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Today is Halloween and the last day of  October. Where did the month go? Last night my son and I carved up a big ole punkin that we got down at our church’s punkin patch. It’s a nice round heavy one. I would have liked to carve it into a really scary face but my son decides he wants the words “BOO!” on it. I must be getting good at this ’cause it didn’t take me long to carve it up at all. Came out prettie good if I do say so myself.

But the best part for me was the yummy seeds inside. Roasted them up, sprinkled with salt and voila – a most healthy and delicious snack that will last all of today. Oh the simple pleasures of life.

Goodbye October and hello to the frenzied holiday season…

Here is a delicious snack and fantastic use of the pumpkin seeds that will be all over your newspaper-lined kitchen tables as you carve those Jack-O -Lanterns this weekend!

Enjoy them now while you can…….I guarantee you’ll be craving these nutty, crunchy morsels until next fall!

Remove the seeds from the pumpkin and let them soak in a large bowl filled with water. Wash them by rubbing them with your hands to remove the stringy bits from the seeds.  Dry them off with paper towels and spread them on clean newspaper to dry.

Heat a teaspoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter in a large heavy skillet until bubbly. Add the seeds and toast until brown and crisp, around 4 or 5 minutes. Season with a few shakes of garlic salt and a tablespoon of worchestershire sauce. 

You could also season the seeds FIRST, mixing them with the melted oil and butter  and spread them on a baking sheet and bake for 15 or 20 minutes.  Let them cool to room temp and munch away.  Your mouth will thank you!

By night the town was festooned with multi-coloured electric lights and numerous stalls lined the streets, selling an array of toys and confectionery such as varieties of traditional nougat or torrone, toffee apples, caramel coated nut bars, and liquorice root, as well as savoury snacks such as freshly roasted peanuts, toasted pumpkin seeds and lupine beans.

For each evening a concert was organised, with music ranging from anything between Classical, Traditional, Neapolitan to Pop.

This particular  evening was the final night of the 2009 Madonna della Cività celebrations.  A huge stage had been erected in one of the main squares and there was to be a concert starring the Italian singer  Raf  (Raffaele Riefoli) .     

For a tiny little town such as Itri, this was a truely amazing gig and light show and we, along with the huge crowd that had gathered, found ourselves happily dancing and singing along to the music.

You can listen to some tracks of Raf’s latest CD here.

Also see: Feast of La Madonna della Cività – Part Three

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This was my first day staying, working, and eating at home in a long time. It was such a great pleasure to enjoy homemade meals – and three of them!

Breakfast: Muesli

• Soyogurt (with real vanilla)
• Fresh blueberries
• Banana slices
• Pumpkin seeds

Lunch: Noodles

• Japanese buckwheat noodles
• Chili bean curd (famous brand 王致和 Wang Zhihe)
• A touch of rice vinegar (镇江香醋)
• Zucchini with mushrooms
• Stir-fried cauliflower

Snacks: Nuts and Juice

• Raw Spanish peanuts & walnuts, roasted salted cashew nuts & macadamia nuts
• 1 QT of Odwalla antioxidant vitamin C micronutrient fruit juice drink

Dinner: Rice with kidney beans

• Rice with kidney beans
• Tomato with scrambled eggs (the most common Chinese homemade dish; well, I think my version tastes just a little better than my dad’s, hehe)
• Asparagus and black fungus

Wow, my diet can’t get better than this. Maybe I should spend more time at home than in the PhD office!

I’ve only come to know about muesli in a very short period of time. And in order to write this blog post, I also checked on wikipedia:

Interestingly, muesli was developed around 1900 by a Swiss physician called Maximilian Bircher-Benner for his hospital patients and popularized in the 1960s in many Western countries given the increased interest in healthy vegetarian diets.

My understanding of the major ingredients in muesli include: raw oats, fresh fruits, nuts, and some kind of liquid such as milk or juice. The original recipe from Bircher-Benner posted on wiki is as follows:

• 1 tablespoon rolled oats, soaked overnight in 2–3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon condensed milk
• 200 grams apple(about one large, preferably a sour variety), finely grated and mixed with the above directly before serving
• optionally top with 1 tablespoon ground hazelnuts or almonds

Everybody has their own way of making fresh muesli. You can probably google or youtube hundreds of nice recipes if you’d like. I don’t really like raw oats, as I usually boil oats to make oat meals or add them into my multigrain congee. I also like chunks of fresh fruits better than grated. Plus, I tend to substitute the liquid with yogurt. So here comes my version:

Major ingredients:

• diced apple, peach, and banana
• plain yogurt – I like it with vanilla flavor
• berries: blueberry or strawberry
• nuts/seeds: walnut, pumpkin seeds, or pine nut

I love it! Oops, I was gonna show a picture, but it was all gone too fast to be caught on camera, haha