Cooking tool kit...on the go and Banana Bread

Next blog: all about weirdly awesome Bosnian products!

Clearly I travel a lot and I have cooked in many kitchens. My last post alluded to the tragedy of parting with one's kitchen. We had become such good friends! But in the rational world, I had to leave behind the kitchen and the toolkit I had built there. I gave my good friends my must haves. You know, Ikea mixing bowl, spring form pan for cheesecake, hand mixer. All of those little essentials that do not travel well. Heartbreaking, but I have some tricks to help you weather the traveling storm.

First, this all depends on how you prioritize your cooking. I love to bake so I need at least one metal cake pan, spatula, a mixer, and measuring cups. Those are a must. But you have to be flexible with your concepts of the rest of your utensils. I love to make muffins, so I purchased a silicone muffin "pan".

I love Ikea tupperware because it is a packing material in itself. Use it to hold and organize products in your suitcase and once you arrive, send it to the kitchen. The largest size tupperware can be a mixing bowl or storage or a great tote for a brown bag lunch at work. I always thought I needed a round bowl but honestly, I have started to prefer the square. Anything in the corners you can get out with a spatula and pouring batter is so much easier out of a corner (silver lining, stuff, I know).

For cooking, a medium size non-stick skillet is pretty important. It seems like an unnecessary weight in your bag, but you will never regret it when you are making eggs or a comforting grilled cheese sandwich.


In addition, you need a recipe book. Not one of those full of recipes, unless you have a favorite. I am talking about a homemade one with all of your own recipes. My moleskin has so many simple recipes that make me feel like am home. Banana break, pancakes, chocolate cupcakes, my Grandma's potato soup recipe. It beats emailing people for their recipes all of the time, and where ever you travel you can add local recipes that you love.


As for ingredients, I always carry a few because you can't be sure when they will be available. Always always always baking powder. I learn that lesson over and over again. Baking soda is available in ever country I have lived in, but not baking powder. I learn that lesson over and over, which is why by boyfriend is bringing some with him when he visits. Another hit or miss is brown sugar. To get an idea of the ingredients that will be available, look up recipes for the local cuisine. Here in Bosnia, baking soda is the only other major baking component besides butter. They don't get much crazier than that. Finally, semi-sweet chocolate chips. Sounds silly, but it is difficult to find semi-sweet chocolate in Europe. Just trust me on this. You will be so happy that you have chocolate chips and brown sugar to make choco-chip cookies. It will remind you of home and nothing is better than food to take you home.

You're reward for getting through this is a banana bread recipe. I have no idea where it is from, my mom always used it and I make it when I want my apartment to smell like home.

Ingredients:
1c sugar
2c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c butter
4tblsp sour cream
2 eggs
3 bananas (browned or ripe)
1 c nuts (optional)
1/2 c choco chips (optional)

The procedure is simple.
1. Mix bananas, butter, eggs and sour cream.
2. Add flour, suga, and baking soda
3. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips
* Because this recipe will make two loaf pans of batter, I like to do half and half. One loaf has nuts and the other has nuts and chocolate chips. If you want both to have chocolate chips, use one cup.

Bake until golden brown on top at 350 degrees.

And for my single dwellers tip, take half of the baked goods to work or freeze it because you don't want to eat all of it by yourself and regret it later. Great in muffin tins for a quick breakfast. Enjoy!

Sarajevo! A new frontier

If you haven't noticed, Sarajevo isn't on the worlds' fastest growing cities list. People aren't pushing and shoving in the airport to get through immigration and settle down here.

Well, I am, at least for a little while.

I have been to Bosnia two times before. Now I have moved and settled in an apartment about 20 minutes from city center. It is a huge change, but not as big as you may think. It's just that, change.

I am learning here.

Of course I have an internship, working on finding a job and living in a country where the native language is completely different from my own. There is a lot of learning going on.

My kitchen is a brand new experience too. I am very lucky. I have a nice big fridge, an oven and a stove top. Things are good. The downside is that leaving London, I also left my kitchen that was stocked with flour, sugar, spices and the other basic ingredients any cook needs. With a new kitchen, I've had to rebuild, restock, re-organize.

Another change is that I don't have anyone to cook for, which, for lack of a better word, sucks. I love to cook for my friends, for my family. I am just one person and I cannot eat the food I cook for people all on my own. As a consequence, I have to plan a lot more. The food I cook has to be adaptable and can be used to make many different meals.

Last week, I roasted a chicken and two pounds of vegetables (onions, potatoes, carrots and mushrooms). From that roasted chicken and veggies, I made four different meals. First, I kept the drumsticks and made easy meals to pull out of the freezer. Just drumsticks and veggies. The second meal was a soup. I poured frozen peas, two cups of chicken broth, roasted veggies and shredded chicken into a plastic bowl. This is a pretty tasty soup to begin with, but you can add cream or a cheese once it is thawed for a little more flavor.

I also made corn and potato chowder. I chopped roasted carrots, potatoes and chicken and let it simmer with two cups of chicken broth, one cup of cream and a can of corn. I topped it with pan toasted croutons and parmesan cheese. Delicious!

Finally I put aside red onions and mushrooms to make my own creamy mushroom topping for my own version of mushroom bruschetta.

This is how I feed myself when I am living on my own. This is how I keep myself from eating out or out of a cereal box every night.

What's more. I have a pretty demanding palette. I like variety and spice and flavor. Bosnia has great food, but it doesn't live up to those standards and if I eat Bosnian food all the time, I'm going to have to buy new pants. All of this means that I will be learning how to make the foods I crave. Pad thai, why not. Coconut curry, sure. But I draw the line at Sushi. I don't trust myself with sushi.

If you have any tips or tricks or recipe suggestions, bring em on! This food blog is about to get interesting.