kefir – Eating My Words

Kefir Mac’n’Cheese with Browned Leeks

Milena’s Cooking Adventures — Yesterday Was Monday

Yes, I know. I keep posting kefir recipes. It’s because (surprise) I have a lot of kefir. And it’s delicious. And it makes me very happy. My little guys (the grains) make about 4 cups or more a week. So if you don’t like kefir, or you can’t find it, or you don’t have grains to make it, I’m sorry. I wish your life were enriched with tiny magical wizard grains.

My twin’s favourite recipe with kefir is definitely kefir mac’n’cheese. It’s tangy and interesting and super easy to make. It’s what I use to bribe them. I truly hope they’re not reading this… because it is a highly useful manipulative dish that I intend to keep on using for that purpose. Continue reading Kefir Mac’n’Cheese with Browned Leeks

Lighter Kefir Banana Bread

Milena’s Cooking Adventures

Yesterday we had a wonderful lunch. Two of our dear childhood friends are visiting from the U.S. and I wanted to cook a lunch for all of us. My French love came from out of town and helped advise us in what order to drink our wines (a Very Important Decision). We bustled furniture around to make everyone fit around the table and put the wines out on the balcony to get nice and cold. It was so lovely to be surrounded by old friends, translating important English words like “heckin” and “potate” for our French visitor. This, in case you weren’t aware, is a heckin potate:

POTATE — heckin potate (aka Helen the pibble)

Whenever I find myself facing a multi-course meal, I find it’s best to combine the known and unknown– a couple of dishes that are tried and true, and then some that I’ve done a million times and know I won’t need to think too hard about. And to prepare as much in advance as possible. This is about how my brain works when I look at the menu I prepared. Continue reading Lighter Kefir Banana Bread

Kefir Pancakes for a Homesick American

Milena’s Cooking Adventures

The lack of a real stack of fluffy pancakes in France is the lead cause of my dépaysement, my homesickness, my deep-seated unrootedness in this country. If only I could go out to almost any restaurant and receive the four-pancake-high tower of pure calories that I crave, slathered in butter and drowned in maple syrup, then– I could be truly happy.

What’s the phrase? You make your own home? Well, who knows if France will ever feel 100% like home, but god dammit if I can’t make the home, at least I can make the pancakes. Continue reading Kefir Pancakes for a Homesick American

Kefir and me

Milena’s Cooking Adventures

Five years ago, at an appointed time and place, I met a stranger to collect something I knew nothing about. In his hands he carried a beat-up milk carton. “You’ll need this too,” he said casually, slipping an index card into my hands. And then he and his sports coat left.

I took the bus home with my old milk carton. I examined the neat notes on the index card. I got a metal mesh fry screen and cut out wonky circles, then fit them onto jam jars to create a screened top. I poured the contents of the old milk carton into a jar, poured in some fresh milk, and wondered what I was doing with my life, and when exactly I had agreed to become a parent.

Continue reading Kefir and me