Is it a sign that the evening I decide to move out I have a lovely time with my faux-family? Katia pours me wine and I eat my polenta and veggies at the table with them. She makes them speak English which makes me giggle. After dinner she goes to the theatre, and I am left to play UNO with Anna who was previously a little skiddish around me. She laughs her head off when she wins, doing a headstand and flopping around on the couch. The kids begin to take interest in the muffins that I put in the oven. Anna stands at my side when I take the first batch out of the oven, and Louna says in English "you're a cook!" I would correct her and say "chef," but today in one of my classes a girl drew the word "chef" from the box of words to describe to the class. She started with "politics," "left, right," "makes decisions," "at the head of".... You get the point. CHIEF, CHEF. Everybody repeat.
After I fill the last pan of muffins, I offer the bowl to Anna to lick clean (the joys of vegan baking). She knows there's zucchini in these muffins, so politely declines by running into the living room. Eventually, though, I get them to try the muffins and they are happily surprised that the muffins don't taste like vegetables at all! And, with all of the chopped dates and apple sauce, they are super sweet. Find the recipe
here, at Gena's Choosing Raw blog. I am terrible at following recipes to the tee, but this time I tried. And it was a little too dry. I added about 1/4 more milk, in case you make them, which you should.
 |
| Two things I am sure of: Creamy Coconut Parsnip "Rice" + Sweet Potatoes and Zucchini Date Muffins. |
When I tell these kids they make a lot of weird noises, they might think it's a complaint. It might be when these noises are Anna playing the accordion on a Saturday morning or Robin jumping up and down to music in his room (this is an old house). Usually though, it means that I like them. Just as I like our joint meals and me walking around through their day-to-day life, giggling at the weird things they do or rolling my eyes at their whining. Just as I like my talks with Katia in the evenings and going to wander the flea markets together on Sundays. Lately, random spats and explosions have outweighed these good things, but right when I decide to move out, into a vacant one bedroom apartment in town, all of the good things reappear two-fold. Hmmm... I guess only time will tell. Better decision-making abilities could also do the trick, but they are lacking around here.
 |
| So I know I wouldn't be leaving behind my succulent, my French glass bottle, or all of my pictures. But they are so comfortable here already... |
While at the Villeneuve market yesterday, which is in the suburb near my school and miles cheaper than the La Rochelle one, I did decide to pursue another recipe I have been considering on Gena's blog:
Creamy Coconut Parsnip Rice with Carmelized Squash (which became sweet potatoes, potentially "carmelized" in the frying pan). Food-processor chopped raw parsnips are rice-look-a-likes for raw vegans, btw. At first I didn't get it either. I added raw spinach to my parsnips, a bit more curry powder and cocomilk and it was delishhhh. Good decision right there. <3
No comments:
Post a Comment