barbarians on the other side of the border must live...).

Alright, change of topic. Thanks for putting up with all my off-topic rambling. I'll be all concise again, starting tomorrow.

Just one last thing - remember how earlier in the week I mentioned we had a lot of mangos/mangoes? (the latter is beginning to grow on me...). Well, I wasn't kidding. This is the case we got, and we're still not through it...

18.21h - so this is a mango-buttermilk shake w/ a splash of coconut milk, some whipped cream and toasted almonds.

19.24h - and this is another new favorite tea - even Ritesh likes this one. It's got ash leaf, rosemary, hawthorn and St. John's Wort to keep you chipper, and is a little bitter on its own, but great mixed with peppermint.