Hello

[Pamala]

Hello, I am new here. I am an American living in The Netherlands (for 26 years now)....

Cooking is one of my many pleasures. Cooking after working all day has become a chore.

I prefer cooking from fresh ingredients, and it usually manage to do so. I look forward to new ideas!

Pam

 

[Hoot]

Howdy!
Welcome to D.C.!

 

[Dawgluver]

Welcome to DC, Pamala!

 

[Josie1945]

Hi Pam,
Welcome to DC.

Josie

 

[Harry Cobean]

good morning from manchester uk

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

Good morning from North Wales UK

 

[CWS4322]

Welcome to DC, Pamela. I too like cooking using fresh, preferably in season, ingredients. What are some of your favorite types of things to cook?

 

[letscook]

welcome

 

[Pamala]

Thank you for the welcomes!!

CW, I love vegetables. I do lots of stir fries. I've recently done some experimenting with pasta sauces. We have a twice weekly open air market here. Depending on what looks nice on the day, I plan. Today they had some nice strawberries, some white asparagus tips and a purple bell pepper (which I have never seen before) . White asparagus usually needs peeled, but these are tiny so I'm hoping to steam them. Tonight is nasi goreng with some left over fish curry from last night. I bought some bean sprouts at the market to add some crunch. That will give me some time to research the asparagus!! What do you like to cook?

On work nights I do cheat a bit on the Indonesian spice pastes!

 

[Pamala]

ps Bolas, I have never been further north than Aberystwyth. Wales is lovely!

 

[CWS4322]

Thank you for the welcomes!!

CW, I love vegetables. I do lots of stir fries. I've recently done some experimenting with pasta sauces. We have a twice weekly open air market here. Depending on what looks nice on the day, I plan. Today they had some nice strawberries, some white asparagus tips and a purple bell pepper (which I have never seen before) . White asparagus usually needs peeled, but these are tiny so I'm hoping to steam them. Tonight is nasi goreng with some left over fish curry from last night. I bought some bean sprouts at the market to add some crunch. That will give me some time to research the asparagus!! What do you like to cook?

On work nights I do cheat a bit on the Indonesian spice pastes!

I grew purple bell peppers last year, for the color they add to things. I didn't get any purple pepper seeds this year. They are a hybrid, so you can't save your own seeds. I am too lazy to put my asparagus in the dark, so I only grow the green (and, since last year, purple) asparagus, and harvest it wild. (Yes, purple is my favorite color). I like to cook just about everything. I do most of my cooking on weekends--this weekend I will be stuffing grape leaves (dolmadas), trying the bread recipe AndyM posted yesterday (making 1/2 into Kaiser rolls, the other a baguette), poaching a salmon I have in the freezer, and probably a batch of homemade ice cream...not sure which flavor yet. Might repeat the rhubarb since the rhubarb needs to be picked. Or, if the strawberries are ready, I'll go with the strawberry with black pepper recipe for which Steve Kroll shared the recipe recently. We have 3000+ row feet (planted--the gardens are much larger than that), so we eat what is in season and lots of it when the gardens are at full speed. Not a lot of seafood or fish because we are landlocked.

 

[Pamala]

I am envious of your garden. Holland is a small country and many things are mini, including our garden. We have herbs and raspberries.... Zucchini (courgette) are a thing of the past since we got cats. The soil is wrong for asparagus. I did look into it. I prefer the green but the Dutch prefer the white. I've been lucky this year in finding the green. Today they had none!

I have never heard of purple asparagus. See, I am learning things already!

 

[lionel]

its so great you like cooking so much, i hope you will share your knowledge with us !