Making bone broth and soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles) in Asian-inspired pork bone broth

The worst thing is starting a new week with little sleep.

I know because my week began with just a handful of hours between Sunday and Monday.

It all started with a nightmare and soothing a little one back to sleep. Just as I was finally managing to drift back off almost an hour later, the crying started again, with sniffling pleas to come into our bed, a special treat (for us so that we can get right back under the duvet, or for them?) for the really bad nights.

I quickly agreed and tried to re-enter slumberland with my little boy's body curled into mine with such an intensity that I doubted it was going to happen any time soon. That is when I felt the scorching heat, it was like lying next to a radiator. I dragged myself out of bed again to get the thermometer and surely enough the little guy had a high fever.

As he slept on in his aura of heat, I lay awake, my mind racing. I was supposed to be in the office extra early that morning because there was a lot to deal with and it was just going to be one of those days. People were counting on me being there, but there was no way I was going to find a sitter at 3:00am in the morning. I started sending messages and emails to warn my colleagues. Then I lay awake feeling guilty. My husband was snoring, oblivious. My son was sleeping a fitful sleep and everytime I tried to move away from his burning limbs wrapped around me to cool off, he nudged his way right back into my arms.

Needless to say, we both awoke feeling lousy.

He didn't want any breakfast so lunch had to be nourishing and I wanted to keep him hydrated throughout the day. I knew I had some bones and some scraps of vegetables in the freezer. I would make bone broth, the healing, nutritious superfood of our grandmothers, great grandmothers and great-great granmothers.

Rich in protein, vitamins, and nutrients and minerals in general, it is actually known to block cold symptoms and help build up your gut. I even read somewhere that warm salt water helps keep mucus thin and kill bacteria and vegetables are known to help boost the immune system.

I had never used pork bones before, but I had randomly picked a few up the previous week and thought they would make an even richer, darker broth. However, when I started making it, I noticed the smell was stronger than usual, more penetrating, to the point that it almost bothered me a little. My mind started working: the strong flavor probably would stand up to some very bold, aromatic ingredients, and that was how this oriental-inspired broth was born. I threw in a large knob of ginger, some star anise, a nice glug of soy sauce for saltiness and there it was. At that point, the soba noodles sitting in a drawer and some fresh bean sprouts seemed like the perfect match.

It was our lunch and then it became dinner for the whole family with the addition of a runny scrambled egg that firmed up nicely when I poured the boiling broth over it.*

Cold peanut soba noodle salad

 

 

Happy 4th of July to all my American readers!

Here it is a day like any other, but I thought this recipe would be handy for a last minute idea to take along to a picnic or BBQ (or a delicious salad for any other occasion if you are not celebrating Independence Day today).

It has been a while since my last real post, so forgive me, but last week we were away enjoying some of the glorious sea and beaches Italy has to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

We try to take days off every once in a while throughout the summer to get our kids out of the city, summer school and the sweltering heat (although we have been very lucky thus far) since we both work well through August. I will save you the whole spiel about the guilt of being working parents in a city where summer vacation lasts three months and it is normal for kids to spend most of them away in the country, mountains or at the beach with grandparents who double as fulltime baby sitters (and yes, I am aware this is a first world problem), because I already did that here. But the guilt remains and so we try to whisk them off whenever we can. 

 

 

 

 

 

This year, however, to be honest husband and I really needed it too.
Those who know me personally can confirm that I am not one to usually complain about feeling tired, worn out or unwell and I am always looking for things to do or places to go. I am usually quite happy being busy, but the past couple of months really knocked the wind out of us, for no particular reason, might I add. It was more like an accumulation of lots of little things: busy days in the office (at a job that is doing its best to suck out every last ounce of my normally positive attitude recently); the last month of school with its endless recitals, fundraisers, open-classes, parties, parent-teacher meetings, report cards, good-bye dinners, drinks, week ends and what have you. The related stress of constantly having to ask for time off from work to go to all the abovementioned gatherings and the running back and forth from them to work multiplied by the number of kids you have (how do you moms with more than two kids do it???) blablabla taxes in multiple countries blablabla bureaucratic deadlines for summer school, regular school,  after-school, you name it, we did it blablabla free lance jobs blablabla a birthday party to organize blablabla...

 

*yawn*

 

I am even boring myself, so I will stop boring you. But you get the idea, right? Because we all have periods like that, whether you are a stay-at-home parent or a working parent, whether you are a parent or not. Periods when you just feel wrung out.

 

 

 

Thai cold rice noodle salad with chicken, lime and peanut sauce

It has been really hot here.

The "36°C at 7:00pm in the evening" kind of hot.
The "I-feel-like-I-peed-in-my-pants-after-biking-home" kind of hot.
The "only wear very dark or very light tops to work" kind of hot.
The "my-thighs-just-got-stuck-to-the-waiting-room-faux-leather-sofa" kind of hot.
The "I-keep-finding-my-son's-discarded-diapers-around-the-house" kind of hot. (Yes, we tried potty training when that started but realized very quickly it was purely a desire to cool off his Netherlands, not a sign of wanting to use a toilet).
The "opening-the-fridge-just-to-cool-off" kind of hot.

Like many apartments in old Italian buildings, we do not have air conditioning. With a just-turned three-year old who loves looking out of the window, we pretty much have to keep either our windows or shutters closed to avoid accidents, unless we are in the room. We did buy universal window catches to protect our children, but it seems that our seemingly standard 1920s window frames somehow do not fit the definition of "universal". Last but not least, I don't think our landlady would appreciate us screwing white plastic guards into her grandmother's beautiful wood pannelled window frames. So that sort of rules out the possibility of exploiting our apartment's double exposure and the lovely current it creates.

As a result, we have been drinking a lot of water. We have been lying around in our underwear loungewear like dead leaves. The kids have been splashing around a lot in the bathtub. Luckily we have ceiling fans, although the pretty period molded ceilings are so high, we only catch a slight breeze at top speed.

So now you know why my most recent pinning has involved lots of salads, ice cream recipes and South East Asian influences recipes. Since I feel the need for fresh, cool and crunchy ingredients, a lot of those recipes will be coming your way in the near future.

Today's recipe is courtesy of Smitten Kitchen, who did the hard work of converting complicated, laborious restaurant food into something more accessible for home cooks. The preparation is actually much simpler than the list of ingredients and variety of steps would lead you to think, so read through it before you decide it is too much work. It really isn't, and if I say so you know it is true since I am the queen of simple and fast family-friendly recipes. The most laborious part was squeezing the limes (I used 8). Feel free to play around with the vegetables you prefer, just keep it crunchy.

Lemme just make sure it is al dente!

Minestrone with paprika and lemon juice

Sorry, but I just can't post a real recipe today. Forgive me.

On Monday I was hit by a bout of the stomach flu and am luckily on my way to recovery. Still, I don't really want to eat food, see food, smell food, cook food, write about food or even read about it. Hence, I cannot bring myself to post the recipe I had planned. All I can think about eating these days is warm and comforting soups and sour fruit like green apples and unripe plums. My figure has greatly benefited, if not my blog.

Here is a little soup that came together as a combination of my two yearnings: a chunky vegetable noodle soup with an extra ingredient, lemon juice. I thought I was being original but I later found out the Internet is teaming with recipes for minestrone with lemon juice. Who knew?

Ingredients

assorted vegetables

coarse salt

pepper corns

olive oil

fresh herbs

water

paprika

lemon juice

pasta

I chopped up all the left over vegetables I had in my fridge, from spring onions to carrots, tomatoes and lots of wilted celery. I cut them all up into big chunks and let them bubble away on the stove with water, coarse salt, pepper corns and olive oil. When the vegetables were soft and the liquid nice and aromatic, I added in plenty of sweet paprika and the juice from half a lemon, to give it a nice and sour twist. I also threw in a few handfuls of wilted herbs I had lying around, some dill and some coriander. Finally, I poured in a cup of pastina (smaller pasta for soups), but you can use larger kinds or break up spaghetti or several varieties and throw them in together. It is a great way to use up almost empty bags of pasta. Et voilà, a lovely minestrone with an extra punch of flavor.

By the way, I am still having problems leaving comments on Blogger blogs (mine included). Sometimes they show up and sometimes they don't. So just to let you know, I have been reading all your comments on my blog and your posts.