Values & vegetables

Growing up, developing your spirit, relationships and friendships. Taking care of and being more aware of your body. Not always easy. No time to take a shower, tons of stuff to do. So much to undertake. Fun to go outside or sitting in the kitchen: having a break with a yoghurt, fruit, some Lindt chocolate. Homework, emails, facebook and msn. Roller skating, table tennis. family over, a cousin. The girls' house is no longer a girls' residence. There's a boy around, a young adult. We didn't meet the last 1,5 year since a summer vacation in Rome. The girls changed and their cousin did too. It takes time to find a new constellation in the house. But after ten days all four seem settled and happy. It is a learning process, it's a social network. Their perceptions and what they attend of this long visit are not the same I suppose. They all want to spend time together, being a family for this period of time. Talks about his near future and steps to take to prepare an admission at university. Solange will be at this point in 4,5 years. Class of 2014. Seems unreal and yet so close. Growing up. We'll all go through this. So different, so great, unsure, all those questions. Choices to be made. Decisions to be taken. Family values, peers influences. Beautiful memories to remember of my own youth when I hear the stories of my nephew. Makes me thinking of ships that passed by. Life for these young people is bloody serious: live and enjoy every day is my shortest message. For me as his aunt it's a true challenge to have him around. The food allergies he's facing, are vegetable, fruit and nuts related. I need to find some clues: as tomatoes, peppers, zucchinis and eggplant are just not eatable for him. Our table is again a place to talk about the meals we can have. And reading Michael Pollan makes it obvious that we should have - mostly - plants for dinner. Tonight we'll share pumpkin quiche and beteraves salad with onions.

Julia Child

Am I happy. My daughter Nuria just made me a fabulous compliment. 'This veal recipe Mummy could be one of Julia Child's dishes'. Wow. 'Thanks darling'.
I am back in the kitchen for new recipes. My nephew arrived this week for a long stay, probably three months. He is allergic and in a different way than my daughter. It feels as if I need to invent new tastes as he is especially allergic for all kinds of vegetables. Everything that sounds mediterranean is just not his cup of tea. It's back to Northern European roots. Tonight we had broccoli. I boiled the vegetables shortly. Added goat cheese from a local farm and poured honey. In the oven the cheese and the honey melted nicely together. The veal was prepared in sunflower oil and filled with Spanish ham and fresh herbs. Beautiful combination. Nuria was right indeed. Tomorrow we'll watch Julia Child, can't get enough of her.

Motions

Pearls desire
stones deepness
glass longing
mirrors reflecting
images transfer moments
all steps
life chain
daughters love
secrets hidden
images mirrors
stories glass
reflexing motions
colours
character
mirror

Learning by playing

In France obesity has become an astonishing problem, the cases doubled over the last 12 years. The problem is bigger in the Northern part of the county, the region around Paris and one area in the south. There is a link between social class and obesity. There was an article about the issue published in a daily French newspaper for yougsters, L'actu, a fabulous source for children, adapted to their age and to the time they want to spend to reading 'their' newspaper. Active and passive learning: two ways of passing your leisure time. Reading feeds the intellectual appetite as sports does for the physical needs, a natural balance if we could divide the world in these two blocks. In our zap world there are millions of possibilities in spending time. Going outdoor and jumping around to keep fit needs energy from both kids and parents. Staying indoor with fancy electronics is easy, no need to move around, no physical energy flow. Time seems to be the bottleneck. hanging in front of the screens is one of the main reasons kids get fatter in all countries. Cheap unhealthy food is another cause. Not easy. Schools and state ruled institutions should worry about these issues. Bad nutrition and young people's health is a complex subject and it is difficult to say who is to blame. One could think of more healthy food in school cafetaria's or to work out together with your kids or not using the car for short distances or gardening like Michele Obama. Information is not enough. Action is the keyword. taking your own responsability is an urgent need. Learning by playing an old philosophy, interaction between math and sport, choir and gymnastics, art and outside drawing. Creative species is what we should try to be, like all those amazing and spectacular technology architects. Body and spirit a balance to search for. Mens sana in corpore sano.

Take time to eat

Obese children, a sad issue of modern times. Time is precious and shared meals are less frequent. The table needs to become again a place for reunion. A family dinner, a moment of sharing a conversation and a meal. How to eat and what to feed to our children and ourselves seems to have become less evident. Activities and full schedules have taken over the natural rythm of sitting down peacefully: respect for our saint biological-rhythm often neglected. Rules for regularity, happen to be as important as rules for food. Occasionally, reserve space in your head and time in your agenda to prepare a recipe together and enjoy the result sitting down. Eating slower has been researched recently and contributes positively in controlling your hunger feelings. Here in Rabat I see so many obese children. There is a shocking contrast between the children in the shanty town next door and some of the
classmates of our girls. The first ones are running around, eat less and are slim, the second ones enjoy wealthy life, non stop consuming and are simply too fat. The picture seems quite universal. Like Michelle Obama's plans to get involved as first lady in the weight problems of young American citizens, obesity is also on the record in a growing number of European countries. And this is a good thing! Obesity is mostly about education. The context for a balanced nutrition program could be the planet: local food and sustainability actions to promote. Children will pick it up, adults too.

CAPITAL CULTURE: White House garden ex-'seeds' expectations - Milford, MA - The Milford Daily News

CAPITAL CULTURE: White House garden ex-'seeds' expectations - Milford, MA - The Milford Daily News

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Simply the best!

I am what I eat. There is more I know today than I knew some time ago. Rules about food need to be respected. By following blogs and other social networks I can't ignore the long list of really interesting thoughts about food and allergies. These two components were the reason I started the blog.  My startup was directly linked to the allergies of my eldest daughter. She is a food lover, already a great cook, a socializer.

There is so much wrong with food today and so much so terribly fantastic about food at the same time.
What's safe for us is probably safer for the planet.
Local food by local producers seems simply the best.
To be allergic means a lot of disadvantages but also a profound personal awareness. Conscious about your own body and how to feed it best are just two challenges. My daughter, chef in the kitchen? She may act as an authority: ''Did you all wash your hands?'' Responsible attitude. A better and healthier world.

Baking weather

Stormy weather, tropical rain, strong wind and rainbows in Rabat. Dads driving up with their kids to find the golden treasure at the end of the rainbow. Skies coloured in different shades and changing quickly. Flooding water in the streets. Girls playing first soccer games. Wintertime and sunshine, spring flowers along the roads.
Goats eating the leaves of the palm trees in our street, chickens in the fresh air and kids from the shanty town who like to walk up with the car hoping for something. Cleaning up in the backyard, bringing toys over to the kids in the street. I remember, the wooden kitchen stove once was a birthday present for one of my girls. Now it has finally found a new destination. Her birthday is later this week. Breakfast will be in Morocan style with crepes from Zineb. The rectangular shape and the fried crust make the Moroccan crepe, while served with honey, a birthday favourite. I think there is a resemblance with these Moroccan crepes and the ones we ate in the southern part of China, Guilin, together with Solange and her grand parents. The fried crust with small bubbles and the taste is very similar. We bought the crepes at a small local outdoor bakery and savoured them filled with warm chunks of apple and cinnamon . Her request is small pâtisseries from the French bakery Le Notre. Solange has her favourites in this fancy French shop: 'mille feuilles'.

Although I will make some home made cookies with jam, the birthday treat will be original from her home country French.

Fresh market & homemade

Slow food. This  is what makes life here in Rabat in a kind of a way comfortable. Shopping is still an underdeveloped activity. And that is, in today's context - the planet, the thoughts of sustainability - not bad at all. Doing my groceries here in Rabat, became a much more relaxed activity than it was back in Europe. The number of shops is limited, the choice of products so much less than in the average European supermarket.
At the same time the fruit and vegetable stands are so many, so we are just at the right place for vitamins and healthy food. Good food, real food.

Slow food is available whenever you are ready to feel healthy. You can't get annoyed by all the colourful food. Fruits and vegetables at almost every corner.Today we celebrate the three kings: Epiphany. A homemade brioche. Who will wear the crown? Life is richer when you see your kids having a good appetite and tasting the taste of real food. Education is the miracle word.
The brioche succeeded wonderfully and to explore new recipes with our Moroccan girl is a real adventure. She happens to be a fabulous cook and together we'll visit all local food places in the area. Yesterday was our first excursion.

She took me to a vegetable store in real Moroccon neighbourhood, we were to late for the local market, so that's for next friday, and we picked lots of different vegetables. The first strawberries from the Northern part of Morocco. The girls were so excited to taste the gorgious sweet red fruit. I am thinking now about this project in a way to explore the flavours of the region. Creation of recipes and of course all peanut and nut free. Making and testing recepis and writing them down on the blog.

Detox

Detoxification. From the west to the east. In Paris and in New York. What is wrong with our holidays? The message is cristal clear: we need to clean, heal and relax our bodies after the break. We had some good dinners during our holidays in Europe. The girls enjoyed nice dishes and delicious desserts together with their friends. It was a mix of American and European food. Traditions were shared and everybody could add something from his food wishlist to the menu. Solange could eat it all. The recipes were home made and peanut and nut free. No medication need for Solange this year. No need for detox. One friend really tries to cook with the products of the local market. This is getting an important topic. Thinking green and eating green and taking care of your daily need of 5 to 7 portions fruit and vegetables makes life rather colorful. Look for bright colors and you know you are eating the right vitamines. Life becomes so easy just by visiting the local vegetable and fruit market during the twelve months of the calendar of 2010. I am already looking for some nice recipes with lemons as my lemon tree is giving us a lot fruit this year. We will leave the good chocolate from Switzerland for a while, we had a few. But so far no need for detox. Water, tea, a good night rest and a laugh a day will keep the doctor away.

Food thoughts for 2010

Just at the beginning of a new decade, a brand new year. Ready to launch lots of new energy in this blog adventure and in starting up projects about food and local cooking when coming back to Rabat tomorrow. We´ll be waiting for a family member who will stay with us for some time. He will need special food and is allergic for a range of stuff. I will study clearly his afflictions and in close contact with him I am ready to focus for a new plate of flavours and recipes that will suit him the best. Even more challenges in the kitchen with two people in the house with their specific allergies.
Foodprints, food thoughts, coaching parents and kids about good food and fine fingerprints about allergies. This is only the beginning of 2010.