Clouds of Coconut Quark

Usually when we serve black rice porridge for Oryoki  breakfast the accompanying fruit tends to be either oranges and dates, or like today, mango and lychee with those yummy almond tofu diamonds. On those occasions, quark and toasted coconut are served on the condiment trays to dollop or sprinkle on top of everything. One day Helma […]

Pear Salad with an Asian Twist

We were making Japanese-style braised veggies for lunch (p.132 in the Z.R.C. if you’re wondering) and I needed a salad to match. There were lots of pears in the store-room, and pondered if a dressing made with some yuzu zest might just do the trick? If you haven’t come across it before, yuzu is a citrus fruit prized […]

Walnut Honey Cream Cheese

The first bagel I ever ate didn’t leave much of an impression. A chewy bread doughnut with cream cheese?  I was more used to fluffy, toasted Wonder Bread dripping with margarine. The second bagel was memorable. I had to wait a day in Boston before taking the Greyhound bus to Bar Harbor, where we would join the winter training period at […]

Barley Porridge with Walnuts

When we were young my mother used to make something she liked to call barley soup. It was actually just barley and milk cooked together for what seemed like an eternity. By the time it was done, the milk had condensed to pudding consistency. As kids we loved it, but the down side was it […]