I have been reading a lot–as usual. C-Dragon and I started a book journal last year to keep track of how many books we read and what we read. Last year I read 55 books. This year has been a bit slower, but so far I’ve read about 23. I’ve decided to focus this more on reading with a little food, rather than lots of food and just a little reading. 

Any book suggestions?!

Between Catherine, Elspeth, Tim and I, we have tried:

Quesadillas, Fajita Burrito, Burrito, Soft Tacos, and super fresh Guacamole—all are FreshMex perfection!

I personally am still drooling over their Carnitas (pork) that is marinated in their salsa verde, but has a lovely, almost BBQ hint to it. I could eat it everyday, and I plan to have it once a week before I go!

They’ve also added a new extra spicy salsa to their menu—I was too chicken to give it a try! Their original "hot" salsa, the Roastin’ Red, had just enough kick to give some complementary sniffles, but not burn your face off.

The owners are ever so friendly and make you feel truly welcome at this excellent establishment—eat in or take away!

The Low Down on Los Cardos:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

• 281 Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH6 8PD
• 0131 555 6619
• Cheap and Cheerful—everything under £6
• TRY THE CARNITAS!

Does anyone have a good recipe for bread bowls? Tim and I have tried to make them twice now, but we aren’t too impressed with our recipes. The bowls always turn out too small, even after we use a recipe that makes 6 bowls and just make 4 bowls from it. HELP!!

In this spread we have: Carrot and Fennel Bread, Oatmeal and Maple Bread, Bread "Bowls" and Potato Soup plus lots of cheese and jams (Including Mairi’s Nana’s  amazing homemade strawberry jam)! Our vegetable soup is the "healthy" part! This potato soup is fantastic and easy to make—the recipe is here.

Usually our soups have a few more vegetables featuring in the mix and sometimes lentils. Last night we had roasted parsnip with a bit of carrot soup and sweet potato, carrot, and potato soup. Honey roasted parsnips turned into soup is amazing topped with ginger and cinnamon!

So if you have a good bread bowl recipe or soup recommendation, please let me know! Leave a comment or e-mail me: aofalice (at) googlemail (dot) com!

Reading—I’m on my 19th book of the year! I’m reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver right now and really enjoying it.

Cooking—Attempting bread bowls for soup (anyone know a good recipe?), making spur of the moment shrimp curries, creating new soups (roasted green pepper, onion, zucchini/courgette and lentil soup anyone?), and meatloaf!

Exercising—Not so much, but I’m getting back into the swing of things. It’s starting to get lighter and warmer (45/50F and 10C instead of closer to 32F/0C), so the thought of taking walks and wandering around is much more appealing. I’ve also started doing some more workout videos of circuit training, which I like (Jillian Michael’s No More Trouble Zones and Crunch Workout Super SlimDown Pilates and Yoga Blend with Ellen Barrett).

Souper Time–American Idol and now America’s Next Top Model have started, so every Thursday or Friday we have friends over to watch and eat homemade soup and bread. We aren’t really in it for the shows; it’s more the company and the joint hilarity that ensues from good company and silly shows.

Music—I’ve been using Spotify, which is apparently similar to Pandora? Anyway I’ve made some playlists with people I’ve discovered  like Ingrid Michaelson and Missy Higgins, but there’s also been some old school Ciara (Goodies, anyone?), Razorlight, and Kenny Chesney…etc.

And that’s about it. So I’m now going back to my book!

I’ve just read my eighth book of 2010, and it was fabulous!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

It’s set in Guernsey and London right after WWII, but it’s focus is on a writer who randomly befriends a group of islanders from Guernsey. The book is written in the form of letters from most of the major characters. It’s funny, touching, and informative about life on the island during WWII.

I loved it–highly recommend it!

My lovely husband, who headlines as a chef and baker on a Souper Thursday, discovered this delicious Irish Potato Soup. We’ve made it twice now, and both times it’s turned out perfectly, and it’s so easy to make.

• 40 grams/ little less than 1/4 cup Butter
• 2 large Onions, chopped
• 700 grams Potatoes, chopped (We used King Edward Potatoes–the book also recommends Golden Wonder and Maris Piper)
• 7.5 cups/ 1.75 L Chicken Stock
• Sea Salt, Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1. Melt butter, add onions, stir well, cover and leave on low heat for 10 minutes
2. Add potatoes, stir well, season with Salt and Pepper, cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes
3. Add stock, bring to a boil, simmer 25 minutes
4. Puree soup

We went there on lunch for Saturday. Tim got a beef burrito with roasted salsa and added guacamole, and I got a chicken burrito, no rice, with roasted salsa and added guacamole.

It was good, but we both felt there was something missing… but that is completely because we are comparing it to the US chains, specifically Moe’s, that we had just visited a few weeks ago.

We tried to figure out the difference—but couldn’t put our finger on it. I like lettuce and lots of chopped tomatoes in addition to the salsa. That’s not an option at Illegal Jacks—perhaps that’s what it is. Tim tasted both, and thought the beef burrito was better than the chicken. I didn’t get any rice in my burrito, and it was loaded with chicken—that’s all I could taste—not the salsa or guacamole or black beans.

They also sell quesadillas, tacos, nachos, chili, taco salads, and fajitas, all of which I’m looking forward to trying sometime.

Bottom Line: If you don’t know the US equivalent, you will probably love this place if you like Tex-Mex. It’s fresh and flavorful. The restaurant itself is very clean and open, and all the staff were really friendly with quick service. The music is also fun—Sinatra type songs when we were there.

They charge 50 pence for guacamole—ok that’s not so bad. But I think charging 3.50 for chips and dips is a bit much. We were too cheap to order it, so who knows, perhaps it’s amazing and completely worth it.

Unfortunately I left out the cup of brown sugar…

When I was making the pie, there was a bit of pie filling left, so I poured it into two ramekins to have after dinner. I thought it tasted weird and too eggy, but just hoped that maybe it would taste better once it was cold and had had a night to settle.

At about 2am last night, I realized that I hadn’t put in the sugar and that’s why it tasted weird!

I was so annoyed—everyone knew I was bringing a pumpkin pie—I couldn’t bring in something gross!

So this morning, I heated some brown sugar in the microwave to help it mix better and then scooped out my baked pie filling! I used a hand whisk to mix in the sugar and then put it back into my homemade gingersnap and graham cracker (well technically Digestives, because they don’t have graham crackers here) crust. It didn’t quite look the same—obviously—but I was just hoping it’d taste decent!

Yay—it worked! Everyone that had some enjoyed it and some people even took some home to let their families try it.

So—if you ever forget to put the sugar in, just scoop out the pie, mix in the sugar, and put it back –but hopefully you won’t forget the sugar! = )

Canned pumpkin isn’t common here, but you can find it in specialty shops and places that sell American goods for about $2.85 a can! How much does it costs in America? Luckily, my trusty baking assistant, and lovely Scottish cousin, Catherine, found some for me! Thanks C-Dragon!

So here’s my Pumpkin Pie Recipe:

Preheat Oven to 375 F

For the Crust:

• 1.5 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs (or Ginger Snaps or Digestives)
• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
• 6 TBS Melted Butter
• 1 tsp Cinnamon

Mix together, press into a 9" pie dish, bake at 375 F for 7 minutes

For the Pie:

• 3 Eggs lightly beaten
• 1 can Pumpkin
• 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (don’t forget it!)
• 1 can Evaporated Milk (410 grams)
• 2 TBS Molasses (I used Treacle because Molasses is hard to find here)
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Allspice
• 2.5 tsp Cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp Ginger

Mix together ingredients, pour on top of premade piecrust

Bake at 425 F for 10 minutes then 350 F for 30-40 minutes

Here’s some pictures from Thanksgiving!

It was just a bit cold and a little windy on the boat! = )

The boat pulled up to a waterfall and they filled a bucket full of "fresh Norwegian waterfall water" that  was then dispensed into plastic cups. Because it was cold and the cups were slightly wet, I didn’t want to pick up the cup and get my gloves wet—but I overcame—I mean when else do you get to drink waterfall water? So, we happily drank!

On the first part of our boat ride, we stopped for an "important member of the community" to board. Turns out he was a farmer and had left his goats on the hillside (the fjordside?) over the summer and wanted to bring them back. This was not his first attempt, and certainly would not be his last because after trying for about 30 minutes, they gave up and the goats won!

This little white goat was the trouble maker! The bigger grey goat came on board, lured by a loaf of bread and then lassoed on with a rope. Most of the passengers pressed up against the windows with their cameras, watching as the farmer and two of the boat men tried to get the goats—scrambling up the hillside, attempting to jump on them, cooing at them—all to no avail! It was quite amusing.

We got back to Stavanger and wandered around for a bit until our ferry back to Haugesund. We came across this interesting hair place: