Food Epiphanies - Dublin and London

My favorite vacations are those when I get out of my routines and see even the most mundane parts of my life in a new light. Perhaps I shouldn’t use the term “mundane” to describe eating and food, but I do find that creating daily meals sometimes pushes me into “food ruts.”

A recent trip to Dublin, London, and Paris gave me a whole new perspective on meals and ingredients.  We picnicked, ate in restaurants, had meals with friends and relatives in their homes, and prepared our own breakfasts for part of the time in a rented apartment. Whether it was a simple sandwich, a cup of tea or coffee, or an elaborate dinner, I found myself thinking about my food much more than I normally do. When you think about food as much as I normally do, that’s saying a lot!

As I looked at our photos, sorted through receipts, and browsed my daily vacation journal, a number of food themes jumped out at me. Here are several of them from the Dublin and London parts of the trip: 

Vacation-Sparked Food Epiphanies

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Derecho Strawberry Jam

I'm not a big fan of impending-doom-weather-forecasting. So yesterday, the news of a derecho supposedly bearing down on the Mid Atlantic was a recipe for me to spend the afternoon on an emotional roller coaster. The weather reports were so apocalyptic, even on NPR, that I turned off one of my favorite radio programs. Periodically, the skies darkened, an ominous portent that gave me reason to fantasize about how bad it was going to be.

Should I abandon the kitchen and preparations for long-planned weekend celebration with my family or should I charge onward, hoping that the kitchen windows wouldn’t be blown out by a falling tree in our tree-laden backyard?

My solution was to do neither. I did stay in the kitchen, but instead of working on planned menu, I learned to can jam.  

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Veggie Cream Cheese With a Twist

Sometimes plain just won’t do. Like vanilla ice cream without topping, plain cream cheese on a bagel looks naked to me. Lying there on a sliced bagel, it begs for a cover - a slice of lox or tomato, or even jam to spread over it. But with a couple of extra ingredients, you can transform cream cheese into a spread that stands on its own. with Father's Day coming up, this spread and a batch of fresh bagels could be the centerpiece for a fabulous brunch.

Except in dire circumstances, I don’t buy ready-made veggie cream cheese. The take-out version is way too expensive considering that homemade is easy to prepare and is infinitely better.  This version adds ricotta cheese to give the spread a lighter taste and to make it more spreadable. If you leave the ricotta cheese out, the spread is, of course, thicker.

Note:  Although homemade ricotta is delicious and easy to make, I don’t think that it is necessary in a recipe such as this one where the small amount used is not front-and-center.  Small curd cottage cheese would also work as a substitute for ricotta, although I prefer the taste and texture of the latter.

Piled into a pretty bowl, this spread is a crowd pleaser with bagels. It is best made at least several hours before serving, giving the flavors have time to meld, so it's an ideal make-ahead spread for a brunch or luncheon. Add a bit more ricotta and you could even serve it as an appetizer dip with vegetable sticks or crackers. The recipe is easiest to make with a food processor, but you can make it by hand-mixing the ingredients if you don’t have a processor or prefer to get you upper arm work-out in the kitchen.

Vegetable Cream Cheese Spread

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