Cooking with Ben and Ellen, again

If you have been paying attention even just a tiny bit, you should know by now that we love our food. So I was very pleased when Ben gave me a gift certificate to make a personalized cookbook for Valentine's Day. He explained that I can upload my recipes and photos to a website and then they print up my very own book of deliciousness!

I thought it was a pretty cool idea, especially because I had been longing to do another episode of Cooking with Ben and Ellen, and this gave me a perfect excuse. So I proposed to Ben that we find fun and fancy recipes, make them together, and then put them in our cookbook.

So I present to you our first cookbook dinner project (and second documented episode of Cooking Chez Morrison), Veal with Roasted Shallots, Arugula and Soft Polenta (from epicurious.com).

The first step was probably the most difficult. Before we started anything else, we had to actually find veal chops. The commissary is usually pretty lacking in anything outside beef and chicken. Really, they're pretty lacking in everything. When we went grocery shopping this week, they were out of spinach, AGAIN. So Ben asked the guy who was stocking the produce department if they had any. The guy said yes, and then looked utterly puzzled when Ben asked if maybe we could actually get some. So we weren't expecting to find any veal there. And we didn't. The next step was looking up the Dutch word for veal chops. We found out that veal is kalfsvlees, but no word for chops. And then it turns out kalfsvlees isn't really what they say around here. Also, they don't seem to eat much veal, because Ben hit the market and three butchers, and only found veal "chops" in one place, and a pulverized veal-like substance in another. And it wasn't even really the cut we were looking for, but we decided we can't really be that picky, so we bought the "chops" and called it a day.

So, back at Chez Morrison... Step 1, season the chops:

A little salt, pepper, fresh thyme, and then we poured a mixture of lemon juice and olive oil over them and let them marinate for a little while.


Then Ben got to choppin'. He is the resident chopper and knife expert, so he started in on the shallots and tomatoes that we were going to roast with some balsamic vinegar.


Since I am not allowed to play with knives due to too many bloody kitchen emergencies, I was assigned polenta duty. Stirring. That's what I'm good at.



Then we got the veal cooking, and as everthing was going along as planned we had some time to goof off.



And then magically, all around the same time, the vegetables were roasted, the veal was cooked, and the polenta was the right consistency! Voila!

We are masters of our little Dutch kitchen!

And for dessert (yes, there's more! Try not to be too impressed) we made lime and strawberry sorbets, with little chocolate decorations in the name of fun and fanciness.

Bon appétit!

In case you're wondering, yes, the previous post was inspired by an actual trip to Paris. And trips to Paris are always fun, but this one was even better because we didn't have to pay for it. What??? Free trip??? How do I get one of those? you may be asking yourself. Simple... get your workplace to send you! Ben actually had real live business reasons for being there (a software demonstration that he had to go to, blah blah blah), but we (especially me) enjoyed it for the fun time that it was.

So this trip was different for several reasons. 1) We stayed in an apartment instead of a hotel. 2) Ben actually had work to do. 3) I was left with a lot of free time to roam the streets of Paris on my own. Ben working wasn't the best, but the apartment and the wandering were definitely great.

First, the apartment. We found it through the website www.perfectlyparis.com, which is a site for vacation rentals mainly in the Montmartre area of Paris. We had already planned on staying in an apartment on our next trip, and figured this would be the perfect opportunity. So, here is where we stayed...



And these were the views from the balcony



We loved it. It was tiny, but much bigger than a hotel room. And much cuter too, and it had a kitchen and a really comfy double bed (hard to find in european travels), AND high speed internet. Okay, and maybe that means I could have updated the blog while we were actually there, but come on, I had THINGS to do! PLACES to go! FOOD to eat!

Which leads me to what I did all day while Ben was off making money to support my travel, shopping, and eating habits. Before we left for Paris, I researched and plotted and decided on places I needed to go. Most of these places were restaurants or stores that sell food or cooking stuff. What can I say? Paris is the city of love, and of food. The city of food lovers! So I consulted my new Pudlo Paris restaurant guide as well as Chocolate and Zucchini, one of my favorite blogs, and compiled a list.

And so once we got there, I set out walking and taking the metro all over the place, to a fantastic patisserie, a hole in the wall Vietnamese sandwich place with delicious sandwiches, a cute little chocolate shop just a couple blocks from our apartment, and a restaurant that serves yummy soups (and not much else). Okay, and maybe we managed to make it to the Musée d'Orsay for an artsy, non-food-related outing, and the Galeries Lafayette for some mega shopping. And we did our usual walking around and sitting in cafés, people watching. So it wasn't completely food-centered.

It was our fourth trip there so far, and not our last. We're feeling more and more at home in Paris, and Ben's even taking a beginning French class now, one taught by a brilliant and beautiful teacher (me, of course) so he can start ordering his own crepes and wine the next time we go.

Reasons why we love Paris

It's just so pretty.

I could never get tired of the view of Paris from Sacre Coeur. It always makes my heart speed up a little bit.

The language is so nice to listen to. Conversations in French make lovely background noise.

There are trash cans everywhere. Maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal, but I have walked for miles in other cities carrying around a napkin or an empty water bottle before eventually giving up and shoving it in my purse.

Wine is so cheap and so good. And the same can be said for baguettes.

As much as they have a reputation for being rude and snooty, Parisians are more often than not pretty nice to the tourists.

The grocery stores have fun things like packaged crepes and chocolate mousse and fois gras and tagines.

People call you "Monsieur" or "Madame"; I find this completely charming.

The Metro is so easy and goes everywhere. And it's mostly clean and almost always on time.

Sometimes, you'll be walking down a random street and suddenly you'll be enveloped by the smell of freshly baked bread and pastries. This is one of life's greatest simple pleasures.

Merry Christmas!

or Prettige Kerstdagen! if you want it in Dutch.

We wish everyone a happy holiday with friends and family, and hope that the New Year brings you peace and happiness.

love,
Ellen, Ben, Bella + Spud

One of the perks of Ben's job here is that he occasionally need to travel to other places for a few days. And if this were a normal job in the U.S., he'd be traveling to places like Omaha and Nashville, but since we're here his business trips take him to places like Italy, Spain and England. Not too bad. And if I'm not busy, all we have to do is buy a plane ticket for me and I can go along. Even better!

Ben's latest trip took him to Northwood, England (not too far from London) for a half-day work thing of some sort. I couldn't fly there with him due to this pesky thing called "my job", but I met him the next day after his work obligations were over. We spent the night in the hotel near Northwood, explored a local department store, hung out. Then the next day we walked to the train station to begin our one day whirlwind tour of London.

We managed to get checked in to our London "hotel" by about 10 a.m. I put hotel in quotes because, it was no luxury. It was more than a hostel, less than a Holiday Inn. But it was clean, and quiet, and we didn't get mugged at the bus stop, so what more can you ask for at 59 pounds a night? And it was really clean. I know I mentioned that already, but from the looks of the place outside the extreme cleanliness inside was a nice surprise.

After we got settled, we set off to see London, armed with our one-day travel pass for the Underground and busses and about 3 different London guide books (don't want to miss anything, you know).

We started of with Big Ben

(and little Ben!)

Played around in those darn cute red telephone booths. I can only imagine how annoying we are to to people who actually live in London.


Saw Westminster Abbey


Buckingham Palace (We got there right in time for the changing of the guard and there was a band playing music and 500 million bajillion people and it was a little crazy. I had to sit on Ben's shoulders)



Then we wandered through St James Park


And over to St James palace where there was one lone guard pacing back and forth and pretending like he didn't want to kick the asian tourists who kept running up and taking pictures with him.


Then we finally, finally found a Starbucks so Ben could get his mug


And after that we wandered, did some shopping, wandered some more until it was time for... High Tea! We went to the Orangery next to Kensington Palace and had tea and cucumber sandwiches and a scone and cake and it was so fun. I've decided I may start instituting a high tea here at home, just so I can drink tea and eat little sandwiches and cakes in the middle of the afternoon.




Our last hurrah of the day was Tower Bridge, which was pretty impressive.


And then we hobbled back to the Underground station and made our way back to our hotel just in time to catch an episode of Ugly Betty while lying in bed and eating salads and stuff from the grocery store.

I'm not quite sure how we did everything we in a day (because we actually saw a few more things, like Picadilly Circus and Harrod's), but we had a great time. We decided that London isn't our favorite like Paris is, but it could make for a good friend to hang out and drink a couple of pints with and maybe get a little silly. We'd like to go back, but if we do, we'd prefer to do it with more money. London was fun, but expensive. But worth it for the day.

Cheers!

Where the heck have we been?!?

No, we didn't disappear. Just took a tiny bit of time off from the blogging. Okay, maybe more than a tiny bit, but we're back! And we've been doing things and going places! Exciting things! Fabulous places!

A while back we had decided that Thanksgiving was going to be no big deal here, so we found cheap cheap tickets to Barcelona for 2 days. And then we invited a couple of friends to join us, because we like them and because we figured if it's fun to go out to dinner with other people, it will be extra fun going out to dinner with people in a foreign country. And it was!

We arrived on Thanksgiving, hit one tapas bar,

made some Thanksgiving phone calls to family,

and the hit another tapas restaurant for dinner.


After that we went out dancing like the crazy young people we are until my feet hurt so much I thought they might die and/or fall off. It was an excellent Thanksgiving.

The next day we saw as many sights in Barcelona as we possibly could...





And of course, found a Starbucks so Ben could add to his mug collection.

And then we flew home the next day. Ay caramba. Muy tiring. But fun, and definitely worth the trip.

And then, a couple short weeks later, we did a one day only quick trip to London. Are we crazy or what? London photos to come soon. A quick fact before I go though - Did you know that London is so full of pollution it can turn a person's snot black? It can! It did! Gross. We won't mention that again.

Our trip to Ireland started out foggy and ended in Paris. With no stops in Dublin in between.

We got up early early in the morning to avoid rush hour traffic on our way to the airport and then battled some intense fog for an hour and a half on our drive to the airport. After we got to the airport, checked in, and sat for a long time, they announced that the flight to Dublin was canceled and to please collect our baggage and report to the ticket desk. Booooo.

As we stood in line with a bajillion other annoyed people, we weighed our options. "Well, maybe we'll get on a flight to Dublin later today. Or maybe not... there are a lot of people here"... "We could just go home, I guess"..."Well, we're only 2 and a half hours from Paris..."

And so Paris it was. They offered us a 10 p.m. flight to Dublin, but it was 10 a.m. when this took place, and the airport was seriously tiny. We didn't like the prospect of killing time by visiting the snack bar and newsstand 100 times, so we took a refund and hopped back in our car.

We stayed for only one night in Paris, but in a ritzy hotel with bonbons on the pillow and a fancy shower and a double bed that was NOT two twin beds pushed together! We did all our favorite things - drank wine, ate crêpes, ate baguettes, ate some other stuff, and wandered around. It was not what we had planned for the weekend, but you can never go wrong going to Paris. Unless you don't like Paris, in which case you might be dead to me.

So, no Dublin. No Shannon. No Cliffs of Moher. No pubs. No Guinness. But rest assured, there will be a trip to Ireland at some point. We have passes to the Guinness Storehouse that are good for a year and you better believe we're going to use them.