Snacking Les Vacances Away

"Beef, pumpkin, potatoes, stringy green beans, melon - all of these things were loved by Mma Ramotswe; as were cakes, biscuits, doughnuts and red bush tea. Life was very full."

Yes, life was full of snacking pendant les vacances, and many afternoons spent snacking with the latest installment of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels.

A bowl of almonds, dried cranberries and chestnuts with nothing but the best Shaktea African Dream Rooibos.

Pre dinner snacking included nachos with cheddar and jalapeno peppers, grilled in the toaster oven until the cheese melted and served with sour cream and my own home made guacamole.

The recipe for my easy to make guacamole can be found in the Weekend Guacamole entry.

Le jardin proved to be a great source of snacking.

What's better in life than to walk out of your door in your lounging clothes, pick up fresh strawberries and snack on them while reading a book?

Unfortunately, this year's strawberries, while very healthy looking, were not the best I tasted from le jardin. But a beautiful refreshing snack nonetheless.

A sweet friend dropped off home-made stuffed grape vine leaves, Lebanese style (more on how Lebanese make this at Mehshi Warak).

It was a perfect mid-day snack on one of those rainy days we had this week, along with home made yogurt (see recipe at Home Made Yogurt) mixed with jardin mint and local cucumbers.

In yesterday's entry, I referenced those irresistible Golden Melons (see Discovering The Far East).

One beautiful starry night, the Golden Melon was enjoyed as a pre-sleeps snack. The texture was very close to a pear, but the look and taste resembled a melon, yet slightly sweeter. I will buy those beauties again anytime.

On a hungry mid-afternoon, jardin celery crop was invaded, cleaned and cut into long stems.

Cheese Whiz would have been a perfect compliment to the fresh celery as someone mentioned, but somerville kitchen does not carry that.

Instead, some home made humus (see recipe at Authentic Lebanese Humus) was found and enjoyed with the celery sticks.

The taste of the freshly cut celery was a surprise. They had a stronger, more peppery distinct taste to them than the pale green ones you buy in grocery stores (and less crunchy).

Fruit snack breaks were abundant during the week. I just love summer fruit, even though finding local fruit this year is proving to be a challenge.

Delicious local cherries, and delicious, not-so-local red papaya and mango kept me going through the installing-kitchen-cabinet-handles project (those yellow lemon looking handles were a real find and match the counters exceptionally well).

Now I can celebrate the completion of the kitchen project exactly four months later (check out the renovations series starting with Why Is Cat Hiding In The Fridge entry). 

And my favourite snack ever, Manakeesh. These are standard breakfast or mid-morning snacks in Lebanon - essentially a dried thyme, sumac, sesame seeds and olive oil pizza.

I bought those fresh from Toronto and froze them. Unfortunately, I am yet to find a place that makes them fresh in Vancouver. 


All in all, a great snacking vacance among other activities based on Mma Ramotswe life philosophy...

"She would always take the time to drink tea, to look at the sky, and to talk. What else was there to do? Make money? Why? Did money bring any greater happiness than that furnished by a well-made cup of red bush tea and a moment or two with a good friend? She thought not."