Xmas tree goes home

Good morning...
Up bright and early, I like my new 2010 self. I used to always get up with the sun, but the past few years (since with Prince) I preferred a long sleep, till 9-ish.
But getting up around 7 is wonderful and gives me much more day. More time to clean, scrub, scoop bathtubs, juice veggies, kill ants and chase Puppy.
It is OFFICIAL!!!
Today is the last day of Christmas, snufff...,
Not that I want to take the sparkle away, but Prince had enough and so...
I feel especially sad for our tree. Not one needle lost he stands fresh and noble, just like the very first day. Oh, why can't you just grow some roots little tree, so I could plant you and give you a short eternity?


First important thing of the day (and probably every day from now on) - SINKING RAINCHECK.
The bathtub is looking good.
Half empty. Because I am in god spirits.
On a bad day it will be half full.
No scooping job yet. GOOD. One problem less.
Time to brew some black gold for the boss (now I am the secretary), refill his liquids (water and that funny multivitamin bubble up) and serve his TOTAL (Greek) yogurt with fresh fruit.
So far, no ants on his office table in sight. Can it be true?
Of course, there are a few handfuls marching around the kitchen. In the dish-wash cleaner, behind the stove and some exploded bodies all over the kitchen counters. At least the bio kill works. But it does not stop them from coming.


A look into the truth-frame reveals: 3 huge!!! spots. DEPRESSING! Since I finished those antibiotics, my skin just went ballistic again. I will do some real studies on my Canyon Ranch papers and get everything that seems to be missing from my body. Maybe then my breakouts will go to sleep? I am determined to fix this problem and if possible with the least amount of chemicals!!!


At 10 Anna arrives, ready to help me to 'de-christmas'.
I feel very melancholic, with every IKEA ball that comes of the green needle arms.
I would like to say something joyful, to make the tree's departure a bit happier, but what is there to say.

This was my first real tree in ages and it will be the last. Unless, I get a tree with the roots and all, inside the house (maybe we can buy a crane?), there will be time for plastic once again. Me, the ultimate ANTI-PLASTIC Girl, admits to liking a plastic tree. If I say plastic, it does not mean bad though. The imitation tree we used to have in our old home, in our past life, was THE PERFECT FAKE. Like an unnoticeable copy of a masterpiece or a flawless counterfeit designer bag, it was a pristine Xmas tree. To the point, that guests went close-up to smell the lovely scent of pine. (we did stuff a few real branches around, to fool them)
For such perfection, made from plastic or not, I will revise my dislike and say YES to synthetic. Yes, to saving real Xmas trees, that live such a short time, only to give us pleasure and joy, to make the children's eyes shine and then, and then, end up discarded and mistreated in stinky garbage dumps.
No more!
it is just not fair.
2010, plastic or crane, here we come.


By noon the house is naked. 
Barren. 
Cold. 
Empty.
I guess I will get used to it.
Prince can tell my dislike and suggests, that soon I can do Easter decoration.
Very funny!
But yes, spring time is coming fast in Sintra. Cherry blossoms... that is a lovely vision and works well to chase away the Xmas blues.

Cherry blossom week in Tokyo... My mind is traveling back. If you ever make it to Japan- Tokyo in Spring, make sure you make it for the blossoming of the cherry trees. It literally rains pink peddles. There are ceremonies and celebrations everywhere, but the best are held in the cemeteries. 'Purple rain', Prince (THE Prince, not mine) Maybe that is the meaning? The blossom rain?

The afternoon passes fast. The sun is coming out and joyfully I hang all the garments, up on my old (real cotton) clothesline, which by the way goes with the old kind of wooden pegs. (presents from my mom-found and gathered at various antique shops) Just like I love it. Our gardener has cut some bamboo sticks to hold the line up, when too loaded and it is now just perfect. Like in the old days. I always dreamed of drying my cloth like this. Of course, it took me some time to learn everything there is to know.

Obvious things, now that I think of it, but first it was all new to me.

Like... don't put colors in the bright sun... or they will bleach (on the sunny side, the other side will be as it was)

Don't let them hang in the rain, or the wooden pegs will stain the cloth (and expand and break)
Please keep all remarks. I learned. And Prince never minded, when another shirt became history. He calls them his SKYPE shirts. They look good on screen, nobody sees the details. Thank goodness, that I have such easygoing Prince.
...
Now... did I say sunshine? Did I tell you the last and most important lesson of outdoor cloth drying?
As soon you hang up the heavy wet bunch, the clouds will come out of nowhere and soon enough the rain with it. ALWAYS. 
Then you run, collect, shout, scramble in the slippery grass and curse all old-fashioned romance of yours. Back to zero, back to guest-room curtain rod, praying, that it will hold one more time.


I must go now, Puppy is crying downstairs. Time for food.
Oh, the gardener brought a huge bag of dog food, for a quarter of the price, that I get it at the supermarket. Let's see if the four legged ones like it. I certainly do, as it means no more carrying this monster bags!


Dogs are very happy. They gulped it down in no time. Not that this means anything...
But I must admit, that the new food looks much more appetizing and even smells like food. 


And what are we gulping tonight?
Healthy is MUST, so here we go:


*Creamed buttermilk spinach (wilted spinach with some buttermilk stirred in at the end)
* sweet potato mash (boil peeled sweet potatoes in salted water, about 10 minutes or till soft, discard water, mash potatoes with a little milk-ready)
* Venison steaks - brush the steaks with whisky and marinate an hour, melt 2 teaspoons of lard and fry the steaks at medium high for 2 minutes on each side, wrap in foil and rest in the oven at 80 Celsius for 30 minutes - sprinkle with fat salt
It is also nice to serve venison with a fruity sauce, but not today. Venison (sorry... it was a deer...) is by the way one of the healthiest meat options.
 (by the way, an extremely healthy meat option)


While the venison is resting in the oven I call mom.
She has disappeared from skype and I am somewhat concerned. Either she somehow destroyed her username once again or she just feels like being quiet.


I finally find Pete online and now I know what happened to mama:
Her ancient (7 years old!) PC, has gone to pc-heaven and mom is left skypeless. 
No skype to talk to her boyfriend, autchhhhh, that sounds expensive! How did we cope before this virtual wonder program?
To remind us: Before skype... there was a home telephone. Yes... a funny looking machine with lots of numbers written all-over. We actually still have one, of course, but used it is only for emergencies. ( like missing moms, security check ups on midnight alarm bells and of course grannies without computers)
'Poooooor' phone companies must loose billions. Ohhhhhh... I am sooooo sorry...
Mom tells me, that it is still snowing in our village. That means, there has been snow nonstop for the past 4 weeks. Something totally unheard of in our area, since we don't live in the mountains or in a snow-frequented region. If I am right in my fortune telling powers, than those brilliant professors and scientist-thinkers got it wrong with the global warming thing. For me, it was always clear, that there will be a big freeze, not a big heat up.
Who knows?
ICE AGE? (great movies by the way...)
Food for thought:
http://2012connection.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/2012-ice-age-best-survival-guide/


Diringggggggggggg...
"There is something making sounds here", Prince's voice is calling from the kitchen.
Oppps, must be my oven timer!
"Coming"...byby mom...love you... Good luck with the pc-hospital


Time flies and it is 10pm by the time we sit down and eat. I am impressed that I am still up.
Prince looks ravishingly good tonight, with his new grey cashmere vest (xmas gift from me) and the hair slightly overgrown. He is talking about sailing and the adventures of the sea... Drifting into dreamland I follow his excited tales, while my eyes slowly get heavy and fall shut for the night...


I am sailing... I am sailing... Chistopher Cross is coming with us
xoxo

Sherlock Holmes never looked better

Another day in magical Sintra and the Valley house of never-ending problems.

We are still sinking, so we have to start scooping... just like at sea.
Our pleading emails to the owners are still unanswered
Prince thinks, it has to do with the massive rainfalls.
Could be. But makes no sense. It is a baffling mystery, how the water (gravity defying) goes up instead of down. And where does it come from to start with?
Newton, where are you? Our house is challenging your theory and my sanity!
Universal law of gravity... challenged in mysterious Sintra

 Sadly though, Sir Isaac could not be reached for comments

What else is news today?
Anna is back for some more ironing. She is good at it and Prince is happy, since he now can walk again in his changing room. There is actually a floor!!!
Ants have taken over the dishwasher once again, I just have to keep the machine empty or running from now on. Sounds like another hassle on top.
But something long awaited finally arrived today - my Canyon Ranch health report. Now I will know it all.

OHOH!!!
Not good!
Who would have thought.
Me the ultimate healthy only, bio only, no fried, no junk, no chemicals, lots of water, lots of greens, etc... is not in the good shape expected. Prince on the other hand, who does eat some junk and drinks Coke Zero and Whisky scored far better.
My result shows: I am low on almost everything, vitamins, minerals, Amino Acids.
But I am high on 2 things and they are no good at all - lead and mercury.
My hormones are not in balance, did I forget anything?
(this is by the way my own interpretation of some funny looking diagrams)
Looking at my chart, I at least now know, why I am so splotchy and spotty. Must be all those things missing in my system. Time to fill up on the goodies!
Funny, but my health regime started only a few days before Canyon Ranch, seems pretty up to date with those absent nutrition. Maybe I felt it.

Morning must Carrot juice - to refill that deficiency of beta carotene. (I will do carrot- ginger to start the day and than mixed veggie-fruit-herbs in the afternoon)
Wheat germ, brewers yeast and flaxseeds for important minerals like Magnesium, Manganese and Vitamin B6 (extremely low in my body). I will add a banana a day for some more B6.
Sunflower seeds for the very much -needed vitamin E, highly important for healthy skin and hair. Instead of a handful I will have a few handfuls. The same goes for pumpkin seeds.
Barley grass or Spirulina, of course a great source for everything I am lacking.
SUPERFOOD - SUPERFILLUP
Green tea=anti oxidant. Plenty of it needed!
Surprisingly I am doing fine with Vitamin C, but camu-camu, 1 teaspoon dissolved in 1 liter of water daily will stay for the extra kick.
I found a great side, that has the vitamin and mineral count on almost every food.
I will spend a lot of hours there, these days, doing my research to get healthy and fit and pleasssssse, spot-free!
www.whfoods.com

I will tell you the exact routine, as soon I have had the 1 hour phone call with my Doc from Canyon Ranch. To be precise on what I need and how much.
But for now, I will just try to eat up, as much of nature's pharmacy as possible. Think rainbow colored fruit and veggies...Think organic.
And I am sure, it is always best to get the daily needs from your Diet, not from synthetically produced supplements. But of course, if your body is extremely undernourished, some pills must be part for a little while.

Prince is restless again and wants to get some entertainment. It is Thursday he reminds me. Ok, ok. I will come with you to the movies, but only if I get to choose this time. (I just remembered 2010, what a waste of money and time)
I google the Beloura cinema and there we go: Sherlock Holmes is out, my kind of stuff !!!
Prince seems rather 'un-thrilled' and I am amazed to learn, that he has never read, seen, or even heard a Sherlock Holmes story. Can it be? I read every book of Doyle, gulping the mysteries with hungry pleasure. The hounds dogs of Baskerville...ahouuuuuuuuuu...
Scary stuff when you are young. But hiding under a blanket always did the trick, I wished it would still work today.
It is raining again and Prince puts on the 'country look' I so adore. Funny, he does not even know, that he looks very Sherlock and Watson. Especially with that hat.
Beloura cinema is a 10 minute drive away and is just a great movie theater.(because they have a bar and serve wine and whisky for the thirsty grown ups)
Sherlock, here we come.
What a movie!! What a guy..


It has been some time, that a film has excited me. But this Sherlock is fantastic. Witty, elegant, gentlemen stylish with a good dose of sex and sin, it is the perfect recipe for good rainy day entertainment. It is also the recipe, which made 007, James, James Bond such a blockbuster once upon a time. MADE (note the past tense) that is, because the new Bond (sorry Mister Daniel) is as far from witty and elegant, as a wild boar is from an Arabian horse.
Shame, that the one&only 007, became another prostitute of our time. Cheap and cheesy, with muscles and a mean look, but hey, where is the wit, where is charm and where is that sensual play of cat and mouse.
ASTALAVISTA BABY, that is the new Bond.
Sign of our times.
Maybe?
I guess, I then must stay in my fantasy world of the past.
I have the DVD collection of the old Bonds, Roger, Sean...Oh yessssss...yesssssssssss
And I have now the new Sherlock, alias Robert Downey Jr.

Goshhhh, he is hot, in that kind of disheveled bad boy way... Can't wait for the sequel!
(I also love the actress, Rachel McAdams. She got that little sparkle, that naughty smile, just adorable...)

I think all the excitement and all that naked Robert flesh have made me hungry, so we pay a visit to our local Colares eatery. Not the leader in romance and lighting (sore subject with Prince, who comes in and changes every lamp), the food is never so less delicious. We opt for the homemade spinach ravioli, the special of the day and absolutely YUMMM. 
The perfect ending for such perfect night.


***
I will for sure have delicious dreams tonight...

Feng Shui and muhhhhhh and fungus (the good one)

The rain is pounding on our window and we wake up slowly. It is funny, how one wakes up with a jump if sunny, but crawling out, when dark and grey...
Maybe those new mood light alarm 'clocks' are a great invention after all? If you live in some place like Siberia or even Helsinki, with so little light in wintertime, how can you ever get up with a smile? But those lamps can fool you into believing that there is a lovely sunrise...And dshabummm, up you are. Like a shot of coffee. Italian strength! Coffee? Did I mention that I am totally cutting down on this dark brew? Not that I ever liked it much, it is the 80 to 20 - MILK to COFFEE ratio that is my kick. I am a huge fan of milk. Milk maiden, of course, it suits a German. Muhhhhhhhhh...muhhhhhh... that could be my good morning!

A look into the monster called mirror, shows the painful truth. Splotches, fading spots and the arrival of 2 new babies. I could cry. With all my health regime, why am I not cleaned up yet?
Here is my daily(not working!) schedule of health and spot-free-ness:


*Wake up call: 1 glass of water with 2 spoons of apple cider vinegar
*Followed by 1/2l of water
*Multi-rainbow-colored fresh juiced veggie-fruit cocktail (hell of a mess and work, but it is good for me, I think)
*Coffee with milk, just some
*1 spoon of barley grass, 2 capsules of vitamin C, 2 capsules of MACA MACA and 2 Zinc-copper pills, all mixed with water, face pulled into funny mode and gullllppppp, down the health
*fresh fruit
Later morning: 1 cup of oats, 3 dried figs and 4 prunes, 2 spoon brewers yeast, 2 spoon wheat germ, 2 spoon flax seeds (ground) and 1 cup of fresh or frozen(and defrosted) berries drowned in 1 cup of kefir
lots of water with fresh lemon juice
Noon: I eat what I cook for Prince - healthy stuff, like broccoli, spinach and beans with turkey breast or fresh fish or sardines from a can (for the calcium - must be eaten with those spiky bones)
green tea with lemon juice
Afternoon snacks: goji berries, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, 3 brazilian nuts
more green tea with lemon juice, more water
dinner: whatever is cooking on my stove, but again: HEALTHY with lots of greens
red wine
water


This regime has now been on about 6 weeks, but the awaited outcome, the magical Cinderella-turn-Princess - moment has yet to arrive.
I will keep you updated with news!
Promise


Prince is going for a breakfast meeting at the Setais, my faire beauty, but I decline the offer to join. Instead I will do some more washing and cleaning... Fishing the big wet load of clothing out of the washing-machine, I am far from overjoyed. That old dress (ebay) of mine, washed over and over, has bled and now Prince's pink shirts are some sort of purple and so is my favorite hippy sundress. Damn, and I make sure to never mix colors, how could it have gone so wrong?
Luckily Prince does not mind, he actually likes the new tint. Let's see about that, when he wants to wear them.
My red and white sailor shirt-ruined too. (this one I really loved... ZARA children, sometimes the best bet for summer fun sexy...)
Another day in the valley of problems.
I convince myself that it's the fault of the house and as soon we will leave the valley for a sun drenched home, bad things will be over. I do believe that a house can lift you or drown you. Maybe this is the simple truth of Feng-Shui? The direction, the orientation, the elements surrounding it. To think of it, our house is surrounded on 2 sides by a river. It sits in a valley, which makes it lovely and green, but the sunlight reaches us only in the morning hours and some rooms, like our bedroom, never get direct light. It is on the other hand very quiet and we can hear ducks, frogs and all other sorts of unknown creatures. Our garden is magnificent and blooms in healthy greens, has fireflies in spring (yes!!! they still exist), but our pool has such low PH, that when I swim my lips turn white and start peeling and it feels like a bath in sour milk, or  KEFIR for that matter. (could that be healthy?) The gardener has tried everything, but no success. If he pours more chlorine, to bring up the ph, the pool turns green in minutes. It is a rare phenomena, I guess, and if I would not want to swim so much it would be lovely to have a green pond with aquatic life instead.
Besides this Feng-Shui issues, the house has a habit of falling apart. If you fix one thing here, sure enough something else falls off in another room. And of course, the ants, the mold, the spiders, the rats and who knows what... 
I say our little house is tired! Very tired. It needs a holiday or better even a beauty farm vacation. With some botox, some massaging, some peelings and laser resurfacing procedures, the true beauty that hides behind this cracking make up, could be set free once again.(I think it also could work for me)
But can we be bothered to send our rental on such expensive trip?
No...!!!
So I am convinced, that we need to move, as much as we love it here...
I take the freshly changed colored items upstairs to hang them up at the curtain rail in the guest-room 
(my drying room when it is raining), when a horrifying look into the bathroom reveals that we are sinking. But aren't we on land???
SOS, because we are taking water!!! Water has now come up midway of the bathtub and midway up the Bidet. Soon I will have to start scooping it out, just like on a boat... Weird things going on! And funny, that only last night that businessman talked of leaking sailing boats...


Don't panic Anna!
What to do in such emergency?


Time for juicing:
1/2 red pepper (a huge one)
1/2 pineapple
bunch of parsley sprigs
2 celery stalks
1 apple
Yummmmmmmmm, what sounds awful came out delicious. Surprise, surprise...
Time to do some writing, but not before I venture once into ebayland. I have not been there forever. No new-old!- dress in weeks!
I find nothing that excites me today, but one seller has this very cute and inspiring message:
MAKE THE WORLD A PRETTIER PLACE -- WEAR A DRESS!
I could not agree more. Dresses make the world go around in a much more alluring way. Women should always wear dresses... swirling around like fairies and butterflies,  creatures of colors and love. Bewitchingly gorgeous.
How can you swirl and be lovely wearing pants?
That reminds me of my latest delivery from AMAZON.
Audrey Hepburn : "How to be lovely"
A great little read.
Will quote some later.


Must go now, dogs and Prince are hungry!


I do a wok kind of stir up, lots of veggies and turkey stripes, not very exciting, but very HEALTHY.
Bon Appetit!


Somehow I feel called again, by this inner voice that has been calling lately... I will go into the garden now and meditate under that special tree. First I shower though, I don't feel it's right to be unwashed when going on a thoughtful journey of ommmm. I will also take an offering this time. Wish me luck, as for now, my meditations always seem to end in some funny anecdotes, without any ommm or zen or enlightenment.
xxxxxx

I failed... I took a blanket and some chestnuts as an offering, but my 2 dogs followed wildly excited, the puppy then ate the offering and the neighbor's dog went ballistic, so I had no way of concentrating. Anyhow, I planted myself under the tree in lotus-position, just listening to the sound of the river, the wind ruffling the crowns of the trees and the wooofffffffwoooofffffffffwooooffffff...


Let's just write... Maybe writing is my meditation. I will figure it out, one day...


PS: And what's for dinner?


Porcini pasta, if anyone wants to know.


I am a huge fan of mushrooms. Where I grew up, in East Germany, mushroom picking was a common weekend entertainment for our family. Autumn, when the earth is still warm and the late summer rains arrive, the forests get wet and humid, the perfect condition for those delicious fungis.
Butterpilz und Steinpilz (porcini) where always our favorites. We would venture out very early - just to be sure that nobody else 'steals' OUR mushrooms - and fill our baskets in no time. We had a knife to cut each fungi gently, so they can grow again and we would have more to collect next time.
When I met Prince I took him into the woods for a mushroom hunt and he was devastated when I cooked him our treasure later on at night. He had grown up with an ancient fear (like his parents) of the wild and every collected fruit, herb or fungi could be a deadly visitor.
Yes, and there is some truth in this. You must be sure to know your mushrooms very well, or you can easily escape the world as you know it. France by the way has done it perfect. Since the French are a food-loving bunch, autumn is a time of crowded forests. Of course, those wild delicacies can bring in some good income, so a lot of market-folk is searching for the extra bucks. To be sure about each species, one can visit any pharmacy and have the collection checked. What a lovely concept!






Since it is no fungi season, I will use frozen porcini, the next best thing to fresh




PORCINI PASTA for 2

300 g spaghettini (or pasta of choice)

600 g frozen porcini (or a mix of wild mushrooms)

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 table spoon butter

3 sprigs of parsley, chopped

olive oil

salt

1. In a big pot, bring salted water (with a few drops of olive oil) to a boil. Add the spaghettini and cook accordingly to instructions till al-dente. Drain, sprinkle with olive oil and return to the cooking pot.

2. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the chopped onion and cook till golden and soft, but not brown.

3. Add the frozen mushrooms and let them cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. They will shrink a lot along the cooking process, as they really are just made of water. In case they start sticking to the pan, add a little extra water and a little olive oil. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper.

4. In a big pot, bring salted water (with a few drops of olive oil) to a boil. Add the spaghettini and cook accordingly to instructions till al-dente. Drain, sprinkle with olive oil and return to the cooking pot. Stir in the mushrooms and serve immediately.

Soufflé secrets exposed...

We get up very early, once again and Prince leaves for his business meeting. I am all alone when the door bell rings. Who could it be?
It is the friend of our gardener, who wants to help with housework. Oh, great, what perfect morning news. Anna (another one) is lively and shiny and just came from an unhappy meeting with her son's teacher. He is a son with a strong will, she tells me, while pulling up her proud shoulders. (I guess we know where he gets the will from...) Not easy to be a mom, without a man around. Another one, I think...Why can nobody stay together anymore?
I guess she needs this job urgently and I am happy to help out. Her English is perfect, so is her French. 
WOW!
And me? My English is fine, but every other language has been reduced to vocal diarrhea these days. My brain is just not what it used to be. But I will - I promise - learn Portuguese... Soon our teacher will be back and I will sit down and learn!
I send Anna into Prince's room to do the awful job called ironing.
There ought to be an invention that irons alone. Common, we went to the moon (or so they say), we can talk with a 5000 km distance on a tiny device, we can watch mom put in her rollers on skype, but we still need to press hot irons on cotton shirts, just like it was done hundreds and hundreds of years ago?
I think the problem is, that inventors are mostly male, and since a male never has to iron(it is always the poor housewives, or if you are lucky and he is Italian or Greek - the mothers), the invention of an ironing machine is not on top of the MUST_INVENT_SOON_LIST. If those inventors would only understand the opportunities they would gain by inventing such machine! This lucky inventor would be THE man in the woman's world. He would be a god! A gift to the feminine. His name would be whispered and sang, poems and songs would be written just for him and women would follow his every step... like a star... he would shine forever and ever... Maybe some mad professor will one day read this cry of mine and the days of hot steam and ironing board (bored!) are over.
Anna does not seem to have the same phobia, but then, she is getting paid for it. She starts with a smile and slowly but steadily the wrinkled shirt mountain in Prince's room melts away. Oh, he will be sooo pleased!


I check my mail and got news from Igor, that amazing chef at the Oberoi.
Wow, that was fast. As promised he has send me the recipe for a cheese soufflé.

Prince and me have a cheese soufflé addiction, since our trip to the TAJ in Mumbai. There, at the Zodiac grill, the signature dish is a cheese souffle. What can I say, but this dish became our starter, our main and our dessert! 'Beyond heaven' it could be called. Light and fluffy, yet so creamily cheesy it was a revelation. But all our charms did not succeed in getting the secret recipe from the Maestro. He proudly told us, that it had taken him 1 year to master this creation. I believe it, but... isn't a secret a secret...to be told? Our quest to find a souffle as divine as the Zodiac's has yet to be accomplished.
Let's see about Igor's way into soufflé joy:

Dear Aline

Greetings from the Oberoi Mauritius. I hope your flight ended well and was not too long.

As I promised, this his my recipe for a cheese souffle’:

Mascarpone cheese souffle’ pax 8

300 gr butter   (a)

300 gr cake flour (b)

300 gr sugar ©

1 litre milk (d)

250 gr mascarpone (e)

16 egg yolk (f)

16 egg white (g)

Vanilla stick (h)

Lemon zest (i)

Put in a pot A plus B and let mix in the fire,in another pot put C plus D plus H plus I and let it boil.

Mix all together and let finish in the fire for at least 5 minutes.

Let cool down and when its almost cold put E and G and mix in a professional (planetaire) till the composte smooth.

G has to be emulsionate and very firm and then add G to the rest of the composte.

Put the composte into 8 Ramekins well-buttered and with sugar in the manner I told you.

Put in the oven at a temperature of 165 c for approximately 20 minute depending on the size of the ramekins.

The heat sould be turned to the the bottom of the oven.

enjoy

Bon appetit

Igor Bocchia

Executive Chef


I must admit I am not sure I understand all his words. But I will figure it out! Composte?
I know Igor loves gardening* too, so maybe it got muddled up there...
???
I checked the net and since Igor is Italian and French I think, composte must come from his original language:
from Old French composte, from Latin composita, compositum ‘something put together'


* I forgot to mention, that the Oberoi has its own vegetable, fruit and herb gardens. A brainchild of Chef Igor, the hotel has now a working farm, growing most its produce for the meals served.
When Igor arrived, apparently this was the first thing he changed in the philosophy of the Oberoi Mauritius. He took us on a green tour one day, proud and joyful, as if every plant was one of his babies. Isn't a wonderful gift, to watch your foods grow and then to cook and serve them? This is life at its very best, the way it was meant to be, perhaps?

I am excited!!! I must go at once to get the mascarpone, and the eggs and the milk... It is time to go shopping anyway, since our fridge is resembling not much more, than a black, humid and cold hole. 
A picture I can stand as much, as a sweaty Tank-Top (I love Beer) wearing belly next to my white linen breakfast table.

Anna is not finished, but she promises to return Friday and so we both leave.
El Corte Ingles, my favorite supermarket is a dream for food lovers. Here I come, with all my baskets ready to be filled.
They just have anything and everything. If French cheese, Greek yogurt or German bread is on your wish-list of the day, Corte will have it and if not, they might even order it for you. It makes it so easy for hobby chefs. Just get the recipe, get the ingredients (without ordering from the net and waiting weeks just to receive some crumbled, 'body-searched' mess) unload at the kitchen counter and start cooking!
There is a huge vegetable and fruit section, most goods from Portugal or the Azores (Portuguese islands), but I prefer to buy my greens and colors at the local market. Same for the seafood. The fish-market in Sintra, with the loveliest fish-seller couple, is glorious and fresh and not at all fishy.
Today I am looking for mascarpone and it is the only day, that they have run out of it. Amanhã (tomorrow) smiles the blue eyed boy and there I am again, mesmerized by a set of azure ponds... Some Portuguese have just dazzling eyes. Especially the blue ones. They are so incredibly blue, that sometimes I seem to drown in them. But the most stunning difference to let's say my own blue, is a dark circle just around the iris, as if to enhance the sapphire appearance even more. Fascinating... and of course - they always shine, as if there is a magic lantern just behind those eyes. Happiness, 'contentness', kindness...Those Portuguese have not lost it yet... I don't know how long I am staring at the boy, maybe he thinks I am crazy, or just a weird tourist not understanding his language. I pull myself away from the sapphire fire, No MASCARPONE. Not meant to be. Maybe the Zodiak chef has put a spell on the  soufflé   making! He knows when he smells real competition, I am sure... But be warned, Great Soufflé Master, I will be back and I will conquer the secret!
Prince calls to let me know, that we will join the business man for dinner.
That solves the Soufflé problem. No costumers anyhow...


Stocking up on the every day needs, I also do some browsing in the red wine section. So many wines in Portugal. And so many excellent ones, only I am still a virgin in this territory and know pretty close to nothing(NADA) about them. But this also, can be learned. Life is after all a never-ending school, and once we move on to the next journey we still know so little. But I do believe, that every even so little thing we learn, is like a supply for the next voyage. It is like packing our rucksack to get us true the adventure to come. I decide on a 2005 Borba (one I remember from a fabulous dinner, safe bet) with a distinguished cork wine label. I love the label! I am such an image junkie and so easily fooled. If the label looks good to me, it must be good. But trust me, this philosophy could not be more wrong. So don't be fooled like me... better way to navigate around unknown wines - choose the ones with a glossy stamp saying: Gold medal winner or silver leaf champion or something of that sort, as long either of those 3 colors: gold-silver-bronze are mentioned, you should be doing well.
Back at home I get Prince to unload my bottle car. (wine for me, coke zero and whisky for him)
The dogs are hungry too, so time to feed the little rascals. No home-cooking for them tonight, sorry. Just dry food. But they munch it just as fast as the chicken-pasta-carrot dish I usually prepare for them.
Dogs are no connoisseurs, did I just figured that now?


Around 8 the rain starts again and we drive off into the night, to collect a visiting businessman from the Setais. Magically lid by fairy-lights, the fog just moving in, it is a place of indescribable splendor and glory. Another world, which never fails to touch me, to inspire me, to fill me. Beauty, I live for you! 


Even Einstein fed on this blessed power: The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. . . .


One of our favorite eateries, the 'white' restaurant in the charming village of St. Pedro (we still don't know it's name, but we do know that the food is absolutely divine and so is the service and the wine..) is closed, so we end up in another cozy place, our table right next to the fire could not have been any more perfect. Chateau Briand tickles Prince's and my fancy and the business man goes for some traditional (strange) dish made with pork and shrimp. The wine, POLI PHONI (many voices) named in GREEK, which is odd, as we are in Portugal, is pretty good, but nothing great.
The evening is merry and easy, but I am feeling very tired and have some difficulties in following the discussions. There is some story about crossing the Atlantic in a leaking sailing boat and the crew has to scoop water nonstop. Scary stuff!
Time to go home...


Good night


PS: It is the last night the Christmas lights will be on in Sintra***