November food swap

 Gosh, time has flown by. It seems months since my first ever disastrous vegan food swap. This time round, I was clever and bought all the food stuff rather than slogging away in the kitchen for hours. So what did I get for my foodie friend? Here's a pic:

 

Hazelnut nougat & dark chocolate bar, habas mojadas (roasted broad beans coated in spicy batter), soba wholewheat noodles with buckwheat, my homemade chutney, wasabi paste and lapsang souchong tea. 

If you have never tried lapsang souchong tea, I urge you to go and buy it now even if you think you hate tea. Lapsang souchong (meaning literally "Small plant from Lapu mountain") is a black tea originally from the Wuyi region of the Chinese province of Fujian. Lapsang is distinct from all other types of tea because lapsang leaves are traditionally smoke-dried over pinewood fires, taking on a distinctive smoky flavour (source: Wikipedia). Look, even if you don't like the taste, I swear it's good enough just to enjoy its aroma!

I hope my buddy falls in love with it. I also hope she appreciates the wasabi paste. My love for all things wasabi started in Amsterdam 3 years ago when I was introduced to wasabi coated peanuts (amazing!). I seem to have a natural affinity for Japanese and Thai food (well, actually I have an affinity for all food!). I think it's the umami flavour of Japanese cuisine that tantalises my taste buds.

I am ashamed to say that I have only recently discovered the term umami. Umami, a savoury taste, is one of the five basic tastes, together with sweet, sour, bitter and salty. A loanword from the Japanese, umami can be translated as "pleasant savoury taste". Umami taste is common to the following foods: fish, shellfish, cured meats, vegetables (e.g., mushrooms, ripe tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, spinach, celery, etc.), green tea, and fermented and aged products (e.g., cheeses, shrimp pastes, soy sauce, etc.). Humans' first encounter with umami is breast milk. It contains roughly the same amount of umami as broths (source: Wikipedia).

So there you go, I first fell in love with umami as a baby, developed the love by eating shedload of pickled gherkins and sauerkraut as a Polish kid and refined it by eating soy products and drinking green tea as an adult. And here's the best thing I learnt at a recent wine tasting, wine also has the umami taste! Well, I never. All this time I've been blaming my Polish genes for occasionally overindulging in wine, but actually drinking and enjoying wine is as natural to me as to anyone else (kind of).

Anyway, here's what I received.

Fruit gums (gelatine-free and vegan, of course), Alpro soya whipping cream, Speculoos spread, Bonne Maman Chestnut Spread, organic orange chocolate with cranberries, raspberry brownie and smoked cashew nuts.

I am very happy indeed with this lot. The attached note explained that many of the items were bought on a recent trip to Belgium. I think I love Belgium. Here are a few reasons why. First, there's the film 'In Bruges', need I say more? Second, this summer I met a couple of lovely people from Belgium. Arty types - just my kind of people. Third, I agree with the sentiments of their prime minister, Elio Di Rupo (see the image below).

Anyway, back to food. The chestnut spread will, no doubt, soon find its way into one of my cheesecakes. I've been planning some kind of a chestnut cake for a while now. No excuses now!

The speculoos spread is very intriguing. I've had vegan chocolate spread before but this one is a bit special. It's Belgian and tastes all wheaty and biscuity. Not surprising really since 60% of the ingredients is speculoos. Speculoos is a type of shortcrust biscuit, traditionally baked for consumption on or just before St Nicholas' feast in the Netherlands (December 5), Belgium (December 6), and Northern France and around Christmas in Germany (source: Wikipedia). I foresee toast with speculoos spread for breakfast (and when I get back home late at night with drunken munchies ;)).

That's all folks. Now do not waste another second. Get thee to a shop to fetch some lapsang souchong tea (somewhere in the back of my mind I hear Hamlet's: "get thee to a nunnery").