No longer updating, but hope you enjoy the recipes!
Unfortunately, I got too busy to go back to blogging, after I was forced to take a break from it in 2015 because of tendonitis.
But you can still follow my cooking, eating, and travels on instagram: (@spontaneoustomato)
Travel Photos: Beer and Cheese in The Netherlands
The third and final stop on my recent trip to Europe brought me to the Netherlands. We were informed that a lot of the best food in the Netherlands is basically, well, not Dutch. So we ate accordingly, with one very important exception: cheese.
Gouda was never my favorite cheese in the states, but the rich, creamy Dutch goudas won me over immediately. At our hostel in Utrecht, we ate thinly sliced gouda on fresh bread for breakfast.
And later that day, while continuing our afternoon beer & cheese tradition– begun only two days prior in Belgium– I was introduced to kaassoufflé. Yes, those are deep fried squares of cheese that you’re looking at, to be dipped in mayo (or mustard), and served as an accompaniment to beer.
Continue Reading: Travel Photos: Beer and Cheese in The Netherlands…
Gazpacho Soup
I don’t believe there is any such thing as too many tomatoes. And since I can never seem to get enough of them, this cold soup has been a summer favorite. In fact, I think the inaugural use of my very first blender, acquired during the summer after my sophomore year of college, was to make gazpacho soup.
That summer, and many summers to follow, I blended up a new batch of gazpacho about once a week, and took up valuable refrigerator space, keeping the large stock pot chilled and ready for hot-weather snacking.
The fall immediately following my newfound love of gazpacho, I went to study abroad in Barcelona. I hadn’t realized this before, but gazpacho is actually from southern Spain. As a result, it’s a lot easier to find at restaurants in the south of Spain than in the north, and a lot easier to find at restaurants in the Spanish summertime than in other seasons. I hope by now I’ve convinced you that the best thing to do is just to make it yourself.
Layered Chicken Enchiladas & Spanish Rice
I am the luckiest. For my (30th!) birthday, my girlfriend made me some absolutely addictive enchiladas. And I ate way too many of them for dinner that night. And for dinner the next night. And for lunch the day after that. (This pretty much finished them off.)
They weren’t all that time-consuming to make, either. I say this despite the fact that in the middle of cooking, my girlfriend posted about me on Facebook: “For someone who’s so hungry, we’re pausing a lot to take pictures for her blog.”
Yes, as a new food blogger, I’m starting to realize that taking photos slows things down. Sometimes a lot. In fact, I can feel downright torn when I’m hungry (which is usually) between taking one more slightly-better-but-nearly-identical photo and just digging in.
But a little anticipation never hurt anybody. In fact, anticipation sometimes adds an extra hint of seasoning to an already flavorful meal. It’s why I actually prefer it when the food I’ve just ordered at a restaurant doesn’t immediately appear at the table. Come to think of it, anticipation is one reason I often choose the same entrée every time I visit several of my favorite restaurants.*
At any rate, these enchiladas were worth the wait. That said, we will definitely NOT be waiting all the way until another event as momentous as a 30th birthday to make them again.
Continue Reading: “Layered Chicken Enchiladas & Spanish Rice”…
Travel Photos: Fries and Mussels in Belgium
European trip, second stop: Belgium. I’m pretty sure I’ve never eaten more fries in such a short period of my life before, and that includes college. (And now I don’t know if I’m still recovering from the jet lag or if I’m just suffering from Belgian frite withdrawal.) I swear I didn’t even buy a single cone of fries with mayo from a Frituur– I know, I missed out, although I was tempted– it’s just that everything seemed to be served with a gigantic bowl of fries on the side:
Roasted chicken at a restaurant in Bruges
Amazing mussels and fries at a friend’s apartment in Antwerp
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Continue Reading: Travel Photos: Fries and Mussels in Belgium…
Ochazuke (Rice with Green Tea)
I used to live in Japan, and now when I miss it, the Japansickness usually comes wrapped in memories of umami aromas and steaming white rice. The best temporary cure for this ailment is a good home-cooked meal full of more vivid reminders of some of my favorite Japanese flavors.
Ochazuke is an eclectic dish that manages to squeeze in quite a few of these flavors without any of them seeming overwhelming or out of place. O-cha means ‘tea’, and the tsuke or zuke part means to ‘soak or pickle’. Basically the name of the dish refers to rice being ‘submerged in tea’. In other words, you take a bowl of rice, decorate it with a few savory toppings, and then pour over hot green tea (or dashi), which then serves as the broth for the soup.
Travel Photos: Crêpes and Picnics in Paris
I’m back from my all-too-brief European adventures, and with plenty of food photos to share.
A “Croque Madame” open face sandwich with cheese and fried eggs. (A Croque Monsieur has cheese & ham, but no eggs.)
Chicken and cheese crêpe
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First stop: Paris. A city with much more to offer than just crêpes and croissants. In fact, I was hoping to eat some kind of Middle Eastern food while we were there, since there are many Mediterranean fusion restaurants scattered around the city, but we ended up mostly sticking to French-ish cuisine.
French Onion Soup at a sidewalk cafe.
Warm Goat Cheese Salad with sautéed potatoes
Goat cheese on a slice of baguette.
Raspberry Sorbet to die for. (From the famous Berthillon ice cream stand on an island in the Seine.)
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Continue Reading: Travel Photos: Crêpes and Picnics in Paris…
spontaneous tomato 
