butternut squash spread.

And sadly, the same night as the granola and salad/roasted potatoes dinner, I made one more thing...butternut squash spread.

On the farm, Maria made this delicious pumpkin jam-spread. I used to have it almost everyday for breakfast, with pieces of her bread. It. Was. Phenomenal. I don't think I've ever enjoyed pumpkin that much (aside from pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread and...okay, so I enjoy pumpkin). I went to the store but they didn't have pumpkins (or I couldn't find it...Saino's can get pretty confusing sometimes), so I bought butternut squash. I've made butternut squash muffins before, so I figured that if that came out fabulous, this shouldn't be too bad.

I boiled the butternut squash into oblivion (Maria said she baked the pumpkin) and made a huge pot of mush. I boiled some apple along with it. Some cinnamon, brown sugar, honey, salt, lots of mashing, and TADAAAAA.



Pretty darn good on bread with butter; it's still a bit too savory though. Honestly, the pumpkin would've worked better.
AND THEN I THOUGHT WHY NOT PUT IT IN A TART?
(this post to come later)


x

granola.

Usually, when I get home from traveling, I take a nap or some other delightful non-activity. This time, I ran the store and bought food (granted, I was quite hungry considering I didn't have anything substantial to eat during the my sleepover at the Bristol Airport). The moment I got home, I went straight to work.


During my time at the farm, I had a lot of thinking time. A lot of thinking time. I thought about my life now and what I hope to be doing in the future...and of course, what I hope to be eating in the future. While swinging on a hammock in the warm Italian sun, I had little brainstorming sessions of things I could make. A lot of them were based on things I ate on the farm. The idea to make my own granola was based on the fact that my favorite travel snack, granola, is stupid expensive.


Porridge oats, honey, a bit of sugar, vanilla, crushed almonds and a dash of cinnamon mushed together, chucked in an oven. I added some dried fruit mix....which wasn't too great. The raisins/sultanas weren't bad, but the cherries were terrible. Ugh.


It's not too sweet, which means it's perfect with yogurt! I usually have it for breakfast with greek yogurt, so its more hearty than it is a sugary snack. I had it with mango/papaya/passion fruit yogurt this morning, and the yogurt itself was insanely sweet so the granola kind of toned it down. Great with a cup of coffee, that's for sure.



x

spring break food part 4: prague.

From Italy, I flew to Prague to stay with mah best frieeend, Karen. It was my first time in Eastern Europe, so I was excited; heard Prague is beautiful and who knows what kind of delicious things I would discover!


The night I got in, I was starving. Karen picked me up from the airport and on the walk back, we stopped by one of those food stands to get a Smažený sýr...aka a fried cheese sandwich. ohmygod. I have photographic evidence that I ate it..which may be a good thing. But honestly, it was delicious.

The next morning, after loading my memory card into Karen's beautiful camera, we set out to take on Old Town Prague. We stopped by Bohemia Bagel to get breakfast bagels...which is something I haven't had in forever! And for some reason, kind of associate with Karen. I had egg and cheese on a spinach bagel (really good!) and two cups of coffee.



The city of Prague is beautiful. I don't even know how to describe it. So here's a photo.



The main square still had Easter celebration things going on - lots of hand-painted eggs and candy and stand treats. Here's trdelník, sweet dough wrapped around a hot rod, rolled in sugar, cinnamon and almonds. Great food for sharing.



I also wanted to try this smoked cheese rope that Hannah (who studied there last year) recommended. It was okay...it was too waxy tasting for me, although I really did enjoy the consistency.



After more roaming, Karen took me to one of her favorite teahouses. It was on a main street, but it was very relaxed and quiet inside. We sat down on little stools and perused through their enormous tea collection. Then we rang a little bell signify that we were ready (SUCH a good idea! I hate being hawked on). I picked a black tea that was stored in bamboo; I was scared that it was going to be too bitter and woody, but it was actually perfect! I definitely tasted the bamboo, but it wasn't overpowering. It reminded me of home.



We walked over the Charles bridge, towards Prague castle (which I explored the next day). Karen lead the way to a really nice restaurant...that was normal priced? After the Norway trip, it was very surprising to get a really filling and delicious meal for a cheap/reasonable price. Anyways, being pescatarian is a bit difficult in Prague. Aside from the salad options, my options were either a pasta dish with vegetables or fried cheese curd with potatoes.



Obviously I chose the fried cheese curd with potatoes (by this point in the trip, I'd given up on eating right). The word "curd" is really gross and off-putting. I think it's because it's so close to the word "turd", but that's just my personal theory. I figured I'd give it a go...and if I didn't like it, there was a whole mound of potatoes to devour anyways. Luckily, I really enjoyed it! It was really nicely crunchy on the outside and..kind of like a hard goo? of cheese on the inside. I almost finished the entire plate (yikes), but I had to leave 3 curds (hah) because after a while it got to me. Kind of like eating too much smoked cheese. You know?

Karen had Moravian sparrow, which was actually pork. I had a little nibble (when am I ever going to try Moravian sparrow?!) and it was actually really good! If I remember correctly, it was in a dark sauce that wasn't too heavy, but kind of sweet. And then it just tasted like pork. I was grossed out so I went back to my cheese curds. Hmm. Now that's a weird thing to say.



After the feast that we ate, we were way too full for dessert. We decided to walk home (not that big of a trek...) and then indulge in my final czech food conquest...MEDOVNÍK.



It's Czech honey cake. When Hannah first told me about it, I pictured a light-colored sponge cake - maybe some whipped cream with honey drizzled over it or something. Ohnonono. It's a multi-layered cake of honey sponge and sweet cream....covered in fine honey cake crumbs and walnuts. Every bite was a perfect amount of sweetness, although after a while it did get kind of strong...perfect with a cup of tea or coffee, I think. It kind of tasted caramelly. It also kind of tasted like being granted the power of flight. Apparently it's very difficult to make. I can't wait to try! x